Interviews

INTERVIEW: Sigrid Neilson and Lavender Menace Creatives

Edinburgh Fringe, Features, Interviews, LGBT
Love Song to Lavender Menace

While London’s Gays The Word bookshop is more in the public eye, (it featured heavily in the film Pride), less is known about Lavender Menace, the bookshop that began in the cloakroom of Scotland’s first gay nightclub and became the beating heart of Edinburgh’s LGBT community. Now celebrated as a play, Love Song to Lavender Menace performs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival following a sell-out run at the Lyceum. Paul T. Davies caught up with Sigrid Neilson, co-founder of Lavender Menace, and the team behind the show. I myself am just catching up with the history of Lavender Menace, so, for visitors to the Fringe, can you give me a brief outline of the history-maybe with one or two good anecdotes? SIGRID NEILSON, CO-FOUNDER OF LAVENDER MENACE: The bookshop grew out of the fact that, for many LGBT people, including me, life in the sixties and seventies mostly had to … Read more

INTERVIEW: Playwright Diane Samuels talks about Kindertransport

Features, Interviews, Touring
Diane Samuels

Playwright and author Diane Samuels spoke of her play Kindertransport and the real- life events that inspired it. Can you tell us a little about the Kindertransport story? Between 1938 and the outbreak of the Second World War, almost 10,000 children, most of them Jewish, were sent by their parents from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria to safety in Britain. In my play nine-year old Eva (based on the actual experiences of a number of children and developed as a single fictional character) comes to Manchester where she is looked after by Lil. When Eva’s parents fail to escape Germany, she settles into English life and once the war is over changes her name, becomes adopted by her foster parents and chooses to eradicate her painful loss and background. In the play, Evelyn, now in her fifties, is confronted by her own daughter, Faith, when she finds some photos and comments from … Read more

INTERVIEW: Matthew Bourne Talks About Cinderella

Features, Interviews, Touring
Sir Matthew Bourne

Sir Matthew Bourne talks about New Adventures and their re-telling of the classic story Cinderella which is touring the UK. The most striking aspect of this re-telling of the Cinderella story is the setting. Why did you choose to set the world’s most famous fairy tale during the London Blitz in 1940? I first fell in love with Prokofiev’s score through watching Frederick Ashton’s version of the ballet for The Royal Ballet. Although composed as a fairy-tale piece, in the style of the great Tchaikovsky ballets, such as “The Sleeping Beauty”, it has Prokofiev’s particular 20th century musical personality stamped all over it. True, it has Grand Waltzes, Fairy variations, mazurka’s and “national” dances, in the manner of Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballet works, but lurking beneath the fairy-tale magic, there beats a darker heart with real emotions and dramatic longing. These are the features of Prokofiev’s music that keep you … Read more

INTERVIEW: Joe Pasquale on playing Frank Spencer in Some Mother Do ‘Ave ‘Em

Features, Interviews, Touring
Some MOthers Do 'Ave 'Em

We speak to Joe Pasquale on being Frank Spencer in the Some Mothers Do ‘Ave’Em on stage, living dangerously and a naughty on-stage habit… What can people expect from the stage show of Some Mothers Do ‘Av ‘Em? Proper family comedy that is set in the 70s and is so funny that you will laugh solidly for two hours. In the original TV series there were a lot of crazy stunts. How about the stage show? I’m doing it all – hanging by my ankles, chicken chasing and all sorts. If it’s not dangerous or life threatening I’m not interested anymore. Michael Crawford is inexorably linked with the character of Frank Spencer. Will you be imitating his performance? No. That would be an insult to Michael. I will be projecting my own personality on to the role. When we did the final workshop we had an invited audience. All the … Read more

INTERVIEW: Charlie Clements on The Case Of The Frightened Lady

Features, Interviews, Touring
Charlie Clements The Case Of The Frightened Lady

Former EastEnders star Charlie Clement tells us about new stage thriller The Case of The Frightened Lady now touring the UK How would you describe The Case Of The Frightened Lady? It is a tense thriller that all takes place in the stately home of Lord and Lady Lebanon. The play kicks off with a lavish fancy dress party celebrating the Restoration of Charles II. But something happens, and two police officers, Tanner and Totti, who I play, arrive to investigate. People end up dead and nobody knows who’s done it. There are always people moving and there are always people listening, so it creates this constant air of suspicion. Basically everyone has a motive to be the killer. I’ve always enjoyed thrillers and old school whodunits, so the opportunity to be in one of those was really exciting. What’s your character, Totti, like? He is 37 and he came … Read more

Tom Chambers is just Crazy For You!

Features, Interviews, Touring

You can’t beat some glorious Gershwin and the composer has no greater fan than Tom Chambers who is fulfilling a teenage dream by starring in the musical Crazy For You. By the time the curtain came down on a production of Crazy For You in the early Nineties, a 15-year-old Tom Chambers knew his heart lay in performing. “It was the very first live musical I ever saw on stage and it just filled me with so much entertainment and wonder. It was amazing to see what they did with the theatre space and how the story was told. It was the only bit of theatre which truly inspired me,” he recalled. And in a career which has featured a number of crazy twists of fate as well as some fantastic roles, Tom is relishing the chance to recapture that teenage dream and this time play the lead role in … Read more

INTERVIEW: Ivo Van Hove on Hedda Gabler

Features, Interviews, Touring
Ivo Van Hove on Hedda Gabler

Kate Moore speaks to Ivo Van Hove about his production of Hedda Gabler which is now touring the UK. HEDDA GABLER UK TOUR DATES Kate Moore: Hi Ivo, let’s start off by discussing what drew you to Hedda Gabler. Why this play, and why do it now? Ivo van Hove: Well there are a few masterpieces in the world of the theatre and I think this is really Ibsen’s masterpiece. But more than that, it’s also a very personal play. It was written when Ibsen was quite old, ten years after A Doll’s House, and you feel that there is a real urgency for him to write this. And it’s very awkward because this character of Hedda is not so sympathetic, actually. She’s not someone that you can empathise with immediately. I believe it’s actually a portrait of himself. He had an urgency to tell a story about somebody who … Read more