Hello, and welcome to my sly extra Substack! A mini-bonus one this week, mainly because I forgot to include the Alphabetti Glasto party in the main one and it’s this Saturday and sounds like a riot.
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Gerry & Sewell score the winning ticket
Jamie Eastlake’s adaptation of Jonathan Tulloch’s novel The Season Ticket really is the little play that could. Having started out on the tiny stage at Laurels, last year it did a sell out run at Live – and just announced it will be coming to the Theatre Royal Newcastle in October.
I liked this play a lot when I saw it at Laurels. I initially feared it would be too laddish, but while it definitely has that side to it, that is simultaneously softened and sharpened by both making the female characters more rounded (helped by a protean performance in multiple roles by the stellar Becky Clayburn) and the setting more expansive. The plot may be focused on two slightly hapless, football obsessed lads, but it’s set in a context of family trauma and austerity, all played out with a wild, reckless energy.
When the show transferred to Live, I admit I imagined it doing little more than plonking the same play on a slightly bigger stage (I couldn’t make the press night and nearly didn’t bother going as my budget for seeing shows isn’t infinite, so I rarely pay to see something I’ve already seen). I’m glad I did – the piece was utterly transformed, scaling up in a smart, ambitious way that ramped the energy up to 11 as well as filling out the story in truthful and organic ways. (There was an actual Metro on stage, for God’s sake!)
So, I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens when it lands at the Theatre Royal…
More shows to book now
Just announced at Live, is Luca Rutherford’s Political Party, in which she takes a playful look at a serious subject. I’m a big fan of Rutherford – her show You Heard Me really impressed me, and profits from this go towards taking that show to Edinburgh. I admit I won’t be booking until after the election – if things go awry, I might not be able to think about anything political without screaming for a while – but this is definitely worth checking out.
The Bar at The Edge of Time at Northern Stage
One company I really admire is Frozen Light. Catering for audiences with profound multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), they put a level of care and thought into their shows that is deeply impressive, creating whimsical, playful and engaging sensory shows. I’ve actually reviewed a couple for The Stage (the futuristic 2065 and folklore-ish Isle of Brimsker) and really enjoyed both, so this latest production sounds very promising.
Billed as ‘gig theatre meets sensory spectacle’ it got a stellar 5 stars from The Stage, which doesn’t throw that level of acclaim around. (You can also find a lot of accessibility information about the show on the company’s website.)
[Image description: cross-stitch: Tories Out - credit: pattern by Hello Treacle]
Glasto at Alphabetti
It will come as a surprise to precisely nobody, but I hate festivals. I like seats and shade and clean, accessible toilets. I hate crowds and queuing and, well, the outdoors. Even big stadium gigs fill me with horror – keep your Eras and your Renaissance and your four-hour Springsteen extravaganzas, I’d rather be on the sofa watching reruns of Psych. Still, it’s a stance that saves me both money and FOMO.
If you are like me – or, more realistically, you actually love festivals but didn’t have the time, money or luck to score a ticket to Glastonbury – you should get yourselves along to Alphabetti for its free (but ticketed) Glasto screening party.
The website promises the chance to “soak in the sounds of your favourite artists, dance like nobody's watching, and feel the energy of the crowd…all without the hassle of crowds or long queues (and much nicer toilets)!” And honestly, that sounds much more like my kind of gig…
Election day ‘fun’
As mentioned, I plan to spend Thursday voting then hiding under the duvet and hoping for the best, but if you want to distract yourself from the existential terror there are some cool events happening.
Alphabetti is hosting Battle of the Ballot, a spoken word slam where poets compete to be MP (Mighty Poet), while Laurels is hosting a The Buz Election special, with live guests and music. Just make sure you vote (wisely, and well - and take your photo ID!) before going.
Anyway, normal service will be resumed next week. And hopefully, so will some semblance of sanity and humanity to this godforsaken country…
[Image description: cross-stitch: All Panic, no Disco]