Features

Backstage - Obituaries - Letters

Back from the dead: The animatronic comeback

Animatronics may have been overtaken by CGI in films, but it’s making a comeback in live shows, explains Sonny Tilders, dinosaur creator and director of Global Creatures

Published on Friday July 3 2009 at 16:25 by Sonny Tilders

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Chit Chat: Funeral chic with a twist

On to a very different type of grand dame of the stage - last week the passing of Danny La Rue was marked with a private funeral in north west London to celebrate the life of the late drag star. And, it would appear, female impersonators have their very own way of paying their last respects.

Columns Published on Tuesday June 30 2009 at 12:45

TV review

It is possible to have too much macabre weirdness in one programme.

TV Published on Tuesday June 30 2009 at 12:00 by Harry Venning

Radio review - drama

John Barrowman gives every sign of having the kind of Lycra personality that expands to fit the space available. So I expected him, as top bod in the Cardiff-based extraterrestrial unit, to take centre stage in Torchwood: Asylum, to inhabit the role, to be all flashing eyes and teeth (despite this being radio), to make it Tiger Bay meets Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

TV Published on Tuesday June 30 2009 at 12:00 by Moira Petty

Chit Chat: The Jackson distraction

The other notable passing of the last few weeks - well, probably the decade, really - has, of course, been Michael Jackson.

Columns Published on Tuesday June 30 2009 at 10:40

Chit Chat: Complaints when Judi speaks rudely

Tabard was amused to read recent reports that almost every time Dame Judi Dench swears on film, the British Board of Film Classification receives complaints.

Columns Published on Tuesday June 30 2009 at 10:40

Memories of Michael

Michael Jackson played an unprecedented seven sell-out concerts at Wembley Stadium on The Bad Tour in summer 1988, putting him in the Guinness Book of Records.

Published on Monday June 29 2009 at 17:25

Don’t rely on a cunning stunt

Using shock tactics at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is less likely to garner publicity in this desensitised media age, argues PR guru Mark Borkowski

Published on Friday June 26 2009 at 17:00 by Mark Borkowski

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Spiro’s inspired roles

Currently starring as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing in Regent’s Park, Samantha Spiro talks to Nick Smurthwaite about the varied roles she has performed over her career, from impersonating Barbara Windsor to playing Fanny Brice in the musical Funny Girl

Published on Friday June 26 2009 at 15:30 by Nick Smurthwaite

Experiencing theatres

A K Bennett-Hunter picks some moments from the recent Theatres Trust conference

Published on Thursday June 25 2009 at 11:10 by A K Bennett-Hunter

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Focus: Live Nation

Michael Quinn takes a look at the company’s history, its current situation and increasing interest in live music, plus the portfolio of UK theatres it is putting up for sale

Published on Wednesday June 24 2009 at 11:25 by Michael Quinn

Chit Chat - What’s in a name?

One section of the cultural community, however, which appears to have no problem calling a spade as a spade, so to speak, are London’s gay theatre makers.

Columns Published on Tuesday June 23 2009 at 13:05 by Tabard

Chit Chat - Conditioning in modern art

The Torys shadow arts team has done rather a good job at ingratiating itself to the cultural sector over the last year or so. Indeed, its charm offensive has been never more apparent than in the last month, when Conservative minister for culture Ed Vaizey has been seen one day cropping up at a National Campaign for the Arts conference and another in a feature interview for The Grauniad, of all places.

Columns Published on Tuesday June 23 2009 at 13:00

Radio review - light programme

For those delighting in a trip back to the halcyon era when TV advertisements weren’t CGI enhanced and full of deadly dull bank employees singing about mortgages, Radio 4’s Bill Mitchell, The Man Who Wrestled Pumas. Probably, was a great, albeit too brief look at a man whose voice was more gravel laden than the M1’s hard shoulder.

TV Published on Monday June 22 2009 at 16:30 by Derek Smith

TV review

Ozzy (Brian Cox) is not the kind of gangster to let the minor inconvenience of being in prison stop him from taking care of his illicit business interests outside.

TV Published on Monday June 22 2009 at 15:40 by Harry Venning

SEARCH THE STAGE

Backstage

Diverse design
ADLIB Audio supplied sound for the Love Music Hate Racism Festival 2009,…
Orb control
Zero 88 has announced a series of training days in the UK, offering users…
Oasis of light
Oasis’ Dig Out Your Soul world tour is currently using more than 140 i-Pix…
Life on Mars
The BFI’s Southbank Gallery has gone 3D, via a new, immersive video…
Electric excitement
Stage Electrics will be among the exhibitors at the first Excite! - the new…

Obituaries

Irene Richmond
The daughter of pioneering cinema owners, Irene Richmond was to appear in…
Charles Russell
The theatre impresario, costumier, actor and pioneer of Noel Coward’s career…
Doris Barry
Like her sister, Dame Alicia Markova, Doris Barry began her working life as a…
Babs Adams
It was whilst writing her autobiography, Parade of Clowns, that Babs Adams…
Terence Alexander
Tall, handsome, suave and sophisticated, the priesthood was Terence…

Letters

Ageist against Arlene
Two recent news items about the programme Strictly Come Dancing have drawn my…
Archives are the answer
My grateful thanks to your columnist, Ian Herbert, for his generous review of…
Remembering Patrick
Sorry to hear of Patrick Newley’s death, and at no age at all. I always…
Reliving the summer of '69
I am organising a 40 year reunion of drama performers course graduates who…
Keeping up with the Joneses
In his book Sullivan and his Satellites, which was published in 1978, Alan…

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