Created by director Sing J. Lee and bionic artist Viktoria Modesta, A Midsummer Night’s Dream re-imagines the fairy trickery of Shakespeare’s comedy as a virtual reality experiment. Under Oberon’s watchful eye, Titania, played by Modesta, is transported into a computer-generated fantasy, where she is drawn into a courtship dance with an unknown figure. The dream-like world is […]Read More
A pantomime production of Aladdin has come under fire this week, with many accusing the directors of “casual racism” after they cast two white people as ‘The Chinese Policemen’ in an already all-white cast. The production, set to run at the Forum Theatre in Billingham from 1st December, put up posters of the pantomime, showing […]Read More
The Southampton venue, which closed in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be renamed Mayflower studios when it is able to reopen.Read More
2020 has not been a good year for the arts (or for anyone really!). British theatres have been closed since March. However, all hope is not lost! 2021 is looking like it’s going to be a great year for British theatre. Here’s everything to look forward to. Read More
Eden Court, the largest arts venue in the Scottish Highlands, has had to take the decision in light of the ongoing situation with COVID-19.Read More
Albion: a place from Arthurian legend that still continues to exist today, only we don’t call it that. We call it England. The word Albion takes on a whole new meaning as the title of Mike Bartlett’s 2017 tragicomedy, revised in January 2020 at the Almeida Theatre and broadcasted on BBC4. It’s a play that […]Read More
Dame Diana Rigg, who enjoyed an extensive career in theatre as well as television and film, passed away last week.Read More
Dear Mr Dowden, Oliver – if you will. I’m writing to you because, well, I have some questions. A few days ago, you expressed that you wanted theatres open by Christmas. You floated the idea of offering mass testing to audiences and therefore being able to scrap social distancing measures. Now, I feel like I’ve […]Read More
Evan Placey’s “urgent and explosive” play, Girls Like That, won the title of Best Play for Young Audiences in 2015. Even though I might fall into this one-act piece of collective narration and didactic direct mode of address‘ typical age demographic, I have never cared for this play, nor have I cared for Esther Baker’s […]Read More
The pleasure of a trip to the theatre, with its limited tickets and overpriced ice-creams, is often an expensive hobby that leaves working-class communities behind. This exclusivity is not helped by the fact that, over the last decade, the arts have been consistently neglected on a national level. From creative arts subjects being culled in […]Read More
There have been plenty of parodies, spoofs, and rip-offs of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet since its first performance in the late-sixteenth century. In the past decade alone, we’ve had such highs as last year’s excellent & Juliet, and such lows as two separate instalments of the Gnomeo & Juliet film franchise. It seems odd, then, […]Read More
The government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme finished at the end of August (although some businesses have extended their involvement with the scheme) and it was a huge success. The latest statistics show that diners claimed 100 million meals and it gave the hospitality industry, as well as the economy more generally, a much-needed […]Read More
The modern setting of the newly built Boulevard Theatre in Soho is host to this rather wonderful, folk-inspired, improvised musical by The Yes Queens. Performed in January 2020, and recently uploaded to YouTube, These Folk is perfect if you’re missing live performance. The newness of the Boulevard is epitomised in modern blue lit light panels […]Read More
It has been revealed that only 16% of those employed in the arts and culture industry are working class, according to a report by Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC). This, as well as other statistics in PEC’s report, has revealed a huge social class imbalance, raising concerns about the inclusivity of the arts […]Read More
How does the truth affect us? Missing People is a collaborative production between the Leeds Playhouse and the Kani Public Arts Center, a Japanese theatre venue. Written by Brad Birch, the show was due to be performed this Summer, before being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily for us, a recorded production has been […]Read More
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