Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

 

The Spring DOS show is packed with camp glamour, a rocking soundtrack, stunning costumes and some of the best performances you’re likely to see anywhere on stage.

The story is of 3 drag artists, Tick (Ben Connor), Bernadette (Julian Cound) and Felicia (George Hurley) who trek across Australia to perform a show for Tick’s wife Marion (Kirsty Furness) at the Alice Springs Casino.  Tick, who also has a son to Marion whom he has not seen in years, is desperate to give fatherhood a try.  Bernadette, a slightly neurotic former Les Girl has just had her heart broken by the death of her love, Trumpet and sees the trip as an opportunity to escape the sadness. Felicia is a hedonistic party fiend, for whom the trip will give her the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of climbing Ayres rock in full drag. 

Ben’s Tick is as close to watching Hugo Weaving as you’re ever likely to see; brilliant campy when needed, soft and vulnerable and with impeccable comedic timing.  His MacArthur Park routine will have you gasping for breath.  Julian, as the older, more mature Bernie makes for a very glamorous MILF; stone cold in his sarcastic put downs he anchors the two younger fly-by-nights.  George takes on the renegade role, the “can’t be stopped and to hell with the consequences” I’m going to poke this with a stick and see what happens.

Of course, the Australian outback isn’t the most of tolerant of differences and so their journey is met with a mixture of acceptance and appreciation coupled with bigoted scepticism and prejudice.  The story is as much about asking the audience to consider their own tolerance as it is about celebrating the glam and glitz which, without ever preaching, is rather apt in the current world.

Bringing the 1993 movie to the stage is a wonderful opportunity for cast and crew to big up the bling, the hair, the heels and the eye shadow and this version leaves nothing in the dressing room.  Scene changes are seamlessly accompanied by Miss Understanding (Eddie Taylor-Jones at his most flamboyant EmCee-esque best) and the Divas. Led by Jess Harrison with Jenny Poole and Claire Wilmer, they treat us to some of the biggest, campest pop songs including Go West, It’s Raining Men, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Venus. Brilliant costumes (fans of the film will be delighted to see some favourites) and a wonderful Priscilla make it impossible to turn your eyes away for even a moment.

Notable other mentions must also go to David Murray as Bob, the dusty outback gentleman who wins Bernadette’s broken heart and his mail order wife Cynthia, played by the irrepressible Natalie Robinson, following which I will never be able to watch table tennis or listen to M’s ‘Pop Music’ ever again.  Tick’s son Benji is played by either Noah Abbas or Alfie Webster – we saw Noah who was amazing, a great actor and no slouch in the singing.

The ensemble, as is customary with every DOS production, can turn their hands, feet and voices to a whole range of numbers; Cowboy hoedown, Kylie inspired 90’s pop, Outback seedy bar and of course 70’s disco are all given the DOS treatment with Director and Choreographer Joanne Hand once again creating phenomenal multi-layered routines which show off the cast’s talents perfectly.

All in, this is a perfect show for fun, laughs, sing-a-long, feel good and boy do we need some of this at the moment – I’d go so far as to say this is the best DOS show I’ve seen in over 10 years of reviewing.

Priscilla runs until Saturday 7th May - tickets available from

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/darlingtonos/e-jvekxd

Bishop Auckland Food Festival 2022

 If Bishop be in Love with Food, Come on

This weekend is the annual Bishop Auckland Food Festival and this year is by far the best yet.  Combining street food, artisan producers and cookery demonstrations, there is something here for everyone and much more than you would expect.

The evolution of Bishop Auckland Food Festival has seen it move from the Palace grounds (where it was as much about arts & crafts as it was food)  into the market place, then up the lower part of Newgate Street, back into the market place and now it spreads up Bondgate and into the car park on the site of the old Bus Depot and Clarendon Motors.

Chilli Jam Man

The current layout is certainly the best; clearly lessons have been learned to give more space for the stalls, more room to wander and a better sense of identity.

Weardale Cheeses

Old favourites are here; the wonderful Weardale Cheeses are one of a number purveyors of dairy produce (blessed are they all), The Chilli Jam Man, Screaming Chimp and Twisted Curry are stalwarts of providing zip and zing to the taste buds while Geordie Bangers remind us that good sausages make great meals.  If it’s more than a sausage you’re looking for then Shaw Meats have a huge range of local meats, steaks, smoked and cured slices and brilliant versions of black pudding.

Pie'wich

Adding to these are some new attendees; national award winning Pie’wich who combine a Brioch dough as a pie case and fill them with amazing combinations like 3 cheese, Lamb and Rosemary, Sea Bass, and smoked sausage.  Wiga Wagaa add an international array of sauces and pickles perfect to create foods from the Caribbean, South Africa and the far east. 

AB Gold Rum

Locksley Gin

With all this food on offer you may be in need of a drink or two and this year the Food Festival represents the current trend and demand for all things Gin; Pitwheel, Little Quaker and Locksley are wonderful local distillers who know their craft, can guide and enhance your gin drinking with advice of how to serve and how to mix.  If you’re looking for something different to gin then the amazing and award winning AB Gold Rum is like sipping ambrosia (the food of the gods, not the rice pudding).

Pitwheel Gin

Gyros

Rose Cottage

Of course, you won’t just want to buy to take home, there is plenty of food cooked there for you to eat as you wander; Gyros’,  Armenian flat breads, Gourmet Sausage Butties, Halloumi Fries, Giant Yorkshire Puds and in Rose Cottage the best farmhouse bakers with pies, rolls and cannonball sized scotch eggs.

 

Grab a brew from Caps Off, the Cocktail Pickers Club or Gin and Tonia and sit in the sun enjoying the sea of smiling faces, the waft of delicious smells and the feeling that you’re at the best food festival in the North East.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

 

Enter the fantasy world of magic and make believe.

Adapting a much loved animated film, let alone a Disney classic, is always going to be a challenge.  You can do so much on screen which defies logic, physics or simple understanding; let’s be honest, that is what makes such movies appealing to everyone, yet the current tour of Bedknobs and Broomsticks manages to create all the mystery, magic and danger of the original 1971 Disney movie right before your eyes.

Right from the opening scene, which, without any words being spoken begins the story of 3 London children (Charlie, Carrie and Paul) who, having lost their home and their parents during the Blitz, are bundled up, put on a train and transported away.  The scene changing as they move from the war torn capital through the hustle and bustle of panicked evacuation and out to the serene calmness of the countryside is stage craft at its very highest.  Eldest Rawlins, Charlie, is played by Conor O'Hara with the two younger members of the family being shared cast.

On reaching their designated ‘safe house’ the children soon realise their patron is more than just an eccentric lady; she is a trainee witch.  Dianne Pilkington as Eglatine Price is wonderful in the Angela Lansbury role; kind yet direct, fantastical yet recognising the children need to remain grounded.  In proving her abilities to doubting Charlie she turns him into a rabbit using the The Turn-a-Man-into-a-Rabbit Spell (Filigree apogee pedigree perigee), wonderfully effected using puppets and prosthetics.  Cue the next step in her development and her first flight on her broomstick.  This is simply magical; again, the staging and effects are better than any CGI as you can see it happening right before your eyes. 

In a desire to use her magic to help end the war without further bloodshed, Ms Price realises the one final spell she needs is missing from her tome of magic and so back to London they must go to find the other part of the book, currently held by small time street illusionist Emelius Browne (Charles Brunton).  Time for the Bedknob, bewitched by a Travelling spell (Hellebore henbane aconite glow-worm fire and firefly light) by Ms Price, and yet more wonderment as the bed begins to fly, it too defying gravity in the most magical of ways.  Gone are obvious wires and strange pulleys, the flying scenes in this show will have you transfixed in trying to see how they do it.

From London, and with Mr Browne in tow, they venture to the land of No Pee Pol and seek an audience with the King, a majestic lion (another brilliant puppet akin to Lion King or War Horse).  On the way Browne and Price take part in an underwater version of Strictly Musicals, great dancing but sadly for some in the audience, a little too long to keep their attention. 

Emboldened with the necessary final spell - Substitutiary Locomotion (Treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee), they return back to the house and begin to enchant a new army of objects to take the place of people just as the invasion begins.

A wonderfully told story, though possibly a little too long for younger members of the audience; the original movie runs at 97 minute however this production returns it back to the original 2 hours 15mins, however with great numbers such as  "Bobbing along", "The Age of Not Believing" and "Negotiality" this show positively flies by (both figuratively and physically).

The Last Quiz Night on Earth

What would you do if you were facing the last night of existence?  Would you spend it at home, at work, with family or, as is the topic of tonight’s show, at your local having the Quiz night to end all quiz nights.

Box of Tricks Theatre have created a brilliantly different take on something that is all too familiar for so many of us – the pub quiz.  Set in The Four Horsemen, the audience play the part of the pub regulars, all seated at small tables, equipped with our quiz answer sheets, fliers and pens.  As soon as we walked into Scarth Hall it felt like a local, there was a hum of conversation, groups who already knew each other and a busyness of pulling drinks and clearing tables.  

Playwright Alison Carr and Director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder have a rather unique task at hand; Alison has had to write the play to be performed knowing the audience will be involved, while Hannah has to direct the cast & creatives but also allow for that unknown entity of the audience – for this to work well, the audience need to be engaged, active not passive, but also respect that there is still a show being performed.  It is testament to all involved that it felt seamless between script and reaction, a real sense of ‘we’re in this together’.

Landlady Kathy (Meriel Scholfield) is hosting her very last night before an asteroid crashes into planet Earth and dooms everyone.  Meriel is a wonderful Kathy, she is warm and engaging, a little scary (as all good pub landladies should be) and has a genuine desire to make sure everyone has a good time.  She constantly interacts with the audience/pub regulars without it ever feeling false or planned.

Her quizmaster for the night is Rav (Matthew Khan) – funny, flamboyant and focussed on hosting another great quiz.  Rav takes his craft very seriously so any interruption to the flow of his question & answers is particularly galling for him – not ideal when a) it’s the end of the world and b) unexpected guests keep turning up.

Bobby (Chris Hoyle) is Kathys estranged brother, long since removed from her life and yet, on this, the day of days, he decides to return and settle some old scores. Chris packs so much energy and emotion into his part that you are torn between pity, scorn and empathy throughout the night.

Finally we have Fran (Tilly Sutcliffe), a nervous 20 something who apparently Rav has already known from a previous life and who still holds a candle for him, or for the person she has believed he is.

Twists and turns continue at apace, all bound by the 5 rounds of the quiz, in which we the audience/regulars, partake.  The questions are very good, a great range of topics and enough of a challenge to keep everyone engaged without it becoming too competitive. Likewise the choice of music to accompany the rounds.

As the end of the night approaches we play witness to more soul searching, more revelations and finally some reconciliation – after all, why hold a grudge, “we’re all going to die soon”.

This was the first Box of Tricks production I have seen but it most certainly won’t be the last – I was very impressed with the writing, the styling, the storytelling and of course the cast. My only disappointment is that this was the last show of the rural tour; I would have loved to have watched it again (and to have prompted more friends and family to do so too).

Performing this in Scarth Hall, Staindrop was a great choice of venue – Scarth Hall is ideal for small productions ad is ran by a group of trustees and volunteers who make your visit warm, welcoming and one you want to repeat.

Carmen by Opera North

Since Bizet first composed his legendary opera Carmen back in 1874 there have been countless performances, re-imaginings, movies, books and plays; this new production by Opera North is a very worthy addition to that list and one which will live long in the memory.

This current version, gives the traditionally Spanish drama a uniquely modern set of sensibilities centred not in Seville as the original, but on the French/Spanish border.  Carmen ( Chrystal E. Williams) is a burlesque dancer in a somewhat seedy nightclub; entertaining the soldiers and toreadors alike while trying to bring up her daughter safe from the hate and corruption war brings.  Drug use and smuggling takes place openly in the bar, alcohol flows freely and the characters are gregarious and brash.  Carmen is the dancer, the leader of the showgirls, the main attraction, but we are left in no doubt that first and foremost to her, she is a mother, a single mother.  This plays beautifully against pregnant Micaela (Alison Langer) who believes that she must have a husband and her unborn child a father, save that she will suffer the shame from her family and home village.  Sadly for her, the man in question, soldier Don Jose (Satriya Krisna) has become besotted with Carmen and so begins the one of many manage a trois.

Don Jose is stationed in the garrison, enjoying the soldier life freedoms and male camaraderie.  He does not want a ‘reminder from home’ and shuns the demands to do the right thing by Micaela.  Ribbed by his soldier friends and tempted by the life of drink, drugs and loose women, he is constantly torn.

Playing out behind this love triangle is the fated superstar toreador Escamillo (Phillip Rhodes) – an 18^th century Elvis Presley who, complete with his followers and cheer leaders, performs his bull fighting in a bid to woo Carmen.  It is not clear if his intentions to Carmen are driven by love, lust or simply to add another conquest but what he manages to do is inflame Jose’s passions and the two rivals fight, spurred on by the baying crowd and overseen by Carmen.  Jose cannot accept that Carmen does not love him, especially as he has now estranged himself from Micaela and when Carmen finally sides with Escamillo, Jose sees that there is no other way to rid himself of his jealous anguish but to kill her.

Under conductor Antony Hermus,  Bizet’s operatic storytelling is given full throttle; high drama, passionate characters, dark comedy and a deep reflection on the human condition, the audience is gripped from the moment the opening overture begins.  Sure, there are plenty of well known ‘songs’ in this opera, indeed many have found their way into popular culture, tv ads and even football chants, however it is only when observed as a whole performance can you truly appreciate the character portrayals and wonderfully absorbing storytelling.

This production is Opera North at its very finest – they make classic opera so accessible for the modern audience; exciting, enthralling, energetic and totally engaging.  Traditional opera fans will love this version, new ones will wonder why they have not been to see their work sooner.