Hello again Friend

How was your week ? BAFTA screenings continue in earnest and I loved Into The Wild. A true story turned into an adventure on the big screen by Sean Penn. It's one of those films you want to go and see before you read anymore about it, as most reviews will find it difficult not to have a spoiler by merely describing the story.

Tomorrow night is BAFTA 60th Birthday party at New Drury Lane. There may be some tickets left (www.seetickets.com). Michael Parkinson and Joanne Lumley host a televised programme showcasing some of the best moments of BAFTA's 60 years in business. The programme will be shown in November.

It's quite bizarre, some of the latest revivals on stage this month is like reading my performance CV. Annie, 42nd Street, Half-A-Sixpence are classic musicals all getting a new airing around the UK. They were all great fun being part of and I'm keen to see them all again.  

Alternatively if you prefer your theatre raw, you might want to become An Audience Of One. Sara Pascoe has been at a unique performance in Clapham. The audience becomes part of the play and the props are all part of the street where they perform it.

Over in Dublin, Ciaran and Sharon are now getting into full swing with reviews of Woman And Scarecrow and Danti Dan. They're doing a great job bringing the best of Dublin theatre to the online world.

On the music front, one to watch is Robyn. Her performance on Channel 4 was superb. A great voice and an emotionally charged performance of her latest single With Every Heartbeat. Her hairstyle reminds me of 80s new romantic Steve Strange of Visage.

Here's her Myspace link

Finally, as if that's not enough entertainment, Zia Trench gets her Grand Slam theatre of the ground tomorrow night and Pirate Jenny gets interactive in Devon and Cambridge. The Camden Head pub in Angel, Islington have a standup night and the producer email'd me with an exclusive 2 for 1 ticket offer for UKTN members. Just mention 'UK Theatre offer' when you arrive at 9pm.

So what's stopping you from having a GREAT time this week ?

Douglas McFarlane
Editor, UKTheatre.Net

ANNIE
Take a box office blue chip like the great musical Annie - a fairytale of a narrative about a 10-year-old orphan, who at the height of America's Great Depression is adopted by one of the world's richest men.  Give it the full Chris Moreno treatment, a big cast, sumptuous sets, lavish costumes, a great band, not forgetting a cuddly dog, and you're onto something special.

Read more....

An Audience of One- Clapham Junction 19-21 October Ladder to the Moon There is an amount of gimmicky pleasure to be found in receiving an emailed photograph of your seat, in advance of a theatre visit.  There is a great deal of further emotion when that seat is not in the plush interior of a proscenium arch theatre, but outside Woolworth's in Clapham.  And when that seat happens to be the floor.   Read more...

Danti Dan Brought to the Mill Theatre in a winning Galloglass production by David Horan, the drama is set in rural Cork in the summer of 1970, 10 miles from Cork City. The play opens in the heat of the summer as they (teenagers) kill time by the village monument; Moxley's five teenage characters find their respective sexualities flowering at different rates. Read more...

Decadence Decadence in now showing in the Mill Theatre studio, Dundrum. Decadence is originally a 1980's piece by Steven Berkoff.   Firstly, the mill theatre studio, is below the main Theatre. It is a very small and very intimate venue. Decadence is a 2 piece performance around 95 minutes long with no interval. One got the impression that it was almost more of a school play with excellent actors or perhaps a showcase for both Tom O'Leary and Katherine Murphy. Read more...

WOMAN AND SCARECROW by Marina Carr is now showing in the Peacock Theatre until Saturday 10th of November as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival. This play is a masterpiece which consists of 4 characters as a story of life and preparing to die unfolds. Read more...