Theatre happens at every level...

This week we have Mack & Mabel on stage until Saturday which is an amateur production being presented by Ashton Operatic Society who previously staged the popular South Pacific at the Colieum.

There is a thriving amateur dramatic scene in the North West – Shaw Playhouse 2 won the Reader’s Choice award at Pride in Oldham a few weeks ago. Here at the Coliseum we regularly host productions staged by local ‘am-dram’ societies; earlier in the season Congress Players visited us with Oliver!. These groups are hugely dedicated; rehearsing and performing all in their own spare time simply out of passion for performing.

Theatre happens at every level and each level has its own world. For example there is professional regional theatre that the Coliseum produces alongside many of other companies of different scales across the country from small scale touring companies to international opera. On top of that there is a flourishing fringe theatre scene which includes new work being performed at the 24:7 Theatre festival, JB Shorts and Three Minute Theatre as well as taking new plays to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival , Studio Salford and Not Part of Festival.

There are also many budding actors out there studying at one of the accredited drama schools across the country. One of those is ALRA North (Academy of Live and Recorded Arts) based in Wigan through which we set up a partnership last September for the post-graduate production of Jane Eyre which toured to community venues around Oldham. We will certainly be building on the success of this new working relationship and plan to do another ALRA/Coliseum production in the future.

Then there is theatre that has an international appeal such as Nick Payne’s Constellations which transferred from the Royal Court to London’s West End and is now rumoured to be moving to Broadway. One Man Two Guvnors – originally starring James Corden - was also a huge success on both sides of the pond.

But at the end of the day theatre comes down to a performance by actors in front of an audience, whatever the location, genre or theme. Theatre happens at every level, from a school play to a sell-out run in Broadway and we’re all the better for it. 
See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director