Fiona Scott - Page 5

Carly Paoli is a Classical Brit-nominated soprano. She will celebrate Christmas this year in TV special Christmas At The Castle – Carly Paoli and Friends, due to air on Sky Arts on 23 December.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre and The Macrobert Arts Centre have collaborated to bring audiences a fun Christmas show to enjoy at home called The Magic of Christmas.

Unlimited: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz is the first in a series of Reunited concert performances developed by Aimie Atkinson, Creative Producer of Thespie, an online platform specialising in theatre and live performance.

James Dreyfus is on the bill for a set of staged readings of Christie’s Spider’s Web and The Hollow, with a cast including Sir Derek Jacobi, Jessica Hynes, Simon Callow and Angela Griffin. All profits from the staged readings will be donated to the Theatre Support Fund+ and Acting For Others.

Former Blue Peter presenter, writer, director and regular pantomime dame, Peter Duncan, decided to film a pantomime in his back garden to entertain audiences at home and in cinemas this Christmas.

Beth Granville is known for being the creator and co-writer of the BBC Radio Wales series, Foiled. Her latest project is The Vicky Vox Project, a web-series featuring LA-based drag queen Vicky Vox who starred as Audrey in Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Little Shop of Horrors. We spoke to Granville about the show.

Jim Pope is the Artistic Director of Playing ON, a theatre company who have worked with vulnerable people such as prisoners and prison staff, mental health service users, those in recovery for addiction, young people in care, and many more. We spoke to Pope about the charity as it marks its 10th anniversary.

John Woodburn, James Dunnell-Smith and Joshua George Smith make up comedy trio, The Sleeping Trees. They spoke to BroadwayWorld about bringing their latest Christmas comedy show, The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington, to online audiences.

Anthony Spargo is an actor and scriptwriter. He is known for his roles in Horrible Histories, writing for the award-winning company Les Enfants Terribles and operating a Dalek in Doctor Who! He’s also a regular in the Greenwich Theatre pantomime cast line-up. Spargo speaks to BroadwayWorld about writing and performing in COVID times.

Olivia Jacobs is one of the founding artistic directors of the award-winning theatre company Tall Stories. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about directing The Gruffalo’s Child, coming soon to Alexandra Palace.

For Hope Mill Theatre, their highly anticipated revival of Jonathan Larson’s seminal rock musical of the nineties was disrupted not once, but twice due to COVID. Rent originally ran for 12 years on Broadway and, famously, its composer tragically died hours before its first readthrough.  

Marry Me A Little, starring Celinde Schoenmaker and Rob Houchen, opened at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester on 16 October during that golden window of opportunity for socially-distanced indoor theatre performances. Unfortunately, their run was cut short by a few days due to a second national lockdown in England. Fortunately, a filmed version has now been released online.

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm penned the now three-time Olivier Award-winning play, Emilia, which tells her story. It premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2018 under the direction of Nicole Charles. The production then transferred to the West End and played the Vaudeville Theatre in 2019. An archive recording of the West End run is currently available to stream on a pay-what-you-can basis until 24 November.

The release of Dom O’Hanlon’s Theatre in Times of Crisis: 20 Scenes for the Stage in Troubled Times is certainly timely, even without COVID. Written in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the collection of twenty play excerpts compiled by the Senior Commissioning Editor of Methuen Drama explores the theme of crisis in plays previously staged.

Ita??s unsurprising why Amazon has decided now is the time to release a recorded performance of Heidi Schrecka??s electric political play, What the Constitution Means to Me, on its Prime Video streaming platform. Playing herself, Schreck takes us back to her childhood of speaking at oratory competitions on the subject of the piecea??s title.

Earl Carpenter is known for his leading roles in The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and most recently appeared in The Pirate Queen at the London Coliseum. e is now preparing to tour England with John Owen-Jones, Kerry Ellis and Katie Hall in Voices of the West End. We spoke to Earl about the challenges of producing shows in these uncertain times.

Racing against pending lockdown, the cast and creatives behind Mascherato: The Musical were able to finish the concept album for this new show set in 18th century Venice. With a book by James Willett and a score by Michael Elderkin, the show follows the story of Elena (Katy Treharne) and Luca (Rob Houchen) against the backdrop of overprotective fathers and the threat of the Ottoman Empire.

The current UK Government guidelines recommend that as theatres reopen, audience members should not be encouraged to hang around the stage door. In the run-up to lockdown, West End shows like Dear Evan Hansen suspended stage door practices.

Award-winning comedy performer Vikki Stone and West End leading lady Natasha J Barnes teamed up during lockdown. They crafted a revue of the funniest comedy songs in musical theatre for female performers. The show, Funny Gals, will make its debut at the BarnFest, the Barn Theatre's premiere outdoor festival in Cirencester. We spoke to them about the show, wild swimming and returning to performing for live audiences.

Kwame Kwei-Armah is the Artistic Director of the Young Vic, which is marking its 50th anniversary this  year. As part of the celebrations, Kwei-Armah is the subject of an episode of the latest BBC imagine... series. We spoke to him about lockdown and going back over his childhood as part of the project.