SOHO legend Jeffrey Bernard, drinker, womaniser, racing fanatic, writer and raconteur, was still alive when Keith Waterhouse’s play about his life made its way to the London stage, with the even-more-famous Peter O’Toole in the title role. And he lived for another eight years, flying in the face of medical wisdom and what seemed like…
WHY does this romanticised telling of the short, highly successful life of American rock’n’roll legend Buddy Holly – it only lasted around three years before he was tragedy killed aged 22 in and air crash – conjure up images of TV’s The Good Old Days from the City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds? The answer lies…
IN 1880, a famous (and frequently censored) Italian political satirist, Carlo Collodi, created a story about a poor woodcarver who made a wooden boy puppet as a companion for his old age. That puppet, Pinocchio, wanted to be a real boy, but he had to contend with a nose that grew every time he told a…
ALL I want for Christmas is … a good murder mystery! And if that comes with a generous dose of laughter all the better. Strange creatures that we are, there is apparently nothing we enjoy more than dead bodies piling up in a splendid country house, crumbling castle or remote island hideaway. Agatha Christie was…
PANTOMIMES come in many different guises – glitzy and heavy with celebrities (some of whom you may have heard of), beautifully costumed with lavish sets, clever and funny, warm-hearted, full of local jokes and music catering to every taste from grandparents to toddlers … Some have a special place in their community, and that is…
IF pantomime is all about larger than life traditional characters, audience participation, local references, current memes (of course 6-7 is everywhere this year), love, goodies, baddies, singing and dancing, lots of great songs and a happy ending, then Poole Lighthouse is the place to go this Christmas. Chris Jarvis, the man behind the Poole panto…
THOUGHT the dastardly Captain Hook had met his watery fate at the end of Peter Pan’s adventures? … think again. Perhaps unsurprisingly he found a way to stay alive in the water at the end of the plank he was forced to walk, and, after desolate years of fury and plotting, HE’S BACK! And when…
BRISTOL’s historic Old Vic breaks with its usual non-celebrity tradition this year, bringing in local star, comedian, actor and singer Jayde Adams to lead a terrific cast of actor-musicians in a musical retelling of a story that started its life at the Llandoger Trow, just yards down the street. It’s 15 years since King Street…
JUST across the road from the stage door of Bristol Hippodrome is a public house which until recent times was called The Bunch of Grapes, where you would very often encounter stars appearing in the Hippo enjoying a pre, or post show, drink. With the pub’s change of name to Smoke and Mirrors, those days…
WHEN a novel is adapted for the stage, then a TV film and finally for the big screen, there are bound to be arguments about which format the story is best told in. Having seen them all, and with the support of most of those who have all seen or read the story in all…