Category: Theatre

The Brighton Hippodrome, Plymouth’s Palace Theatre and the Victoria Theatre in Salford are at the top of this year’s Theatre Buildings at Risk Register, which lists 33 venues around the UK. Although the number of theatres has decreased, the Theatres Trust has warned the drop is partly down to changes to the way it focuses on venues under immediate threat. The Theatre Buildings at Risk Register is published annually, and identifies venues at risk from demolition, change of use, development, sale, decay and neglect, lack of funding and poor building operation.

Eight venues are new to the list in 2014, with the Trust claiming many of these are on it because local authorities no longer want responsibility for funding or operating them. These include the Secombe Theatre in London and the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd. Two venues from Blackpool are new to the register: the Winter Gardens Pavilion and the North Pier Theatre.

A worry for many involved is the extent to which more local authority cuts will lead to further closures, however the Trust’s advisers are working hard to help communities and local authorities find possible solutions. For the first time this year, venues have also been rated according to how important a venue is to its community, alongside risks to the building and quality of the theatre, however this is seemingly difficult to engage.

Brighton’s Hippodrome, which was at the top of the list last year, was labelled the most significant case for the Trust, with efforts ongoing to prevent it from being redeveloped as an eight-screen cinema and restaurant complex. Meanwhile, the Palace in Plymouth was used as a theatre until 1980 before becoming a nightclub, but has been disused since 2006. The Trust said it was supporting the Plymouth Palace Project to develop a business and management plan for the venue.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

London’s oldest pie and mash shop is set to host a site-specific production of Sweeney Todd from the end of October for around four weeks: Harrington’s Pie and Mash shop in Tooting will become the setting for Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller in a production by Tooting Arts Club.

The show will run from 21 October to 29 November, and will begin with audiences congregating across the road in a traditional barber shop before moving over to Harrington’s, which opened in 1908, for the performance. The performances will fulfil even the most immersive theatre hunter’s expectations in a production you won’t forget in a hurry!

The production will be directed by Bill Buckhurst, who recently co-directed Shakespeare’s Globe’s Globe to Globe Hamlet. The producer of Tooting Arts Club, Rachel Edwards, has said that “It has been a long-held dream to do Sweeney Todd at this venue, and I am so pleased that it has been made possible by the generosity of the owners of Harrington’s”. The essence of Tooting Arts Club is completely summed up by the Sweeney Todd project by creating inventive work that has been born from lots of exciting collaborations with people at the heart of the Tooting community, it is hoped that this will be the first of many projects of this nature.

Another production of Sweeney Todd is also set to open this month at newly-formed Twickenham Theatre, while it has been reported that a production of the musical, starring Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel, will lead English National Opera’s musical theatre season at the London Coliseum next year. David Bedella is to star as Sweeney, who won an Olivier award in 2004 for Jerry Springer the Opera. He will be joined by Sarah Ingram as Mrs Lovett. Her credits include Martin Guerre and Oklahama! It will run from 10 September to 4 October.

The company Dancing Fool Theatrical, in association with Harlow Playhouse, is presenting a new tour of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, beginning in October. The iconic musical will tour to a variety of theatres across the autumn. More casting and dates for the following year will follow, however the touring venues for 2014 include Harlow Playhouse, Southsea Kings, Buxton, Jersey Opera House. Bournemouth Pavilion, Newcastle Mill Volvo, Blackpool Grand and Billingham Forum.

The new production will star Jon Lee (of S Club 7, Les Miserables and Jersey Boys fame) as Tony Starr, Richard Grieve (who has performed in Emmerdale and Priscilla Queen of the Desert) as Sam Silver and the tour will introduce Jennifer Harding as Lola. The musical tells a tale of romance and stardom, featuring aspiring songwriter Tony working as a pianist in a bar when he meets Lola, who is determined to make it in ‘showbiz’. Quickly falling for Lola, Tony does everything he can to assist her attempts to find stardom. At Manhattan’s Copacabana Lounge both start to find fame, before fate steps in and Lola is swept away to Havana to work in a splashy night club where Lola’s new mentor and boss Rico demands a price for putting her name in lights.

The musical, written by Manilow and his longtime collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, has not been seen in the UK for ten years and will begin its production tour at Harlow Playhouse on Thursday 2 October 2014 (press night Friday 3 October). This new production will reimagine the original stage version of Copacabana, which was first performed in the US in 1991 and has never been seen in the UK before. The iconic musical will feature all the Manilow hits including ‘Dancin’ Fool’, ‘Who Needs to Dream’, ‘Welcome to Havana’ and the Grammy Award-winning ‘Copacabana (At The Copa)’.