DOCTOR WHO returns

Steven Moffat on the new series on BBC1 from Saturday 27th August...

The wait is almost over. The second part of the thrilling new series of Doctor Who begins on 27 August 2011.

The rules have changed, and the game is deadlier than ever. Out in the universe, where the earthly rules of time and space do not apply, Amy and Rory know only too well that their baby daughter needs them. For Melody Pond is destined to become River Song, mysterious archaeologist and convicted murderer – the woman who killed the best man she ever knew...

The Doctor leads Amy and Rory across centuries and galaxies in a desperate search for baby Melody, but a terrible and inescapable date looms large. At 5.02pm on 22nd April 2011, the Doctor will die. These are his last days, and the quest for Melody his final mission.

The search will result in a crash landing in Thirties Berlin and will bring them face to face with the greatest war criminal of all time. And Hitler. Old friendships will be tested to their limits as the Doctor suffers the ultimate betrayal and learns a harsh lesson in the cruellest warfare of all.

A distress call from a terrified little boy will break through all barriers of time and space and lead the Doctor to visit the scariest place in the Universe. George's bedroom. George is terrorised by every fear you can possibly imagine. Fears that live in his bedroom cupboard. His parents are desperate – George needs a doctor. But allaying George's fears won't be easy. Because the monsters in George's cupboard are real.

An unscheduled visit to a quarantine facility for victims of an alien plague – a plague that will kill the Doctor in a day – leaves Amy trapped. Alone, Rory must find Amy and bring her back to the TARDIS before the faceless doctors kill her with kindness. But Rory is about to encounter a very different side to his wife.

In an impossible hotel, the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves checked-in but unable to check out. Walls move, corridors twist, rooms vanish and death lies in wait for every visitor. But the Doctor's time has yet to come. He has one last stop to make on his final journey. His old friend, Craig Owens, desperately needs his help – a new and unfamiliar presence is wreaking havoc in Colchester. And then come the Cybermen. But time catches up with us all and the Doctor can delay no more.

By the shores of Lake Silencio, in Utah, all of time and space hang in the balance. And a NASA astronaut is waiting..."

And MATT SMITH's views:

With viewers still reeling from the shocking news that River Song is actually Amy and Rory's baby, Bafta-nominated actor, Matt Smith, provides a sneak-peek at what is coming up in the new episodes of Doctor Who.

"I thought it was brilliant because it's such a great science fiction pay-off," explains Matt as he reveals how he felt when he learnt the truth about River Song. "Steven Moffat set it up so well and it now leaves the story open to go in so many different directions. She's Amy and Rory's daughter which is mad, but yet brilliant, and it's going to be really interesting to see how the dynamic between all of the characters shifts."

Despite Melody Pond being kidnapped at the end of A Good Man Goes To War, Matt says viewers can rest assured that Alex Kingston, who plays River Song, will be back and there are more shocks in store. "We get to learn a lot more about River in Let's Kill Hitler" he explains, "and she's on her best flirty form; the River I love! It's certainly Alex's episode and we had great fun filming the scenes, so hopefully we have some good on-screen chemistry."

New monsters are also set to make an appearance, sending children and adults alike scuttling behind the sofa in true Doctor Who style. "I think it's fantastic the way the show can tap into people's primal fears as children" says Matt, specifically referring to Mark Gatiss's episode Night Terrors. "Mark has come up with a really clever idea by featuring a dolls house with terrifying and creepy dolls – it's a brilliant adventure-packed episode and Danny Mays, who guest stars, is superb in it."

The Tin Tin actor isn't the only high-calibre guest artist to secure a role in Doctor Who. Upcoming episodes also feature funny men David Walliams and James Corden. "James reprises his role as Craig, who appeared in The Lodger last year," explains Matt. "He's back in an episode which also features the Doctor's arch enemies, the Cybermen. We had such fun on set; it was hard to keep a straight face when we were filming.

"David Walliams was also hilarious" continues Matt. "He plays a character called Gibbis and he had to wear a lot of prosthetics for the part. Once he was all made up he looked a lot like a giant Mole, so it was hard to take him seriously!"

However, Matt's tone does become more serious when talking about the fate awaiting the Doctor...

"The Doctor died at the start of the series" explains Matt. "He was shot in the future by someone in a space suit and, despite the adventures he goes on in these next few episodes, inevitably he's moving closer towards his own death. Amy, Rory and River are aware of his fate but they have no way of stopping it. I can't tell you what happens but Steven has set up an explosive finale."

But can he reveal if his Stetson makes an appearance? "Yes, I can tell you the Stetson is back; I do love a good hat!" chuckles Matt. "The Doctor also has a new coat; a long green moleskin one. We always wanted the Doctor's outfit to evolve and the coat certainly kept me warm when filming during the winter.

"I still haven't lost my clumsy streak though," sighs Matt. "We were filming the final scenes last month in a cornfield and, needless to say, I was the one who tripped over and twisted my ankle!" If only there had been a doctor around...

CAPTAIN AMERICA: The First Avenger

FILM REVIEW

As a child in the early 1970s I read a lot of Marvel Comics' output, and I quite liked Captain America. Despite appearances, the character wasn't so much a flag-waving super patriot, but a decent old-fashioned guy (active during WW2, he is frozen in ice, and awakens in the modern day), who is made fun of by more hip and 'with it' types. Thankfully, director Joe Johnston and Marvel Studios have successfully transferred the good captain to the big screen, and given us a glorious retelling of his origin story, neatly setting up next summer's blockbuster, 'The Avengers', where Captain America will team up with Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk.
Chris Evans gives a great performance as Steve Rogers, transformed from a 90lb weakling into a strapping 'super soldier' by kindly scientist Dr Abraham Erskine (a charming performance by Stanley Tucci) with the help of engineering whizz kid Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper). In his early scenes, Evans' head is grafted (by special effects) onto the body of a much smaller actor, and (to quote the late Eric Morecambe) you can't see the join. We warm to the sickly young man as he suffers one humiliation after another; whether it be at the hands of local bullies, rejection by the girls, or failure to be accepted in to the military. All he wants to do is fight for his country, and with his indomitable spirit he is the perfect candidate for Dr Erskine's experiment.
Tommy Lee Jones is his usual reliable self as the gruff but humane Colonel Chester Phillips, while upcoming British actress Hayley Atwell shines as Steve's love interest Peggy Carter. The romantic scenes are nicely underplayed by Evans and Atwell, with Peggy's growing admiration for Steve's courage blossoming into deep affection.
The main plot sees crazed Nazi scientist The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) attempting to take over the whole planet with the help of an ancient religious artefact. Only one man can stop him, but the politicians have decided that our hero must be paraded around as part of a propaganda exercise rather than risk their expensive investment on the battlefield. Once again Steve Rogers faces endless humiliation as he is dressed in a series of ill-fitting costumes and forced to take part in corny Busby Berkley inspired stage shows and shoddy adventure movies. The film-makers cleverly address the sheer outlandishness of a red, white and blue costumed character called 'Captain America' existing in a realistic wartime environment. The character IS ridiculous, but it is Steve's integrity and moral strength that eventually elicits sympathy and admiration from his fellow soldiers and, more importantly, we the audience. With Peggy's support, Steve decides he must play the super hero for real, and engage the enemy in the field.
Director Johnston handles the action sequences effectively, and there is a lot of fun to be had watching Captain America taking on hordes of Nazis and despatching them with ease. But it is the quieter scenes that work best, and a top notch cast really breathe life into characters that began as truly two dimensional creations. Alan Silvestri's music is suitably heroic and bombastic, and there's a great cheesey song over the end credits you'll be humming in your head for hours after you leave the cinema.

Certificate 12A
Directed by Joe Johnston

THE WATCHER

FILM REVIEW
Originally published by The Public Reviews at http://www.thepublicreviews.com/film-the-watcher-a-tale-from-paradise-heights/

Written & Directed by Joe O'Byrne

Produced by Chris Lane

Ken Loach style kitchen sink realism meets Martin Scorcese’s more elevated archetypal storytelling, in this latest tale from the fictional Paradise Heights estate. Writer and actor O’Byrne (who also plays the pivotal role of enigmatic loan shark, Frank Morgan) has created a chillingly believable world not a million miles away from the mean streets of Salford and his home town of Bolton. But forget any comparisons with the cosy old world view of Coronation Street, or even the plastic scallies of Shameless; here is a place where the dead impinge on the living, and surviving is something to be mightily proud of.

Joe O’Byrne has written several previous stage plays and films utilising characters from Paradise Heights, and now we have the latest installment, 'The Watcher'. On a shoestring budget, this is a supreme example of what can be acheived when one has a cracking script, a dedicated team of first rate actors, a dynamic director, and a will of iron.

It is Halloween, and Polish taxi driver Marek (Ian Curley) trawls the desolate streets of the Paradise Heights housing estate looking for fares. With the Police having issued warnings about marauding gangs of mask-wearing youths, local residents cower behind their front doors. Freak atmospheric conditions are affecting radio communications, further enhancing Marek's feelings of isolation and dread. With a stunningly hypnotic and unsettling music score by Barry Thompson, we are firmly in John Carpenter territory here, with more than a nod to the classic 'Halloween', and the flawed 'Escape From New York'. Colin Warhurst's photography gives a slick sheen to everything, and there's some beautifully lit scenes, with night-time aerial shots of the estate adding a dream-like quality to the story. Everyone is on edge, and everyone is watching. Marek looking out for business, and a small girl and her mother peering out at the dead streets and dreading the return of 'the man'. That man is Frank Morgan, the type of man you wish you'd never heard of. O'Byrne is a master at structure and pace, and keeps the viewer in suspense right up until the very end. Character information is drip fed, and the palpable sense of tension is expertly cranked up to disturbing levels. When, halfway through the film, O'Byrne himself appears from the shadows as the grim-faced Morgan, we are left in no doubt that here is a man with a past, and a very uncertain future. Indeed, he could well be a dead man walking; as could many of the characters in this film. Firmly anchored in everyday realism, 'The Watcher' has supernatural overtones, and a brilliant atmosphere oozes from the screen, threatening to shred one's nerves to pieces.

                                           Colin Warhurst and Joe O'Byrne

The cast are uniformly excellent. Ian Curley is a class act, and gives an unselfish and understated performance as the hapless Marek. As with all O'Byrne's characters, we get the feeling that this man has a wealth of stories to tell, and this is merely one of them. There is a fabulous turn from David Edward-Robertson as Danny, an embittered ex fireman nursing an intense hatred of Frank Morgan, and O'Byrne himself plays Morgan with lashings of steely-eyed charm that the likes of Jason Statham would kill to have an ounce of.

'The Watcher' is a perfectly formed gem of a film, and deserves a much wider audience. This is where the real heart of British film-making beats loud and strong. Forget the mainstream trash clogging up screen after screen at the local multiplex, and do yourself a big favour. Who watches 'The Watcher'? Everybody should!

Available to view online in the next month.

For more information on 'The Watcher' and Joe O'Byrne's Paradise Heights, take a look at the blog here: http://lowtalesfromtheheights.blogspot.com/

THE WATCHER

Joe O'Byrne

O'Byrne on set

For some very very very irritating reason, I seem unable to copy and paste articles on this blog at the moment. Therefore, I shall refer you to The Public Reviews website, where my review of Joe O'Byrne's cracking new film appears: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/film-the-watcher-a-tale-from-paradise-heights/

THE WATCHER

Many apologies. There seems to be a problem uploading the review. Watch this space, folks!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE.....

... but I'm back.

Review of Joe O'Byrne's fabulous new film up very soon!!

'The Prisoner' play premieres in Manchester

At last, my play about Patrick McGoohan gets its premiere this week. We had planned to open it in London recently, but those pesky 'circumstances beyond our control' have forced us to postpone the performances until the new year. Meaning, we shall now be opening this Friday 12th November at 8pm in The Salmon Theatre at The Lass O'Gowrie. Press release below.

'Be seeing you'!!

NEW PLAY ABOUT 'THE PRISONER' STAR PATRICK McGOOHAN PREMIERES IN MANCHESTER

(Press Release 08.11.10)

‘EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan – The Prisoner’ is a new play from TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED, detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year), and is to be staged in Manchester this week at The Salmon Theatre, upstairs at The Lass O'Gowrie pub on Charles Street. Writer BRIAN GORMAN, who also plays McGoohan and his character 'Number Six', performed a special rehearsed reading of 'Everyman' earlier this year at The Lass O'Gowrie, and played to a full house. The reading garnered a glowing review from Brian Watson for The Unmutual website (a major 'Prisoner' fan group):

"Brian achieved what no Number Two managed, that was to deconstruct the personality of the man and propose a very credible "what it's all about" of McGoohan's life and work.

The script of EVERYMAN is a joy: at turns witty, informative, dramatic, and wonderfully paced throughout. The author knows his subject thoroughly, tells the tale well and, while he refers to influences that surface later in The Prisoner, he never descends to quote-dropping for gratuitous effect."

Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as ‘DANGER MAN’ and ‘THE PRISONER’ is long overdue:

"McGoohan was a brilliant actor. In common with the great Orson Welles, who he cited as a major influence, he was also a fiercely uncompromising individual who took real artistic chances, and divided the critics."

PATRICK McGOOHAN was born in New York, but spent less than a year there before his family relocated to their native Ireland. Several years later, they moved to England, where McGoohan caught the acting bug in Sheffield, and worked his way up to leading roles at the local professional repertory theatre. He was the first choice to play James Bond in 1962, but turned down the role of a lifetime due to his distaste for the depiction of gratuitous violence and casual sex. While Bond was smashing cinema box office records, McGoohan became an international television star as secret agent John Drake in ‘Danger Man’; who rarely used a gun and politely declined the numerous advances of beautiful women. After several hugely successful years, McGoohan tired of playing Drake, and persuaded legendary producer Lew Grade to back his new project, ‘The Prisoner’, and allow him full creative control. The series made McGoohan the highest paid actor on British tv when he played an un-named secret agent who attempts to resign his job, only to be kidnapped and imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there seems no escape. Everybody in The Village is assigned a number, and McGoohan is referred to as Number Six, but refuses to conform; spending each of the series’ seventeen episodes attempting to outwit his captors. The show became a massive cult hit with its flamboyant action, imaginative stories, and surreal style, and was recently remade for ITV with Sir Ian McKellen starring as the enigmatic and menacing ‘Number Two’. McGoohan also starred in a variety of successful films including ‘Silver Streak’, ‘Ice Station Zebra’, and Mel Gibson’s oscar-winning ‘Braveheart’. He won two Emmy awards for acting in the ‘Columbo’ tv series, and was even immortalised in an episode of ‘The Simpsons’.

Manchester-based BRIAN GORMAN is from Wigan, and is a writer, artist, and actor. He has designed posters and brochure illustrations for The Chester Gateway Theatre, and had work published in The Liverpool Daily Post, The Big Issue, and Green World (the magazine of The Green Party). His artwork has also been seen on television (ITV1’s ‘Martina Cole’s Lady Killers’), and he is currently working on a professional commission to produce a series of graphic novels on Manchester bands. As an actor he has played leading roles in corporate and educational dramas, music videos, and has just played the notorious mass murderer Thomas Hamilton in an upcoming television reconstruction of the 1996 Dunblane massacre. He has also played the main villain, Viktor Toxikoff, in award-winning director Chris Stone’s James Bond inspired music video ‘The Rebel’, for the band The Amateurs. Gorman also has an arts review blog at http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/

Gorman first studied acting at Wigan College of Technology in the 1980s, and was fascinated to later discover that Sir Ian McKellen had grown up just yards from the college theatre:

"I wrote to Sir Ian several years ago when he agreed to allow me to use his likeness in my comic book, ‘Borderliners’ (as did another hero of mine, The Saint himself - Sir Roger Moore). He sent me a wonderful three page hand-written letter telling me about how he’d enjoyed his childhood in Wigan, and had even played on the same stage as I had. It’s a fascinating coincidence that he has recently starred in the remake of ‘The Prisoner’, and now here I am playing Patrick McGoohan! "

Onboard as the production’s official adviser is ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH. Robert is a freelance writer, designer and producer. His work on ‘The Prisoner’ includes the book ‘The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series’, editing two volumes of ‘The Original Scripts’ for the classic series and graphic design work on the recent AMC remake. He is a broadcaster who has featured on BBC radio and ITV, written for the British Film Institute and 'SFX' magazine and produced documentaries for 2 Entertain's range of ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs.

RICHARD HULSE directs for TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED, and also plays the part of McGoohan's/Number Six's nemesis 'Number Two'. Gorman and Hulse first met almost twenty years ago whilst studying for English degrees, and have collaborated on several theatrical and film projects.

There is a word of warning from Brian Gorman for anyone expecting a straight-forward story of McGoohan’s life:

"In keeping with McGoohan’s surreal work on ‘The Prisoner’, we will be playing around with time, as well as the character itself. ‘Patrick McGoohan’ will be a mix of the real man, and ‘Number Six’, and the whole piece will be presented in the style of an episode of ‘The Prisoner’."

Another Prisoner fan, STEPHEN FRY, has sent Brian his personal best wishes for the production.

Entry is just £4, and tickets will be on sale on the night at the venue. Reservations can be made by emailing theprisonermcgoohan@yahoo.co.uk.

More details can be seen on the production’s Facebook page ‘JOHN DRAKE’.

Brian Gorman can be contacted at http://uk.mc296.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=brianinchester@yahoo.co.uk
or on 07510 591444.

'EVERYMAN' London & Chester dates

NEW PLAY ABOUT 'THE PRISONER' STAR
PATRICK McGOOHAN PREMIERES IN LONDON

THE PHOENIX ARTIST CLUB, 1 Phoenix St., Charing Cross Rd., London WC2H 8BU
8pm Wednesday 3rd - Thurs 4th November 2010

(Press Release 15.10.10)

‘EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan – The Prisoner’ is a new play from Brian Gorman's theatre company, TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED, detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year), and is to be staged in London next month at the famous Phoenix Artist Club on Charing Cross Road. The play will then be performed in Chester at The Forum Studio Theatre, Hamilton Place on 13th January next year (the anniversary of McGoohan's death in 2009).

Gorman, who also plays McGoohan and his character 'Number Six', performed a special rehearsed reading of 'Everyman' earlier this year in Manchester, at The Lass O'Gowrie pub, and played to a full house. The reading garnered a glowing review from Brian Watson for The Unmutual website (a major 'Prisoner' fan group):

"Brian achieved what no Number Two managed, that was to deconstruct the personality of the man and propose a very credible "what it's all about" of McGoohan's life and work.
The script of EVERYMAN is a joy: at turns witty, informative, dramatic, and wonderfully paced throughout. The author knows his subject thoroughly, tells the tale well and, while he refers to influences that surface later in The Prisoner, he never descends to quote-dropping for gratuitous effect."

Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as ‘DANGER MAN’ and ‘THE PRISONER’ is long overdue:

"McGoohan was a brilliant actor. In common with the great Orson Welles, who he cited as a major influence, he was also a fiercely uncompromising individual who took real artistic chances, and divided the critics."

PATRICK McGOOHAN was born in New York, but spent less than a year there before his family relocated to their native Ireland. Several years later, they moved to England, where McGoohan caught the acting bug in Sheffield, and worked his way up to leading roles at the local professional repertory theatre. He was the first choice to play James Bond in 1962, but turned down the role of a lifetime due to his distaste for the depiction of gratuitous violence and casual sex. While Bond was smashing cinema box office records, McGoohan became an international television star as secret agent John Drake in ‘Danger Man’; who rarely used a gun and politely declined the numerous advances of beautiful women. After several hugely successful years, McGoohan tired of playing Drake, and persuaded legendary producer Lew Grade to back his new project, ‘The Prisoner’, and allow him full creative control. The series made McGoohan the highest paid actor on British tv when he played an un-named secret agent who attempts to resign his job, only to be kidnapped and imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there seems no escape. Everybody in The Village is assigned a number, and McGoohan is referred to as Number Six, but refuses to conform; spending each of the series’ seventeen episodes attempting to outwit his captors. The show became a massive cult hit with its flamboyant action, imaginative stories, and surreal style, and was recently remade for ITV with Sir Ian McKellen starring as the enigmatic and menacing ‘Number Two’. McGoohan also starred in a variety of successful films including ‘Silver Streak’, ‘Ice Station Zebra’, and Mel Gibson’s oscar-winning ‘Braveheart’. He won two Emmy awards for acting in the ‘Columbo’ tv series, and was even immortalised in an episode of ‘The Simpsons’.

BRIAN GORMAN is from Wigan, and is a writer, artist, and actor. He has designed posters and brochure illustrations for The Chester Gateway Theatre, and had work published in The Liverpool Daily Post, The Big Issue, and Green World (the magazine of The Green Party). His artwork has also been seen on television (ITV1’s ‘Martina Cole’s Lady Killers’), and he is currently working on a professional commission to produce a series of graphic novels on Manchester bands. As an actor he has played leading roles in corporate and educational dramas, music videos, and has just played the notorious mass murderer Thomas Hamilton in an upcoming television reconstruction of the 1996 Dunblane massacre. He has also played the main villain, Viktor Toxikoff, in award-winning director Chris Stone’s James Bond inspired music video ‘The Rebel’, for the band The Amateurs. Gorman also has an arts review blog at http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/Gorman first studied acting at Wigan College of Technology in the 1980s, and was fascinated to later discover that Sir Ian McKellen had grown up just yards from the college theatre:

"I wrote to Sir Ian several years ago when he agreed to allow me to use his likeness in my comic book, ‘Borderliners’ (as did another hero of mine, The Saint himself - Sir Roger Moore). He sent me a wonderful three page hand-written letter telling me about how he’d enjoyed his childhood in Wigan, and had even played on the same stage as I had. It’s a fascinating coincidence that he has recently starred in the remake of ‘The Prisoner’, and now here I am playing Patrick McGoohan! "

Onboard as the production’s official adviser is ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH. Robert is a freelance writer, designer and producer. His work on ‘The Prisoner’ includes the book ‘The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series’, editing two volumes of ‘The Original Scripts’ for the classic series and graphic design work on the recent AMC remake. He is a broadcaster who has featured on BBC radio and ITV, written for the British Film Institute and 'SFX' magazine and produced documentaries for 2 Entertain's range of ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs.

RICHARD HULSE directs for TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED, and also plays the part of McGoohan's/Number Six's nemesis 'Number Two'. Gorman and Hulse first met almost twenty years ago whilst studying for English degrees, and have collaborated on several theatrical and film projects.

There is a word of warning from Brian Gorman for anyone expecting a straight-forward story of McGoohan’s life:

"In keeping with McGoohan’s surreal work on ‘The Prisoner’, we will be playing around with time, as well as the character itself. ‘Patrick McGoohan’ will be a mix of the real man, and ‘Number Six’, and the whole piece will be presented in the style of an episode of ‘The Prisoner’."

Another Prisoner fan, STEPHEN FRY, has sent Brian his personal best wishes for the production.

Entry is just £6, and tickets for the London production will be on sale very soon. Tickets at the same price for The Forum Studio Theatre, Chester are now on sale; telephone 01244 341296, or book online at http://www.tiptopproductions.co.uk/

Reservations can be made by emailing theprisonermcgoohan@yahoo.co.uk. More details can be seen on the production’s Facebook page ‘JOHN DRAKE’.

Brian Gorman can be contacted at brianinchester@yahoo.co.uk
or on 07510 591444.

NEW DATE FOR BARRY EVANS/VINCE POWELL CHARITY LUNCH

The very lovely Ms Francoise Pascal has been in touch to inform me of a rescheduling of the charity lunch in memory of comedy legends Barry Evans and Vince Powell. Here's what the lady had to say:

Barry Evans and Vince Powell Commemorative Lunch

We have been advised by many of you that you have prior Halloween commitments on the 31st October 2010. Because of this we have made arrangements to re-schedule the Lunch to: 6th February 2011

The lunch is in aid of Barnardos. (Barry Evans was a Barnardos child)

The Lunch will now be held at 1pm in the Marriot Hotel, Maida Vale. Address: Plaza Parade, Maida Vale, London, England. NW6 5RP.Phone: 44 20 7543 6000

LUNCH Champagne on arrival, Three Course meal, 2 bottles of wine (Red and White ) 2 bottles of water (Fizzy and Non) on the table, Desert, Petit Four and Coffee.

PLAQUE UNVEILING The Plaque unveiling will be at 12.00pm and if you can make your way over to the venue (Barry's Home) which is 8 Buckland Crescent, London NW3 5DX. by 11.30 that would be great. Distance from the Hotel to Barry's Home is approximately 7 minutes by car and 30 minutes on foot (a Google map will be provided to all)

Tickets are £70 per person and £700 for a table. (If you have already expressed an interest in the above we will be writing to you personally)We are in discussions with ITV and Channel 4 who have both expressed an interest in covering the event.

We hope you can all join us on the day and look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you

FRANCOISE PASCAL
Event Organiser

SILVER PEARL TV & FILM NETWORKING EVENT

The second of GAIL CULLEN's Silver Pearl TV & Film Networking events took place in Manchester recently. Unfortunately, I couldn't get along, but my good friend RICHARD HULSE popped in on the proceedings, and here's what he thought:

On Thursday, 7th October, Manchester’s Fab Café in Portland Street staged the second Silver Pearl networking event, inviting any member of the television and film industry to come along and listen to guest speakers, chat, have a drink or two and generally meet like-minded fellows. The Fab Café, with its low ceilings, and specks of orange and yellow lights drifting over the television annuals and the Dalek in the corner, conveyed the ambience of a rather low-key sci-fi disco. The Café isn’t a huge place – no Tardis-style huge-on-the-inside effect here – and this lent an informal quality to the relationship between the three speakers and the audience. Different coloured wristbands were worn to denote whether people were directors, actors, producers and the like.

These evenings have been designed by producer, Gail Cullen and production designer Rhiannon Clifford. First up was award-winning DJ and musician, Chris Wiseman, who told us a little about how he broke into the music business back in the 1990s at the Hacienda and later worked at the Ministry of Sound. Chris also quite rightly paid tribute to that grand old Hollywood stalwart and very underrated actor, Tony Curtis, who passed away two weeks ago.

Peter Hunt, a working actor and drama teacher, gave some valuable tips for anyone aspiring to work in front of the cameras. Preparation, it seems, is everything. Get good photographs for your CV, and make sure they’re up to date; don’t use the flattering one you had twenty years ago when you were playing Romeo, not if your appearance and age now makes Capulet a more suitable role choice. Good training is important, either full or part-time, and making use of showreels on DVD or the internet to showcase your abilities.

Producer Rachel Richardson Jones also spoke about the trials and rewards of her job. Splintered, the horror film Rachel is behind, was made on a limited budget of £300,000. Ably directed by first-timer, Simeon Halligan, and with a script from Matt Archer that
nods acknowledgment to a number of classic archetypes such as the beast of Bodmin, The Blair Witch Project, and even abuse within religious institutions, Splintered has recently had a limited cinema distribution. Simeon later spoke to me about his background in art school in London and how that helped inform his sense of aesthetics when he became interested in film-making.

I also had the opportunity to chat to Alison Rothwell who plays a leading role in a new stage play, The Interview, which takes as its subject the grim events of the Holocaust. An elderly survivor of the death camps is interviewed by a young reporter, and soon past and present merge, as supporting characters reappear ghost-like from the survivor’s memory. Written by Jayson Bartlett, after several years of careful research, The Interview sounds to be an emotive and disturbingly fascinating work, and goes on tour in November.

All in all, the event struck me as an enjoyable and useful mechanism for meeting other keen and able people within Manchester’s energetic performance arts community. It would certainly be worth keeping an eye open for the next one.

Richard Hulse

COMEDY LEGENDS - TICKETS NOW ON SALE

TICKETS NOW ON SALE:

BARRY EVANS & VINCE POWELL

Comedy legends to be honoured
31st October, Marriott Hotel, Swiss Cottage, London

(Press Release by Brian Gorman)

TV comedy legends BARRY EVANS and VINCE POWELL are to be posthumously honoured with a commemoration lunch at the Marriott Hotel, Swiss Cottage, London at 1pm on the 31st October. There will also be the unveiling of a plaque at Barry Evans’s house earlier in the day in Swiss Cottage where he lived for many years before he moved to Leicester.

The event is being organized by FRANCOISE PASCAL, (Evans’ co-star in the phenomenally successful 1970s and 1980s ITV comedy series ‘Mind Your Language’ which can still boast close to three million fans in Britain and around the world.). Other members of the cast are expected to attend as well as actors who played alongside Evans in the equally popular ‘Doctor in The House’ series.

Barry Evans was born in Guildford, Surrey in 1943, and is best remembered for the popular and controversial 1970s ITV sit-com ‘Mind Your Language’ written by Vince Powell. The show, set in an evening class for mature foreign students, was a huge ratings success, bringing in up to 18 million viewers a week. Evans had previously starred in such iconic films as ‘The White Bus’ (1966) and ‘Here We Go ‘Round The Mulberry Bush’ (1968), and television series’ ‘The Baron’ and ‘Doctor In The House’. He died in 1997 at age 52.

Born in 1928, in Miles Platting, Manchester, Vince Powell wrote some of the most popular and successful television comedy series of all-time. In the 1960s he helped to turn comedian Harry Worth into a household name with ‘Here’s Harry’ (1960-65), and contributed to early episodes of ‘Coronation Street’ (1961-64), and ‘Adam Adamant Lives!’ (1966-67). Other successful series he helped to create and write included ‘George and The Dragon’ (1966-68) with Sid James and Peggy Mount, ‘Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width’ (1967-71), ‘Nearest and Dearest’ (1968-72) with Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker, and ‘Bless This House’ (1971-76), another vehicle for Sid James. With regular writing partner Harry Driver, Powell’s best-known creation was ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ (1972-76); a hugely controversial comedy that was also the most watched show on British Television at the time. In later years he also wrote 130 episodes of ‘Surprise Surprise’ starring Cilla Black, worked on 224 episodes of ‘Blind Date’, and supplied comedy routines for ‘Play Your Cards Right’ with Bruce Forsyth.
Vince Powell died in 2009, aged 80.

There are a limited number of tickets on sale, which can be obtained via Barry Evans & Vince Powell Commemoration Lunch Ticket Line

Tickets are £70 per person (Table of 10: £700). Please provide your telephone number, address, and any dietary requirements. All cheques made payable to: MYL Lunch.

All proceeds will go to BARNARDO’S CHARITY, as Barry Evans was a Barnardo’s child.

For more information, please see the MYL FaceBook page:http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Barry-Evans-Vince-Powell-Memorial-Lunch/115813895123872

THE PRISONER THEME NIGHT

Transmission Unlimited

Presents

THE PRISONER THEME NIGHT

Featuring a rehearsed reading of

‘EVERYMAN

THE STORY OF PATRICK McGOOHAN – THE PRISONER’ by Brian Gorman

Plus Quiz, Prize Raffle, Prisoner Music, etc.

Entry £1 (on the door)

8pm Fri 13^th August, 2010

The Salmon Theatre, The Lass O’Gowrie, Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB

Press Release 07.08.10

‘EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan – The Prisoner’ is a new play detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year), and is to be staged in Manchester this later this year at the famous Lass O’Gowrie pub on Charles Street. On Friday 13^th August, however, fans can get a sneak preview with a special rehearsed reading by writer Brian Gorman. Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as ‘DANGER MAN’ and ‘THE PRISONER’ is long overdue:

McGoohan was a brilliant actor. In common with the great Orson Welles, who he cited as a major influence, he was also a fiercely uncompromising individual who took real artistic chances, and divided the critics.

PATRICK McGOOHAN was born in New York, but spent less than a year there before his family relocated to their native Ireland. Several years later, they moved to England, where McGoohan caught the acting bug in Sheffield, and worked his way up to leading roles at the local professional repertory theatre. He was the first choice to play James Bond in 1962, but turned down the role of a lifetime due to his distaste for the depiction of gratuitous violence and casual sex. While Bond was smashing cinema box office records, McGoohan became an international television star as secret agent John Drake in ‘Danger Man’; who rarely used a gun and politely declined the numerous advances of beautiful women. After several hugely successful years, McGoohan tired of playing Drake, and persuaded legendary producer Lew Grade to back his new project, ‘The Prisoner’, and allow him full creative control. The series made McGoohan the highest paid actor on British tv when he played an un-named secret agent who attempts to resign his job, only to be kidnapped and imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there seems no escape. Everybody in The Village is assigned a number, and McGoohan is referred to as Number Six, but refuses to conform; spending each of the series’ seventeen episodes attempting to outwit his captors. The show became a massive cult hit with its flamboyant action, imaginative stories, and surreal style, and was recently remade for ITV with Sir Ian McKellen starring as the enigmatic and menacing ‘Number Two’. McGoohan also starred in a variety of successful films including ‘Silver Streak’, ‘Ice Station Zebra’, and Mel Gibson’s oscar-winning ‘Braveheart’. He won two Emmy awards for acting in the ‘Columbo’ tv series, and was even immortalised in an episode of ‘The Simpsons’.

Onboard as the production’s official adviser is ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH. Robert is a freelance writer, designer and producer. His work on ‘The Prisoner’ includes the book ‘The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series’, editing two volumes of ‘The Original Scripts’ for the classic series and graphic design work on the recent AMC remake. He is a broadcaster who has featured on BBC radio and ITV, written for the British Film Institute and 'SFX' magazine and produced documentaries for 2 Entertain's range of ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs.


There is also a word of warning for anyone expecting a straight-forward story of McGoohan’s life:

In keeping with McGoohan’s surreal work on ‘The Prisoner’, we will be playing around with time, as well as the character itself. ‘Patrick McGoohan’ will be a mix of the real man, and ‘Number Six’, and the whole piece will be directed in the style of an episode of ‘The Prisoner’.

Manchester-based BRIAN GORMAN is from Wigan, and is a writer, artist, and actor. He has designed posters and brochure illustrations for The Chester Gateway Theatre, and had work published in The Liverpool Daily Post, The Big Issue, and Green World (the magazine of The Green Party). His artwork has also been seen on television (ITV1’s ‘Martina Cole’s Lady Killers’), and he is currently working on a professional commission to produce a series of graphic novels on Manchester bands. As an actor he has played leading roles in corporate and educational dramas, music videos, and has just played the notorious mass murderer Thomas Hamilton in a television reconstruction of the 1996 Dunblane massacre. His next role is one he is relishing; he plays the main villain in award-winning director Chris Stone’s James Bond inspired music video ‘The Rebel’. Gorman also has an arts review blog at http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/
Gorman first studied acting at Wigan College of Technology in the 1980s, and was fascinated to later discover that Sir Ian McKellen had grown up just yards from the college theatre:

I wrote to Sir Ian several years ago when he agreed to allow me to use his likeness in my comic book, ‘Borderliners’ (as did another hero of mine, The Saint himself - Sir Roger Moore). He sent me a wonderful three page hand-written letter telling me about how he’d enjoyed his childhood in Wigan, and had even played on the same stage as I had.

It’s a fascinating coincidence that he has recently starred in the remake of ‘The Prisoner’, and now here I am playing Patrick McGoohan! I would love to act opposite the great man one day, and who knows? Dreams CAN come true!

Another Prisoner fan, STEPHEN FRY, has sent Brian his personal best wishes for the production.

Entry is just £1, payable on the door. Reservations can be made by emailing theprisonermcgoohan@yahoo.co.uk. More details can be seen on the production’s Facebook page ‘JOHN DRAKE’.

Brian Gorman can be contacted at brianinchester@yahoo.co.uk

or on 07510 591444.

NEW DATE FOR COMEDY LEGENDS CHARITY LUNCH

There has been a change of date for the forthcoming charity lunch in honour of Barry Evans & Vince Powell

The new date is 31st October 2010

Here's my original press release with amended date:

BARRY EVANS & VINCE POWELL

Comedy legends to be honoured
31st October, Marriott Hotel, Swiss Cottage, London

(Press Release by Brian Gorman)

TV comedy legends BARRY EVANS and VINCE POWELL are to be posthumously honoured with a commemoration lunch at the Marriott Hotel, Swiss Cottage, London at 1pm on the 31st October. There will also be the unveiling of a plaque at Barry Evans’s house earlier in the day in Swiss Cottage where he lived for many years before he moved to Leicester.

The event is being organized by FRANCOISE PASCAL, (Evans’ co-star in the phenomenally successful 1970s and 1980s ITV comedy series ‘Mind Your Language’ which can still boast close to three million fans in Britain and around the world.). Other members of the cast are expected to attend as well as actors who played alongside Evans in the equally popular ‘Doctor in The House’ series.

Barry Evans was born in Guildford, Surrey in 1943, and is best remembered for the popular and controversial 1970s ITV sit-com ‘Mind Your Language’ written by Vince Powell. The show, set in an evening class for mature foreign students, was a huge ratings success, bringing in up to 18 million viewers a week. Evans had previously starred in such iconic films as ‘The White Bus’ (1966) and ‘Here We Go ‘Round The Mulberry Bush’ (1968), and television series’ ‘The Baron’ and ‘Doctor In The House’. He died in 1997 at age 52.

Born in 1928, in Miles Platting, Manchester, Vince Powell wrote some of the most popular and successful television comedy series of all-time. In the 1960s he helped to turn comedian Harry Worth into a household name with ‘Here’s Harry’ (1960-65), and contributed to early episodes of ‘Coronation Street’ (1961-64), and ‘Adam Adamant Lives!’ (1966-67). Other successful series he helped to create and write included ‘George and The Dragon’ (1966-68) with Sid James and Peggy Mount, ‘Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width’ (1967-71), ‘Nearest and Dearest’ (1968-72) with Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker, and ‘Bless This House’ (1971-76), another vehicle for Sid James. With regular writing partner Harry Driver, Powell’s best-known creation was ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ (1972-76); a hugely controversial comedy that was also the most watched show on British Television at the time. In later years he also wrote 130 episodes of ‘Surprise Surprise’ starring Cilla Black, worked on 224 episodes of ‘Blind Date’, and supplied comedy routines for ‘Play Your Cards Right’ with Bruce Forsyth.
Vince Powell died in 2009, aged 80.

There are a limited number of tickets on sale, which can be obtained via Francoise Pascal at francoisepascal2@gmail.com.
Tickets are £70 per person (Table of 10: £700). Please provide your telephone number, address, and any dietary requirements. All cheques made payable to: MYL Lunch.

All proceeds will go to BARNARDO’S CHARITY, as Barry Evans was a Barnardo’s child.

For more information, please see the MYL FaceBook page:http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Barry-Evans-Vince-Powell-Memorial-Lunch/115813895123872

VWORP 3 Dr Who Day @ The Lass

Tomorrow sees the return of the regular Vworp! Dr Who Day at Manchester's Lass O'Gowrie pub. All day in a pub with guests from the world of Doctor Who! What more can one ask for?! Here's the info from Mein Host, Gareth Kavanagh:

Yes, it's that time of year again and I'm thrilled to announce we're back for our third annual pubcon at the Lass O'Gowrie.Taking place on Sunday, July 18th as part of our inaugural fringe festival in the Lass (Lassfest), our theme this year is 'six of the best'. Essentially a take on Desert Island Discs, our assembled guests will take us on a journey through their six favourite things about their time of Doctor Who - beit a person, a character, a scene - whatever they fancy really. As it's us, you can bet we'll be using all the technology at our disposal and with our good pals at Kasterborous will be streaming and harvesting questions via twitter to boot.

Guests include the following (subject to professional commitments, *natch);

MC John Cooper

Terrance Dicks (writer, legend novelist who taught most of us to read)*

Andrew Cartmel (script editor and mastermind behind the McCoy revival)*

Graeme Harper (only the greatest Director of Who ever)*

Dez Skinn (Founding editor of our beloved Doctor Who Magazine)*

Rob Shearman (Genius behind Dalek, Chimes of Midnight and fan scholar)*

Chris Achilleos (Master of the early target novel covers, this man IS art)*

Ade Salmon (Artist's artist, illustrator of the Time Team and Cybermen)

And more in the pipeline, so keep 'em peeled!

Other treats include the debut of John Cooper's One Man Doctor Who and after show entertainment with the superb WART Show - award winning character comedy!Naturally, our fine pies and ale will be available throughout the day and with only 50 tickets being made available, the relaxed atmosphere you've all come to know and love will be retained, no fear.

Tickets cost a bargainous £19.50 a head and are available ONLY from www.wegottickets.com/event/83302 .

More info on us, as ever can be found at www.thelass.co.uk or in our cosy little thread on Gallifrey Base - http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53670

'EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan - The Prisoner'

New Press release

Hey, it's my arts blog, and I'll plug my own show if I want to! Seriously though, here's an up to date press release detailing a change of cast and director, and a little bit more information on the production. Tickets WILL be available very very soon.

Press Release 15.07.10



‘EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan – The Prisoner’ is a new play detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year), and is to be staged in Manchester this summer at the famous Lass O’Gowrie pub on Charles Street. Writer Brian Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as ‘DANGER MAN’ and ‘THE PRISONER’ is long overdue:

McGoohan was a brilliant actor. In common with the great Orson Welles, who he cited as a major influence, he was also a fiercely uncompromising individual who took real artistic chances, and divided the critics.

PATRICK McGOOHAN was born in New York, but spent less than a year there before his family relocated to their native Ireland. Several years later, they moved to England, where McGoohan caught the acting bug in Sheffield, and worked his way up to leading roles at the local professional repertory theatre. He was the first choice to play James Bond in 1962, but turned down the role of a lifetime due to his distaste for the depiction of gratuitous violence and casual sex. While Bond was smashing cinema box office records, McGoohan became an international television star as secret agent John Drake in ‘Danger Man’; who rarely used a gun and politely declined the numerous advances of beautiful women. After several hugely successful years, McGoohan tired of playing Drake, and persuaded legendary producer Lew Grade to back his new project, ‘The Prisoner’, and allow him full creative control. The series made McGoohan the highest paid actor on British tv when he played an un-named secret agent who attempts to resign his job, only to be kidnapped and imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there seems no escape. Everybody in The Village is assigned a number, and McGoohan is referred to as Number Six, but refuses to conform; spending each of the series’ seventeen episodes attempting to outwit his captors. The show became a massive cult hit with its flamboyant action, imaginative stories, and surreal style, and was recently remade for ITV with Sir Ian McKellen starring as the enigmatic and menacing ‘Number Two’.
McGoohan also starred in a variety of successful films including ‘Silver Streak’, ‘Ice Station Zebra’, and Mel Gibson’s oscar-winning ‘Braveheart’.
He won two Emmy awards for acting in the ‘Columbo’ tv series, and was even immortalised in an episode of ‘The Simpsons’.

The play is produced by Gorman’s company TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED.

Onboard as the production’s official adviser is ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH. Robert is a freelance writer, designer and producer. His work on ‘The Prisoner’ includes the book ‘The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series’, editing two volumes of ‘The Original Scripts’ for the classic series and graphic design work on the recent AMC remake. He is a broadcaster who has featured on BBC radio and ITV, written for the British Film Institute and 'SFX' magazine and produced documentaries for 2 Entertain's range of ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs.

Bolton-based JOE O’BYRNE, who has recently been receiving glowing reviews for his starring role in the gritty crime drama ‘Diary Of A Bad Lad’ (recently successfully released on dvd), was originally in line to play McGoohan. The acclaimed playwright and actor had even started rehearsals, but unexpectedly had to drop out due to previous professional commitments. Brian Gorman will now be playing the McGoohan role:

I hadn’t planned on this, as I really wanted to see Joe play McGoohan first, but fortunately we will have him back for another run later this year. However, I am relishing the chance to play a great hero of mine, and hope I can do the man justice. I won’t be attempting a simple caricature, but I will try and play him in the style his fans are accustomed to.

There is also a word of warning for anyone expecting a straight-forward story of McGoohan’s life:

In keeping with McGoohan’s surreal work on ‘The Prisoner’, we will be playing around with time, as well as the character itself. ‘Patrick McGoohan’ will be a mix of the real man, and ‘Number Six’, and the whole piece will be directed in the style of an episode of ‘The Prisoner’.

Manchester-based BRIAN GORMAN is from Wigan, and is a writer, artist, and actor. He has designed posters and brochure illustrations for The Chester Gateway Theatre, and had work published in The Liverpool Daily Post, The Big Issue, and Green World (the magazine of The Green Party). His artwork has also been seen on television (ITV1’s ‘Martina Cole’s Lady Killers’), and he is currently working on a professional commission to produce a series of graphic novels on Manchester bands. As an actor he has played leading roles in corporate and educational dramas, music videos, and has just played the notorious mass murderer Thomas Hamilton in a television reconstruction of the 1996 Dunblane massacre. He also has an arts review blog at http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/
Gorman first studied acting at Wigan College of Technology in the 1980s, and was fascinated to later discover that Sir Ian McKellen had grown up just yards from the college theatre:

I wrote to Sir Ian several years ago when he agreed to allow me to use his likeness in my comic book, ‘Borderliners’ (as did another hero of mine, The Saint himself - Sir Roger Moore). He sent me a wonderful three page hand-written letter telling me about how he’d enjoyed his childhood in Wigan, and had even played on the same stage as I had.

It’s a fascinating coincidence that he has recently starred in the remake of ‘The Prisoner’, and now here I am playing Patrick McGoohan! I would love to act opposite the great man one day, and who knows? Dreams CAN come true!

In Gorman’s production, the part of ‘Number Two’, will be played on stage by DAVID BICKERSTAFF. This Paisley born actor is now living in London, and trained at Queen Margaret, Edinburgh. He has just finished a successful run of Joe Orton's 'The Erpingham Camp' for TW4, and is a regular in the cult sci-fi comedy radio series 'The Scarifyers'.

Director RICHARD HULSE is a long-time friend and collaborator of Gorman’s, and the two have worked on several short films and theatrical pieces for over 15 years since studying English degrees at Chester College. Born in Australia, Hulse is a writer and film-maker, and has recently completed an M.A. in Fiction Film Production at The University of Salford. During the course he co-wrote & co-directed two short films, ‘Full Of Grace’ and ‘The Travelling Artist’ which have been screened at Manchester’s Cornerhouse cinema, attracting enthusiastic audience responses.

Tickets will be available soon. More details can be seen on the production’s Facebook page ‘JOHN DRAKE’. Production information is available from theprisonermcgoohan@yahoo.co.uk

Brian Gorman can be contacted at brianinchester@yahoo.co.uk or on 07510 591444.

THE SOCKS ARE BACK IN TOWN!!!

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

Date: Fri 23rd & Sat 24th July

Time: 9:30pm - Fri 23rd, 3:00pm - Sat 24th (Matinee) & 8:00pm - Sat 24th
Venue: Salmon Rooms, Lass O'Gowrie
Tickets: £5
Links:http://www.myspace.com/scottishfalsetto

Lass Favourite the Socks return with a preview of their new Edinburgh Show – on the Telly! Earth's funniest socks return for a fourth sell-out year with more new songs, sketches, socks and violence.

'For sheer energy and laughs per hour, these comic stockings are the biz - denier miss it.' (Scotsman);

'How on earth does the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet theatre turn out to be so bloody good?' (Chortle.co.uk).

BEST SHOW Nominee, Leicester Comedy Festival 2009. WINNER Edinburgh Festival Insider Comedy Award 2009

'THE BENCH' Review

Photo: Ste Myott (as Kev) and Stella Grundy (as 'Little Rabbit')

‘THE BENCH’

Salford Arts Theatre until 3rd July

Review by Brian Gorman
(Originally written for www.thepublicreviews.com)

I’ve been hearing about Joe O’Byrne’s play for quite a while now, and finally I got to see it at the Salford Arts Theatre this weekend. If only I hadn’t chosen the last performance! This was so good I am kicking myself that I can’t see it again. Part of the on-going series of plays (and films) concerning the residents of the fictional Paradise Heights, ‘The Bench’ takes place over the course of a single year, as we witness the lives of a selection of weird and wonderful characters brought vividly to life by a versatile and hugely talented cast. Things start with a bang as actress Stella Grundy sends temperatures soaring higher than a hot summer’s evening, dressed in leather overcoat, skin-tight bodice, stockings and suspenders. Taking a seat on the eponymous bench, which, apart from the graffiti-strewn War Memorial, constitutes the entire set, she indulges in an erotically-charged comic exchange with Ian Curley as her sexually frustrated partner. The two actors give wonderfully nuanced performances in a scene that delivers a fabulous cocktail of drama, suspense, comedy and pathos. From this warmly humorous and surprising beginning, we move on to a fantastical scene concerning an angel (Phoebe Marie Jones) and the recently-deceased Corny (Aaron Rochford), which I initially found a little confusing, but which laid the ground beautifully for the multi-layered, interconnected scenes to come. What we have in ‘The Bench’ is a series of cleverly observed vignettes which dovetail perfectly as the play progresses, and which demonstrate O’Byrne’s skill at creating believable, fully realized characters we can recognize. Imagine watching an episode of Coronation Street as directed by Martin Scorsese, with a stellar cast of the best actors around. The stand out scene has to be the one between local hard man Frank Morgan (played by the hugely versatile Ian Curley) and the slimeball Kev (Ste Myott, ably making one’s skin crawl). Beginning calmly enough, the scene twists and turns revealing more and more about each man, until I found myself thinking that this was probably the best set piece I’d seen on the stage for years. I am not exaggerating when I say that Ian Curley would give DeNiro a run for his money should the great method actor ever try and play this scene. Real edge of the seat stuff, and a truly frightening and unnerving scenario that shows what can be achieved when the performances perfectly match the writing. Curley appears again as a cantankerous pensioner in a couple of excellently comic, and ultimately tragic scenes with a fellow war veteran (Ste Myott). Clyve Bonelle delivers an incredibly understated and affecting performance as a simple-minded local criminal who falls in love with a badly-scarred (both physically and emotionally) street urchin (Phoebe Marie Jones tugging at the heart strings magnificently). O’Byrne makes us care about these characters as people, and his direction is faultless. There are no histrionics, no patronizing of his audience, and no overt moralizing in this snapshot of 21st century life on the streets of ‘broken Britain’. ‘The Bench’ is giving it to us like it is; no frills theatre with balls and undiluted attitude. The great shame of the evening was the low turn out, and the fact that so many people have missed something quite wonderful; work like this needs the oxygen of publicity, and the support of the local print media. I am confident that we haven’t seen the last of ‘The Bench’, O’Byrne, or his massively talented cast and crew. These people are going places. Fast. Do yourselves a huge favour, and beg, borrow or steal a ticket for the next theatrical installment of Paradise Heights, because once the word truly gets out, you’ll be begging to be in the audience. Joe O’Byrne is currently working on two more chapters, ‘Strawberry Jack’ and ‘Torch’. Remember those titles. See you in the queue for returns!

Review at The Public Reviews: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/the-bench-salford-arts-theatre/

'DIARY OF A BAD LAD' The Premiere

Joe O'Byrne (who plays the hard-as-nails Tommy Morghen) strikes a suitably menacing pose outside The Plaza.

The magnificent Stockport Plaza was the place to be this Tuesday, when the gritty, no-holds-barred crime drama 'Diary Of A Bad Lad' had its big screen premiere. Several years in the making, the low budget movie, written by Jonathan Williams, and directed by Michael Booth, is gathering fabulous reviews from across the world. Deliberately setting out to 'tell it like it is', this is no Guy Ritchie gangster romp, but rather a disturbing, under your skin, 'mockumentary' that gets about as near to the real dirty, scummy underbelly of life on the street as I ever want to experience. There was certainly an element of black comedy about this film being screened in the opulent 1930s atmosphere of The Plaza, with its compliment of neatly-attired genteel elderly volunteer staff (who were all lovely, by the way!). A real clash of cultures, and a frightening reminder of the contrast between constructed fantasy and grim reality. As Jonanathan Williams said on stage during the inspiring Q & A session that followed the screening; this event can be seen as the beginning of the new wave of northern film-making. Showing that not everything happens in London, and that sheer will power plus talent CAN result in a fantastic movie. Ken Loach and Martin Scorsese need to see this film NOW. Somebody get a copy under their noses ASAP!

My review of the film can be seen here: http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/2010/06/diary-of-bad-lad-dvd-review.html

The dvd has just been released, and you can pick up a copy in the high street shops or on Amazon. Do yourself a big favour, and buy it.

R.I.P. FRANK SIDEBOTTOM (CHRIS SIEVEY)

A Manchester legend has died. There was nobody else like him. Surreal, daft, side-splittingly funny, and only 54 years old. He launched his World Cup song recently - 'Three Shirts On My Line'. Very very sad.

The Guardian obituary: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jun/21/frank-sidebottom-creator-chris-sievey-dies

'THE ROAD TO NAB END'

Photo: L-R Lisa Howard, Adam Barlow, Kenneth Alan Taylor and Jo Mousley


THE ROAD TO NAB END

Oldham Coliseum Theatre until 10th July 2010

Review by Brian Gorman

William Woodruff’s bestselling memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood in post WW1 Blackburn finds an ideal home on the stage of Oldham Coliseum, and is a perfect piece to herald the much anticipated return of actor Kenneth Alan Taylor; this is his first theatrical role since recovering from a heart attack a year ago. The real life drama added much poignancy to the depiction of an elderly Woodruff narrating the story of his childhood years, and Mr Taylor gave a masterly performance full of restless, even youthful, energy demonstrating a genuine love of the subject matter. Young ‘Billy’ Woodruff was born during World War One when his mother gave birth on a woolsack whilst working in one of the many cotton mills in Blackburn. The story follows the first twenty or so years of our young hero’s life as the family struggle to make ends meet, and the cast play a bewildering variety of characters. Kenneth Alan Taylor holds everything together as the mature Woodruff visiting his old hometown in, what appeared to be, the late 1970s, and finding that most of the places he remembers have now been demolished, but the memories of the people and events remain strong. This is a very colourful production, rich in character, charm, and showcasing a very talented cast in a variety of challenging roles. Adam Barlow is superb as Billy, aging from a small child to a young man very effectively indeed. Robin Simpson was delightful as Billy’s best pal, Harold, using skillful body language to conjure up a believable young rogue, constantly adjusting his ‘bits and pieces’. Simpson also gave us a wonderfully comic Salvation Army bigamist, and almost stole the show as an upper-class character who reminded me of the late, great Leonard Rossiter. John Elkington played Billy’s father as a solid northern patriarch, determined to provide for his family, and loathe to accept any form of charity when losing his job at the mill. A contrasting role for Elkington was as Mr Grimshaw, Billy’s pedantic and charm free employer; a fabulously comical character one could imagine popping up in tv’s ‘Little Britain’. Lisa Howard as Billy’s mother also played Grandmother Bridget, and had many heartbreaking scenes to play, carrying them off beautifully. Unfortunately, with so many characters on display, it’s hard for me to recognize who was playing who at times (and yes, I did read the programme; but no, it doesn’t list every character). Whoever played The Salvation Army lady was outstanding at berating the audience on the evils of liquor, and I apologise for not being able to name her here (write to me, ma’am!). Christopher Chilton was yet another actor able to showcase his dramatic and comic talents in a variety of roles including the amiable Gordon Weall, a staggering drunk singing ‘Nelly Dean’, and a firebrand communist who comes to a sticky end beneath the hooves of a Police horse. Director Kevin Shaw has a strong hand on the rudder, and, as he showed us in last month’s fantastic production of ‘The Memory Of Water’, can handle tears and laughter with the surest of touches. There is always the danger of a story like this lapsing into parody, but at no time did Kevin Shaw and his company seek to patronize their audience. There is a real atmosphere at Oldham Coliseum, and it was clear from Kenneth Alan Taylor’s curtain call speech that respect is paramount here. Kudos too to Philip Goulding for adapting Woodruff’s book for the stage in this, its premiere production. Goulding successfully weaves a fascinating tale of a young boy’s life, his aims and ambitions, and the tough times of local mill workers’ lives, and presents us with a vibrant, life-enhancing story filled with every human emotion. There are also musical moments with John Elkington on ukulele, and the cast singing old favourites such as ‘Danny Boy’; what more could you ask for?!