Tezza's Theatre Place

As theatre has moved online, there have been some valiant attempts to make use of technology in order to bring productions to an audience, starved of live shows. The latest in these events is  The House That Slipped  presented by Teatro Vivo. Prior to the show, I received a quiz, or questionnaire to complete, Show starts with a very friendly technical run-through, which is interesting as the 2070 technology is far above ours in 2020. Soleen (Bernadette Russell) then came on and taught us our first bit of 2070 etiquette, how to say hello. Next, we were whisked off to 12 Laburnum Drive, where we got to meet the residents Kevin Baxter (Michael Wagg), his wife Sandra (Sarah Finigan), her sister Julia (Kas Darley) who is living with the Baxter’s, through no fault of her own and finally Yasmin (Tasha Magigi) from the flat upstairs. After the introductions, the group tells us what their current situation is. Whilst being on lockdown during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, they had some...

COVID-19 is not the first pandemic where the nations of the world have been proved to not really have as to how to handle it. Back in the 1980’s HIV and AIDS descended and destroyed the lives of many, many people. But, unlike COVID, AIDS also came with a stigma attached. People were terrified of catching it and people that did have it were treated as outcasts of society. And then, one day in 1987, the most famous woman in the world did something extraordinary, that started a revolution of acceptance and understanding. That event is captured in Nicky Allpress’s new film  Moment of Grace , written by Ben Gosling. Told as a series of intermingled monologues, Moment of Grace, is the story of the day Princess Diana opened the Broderip ward in the Middlesex Hospital. A fairly normal day for a royal you might think. A few handshakes, some well-chosen words, unveiling a plaque, then some nibbles and back home to the palace in time for tea. But this visit was unique in the annals of th...

The Chair by James C Ferguson Once again, it was time to dive headlong into the online performing world as Encompass Productions’ Liam Fleming brought another selection of short stories to the internet with Bare E-ssentials 3: with a Vengeance. The evening started with  RULES  by Lucy Jamieson, directed by Rachael Owens. Oh, it’s a nightmare when words sound similar. Alex (Esme Cooper) has been to the doctor with a water infection. The doctor prescribes tablets for cystitis, but she mishears and has been telling people she has syphilis. Her flatmate Jess (Karina Holness) sorts out the linguistic mistake but points out Alex only seems to get these issues when she has sex. Jess pushes Alex to give her details, something that her friend seems reluctant to share. Eventually, Alex spills the beans so to speak, much to the absolute horror of Jess. Sometimes there are things that flatmates should not do or know about each other. Jess’s reaction to Alex’s news is understandable but in...

Every Seven Minutes by Ken Preuss Once again, Encompass Productions brings us a selection of short one-act plays.  The evening started with Every  Seven Minutes by Ken Preuss Performed by Ryan Brannon and Cate Olivia Directed by Jonathan Woodhouse Two godlike type people in the “every seven minutes room” whose job is to ensure that things that happen every seven minutes occur. For example, apparently, every seven minutes a double rainbow appears, and these two make it happen. The chap (Ryan Brannon) takes it all in his stride and doesn’t care what the consequences are of his actions. So, every seven minutes he makes a person drown, but doesn’t have any interest in who that person is or what their circumstances are. To him, it’s just a job, whereas the girl, who is new in the role, seems to have trouble disassociating her actions from emotions. She rebels against the system that affects the lives of random people every seven minutes, leading to an unexpected end of the p...

Day 19 and we present a truly awesome track from an amazing award winning musical. With no further ado, the team will be Defying Gravity for Queer Britain And while you're here, we are so close to hitting our target and a few more donations would really help in that task https://queerbritain.charitycheckout.co.uk/pf/qals26-c9b54

Day 18 and tonight the QALS team want to take you and Queer Britain on a trip to the Love Shack. Entry is free so you might have some spare cash left over to donate to the founding of the UK's LGBT+ museum https://queerbritain.charitycheckout.co.uk/pf/qals26-c9b54

Day 17 of the QALS Challenge and the original Welsh Diva is in the house, raising funds for  Queer Britain  in what is undoubtably my favourite video of the series so far https://queerbritain.charitycheckout.co.uk/pf/qals26-c9b54

Day 16 and tonight the team take a trip down-under with an absolute classic anthem from Priscilla, all in the name of raising much needed funds for Queer Britain https://queerbritain.charitycheckout.co.uk/pf/qals26-c9b54

Paul Hunter (Albin), Simon Hepworth (Mercédès) and Michael Matus (Georges) in La Cage aux Folles [The Play] at Park Theatre. Photo by Mark Douet. So, you’ve gone and done it. You’ve met the love of your life, wined and dined them and finally proposed. They’ve accepted and now it’s time to think about the wedding preparations. But before the big day itself, something else needs to happen. The two sets of parents need to meet. A daunting enough experience for any young couple, but if the respective families come from very differing backgrounds, then the problems can really mount. Welcome to the first English version of  La Cage aux Folles (The Play)  at the Park Theatre. Georges (Michael Matus) and Albin (Paul Hunter) are a fairly normal couple living in Saint Tropez. Well, normal may not be the ‘mot juste’. George is the owner of a nightclub called, La Cage aux Folles, and his partner Albin, is Madame Zaza, the star of the club’s cabaret. George loves his business, even if...

Hannah Norris – After You 2019 credit Mark Gambino. Do you ever think back and wonder what might have been, if….? Like if I hadn’t moved to Lancashire when I was 14 or joined the RAF when I was 21, etc. I’m sure we all do it at some time or another but, do we ever look at our parents and wonder what their life might have been like if they had gone down different paths in their lives? No, me neither. But, luckily for us, Hannah Norris had just that idea and the result is her one-act play  After You  which is currently playing at Soho Theatre. Written by and starring Hannah and her real-life mother Angela Norris,  After You  starts by looking at Angela’s early life. When she was 14, Angela was in the first-ever Australian production of  The Sound of Music  at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in 1961. But, Angela’s career went no further than that and Hannah wonders if this is because of the social conventions of the time. Mother and daughter discuss this, fr...

Tosca – credit Ali Wright. “ People’s reaction to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul. ” This is probably the most profound sentence uttered in the movie ‘Pretty Woman’. I remember my first opera, ‘Carmen’ at the ENO. I will not say it changed my life, but I was totally hooked on opera as an art form afterwards. Everyone should have a way into the wonderful world of opera, and one of the best I can recommend is at the Trafalgar Studios where they are currently staging  Opera Undone: Tosca & La bohème  sung in English, the two operas have been reviewed and re-written, bringing them firmly up to date, as individual one-hour productions. The night begins with  Tosca . In his studio, the painter Mario Cavaradossi (Roger Paterson) is working on a portrait of a lady. The lady is beautiful a...

Chaplin Birth of a Tramp – Photographer credit Davor@OcularCreative Charlie Chaplin is one of those actors that I thought I knew a bit about. I knew he was born and lived around the Elephant and Castle area – there used to be a pub named after him by the shopping centre. I also knew he was a star of many silent movies but fell out with Hollywood during the McCarthy era and moved to Switzerland. Of his life before fame, I knew nothing but thanks to the good folks at Arrows & Traps, and writer Ross McGregor, and their play  Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp , at the Jack Studio Theatre, I now know a lot more than I did before. The show starts in 1928 Hollywood where Charlie Chaplin (Conor Moss) is auditioning Virginia Cherrill (Laurel Marks), for the female lead in his next film. Cherrill has no real acting experience, but Charlie remembers her from a modelling shoot on Santa Monica beach. During the audition, Charlie’s brother, and business manager Sydney (Toby Wynn-Davies) comes i...

LEAVE A COMMENT Dad’s Army is still one of the absolute joys of the television world. Over 9 series, and 80 episodes, we followed the ups and downs of a group of, on the whole, elderly men in a quiet seaside town, ready to put their lives on the line in defence of their country. First transmitted in between 1968 and 1977, the show is regularly repeated on BBC2 on a Saturday night, and still pulls in 2 or 3 million viewers. The highly successful radio spin-off gets regular airings on BBC Radio 4 Extra. With such an iconic show, it might be thought to leave it alone. You can’t improve on perfection – and I’m sure the makers of the recent disastrous movie would concur. However, two men felt there was something more that could be done and last night I was lucky enough to see a performance of the  Dad’s Army Radio Show  at the British Library. The first thing to say is that Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s writing is still as fresh today as it ever was. The three episodes tha...

Sex Crime – Photo by Matt Spike According to Oscar Wilde, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in many ways that’s true. Even an unflattering parody means that you have arrived and been noticed. I say this because this form of flattery is taken to an extreme length in Alexis Gregory’s play  Sex/Crime  at the Soho Theatre. Two men stand in a dark room with plastic covered walls. There is not much to see. A large red sofa and a metal stand, both also covered in plastic, are the room’s only furnishings. The two men – no names, so let’s call then A (Jonny Woo) and B (Alexis Gregory) – are, in fact customer and client. The service offered is to recreate the killings of a gay serial killer. On offer are various gruesome scenarios. All of which emulate the work carried out by ‘Him’ as they refer to the real killer. Both men have their own role in the ‘game’ but, as things progress, the lines between client, customer, killer and client become blurred leading to a final...

Alexandra Doar (The Narrator) and Mark McMullan (Joseph) – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Photo Credit Pamela Raith. Back in the mists of time – well 1968 – before  Evita  and before  Jesus Christ Superstar , a young and ambitious pair of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote and presented a little musical show. Since then, the show has become a firm favourite, with audiences world-wide and especially with Schools and amateur groups with over 20,000 of them staging productions. The show is, of course  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , and I caught the latest touring production during its visit to the New Wimbledon Theatre. Now, according to the narrator (Alexandra Doar), way, way back many centuries ago, not long after the bible began, and old man by the name of Jacob (Henry Metcalfe) had a large family of wives and sons. In fact, he had 12 sons – Reuben (Paul Brangan), Simeon (Robert Bardsley), Levi (Tom Bainbridge), Naphtali (Ale...

Can one ever choose where the heart leads one? That is the problem for the protagonist in Tim Fraser’s  Candy  at the King’s Head theatre. Will (Michael Waller) is an ordinary northern lad. He’s young, OK looking and reasonably well educated. He lives at home with his mum and Great Aunt, has a pretty good job that he is good at and enjoys nights out with the lads. One of the lads is his old mate from school, Billy. Who has returned home from London. Billy has a band, and really wants Will to go and see them. Reluctantly, Will agrees and goes along. An action that will have a profound effect on his life. For the lead singer in Billy’s band is a lady called Candy, when Will sees her, it is love at first sight. Candy epitomises everything Will thinks of as the perfect woman and he is smitten from the moment the spotlight picks her out. There is only one problem, Candy is actually Billy in drag. Whilst Will knows this, and has no feelings – aside from friendship for Billy – h...