Review - Star Stricken

My first experience of the Glasgow Comedy Festival took me to the CCA for Star Stricken - a double bill of one-act comedy plays exposing celebrity.

CAST

Margo - Johanna Harper

Elfrida - Frankie MacEachen 

Beverley - Paul Kozinski  

Kicking off proceedings was 'Emily Entwistle' written and directed by Karen Barclay.  The piece follows consultant Elfrida as she attempts to lead a business workshop with brand manager Margo whose company is facing a public relations disaster.  The pair strike up an unlikely bond by channelling their late idols Emily Bronte and Peg Entwistle.  The snappy writing and fast-paced dialogue made for an entertaining act although at times I found the business jargon a bit on the heavy side.

CAST

Laura - Johanna Harper

Pearl - Frankie MacEachen 

Mark - Paul Kozinski  

Next up was Tom Brogan's hilarious 'Good Times Never Seemed So Good' where we joined unemployed Mark who is full of good ideas, but struggles to find a lucrative one to help long suffering girlfriend Laura pay the bills. Mark has a light bulb moment that he will make it big on the local tribute scene impersonating Neil Diamond, and what follows is a comical journey to find out what's really important to him. Mark shares some genuinely touching scenes with vulnerable Janis Joplin tribute Pearl, and his relationship with Laura is familiar and credible without ever becoming clichéd.

Both plays were original, witty and well acted. The chemistry between the small cast coupled with spot-on writing and comic timing made for a welcome addition to the festival.

Review - The Perfect Murder

Peter James is known for his bestselling crime novels, and the current UK tour of The Perfect Murder is the first one of his works to be adapted for the stage. It's clear that the witty dialogue and fast-paced plot of the original novel lend themselves well to live performance.

Enter the world of Joan and Victor Smiley, a not-so-happily married couple who now have nothing in common apart from a substantial dislike of one another. Victor decides to take extreme, macabre measures to rectify his marriage crisis and ensure himself a life free of nagging and bickering.  Unbeknown to him, Joan is hatching a similar plan herself - but who will succeed in carrying out the perfect murder?

Les Dennis and Claire Goose give credible performances as the Smileys, weaving between spells of tension and humour as the details of their many years of marriage are revealed.Their respective lovers, Kamilla (Simona Armstrong) a Brighton sex worker and Don (Gray O’Brien) a faux-Cockney jack-of-all-trades, offer both comic relief and some genuinely heartfelt encounters.  Steven Miller’s portrayal of the novel’s protagonist, Detective Roy Grace, manages to remain understated while still successfully piecing the story together.

The clever split-level set design allowed each scene to run seamlessly into the next while keeping the audience focused as the story unravelled. This play is full of exciting twists and turns, with some unexpectedly frightening parts and an ending that is worth the ticket price alone.

March 2014 - Star Stricken

As part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Book Arrow Heart/Compulsory Trousers present:

STAR STRICKEN - A double-bill of new one-act comedy plays exposing celebrity.

Karen Barclay's 'Emily Entwistle' explores the story of an anxious brand manager consulting the dead famous, while Tom Brogan's 'Good Times Never Seemed So Good' follows a Neil Diamond tribute act who finds the demands of the industry is putting his relationship under strain.

The plays run from 26th - 29th of March at the CCA on Sauchiehall St Glasgow at 7.30pm.

Tickets are priced at £10/£8 concession and can be booked here. 

May 2014- Little Shop of Horrors

Just how far will one man go for fame and fortune? Find out this May when the cult rock comedy musical Little Shop of Horrors plants itself in Glasgow's West End.

The show will run in the new Webster Theatre (formally Lansdowne) and is brought to you by Scottish theatre company, Insideout Productions. Paul Harper-Swan (Insideout's Artistic Director) said he was over the moon with the phenomenal cast. 

Heading up said cast is Britain's Got Talent semi finalist, Edward Reid who will be taking on the role of Orin (except from Friday 2nd when the role will be played by Ben Fitzpatrick). Reid said he was 'looking forward to getting his 'teeth' into the character' and (if he can put his squeamishness to one side)  do some show research in his real-life dentist's surgery. The other cast members joining Reid include West Enders Sabrina Carter and David Kristopher Brown and a whole host of Scottish talent including Natalie Toyne, Lauren Ellis Steele, Alison Rona Cleland and Neil Thomas. 

Directed by Paul Harper-Swan who is responsible for a host of successful shows such as Company and Broadway in the Bar, and musically directed by Kieran Young (currently training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) this is a show not to be missed! 

Catch Little Shop of Horrors on one of its 10 performances between Thursday 1st and Saturday 10th of May. Tickets are £15 and selling fast!  

For more info call the Cottiers box office - 0141 357 4000 

or 

check out the website here

TICKET OFFER - £5 off 'The Perfect Murder'

£5 OFF band A tickets  for Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th of March. Quote PERFECT5 when booking.

Have you ever wondered how you commit the perfect murder?

Victor Smiley and his wife Joan have been married for a long time. But their marriage has reached crisis point and Victor has decided there is only one way to get Joan out of his life forever….but he's about to get a nasty surprise...as a young Detective Roy Grace starts to investigate his very first homicide case, dark forces intervene and Grace begins to fear that nothing is quite as it seems in this entertaining dark comedy thriller.

Direct from his West End lead role in Spamalot, Les Dennis(Chicago, Hairspray, Art, BBC 2’s Life’s Too Short), stars along sideClaire Goose, (Waking the Dead, Casualty),  Gray O’Brien(Coronation Street, Peak Practice), Steven Miller (Casualty) andSimona Armstrong, (finalist in the BBC’s search for a ‘Maria’).

International best selling crime thriller novelist Peter James has sold over 15 million books of his Roy Grace series, and is published in 36 languages. The Perfect Murder was 15 weeks at No. 1 and remained for 50 weeks in the iBook Top 10.

March 13th - The Vagina Monologues - Cottiers Theatre

BOLD COW PRODUCTIONS are delighted to present Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues as their debut production with all proceeds from the show going to Women's Aid.

The Vagina Monologues premiered in 1997 and was originally a one-woman show starring Ensler herself. The show is a series of monologues inspired by interviews conducted by Ensler on subjects such as relationships, sex and violence against women.

The Vagina Monologues in the cornerstone of the V-Day movement which aims to end all violence against women and girls. V-Day was founded by Eve Ensler in 1998 and uses creative events to increase awareness and raise money.

The V in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

Bold Cow Productions are a newly established theatre company based in Glasgow. Their aim is to make theatre widely available to everyone. 

Theatre for people who don't go to the theatre.

Tickets are available at www.cottiers.com or 0141 357 5852 and are priced at £10/8 (including booking fee)

The Great Yes, No, Don't Know Five Minute Theatre Show

'From 5pm on Monday 23rd June 2014, we’ll pack 24 hours with live theatre from Scotland and beyond on the theme of ‘Independence’.

Five Minute Theatre is open to anyone. If you can create, direct, produce and perform your own piece of theatre in front of an audience, we’ll stream it here on our virtual stage to the world.

Submissions are now open and the closing date is 5pm on Sunday 23rdMarch 2014.'

More details can be found here: http://fiveminutetheatre.com/