A big panto thank you...

I love the traditions of Christmas – family gathering together, turkey, tree, tinsel and of course the trip to the pantomime. We’ve still got some tickets available over the next week. This year’s show is a cracker, I can’t remember when we had such positive feedback from both adults and children. As we reach the half-way point in the seven week run I think it’s time to say thank you to all the dedicated and fantastic staff that have made the show possible.

Every department works tirelessly to make sure the production is a huge success. The wardrobe team work with the show’s designer right at the start of the year to begin making the eye-popping costumes. Once the show is up and running they are on hand every day to get the actors (especially dame Fine Time Fontaye) into their outfits for the quick changes and fill the washing machine at the end of each performance.

The stage management and technical teams make sure every show goes on without a hitch, setting all the props (and there are hundreds) in the right places backstage and lugging the wacky scenery on and off stage. Musical director David Bintley and the band have produced a brilliant musical score – King Rat’s song is something which has to be seen to be believed.

Front of house is just as busy, the Coliseum’s Front of House Managers and ushers make sure all the school groups, parents, grandparents and kids find their seats. The box office phones are ringing off the hook and the bar staff are serving up Bailey’s lattes by the dozen. Not forgetting the wonderful housekeeping team that clean the auditorium top to bottom twice a day, six days a week for seven weeks. That’s a huge number of bin bags.

Elsewhere in the theatre the education and outreach department have been going out to local schools to deliver panto workshops – teaching the pupils about the traditions of pantomime. The marketing department have been working their socks off to make sure everyone knows about the show. The admin team work out the casting logistics resulting in a fantastic ensemble for this year’s production.
And let’s not forget the superb cast who have all brought their own unique talents to the production as well as working terrifically as a team. Producing the annual pantomime is a real team effort and this year has been tremendous fun. Tickets are still available so do make sure you catch the show before it ends in January.

There’s just enough space for me to wish you all a happy Christmas!

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

New Spring Summer Season 2012 Announced!

We had our Season Launch on Monday and now our plans have been revealed I can start telling you a bit more about all the exciting things the Coliseum has in store for 2012.
The season opens with the an adaptation of the classic novel The Hound of the Baskervilles for which we are working in collaboration with design specialists imitating the dog who project images onto scenery. This is a stunning way to swiftly move the action from Baker Street to the misty moors and Baskerville Hall as well as creating the supernatural hound.

I’ve already been to several production meetings and I cannot wait to get rehearsals started. The Hound of the Baskervilles opens at Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and will then embark on a nationwide tour for ten weeks taking the production across the country. Don’t worry about how you’ll get to Huddersfield though, we are organising coaches to get you there from the Coliseum.

Following on from The Hound of the Baskervilles we’ll continue to produce shows at The Grange Arts Centre near Oldham College. Alfie and Dumb Show will both be performed there in-the-round and it will give everyone a great opportunity to experience a different theatre space. Alfie is a co-production with other in-the-round theatres across the country so it gives us the opportunity to collaborate with other professional theatres we haven’t worked with before.

The final performance of the season is a brand new play by local playwright Ian Kershaw called Star-Cross’d which will be performed out in the open air  in the blazing summer heat at Alexandra Park in the centre of Oldham. Ian has a great knowledge of the area and the play is written specifically for the Coliseum. The audience will walk through the park following the action and the route will make the most of the park’s features i.e. the Lion’s Den, Boating Lake and Pagoda. Yesterday Ian took us on a tour of the park along the route so that we could get a full idea of what the experience will be like for the audience – it will certainly be spectacular. Star-Cross’d will be a fantastic large scale production complete with brass bands, dance troupes and the largest cast the Coliseum has ever seen.

There is a huge range of other exciting events planned for the New Year and I’m looking forward to this brand new chapter in the Coliseum’s history. To read more about the plays see the season preview above.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

This week's news from the Coliseum...

Last week I told you about our fantastic panto chorus, which is made up of two teams of nine girls who work alternate days during the pantomime run. They are all looked after by a team of dedicated chaperones. The Coliseum employs a team of six chaperones each year who work in shifts to support and organise the girls over the three months they are with us. Half of their role is to make sure that the girls are on stage in the right costume at the right time and the other half is to ensure the wellbeing and happiness of the teams.

As I mentioned last week the chorus give up a lot of their time to be part of the Coliseum panto and the chaperones aren’t exactly working the usual office hours (and they don’t get to wear a fairy outfit). They fit their shifts at the theatre around their other responsibilities like university and jobs. With the teams made up of very different ages, ranging from 8 – 15 years, thinking of things to entertain all of them is a bit of a tough job. The chaperones also provide a shoulder to cry on and someone to talk through things with – it’s incredibly important that the girls have emotional support throughout their time at the Coliseum.

At the moment the over 12s are doing an Arts Award which is an accreditation that recognises a young person’s achievement in taking part in an arts project. There are four parts to the award; they’ll write about their experience in the panto, review a play, lead a dance class and write about someone in the arts that inspires them. Other activities that the girls have been up to include making Christmas cards and a post box for them to go in, making fruity cocktails and a fairy for the Christmas tree. The tree takes pride of place in their dressing room and as there are two teams, each one gets to decorate half of the Christmas tree – that’s democracy for you. They also get to watch a great deal of festive films in the cosy DVD corner. All of these activities are thought up and organised by the chaperones as well as making sure that the girls are suited and booted on time for their next entrance on stage.

The chaperones are just as important as any other aspect of the panto and we couldn’t do it without them.

See you at the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Let's hear it for the chorus...

Pantomime is now up and running, playing to packed houses – the audiences are very much enjoying it and getting really involved, lots of cheering, booing and singing throughout. Panto is the biggest production in the Coliseum calendar; 79 performances over seven weeks with a cast of seven, along with two teams of nine girls in the chorus.
This brilliant chorus is essential to the pantomime, I couldn’t do it without them. They are made up of talented local dancers who all got their part through an open audition that we held in September. I auditioned over 200 girls and there was an enormous amount of talent to choose from – it was a tough job whittling it down to just 18.

The girls’ ages range from 8 – 15 years. They have been incredibly dedicated, coming in every week for evening and weekend rehearsals. Once the production is open they work in two teams and perform on alternate days for the rest of the run. Before the schools break up they will have the responsibility of catching up on school work while they have spare time at the theatre. Their dressing room has a nice cosy corner with a TV for relaxing and a quiet area for homework to make it easier for them to fit everything in.

This year we have three sets of sisters in the chorus and I’ve made sure that both sisters are in the same team to make it a little easier for parents. Eight of the girls have been in the chorus before – for one of them this will be her 8th year – and the other ten are all new to the Coliseum.

During the run they and their parents give up their time voluntarily. They work incredibly hard and with the help of Bev our chorographer they never fail to surprise me with what they can achieve. They have so much pride in what they do and always give 100%.

By performing in panto the chorus miss out on a lot of festive events so their chaperones make sure they get lots of Christmas treats at the Coliseum; secret santa, pyjama parties, shopping trips. This is a fantastic experience for all of them, not only are they improving their performance skills but they are learning what it’s like to work in a theatre alongside professional actors. Over the three months the girls make life-long friends with each other and the Coliseum.

The panto wouldn’t be complete without the chorus and I want to thank them all for their dedication and hard work.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

This week's news from the Coliseum...

Not long until Dick Whittington opens on Saturday and I can’t wait. This week has been tech week when we transfer the production from the rehearsals room to the stage – and what a week!

After a morning rehearsing with the cast on Monday, I spent the afternoon and evening working with the lighting designer deciding where the light is on the stage, what colour they are and what impact the light has on the feel of the scene. I also collaborate with the sound designer choosing sound effects ranging from the sounds of the sea to dramatic music. Talking of music, the musicians also arrived at the beginning of the week and the orchestra pit was set up at the front of the stage for them. You may not realise it but it’s always there only just covered up by the stage and it is quite rare for us to use it in production and pantomime is a great reason to do so.

On Tuesday morning we worked through the scene changes; backdrops coming in from the roof and scenery from the wings and costume changes - the dame’s quick changes into her fantastic frocks will be timed and tested backstage for practicality. The slop scene is also mapped out, we’ve been rehearsing it in the rehearsal room for a few weeks but it’s only when it’s finally on the stage that we can all see how the routine will work – not without some of the cast getting a bit messy in the process. There’s also a huge range of slapstick routines to work through including the famous pantomime bedroom scene which is so complicated to explain you’ll have to come and see it for yourselves, I guarantee it will make you laugh.

During the technical rehearsal we stop and start as and when something needs to be checked or double checked but the dress rehearsal carries on as if it’s a real performance. Tomorrow we’ll have two dress rehearsals which are the final run-throughs of the complete production before the opening show on Saturday.

There’s always a heightened level of excitement during the week running up to panto, it is the biggest show of the year after all. We’re essentially staging a new musical every year from scratch and it’s certainly worth it – I can’t wait until it’s complete with a full auditorium on Saturday.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

This week's news from the Coliseum...

The Dick Whittington cast had great fun at the annual reindeer parade in Oldham town centre last Saturday. It was the first time the cast got to frolic around in their fantastic costumes – all made by the Coliseum’s wardrobe team who started work on them as early as May. The dame’s cupcake dress was stunning, King Rat’s costume suitably evil, Dick Whittington donned the thigh high boots and Fairy Bowbells with her trusty glittered covered wand – the whole cast looked very festive and fitted right in with Santa and his reindeers.

Everyone along the parade was eager to see the Coliseum characters, the cast have so much interaction with the audience during pantomime performances that they were in high demand and they made sure that they stopped to say hello to as many people as possible. I heard such positive comments from everyone about how much they’re looking forward to the production which of course will be bigger and better than ever and mixed with the same magic as always.

While I’m in panto rehearsals (glitter, gold coins and fairy wands litter the rehearsal room), I’m also putting the finishing touches to the new season. Our time out of the building for refurbishment will include performances at venues around Oldham, the next step is to get the season brochure together for you to find out about our superb programme of plays. The work on the season brochure not only includes working with a designer to create the eye catching imagery that you see on posters and leaflets, but all the extra material about where the productions will be in the spring/summer season.

The Coliseum’s marketing officer, Laura, has been pulling together all the various bits of information about this exciting season which will be like nothing the Coliseum has done before. They will be performances staged in completely different ways at different venues. Not only will it be something new for the audience, it will be a fantastic experience for staff at the Coliseum - working in fresh environments, changing the way they operate and having the chance to try something new.

For now though, it’s back to panto rehearsals. Just over a week to go and you’ll all be able to come and see all the magic in its full glory on our stage.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Let's get this party started...

We start thinking about pantomime fairly early on in the year at the Coliseum but this week it is officially the start of the festive season and the whole company are bracing themselves for more than two fun filled months of organised chaos. The cast arrived on Monday, we had a read through in the morning and they started learning the songs by the afternoon. It’s a great way to break the ice and brings the whole company together straight away. The two chorus teams arrive in the evening - all 18 of them.

Choosing the songs for the panto each year also starts fairly early – the cast and band need time to learn them of course! If you’ve been to a Coliseum pantomime before you’ll know that we use a lot of current songs. Some consider it to be untraditional to use pop songs but the roots of panto go back centuries and the songs used back then will have been the modern songs at the time. So the Coliseum’s production is a modern twist on these traditions.

Each year the show will include a big opening number - or ‘curtain raiser’ - to get everyone in the party mood. For Mother Goose (2009) it was 'I’ve Gotta Feeling' by Black Eyed Peas. There is always a love song between the principle boy and girl, for Sleeping Beauty (2010) we used 'Just the Way You Are' by Bruno Mars. After the interval there will be another curtain raiser kick off the second act plus there’s songs for the fairy and baddie. Towards the end of the show there’s a pop medley (something quite specific to the Coliseum) – it’s great to see the audience recognise each pop song as the opening lines are sung. It’s also fantastic to hear the whole auditorium sing along to each song they recognise completely unprompted – certainly part of the Coliseum panto experience.

When it comes to actually picking the songs I need to make sure they are age appropriate –some songs can be a little x-rated so I have to filter them for the family audience or sometimes alter a few of the lyrics in the verses. I also have to ask around to find out what’s popular – basically asking anyone under a certain age (ahem). My 12 year old daughter is a great help and the other week the office was awash with colleagues suggesting all their favourite songs from the year so far. I had to get my notepad…

It might only be week one of rehearsals but as a company we’ve been planning this production for months and once the curtain goes up on Saturday 26 November there’s no looking back. See you there!

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

In the spotlight with Oldham Young Carers

We are a group of young carers who have been learning about drama with Oldham Coliseum. As part of our project with theatre, we have learnt about how the they sell their shows by making posters. We also interviewed Russell Richardson, an actor from Coliseum play Deathtrap, to find out more about the play and what it’s like to be an actor.

Is Deathtrap a horror play?

Russell as Porter Milgrim in Deathtrap

It’s a thriller with lots of shocks. You can hear the audience go “ARGH!”
What is your character’s attitude like?
I play Porter Milgrim who is a happy guy. He’d love to be a playwright and is in awe of the writer character in the play.

Do you get to choose your character?
The only I decide is how he sounds, I was chosen by the director at the audition to play this specific part.

Who designs your outfit?
Someone called the designer. As an actor you can have your say but the designer decides what the set looks like and what you wear.

Does your character sing?
He would probably love to but no, it’s not in the script.

Do you dress up in silly clothes?
Sometimes – depending on the play. I like it actually, but for this play it’s an ordinary suit and tie for me.

How many rehearsals to you have?
Three weeks, Monday to Friday, 10:00am – 6:00pm.

What’s more fun to play, a goodie or a baddie?
A pantomime baddie is great fun. It nice to be booed and then tell everyone to shut up!

What is your favourite play?
Waiting for Godot

Do you prefer TV or stage work?I prefer stage work but TV work is good for the career. Theatre is what I really like though.

What’s your most common role?
A policeman on TV.

How many plays have you been in?
Can’t remember – a lot! Lots of Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

What’s it like to be an actor?
Exciting. It can be terrifying as there’s an enormous amount to remember but it’s a nice way to earn a living.

What inspired you to be an actor?
At school I discovered I liked acting. Then I went onto drama school and there was a teacher there who was really supportive and made me want to pursue it as a career. I started when I was just 22 years old.

Have you ever forgotten your lines?
Sometimes but actors help each other out. It’s just really important to keep calm.

Is it scary on stage?
It can be and it should be. If I’m not nervous I worry.

Do you get tired?
You do even though the play is only for a few hours a day. But those hours are a very concentrated period. You can’t sit down, you can’t relax, you can’t stop for a cup of tea.

What’s your favourite thing about the Oldham Coliseum?
It’s a really friendly place to work and I love it. It’s the first place I came to see theatre when I was younger and this play is the first time I’ve worked here so I’ve come full circle.

Russell was great to interview and we learnt a lot about what is like to be an actor.

- Oldham Young Carers

Now and then...

The Coliseum recently held a reminiscence event to celebrate the last 125 years of theatre, with over 500 people in the audience sharing their memories. Kenneth Alan Taylor (the Coliseum’s ex-Artistic Director) hosted the event. Kenneth and Front of House Manager David Rustidge spoke about the old days of the Coliseum and it was really interesting to see how much the theatre has changed over the years.

Kenneth first appeared at the Coliseum back in 1959 and back then the theatre operated as a theatre club so all productions were for members only. The demand to come and see productions at the Coliseum was so high that there was a never ending waiting list to be in the Theatre Club.

Actors - including Kenneth – would perform a different play every week. The company would run through a dress rehearsal on the Monday afternoon and perform that night. They would then start work on the next week’s play the following day, working on each of the acts through the week. Saturday would be busy with a matinee and evening performance and then on Monday the process would start all over again. No technical rehearsal – this is when all the lighting and sound effects are planned out – instead the company would just have work through it during the dress rehearsal.

The cast would provide their own costumes for every play. Easy for the males who normally would just need to find a dinner jacket or lounge suit– not so easy for the females who would have to have a seemingly endless supply of evening gowns each week. In fact, one actress was employed purely on the strength of her own costume hamper.

These days it’s very different, we spend over three weeks rehearsing the play with four days set aside to get the lighting and sound right. We also have our own wardrobe department making and sourcing costumes and our set is built by professional carpenters.



Of course, a lot of other things have changed during those years, notably the amount of things on offer for people to do in their spare time like TV and cinema. In spite of all the 3D and special effects there’s nothing that can compete with the experience of live theatre – action taking place literally in 3D right in front of your eyes. It’s a testament to this unique experience that the Coliseum is still going strong after all these years.

The main thing that struck me on that evening of celebrating the Coliseum’s history was to see just how proud both Kenneth and David were of what the theatre was doing back then and how much they still value to work that we produce here. I’m proud of how far the Coliseum has come, introducing an extensive programme of education and outreach activities and championing new writing, but this wouldn’t have been possible without all the dedication and hard work that has gone on throughout the last 125 years.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Location, location, location...

This week I’ve been visiting various places around Oldham looking for potential sites for the Coliseum’s summer show that we’ll be producing while we’re out of the building. I was looking for an exciting and unusual location to use as a performance space. The play is currently being written by Oldham born playwright Ian Kershaw who penned Union Street in 2007 and is a regular writer on the TV series Shameless.
The Coliseum will be working alongside Oldham Theatre Workshop to produce the show. Ian attended one of their workshops last week to introduce the young people to the project as they will all be heavily involved in this exciting project.

James Atherton, Oldham Theatre Workshop’s creative director, Ian and I explored several potential sites around the borough together. There are many things to consider with this type of production, not only does it need to be physically possible to stage a play at the location but the atmosphere and geography of the place should inspire the writer and have a direct impact on the story. Ian had actually been to a lot of the places already and he was able to talk about his ideas for the story and how the play might be put together. This is a brilliant opportunity to find new ways of staging plays; we were not only developing the story but also exploring all sorts of other aspects such as the different ways the actors can join the action and what possibilities open up if the audience are able to walk from scene to scene. At the moment we think the new play will be an open air production – get your umbrellas out! In the next few weeks I’ll be approaching lots of different community groups, dance troupes and brass bands to see if they can get involved in the play, making sure the whole community are part of this fantastic event.

Thank you to everyone who came to our 125 year anniversary event last Wednesday. It was a really interesting and valuable experience to hear so many different memories and stories about the Coliseum from not only past performers but audience members too. If you missed out, don’t worry, they’ll be another event towards the end of the project in January.

Katie Moore (Laura) and Harry Livingstone (Jim) in The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie opened last night. The production has got some great reviews from its run in Stoke, here’s my personal favourite: “…it sparkles every bit as much as the animals in Laura’s glass menagerie.” and it certainly does. I’m looking forward to hearing what our audience think of it.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Stages come in all shapes and sizes...

The Glass Menagerie cast and company have arrived in Oldham from the New Vic Theatre in Stoke and the play opens at the Coliseum this Thursday. The New Vic’s auditorium is configured in-the-round – which means that the audience are seated on all four sides of the stage (like Taking Steps will be at The Grange in the New Year). This is different from the Coliseum stage which is known as an end-on proscenium arch stage, where the audience faces the stage, at only one end and the proscenium arch which is the frame you watch the play through. The Palace and Opera House in Manchester have this type of stage.

Model box of The Glass Menagerie end-on set at the Oldham Coliseum

The most exciting thing about our collaboration with the New Vic for And a Nightingale Sang last year was working in a different shaped auditorium. The challenge of a different shaped stage is nothing new for touring companies that travel the country putting on their shows at a variety of venues – it’s an everyday occurrence. For example, Northern Broadsides Theatre Company are based in the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax which has a traverse stage. Traverse staging has the audience seated on opposite sides of the stage facing each other with a corridor of stage in between them. Yet Northern Broadsides will tour to any venue regardless of the type of stage, adapting for whichever scenario.

Model box of The Glass Menagerie in-the-round set at the New Vic Theatre

It’s not all about the shape of the stage and auditorium; it’s mainly about the audience’s experience in those different spaces. Something that makes theatre stand out from a lot of other art forms is the sense of a shared experience. If you can also see other members of the audience you can see their reactions to what’s going on in front of them. The intimacy of watching live action take place before your eyes with reactions in real time is something extremely unique to performance art, no matter what the space is like.

Working with designer Michael Holt - who has a long history with both the Coliseum and New Vic Theatre - on The Glass Menagerie has been fantastic because he knows both spaces inside and out having worked at both theatres many times in the past – he knows the dos and don’ts. Couple this with the fact that both theatres produce similar work with a similar style, the collaboration has been a great success. It just a case of waiting for the curtain to go up on Thursday night.

See you at the theatre,
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Come and tell us your stories about the Coliseum...

Next Wednesday 12 October the Coliseum is hosting a special event to celebrate the last 125 years of the theatre’s rich history. This is part of a much larger project that has been made possible through funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which helps communities learn more about their local heritage. The premise is to make the country’s heritage more accessible to everyone. The money we’ve received has been allocated from the Young Roots programme which is specifically designed to engage young people with their heritage.

As part of the project a team of young people will record a collection of oral history clips with people associated with the theatre’s history including staff members, actors and our audience. They’ll tell the team their fondest memories of the Coliseum. The group will also organise a historical exhibition which will be displayed at the theatre – this will include images of old programmes, posters and other materials from the Coliseum’s history.

The group of young people got together for the first time a few weeks ago and have been working with staff at the Coliseum to organise the 125 year anniversary celebration event along with project leader Carly – the Coliseum’s outreach officer. On the night we’ll be sharing photographs from the archive, screening a film of the theatre’s history and hearing stories from special performers who have graced the stage. Kenneth Alan Taylor will be hosting the evening – and I’m sure, telling us a few secrets about the theatre – along with some entertainment from Bernard Wrigley.

This evening of memory sharing will contribute to a piece of theatre that the group will devise during the project and they’ll perform it in the new year. There will also be a DVD made of the whole process which will itself become part of the archive.

One major part of the project that I haven’t mentioned yet is that the entire Coliseum archive has been boxed up and transported over to the Local Studies and Archives building on Union Street. Every last scrap from the very beginnings will be carefully catalogued. This will all be digitally scanned as well so it’ll be much easier for the people to access it – which is the whole point of the project! If you’d like to attend the event on Wednesday ring our box office on 0161 624 2829 and book your free ticket.

I must mention the fantastic tour of Equus that London Classic Theatre have been performing at the Coliseum all week. It’s a haunting and moving piece of the theatre and certainly worth a look before the tour leaves us on Saturday.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Calling all ambassadors!

The Coliseum receives an enormous amount of support from individuals and groups across the borough. This varies from our Front of House volunteers as well as people who volunteer with the Education and Outreach  and other departments, people who participate in our education activities, customers who donate their time and money and - of course - audience members. We have recently launched an ambassador scheme which aims to utilise this support and help spread news about what’s going on at the theatre.

Coliseum ambassadors will serve as an unbiased voice for theatre and share their experiences of the theatre with the wider public. We’ll be asking those interested to help do things such as distribute posters and leaflets, blog about us and post on our social networking pages. Incidentally, you can follow us on Twitter @OldhamColiseum and you’ll find us on Facebook as Oldham Coliseum Theatre. Ambassadors will be able to spread positive news about the Coliseum on a personal level which is really valuable to getting the word out there about all the different things we do.

The role of a Coliseum ambassador is unpaid but there are a lot of benefits rolled into the programme. You’ll be able to get free tickets to see selected Coliseum productions so you can recommend shows with confidence – you need to know what you’re talking about! Ambassadors will also get the chance to work alongside the Coliseum’s team of professional theatre staff with opportunities for regular training and advice about working in a professional theatre. You’ll see behind the scenes and get a chance to boost your CV.

If you’re interested in joining the Ambassador Programme then get in touch with Claire Phillips, Head of Marketing at clairephillips@coliseum.org.uk or call 0161 624 1731 to discuss it further.

Scene from The Glass Menagerie rehearsals at the New Vic in Stoke.
Harry Livingstone (Jim) and Katie Moore (Laura)

The Glass Menagerie – our next Coliseum production is being produced with the New Vic Theatre and I’ll be travelling down to Stoke tomorrow evening to see the opening performance. Last week the cast came up to Oldham to visit the Coliseum and see Deathtrap. They absolutely loved it and it was great to see both casts in the bar afterwards talking about the production and how things were going in Stoke. Deathtrap is only on until Saturday so make sure you come and see it before the curtain comes down on the final performance.

And finally; we have found our chorus for panto. Auditions were held last Sunday with an overwhelming turnout – more girls than ever turned up to be in for a chance to appear in Dick Whittington this winter. The level of talent was sky high making it pretty difficult to narrow it down to just 18 but the successful auditionees have now been contacted and will be coming into to be fitted for their costumes in the next few weeks.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Time for some business planning...

It’s that time of year again - business planning time. This plan is an extremely important tool that steers the entire organisation for the next three years. It outlines the key objectives that the theatre aims to meet during those years such as a different type of programming or developing the theatre’s audience. It’s really exciting to explore what the Coliseum could be doing in the future.

We started thinking about the business plan for April 2012 – 2015 earlier this year when the theatre applied for National Portfolio of Organisations (NPO) status from the Arts Council. This was part of the restructure of Arts Council funding that has been introduced following savage government cuts. Thankfully the Coliseum came out of the process unharmed and was one of five building based theatres nationally that actually had their funding increased.

The planning starts with our senior management team but it will eventually involve everyone in the organisation. We had a staff day last week during which everyone contributed ideas to the vision of the Coliseum. This is really valuable as myself and other senior managers can find out what’s important to staff and they can have their say about how we operate which is a fantastic opportunity.

The staff day was also a great chance to visit the new venues that the Coliseum will be inhabiting in 2012 - there’s been a lot of talk about it but there’s nothing quite like the reality of seeing where you’ll be actually be working for six months. We visited the old library on Union Street which will be our producing hub while the Fairbottom St. building is refurbished. The library will host all aspects of production including wardrobe, technical stage management and rehearsal space. We then visited a potential box office venue in the town centre – nothing is confirmed yet but we’re hoping to have a central booking office that will be convenient for you to book your tickets. Later we took a tour around the Grange Arts Centre to see where we’ll be producing Taking Steps in February.

Now, a worrying amount of audience members have come up to me to talk about the theatre closing in the New Year. Let me take this opportunity to make this very clear, the Coliseum is not closing in 2012. The company will be producing theatre in and around Oldham while the Fairbottom St. venue is refurbished and we will return to our usual home in October 2012.

While we’re still here though, make sure you come and see our current production of Deathtrap. The show is getting a great response from both audiences and critics. Pop into the theatre and see what everyone’s talking about.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Confidence and thrills all from the Coliseum

You may have read the article in the Chronicle last week about the inspiring work being done by Remploy based on Ashton Road. Remploy is a nationwide employment service for people experiencing complex barriers to work. Working with leading employers and through their own businesses they enable individuals to identify, develop and make the most of their abilities to enjoy rewarding and fulfilling employment.

Our Outreach Department at the Coliseum has recently undertaken a project in partnership with Remploy to use drama techniques to increase participants’ employability. Our drama activities are designed to develop the confidence of the project's partcipants, take them out of their comfort zone and challenge them both physically and psychologically. These included learning stage directions, understanding voice projection and vocal techniques, improvisation as well as actually learning lines from the John Godber play Teechers.

The participants were all unemployed, lacking motivation, money and confidence but were willing to challenge themselves to better their future. The group came from a range of backgrounds with a variety of different experiences of trying to gain employment.

At the end of the project the group performed an extract from Teechers in front of students from Huddersfield University who evaluated the success of the project and Remploy staff. The participants left with a great variety of new skills and had fun while gaining them.

Back to the main stage, Deathtrap has been open for a week now (where does the time go?) and the audience response has been fantastic. As with any play, you never quite know how the audience will react but seeing the audience’s reactions as they watch Deathtrap is a great experience. On a few occasions the twists and shocks have made people literally jump out of their seats. If you haven’t already seen it, I’m sure many of your friends and family who have are dying to talk to you about it but can’t let slip any of the plot for fear of spoiling it for you. Come along and find out what happens for yourself.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Ghost lights, the Scottish play and why the Green Room is called...the Green Room

Last week I let you into the vast world of theatre traditions and superstitions, many of which originate from the very early days of theatre and performance. There are just so many that I could write several columns on the subject but I’ve cut it down to just two, so here’s the second round.
One of the most famous theatre superstitions is to not say Macbeth in the building otherwise it brings bad luck. Some think this is because of the witch craft and sword fights in the play. An infamous story from the Coliseum’s history is actor Harold Norman’s death who performed in the play in the 40s. The safety tip fell off the end of the sword used in a fight scene and Harold ended up with a fatal stab wound, dying in hospital a few days later. It is reported that he had actually uttered the word Macbeth many times before the house opened that night.

The real reason it was bad luck was because the play is considered to be a seat filler and would only be programmed when a theatre was in financial trouble - usually closing soon after. Although that’s not the case these days, actors and crew will still refer to it as the Scottish play in the auditorium to make sure the current production is not cursed. There have even been stories of cast members acting out odd cleansing rituals if the play is spoken including turning three times, spitting over their left shoulder, swearing, or reciting a line from another of Shakespeare's plays.

Theatres leave a ghost light on stage during the night after everyone has left the building. The superstitious reason for this is to keep any ghosts in the building happy resulting in less hauntings for the theatre. There are even far-fetched tales of ghosts putting on their own plays in the dead of the night. In reality though, the practical use of this light is simply to prevent people from falling into the orchestra pit, bumping into the set or knocking over props. It could be said that by preventing this it stops actors and crew from harming themselves and becoming future ghosts – but I’m not too sure about that.

Many of the superstitions have derived from practical reasoning but that need has disappeared and the traditions have remained. For example; the green room is named such because it used to be painted green as that colour is relaxing for the eyes and for the actors and green costumes are considered bad luck and this stems from the practical fact that the colour green absorbs light, so if an actor wearing a green outfit was standing onstage next to someone in white then they would fade into the background and not be seen.

The list is endless but I’ll stop there. Even in the 21st Century many of these odd rituals still take place at theatres across the country.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Do you really want me to break a leg?

The world of theatre is full of odd and rather eccentric traditions, phrases and rituals many of which have been out of date for several decades but they have left a legacy in the theatrical industry. You may know the sayings but not the reasons actors abide by them so here’s a quick rundown of the most common ones.

It’s unlucky to whistle on stage and this harks back to the early days of theatre when sailors were used as backstage crew while their ships were in port. Sailors knew how to rig and change scenery and this is why we use the terms ‘crew’ and ‘rigging’. They also used a series of whistles to communicate scene changes and if actors were to whistle on stage then they might confuse the cues. Whistling on stage is still deemed bad luck even though – now in the 21st Century – we use headsets to speak to each other backstage.

When people use the term ‘step into the limelight’ it refers an early type of stage lighting where lime was heated until it glowed and illuminated the stage. The stars of the show would step into the limelight to be seen and a phrase was born…

Actors often wish each other luck by saying ‘break a leg’ and there are a few theories as to the origin of the phrase. The first is that it’s bad luck to say good luck so the opposite would be to wish someone to break a leg. Another is that when an actress does a courtesy at the curtain call she is breaking the line of her leg so you’d hope she breaks a leg on stage. Another refers to the narrow cloths at the side of the stage that are called ‘legs’. If the cast get several encores then the legs will have to be raised and lowered many times so if they’re lucky they’ll have so many encores they’ll break a leg.

A tradition that we stick to here at the Coliseum is to not say the last lines of a pantomime production during rehearsals. When we come to the end of a panto dress rehearsal and the characters wrap up the story with rhyming couplets, the cast just say “dah dee dahs” rather than the actual lines. This is because the show isn’t complete without the audience so it’s unlucky to finish without them. It makes for an interesting experience for someone who’s watching the rehearsal and doesn’t know this tradition.

There are many more of these traditional superstitions and sayings so next week I’ll tell you about a few more.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Blood curdling screams and memory sharing...

It’s all a bit nerve wracking here at the Coliseum. We’re nearly at the end of our second week of rehearsals for the thrilling Deathtrap and blood curdling screams can be heard all over the building. Actors have taken to strangling each other all week – but of course it’s all in the script. There are few fight scenes which are starting to take shape. Renny, our regular fight director, has been working the actors through the sequences and how to use the props (including a gun, garrotte and cross bow) without actually causing themselves harm. Its tricky stuff, the last thing you want to see on stage is an unconvincing death scene.

Less screaming over in the Education and Outreach Department where there are a couple of new recruits; Richard Hall has just taken the position as Head of Participation and starting in September Paul Adams will fill the role of Creative Development Officer.

Richard previously worked for the Festival of Diversity. Paul has a long standing relationship with the Coliseum and it’s fantastic to now have him as a full time member of the Coliseum team. He has worked on many different Coliseum projects over the last few years and built up a great deal of experience from working with young people, delivering workshops and studying Performance Theatre at University Campus Oldham which has an affiliation with the Coliseum.

Paul also has also set up his own theatre company – 2Tour Theatre – based in Mosley and they are currently working with dementia patients at Calderdale Hospital on a project to recreate their memories. This new company will represent stories told by patients to help the staff better understand who they care for. Another example of how fantastic art can be in contributing to people’s wellbeing.

Now a seamless link onto our memory sharing event we’re holding in October. We have recently been granted Heritage Lottery Funding which will enable local young people to explore the rich history of the Coliseum, archiving past publications for public viewing and creating a performance.

The first event from this project is on 12 October when we’ll be hosting a reminiscence event; sharing photographs from our vast archive, screening a film of the theatre’s history and hearing stories from special performers who have graced the Coliseum’s stage.

The event will be a chance for our patrons, staff, past performers and audience members to come together, share memories and celebrate the past 125 years and the many more years to come.

If you want to come and join us then book your free tickets via the Box Office on 0161 624 2829.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

This week's news from the Coliseum...

After our period of annual maintenance we’re getting back into the swing of things this week, the cast arrived on Monday to start rehearsals for Deathtrap. It can be a little like the first day at school – some of them know each other, most have worked here before, although Russell Richardson who is playing lawyer Porter Milgram is completely new to the Coliseum, but you may recognise him from his many appearances at Bolton Octagon. Regular attenders to the Coliseum will recognise Helen Kay who performed in Absurd Person Singular and One for the Road and Roberta Kerr who was more recently in Blithe Spirit and Quartet. Steven Pinder, who lots of you will recognise as Max Farnham from Brookside, returns after a great performance in our production of Absent Friends. Most of the cast are locally based and regularly attend our performances and they know all about the Coliseum, its atmosphere and its audiences. Andrew Cullimore who plays Clifford has worked at the Coliseum before on rehearsed readings and our writing festival Wordsmith but will be treading the boards on our main stage for the first time this September.

Steven Pinder (front, left) in Absent Friends 2010

On the first day of rehearsals staff from all departments came down to the rehearsal room for a quick meet and greet. The play’s designer talked through a scaled set model – Deathtrap is set in a converted barn with the walls adorned with guns, handcuffs, maces and battle-axes so – as you can imagine – the model looked really impressive. I can’t wait to see it on the main stage. He also showed us all his costume designs. Both the set model and the costume designs give a genuine impression of what the production will eventually look like – although most of the cast are mainly interested in what they’ll be wearing! Next we had the first read through of the script. This was the first time the cast had all been in the same room and we started to get the words off the page and the play on its feet.

Deathtrap is a classic thriller and there’s a great amount of comedy thrown in as well as surprises. This is a fantastic play to work on and it’s been a while since we had a thriller here. The production is fast-paced which will keep the audience guessing right up until the last scene - just when they think they might have it sussed out, another twist comes out of nowhere. As a director I need to make sure the shocks really do shock, there’s a moment when I can guarantee you’ll jump out of your seats…but I can’t anything away!
See you at the theatre,

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

A Summer of Steel Wire Ropes...

For many people summer  means long hot days, relaxing in the garden or on a beach somewhere glamorous, like Filey. For the hardworking and handsome members of the Technical Stage Management team it means dirty sweaty days, inspecting and testing our lifting equipment, organising and repairing our masking flats, and this year, preparing our equipment for the move out of the building.

The inspection and testing of our lifting equipment is something that we do every six months, during the summer, and again after Pantomime. It involves the inspection of every moving part of our counterweight flying system, checking for any imperfections in the steel wires that hold the lighting and scenery over our heads for the rest of the year. Just to throw some numbers at you, the inspection of the flying system involves the individual checking of:

·         750 metres of Fibre Ropes

·         3km of  Steel Wire Ropes

·         20 cups of coffee (6.5 litres I reckon)

·         214 Pulley

·         And over 1000 separate nuts and bolts

The Counterweight Flying System

The grid space where we spend some of our summer

All this before we get to the separate rigging steels, slings, and fixings that we use to fly scenery and lighting. After many years of practice it still takes two of us 40 hours, not including brew breaks, to check all our equipment to comply with LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations).

This is also the time we get to make any necessary repairs to our black masking flats, often the only decent repair we can make is to re-cover the whole thing with new material. This is something we need to do every few years and it’s a job that takes up the whole stage, which is why we have to do it during our ‘Dark’ period.

So next time you see that there are no shows on at the Coliseum for a few weeks, remember that the Technical Stage boys are still working as hard as they do when there is a production on, unless of course we are on holiday. In Filey.

- Technical Stage Management Team

Our Creative Development Officer talks about a recent project...

Hello,

My name’s Amy and I work as the Creative Development Officer in our Education and Outreach department.  I have been working with our Outreach Officer, Carly, on a creative project for a group of young people who do not usually have the opportunity to attend the theatre.

We worked in partnership with Nacro, a crime reduction charity, to arrange for a group of young people to get involved in theatre, many of whom are homeless and not in formal education, employment or training.

It’s rare that we get to bring groups like this into the Coliseum, but with support from the Big Lottery’s Young People’s Fund, we have been able to offer an access fund to cover the cost of lunch, transport and resources. This is so important.  For this type of group, if support isn't available, these aspects can become real barriers to taking part.  The support from the Big Lottery and from Nacro staff meant the group could come to the theatre each session to work in our studio space, where professional actors are usually in rehearsal.  This made the project feel really special for participants and staff alike.

We began the project with a fun series of creative games and exercises, to help participants relax and get to know each other, before moving on to develop characters and storylines.  It’s really important at the start of this type of project for group members to have fun and feel like they are achieving something straight away.  They grew in confidence during these first few sessions, learning that they could take part, create, and have fun doing it!

We then started to explore possible themes for the project.  The group decided that homelessness was the common topic that united them all and chose to focus on this.  They wanted to challenge stereotypes of homelessness through the project, and were given the chance to perform their work as part of the Coliseum Open Day on Saturday 2nd July 2011.  This opportunity, although daunting for some members of the group, gave us a positive goal to aim towards and the motivation to produce something that would both entertain and challenge the audience.

With this in mind, participants set about making comedy sketches and writing rap music about their experiences of homelessness.  They wanted to challenge negative ideas of homeless people by demonstrating their own creativity and sense of fun.  Group members also worked in partnership with Square 1 Recording Studio and Training Academy to create a track to accompany their performance.

Participants had a lot to deal with on the day of the performance at the Coliseum’s Open Day and generally coped really well under pressure.  They performed their piece to 60 people, many of whom made the point of congratulating them afterwards.  We were so proud of what they achieved, as were Nacro staff.  The group went on to enjoy the rest of the Open Day, getting their faces painted and having a go at learning circus skills!

We are so pleased with the impact that this project has had for members of the group.  Although it has been very demanding, they have been really engaged and positive about their experiences.  Each individual feels that they have developed transferable skills to take away from the project and many have been surprised by how much they’ve enjoyed doing drama!  We’ve learned a lot from them as well.

We are now working with participants to develop their CVs and to complete their Bronze Arts Award portfolios, so they can hopefully top off their achievements with a nationally-recognised level 1 qualification at the end of it all. 

Here are a few quotes from the participants:
“The production was aimed to relieve the negative stigma attached to youth and homelessness. Even if the audience didn’t understand what we were trying to get across, we all still had fun.”

“I’ve learned that I can take part in things.”

“Thank you so much for putting up with our antics!”

“I would love to do performance art again.”

More than meets the eye...

Did you know that on top of the eight main house shows we produce at the Coliseum we also host a variety of other community events during the year? Opportunities are available to everyone, from children to the over 60s, to showcase their work on our stage. A majority of these happen during the summer once our season has come to a close. We have supported this type of work for many years and will continue to do so for years to come.

Last week the theatre was awash with nearly 300 children from local primary schools who had been working on a Shakespeare for Schools project over the last term. The name Shakespeare can be a little daunting – especially at school – but this was a fantastic way to introduce young people to his work. Nine schools were involved altogether and the children performed extracts from the Bard’s best known plays on the main stage to an audience of family and friends. The corridors were echoing with the sounds of “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

On Monday we hosted A Celebration of Dance where secondary schools showcased their work that they have been rehearsing all term. The show was a mix of different dance styles; tap, jazz and street led by Laura Mulholland who choreographed the spectacular dance sequence in Totally Over You  - the youth show that kicked off our spring/summer season. Many of the kids involved would never have thought they’d get the chance to perform on the main stage at a professional theatre.

Dance sequence from Totally Over You

Tuesday saw the return of the totally unique over 60s Silver Stars talent show organised by Age Concern. I was on the judging panel again trying to pick a winner from the singers, dancers and musicians. I really look forward to it because there’s always such a great atmosphere in the auditorium and our staff love popping in and seeing who’s on stage.

Tonight we have Judith Barker’s Imagination – a showcase of the fantastic work being produced at her self-named drama school. Judith has a long history with the Coliseum and is a friend of the theatre; she appeared on stage for several years when we had a resident company of actors alongside her husband Kenneth Alan Taylor. We’re always delighted to welcome her back and support her talented pupils one of whom did a brilliant turn in Brassed Off in 2008.  

Next week sees the return of Oldham Theatre Workshop in their annual summer slot. We have a long association with OTW and I always look forward to seeing their show. This year it’s Prom! The Musical set on the night of a school prom (surprisingly enough) where things don’t run smoothly…

As you can see, there is a vast range of activity that goes on at the Coliseum besides the plays we produce. We regularly welcome amateur companies to perform during our season and also have a wide range of drama groups that also get the chance to perform their work here. It’s really important element of what we offer the local community.

See you at the theatre,

Kevin Shaw

Artistic Director

Sizing Up Saucy Sarah

The lovely ladies in our wardrobe department are putting together the first stages to one of the pantomime dame costumes for Dick Whittington. Saucy Sarah (that’s the pantomime dame not one of the wardrobe ladies) is to be dressed as a portion of fish and chips. The cast don’t start with us for some time yet so they were on the lookout for a stand-in (a victim basically).

I’m roughly the same size and height as Fine Time Fontayne so got roped in for a basic try on of the costume. What could be more normal for a slightly overcast Wednesday afternoon at work? On goes the padding to bulk me up to resemble Saucy Sarah’s voluptuous dimensions, that in its self is quite a weird experience and although on a diet I was pleased that I still needed the padding.

Then we add the prop costume - it’s going to look amazing. Celia, our designer, was there to oversee proceedings even at this early stage and it’s looking like we are going to have yet another visual feast ahead of us. The prop chips have been made, they're huge and covered in sparkly gold lamé. Already I can predict jokes, maybe something like “people round here have a real chip on their shoulder” etc etc. Oh the joy of panto and its only 18 weeks till it opens.

As it turns out I quite like dressing up anyways… happy days.

Jonno

Deputy Stage Manager

This week's news from the Coliseum...

This week has all been about casting. We’ve held two sets of auditions, for two very different productions.

First up was Deathrap – Ira Levin’s chilling comedy. We have five characters to cast and it’s an interesting challenge to find actors that can work together creating entirely truthful characters. It is essential that the audience believe in the situation for the thrills to work. We’ve seen about 6 or 7 people for each part from hundreds of suggestions. They read extracts of the play and it’s nothing like what you see on X-Factor of Britain’s Got Talent; I try and get the best out of each auditionee by making them feel calm and confident. I want them to leave thinking “that’s the best I could have done”.

So far we’ve managed to cast the terrific Stephen Pinder as playwright Sidney Bruhl. You may remember Stephen from his appearance in the 2010 production of Absent Friends as well as his time in Brookside as Max Farnham. Helen Kay, who appeared in both One for the Road and Absurd Person Singular here, will play his wife Myra Bruhl.

We also held auditions for Dick Whittington. We’ve already cast a couple of parts; Fine Time Fontayne and Richard J Fletcher are returning to the Coliseum reuniting a fantastic double act. Their comic timing is faultless and they both bring buckets of experience with them. Fine Time has been working in panto for many years as a performer, writer and director and Richard was trained in physical theatre which he superbly shows off on stage mastering the prat falls and slap stick routines. We have a few more characters left to fill and we saw a great range of actors yesterday. I can also confirm that we have the brilliant Andonis Anthony returning to play evil King Rat.

Richard Fletcher in Sleeping Beauty last year

Auditions for the chorus will be on Sunday 18 September. This is a great experience for young girls to get involved in a professional production. Hundreds apply each year so not everyone will get in. In fact, last year a girl was cast having unsuccessfully auditioned for the previous five years. She went away, worked hard to improve and appeared in Sleeping Beauty. Each year the teams rise to the occasion and add a huge amount to the show. It’s fantastic to see them interacting with the professional cast and learning from them.

It might be July but we’re already in panto mode over here at the Coliseum.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director