There is no denying what a production such as ‘I Capture the Castle’ brings to the world of theatre. A packed house, bums on seats, an audience happy to indulge in the escapism of an adaptation that allows them to snugly wallow in the cosy world of yesteryear.
Taking your seat to the latest offering from Sh!t Theatre, Letters from Windsor House, you are immediately hurled into the show. Main players, Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit, are already on stage, adorned with requisite trademark greasepaint, sat on a sofa, drink in hand, listening to 80s synth rock cheese classic ‘Alone’ by Heart.
Taking your seat to the latest offering from Sh!t Theatre, Letters from Windsor House, immediately prepares you for what is about to transpire. Main players, Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit, are already on stage, adorned with requisite trademark greasepaint, sat on a sofa, drink in hand, listening to 80s synth rock cheese classic ‘Alone’ by Heart. This informality is pretty much the spirit of what our senses will be subjected to for the rest of the show.
There was a moment during the evening performance of Anne Bronte’s classic ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre that the facade was finally lifted before my very eyes. Watching what can only be described as a less than enthralling adaptation of 19th century literature, it did not go unnoticed that the aisles were not packed to the rafters, and those that were in the aisles were those that naturally conform to the stereotypes of the average theatre goer for a production such as this.
Why does the barbarism of war inspire so many to seek comfort in song?
Writer Lizzie Nunnery explores this in her tale of the ravages of war, seen through the eyes of a little girl. Part of the British Council’s World Stages project, Nunnery has teamed up with Ukrainian director Tamara Trunova and it premiered at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.