Emily Hardy

Emily studied english and performed professionally before training as a multi-media journalist at the Press Association, and subsequently writing across a broad range of titles in the health, education and entertainment sectors. Her flair for theatre journalism stems from a life-long interest in the versatility and force of the form and a desire to make a positive contribution to the arts.

What’s On Our Radar? – February 2016

Features, News, Off West End, Touring, West End
In The Night Time (Before The Sun Rises) at the Gate Theatre

Emily Hardy reveals her February favourites. The End of Longing The Playhouse theatre February 2 – May 14 BOOK NOW Written by and starring Friends’ Matthew Perry, The End of Longing is the one everyone’s been talking about. Scuppering what everyone believed would be a bonafide Friends reunion on 21 February, Matthew Perry is making his return to the West End with this ‘fast paced’ and ‘bittersweet’ comic play. What’s more Lindsay Posner (Speed-the-Plow, Other Desert Cities), who first collaborated with Perry on Sexual Perversity in 2003, is on board too. Set in Los Angeles, The End of Longing tells of four lost souls, entering their forties and searching for meaning. After one raucous night in a downtown bar, their lives become irreversibly entwined and they are forced to confront the ‘darker sides’ of their relationships. We know that this project has been of particular pertinence and importance to Perry … Read more

Callie Cooke, Tahirah Sharif and Phaldut Sharma star in Firebird transfer

News, Off West End
Firebird at Trafalgar Studios 2

Callie Cooke, Tahirah Sharif and Phaldut Sharma will reprise their roles in Phil Davies’ debut play Firebird, following a run at Hampstead Downstairs last autumn. Davies’ play marks Callie Cooke’s debut stage appearance having recently graduated from The Arts Education School. She stars alongside Tahirah Sharif (Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, National Theatre, Waterloo Road) and Phaldut Sharma (Ramayan, Lyric Hammersmith, EastEnders). Firebird opens at Trafalgar Studios this February, in association with The Children’s Society and directed by Edward Hall, Hampstead Theatre’s Artistic Director. Responding to nationwide cases of child sexual exploitation throughout Britain, including those in Davies’ hometown of Rochdale, Firebird shows how easy it can be for vulnerable young people to fall victim to sexual abuse. The play dramatises how the innocent are all too often failed by the authorities who are meant to protect them. Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, says: “When we first … Read more

From Islington to Syria: Lucinda Burnett’s Correspondence

News, Off West End
Correspondence at the Old Red Lion Theatre

Correspondence, a powerful new drama by Lucinda Burnett set between Stockport and Syria on the brink of the Arab Spring, opens at the Old Red Lion Theatre this March. This bittersweet story of fledgling friendships and mental health has been scheduled to coincide with the 5th Anniversary of the Syrian Revolution. Ali Ariaie will play Jibreel Jalebi. Ariaie’s credits include Raised by Wolves (Channel 4), Julius Caesar (Crescent Theatre), Medea and The Tale of the Wolf and the Shepherd (Arthur Cotterell Theatre) and Points of Departure (Jermyn Street Theatre). Joe Attewell, who trained at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts will play Ben Loveall. His credits include Jekyll & Hyde (ITV) and Holby City (BBC 1). Theatre credits include One Time Thing (Park Theatre) and The Squeaky Clean (New Wimbledon Studio). Joanna Croll, from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, will play Fran Loveall. TV credits include Luther … Read more

Rough Haired Pointer stage child’s-eye-view of the world

News, Off West End
The Young Visiters

The Young Visiters is the most famous book in history written by a nine-year-old. Precocious Victorian child, Daisy Ashford, and her child’s-eye-view of the adult world was championed by J.M. Barrie and first published in 1919 (28 years after it was written) complete with idiosyncratic spellings. Now Rough Haired Pointer (Diary of a Nobody, Fred & Madge) are giving London audiences another chance to see their adaptation of this cult book at The Tabard Theatre in Chiswick for four weeks in March. The Young Visiters is and Ashford’s eye for adult absurdity has real comic bite. A young cast of six will bring The Young Visitors – full of innocent (or not so innocent) double entendres – to life. Rough Haired Pointer was founded by Mary Franklin and Carin Nakanishi in 2013. Since then the company has expanded to include a composer, producer and a company of associate actors. Intentionally rough … Read more

Branagh, Brydon and Blakley in comedy The Painkiller

News, West End
Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in The Painkiller. Tickets Now On Sale

Kenneth Branagh, Rob Brydon, Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser, Mark Hadfield and Alex Macqueen make up the cast of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s new comedy The Painkiller. Directed and adapted by Sean Foley, The Painkiller will be the fifth production in the Plays at the Garrick season and will play from 5 March until 30 April 2016. Foley directs his “dark, yet hilarious” adaptation of Francis Veber’s classic French farce, while Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon reprise the roles they played to great acclaim at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre inaugural season. Foley said: “I’m delighted to have the chance to further develop this comedy with the remarkable double act of Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon, who, together with the brilliant Mark Hadfield, were a joy to direct in the first production. “I know that they are excited as I am to also be welcoming to our cast the extraordinary talents of Claudie … Read more

Aria Entertainment and Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester announce major collaboration…and a string of musicals

News, Regional
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

A national London-based arts producer and Manchester’s newest theatre have announced a major collaboration which will put the venue on the arts map in the North of England. Aria Entertainment has joined forces with Hope Mill Theatre in Ancoats to spearhead the venue as a platform to showcase and revive musical theatre. The first show from the new partnership is the classic musical Parade, which will run for three weeks from Friday 13 May to Sunday 5 June. The performance run is unique in that there will be Sunday evening performances throughout at 6pm. The team will also be staging the musical Hair and a workshop of a brand new musical. Dates to be confirmed soon. Aria Entertainment is a theatrical production company headed up by Manchester-born producer and company director Katy Lipson, who has experience in producing new and established works in the West End, Off West End, Edinburgh … Read more

Savoy extends booking for Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith

News, West End
Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice. Funny Girl to transfer to London Savoy Theatre in April

Due to unprecedented demand, the critically acclaimed production of Funny Girl, which is fast selling out its run, has extended booking at the Savoy Theatre for a further four weeks until 8 October 2016. Tickets for the extension of Michael Mayer’s production starring Olivier and BAFTA award-winning actress and Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice go on sale from 10am on 8 February. With music by Jule Styne (whose musical Gypsy recently completed its award-winning run at the Savoy Theatre, starring Imelda Staunton), lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart, the Broadway smash which skyrocketed Barbra Streisand to stardom, is revived with book revisions by Harvey Fierstein. Sheridan Smith plays Fanny Brice, who rose from being a Brooklyn music hall singer to become one of Broadway’s biggest stars under producer Florenz Ziegfeld. The score features now-classic songs such as People, You Are Woman, I Am Man, I’m the Greatest … Read more

The Ale House is back in town and open for business

News, Regional
Ale House the comedy comes to Liverpool starring Philip Olivier

Fresh from recent regional success, raucous comedy The Ale House is back in the city where it was first brewed from 25 February until 19 March 2016. Actors, Philip Olivier (Brookside, Benidorm) and Jake Abraham (Game of Thrones), who recently starred in a production of the show at St Helens Theatre Royal, have decided a second round is in order. They have joined forces with the writers of Night Collar to co-direct their own site-specific version of The Ale House, at The Dome in Grand Central on Liverpool’s Renshaw Street. It will be the first experience of directing for the duo. They are particularly excited to be directing for The Dome in Grand Central Hall, which they describe as “Liverpool’s hidden gem!” Philip Olivier said: “The comedy has been really successful so far because it’s so true to life. It portrays life in a typical boozer with all the characters … Read more