Reasons to be Cheerful

It’s 1979: Labour loses to the Tories, strikes rock the nation and Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3) climbs the charts. As the ultimate fans, Vinnie and his mates would do anything to see Dury at the Hammersmith Odeon, only the gig is sold out. But life has a habit of throwing strange things at you, and one night of frustration becomes something else entirely...

Written by Paul Sirett and directed by Graeae’s Jenny Sealey, this acclaimed coming of age tale featuring Ian Dury and the Blockheads' greatest hits such as Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, Sweet Gene Vincent, Spasticus Autisticus and Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick will fill theatres with raucous glee. ‘Ave it!

In London "Reasons to be Cheerful" runs from Wednesday 28 Mar – 1 April 2012 at the Hackney Empire, Mare Street, East London. Adm: £10 – £27.50. Info: 0208 985 2424 / www.hackneyempire.co.uk

NATION-WIDE TOUR DATES Spring 2012

Date: 9 Feb – 18 Feb 2012
Venue: New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
Info: Box Office: 01473 295900 /www.wolseytheatre.co.uk

Date: 21 Feb – 25 Feb 2012
Venue: Hall for Cornwall
Info: Box Office: 01872 262466 / www.hallforcornwall.co.uk

Date: 1 March – 4 March 2012
Venue: Hull Truck
Info: Box Office: 01482 323638 /www.hulltruck.co.uk

Date: 13 March – 17 March 2012
Venue: Watford Palace
Info: Box Office: 01923 225671 / www.watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk

Date: 20 March – 24 March 2012
Venue: Dundee Rep
Info: 01382 223530 / www.dundeerep.co.uk

Date: 3 April – 7 April 2012
Venue: Nottingham Playhouse
Info: Box Office: 0115 941 9419 /www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

Shallow Slumber

Kids love their parents. They can’t help loving. So I have to ask, “what’s the limit? How far would you go for the person who ruined your life?”

Dawn never thought motherhood would feel like this. Moira never thought she’d have a case like this. How far would you go for someone who ruined your life?

Unfolding backwards to the heart-rending moment when everything changed, Chris Lee’s Shallow Slumber, directed by Mary Nighy, looks past the headlines to the lives beneath. It is a story for social workers everywhere and anyone with a heart.

Lee is an award-winning playwright, social worker, former Pearson playwright-in residence at the Finborough, and Associate Writer at The Abbey, Dublin. His explosive new play is produced by Supporting Wall, following their sell-out world premiere of Philip Ridley’s Tender Napalm.

The play is suitable for ages 11 years plus. Post Show Talks on Tue 31 Jan, Tue 7 Feb and Tue 14 Feb, free with your ticket.

Love Sax and all that Jazz (The Sequel: Da Mans Dem)

After 12 months and 12 shows across eight cities in the UK, Love Sax and all that Jazz the smash hit comedy play from Alan Charles still continued to thrill audiences, having received rave reviews up and down the country. The play dealt with relationship issues through humour, music and the spoken word exploring singleness, abused, unequally yoked relationships, infidelity and fornication. A show for the entire family, clean, uplifting and inspiring, it was often sold out, but here comes part two!

Love Sax and all that Jazz Chapter 2 (Da Mans Dem) is the sequel to the hit comedy play Love Sax and all that Jazz. Again written by Alan Charles, Da Mans Dem takes an informative and humorous look at men and relationships exploring those age old questions what do men want? Why do men cheat? And what defines a man?

In chapter one the girls were explosive in chapter 2 Da Mans Dem will get their say. Get ready for another explosion of humour in this production that will inform, uplift and edutain the whole family.

See Love Sax and all that Jazz (The Sequel: Da Mans Dem) on Sat 11th & Sun 12th February 2012 at the Broadway Theatre, Catford, London SE6 4RU. 7.30pm. Adm: £15 - £20 Info: 0208 690 0002

To see snippets of Part 1 click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gYESk3odrA

The Changeling

A tale of lust, murder, madness and adultery, The Changeling is a gripping tale of how love and sex can drive us into madness.

Beautiful Beatrice-Joanna is in love, so she hires the repellent De Flores to kill the man her father plans to betroth her to. However once the deed has been carried out, Beatrice discovers it’s not money or jewels that De Flores intends to claim as his reward, but something far more precious.

Directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins (deputy artistic director of Young Vic), designed by Ultz, with sound by Paul Arditti and light by James Farncombe, The Changeling was written by Thomas Middleton, one of the most powerful tragedies ever the greatest Elizabethan playwright after Shakespeare.

Middleton’s plays are known for their cynicism and delve into uncomfortable truths about sex, poverty, disease, political corruption and religious hypocrisy.

First performed in 1622 at the Phoenix Theatre on Dury Lane, The Changeling (co-written with William Rowley) is considered to be his greatest tragedy.

A darkly comic tale of sex, love and panic, The changeling will be showing on the 26 January – 18 February 2012 at The Maria in The Young Vic, 66 The Cut, Waterloo, London, SE1 8LZ. 7:45pm. Adm: £17.50. Mats: Wed & Sat (except 28 Jan and 1 Feb): 2:45 pm. Previews: (26 Jan - 1 Feb) £10. Info: 0207 922 2922.

Note: A limited number of discounts are available for each performance. Early booking is advised.

By Folashade Bello

After Miss Julie

Over one long midsummer’s night, Miss Julie’s world is turned head over heels when she descends into the servants’ kitchen of her father’s country mansion in search of the chauffeur John.

Set in England, July 1945 during the Labour Party’s landslide election triumph, which meant victory in the class struggle resulting in celebrations in every street. After Miss Julie is Strindberg's Cruellest Love Story Re-Imagined By Patrick Marber.

A string of acclaimed plays have been written by Marber, including Dealer’s Choice, Don Juan in Soho and Closer, and the screenplays to BAFTA-winning films Notes on a Scandal and Closer. He adapted After Miss Julie from Strindberg’s Miss Julie initially for BBC 2. The first stage version opened at the Donmar in 2003 and was performed by Helen Baxendale, Richard Coyle and Kelly Reilly. Sienna Miller recently played Miss Julie on Broadway.

Natalie Abrahami, co-artistic director of The Gate and winner of the coveted JMK Award for young directors in 2005, directs Marber’s passionate tragedy.

After Miss Julie is the pilot for a new series at the Young Vic called Classics for a New Climate. Throughout the creative process the team will investigate and experiment with approaches to making theatre while taking as little electricity off the national grid as possible.

This great play will be shown on the 15 March 2012 – 7 April 2012 at The Maria, in The Young Vic, 66 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LZ. 7:45pm. Adm: £17.50. Mats: Wed & Sat (except 17, 21 Mar): 2:45 pm. Previews: (15 – 20 Mar) £10. Info: 0207 922 2922.

Note: A limited number of discounts are available for each performance. Early booking is advised.

By Folashade Bello

Batman Live

When they call it a multi-media spectacular, Batman LIVE really is. It is as though the DC Comics have come to life –and then some! The show effortlessly moves through action, acrobatics, and aerobatics, with spectacular sets evoking Gotham City (see Batman and Catwoman atop of skyscrapers), Arkham Asylum (with realistic dead lunatics hanging from ropes across the stage), Wayne Manor, with its huge wooden table and chair designed in perspective, the Batcave, and Haley’s Circus.

This Batman show feels completely authentic; it acknowledges DC Comics’ artist-writer Jim Lee as its inspiration. The initial narrative focuses on Robin - alias Dick Grayson- and his quest for justice. Much of the first half of the show seamlessly introduces the characters, their back-stories, and the nebulous relationship between Catwoman and Batman –are they foes or something more? Haley’s Circus provides the backdrop for enchanting aerobatics –trapeze artists spent 45 minutes every day for three months preparing for these scenes.

As Batman’s enemies are introduced –The Joker, his moll Harley Quinn, The Penguin, The Riddler, later to be joined by Two-Face and Poison Ivy, each memorably fills the arena with his or her own brand of mischief.

Apart from the beautifully designed sets, the 100-foot video wall designed and made in America is animated par excellence; moving the action between locations and then providing stunning visual backdrops, emphasizing the filmic overtones.

The specially composed music is highly evocative. The animated journey from Wayne Manor, down many levels into the Batcave is designed with courage; allowing the audience to pause… and appreciate. The show breaks with naturalistic movement occasionally and there are tableau in which the main characters, like Catwoman, take poses echoing their comic book avatars –something which cannot be done on film but which works beautifully here.

Batman Live is full of brilliant touches but stand out features are the Batmobile – specially created for the show –as well as a giant 3D mask of The Joker which has, instead of teeth, five upside down humans in white sheets.

Batman Live is the brainchild of Executive Producer Nick Grace and the Creative director is Anthony Van Laast. The show opens in Liverpool and moves to Nottingham the following week, before playing Dublin and Belfast, and on through a world tour, grab a ticket any which way that you can!

Review by Rani Singh

Now - Sat 4 Feb 2012
RICHARD II
King Richard banishes his noblemen and seizes their land to fuel his own wars. As anger mounts, a battle for the soul of England begins and one man's divine right to rule is called into question. By William Shakespeare.
Venue: Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street, WC2H 9LD.
Travel/tube: Covent Garden.
Info: 0844 871 7624.

Now – Sat 4 Feb 2012
CHILLY GONZALES: THE UNSPEAKABLE CHILLY GONZALES
After storming Soho Theatre this October with a sell-out run, the relentlessly entertaining pianist, rapper, director, Grammy-nominated producer and musical genius Chilly Gonzales returns. A rare chance to see this unique performer with his latest theatrical exploration of sound and rhythm.
Venue: Soho Theatre, Soho Downstairs, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE.
Time: 9.45pm
Adm: £15 - £17.50
Info: 0207 478 0100

Now - Sat 3 Mar 2012
PAJAMA MEN: IN THE MIDDLE OF NO ONE
A fast-paced comedy thriller about love, alien abduction, the pressure cooker of solitude and the spirit of adventure. Present in the Pajama Men’s trademark style of blink-of-an-eye character switches and plot twists, underscored with unflinching joke telling, In the Middle of No One is a bizarre flight of fancy-pants.
Venue: Charing Cross Theatre, London.
Adm: £25.50 Thurs – Sat eves; £21.50 Mon – Weds eves plus matinees
Info: 0207 478 0100

16 Feb 2012 - on 31 Mar 2012
BINGO
With the glory years of London behind him, William Shakespeare finds himself in a moral dilemma. Faced with the same situation as his greatest creation King Lear, what should he do with his land and his power?
Venue: Young Vic Theatre (Main House), 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ.
Travel/Tube: Waterloo. Mon - Sat 7.30pm, Mats Wed & Sat at 2.30pm (No matinees 18, 22 Feb).
Adm: £10 - £29.50.
Info: 0207 922 2922.