Prague Festival celebrates its 10th year

Prague Fringe: 27th May – 4th June 2011

Fringe Festival Praha ‘The famous Edinburgh Festival’s naughty grandchild’ (Prague Post 2009) is 10 years old! Since 2001 the event has welcomed over 600 companies and 1000s of theatre goers to the heart of the city from all over the world – and you would be most welcome to join the celebrations!

This year there are 9 days of comedy, theatre and music in unique venues throughout beautiful Mala Strana with companies from across the world offering something to suit every taste. Rightly known for its fun, friendly, intimate atmosphere embraced by audiences and performers alike, the Prague Fringe is an event like no other.

Shows are very visual and last for 45 – 60 minutes, all are designed to entertain, delight and offer a different view with the idea that several shows can be seen in one evening – a roller coaster cultural ride! Prices are set to make this possible and there are ticket deals for multiple advance purchases! The organisers want to make sure that audiences who have seen one show, can see more!

www.praguefringe.com

Coming Soon: The Shakespeare Conspiracy, by Chris Hislop

6 – 10 June, at the Chelsea Theatre, London SW10

The Shakespeare Conspiracy promises an epic comedy featuring a familiar Shakespearean line up of characters including Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Iago, Benedick & Beatrice, Richard III, Tybalt, Mercutio, Helena, Puck and some surprise villains.

In a world where 400 years ago Shakespeare’s characters came to life and started wandering about like everyone else: a near catastrophic incident, forced a shadowy government agency, calling themselves the RSC, to round up all Shakespeare’s villains and incarcerate them in a top secret maximum security prison, The Globe Theatre.  The villains’ leader – one Aloysius Archbald Iago – has been making plans and it is said if the villains are freed, they will set in motion a chain of events that will lead to the end of the world. Mankind’s last hope is a travel agent.

Well, it all sounds very lively (if  a bit spurious) but tickets are £12.00 and its nice to see the Chelsea Theatre actually putting on plays again (so John Park instructs me to say).

A Century of Great Women, reviewed by Fringe Report

A celebration of women from the last hundred years

A Century of Great Women, which played at the following venues during March this year, now has a full review on the Fringe Report website.

Rosemary Branch – 10-11 March 11 (19:30)
Rose Theatre Bankside – 14, 21, 28 March 11 (19:30)
Kelmscott House – 19 March 11 (14:45)
Battersea Barge – 20 March 11 (19:00)

Here’s how the review begins…

‘A Century of Great Women is monologues of 24 famous women around the world whose achievements have influenced modern history. They are played by a cast of 9 women. There’s no interval. The performance is broken up by songs sung by the cast with an on-stage keyboard player’.

Read the full review at: www.fringereport.com/1103acenturyofgreatwomen.php

Udderbelly Southbank Press Launch

Fringe Report covers the press launch of the Udderbelly Festival on April 21st

Udderbelly is a temporary entertainment venue erected by Underbelly Productions from April till July 2011 next to the Royal Festival Hall. At the Southbank site, Udderbelly is configured to seat 410 and features 70 or so acts.

For the full report, go to: http://www.fringereport.com/11london.php#110421udderbellysouthbanklaunch

Dundee Rep Theatre and Royal Lyceum Edinburgh announce a two year partnership

Dundee Rep Ensemble has announced a two-year partnership with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh.

Liz Lochhead play launches the partnership

Launching the partnership later this year both producing theatres will co-produce Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off by Liz Lochhead. Directed by Lyceum Associate Artist Tony Cownie this playful and subversive production will feature leading members of Dundee Rep Ensemble, Kevin Lennon, Anne Louise Ross and Emily Winter. Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off will open at the Lyceum in September then play at Dundee Rep Theatre in October.

Brighton. May 22. A swashbuckling show for kids.

Join the pirate party!

Last year's show was sold out!

Brighton children’s songwriter, Al Start has been singing in local schools for 4 years and inspiring children to love singing and music as much as she does. “My mission is to write fun, catchy children’s songs that are about the stuff kids really like.” Says Al, “Parents often comment that they enjoy the songs as much as their children – which will certainly be the case with this show.” A Pirate Adventure is a seafaring story studded with a mixture of brand new and good old favourite songs. It’s suitable for ages 0 -11 and their brave parents. Come dressed for a seafaring pirate adventure to win prizes.

Swash-buckling, action-packed follow up to last year’s sell-out shows! This family musical show will capture your imagination and sail off with it into the sunset. Ever wished for something? Wishes come true in this piratey tale, join the crew and follow the clues down to the bubbly Salon de Mer. Trick the silly sea monster and bake a massive, messy cake for the octopus’s party. Piece together the map and the treasure could be yours…

Sunday May 22nd Komedia, 1pm and 3pm. Tickets £6 0r family of 4 £20. Under 2’s sail free on laps

A Monthly Rehearsal Workshop For New Scripts & Screenplays

Affordable Script Development Workshops for Writers, Directors & Actors

SundaySurgery is the ideal rehearsal environment for creative practitioners to develop new work for stage and screen, while also meeting theatre and film practitioners.

Writers, please email sundaysurgery@gmail.com between 5-20 pages of your current script, to have your work considered for script development.

Actors, please do not forget to post your Spotlight Link, if you would like to be considered for castings. Please note that actors with Spotlight Links will be given priority over castings.

Directors, please email sundaysurgery@gmail.com your CV, if you would like to work on a new script this month!

The next workshop is on the 24 April 2011 – Would you like to get involved? Space is limited so please RSVP via www.facebook.com/msftlondon to reserve your place. Location is London N16. Cost is £5 per session.

Hot August Fringe – Third Year

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern hosts its third summer festival

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is the scene for 25 nights of brilliant entertainment, with stand-up, sketch comedy, magic, music, theatre, film, drag, cabaret, improv, burlesque, spoken word and performance art all featuring.

Running Monday-Friday, 25th July-26th August, with up to three different performances a night (7pm, 8:30pm & 10:00pm) and Saturday matinees (1pm), the Hot August Fringe promises to provide a riotous mixture of alternative performance and cabaret. With ticket prices remaining at a recession-friendly £7.00, performers will also ‘pass the hat’ after their shows to inspire generous donations.

This year’s festival is bigger than ever with the addition of the nearby, and Fringe Report Award-winning Battersea Barge as a second venue, offering a wide range of more intimate cabaret, stand-up and music performances alongside our extensive programme at the RVT. Previous years have attracted the cream of London’s cabaret talent together with international performers keen to strut their stuff with established shows and work-in-progress. As in previous years, the start of the festival will also be peppered with previews by big-name artists putting the final touches to shows bound for Edinburgh.

More at www.rvt.org.uk

Out of Africa, via London

New British-Nigerian plays, at the Oval House

London via Lagos is a festival of new British-Nigerian plays, celebrating the work of three African-heritage, UK-based, world-class playwrights. It runs from 22 May to 10 July 2011 at the Oval House theatre in Kennington.

As Lagos grows ever more influential as a world city, and London as a world capital, London via Lagos reveals the political, personal and the domestic stories where these two great cultures meet.

Ade Solanke is the first of the British-Nigerian playwrights to be represented

First of the season is Pandora’s Box, by Ade Solanke, which is to be directed by Ben Evans.

On holiday with her streetwise son in Lagos, a British-Nigerian mother is in turmoil. Should she leave her only child in a strict Lagos boarding school, or return him to the ‘battlefields’ of inner London…?

“What do you see out of that window? People, right? Just people. Because there are no ‘black’ people in Africa. Let him experience life for a change.”

A family spanning three generations and two continents meet together in Lagos for the first time in over thirty years. But the joy of reunion also unleashes long-suppressed truths. An exuberant mix of comedy, tragedy and family drama, Pandora’s Box reveals the heartbreak behind the choices every parent must make.

All-female Titus Andronicus

It’s been done in Manhattan. Now Inside of Out is bringing its all-female Titus Andronicus to the stage at the Baron’s Court theatre.

Here’s what they say about themselves:-

“Immersive company Inside of Out transport ancient Rome into a fantasy realm of metamorphosis, where the visceral and fantastic blend, and barbarity comes from the hands of the unexpected through an international all-female cast”.

Sex, violence and ten women - Titus Andronicus has been played by an all female cast as part of the Manhattan Theatre Project

“Inside of Out’s physical and often surreal approach embraces the dark humour and supernatural elements of the play, combining live music, fine art design and olfactory features to create an assault on all the senses”.

Details of the production as follows. Created by Leah Harounoff and Leanne Rivers. Guest Direction by Tanith Lindon. Designed by Cory Roberts, Aisha Christison and Harry Whitham. Barons Court Theatre, 7-12 June 2011