This week's news from the Coliseum...

As part of our out and about season Coliseum productions being performed all over the place this week. Last night The Hound of the Baskervilles opened in Harrogate - the sixth venue on the tour. I went along to opening night and the show still looks stunning. Either myself or David Martin (Executive Director) make sure we attend the opening night at each venue on the tour as it’s important to support the production during the two month tour. I get regular updates from the production team about how the show is going. This could include technical aspects, what it’s been like to work at other venues and also news on the morale of the cast – making sure they’re still happy.

It’s also important to make sure the production that opens at Harrogate Theatre is the same production that audiences saw at Lawrence Batley Theatre back in March. Over time productions have a tendency to take on a life of their own in response to the audience’s reaction. I want to make sure that any changes to the production fit in with what we originally set out to achieve during the rehearsal process. The work we did during that rehearsal period is really key to how the production looked on opening night and that work still needs to be there right up until the last night. Incidentally the last leg of the tour is at Buxton Opera House so if you missed it while it was in Huddersfield you can still catch it there.

There’s another Coliseum production opening at Earl Mill Arts Centre tomorrow evening. This is a brand new location for the Coliseum to use and the youth performance of Tunnel Visions will be taking place there over the weekend. This is a really exciting production – the audience will move round a disused mill space in a train carriage travelling through time. The team behind the show have been working on it since the beginning of the year and I’m really looking forward to see all their ideas come together.

And over at the Grange Arts Centre Bill Naughton’s Alfie is still charming audiences at our fantastic temporary home. Saturday night is the last performance so if you haven’t yet had a chance to see it don’t miss out.

Brassed Off 2005

A little bit of exciting news to end this week’s column; I am happy to confirm that Steve Huison will be playing Barry in Dumb Show – which opens at the Grange in June. He’s probably best known for his role in The Full Monty and as Eddie Windass in Coronation Street. Steve is no stranger to the Coliseum, he played Phil in the 2005 production of Brassed Off and also appeared in Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay in 2008. He’ll be working alongside Kate Coogan (Stepping Out) and Leigh Symonds (The Hound of the Baskervilles) - I’m really looking forward to starting rehearsals.

See you out and about.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director