UK Theatre Network

It was not explained exactly why Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet reunited to perform ‘songs from the last century’ alongside new pieces at the Barbican last night, but I’m awfully glad they did.

The chamber-pop quintet started with a new arrangement of Costello’s hit ‘Accidents Will Happen’, much to the audience’s delight, and it served to set the high standard and musical tone for the rest of the set. The performance was neither trashy G4/El Divo crossover nor highbrow classical concert, just good eclectic music with well judged humour throughout. Costello quoted from Tom Jones and Bobby Darin songs between numbers and joked that having been born in the same hospital where Penicillin was discovered he regrets he ‘hasn’t been as great a boon to mankind.’ I’m sure some of the more fanatical members of the audience would have contested that statement as he performed vocal gymnastics for the length of the set and sounded note-perfect throughout.

Highlight’s of the first half included ‘Rocking Horse Road’, where the Brodsky Quartet tapped their bows against their fingerboards for a nice flighty feel and Costello broke into ‘Wild Thing’ momentarily. ‘Almost Had a Weakness’ featured manic Hitchcock style ‘Psycho’ strings representing the madness of a virgin spinster while Costello very deliberately delivered a dry lyric despite some challenging phrasing and undulating lively rhythms.

Tellingly, despite such highlights, it was ‘Accidents Will Happen’ that I heard people whistling while they widdled during the interval. Tonight’s set was comprised mostly of pieces from the kind-of-concept album inspired by the real-life letters people have sent to Shakespeare’s eponymous heroine, ‘Letters for Juliet’. That album is over 15 years old now and sadly, whenever new arrangements by either Costello or Cassidy were played the quality of the show took a dip. ‘Raglan Road’, ‘My Three Sons’ and a hastily arranged ‘Sulphur to Sugarcane’ from Costello’s forthcoming album all fell a bit flat. A couple more pints and I’m sad to say maybe I would’ve been shouting for ‘Oliver's Army’. When an audience member did shout for ‘one we know’, Costello coolly replied ‘...I’d like to play you a new song now…’ and went into a self accompanied performance of new song ‘One Bell Ringing’.

This perhaps betrayed the fact that the collaboration is an unequal partnership; Costello sometimes seemed like a conductor and was clearly the main draw for the majority of the audience, the world renowned Brodsky Quartet just a side Attraction. The Quartet seemed more restrained than I know they can be from their collaborations with Bjork et al. Given a little freedom they opened up old hits like ‘Pills and Soap’ and provided counter-melodies, variations on vocal themes and freewheeling expansive crescendos that showed just why they are world renowned. The highlight of the second half of the set for me was the unstable, woozy waltz they constructed for ‘Romeo’s Séance’ that was given an extra sense of instability in performance that a recording cannot match. 
            A change in mood was felt towards the end of the set with the demanding combination of ‘I Thought I’d Write to Juliet’, ‘Bedlam’, and ‘Shipbuilding’, dealing as they do with the themes of the first Gulf war and the Falklands conflict respectively. Perhaps this was why the material has been revisited, the sentiments and in some cases details behind these songs all too relevant today as Costello lamented. Grouped together like this made the atmosphere a bit too sombre I thought, but for the Post Script the less austere ‘P.S. I Love You’ (not the Beatles’) and ‘Jacksons, Monk and Rowe’ lifted the mood. The show left me looking forward to looking both collaborators’ back catalogues up, but less enthused about their new input perhaps. Quite a show though.

The Barbican’s contemporary music continues at LSO St Luke’s with ‘Beijing Now!’ See www.barbican.org.uk or call 0844 848 8436 for more details.

Picture: Douglas McFarlane in the Sky News Green Room prior to going on live.


In This Update
- This Month's Sky News Blog
- This Week's Nevis Radio Blog
- This Week's UKTheatre Blogs
  - Gates of Gold at Library Theatre, Manchester
  - Chorus of Disapproval at the Watford Palace Theatre
  - King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal, Glasgow - 2009 Season
  - Boeing Boeing – Theatre Royal, Glasgow – 23rd – 28th March 2009
  - All The Fun Of The Fair

Welcome

Thanks for reading. It's been a challenging but satisfying week. Making It In Hollywood is now out there. I submitted it to Cannes on Monday and they confirmed receipt. I'll find out before the press conference in 2 weeks. I've also sent it to BBC, Sky, Pathe, Momentum and Edinburgh Film Festival, though I may be too late for that. I also noticed that Film London have something called LUFF which if your film is selected, it gets screened in front of sales people and distributors. I'll keep you posted, whatever the outcome.

Have a great week and check out the Radio, TV and online blogs. Feel free to share around online if you see something a friend may like.

Douglas 
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This Month’s Sky News Blog
Produced by Tim North and Emily Upton, Sky News

Ebay dirty car ad. Don’t drink hot tea. Alcohol worse than marijuana. Microsoft tackles Mac. No more black cars in LA.

http://tinyurl.com/ctk4xd - Recorded 7pm Friday 27th March 2009.

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This Week’s Nevis Radio Blog

Coldplay, Green Day, New Radicals, The Feeling and for my American friends online Sweet Home Alabama. I also managed to sneak in another Les Miserables song for my UKTheatre pals 
Today (Saturday) 12pm-2pm Streaming online and on FM in West Of Scotland.

http://www.nevisradio.co.uk 

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Gates of Gold at Library Theatre, Manchester
Published by: Caroline May on Thursday 26th March 2009

The story is inspired by Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards, fabled actors turned writer-producer-directors who founded the Gate Theatre in Dublin. Despite their apparently impeccable Celtic credentials, both were Londoners by birth – a fact they went to some lengths to deny. Yet strangely, considering the moral tenor of the times, they made no secret of their homosexual relationship, remaining linked personally and professionally until MacLiammóir’s death in 1978.

Read more >>>
http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/gates-of-gold-at-library-theatre-manchester_76.html

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Chorus of Disapproval at the Watford Palace Theatre
Published by: Elspeth Rae on Thursday 26th March 2009

What especially delighted me was the perfect display of, through, at times completey stereotyped characters, the idiosyncrasies and bitchy claustrophobia of performance within an amateur dramatic society.

Read more >>>
http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/chorus-of-disapproval-at-the-watford-palace-theatre_77.html

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King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal, Glasgow - 2009 Season
Published by: Cameron Lowe on Wednesday 25th March 2009

This spring looks set to be an amazing time for all Scottish theatre goers as the King’s and Theatre Royal will be playing host to some phenomenal productions!

Read more >>>
http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/king�s-theatre-and-theatre-royal-glasgow---2009-season_75.html

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Boeing Boeing – Theatre Royal, Glasgow – 23rd – 28th March 2009
Published by: Cameron Lowe on Wednesday 25th March 2009 

When flight changes on a visit to London meant that I missed this play on it’s West End run (little realising the irony), I was more than delighted to see it touring to Glasgow this year, and went along with high expectations. 

Read more >>>
http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/boeing-boeing-�-theatre-royal-glasgow-�-23rd-�-28th-march-2009_74.html

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All The Fun Of The Fair
Published by: Steve Burbridge on Monday 23rd March 2009

All The Fun Of The Fair, as the title suggests, is set against the backdrop of a travelling funfair that is struggling to survive in the late seventies. Starring David Essex as funfair owner Levi Lee and featuring almost all of his hits, it was always going to be something rather special.

Read more >>>
http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/all-the-fun-of-the-fair_73.html

Inside this update
- Sky/Wrist/Network
- Doug’s Radio Blog
- Oscar Predictions
- Walk Along The Red Carpet
- Sky News Feature
- UK Theatre Reviews
- Facebook/Twitter Links




Hope you had a good week. I was contacted at the last minute this week to appear on Sky News. It all went very smoothly and you can see my nice blue plastercast on screen. It’s off now, and my wrist is slowly starting to heal. I have started typing again with two hands with this newsletter. Slowly but surely does it. 

It’s nice to see the social networks starting to get a few hundred people posting, blogging and connecting on theatre and film. If you haven’t already, take a couple of minutes to join, it’s simple and quick.

http://www.ukfilm.tv
http://www.uktheatre.tv


Have a great week ahead.

Douglas McFarlane

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Tune In to Doug’s Radio Blog at 12 noon on Saturday’s. 

This week’s show includes David Bowie, George Michael, Simon And Garfunkel, Kraftwerk and Savage Garden.
http://www.nevisradio.co.uk

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Oscar Predictions

Here are my predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscar’s with a link to all the nominees and printouts for you to make your own choices. I’ve also included a link to a bit of film footage I took in 2007 to share the experience of walking along the red carpet with you. I choose not to go this year for a change, but I’m keeping in touch via twitter as Jon Gripton, who introduced me to Sky News in October 2007 and who I subsequently bumped into on the red carpet last year. His tweeter id is listed at the bottom with some other tweeters for you to follow.


Actor In A Leading Role - Brad Pitt

Actor In A Supporting Role - Heath Ledger

Actress In A Leading Role - Kate Winslet

Actress In A Supporting Role - Penelope Cruz

Best Documentary Feature - Trouble The Water

Directing - Danny Boyle/Slumdog Millionaire

Best Picture - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button


http://www.oscar.com/nominees



Walk Along The Red Carpet

A short walk I took along the red carpet at the Oscars 2007 in order to share the experience. A section of this footage is used in the film Making It In Hollywood, currently being submitted to film festivals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFeBMgkbKH4


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Sky News Feature

Top Web Stories: A YouTube Symphony, Friends Reunited Try To Meet Buyer And More Popular Internet News
In this edition of Sky.com Movers Douglas McFarlane from uktheatre.net introduces a woman caught on camera having a tantrum at a Thai airport, a YouTube symphony and more popular stories from the internet.

http://tinyurl.com/cqgpdg


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Regional Premiere of Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll at Manchester Library Theatre

Rock ‘n’ Roll
Library Theatre, Manchester
17 February 2009

Abba has Mamma Mia; Queen has We Will Rock You; Madness has Our House; now Pink Floyd has Rock ‘n’ Roll, a jukebox musical which weaves the band’s greatest hits into a narrative about The Prague Spring and the eventual collapse of Communism in 1990.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/regional-premiere-of-tom-stoppardand39;s-rock-and39;nand39;-roll-at-manchester-library-theatre_35.html




The Last Resort
The Customs House, South Shields, Tyne & Wear
Strangeface Theatre’s production, The Last Resort, is an interesting concept that combines actors wearing half-masks, puppetry, original music and songs to tell the folk-tale of a remote town on the brink of ruin.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-last-resort_34.html



Cabaret
UK National Tour – Reviewed at Darlington Civic Theatre
Berlin 1930: The Kit Kat club is a place of decadent and flirtatious celebration, presided over by a sinister Emcee (Wayne Sleep). Sally Bowles (Samantha Barks) is a young British singer who performs there. Cliff Bradshaw (Henry Luxemburg) is an American writer who arrives in Berlin with the hope of finding inspiration to complete his latest novel.


http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/cabaret_33.html


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TWITTERS

Jonathan Ross
http://twitter.com/Wossy

Stephen Fry
http://twitter.com/stephenfry

Fearne Cotton
http://twitter.com/Fearnecotton

Jon Gripton, reporter for Sky News, at the Oscars
http://twitter.com/JonGrip

Sara Bareilles
http://twitter.com/sarabareilles

Barack Obama
http://twitter.com/BarackObama

My twittering link
http://www.twitter.com/ukfilm

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FACEBOOK GROUPS

Making It In Hollywood – Documentary film project currently submitting to Film Festivals
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2434134276&ref=ts

UK Film Network – Social networking for filmmakers and their audience
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2475992114&ref=ts

UK Theatre Network – Social networking for theatre performers and their audience
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3122300275&ref=ts

The Big Picture – Feature film project currently in script selection
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26318483196&ref=ts

The Time Project – Documentary film project currently in pre-production
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47590808842&ref=ts