It’s finally here – opening night! Tomorrow is our big opening night and I cannot believe how quickly the last ten months have zipped past. Tomorrow evening we’ll be raising the curtain for the first ever production in the newly refurbished theatre.
The cast and company have been working hard over the last two weeks to put the production together. I said it before but I’ll say it again – everyone has been absolutely fantastic and they have gone the extra mile to make the show that you’ll see this weekend (if you’re coming along).
Many of the cast have said how glad they are to be part of this exclusive production and that got me to thinking about how many actors mention how much they enjoy working at the Coliseum. We make a commitment to employ actors from the North West and in return they commit to what the Coliseum is aims to deliver and are always very complementary about the theatre and working in Oldham.
The actors certainly aren’t coming back time and time again for the wages – little tip; if you want to make a fortune don’t work in the theatre. I think it’s a combination of the people who work for the theatre and the audience who see the play. It’s no secret that an Oldham Coliseum audience is quite unique. One of our actors once said: “This is my favourite place to work. You don’t get audiences like this anywhere else. Here they don’t come and sit back saying ‘entertain me!’ but they come for a genuine night out.” And that’s so true. Our audiences are one of a kind and the Coliseum really belongs to them. We are one of the only theatres where the cast will invite the audience to the bar for a drink after the show.
Plus the atmosphere in the rehearsal room is always really positive as well. The whole process never really feels likes work. As you may already be aware, we work with many of the same actors in our productions and I think this adds to the reason why people like working here. Actors that are new to the Coliseum will often be in the same cast as a Coliseum regular and very quickly learn the way the Coliseum operates and becomes part of the team in no time at all. I create an atmosphere where actors are able to fail and feel that their ideas are heard.
This is one of the main things I am so proud of about the Coliseum – this reputation for being such a welcoming theatre.
See you back in the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Thursday, 18 October 2012
One week to go...
I’m currently nearing the end of the first week of rehearsals for Curtain Up at the Coliseum which opens on Friday 26 October for two nights only.
I started working on the show a couple of months ago once we’d said goodbye to the cast of Star-Cross’d. I then sat down and started drafting the running order for the evening, deciding what productions to include and who should be a part of this special event.
It wasn’t a simple task as the Coliseum has staged hundreds of plays over the years. I wanted to include not only the most popular productions we have staged but also a variety of different theatre styles; musical, drama, comedy. I also wanted work around a (fairly loose) theme of the Coliseum ‘through the ages’ so I have included some classic productions from the past as well as extracts from more recent plays.
Next I needed to think about who would be in the ensemble cast. This means they won’t be playing just one character for the evening; instead they’ll be part of various scenes and numbers from different productions throughout the evening (so that’s an awful lot of lines and cues for them to remember!).
If you haven’t already heard, the cast includes Kieran Buckeridge (Travels with my Aunt, Dick Barton, Wind in the Willows), Adam Barlow (Star-Cross’d, Kes, The Road to Nab End), Gemma Wardle (Up on the Roof, Union Street, Sweet Charity), Sue Devaney (Sleeping Beauty, Good Golly Miss Molly), Nicola Bolton (Stepping Out, Wizard of Oz), Catherine Kinsella (The Memory of Water, Stepping Out) and the inimitable Kenneth Alan Taylor (I could list all the plays he’s been in but it’s nearly 300!).
The ensemble will be joined by a host of guest appearances including Coronation Street stars Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper), Lisa George (Beth Tinker) and Shobna Gulati (Sunita Alahan).
This week we’ve been running through the various sections of the show which includes a good helping of musical numbers (many of which you’ll know and I’ll bet they’ll be some singing along on the night). Howard Gray - who worked on Private Lives, Up on the Roof and Satin ‘n’ Steel - will be heading up a three piece band to accompany the cast (and they’ll be taking to the stage a few times during the night too).
The cast and band (and guest stars) have all been fantastic and it’s humbling to see how excited they are to be part of this special event that will go down in the Coliseum’s history. And I’m pretty excited too. It will be fantastic to see the auditorium with people in it again, especially an audience full of such support for the theatre.
See you at the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artisitc Director
I started working on the show a couple of months ago once we’d said goodbye to the cast of Star-Cross’d. I then sat down and started drafting the running order for the evening, deciding what productions to include and who should be a part of this special event.
It wasn’t a simple task as the Coliseum has staged hundreds of plays over the years. I wanted to include not only the most popular productions we have staged but also a variety of different theatre styles; musical, drama, comedy. I also wanted work around a (fairly loose) theme of the Coliseum ‘through the ages’ so I have included some classic productions from the past as well as extracts from more recent plays.
Next I needed to think about who would be in the ensemble cast. This means they won’t be playing just one character for the evening; instead they’ll be part of various scenes and numbers from different productions throughout the evening (so that’s an awful lot of lines and cues for them to remember!).
If you haven’t already heard, the cast includes Kieran Buckeridge (Travels with my Aunt, Dick Barton, Wind in the Willows), Adam Barlow (Star-Cross’d, Kes, The Road to Nab End), Gemma Wardle (Up on the Roof, Union Street, Sweet Charity), Sue Devaney (Sleeping Beauty, Good Golly Miss Molly), Nicola Bolton (Stepping Out, Wizard of Oz), Catherine Kinsella (The Memory of Water, Stepping Out) and the inimitable Kenneth Alan Taylor (I could list all the plays he’s been in but it’s nearly 300!).
The ensemble will be joined by a host of guest appearances including Coronation Street stars Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper), Lisa George (Beth Tinker) and Shobna Gulati (Sunita Alahan).
This week we’ve been running through the various sections of the show which includes a good helping of musical numbers (many of which you’ll know and I’ll bet they’ll be some singing along on the night). Howard Gray - who worked on Private Lives, Up on the Roof and Satin ‘n’ Steel - will be heading up a three piece band to accompany the cast (and they’ll be taking to the stage a few times during the night too).
The cast and band (and guest stars) have all been fantastic and it’s humbling to see how excited they are to be part of this special event that will go down in the Coliseum’s history. And I’m pretty excited too. It will be fantastic to see the auditorium with people in it again, especially an audience full of such support for the theatre.
See you at the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artisitc Director
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Directing for JB Shorts
JB Shorts is taking place at Joshua Brooks in Manchester this week. If you haven’t heard of it before it is a small scale theatre festival where top TV writers from the North West showcase new work that lasts just 15 minutes – hence the name.
JB Shorts consists of six short plays in total that will all be shown in one evening, including one written by Ian Kershaw who wrote Star-Cross’d the outdoor production we staged in Alexandra Park this summer.
I am directing one of the plays written by Carole Solazzo and Christy Horrocks called Seeds which is set on the eve before a priest’s ordination and he’s starting to get second thoughts…
Carole is a great supporter of the Coliseum being a former participant of the Coliseum’s writing group and she has now become regular writer for Radio Four series The Archers and on BBC One’s Doctors.
Carole asked me a few months ago to direct the play and I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the project which is part of the Greater Manchester theatre scene. Ordinarily I would be directing the first production of the autumn/winter season at the Coliseum but as we’re opening slightly later than usual this year due to the refurbishment I was able to say yes to Carole.
The Seeds cast are all local actors who put themselves forward to be considered for roles in the JB Shorts programme. It’s a small cast of three and they have all been brilliant to work with. While they are all fairly young, they have all got a good deal of experience of working in both large and small scale productions. Being part of something like JB Shorts is a great opportunity for an actor, not only for experience but the chance to meet other directors and writers from the North West.
If you want to catch this year’s programme, the plays will be performed at Joshua Brooks in Manchester until Saturday 20 October and it’s just £6.00 a ticket.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
JB Shorts consists of six short plays in total that will all be shown in one evening, including one written by Ian Kershaw who wrote Star-Cross’d the outdoor production we staged in Alexandra Park this summer.
I am directing one of the plays written by Carole Solazzo and Christy Horrocks called Seeds which is set on the eve before a priest’s ordination and he’s starting to get second thoughts…
Carole is a great supporter of the Coliseum being a former participant of the Coliseum’s writing group and she has now become regular writer for Radio Four series The Archers and on BBC One’s Doctors.
Carole asked me a few months ago to direct the play and I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the project which is part of the Greater Manchester theatre scene. Ordinarily I would be directing the first production of the autumn/winter season at the Coliseum but as we’re opening slightly later than usual this year due to the refurbishment I was able to say yes to Carole.
The Seeds cast are all local actors who put themselves forward to be considered for roles in the JB Shorts programme. It’s a small cast of three and they have all been brilliant to work with. While they are all fairly young, they have all got a good deal of experience of working in both large and small scale productions. Being part of something like JB Shorts is a great opportunity for an actor, not only for experience but the chance to meet other directors and writers from the North West.
If you want to catch this year’s programme, the plays will be performed at Joshua Brooks in Manchester until Saturday 20 October and it’s just £6.00 a ticket.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Nearly time to raise the curtain...
The theatre may be closed but there’s an awful lot happening at the Coliseum in the run up to our re-opening at the end of October.
I am currently finalising Curtain Up at the Coliseum - an evening of celebration of the Coliseum which will reopen the theatre. There will be a great selection of extracts from popular Coliseum plays including Sweet Charity, Me Mam Sez, Brassed Off and The Wizard of Oz with a couple of surprises along the way. I have cast a group of brilliant actors who have all played that the Coliseum before and they will perform favourite scenes from the different productions. The cast includes Kenneth Alan Taylor, Sue Devaney and Gemma Wardle. Look out for some more special announcements…
If you want to be part of this special fundraising event, tickets are £25.00 (or £20.00 if you are season ticket holder).
In the meantime, not only is the auditorium and bar being refurbished, the back stage offices are all part of that refurbishment too. Every wall is getting a new coat of paint, carpets are being laid and everyone is have a proper clear out. Needless to say, it’s very busy backstage at the moment and we haven’t even got a production on!
Even though we’re planning the re-opening, the company is also looking back at our recent season out of the building. We hold a retrospective meeting for each of our own productions; discussing how the production was received by audiences, aspects of the set and design (things that worked or could have been improved) and anything else that should be noted and referred to when producing a similar production in the future.
+Robin+Simpson+(Sir+Henry+Baskerville)+and+Gwynfor+Jones+(Sherlock+Holmes)_2.jpg)
The retrospectives for the last season have an added element which is the new venues and different ways that we had to work under the circumstances. What did we learn from producing a three month tour that travelled to nine different venues? What was it like to work with companies or theatres we had not previously collaborated with? How did we strengthen our relationships with the different venues at which we performed? All of this and more is discussed because it is essential to learn from everything we’ve done since January - especially as this year has been an exceptional year in the Coliseum’s history. This all helps feed into whether we’ll do another tour, or look into the possibility of doing another outdoor performance.
Thank you for all of your support during the year and I look forward to seeing you back in the theatre in October. If you can’t wait until our official opening, the Box Office will be back in their usual home on Monday 22 October so from that date forward you can pop in and book your tickets back in the theatre.
See you back in the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
I am currently finalising Curtain Up at the Coliseum - an evening of celebration of the Coliseum which will reopen the theatre. There will be a great selection of extracts from popular Coliseum plays including Sweet Charity, Me Mam Sez, Brassed Off and The Wizard of Oz with a couple of surprises along the way. I have cast a group of brilliant actors who have all played that the Coliseum before and they will perform favourite scenes from the different productions. The cast includes Kenneth Alan Taylor, Sue Devaney and Gemma Wardle. Look out for some more special announcements…
If you want to be part of this special fundraising event, tickets are £25.00 (or £20.00 if you are season ticket holder).
In the meantime, not only is the auditorium and bar being refurbished, the back stage offices are all part of that refurbishment too. Every wall is getting a new coat of paint, carpets are being laid and everyone is have a proper clear out. Needless to say, it’s very busy backstage at the moment and we haven’t even got a production on!
Even though we’re planning the re-opening, the company is also looking back at our recent season out of the building. We hold a retrospective meeting for each of our own productions; discussing how the production was received by audiences, aspects of the set and design (things that worked or could have been improved) and anything else that should be noted and referred to when producing a similar production in the future.
+Robin+Simpson+(Sir+Henry+Baskerville)+and+Gwynfor+Jones+(Sherlock+Holmes)_2.jpg)
The retrospectives for the last season have an added element which is the new venues and different ways that we had to work under the circumstances. What did we learn from producing a three month tour that travelled to nine different venues? What was it like to work with companies or theatres we had not previously collaborated with? How did we strengthen our relationships with the different venues at which we performed? All of this and more is discussed because it is essential to learn from everything we’ve done since January - especially as this year has been an exceptional year in the Coliseum’s history. This all helps feed into whether we’ll do another tour, or look into the possibility of doing another outdoor performance.
Thank you for all of your support during the year and I look forward to seeing you back in the theatre in October. If you can’t wait until our official opening, the Box Office will be back in their usual home on Monday 22 October so from that date forward you can pop in and book your tickets back in the theatre.
See you back in the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
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