UK Theatre Network

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Passionate About Theatre

EDITOR'S NOTE

Hi there Friend

As usual, I am ever grateful and delighted each week with the progress of UK Theatre Network.

Caroline May has been doing some great reviews in Manchester at 24:7 Theatre Festival and one producer contacted me to say that her review had a direct result in selling out the week's performance. Great news for theatre. Michael Wray did some filming as well, so I'll be bringing you some of what you missed to help you spread the word and encourage more people to visit fringe theatre around the UK.  They'll be uploaded to Bebo, Facebook and Myspace as well as UKTheatre.TV.

Rosalind River has done a great job in Edinburgh to get Press Accreditation at the Edinburgh Fringe for the second year running and with volunteers from the network, she now has a great review team in time to tell you all about 3 weeks of great theatre entertainment in Edinburgh. 

Sharon O'Donnell has taken Dublin Theatre by storm and is starting to create great interest and has already built a review team to keep us informed with theatre from across the Irish Sea.

SO.....a very BIG thanks to all the hard working review teams who selflessly attend theatre every week to help you choose what YOU want to see. Help support them in their work by telling others and using the links to spread the news. 

Home > Whats On > UKTheatre Reviews

Douglas McFarlane
Editor, UK Theatre Network

Emma Canalese cast as 'Annabelle' in Ryan J Smith's LOVE LABOURS WON at the Edinburgh Fringe.

UK Theatre Networker Ryan J Smith has been living it up in New York with his sky-high Central Park view, after Paul Gambaccini kindly offered his flat. He has been rubbing shoulders in the elevator with fellow tenants Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell and Al Pacino - all of whom he has met and befriended. He's back in Edinburgh this week to kick off the first performances of LOVE LABOURS WON and we'll be following his progress each week.

Producer Zia Trench, joins the FIVE MINUTE THEATRE showcase team.

It's looking good. Zia has been working hard to find a few venues to help showcase UK Theatre Network members. We've got a choice of Bedford Globe in Balham on September 9th or Theatre Tecnis in Camden on October 1st. I'm favouring Camden at the moment but what do YOU think ? We have had great interest in some talented performers who would love you to see their work. Whether you are a casting director, agent, producer, an actor or passionate about theatre, then we would welcome your support and feedback to help Zia and I get this first event off the ground.


Attending Five Minute Theatre in London ?
 

PRODUCTION UPDATES

MAKING IT IN HOLLYWOOD
Chris Dickerson, who was one of the featured contributors on Making It In Hollywood has included a chapter in his latest book on the experience of working with me when I was in Hollywood. I had no idea he was writing while we were having regular conversations and but it was a pleasant surprise to hear is very descriptive insight. If you've been following the path of the film, then you'll enjoy this inside view. It's called "Crossing The Frontier" and is available through book site LULU:-

http://www.lulu.com/content/972852

LITTLE INDIA
The BBC Asian Network has been in touch and are keen to do an interview about "Little India". I've also been looking for British Asian comedic performers and a few talented people have come forward including Nagajan Modhwadia - here's his showreel.

KPAX: II - The Return Of Prot
Still waiting on a nod from Mr Spacey's Hollywood agents. Until then here's the official site of the first K-PAX

MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

BREAKING IN

The YouTube generation is starting to evolve as more and more performers see the benefit of the mass audience appeal and start to create visual elements around their own work. I've featured one such example of this on USTheater.TV - it features the backstage antics of theatre performers and is an amusing parody. The American producers will be keeping me posted on their progress.

I'm delighted to be able to bring you your very own Leicester Square Webcam which will you will be able to see what the weather's like before you head to a West End performance. Clever eh  ?  You can also check it out during Premiere's and get a birds eye view without having to jostle your way through the crowds. The power of Media Technology. 

Whats On - London West End

The Facebook Phenomenon

Anyone who has used Facebook since it's launch in the UK earlier this year, will appreciate how simple it is and how widely it is used by those in the media and entertainment world. The UK Theatre Network group has grown to around 350 members very quickly and I can not only spread the news about theatre productions around the UK but thanks to the UKTheatreTV application, I can also click a button and display a new independent theatre or film video to over 70 members sites and their visitors. 

I noticed that the Facebook developers have been challenged by ConnectU, who allege that Facebook stole their source code. This came shortly after Facebook announced they had purchased Parakey, telling the world they have some money in their pocket. As ever, American lawyers will make the killing out of all this and the additional publicity gained around it will help sell papers, lead to an out of court settlement and everyone will be friends again. 

Read more at Save Facebook
 

BBC IPlayer

Did you get it ?  The launch of the long awaited BBC IPLAYER came and went with a fizzle. The install process took at least 1 hour to work through the extensive pop-ups and different logins and userids required. I then had to sign up to two different systems with different userid's and the login names you provided with are instantly forgettable. This is supposedly aimed at general Internet users who want to download the last 7 days of BBC TV.  Well, be prepared to wait about 7 days to watch it ! After you've worked out the install process, you then click on the show that you want to download and then wait 24 hours for it to download to your computer. With today's Internet instant-gratification, point-and-click-and-watch generation, it is clear that the BBC technical team are working on a different Internet planet. Oh, and it only runs on Internet Explorer.

See for yourself at BBC's official site

FORUMS