UK Theatre Network

The Circus of Horrors

The Four Chapters from Hell

Celebrating 15 bloody years

Following on from the huge success of The Asylum, & The Day of the Dead show’s The Circus of Horrors has had a major revamp & is back rockin’ & shockin’ with special brand new show created especially to celebrate its 15th bloody year.

The new show The Four Chapters from Hell will take you on a journey though all four of the Circus of Horrors incarnations, beginning in a French Asylum where the inmates are liberated and become the performers in the show.
After killing their leader, filled with remorse they move across to Mexico to try & revive him in the Day of the Dead celebrations.

The show then moves into Victorian London, it is the late 1890’s and the Freak Show has come to town, a young girl Ragen born in the Asylum, is woken from her deep sleep and runs away to join the circus before she is sacrificed by the Evil & undead Dr Haze and fed to the vampires.

But Vampires never die and the final twist to the story takes us into the future, and into 2020, a futuristic vision of mad max style civilization inhabited by Vampires, Zombies and the Undead. Regan now also undead seeks revenge on her evil slayer, all of course to disastrous consequences.

The show contains some of the greatest, most bizarre & beautiful Circus acts on earth. From dare devil flying trapeze to a vampiric crow woman suspended only by her hair, from whirlwind roller skaters to sword swallowers. All this plus pickled & bendy people, Voodoo Warriors, Knife throwers and an almighty cast of 26 of the wildest, weirdest but most of all greatest performers on earth.

This is without a doubt a musical masterpiece with the help of the Devil driven Rock n Roll of Dr Haze & he Interceptors From Hell.

Imagine if Quinton Tarantino had directed Cirque Du Soliel then you would be  only half way there.
THIS REALLY IS IT!

Listings Info:

The Circus of Horrors

Monday 14^th March

Tickets: £13 - £25

Box Office 08448 717 648 (Bkg fee)

www.ambassadortickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

Kenneth H Wax Ltd and Kennedy Street Enterprises Present

KERRY ELLIS & BRIAN MAY

ANTHEMS: THE TOUR

KICKING OFF IN LIVERPOOL ON TUESDAY 3^RD MAY 2011

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 18^TH FEBRUARY 2011

ANTHEMS: The Tour is the exciting new live touring version of Anthems, the musical Rock Goddess Kerry Ellis’ stunning 2010 hit debut album produced by and co-starring Queen legend Brian May.

After the phenomenal success of the forthcoming sell-out charity show, Anthems: The Concert, at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May 2011 and the launch of Kerry & Brian’s forthcoming single Defying Gravity (released 20^th March), it is today announced that Kerry & Brian will be taking their majestic show on the road across the UK. Anthems: The Tour promises to impress and entertain audiences with its fusion of rock and musical theatre anthems from shows such as WICKED, CHESS and WE WILL ROCK YOU, making it the ultimate experience for any rock lover.

The 12-date tour, which starts on 3^rd May at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall, will electrify audiences with Queen guitarist and rock superstar Brian May performing new arrangements of the favourite songs he has specially chosen to be sung by Kerry, accompanying her on both guitar and vocals.

Brian May says: “Kerry Ellis is now acknowledged as a phenomenon, equally at home in Musical Theatre and Rock.  I was convinced from the moment we worked together on We Will Rock You nine years ago, that she was destined to be a worldwide star.  The challenge was to develop songs and arrangements to allow that amazing voice to reach its true potential.”

Anthems: The Tour follows a series of acclaimed performances by Kerry & Brian. They stole the show when they performed together on the Royal Variety Show in 2008, they performed live together again at BBC Proms in the Park and at last year’s The Night of 1000 Voices, and most recently, they opened the Remembrance Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

The announcement of Anthems: The Tour comes as Kerry & Brian are about to launch a pounding club remix of ‘Defying Gravity’ - the lead track from the musical, Wicked, and a standout song on Kerry's debut album.

The mix, which is released on 20^th March, comes from the people behind the world's most high profile gay club, London's G-A-Y.  In its 18 years, the club has hosted performances from some of the world's biggest artists, including Madonna, Kylie, Mariah Carey, Pink and Katy Perry. This is the first time they have turned their hands to remixing. "We've been looking for the right artist and the right song” says club founder, Jeremy Joseph, "and ‘Defying Gravity’ is one of my all-time favourite songs. When Kerry performed the track at G-A-Y and the crowd went ballistic, I knew this was the one."

Tickets for the tour will be on sale from Friday 18^th February 2011.

What The Press Say:

Daily Express

“Big voice, big production, big numbers!”

The Sun

“Ellis’ huge voice and May’s scorching guitar riffs pack enough energy to blow the roof off”

Woman

“This debut album is a real showstopper – a fusion of rock-meets-musical.”

Full UK Tour Dates

Tuesday 3^rd May 2011              Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 

Thursday 5^th May 2011            Gateshead Sage
Friday 6^th May 2011                   Sheffield City Hall 
Sunday 8^th May 2011                 Nottingham Royal Centre                    Monday 9^th May 2011               Birmingham Symphony Hall               Wednesday 11^th May 2011      Edinburgh Festival Theatre                  Thursday 12^th May 2011          Glasgow Royal Concert Hall                Saturday 14^th May 2011           Cardiff St. David’s Hall           
Monday 16^th May 2011              Manchester Bridgewater Hall               Wednesday 18^th May 2011       Milton Keynes Theatre                        Thursday 19^th May 2011           Southend Cliffs Pavilion                      Saturday 21^st May 2011              Bath Forum       
 

Tickets priced between £42.50-£40 (Boxes), £39-£37.50 (Adults) & £35-£29 (Concessions)

To book tickets please call 0844 888 9991

For online bookings please visit www.ticketline.co.uk

·         Kerry Ellis starred in the leading role of Elphaba in WICKED at the Apollo Victoria in the West End and the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway. She played Fantine in LES MISÉRABLES at the Queens Theatre and Ellen in MISS SAIGON on its UK tour. She won widespread acclaim for her performance as Svetlana in the spectacular CHESS IN CONCERT at the Royal Albert Hall. She first met Brian May whilst appearing as Meat in the Queen and Ben Elton musical, WE WILL ROCK YOU at the Dominion Theatre. Most recently, Kerry played Nancy in OLIVER at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

·         Brian May’s legendary compositions and performances for Queen have earned him worldwide acclaim. He has composed such hits as ‘We Will Rock You’. ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Save Me’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’. Queen has released a total of 18 Number One albums, had 18 Number One singles and 10 Number One DVDs. They have sold over 300 million albums worldwide; making them one of the world’s best selling music artistes. Brian was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for ‘Services To The Music Industry’.

Noel Sullivan came to our attention in 2001 as one fifth of the Popstars winning group Hear’say.  Since then he’s popped up in TV cameos but concentrated on musical theatre roles on tour and in London’s West End.  This year he plays the lead role of Galileo Figaro in the UK National Tour of the Queen and Ben Elton musical “We Will Rock You”.

How does playing Galileo Figaro compare to other theatre roles you have experienced?  It’s been a massive undertaking because of the scale of the role compared to others that I have played.  I’m really pleased to land this role because I know that they have never cast a ‘name’ in the role of Galileo before.  I feel like I’ve earned my stripes in the industry and this role represents serious progress for my career.

The songs are massive in terms of range and impact; how do you keep your voice in condition when you play 8 shows a week?  I have to look after myself because the role is as much a lifestyle as a job in terms of keeping my voice healthy.  I occasionally do ’24 hours of silence’ but I’ve found my voice getting stronger in the tour and it’s easier to maintain.

The tour runs until January 2012 reaching just under 1 million fans in that time.  How does it feel to reach so many people with your performance?  It’s amazing.  Those numbers are huge and I’ve never been on a tour for this long.  It’s daunting in a way … but it becomes possible when you take each venue and each performance one at a time.

Cardiff is the next UK city stop!  Are you excited?  I can’t wait.  For me, it will be a personal highlight because I feel that The Millennium Centre is one of the finest venues that we have to offer as a country and this will be my first time as the lead in a show of this scale coming home. 

Which songs get the best reaction for you?  Some are just blatantly obviously brilliant like “I Want To Break Free” where you can almost feel the audience enjoy it from the off.   As a singer “Who Wants To Live Forever”, “We Are The Champions”, …  and more are amazing to perform and have a range that you just don’t get in any other shows.  They’ve not been written for a tenor or a baritone, they’ve been designed for Freddie as a rock song, so they are unique.

Describe the audition process.  I was petrified by it all!  I did six auditions and an acting workshop onstage at the Dominion Theatre with Ben Elton.  That was quite a big deal because I remember him as a stand-up and comedy writer for TV when I was younger.  In the finals I sang in front of 35 people on the panel including Brian May and Roger Taylor.  Massively nerve wracking but ultimately satisfying when you land the role.

Its 20 years since the untimely death of Freddie Mercury and almost 9 years since WWRY opened in the West End.  What do you think drives the undying popularity of Queen’s music?  The songs are all so dramatic and each one has a brilliant hook or an amazing arrangement.  I said to Brian May that, as a kid, with my choral background, I really admired his arrangements.  He replied that having watched me go through the Hear’say process he would never imagined that I was the kind of guy who would come up to him to say I admired his arrangements!

You shared the stage with Brian May a couple of weeks ago as he surprised Glasgow fans with a special guest appearance … what was going through your mind as you sang your last note?  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was one of those moments that makes all the hard work and disappointments of your career worthwhile.  And there was a feeling from the audience that I have never experienced before.

Do you feel “under pressure” performing Queen songs?  Yeah! Even just from a financial level, there is so much money behind this show.  The technical support in the form of sound, lighting and effects is a level above what you would expect to see on a national tour.  But also the music … when you are singing those songs live there is a sense of responsibility … these are like ‘fabric of the nation’ songs.

Are you enjoying the experience in Glasgow? I really think that there are only a few places in the country where people go out with an attitude where they want to have a good time.  Glasgow is one of those places.  When you perform here, it feels like an event.

Do you get any time to relax or socialise when on tour?  I try to cram it in!!  It is really tempting with a cast that are so young and have a lot of fun … but you also have to have the responsibility on your shoulder that you’ll be knocking out those notes again tomorrow night.

You’ve had some quite diverse experiences since your 2001 talent show breakthrough on Popstars.  I saw you on Gavin and Stacey the other night!  Any particular highlights for you?  This part is definitely a career highlight for me and particularly sharing the stage with Brian May.  My first West End lead as Danny Zucco in Grease is up there and I got to sing with Cat Stevens on his Moonshadow tour … I should make a list of legends I want to work with …!

Any ambitions that you can tell us about?  I would really love it if I had the opportunity to play Galileo in the West End.  I have committed wholly to theatre this year.

Jenny Douglas is the 19 year old from Edinburgh who reached the quarter-final stage of the BBC’s “Over The Rainbow” search for Dorothy in 2010.  She has joined the national tour of the Queen and Ben Elton musical “We Will Rock You” in the role of “Meat”.  The show tours until January 2012.

What has your last year been like?  A bit mental!  I left high school, I went to college, I dropped out of college to appear on “Over The Rainbow”, I auditioned for We Will Rock You, I got the part and now I’m exactly where I wanted to be!  I think to myself … “how did that happen??”.

How did you feel about joining the cast of such a hugely popular show?   I don’t know how to put it into words … it was an amazing feeling.  I saw the show with my mum a year before joining the cast.  I was brought up on Queen music and I said to her “wouldn’t it be great if I could do that”.  I can really feel what the audience feel when the first number, “Innuendo” starts because I was in the audience not so long ago!

Do any of the songs in the show have a special meaning for you?  So many songs … I used to watch a Queen video that had music videos and backstage footage all the time!  I know exactly what Freddie wore in each of the songs!  I really love “No-one But You”, not just because I sing it … because it is a moving tribute to the greats of rock who died young.  The Glasgow audiences have reacted really strongly to that song – you can hear an “aww” out loud!  The audience can really add to the performance.

Have you been starstruck since you started the tour?  When Brian May and Roger Taylor came to the opening of the Glasgow show, that was something special.  When Brian played Bohemian Rhapsody onstage, we were all around him bowing “we’re not worthy” and I was actually greetin’, I was so happy!  I was inches from him.

Are Brian and Roger actively involved with the production?  Yes, they were involved in the audition process, they support the show on the press nights and events and I believe they have a strong say in casting decisions.  It really is their show.

Meat couldn’t be more different from Dorothy … which of the roles is a more natural fit?  I wouldn’t have auditioned for Dorothy if I didn’t think I could do it but Meat is more suited to me as a performer.  I see myself as a singer first and I can really sink my teeth into her songs.  I do bring a bit of my boldness and bossiness to the role – I didn’t realise I could be like that!  Meat takes that to the extreme, though.

You previously toured with “Any Dream Will Do” finalist, Keith Jack.  Did that experience help you?  Wow … that seems like ages ago!  Not directly, the tour was ‘here and there’ while I was at college so I didn’t have to leave home for long.  But Keith has been a great support to me through the auditions and a great friend.  One thing that I did learn to appreciate was that an audience pays real money to be entertained and Keith is such an amazing performer, I learned a lot from him.

Do you have any plans to record or release music in the future?  Not at the moment.  My “Pops” (my dad) would love that.  That’s what I really wanted when I was younger but I found a passion for acting and costumes and character voices so I’m happy in theatre for now.  I’ve written songs and I really admire artists like Adele and Ellie Goulding.  I’m only 19, though, and my voice is still developing so you never know …

The New Hippodrome & Palace of Varieties was formally opened on Monday September 2 1907. Its first Managing Director was Signor Rino Pepi, an Italian ex patriot who was originally a quick-change artist (or protean) and impersonator, whose love of theatre took him into a management career. George F Ward of Owen and Ward of Birmingham, a firm specialising in theatre building, designed the theatre and Owen and Ward were responsible for the building of the theatre. It is constructed from local Middlesbrough red brick with terracotta dressings. Above the Parkgate entrance is a 64foot high pyramid-roofed tower (housing a water tank) that gives the theatre's distinctive appearance and was used to provide high-pressure water for aquatic scenes that were popular at the time. The ornamental canopy is a replica of the original iron and glass structure, which was destroyed by a traffic accident in the 1960s.

The theatre flourished during the 20 years Signor Pepi ran it but following his death in November 1927, its future became uncertain. Competition from cinema became a real threat and a succession of different managers struggled to balance the books. Indeed at one stage the theatre was equipped with a film projection box at the rear of the Upper Circle, this can be seen above the name on Borough Road side of the building. In 1966 after much hard work and enthusiasm from members of the community, especially Darlington Operatic Society, the Borough Council of Darlington assumed full financial, administrative and artistic responsibility for the theatre on behalf of the town. The ‘New Hippodrome’ became officially known as Darlington Civic Theatre.

Darlington Arts Centre began its life as Darlington College of Education, which was founded by the British & Foreign School Society. From 1876 to 1978 it was used as a teacher training college. In 1978 it became Darlington Arts Centre funded by Darlington Borough Council. On July 10, 2001, ownership of the building was officially handed over to Darlington Borough Council.

Now, as a direct result of the coalition government’s Strategic Spending Review, Darlington borough council have announced that both venues shall no longer receive any funding and will be closed in the summer of 2011 unless they can be sold as going concerns. The news has prompted angry reaction – not only from residents of Darlington, but also from actors who have performed there.

Denis Lill (right) in 'Witness for the Prosecution' at The Civic.

Denis Lill

“I’d be surprised if the council would be allowed to close the Civic because it’s an historic theatre and a beautiful place to play and these theatres are getting fewer and further between. Would it later be replaced by a ‘one size fits all barn’ which can host a rock concert, a panto or a play?

From an actor’s point of view, it’s far more satisfactory playing a theatre that was designed for the acoustic of the human voice rather than a barn. I’d be very sorry if the Civic was to be closed. I’d campaign very much in terms of it staying open. It’s a joy and a privilege to perform at these old theatres.”

"It is very sad news to hear that the authorities are actually thinking of closing the historic Civic Theatre and the important Darlington Arts Centre! One wonders who makes these decisions and have they really thought out the implications of such a move. I doubt it. I do hope the residents of Darlington will fight hard to keep these important venues and that allowing them to be closed will be a blow not only for Darlington but to the wonderful North East population in general."

Top North East entertainer, Steve Walls.

Steve Walls, actor, presenter and comedian

"It would be sad to see such a beautiful theatre with such tradition go dark. The North East is proud of its theatre's, it would be a blow to the region."


Elkie Brooks, who has performed in concert at The Civic Theatre.

Elkie Brooks

"I am shocked to hear about the possible closure of Darlington's glorious Civic Theatre.  I have played here on many occasions and always had a very warm reception from both the audience and the theatre staff.  I do hope a positive decision can be made which allows this most elegant of theatres to stay open and continue to attract high quality productions and performers."


Kim Hartman has appeared at The Civic in productions including 'Keeping Up Appearances' and 'Daisy Pulls It Off'.

Kim Hartman

"I think it's shocking that the Darlington Civic should have had its funding withdrawn. Recreation is vital for us all and the enjoyment of every form of art and sport should be available to all society, wherever they live. The Civic has a flourishing group of Friends, supporters and helpers; the building is beautiful, comfortable and historic and we should be investing money into it with the view to it becoming a producing house again, not taking funding away. With love to you all and good luck. Kim"

René Auberjonois had been a busy actor on stage and screen for thirty years before he played Odo, the shape-shifting constable on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-99). In 2004 he took the role of venerable lawyer Paul Lewiston on the acclaimed legal drama Boston Legal. Lately, he has appeared in Warehouse 13 and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and has participated in an audio recording of the Bible.

Auberjonois attended Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied theatre in-depth, learning not only about acting but about the entire process of producing a play. After college, he acted with various theatre companies, starting at the prestigious Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He helped found the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company in New York. Eventually, Auberjonois landed a role on Broadway in 1968, alternating between the Fool to Lee J. Cobb's King Lear (the longest running production of the play in Broadway history) and Ned in A Cry of Players (opposite Frank Langella), directly followed by Marco in Fire!. The next year, he won a Tony Award for his performance as Sebastian Baye alongside Katharine Hepburn in Coco. Other Tony nominations were for Neil Simon's The Good Doctor (1973, opposite Christopher Plummer); as The Duke in Big River (1984), winning a Drama Desk Award; and, memorably, as Buddy Fidler/Irwin S. Irving in City of Angels (1989), written by Larry Gelbart and Cy Coleman. Other Broadway appearances include Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1972); Mr. Samsa in Steven Berkoff’s Metamorphosis opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov (1989); Professor Abronsius in Dance of the Vampires, and Jethro Crouch in Sly Fox (2004, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award). As a member of the Second Drama Quartet, Auberjonois toured with Ed Asner, Dianne Wiest, and Harris Yulin. He also appeared in the Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn work, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, at the Kennedy Center and the Metropolitan Opera and played the titular character in Molière's The Imaginary Invalid at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 2008. Auberjonois has also directed many theatrical productions.


Photo by Suzanne Vanweddigen

CK: Are you going to do another play in the near future?
RA: If I do another play, one possibility is L’Avare - The Miser.
CK: Ah, yes! You said you might want to do that.
RA: Yes. So we’ll have to see if we can make it happen. It’s a tough play. We just were in Paris and we saw the Comédie Française, their production of it, which was extraordinary in some ways and very wrong-headed in other ways. I suppose the problem with doing a classic that is so well known, to find a new way of telling it, sometimes people kind of push it out of shape. The hard thing is it’s very easy to say that The Miser should be dark. Molière had darkness in him but he was basically a comedian and he had to deliver the laughs. He was like Neil Simon. And so to deny that clowning is to counteract the work, I think.
CK: Right, I completely agree. You said you might want to do King Lear some time.
RA: No, I didn’t. You never heard me say that.
CK: Oh yes, I read it in an interview.
RA: If you read it in an interview, how do you know it’s true?CK: Well, that’s true. (Laughs) So, you don’t want to do it?
RA: No, it’s not that I don’t want to do it. It’s that I did it, you know. I played Lear when I was very young and of course I couldn’t possibly achieve it, but it was a tremendous challenge and it taught me a tremendous amount. That was at ACT. And then I went on to New York City, to Lincoln Center, and I played the Fool in the play with Lee J. Cobb…and then a few years later, I played Edgar with James Earl Jones as Lear, that was the one that Raul Julia was in. So I’ve done the three best parts in the play. And I’m not sure what I have to offer the part. It would have to be a wonderful director who wanted to do it. I wouldn’t want to do it just so that I may say the lines, and slog through a mediocre production. And you know, my friend Stacy Keach did a wonderful production very recently, and I went to see my friend Robert Foxworth just a month and half, two months ago in San Diego playing Lear, and I saw Dakin Matthews playing Lear. So I’ve seen a lot of Lears recently, and they all had brilliant parts. But it is like Everest. It is a mountain that will defeat you ultimately. So you know you’ll just have to be humble in the face of it. You need a great director. I had a great director in Ed Sherrin in the production in Shakespeare in the Park with James Earl Jones. It’s on video.
CK: Yes, usually theatre productions are so boring when you watch them on video but this one is very exciting.
RA: I can’t watch it because I know that the real experience was so much more. You know, it was pretty powerful.
CK: I hope you’ll do something in London, too.
RA: I know, you keep saying that.
(Laughter)
CK: Tell me, what are some of the dramatists you appreciate?
RA: Beckett—who I suspect perhaps actors enjoy performing and the audience sometimes less watching it. Sometimes it can be a difficult experience. Beckett is wonderful. Chekhov, which I’ve got to do very little of, really, but I feel an affinity, as if the little bit of Chekhov that I did, that I have done, has had a real influence on me as an actor. When I think of any play and any character…because what Chekhov was so brilliant at is defining his characters: how intricate they can be, their foibles, weaknesses, arrogance, all things that he saw in people, shimmering like water. That’s a wonderful thing, if you can achieve that as an actor. Also showing a lot of different facets of a character. Beckett and Chekhov, and Pinter, who I’ve also done very little of, then Shakespeare. I would love to do David Mamet, but I am the kind of actor that he would think: “Oh no, he can’t do my plays.”
CK: Why would that matter?
RA: Living playwrights have casting approval. When I first played Tartuffe, I got to play Tartuffe because Richard Wilbur, whose translation we were using—it was a revival of a production that the director had directed a year or so before—Richard Wilbur would only give them the rights to the play if the actor who played Tartuffe in the first production didn’t. And that was why I was cast. The actor who he wouldn’t let play it was a brilliant actor but a very eccentric, quirky kind of actor and I think Richard Wilbur felt he distorted his work…but he was a wonderful actor. So what I’m saying is: I can’t imagine Mamet casting me in a new play for him, to have just written that play and say, “Oh, maybe that guy could play this part!” I don’t think he would ever do that. 
CK: In Germany, we have a different kind of theatre. You probably know post-dramatic theatre where the director is really the creative force and the writer is almost unimportant.
RA: Like movies?
CK: No, it’s like the death of the character. There are no real characters, the actors just say lines but they are not a character. They might express a certain mood, maybe, but it’s like Richard Wilson or, I don’t know if you know Elfriede Jelinek, she won the Nobel Prize, she is a good example. We have a lot of this kind of theatre in Germany. Would you be interested in doing anything like that if it ever was offered to you?
RA: Oh, I don’t know what exactly…I’m not clear on what it is, but I’m always interested. Do you know the work of Steven Berkoff by any chance?
CK: Yes!
RA: Well, I did Metamorphosis on Broadway with Mikhail Baryshnikov and I loved doing that. Now he’s not everybody’s cup of tea, you know. Some people just hate Steven Berkoff. One of my friends came to see me rehearsing it and saw a run through and she said, “How are you doing this?” because it was all so articulated, and timed and lines coming out in a certain way. We were the family of Gregor Samsa … And when we were eating it had to be a certain way. When we were saying the lines—dom, dom dom….you know.
CK: That goes in that direction, yes.
RA: I loved doing it. I just loved it. Once you learn it, it’s like a dance. Once you learn it, the steps, then you forget it, you just dance. There’s such a foundation. It’s not improvising. Improvising can be wonderful, but it can feel dangerous because you can lose it and not be interesting. But dancing like that and having rigid form that you then forget that you’ve done all that work and you just….
CK: There is a really exciting play—Every Good Boy Deserves Favour—which is shared by an orchestra and actors.
RA: You know that I did that.
CK: Yes, I do! I just saw it in the National Theatre. I thought it was so great. I never saw it before, I had only a record of it.
RA: Ah, with John Wood, right…John Wood must have done the recording.
CK: It’s Ian Richardson and Patrick Stewart.
RA: Oh, really?
CK: Yes, and Ian McKellen.
RA: That’s interesting, because John Wood created the role the first time it was performed, and then I did it when they came to the Kennedy Center in Washington and John Wood moved over there and we went to the Metropolitan Opera in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with our son Remy, he was playing the boy. It’s a wonderful piece. You know, for a while I thought, after the fall of the Soviet Union, it will never be done again. But now I think it’s time to keep it active. It would be fun to do it again.
CK: You could do it in London!
(Laughter)
RA: Yes...
CK: Michael Grandage said he was thinking of you. Now he is not going to take over the National Theatre, unfortunately….
RA: He isn’t?
CK: No, he says he now wants to concentrate on his creative work. He wants to direct but he could always say, “Well, I want to do this thing. Let’s ask René if he wants to be in it.”
RA: Ah, that’s nice.
CK: Thank you very much for your time.
RA: Thank you, Carolin. 

As April in EastEnders, Debbie Arnold was a funny and flirty sister. Her latest role sees her playing another sensuous sibling – this time to the snobbish Hyacinth Bucket. She talks to STEVE BURBRIDGE about her fascinating career, the pride and love she has for her daughters and the pressure on women to always look good.

She may be best-remembered for her portrayal of April Branning, Carol Jackson’s fun-loving sister, in EastEnders but few people realise that glamour-girl Debbie Arnold has the dubious honour of appearing as a regular character in all of the major British soaps.

During her highly successful career, she has also played Sylvie Hicks in Coronation Street, Debbie Wilson in Emmerdale and Janice Bolton in Hollyoaks. It’s an achievement that Debbie is extremely proud of.

‘I think a lot of people may have appeared in a lot of the soaps, but possibly not as regular characters, and I don’t know if anyone else has actually done all four,’ she says. ‘All my characters have been totally different and there was even one period when I was on air playing Janice in Hollyoaks and April in EastEnders at the same time.’

A showbiz career was, perhaps, inevitable for the Sunderland-born actress. Her father, Eddie, was an impressionist and her mother, Mary, a theatrical agent. After a brief spell working as a secretary, Debbie’s talent for mimicry was spotted by comedian Johnny More, who introduced her to the producer of Now Who Do You Do?, and her fate was sealed.

Over the next few years, Debbie established herself as a consummate comedienne, working alongside legends including Eric Sykes, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Russ Abbott and Jim Davidson.

‘They were all fantastic to work with,’ Debbie recalls. ‘But you’ve got to be able to control yourself and be prepared that they might go off on a tangent.’

She went on to appear in many of television’s top-rated sitcoms, such as The Liver Birds, Terry and June, Don’t Wait Up and Birds of a Feather. Her latest role sees her touring nationally as Rose in the stage production of Keeping Up Appearances.

‘It’s great fun,’ enthuses Debbie. ‘She’s a complete madcap character and so opposite to me.’

Debbie actually knew Mary Millar, who played Rose on television for four years. Her ex-husband, David Janson, played the postman in the series and Debbie remembers going to watch many of the episodes when they were being recorded in front of a live studio audience.

‘I remember thinking: “That’s a part that I should play in a few years time and, lo and behold, here I am”.’

The task of portraying a character who is already strongly associated with another actress may be difficult enough, but Debbie’s challenge is doubled as the character of Rose was not only played by Mary Millar, but also by Shirley Stelfox.

‘Although people have strong images of Roy Clarke’s characters in their heads, the minute we step out on stage everyone kind of forgets the old faces and we become the characters, really,’ Debbie explains.

The Keeping Up Appearances tour, which runs at Whitley Bay Playhouse all next week, provides Debbie with the chance to reacquaint herself with the North East.

‘I was actually brought up in Ashwood Terrace in Thornhill, Sunderland,’ she reveals. ‘It used to be a toss-up, every night, whether to wet the bed or get up and go to the toilet because it was so cold,’ she laughs.

However, Debbie has only fond memories of her former home city and adds that she still supports the Black Cats.

Despite having perfected the art of portraying the fun-loving bubbly blonde, Debbie has played diverse roles in hundreds of television dramas, including County Court, Holby City, Footballers Wives, Doctors, The Bill, All Creatures Great and Small, Miss Marple and Minder, and yet still managed to avoid becoming typecast.

‘It’s just how it happens, really,’ she says, modestly.

In addition to her successful television career, Debbie is also an acclaimed stage actress and has many West End credits to her name, such as Women Behind Bars, Four in a Million, Lives of the Wives, Last of the Red Hot Lovers and The Sleeping Prince, in which she was leading lady to Omar Sharif.

She also received the award for Best Actress for her performance as Mae Hudson in the 2009 movie Photoshoot, in which she played opposite her former EastEnders co-star John Altman.

Just as Debbie followed her father’s footsteps into the world of showbiz, the tradition looks set to continue with the next generation of the family. Her eldest daughter, Ciara Janson, played Nicole Owen in Hollyoaks for three years and, last year, marked her West End debut in New Boy opposite Nicholas Hoult. Her youngest daughter, Talia Janson, is a member of the pop group Phacebook, who recently supported X-Factor runner’s-up JLS on tour.

‘I’m very proud of both of them,’ says Debbie.

Aside from her career as an actress and voice-over artiste, Debbie is a regular beauty journalist for magazines and radio and also runs her own beauty and well-being website, Looking Gorgeous.

‘When I first left EastEnders I became the face of quite a few brands, including Etam and Goldwell,’ she says. ‘And I became very interested in how people keep themselves looking good. Then, after the trauma of what happened to Leslie Ash, I wanted to know how something like that could happen.’

Debbie was inspired to help women gain more knowledge about the cosmetic products that they used and enable them to make more informed decisions regarding their personal beauty regimes.

‘Actresses, and indeed women in general, are under intense pressure to look good all the time,’ Debbie says. ‘It upsets me when people look fantastic but deny having had any treatment. It’s not possible to look younger now than you did fifteen years ago. If people were honest about the treatments that they’ve had I think attitudes would be slightly different.’

One thing is certain, though, Debbie Arnold will be ‘keeping up appearances’, both on stage and off.

Keeping Up Appearances is at Whitley Bay Playhouse from Monday, October 25 until Saturday, October 30. Evening performances are at 7.30pm, with matinees at 2.30pm (Thurs & Sat). Tickets cost from £15 to £22.50. To book, call 0844 277 2771 or log on to www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk  For more information visit www.keepingupappearancestour.com

She’s wowed the West End, blown-away Broadway and frozen the famous with her cool comments when judging on Dancing on Ice. Now, though, award-winning singer and actress Ruthie Henshall tells Steve Burbridge why she firmly believes there’s no business like show business.

Having performed leading roles in a multitude of theatre smash-hits, including Cats, Miss Saigon, Chicago, Les Misérables and Oliver!, Ruthie Henshall has rarely been absent from the stages of Broadway or the West End for the past quarter of a century.

Now the illustrious leading lady is set to take Tyneside by storm when she headlines Sounds Of Hollywood at The Sage, in Gateshead, later this month. The show is described as a step back in time to the glamorous era of the greatest musicals, made legendary through

the big screen, and Ruthie cannot wait to begin performing in the tour which premieres in the North East.

‘For me it’s a bit of a dream come true because ever since I was a little girl I have been obsessed with the MGM musicals,’ admits the 43-year-old performer. ‘I knew, as soon as I’d watched them, that was what I wanted to do.’

The show will see the Olivier award-winning actress performing live, in her own incomparable style, such classics as, ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’, ‘Wouldn't It Be Lovely’, ‘People’, ‘Don't Rain on My Parade’, ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better’, ‘The Man That Got Away’ and ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ from Oscar-winning movies such as My Fair Lady, Funny Girl and A Star is Born.

‘I am really looking forward to performing a programme of such fantastic songs that have become defining moments in each of the movies in which they appear,’ Ruthie enthuses. ‘To do this tour and sing the songs of legends such as Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli is a once in a lifetime opportunity, really.’

After training at Laine Theatre Arts School, Ruthie made her West End debut in Cats at the tender age of 19. Such success may have daunted a less assured young performer – but not Ruthie.

‘I didn’t find it daunting at all,’ she says, matter-of-factly. ‘I’d always been a very ambitious little girl and I didn’t doubt that I was going to get where I wanted to be and I went all-guns for it.’

As well as the combination of raw talent, hard work and burning ambition, every performer hopes and prays for fate to throw a little bit of luck their way and Ruthie was no exception.

‘I’ve been very fortunate in my career,’ she says. ‘Cats came about because the associate director saw me play Maggie in a touring production of A Chorus Line and asked me to come down and audition. That’s really been the story of my life; one job has led to another and it’s been a real knock-on effect.’

She went on to star in Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, She Loves Me and Oliver! before originating the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago in 1997. Her association with that show is particularly strong and she has returned to the production several times, both in London and on Broadway, to play Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly. After three years in America, Ruthie returned to the West End stage in 2001 to star as Peggy Sue in Peggy Sue Got Married, gaining her a fourth Olivier nomination. In December 2001, she joined Michelle

Gomez and Loretta Swit in The Vagina Monologues at the Arts Theatre.

Ruthie has an extremely philosophical attitude towards her career and the roles that may or may not come her way.

‘As I’ve got older, I really just trust in the process and believe that what is for you will not go by you. I just love the fact that, in this business, you never know what you might be doing tomorrow or what you might get offered.’

That said, she does admit that she would have loved to play the title role in the stage version of Mary Poppins.

‘I would have liked to have played that role because I just love the film and the show, but I think I’m a bit out of the age bracket now.’

Ruthie juggles the demands of a high-profile career with the responsibilities of being a single mother to her two young daughters, Lilly Amalia, 7, and Dolly Olivia, 5. Her marriage to actor Tim Howar broke down and they divorced in January, but remain ‘good friends.’

Ironically, the Queen of Musical Theatre could have ended up as a real life Countess if an early relationship had turned out differently. Ruthie dated Prince Edward ‘solidly’ for two years, but ‘on and off for five years’. Would she have enjoyed a royal lifestyle?

‘No, thank you,’ she replies, decisively. ‘I wouldn’t want my life under scrutiny like that. I would have had to have given up what I do and that would never happen. Can you imagine if I still had to do eight shows a week? They’d have to get sniffer dogs in the theatre every night!’

In addition to her popularity as a leading lady in the theatre, Ruthie became a television personality as part of the fearsome judging panel on Dancing on Ice. It was a position she held for two years, but which never felt comfortable for her.

‘It never felt like a fit for me,’ she admits. ‘I feel much more comfortable being the one performing than the one judging. You have to give soundbites and you only have so many seconds to give your opinion and I didn’t like that kind of pressure. I’d much rather mentor a contestant than criticise them.’

 It’s safe to say, though, that Ruthie will be more than comfortable when belting out blockbusting songs from the shows!

Ruthie Henshall: Sounds of Hollywood is at The Sage, Gateshead on Tuesday, October 26 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost from £15.50 to £35.00. To book, call 0191 443 4661 or log on to www.thesagegateshead.org

THREE years ago he was pipped to the post in the hit series Any Dream Will Do. Now Keith Jack has finally got the chance to wear the coat of many colours and play the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Ahead of a week in Darlington, he tells STEVE BURBRIDGE about his amazing journey.

DESPITE winning the hearts of the nation with his sparkling charisma and sensational singing voice, Keith Jack was nudged into second place, finishing just a hair’s breadth behind winner Lee Mead, in the TV talent contest Any Dream Will Do.

An amazing 21 million viewers tuned into the final of the series, in June 2007, and Lee Mead went on to wow the West End critics as Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s magical musical. But Keith Jack couldn’t even console himself with the prospect of performing the role in the touring production of the show. That opportunity had already been offered to Craig Chalmers, who finished fifth in the competition. Surely, Keith must have been gutted and, perhaps, even a little resentful?

‘Not at all,’ says the 22-year-old Scot, who hails from Dalkeith. ‘I was actually still competing in the programme when Craig was eliminated and Bill Kenwright offered him the part of Joseph.’

To prove that he held no hard feelings, Keith accepted the role of Narrator in the touring version, alongside Craig Chalmers, as Joseph, and fellow competitor Chris Barton, who finished in eighth place, as Benjamin.

‘I loved it,’ he says. ‘And, actually, it’s a bigger singing role than Joseph.’

They say, though, that everything comes to he who waits and, at last, Keith is now actually playing the role that he competed for – and relishing every minute of it.

‘It’s just a really nice feeling to finally get to do it,’ he enthuses. ‘We’ve had some great audiences on the tour, so far, and it’s been nice to see all different parts of the country.’

Keith is following in some impressive footsteps, though, as the title role in the Biblical tale of Joseph, his eleven brothers and the coat of many colours has previously been played by Jason Donovan, Donny Osmond, Phillip Schofield, Ian ‘H’ Watkins and the late Stephen Gateley. However, he feels that there is less pressure on him now than there would have been had he won the competition.

‘I’ve been able to relax and settle into it a lot easier than I would have done if I’d come to it straight from the show,’ he says.

The former supermarket worker has also learned to cope with the instant fame that is often the result of such shows.

‘At first it was strange,’ he admits. ‘You don’t change as a person but everyone else changes around you. It’s very strange to walk down the street and have people following you and trying to take your picture.’

Keith also reveals that he has been sent some unusual gifts since he participated in Any Dream Will Do.

‘I’ve had underwear, nude pictures and daft things like that posted to me,’ he laughs.

His boy-next-door good looks have ensured that Keith has a loyal fan following –and not just from the girls, either!

‘I was very proud to be featured on the front of a gay magazine, recently,’ says Keith. ‘When I first went on to Any Dream Will Do, John Barrowman told me: ‘You haven’t made it until you have a gay fan base’, so to be the cover boy on such a magazine made me very happy.’

Despite some former talent show contestants claiming that the process leaves them feeling manipulated and exploited, Keith is adamant that his experience was a very positive one.

‘We were kind of moulded and helped and nurtured to be the kind of performer that Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted,’ he explains. ‘I never felt as though I was just a cog in a money-making wheel.’

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday, October 12 until Sunday, October 17. Performance times vary. Tickets cost from £13.50 to £26 (concessions available). To book, call 01325 486 555 or log on to www.darlingtonarts.co.uk 

ALTHOUGH she is best known for her hit 1976 duet with Elton John, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Kiki Dee’s career has spanned four decades and encompassed successful song-writing, pop super-stardom and a spell as a West End leading lady. STEVE BURBRIDGE catches up with the performer as she prepares to bring her acoustic concert to the region.

WHATEVER happened to Kiki Dee? It’s a question that you might well ask, as even the performer herself admits, ‘I’m not particularly high-profile these days.’

But, far from fading into obscurity, the 63-year-old is still writing, recording and performing songs. And it doesn’t worry her in the least that she isn’t under that relentless level of celebrity scrutiny any more.

‘I kind of like it better because I can be more artistic and it’s given me more freedom as I’ve got older,’ says Kiki. ‘And I never saw myself, at 50 or 60, still trying to get onto Top of the Pops.’

In fact, Kiki is as busy as ever and her current tour, which she performs with Carmelo Luggeri, is heading to the region with a concert taking place at the Customs House in South Shields this month.

‘We’ve been working together for fifteen years, believe it or not,’ she explains. ‘Carmelo is a producer, musician and guitarist and our show is a mixture of our own material, covers of people we like, such as Kate Bush, and some of my own hits. It’s a real mix and a very intimate show.’

This all seems to be a far cry from the Kiki Dee who stormed the pop charts in the seventies and eighties with hits that included ‘Amoureuse’, ‘I Got the Music in Me’ ‘Star’ and, of course, her hit duet with Elton John, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, for which she is still best-remembered.

‘I always say that there are a lot of talented people out there who never get a vehicle like that or an opportunity to be known, if you like,’ Kiki says, with reference to the 1976 number one track.

Surely, the fact that people still associate her with the song, 34 years after it was first released, must be a little frustrating?

‘There were times in my life when I tried to move away from it and develop,’ admits Kiki. ‘But I’m very positive about it now.’

Kiki did move on professionally and went on to carve out a successful career in musical theatre, most notably playing the pivotal role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Kiki as Mrs Johnstone.

‘Those parts don’t come along every day and Blood Brothers came at the right time for me because I needed something to get my teeth into,’ Kiki recalls. ‘Bill Kenwright asked me to audition for the role two weeks before the show opened in rep in 1987. We then toured for seven months around the UK before taking the production back to London, where it’s been running ever since.’

Kiki is amazed by the longevity of the show and the reaction it still receives from audiences.

‘I can’t believe that the production I started with Bill Kenwright is still running today,’ she says.

Born in Bradford in March 1947, as Pauline Matthews, Kiki’s stage name was the brainchild of the songwriter, Mitch Murray. But what inspired him to come up with something so quirky?

‘Well, Kiki was a derivative of the sixties pop word ‘kinky’ and there was a lot of that Sandra Dee and Simon Dee stuff going on, so that’s where the surname came from,’ she reveals.

At the tender age of 17, Kiki was signed to the Philips-Fontana record label and started working as a session singer. She began her career as a backing singer for the legendary Dusty Springfield.

‘Suddenly, I was working with this big star,’ says Kiki. ‘I was quite star-struck but it was great because I got to sing on a couple of her hits, Some Of Your Loving and Little By Little.’

Kiki looks back on that time in her life with great affection.

‘She was special, Dusty, there’s no doubt about it,’ she says. ‘And to get to sing in the studio with her, at 17, was quite something.’

Despite being highly regarded by others in the music industry, Kiki did not achieve solo success in the UK for quite some time. In the United States, though, she became the first white British artist to sign with Tamla-Motown, releasing her first single with the label in 1970.

It was when Kiki signed to Elton John’s label, Rocket Records, three years later, that commercial success really materialised. 'Amoureuse', the first single from the album 'Loving And Free', became Kiki's first Top Twenty hit and remained in the charts for thirteen weeks. Following singles were 'I Got the Music in Me' and 'You Don't Know How Glad I Am'. However, it was in 1976 that 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', the duet with Elton John, became a surprise number one single in both the US and UK. The rest, as they say, is history.

These days, though, Kiki harbours no desires to sell out vast arenas.

‘We don’t play at huge venues because we like the intimacy and it suits the music, so art centres and smaller theatres are perfect for us,’ she explains. ‘But, having said that, we can still make quite a noise because the concert is quite big, dynamically.’

So, does Kiki have any ambitions for the future?

‘Just to stay healthy, keep writing and go on as long as I can, really. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be still doing it after all these years. Although I do like my home comforts, I still really enjoy the experience of touring and being out on the road.’

Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri: An Acoustic Experience is at The Customs House, South Shields on Saturday, October 16, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £18 (concessions available). To book, call 0191 454 1234 or log on to www.customshouse.co.uk For more information visit www.kikiandcarmelo.com