Made In Dagenham - The Women Who Changed The World

Hi everyone, so at the weekend I went on a semi-spontaneous trip to London to see two shows. I hadn't planned to officially see anything but was hoping to see Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Gielgud Theatre) and, I'm pleased to say, I was lucky enough to get tickets to both of these, seeing Made in Dagenham on the evening on Friday 20th February and the matinee of The Curious Incident on Saturday 21st February. However, so that I keep to my New Year's Resolution of not writing too much I'm dedicating this blog to Made in Dagenham and will write another about The Curious Incident.

Now I'd seen Made in Dagenham twice before but have never written a proper blog about it so I thought I better correct that, plus I wanted to see it again before it closes on 11th April as I loved it so much before. 

I think what I love so much about the show is the up tempo feel and the strong, sassy message. The story focuses on the women who worked at Ford Dagenham in 1968. The women in the musical are just average women of the day until it is announced to them that they are being but on an 'unskilled' pay grade. This sets off a chain reaction which ends up in them fighting for equal pay for women. However, this isn't just a sweet story that has been written to make a good musical, what makes Made in Dagenham so powerful is that it is based on the real women of Ford Dagenham who really did fight for equal pay for women. What's really good is that during the final song there is a mini film tribute to these real women, which I thought was an especially nice feature.

I do have to admit that this is the type of message I love; basically the weak, who just happen to be right, over-powerfing the strong. The programme lists several shows which follow this theme, with four of them being shows I've seen and throughly enjoyed: namely, Billy Elliot, Newsies (put it this way, if I were rich enough I would have flown back to New York several times to see this over and over again!), The Pajama Game and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. The other shows the programme lists are Working, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Strike! and The Matchgirls.  However, I would like to add Wicked and Matilda to this list...yes, yes, yes I know there are probably tons more but these were the first two that came to mind :)

Anyway, back to the show, well the cast were phenomenal. This time there were a few substitutes (Kate Coysten as Lisa Hopkins, Thomas Aldridge as Eddie and Christopher Howell and Harold Wilson) who I am pleased to say were just as amazing as the original cast members. Trying to think of which lady (as the show is focused on ladies) stole the show is an impossible task as all the main women were superb so I think a big blogging round of applause needs to go to Gemma Arterton (Rita O'Grady) - a truly stunning leading lady; Isla Blair (Connie) - very strong and powerful; Heather Craney (Claire) - who totally rocked the song Wossname; Sophie-Louise Dann (Barbara Castle) - once again another beautifully strong and powerful woman; Sophie Isaacs (Sandra) - a perfect Lulu impressionist; Sophie Stanton (Beryl) - gutsy and incredibly funny; Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Cass) - I'm running out of positive adjectives but she was totally fantastic; Emma Lindars (Pauline) - such a powerful voice!; and finally I can't leave out Kath Duggan (Tea Lady and Assistant Dance Captain) - whose part was rather small yet she shone in everyday possible!

As for the other parts that make a show, the set was quirky and cleverly designed and just what you'd want from a West End show. However, the music was out of this world combining the perfect mix of up-tempo songs and slower, soothing ballads and then the moody Storm Clouds Montage. For me the music was the cherry on top of an amazing cake, with my favourite song being Stand Up as it's so gutsy, so powerful, so 'We can do this!', it's just fantastic. The only really sad thing is that at the moment there is no CD and with the closing date coming up very soon, unless the tour rumours are true, it doesn't look like we'll get one which would be a massive shame. Nevertheless, you can listen to three of the tracks here and, well, there's always YouTube.

So, to finish off, I seriously beg you to go and see the amazing-ness that is Made in Dagenham with this fantastic cast before it closes...and if you want to take me with you, I'd be more than happy to come. This is one of the best feel good shows I have ever seen...I just love it!

Top: The Stage / Outside the Theatre

Bottom: Front of Hoodie / Programmes, Tickets and Canvas Bag / Back of Hoodie (please excuse dodgy photo...as hard as I was trying, I couldn't rotate like an owl to get the whole word in!)

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my trip to see Made in Dagenham. I you want to chat to me about it (or really do want to take me with you) please feel free to comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox...oh and don't forget to follow this blog and my Instagram where I post photos of all my theatrical outings.

Love you all

Kat

xx

The Wonderfully Weird World of Sarah Kane's Blasted

Hi everyone, today's blog, as the title suggests, is about my trip to see Sarah Kane's Blasted at The Sheffield Crucible. As a former drama student I'd studied this play in my second year at university and remember being completely appalled by it. However, it had, also, fascinated me and I ended up doing quite a bit of research into it so as to try and understand the meaning. This meant that when I saw it was going to be on at The Crucible I just had to go and see it.

Before I talk about this specific production, let me give you a little bit of history about the play and a little bit of the story. I know I usually try and stay away from writing too much about what a play or musical is usually about but, I feel, that with Blasted, it is probably better to understand and have read it before watching it as it means that you can truly admire where it is coming from. However, if you wish to keep the shock factor (which was the only part I felt was missing from the production, but was probably to do with how much I'd researched the play) then skip the next two paragraphs :)

The story of Blasted focuses on Cate (21 years old) and Ian (45 years old), their relationship and what happens when they spend a night together in an expensive hotel room in Leeds. Over the course of the evening, Cate has an epileptic fit during which Ian rapes her. It is thought to be this action that causes the play to blow apart...or get blasted. Later, Cate goes to the bathroom to clean herself up during which time a soldier enters and it is clear from his speech that a war is now going on outside as he describes, in graphic detail, what happened to his girlfriend and what he has done to the women he has captured. He then proceeds to rape Ian, eat his eyes and then kills himself. Cate then re-emerges with a baby that she claims a women has given to her to look after because of the war that is going on outside. The baby later dies and Cate buries it before going out to find some food because she is hungry. During this period we see Ian's accent into madness as we watch him masturbating, strangling himself with his bare hands, shitting and trying to clean it up with newspaper, laughing hysterically, having a nightmare, crying bloody tears and hugging the soldier's body for comfort, lying very still and weak with hunger, tearing up the floor where the baby is buried and eating the baby before, finally, dying with relief. Cate then reappears with blood all over her legs and the play finishes with Ian coming back to life and Cate feeding him the food she has found.

So that's the craziness of the plot, but what does it mean. Well to the first critics who saw it, not a lot as the majority thought that it was a play with no meaning other than to shock and scar an audience. Nevertheless, as time has gone on Blasted has become a much loved play by dramatists and lovers of contemporary theatre...and when you actually stop, look and get past the shocking elements it has quite a few messages to offer. So as not to bombard you, I'll just give you the three most prominent ones. Firstly, Blasted appears to be saying that actions have consequences as the devastation seems to happen after Ian has raped Cate and during the rest of the play it is Ian who appears to undergo horrific suffering. The next message would seem to be that war can happen to anyone, at any time and in any place as the war that is taking place outside invades the expensive hotel room where Ian and Cate are staying forcing them to get involved whether they wanted to or not. Finally, and probably most prominently, is the thought of: how far would you go? During the play the soldier is desperate enough for food that he eats Ian's eyes, Ian is desperate enough for food that he eats the baby and Cate is desperate enough for food that it appears that she has practically sold herself to get something to eat (suggested by the blood on her legs at the end)...all this surmounts to the question that if you were starving or desperately wanted something, how far would you go to get it? Which, thus, raises the question what causes the line between civilised human being and primal animal?

Right for those who wanted to miss the plot details you can tune back in now! To start with, I thought this production was very good and was staged in a very clever way as to begin with the stage looked like an ordinary hotel room, however, was easily adapted when the play was 'blasted' to create the devastation and worked very well with what the play demanded of it. I, also, though how realistic the set was, particularly the fact that the hotel room door opened onto a realistic looking corridor area. I think this impressed me so much as many sets don't often pay attention to these little details as they don't appear for more than a few moments, so the fact that these details were focused so heavily on in Blasted was quite a refreshing change.

The actual depiction of the play I thought was done very well but was a little disappointed with how un-shocking it was. I don't know whether this was because I knew the play so well or whether it was because some of the shocking details had been taken out. One such instance was that when Ian supposed rape Cate both remained fully clothed. I know that an actual sexual act couldn't be carried out, however, would have hoped for a little more imagination in how to make this appear more realistic. There were other instances of a similar nature that I felt had been tamed down a little. However, I am still unsure as to whether this was because Jessica Barden who played Cate appeared to be quite young. Now I don't know exactly what her age was (and hopefully I'm not insulting her by saying this) but to me she looked about 14 years old. This could explain why this version of Blasted was tamer than what the script suggests as there are certain legalities concerning actors and actress who are under 18. I can, also, see why (if Jessica was indeed this young) someone this young was chosen for the role as it added an interesting dimension due to the fact the play now seemed to comment on the whole under age girls being seduced by much older men; which is a prominent feature in the news at the moment. 

As for the actors, themselves, I thought they were all superb and felt with this very challenging play extremely well. Jessica Barden (Cate) got the immaturity and strength of character just right, with her character being quite weak at the beginning but developing an inner strength as the play progressed. She was, also, very believable in acting the epileptic fits Cate had. Martin Marquez, who played Ian, was very good, as well; the was a good, solid strength to his portrayal, however, he allowed for Ian's insecurities to shine through. How ability to make the audience like Ian yet, also, be scared of him was rather special and suited the rises and falls in tone of Blasted. Finally, Mark Stanley gave a splendid portrayal of the soldier and his desperations. It was clear from his depiction that the soldier had lived through many horrors and that it was these that were causing him to behave in the manner he was. 

Overall, I thought this was a very good production of Blasted and was very pleased I saw it. Although I felt it was a little tame I can see that there were probably good reasons for doing this, in addition to the fact that the tame-ness could mean that the play was open to someone who hadn't heard of Sarah Kane before and, thus, gently induct them into her work rather than throwing them in to drown.

From left to right

Top: Martin Marquez (Ian) / Jessica Barden (Cate) / Mark Stanley (Soldier)

Botton: The Crucible Theatre - Laughter by Harold Pinter / Programme and Tickets

I strongly recommend anyone who is looking at becoming a drama student, already is one or just wants to watch something a little bit different and out there to go a see this. This current production is running at The Sheffield Crucible until the 21st February so if you have a spare moment please pop and see it. And if you want to ask me any further questions about it please tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox...you can, also, follow this blog by clicking the button on the top right of the page and follow my Instagram as well where I normally post pics of the shows I'm seeing.

Love you all

Kat

xx

Never Too Many Guvnors

Hi everyone, I seem to be on a blogging role at the moment and there's only more to come as tomorrow I will be seeing Sarah Kane's Blasted at the Sheffield Crucible, which I am majorly excited about. Anyway, enough about that...todays post (as you may have guessed) is about the hit play One Man, Two Guvnors. 

One Man, Two Guvnors is currently touring the UK with the following venues still to come:

• The Churchill Theatre, Bromley: 3rd - 7th Feb (you've got a few days left!)
• New Theatre, Cardiff: 10th - 14th Feb
• Festival Theatre, Edinburgh: 17th - 21st Feb
• New Theatre, Oxford: 24th - 28th Feb
• New Wimbledon Theatre: 2nd - 7th Mar
• Grand Opera House, York: 10th - 14th Mar
• Wolverhampton Grand Theatre: 17th - 21st Mar

If you're around any of these venues on these dates I fully recommend that you beg, borrow or steal (please don't steal really!) a ticket as this show is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Now, I first saw One Man, Two Guvnors in March 2013 (click here to see the review) and completely fell in love with the show. Now anyone who has been reading this blog for a long time will have gathered that I'm more of a musical than a play girl. However, I was inspired to go and watch this show after seeing Rufus Hound (who was playing Francis Henshall at the time) at the What's On Stage Awards 2013. I was so glad I did as it was one of the best and funniest nights I'd had at the theatre!

The reason for going to see it this time was because I had to get more people into it so the fact that it was playing at my local theatre seemed like the perfect opportunity so off we went, last Friday, to the Nottingham Theatre Royal.

To give you a brief over view of the plot (I really don't want to go into too much detail as it will spoil it if you've not seen it before) it's basically about a man, Francis Henshall, who somehow manages to end up with two Guvnors, Roscoe Crabb and Stanley Stubbers. Now Roscoe is owed money and a wife by Charlie 'The Duck' who is set to give his daughter, Pauline, away to him, however, Pauline wants to marry a guy called Alan instead. The confusing part is that Roscoe isn't really Roscoe but his twin sister, Rachel and Rachel doesn't really want to marry Pauline, she wants to marry Stanley instead. Now all this comes out within the first five minutes of the play so you should be fine but, hopefully you can see where the comedy comes in.

As for the cast, they were superb...Edward Hancock who plays Alan is fantastic and a complete comic genius. Alicia Davis (Rachel) has the whole girl pretending to be a man down to a 'T'. Emma Barton was fabulous as Dolly, Charlie's bookkeeper. However, the guy who stole the show was Gavin Spokes (Francis Henshall) as he had perfect comic timing and acted the loveable rogue in the best way possible.

The other brilliant thing about this show is that before both acts and in-between the scenes there is a skiffle band, called The Craze, who come on and play. Not only does this make the changes between the scenes interesting and provides entertainment in the interval, but there are superbly talented and great fun to watch.

All that's really left to say is please, please, please go and watch this show is you're around any of the venues it's on as it's the best and funniest play I have ever seen! And, seriously, don't be put off it you've seen it before as this was my third time (I saw it in Leicester as well) and I still found it hilarious.

I hope you enjoyed this review, please subscribe by clicking the button on the top right-hand side. You can, also, follow me on Twitter at @GreenGirlsRox and Instagram, as well.

Love you all

Kat

xx

Musical Theatre Tag

Hi everyone, after reading the Musical Theatre Tag on Charlie Reynolds blog 'That is the Spell', I decided to do my own, so here goes...

What's the first musical you ever saw?

I can't remember which was my very first if we're including films in this but it was probably something like Annie. However, the first stage musical I remember seeing was Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at Nottingham Theatre Royal.

What was your favourite musical growing up?

Definitely Grease...I think I much have watched the film of this at least a million times when I was younger but I think I kind of over did it as now I'm not that keen.

Were you ever in a musical?

I was in a few at school (Joseph and We Will Rock You), a few at a theatre summer school (Summer Holiday, Mamma Mia and High School Musical) and then a few with a group called Nearly Instant Theatre Sessions, however these were musicals of the group's own creation.

What was the first musical you ever saw in the West End?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Palladium when I was ten...and the other interesting fact is that I had a broken leg when I saw this!

If you could be any female character in a musical who would you be and why?

I'd love to be Elphaba in Wicked. I feel such a strong connection to her and her beliefs and would love to be raised up above the theatre at the end of Defying Gravity.

If you could be any male character in a musical who would you be and why?

There are so many I could choose, mainly based on which songs I'd like to sing, such as Anthem from Chess, Santa Fe from Newsies and If You Were Gay from Avenue Q. However, I'm going to go back to my roots and say it would have to be Felicia/Adam from Priscilla because I'm totally in love with the show and think that Felicia has the most fun and some of the best songs.

What's your favourite musical song to sing?

Don't Rain on my Parade from Funny Girl, however, I love the Glee version. I think there's quite a lot of power and fire behind this song and it's just good fun to sing.

Who's your favourite actress?

I'm going to be naughty here and say both Idina Menzel and Kerry Ellis...it's probably something to do with the fact that they were both Elphaba. Idina's such a talent and got such a powerful voice that is just impossible to match. I've always admired Kerry but after seeing her again in Wicked in August 2014 when she re-took the role I fell in love with her as she was just so perfect. You've probably guessed that this makes the DVD concert recording of Chess one of my favourite things to watch :) 

Who's your favourite actor?

Oliver Tompsett...he's just perfect! He can tap, dance, sing, act, looks gorgeous and is such a gentleman when meeting him after a show.

What's your favourite film adaption of a musical?
I think, even though it was massively different and I was quite skeptical about it before it was released, I'd have to say Rock of Ages. To me it was surprisingly well done and brought a little bit of rock and theatre into my home which is always good.

What do you think is the most underrated musical?
At the moment I'm completely in love with the soundtrack of Soho Cinders so I'd have to say that. It's such a beautiful score and the story sounds really cute and fun whilst tackling some challenging issues as well.

What do you think is the most overrated musical?

I'm tied here between saying Phantom and Once. For me I'm just not a big fan of opera and the story of Phantom isn't enough to get me past that. As for Once, I really love the music but really didn't like the plot as there wasn't enough going on.

What musical made you cry?
Everything, absolutely everything...I mean I even cried at the end of Book of Mormon! The one that makes me cry the most though has to be Wicked as Defying Gravity turns me into a complete sobbing wreck. Oh and Matilda with the swings in When I Grow Up...sitting in the stalls with them swinging over my head and hearing that song was just so magical and perfect it brought me to tears.

What musical made you laugh?
Once again, lots of shows have made me laugh but I think the one that stands out for me is Top Hat...there was a line about a plane with wings that had me in stitches!

Are there any musicals you saw and hated?
Like with the overrated question, I'd have to say Phantom and Once, however, I'd more go down the line of that I just didn't really like them rather than going as far as to say I hated them.

What musicals do you want to see as a film?
I don't really know as although I like watching musical films I don't think they'll ever beat going to see a musical at the theatre. For this reason I'd have to say anything that wasn't currently playing in the West End  or was closing soon so I could still get the chance to see it...possibly Made in Dagenham (I know there's already a film but a film of the musical would be good).



What musicals are you dying to see?
Is it cheating to say that I'm dying to see Made in Dagenham again before is closes? I really want to get seats near the front of the stalls, right in the centre so when they sing, 'Stand up, stand up! If you're with me then put your hand up!' I can do just that and hopefully influence the rest of the audience to join in as well. I'm, also, dying to see If/Then with Idina in it...may have to start saving the pennies to get me over to Broadway.

Any movie or book you think should be turned into a musical?
Movie: Anything Disney as Disney musicals are amazing...Pirates of the Caribbean could be pretty cool. Also, Confessions of a Shopaholic as it would be funny and girly and a good night out.

Book: I'm really into my supernatural fiction (yes I love Twilight!) but I'm not sure that these would work as a musical. I'm, also, a Fifty Shades fan but think that this could scar an audience if turned into a musical. The only one I can think of at the minute is a book called Horns by Joe Hill, which was recently turned into a film...I think this could work quite well as one of the darker, moody musicals.

What is your all-time favourite musical?
My top three have to be Matilda, Priscilla and Wicked, however, if I had to choose out of these I'd go for Wicked every time as it was where my musical obsession started and I often think of myself as being quite similar to Elphaba...she's my idol and that's why I love it.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this tag, I'd love to hear your own answers or any comments you have on mine. Please feel free to comment on this post or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox. And don't forget to subscribe to this blog and follow me on Instagram as well.

Love you all

Kat

xx

Still Dreaming of White Christmas

Hi everyone, a week last Saturday I had one of the best days in my whole theatre going life. Strangely this didn't happen in London, rather I was at The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds watching the last performance of White Christmas. I had seen it once before, last year, so did know what it was all about, however, this time was extra special for reasons I'll get onto.

The show itself was very good and your classic type of musical, which is probably what you'd expect from a show originally written for film in 1954 by Irving Berlin. The story isn't overly deep, however, it's still very interesting, cute-sy, funny and extremely enjoyable and I strongly to suggest that you should either go and see a production the next time it's playing or buy the DVD. The music is, also, very quirky and funny, yet classic and jazzy with my top three songs being 'Snow', 'I Love a Piano' and 'Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun'. Overall, the show had a very classic and old-y world-y charm to it.

As for the West Yorkshire Playhouse production I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The set was incredibly detailed and had a certain wow to it with specific pieces such as the piano stairs that featured in the song 'I Love a Piano'. Everything flowed so freely and the show deserves true respect for showing that outstanding shows can happen anywhere across the UK and not just in the West End.

And then for the cast, Holly Dale Spencer and Emma Williams were just stunning and worked really well together as the leading ladies, the Haynes sisters. Darren Day suited the part of Bob Wallace down to a 'T', in addition to being a true gent after the show. Melanie La Barrie (Martha Wilson) had such a powerful voice and totally owned her song, 'Let Me Sing and I'm Happy'. Sion Tudor Owen was very comical as Ezekiel Foster and Andrew Jarvis (General Henry Waverly) commanded the stage with the respect him character deserved. My other favourites were Samuel Holmes (Mike) who was hilarious and Gaia Ottman who played the young Susan Waverly and with her voice and comic timing I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her in years to come.

However, the main reason for going (and the true star of the show, in my opinion) was to see Oliver Tompsett as Phil Davis. Now in keeping with my New Year's Resolution I'm going to try and keep this short and not fan girl too much so... I have followed (or you could say stalked) Oliver since he was Fiyero in Wicked before he went on the play Drew in Rock of Ages and Galileo in We Will Rock You. I, also, had the pleasure of singing the We Will Rock You Medley with him at his concert in Birmingham in August when he asked for a member of the audience to come and help him on stage and I got picked...and breathe! Well, in White Christmas I was totally not disappointed as he was classy and charming and a true, gorgeous, superstar as always with his wow-ing tap number ('I Love a Piano') and comic fan routine ('Sisters (Reprise)'). 

To mark the occasion of it being the last performance my mum, myself and the rest of Team Tompsett (yes there is a fan club!) got our Christmas wear back out and truly went to town. Now I can't take too much credit for all the goings on as due to living a reasonable distance away from Leeds I arrived slightly later than everyone else so walked in to find that they'd taken over part of the bar with a Christmas tree, toys Santa's decorated with Olly's and Darren's faces, chocolates, lights, crackers and other festivities. Fans had, also, been made with Holly's, Emma's, Darren's and Olly's names on for us to wave in the finale number. What truly made the night though was that after the show, Olly came to our little area of fandom and spent ages taking photos with us including a massive group selfie (the man is seriously the king of selfies!) proving that not only is he super talented, he's, also, a super gentleman as well.

From Left to Right

Top: Darren's and Olly's Santa's / My Mum and I just about to set off / Me with Olly

Middle: Olly with his fan / Posters, programmes and tickets / The Christmas Tree

Bottom: Me with Darren / Me with Olly's fan / Our reserved sign

And just on it's own because I'm so happy with it...the Team Tompsett Selfie!

So, here's hoping I haven't gone on too much and hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to see White Christmas. If you want to ask me any questions about it, or happen to be an Olly fan yourself, please feel free to tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox and please follow this blog (by clicking the link towards the top on the right) and my Instagram.

Love you lots

Kat

xx