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10 questions for 10 years – Duncan Clarke

Based in York and Edinburgh, arts PR Duncan Clarke has been responsible more than most for getting me out of London

  • Where were you 10 years ago?

    Funnily enough 10 years I decided to take the decision and leave my job as the Communications Officer at York Theatre Royal and start up Duncan Clarke PR. Being based in Yorkshire, I knew that there was so many great theatre companies in the region and yet very few theatre publicists – so it just made sense to start up on my own. I must admit I was really nervous about making the move but what kept me going was the brilliant from people within the industry and the support from my amazing wife.

    Continue reading “10 questions for 10 years – Duncan Clarke”

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Full list of 2019 UK Theatre Awards winners

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide Awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. And looking at this list of winners, it was a great day for Sheffield Theatres!

Best New Play
WINNER –LIFE OF PI adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from the novel by Yann Martel – a Sheffield Theatres production
THE WATSONS by Laura Wade – a Chichester Festival Theatre production
ULSTER AMERICAN by David Ireland – a Traverse Theatre Company production at Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Best Musical Production
THE COLOR PURPLE directed by Tinuke Craig – a Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome co-production
WINNER – STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE directed by Robert Hastie – a Sheffield Theatres production
WEST SIDE STORY directed by Sarah Frankcom – a Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester production Continue reading “Full list of 2019 UK Theatre Awards winners”

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Nominations for the 2019 UK Theatre Awards

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide Awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and they have just announced the nominations for the 2019 awards, the results of which will be revealed at a ceremony on Sunday 27th October. It’s always interesting to see a different perspective on award season, particularly one that doesn’t focus on London productions, but it does make me wish I’d could have taken in a few more of these UK-wide shows from this year.

Best New Play
LIFE OF PI adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from the novel by Yann Martel – a Sheffield Theatres production
THE WATSONS by Laura Wade – a Chichester Festival Theatre production
ULSTER AMERICAN by David Ireland – a Traverse Theatre Company production at Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Best Musical Production
THE COLOR PURPLE directed by Tinuke Craig – a Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome co-production
STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE directed by Robert Hastie – a Sheffield Theatres production
WEST SIDE STORY directed by Sarah Frankcom – a Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester production Continue reading “Nominations for the 2019 UK Theatre Awards”

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Review: Noughts & Crosses, Derby Theatre

Some bold creative choices make Noughts & Crosses a visual treat at Derby Theatre

“We are all responsible for the safety of this country”

At a moment when co-operation between theatres has never been more vital, and yet when national tours feel fraught with danger as cancellations loom large, it is pleasing to see Pilot Theatre and Derby Theatre putting their money where their mouth is with this production of Noughts & Crosses, co-produced with Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre Colchester and York Theatre Royal.

With that in mind, it’s undoubtedly a canny choice of material, Malorie Blackman’s hugely popular young adult novel adapted here by Sabrina Mahfouz. Set in a alternative near future in which race relations are tipped right upside down, where systemic power lies in the hands of the black population and it is white people who suffer unconscionable oppression and abuse, Blackman then inserts a Romeo and Juliet love story but one which speaks much more to our times. Continue reading “Review: Noughts & Crosses, Derby Theatre”

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20 shows to look forward to in 2019

So many of the recommendations for shows to see next year focus on the West End. And for sure, I’m excited to catch big ticket numbers like All About Eve, Come From Away, and Waitress but I wanted to cast my eye a little further afield, so here’s my top tips for shows on the London fringe (plus one from the Barbican) and across the UK.

1 Medea, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam at the Barbican
Simon Stone’s sleekly contemporary recasting of Euripides is straight up amazing. Anchored by a storming performance from Marieke Heebink, it is as beautiful and brutal as they come. It’s also one of the few plays that has legit made me go ‘oh no’ out loud once a particular penny dropped. My review from 2014 is here but do yourself a favour and don’t read it until you’ve seen it.

2 Macbeth, Watermill Theatre
2018 saw some disappointing Macbeths and I was thus ready to swear off the play for 2019. But the Watermill Ensemble’s decision to tackle the play will certainly break that resolve, Paul Hart’s innovative direction of this spectacular actor-musician team will surely break the hoodoo…

3 Noughts and Crosses, Derby Theatre, and touring
Pilot Theatre follow on from their strong Brighton Rock with this Malory Blackman adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz, a Young Adult story but one which promises to speak to us all. Continue reading “20 shows to look forward to in 2019”

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Review: Look Back in Anger, Derby Theatre

“What kind of man are you?”

Where else to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Look Back in Anger than in the city where it is set, and in the very theatre where the marriage between John Osborne and Pamela Lane came under such strain as to inspire the turbulence of the play that, as conventional wisdom would have it, changed the face of British theatre. Recently, the play has been rarely seen, suffering from the very thing that brought its fame – ever-evolving theatrical tastes – but Sarah Brigham’s production makes it feel startlingly pertinent.

The archetypal angry young man, decidedly working class but university educated Jimmy Porter finds himself raging against every aspect of his life in 1956 Derby. The huge social gulf that marks his marriage to the upper middle class Alison, her haughty friend Helena who’s coming to stay, the cramped flat which they share with pal Cliff and the politics they debate ferociously, the music on the radio that isn’t his beloved jazz… And as his frustrations take on an ever more vicious turn, a love triangle emerges that shatters what fragile peace there is. Continue reading “Review: Look Back in Anger, Derby Theatre”

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Review: Jinny, Derby Theatre

“Nothing ever comes that easy”

As if proof were needed about how much interesting work is being generated outside of London, Derby Theatre’s RETOLD series continues in full force, offering immediate responses to the classic plays in the main programme. So accompanying The Odyssey in 2014 was Caroline Horton’s modern-day Penelope RETOLD, putting Odysseus’ wife at the heart of the action, and partnering their newest production Look Back in Anger is Jane Wainwright’s Jinny, similarly relocated to a contemporary setting and giving us a gender-swapped Jimmy Porter.

Jinny is a 25 year old aspiring singer-songwriter, who has been aspiring for over a decade now. After graduating from university, she returned to Derby but her friends who remained have moved on with their lives and finding opportunities few and far between, she’s trapped in a dead-end retail job and sharing a poky flat with a pregnant pal. And over the course of just under an hour, we hear all about it, all the minutiae of a hard-working working-class life and the realisation that this might indeed be it. With songs on the guitar added. Continue reading “Review: Jinny, Derby Theatre”

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Review: The Odyssey, Derby Theatre

“Where shall we start?”

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey is a cornerstone of Western literature and so unsurprisingly has endured and thrived as part of our cultural consciousness since the 8th century BC when it was composed. So its tale of soldier Odysseus’ 20 year absence from his home in Ithica due to the 10 years of the Trojan War and then a troublesome 10 year journey back feels an appropriate fit in the centenary year of the Great War, especially given Mike Kenny’s new version and Sarah Brigham’s inspired direction.

For this interpretation digs deep into both the psychological and practical effects of war. The first half asks searching questions about the nature of telling war stories, Odysseus’ recounting of his trials become a meditation on survivor guilt as he revisits decisions made in the heat of combat, the sacrifices he asked of his men, struggling to rationalise the huge losses incurred. And part two turns its view on those left behind and the difficulties they have to face in welcoming back someone who has been unutterably changed by their experiences. Continue reading “Review: The Odyssey, Derby Theatre”

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Review: Penelope RETOLD, Derby Theatre

“How soon after you were married was your husband deployed?”

In one of the more interesting moves that an artistic director of a theatre anywhere in the UK has made, Derby Theatre’s Sarah Brigham has commissioned a set of one-woman plays from some interesting names indeed, to respond to the main house programme. The RETOLD series begins with Caroline Horton’s Penelope RETOLD which accompanies The Odyssey by placing Odysseus’ wife Penelope full square and centre.

Developed with director Lucy Doherty, Horton’s monologue imagines a current day Penelope, borrowing from the contemporary military wives trope to create something more recognisably modern. And skipping around through the nineteen years of her enforced separation from her husband the general, she finds something deeply moving in the challenges faced this woman, and indeed many others in similar scenarios. Continue reading “Review: Penelope RETOLD, Derby Theatre”