Archive for the ‘Topical’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Don’t forget about poetry: Martin Daws and Sophia

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Martin Daws

This August, Martin Daws and Sophia take to the PBH’s Free Fringe with their own poetic style and hunger for the stage.  This spoken word lyricism runs rings around the generalised boundaries of music and story telling which you might find as a single entity elsewhere, leaving a positive delight for the ears.

Both with strong musical backgrounds, Daws as a DJ and Sophia, a saxophonist, they claim their experience brings a freedom and fluidity to their poetry and incorporated Hip Hop.  With an emphasis on the rhythm of his works, Daws says together the act strikes a “universal voice, with a core belief in the politics of personal experience”.

The very essence of their poetry, capturing individual perceptions of the world and the ways that people interact, makes for an interesting concept.  Standing alongside Utter! Spoken Word down at The Banshee Labyrinth, (poets who’ve performed at the Fringe for so many years now they’re practically furniture), we’ll be curious to see how Daws and Sophia add to the mix.

Heavy weight slam champions in their own right, the duo met in 2006 at an open mic night and have performed together on and off ever since.  Daws himself stopped off at the Fringe in 2008 and is back again with his lucky carnelian necklace ready for some improvisation.

Defining their act as “an imaginative jazz double bass solo, transposed into the words of a modernist poet mixed with a Washington DC block party in a Skype call”, here at fringepreviews we’re expecting the unexpected.

Outside of performing, we’ve been told to look out for Martin and Sophia peeking into the other delights on offer down at The Banshee and taking full advantage of the Free Fringe.  Maybe we’ll see you there?

Hannah Van Den Bergh ReviewerMini

Written by Hannah Van Den Bergh

Add to Technorati Favorites

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Topical | No Comments »

Buxton Fringe Awards Press Release

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Stephanie Billen @ 2011 Buxton Festival FringeSmall

July 24th 2011

For immediate release

PRESS RELEASE

Buxton Festival Fringe announces awards for 2011

Buxton Festival Fringe presented its eagerly awaited Fringe Awards on Sunday, July 24 in the Dome, home of Fringe sponsor, the University of Derby Buxton.

Chair Stephanie Billen gave a warm welcome to the Mayor and Mayoress of High Peak, Councillor David Lomax and Mrs Hilary Lomax, Opera House Chief Executive Andrew Aughton and Fringe supporter Trevor Osborne of The Osborne Group as well as to Fringe committee members, Fringe Friends, reviewers and the all-important performers, who attended in high numbers. She also praised the high standard of entrants to this, the 32nd Buxton Fringe: “It’s the biggest Fringe ever but I’m particularly excited by the quality this year. I love giving out awards but I am also very aware that some performers may be disappointed. The truth is we greatly appreciate all of you.”

In the much sought-after theatre categories, Shadow Syndicate, a youth drama group from Mansfield, were double winners – with their drama, Fugee, winning Young Production, and Chris William winning the Young Actor award for his role in the show. The play Big Daddy Vs Giant Haystacks won Theatre Production, with Nick Danan winning the Actor prize for the title role in the sell-out production of Macbeth in Poole’s Cavern.

Local winners included Packhorse Poets, artist Andrea Joseph, the exhibition Playing with Pattern, singer Laura Monaghan, Derbyshire City & County Youth Orchestra and High Peak Magicians’ Society.

The Fringe is very grateful not only to the people and venues of Buxton for their support but to its financial backers including main sponsor the University of Derby Buxton, The Osborne Group, High Peak Borough Council, The Old Hall Hotel (who have specifically funded the awards certificates), and, a new funder for the Fringe, The Cavendish Shopping Arcade.

Award winners receive free entry to next year’s Fringe, plus certificates. The full list of nominations and winners is as follows:

Comedy

Show

Ed Reardon: A Writer’s Burden (Angela Browne Ltd)
Holmes and Watson (Max and Ivan) AWARD
In Pursuit of Miss Adventure (Lab Monkey Productions)

Individual

John Cooper (Danny Pensive’s Map of Britain)
Henning Wehn (No Surrender)
James Sherwood (I Fed My Best Friend Her Favourite Cow)
Isy Suttie (Pearl & Dave) AWARD

Dance

Richard (Makoto Inoue Ind.) AWARD

Film

Open Shorts 2011 AWARD

For Families

The Clock Master (Sparkle and Dark’s Travelling Players) AWARD
The Enormous Turnip and Other Stories (Little GIANT Productions)
Granny’s Big Top Tale! (Little Pixie Productions)

Music

Event

Derbyshire CCYO Summer Concert (Derbyshire City & County Youth Orchestra) AWARD

Performer

Laura Monaghan (Women in Love: An Evening of Song and Opera) AWARD
Margaret Ferguson (An Evening with Africa’s First Lady of Song)
Susie Self (Music and the Muse: The Poet’s Way – Selfmade Music)
Rosina Al-Shaater (Rosie & The Ragdolls)

Large Ensemble

Burbage Band (Anniversary Concert)
City of Manchester Opera (Magical Opera Moments)
Amaretti Chamber Orchestra (Music for Strings) AWARD

Buxton FringeProgramme2011Small Ensemble

Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz & Mart’s ManJazz4 or 5 (Mart’s Trad Jazz Evening)
Fordante (Popular Films and Light Classical Music Concert)
Emlyn Vaughan (The River Story)
Salmagundi (Salmagundi at the Railway)
Timothy Kennedy & Catherine Hall-Smith (Songs of Romance)
The Ryebank Trio (Three’s a Crowd) AWARD

Most enjoyable

Jake Thackray Rides Again (Keith E Smith)
Music for a While (Angela Rowley & James Pelham)
Pieces for Eight (Sovereign Saxophone Octet) AWARD

Vocal

Ordsall Acapella Singers (Singing from the Heart)
Sheffield Chorale (Music to Hear)
Ladybrook Singers (Summer Serenade) AWARD

Solo Instrumentalist

Simon Beesley (Chamber music for Oboe & Strings)
Richard Taylor (Harmony Tour)
Jonathan Ellis (Legends of the piano and various other shows)
Katrina Brown (High Peak Orchestra – Viola Concerto) AWARD
Ailsa Hoyle (Summer Serenade)
Miriam Brown (Summer Serenade)

New Writing

Salmagundi (Salmagundi at the Railway) AWARD

Spoken Word

Ann Atkinson & the Packhorse Poets (Packhorse Poets)
An evening with Ian McMillan and Roy Fisher (Packhorse Poets) AWARD
Love and Loss: Tales from Imagined Lands by Kat Quatermass (Dreamfired Productions)
Glassball Presents – A Lyric in Limestone (Mark Gwynne Jones and the Psychicbread)
Richard Tyrone Jones Has a Big Heart (Utter! Spoken Word)

Street Theatre

The Shakespeare Jukebox (Dick, Gerard & Maria, Buxton Drama League) AWARD

Theatre

Production

15% of the Seagull (Mayer & Martin)
Bane / Bane 2 / Bane 3 (Whitebone Productions)
Being Nice by Mark Niel (Ashrow Theatre Co.)
Big Daddy Vs. Giant Haystacks (The Foundry Group (with The Ornate Johnsons) AWARD
Blitz Bride by Claire Spratt (Planet Rabbit Productions Ltd)
Dev’s Army by Stuart D Lee (Elysion Productions)
Double Booked (Ginny Davis Productions)
Excuse me, I’m trying to please you (Fiona and Friends)
Hyde by Polis Loizou (Thunder Road Theatre)
Macbeth Underground in Poole’s Cavern (Butterfly)

Young Drama

4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane (Craft Theatre Company)
Fugee by Abi Morgan (Shadow Syndicate) AWARD
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (Young REC Theatre Company)

Actor

Ceridwen Smith (Monkey from The Clock Master)
Joe Bone (Bane from Bane)
Ross Gurney-Randall (Big Daddy from Big Daddy Vs. Giant Haystacks)
David Mounfield (Giant Haystacks from Big Daddy Vs. Giant Haystacks)
Richard Sails (Paddy from Dev’s Army)
Stephen Wymark (Harry Rouen from Fragments)
Anna Hudson (Stacey from The Haunting)
Christopher Ward (Utterson from Hyde)
Nick Danan (Macbeth from Macbeth) AWARD
George Telfer (Graham Chapman from Not the Messiah)
Timothy Mann (Space)
Sharon Lancaster (Judith from That’s not the way to do it)

Young Actor

Elsje Hugo (Liz, from Billy Liar)
Chris William (Kojo from Fugee) AWARD
Laura Stafford (Ara from Fugee)
Annie Osborne (Hermia from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Ellie Burke (Quince from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
James Chetwood (Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

BuxtonfringelogolargeVisual Arts

Show

The Derbyshire Open 2011
Landscape and Flowers: Paintings and Photographs
Playing with Pattern AWARD
The Great Dome Art Fair

Artist
Alan Bailey (Landscape and Flowers)
Suzy Shackleton (The Great Dome Art Fair)
Andrea Joseph (Strictly Ballpoint) AWARD
Harry McArdle (The Great Dome Art Fair)

Other Events

Buxton Military Tattoo (ABF The Soldiers’ Charity)
Evening of Close Up Magic (High Peak Magicians Society) AWARD

New Writing

Ed Readon: A Writer’s Burden by Christopher Douglas
Big Daddy Vs. Giant Haystacks by Brian Mitchell & Joseph Nixon
Dev’s Army by Stuart D Lee AWARD
Telling Lives by Eric Northey
Witzelsucht & Moria by G C Morgan

Spirit of the Fringe

Go with the Flow (Local Vocals)
Flat on my back seeing stars: Victor Barstool (Dolls House) AWARD
Buxton Day of Dance (Chapel-en-le-Frith Morris Men)

Add to Technorati Favorites

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Topical | No Comments »

Where would we be without August?

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Hannah Van Den Bergh ReviewerSmall

Article written by Hannah Van Den Bergh

To the untrained eye, Edinburgh would seem to be merely going about its usual business, selling tartan to tourists and every so often complaining about national independence.  But only an amateur would make such a fatal presumption – the sheer brute of the Fringe is coming.

Preparing for the colossal intake of budding actors, comedians and plentiful carnie-folk, a city that would otherwise be full to the cloisters is re-decorating the closet and cleaning room behind the sofa to make space for a potential 21,000 performers plus hoards of reviewers, techies and the obligatory audience (comparing the 2010 capacity).  You need only attempt climbing the Royal Mile in peak to fully understand the veracity and extent of Fringe crowd control.

As Fringe brochures are circulated and an eclectic selection of vacancies appear in shop windows the inevitable bubbling in my stomach returns – a mixture of excitement and guilt, like a lone child faced with a cake buffet before the other kids arrive; the temptation is almost too much to bear.  With rent on the increase for 2011’s most highly anticipated festival – beating Edinburgh’s other selection (including the Magic Festival and the Film Festival) to the backroom – and the inevitable mumble about the economy, sustaining more than a few days at the Festival will be difficult for anyone who has to take time out of work to do so.  Saying that, however, I have no doubt it will be worth the spend with some exciting new acts and a selection of returners back with painted faces and even more leaflets than last year, including 2010 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy (Perrier) Awards winner, Russell Kane; theatre company Belt Up Theatre and comedian Edward Aczel.

The collective splattering of arts, from improvised theatre to a cappella means there’s something for all tastes, however exotic.  The subtle expectations, however, from a festival that has brought us great talents from Eddie Izzard to Bo Burnham, The Magnets to Stephen Fry, remains at its pinnacle: anticipation high with an even greater potential for disaster.

Hannah Van Den Bergh

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Interviews, Topical | No Comments »

Leafleting is a blow to liberty!

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

logoRgdFestLogo

A most interesting article in the Guardian Newspaper today about leafleting.

Virtual Flyering at festivals is perhaps the way to go….

logo_festivalpreviews

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Topical | No Comments »

The New Contemporary Samuel Beckett

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

‘STILL THERE’ conceived, written and performed by Neel de Jong during the ARENA Festival in Erlangen, Germany.

moz-screenshot-4Small

THE WORLD OF A SENSITIVE DANCE FAIRY

On stage at the Mark Grafentheater, 61 year old Neel de Jong takes to the stage with her extraordinary dance performance.  Hardly noticeable at first, the performance begins with a few delicate notes on the piano. De Jong’s performance builds and the public see a projection of one of her dance video’s on a white background, and simultaneously de Jong starts to move in real life.

The piano accompaniment is graceful; the music respectfully yielding to Neel de Jong’s soft, fluid body movements. Her arms articulate words, sweet words, opening like flowers that fragrance the air with life. She hugs herself with warm conviction, and then – like a free butterfly – she shakes her arms away from her body as if she frees herself again.  These soft movements evolve and change towards staccato gestures and lively expressive eyes. She nestles her face – very sweet – against the hairy leg of a spectator, enjoys the contact with the male skin and also her own.

She then focuses her attention on the “I” on the video and starts  to interact with herself.   The Neel de Jong on screen throws words into the room,  like formulized incantations.  The color of the theatre space changes and makes a pleasing contrast.  Previously, serious with blue and greens, it now turns into a soft orange glow.  Who is Neel de Jong?   In the glow of the lights she smiles and frolics with the audience while her touching little pigtail stands perkily on her head. She smiles and waves her hand at the audience and looks happy when some people wave back at her.  She says that words of late are losing their meaning, that’s why she prefers to dance and feel them instead.  She skillfully plays with light and shadows on the back wall embracing and engaging with the de Jong image on film.

De Jong’s dances feel like a poem.  She caresses the little things around her and pays homage to the small details of life.  The perception of the audience is that they are unable to enjoy these little things any more: “All of us live in lit­tle boxes with walls covered with written laws…“. Her personal answer:  “I create my own  lit­tle world”.  Whoever lets go “can catch some moments of heaven on earth”.

Review written by Yuh, Erlangen, Germany.

Translated by Neel de Jong, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Arena Festival, Erlangen, Germany

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Topical | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »