Guest Author

In a world where people were busy binge-watching cat videos and falling down internet rabbit holes, the noble art of theatre faced an existential crisis. But never underestimate the power of a whimsical spirit, because I, Garry Starr, am about to share the improbable story of how I saved theatre from going belly up! 

I first heard about the book Can Bears Ski? on the BBC news. I thought a play inspired by the story of Little Bear, who was born deaf, would be a perfect chance to bring awareness to our young audience, developing empathy and greater understanding of diversity in the world around them, in a delightful and fun way.

If you would have told me, 20 years ago, I would be leading Intermission Youth in celebrating 15 years of youth work and theatre, I would not have believed you. One because, I didn’t know much about theatre and two because I had little interest in helping young people. But an opportunity to take part in a drama workshop, back in 2005, changed all that for me.

For many years, we have been enjoying adapting classic stories such as The Three Little Pigs.  Working in partnership with venues, we have sought ways to attract new families to the theatre, and have found these stories an accessible gateway for new parents to feel confident to come to the theatre for the first time.

Maria Callas, an extraordinary force in the world of opera, possessed a mesmerising ability to convey authentic emotion through her singing.  Her dramatic coloratura style was nothing short of a revelation, captivating audiences worldwide. 

27 years ago, in 1997, I co-founded a theatre company with five friends. The artists and founders of Unlimited Theatre were all graduates from the Workshop Theatre at the University of Leeds who had been inspired by incredible artists who'd come before us.

I am super excited about bringing our adaptation of Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book to the stage because it is a combination of two of my big passions – play AND reading. 

It’s a particularly interesting moment in time for new musical theatre writing, and more specifically, British new musical theatre writing. The future for musical theatre writing is bright’ Producer James Lane discusses developing new British musicals and the exciting new show Babies?

All history is cyclical, it’s not just Tory prejudice we’re facing and when you chop the head off a hydra, only two grow back.

This October, Monique Touko will direct Roy Williams’ Days of Significance at Milton Court Studio Theatre, with Guildhall School actors in the title roles. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about bringing the play to life at Guildhall drama school.

In 2015, I happened to walk past a striking poster with an image of a African man in what appeared to be some kind of high ranking military garb with a glass of dark liquor in one hand and a cigar in the other. I recognised this man. It was the late great Seun Shote.

When I graduated from Mountview in 2015 the word neurodivergent did not exist. It just didn't. People didn't talk about being Autistic, ADHD or any other invisible condition. Casting an autistic to play an autistic was unheard of.

It feels bleak for theatre at the moment. Not just for theatre. Coming off the back of Covid and a fresh round of funding cuts, in which we lost 100% of our Arts Council funding, we were left in a pretty bleak position ourselves. The choices for a production company, even one with 30 years of history and experience are to find more funding or close.

My show LORENZO is a tribute to a remarkable man called Lorenzo, who I lived with during Lockdown, as his end-of-life carer. It tells the story of our friendship, the adventures we shared, and speaks about people taking care of each other in the messiest of times. 

When I began re-reading the original material I instantly felt drawn to a circus backdrop in terms of design and aesthetic. A troop of entertainers, from the Ringmaster to the clowns, coming together to put on a show in a worn-out tent filled with the ammunition needed to put on a touring show, travelling away from home.

Black on Black is my solo dance performance that explores queerness, Blackness and the body as an archive. I’ve always been interested in complicating the boundaries of dance and this show is a kind of audio-visual, sensory performance set within a multi-screen visual installation of archive footage.

When making a show, If someone asks how long it ‘should’ take, for example, from initial idea to press night, I think I would have absolutely no idea what to say. It would either be a very short or a very long answer and neither would finish with a quantifiable number of days, months or years. 

In 2015 our newly formed theatre company, then called ‘The Pretend Men’, debuted our first ever piece of work at The New Wolsey’s ‘Pulse Theatre Festival’ in Ipswich. ‘Pulse’ is a curated festival for artists to develop, grow and connect with audiences, something we desperately needed to do in 2015. They have a wonderful competition called ‘The Suitcase Award’ where artists can present a 20 minute work-in-progress of whatever they are currently working on

Writing is hard, it is. It takes so much to complete something – even when you have completed it, you hate it. Then you love it, then you hate it again, and then you love it (sort of). Then you send it to a friend to read, and then you wait, then you chase, and then you wait again… you get the idea.

When history repeats…and how theatre can break the cycle.