Cindy Marcolina - Page 57

The buzz that usually pervades the West End is subdued, even on a Saturday afternoon with the sun shining bright and hot. London still has that feel of a city straight out of a post-apocalyptic film. In a world where all of a sudden theatre as we know it has become a potential threat to the health of the public, the Donmar has managed to reopen in a Covid-safe and all-around exceptionally comforting new version of itself. However, whether youa??re reaching it from Covent Garden or Oxford Street, ita??s impossible to escape the view of all the theatres that still have their doors locked and their windows obscured.

West End star and Dear Evan Hansen's current title character Sam Tutty is taking part in Michael Strassen's 50th anniversary celebrations of Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebalak's Godspell. We had a chat with Sam to hear everything about the show's digital revamp and its topical importance.

Ita??s 1987 and the AIDS crisis is peaking in the United Kingdom. Paranoia has pushed people to stigmatise and shun the diseased for fear of contagion even after it was proved that the virus couldna??t be transmitted by touch alone. To challenge public opinion and to prove a point, Diana Princess of Wales visits patients at Londona??s first AIDS Unit. The photo, picturing her shaking hands with one of them without wearing gloves, entered history.

Two new pieces of youth drama are available in the Nick Hern Books catalogue, in their Platform series in collaboration with Tonic Theatre: Georgia Christou's Bright. Young. Things. and Lizzie Nunnery's Heavy Weather. Uncommonly for the publisher, the two plays haven't yet received a full production, but any directorially inclined eye can spot their potential.

Chronic Insanitya??s latest contribution to the online theatre panorama is an entirely interactive and thought-provoking experiment titled Myles Away. From the start, it catapults the audience/players into a futuristic reality where a tech company is about to introduce their newest Virtual Reality product AWAY, a digital utopia. With its founder bumped off the project for good right before the launch, ita??s left to the participants to decide who they believe and what they should do.

We had a chat with lighting designer Neil Austin and playwright Chinonyerem Odimba to discuss the groundbreaking work done by Freelancers Make Theatre Work, an organisation that advocates for the rights of freelance workers in theatre. We learned their thoughts about the current artistic climate in the UK, where they see the industry going, and what so desperately needs to change.

When the lockdown started in mid March, theatres all over the country were forced to shut down in a hurry. Nina Dunn, video designer with credits spread all over the West End and Europe, has been documenting the struggle of the industry through chilling photographs of empty theatres where silence dominates. A fundraiser has accompanied her online photo essays, which are now being turned into a book whose proceeds will go straight to charity. We had a chat to discuss her project, the effects of the closures, and dark theatres.

Next up in the National Theatre at Home series of broadcasts we find a gem of a play coming straight from their archives, Lorraine Hansberry's staggeringly topical Les Blancs. Originally staged in 2016 by director Yaël Farber, it was posthumously completed by Hansberry's former husband Robert Nemiroff for a Broadway run, and then reworked by dramaturge Drew Lichtenberg, Joi Gresham (director of the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust), and Farber herself for the production at the National after consulting Hansberry's journals and notes.

Rapper, beatboxer, theatre maker, and BAC Beatboxing Academy's artistic director Conrad Murray has released No Milk For The Foxes on YouTube, his 2015 co-production with Camden People's Theatre starring himself and Paul Cree. We caught up with him to hear everything about the perception of working class entertainment in mainstream media, where the gatekeepers are failing, and why the themes of No Milk For The Foxes are still a hot topic.

Chronic Insanity's lockdown content continues with Conduit, a riveting, touching, and fully immersive online experience. Connor has reached out to ask for some feedback on the recorded messages he wants to send his partner, whom he's currently separated from. Email after email, our correspondence with him and the videos he's shot for her unearth the heartbreaking process of grief in the digital age.

Commissioned as part of the events marking the centenary of the First World War, Sound&Fury's Charlie Ward is now available as a standalone online experience. Originally created as an immersive installation for ten people at a time in a makeshift hospital tent, the production places the public in the shoes of a wounded and bed-bound soldier - as much as that's possible today.

Nottingham-based theatre company Chronic Insanity are pioneering a new genre with a brand new approach to theatre. Way before the pandemic started, they were experimenting with digital theatre, creating shows that suit the latest technological advances and modernise the medium. We had a chat about what it means to make digital theatre, their upcoming shows, and the natural change in audiences.

The present pandemic has moved everything online, so in Exit Productions's Jury Duty the Ministry of Justice have been required to relocate their trials out of the courts and into the ether. Under the Justice Act (2020) jurors are being asked to review evidence and come to an agreement from the comfort of their homes. The immersive company's latest venture is perhaps the only Zoom meeting you'll actively enjoy.

Composer and lyricist Darren Clark has just launched a new website that acts like a hub for new musical theatre with roots in the UK.

Joan has big plans: she's going to go to Oxford, become a lawyer, and change the world. While she's too aware of the insignificance of her own life and wants to avoid being a mere drop in the ocean, her mum is holding down three jobs and a multitude of other responsibilities. A diagnosis and the sudden realisation of the inequality of gender roles push the teenager to turn into an overnight global activist.

Back in 2016 the NBC lot in Los Angeles transformed into 1962 Baltimore for the televised special Hairspray Live!, the fourth of the network's made-for-tv musicals. With Harvey Fierstein adapting the original 2002 book and reprising the character of Edna, it was a joyous success. Now, Universal is making the telecast available to UK audiences for the first time for a mere 48 hours after its premiere on their YouTube channel.

Director and producer Mark Dooley has just released Repeat Attenders, a direct look into the lives of musical theatre superfans in the form of a documentary. Interviewing audience members from Broadway to the West End and from Germany to his native Australia, his film opens the doors to what the most extremes fans in theatre are willing to do to pursue their passion. We had a chat to discuss celebrity culture, toxic fandoms, obsession, and the inherent beauty and wholesomeness of the theatrical experience.

Directly from her Covid-induced isolation, Kathryn Gallagher has released a collection of five cuts titled Demos, Vol. I. After listening to it, we already want a Vol. II. The Broadway performer is no stranger to putting out insightful, deep numbers that present spotless writing, but her latest releases might take the crown.

Shan Ako was starring as Eponine in the West End's Les Misérables before theatres were closed down. Now, everyone can enjoy her performance in the filmed version of last year's staged concert, so we caught up with her to hear all about her favourite music, how she found her own Eponine, and her super-positive pre-show ritual.

Bitter Pill Theatre's contribution to the lockdown content audiences get to enjoy for free comes in the form of The Painkiller Project, a podcast that edges towards radio drama. The company are keeping their pledge to produce new writing even while theatres around the world are closed down by opening submissions for the scheme once a fortnight, with the winning play being produced for all podcasting platforms.