Blowing our own Trumpet

As I think I have mentioned before the 2007 / 2008 season is surpassing all expectations, with every show exceeding audience and income targets and the two most recent productions smashing all previous box office records at the Octagon. A Christmas Carol became the most successful production ever in Box Office terms at the Octagon Theatre, bringing in £220,000, (five years ago the Christmas production yielded £69,000). Following the festive fun, The Crucible opened to the highest Box Office figures for a non-Christmas show in the Theatre’s 40 year history and closed to a record high of £100,000. Schools travelled from as far as the Midlands and South Wales to attend this production of an Arthur Miller classic.

John Blackmore, Executive Director at the Octagon, says:

'This record-breaking season is the culmination of a staggering resurgence of the Octagon’s fortunes since 2000. Tribute must be paid to all those who have worked imaginatively, creatively and with outstanding dedication to lift the Octagon to its current level of achievement. None of this could have happened without the passionate support of our patrons, who have turned out in ever increasing numbers, our principal patron Sue Hodgkiss, and our principal sponsor the University of Bolton. It has been an inspiring experience to see and feel the love and appreciation in which the Octagon is held by our community and those who have worked here, as exemplified by this 40th anniversary season.'

The season was made up of four World Premieres; Lisa’s Sex Strike, which was a co-production with Northern Broadsides, And Did Those Feet, Meet the Mukherjees and the specially re-commissioned end of season show Once Upon a Time in Wigan – LIVE!, as well as featuring classics such as Oh What a Lovely War and The Crucible. And Did Those Feet won Best New Play at the Manchester Evening News Awards and Lisa’s Sex Strike toured nationally, following its triumphant run at the beginning of the Octagon’s 40th Anniversary Season.

Jim Cartwright’s Road opens at the Octagon on Thursday 6 March, having already exceeded its closing target.

STOP PRESS - Theatre Awards News Just In

For those of you that are at home or work and on the edge of your seats awaiting the results of the MEN Theatre Awards, then wait no more. Thanks to my insider at the event I can confirm the news as it breaks.

I have just heard that Octagon nominee And Did Those Feet has won 'Best New Play' and James and the Giant Peach have walked away with 'Family Show'!!

So there we have it! Two awards for the Octagon this year and a big congratulations to all concerned! I have asked my roving reporter to try and get a few pictures of the goings on, award acceptances and general frivolity and will hopefully post them in due course!

Update: here's a run down of all the winners and the panels thoughts. And you can read more and see some photos of the event here.

History is about winners....

There is a definite feeling of celebration at the Octagon at the moment. Last night was the Gala night held to thank the University of Bolton for all their support during our 40th Anniversary Season.

It was a good night and a good time was had by all. One of the highlights for me was when Matthew Kelly introduced George Holmes, Vice Chancellor at the University. I am a little jealous as he took to the stage with the words 'Tonight Matthew, I am going to be....'. Brilliant!

And the celebrations continue for us, and the University, today with the announcement of the nominees for this years MEN Theatre Awards. The Octagon has got a fair few nominations so in true award ceremony style, the nominees (for the Octagon Theatre) are:

Best Actor

George Irving in Shining City

Best Actress

Becky Hindley in Lisa's Sex Strike

Best Design

James and the Giant Peach


Family Show

James and the Giant Peach

Best New Play

And Did Those Feet

Best Performance in a Supporting Role

Martin Barrass, And Did Those Feet
Knight Mantell, What The Butler Saw

Best Production

And Did Those Feet

For the full list of nominations click here. So a nomination hat trick for And Did Those Feet. Hurrah! Let's hope that we walk away with the cup!

How do? How do? And how's that cup?

It seems due to this story in The Bolton News and its appearance in the final scenes of And Did Those Feet, the FA Cup we used in the show has become a celebrity in its own right.

The cast of And Did Those Feet with Gina Blackey and that cup! Image: The Bolton News

You can read the words associated with the image above here. During the run of the performance we have had people wanting to buy the cup; people climbing onto the stage at the end of the performance to touch the cup; in the true spirit of one of the themes of the play, a man has asked if he can hire it for his daughter's football themed wedding plus many wanting their photo taken with the cup including Dave Spikey. The cup asked if it could have its picture taken with the And Did Those Feet cast and the cast were very happy to oblige......

The Octagon's newly formed seven-a-side team proudly show off their trophy!

I am not sure yet what the future holds for the cup. What with celebrity appearances, all the press attention and photocalls, the last I heard it was thinking about whether to try and break Hollywood....and I guess if the cup doesn't make it then there is always Ebay!

Reviewer of the Month

Over at the Manchester Evening News website, a review of And Did Those Feet is one of the entrants for October's Reviewer of the Month. This was spotted and kindly posted by Joanna over the the Pleased Sheep Forum (Thanks Joanna!).

And Did Those Feet @ Bolton Octagon
Dyan Colclough

THE audience is taken back to a time before footballers became a brand and the game united a community not profit driven entrepreneurs. Bolton Wanderers inclusion in the 1923 FA Cup Final is central to this uplifting play, however its message extends to parallel other unifiers of community.

A few years earlier WWI saw the community waving off their ‘team’ of men folk to fight for King and Country. James Quinn and Susan Twist (Hilda & Alf) brilliantly evoke the full consequences for those left behind when family members paid the ultimate price for victory.

Chris Finch convincingly portrays the spirit of their son whose presence shows the futility of a lost generation.

The Government's failure to deliver its promise of, ‘A land fit for heroes,’ saw soldiers returning to unemployment and social problems.

Here unity is again explored through the energetic and optimistic Jim, (wonderfully characterised by Paul Simpson), who with fellow comrades, believes that Revolution is the way forward. While the likes of Jim are seeking political change others put their faith in the Lord.

Hayley Jane Standing is perfectly cast as Martha a steadfast member of a dwindling congregation whose church is gradually losing its unifying influence.

This is highlighted through the wedding of Martha and Ted (superbly played by Jeff Hordley) which coincides with the cup final and even the vicar, would prefer to spend the day at Wembley.

Bob's enlightening narrative of the team's history throughout the play (captivatingly revealed by Martin Barrass) provides the thread which binds the community to football and Bob's 200 mile walk to Wembley encapsulates the depth of commitment its players exacted from those they represented.

There is no doubting that the audience has its emotions thoroughly exercised throughout this play and leave the theatre as equally united as those Wanderers supporters of 1923.

This is achieved through the collaboration of excellent writing, and directing and faultless casting.

And Did Those Feet - the reviews keep coming

If you haven't already seen these here are a few more reviews for And Did Those Feet:

This one over at Manchester Confidential

And another from UK Theatre Network

But isn't only the professional reviewers that seem to like this production. Over at Pleased Sheep Forum attenders have also been writing good things about the play. Thanks Fran!

I went to see the play today and wasn't surprised to discover all the brilliant reviews were spot on. It was a wonderful play, full of humour, pathos and Bolton pride and the audience were obviously loving it all the way through.

Quite a lot of the audience were pensioners and I could hear various comments being made around me in hushed whispers when something in the play had brought back memories of some kind. There were several things that stood out for me:

The humour, which was really well written and equally well acted. Jeff Hordley especially made me laugh, he has great comic timing and can raise a giggle just from an expression on his face, which can't be all that easy when your on a stage and not in front of a t.v. camera.

The feeling of family. Individual familes and the 'family' of football fans. They were all clearly defined, so that although you'd only just been introduced to them, in minutes, you felt you knew them, you could imagine their histories even though you never saw them played out. Although there were only five or six football fans visible on stage at the matches, surprisingly, it was easy to imagine them being surrounded by thousands more like them.

The pathos. Well, there were three characters who painted that picture for us, one of which of course, was Chris. I think one of the reviewers mentioned that words weren't really needed for you to feel that pathos coming from the stage, (or words to that effect), and how right they were. The first time we see Billy's ghost, (Chris) he is simply sat watching and listening to his mum as she 'talks to him', knowing in her heart that he's 'somewhere' listening to her and ( I think...) because she knows he's listening, she's trying hard to sound cheerful and hide her tears. It's very obvious that Billy is hurting 'for her' as he watches her, without a word being spoken.

Later, Billy has a scene with his dad, who is finding it harder to hide the loss he feels for his son and Billy tries to find a way to get through to his dad and help him cope. Played brilliantly by both Chris and James Quinn, it was one that made you hold your breath. (It's the one we get a tiny glimpse of on the Octagon site. I knew when I saw that vid, I was going to love that scene and I wasn't wrong.)

So in just under two hours, they managed to make two families and their hopes, dreams and problems come to life, they made you laugh, made you feel guilty for laughing as they reminded you of how Billy should have been there to share it all, made you want to cry and made you damned glad Bolton won the cup that year!

Plus it seems readers of The Bolton News enjoyed the performance so much that they just to write in! You can see what they said here and here.

If you haven't seen it yet, then I must warn you that tickets have almost sold out. I am informed that there are a few seats left for the Wednesday matinee so call the ticket office now on 01204 520661.

A Real Crowd Pleaser

And Did Those Feet and The Octagon has received so much positive feedback that I am sure if the theatre was a person it would be blushing and/or puffing its chest out in a proud fashion. Not only have we had great reviews, and this recent acknowledgement but some lovely comments from our audience.


Here's a really nice email we have received from two very kind ladies:


From: Jill Brown

Sent: 08 October 2007

Subject: And did those feet


What a privilege to be at the Bolton Octagon tonight. We were gripped from beginning to end by the remarkable production and moving performances from the cast.


When we finally pulled ourselves together and left our seats, we both agreed that it was one of the best plays we had ever seen. For many years we have had Season Tickets for both Bolton and the Exchange, and also travelled to other venues - so we have seen quite a lot! This was very special.


I would be grateful if you could pass on our congratulations and thanks to the cast and company for such an excellent evening.


With best wishes


Jill Brown and Sue Cozens

It's always nice to get good reviews but for audiences to be so delighted with the performance is lovely. So thank you Jill and Sue for your very kind words.

David Jack (centre). Image supplied by: Bolton Archive Service

And in other more football focused news, I have had wind that the daughter of Mr David Jack himself (pictured above) may be coming to see a performance on the recommendation of her cousin who recently attended a performance. I wonder if I can ask her to count the mentions of her talented father during the production?

And Did Those Feet - Radio 4 interview

If you were up and about early this morning you might have caught a piece about And Did Those Feet on Radio 4's Today programme. There's an interview with Jeff Hordley (who plays Ted), Les Smith (Writer) and Mark Babych (Director), plus a soundbite from Dick Pym who played in the 1923 FA Cup final. Lovely...

Due to the wonders of modern techno-gadgetry, if you missed it you can listen again here. The interviews feature in the 6.30 - 7am slot (Friday 5th October).

And Did Those Feet - The Movie....

If you'd like to have a glimpse at what The Stage is talking about here, The Bolton News here, The Daily Mail here and other reviews here, here and here, why not take a look at the little film we have produced below. Once again Donna has done a great job - so thank you Donna.




And in a nice story of art imitating life one of the audience members to a recent performance of And Did Those Feet told our Ticket Office the story of how his wedding day coincided with the day the Bolton Wanderers were due to play in the Cup Final in 1958. He, like Ted in the production, tried to persuade his future wife to postpone the wedding. Unlike Ted, he failed!

And Did Those Feet - What's Being Said...

And Did Those Feet is getting some nice reviews. You can read what the MEN thought here, the Guardian here and the review from Burnley Citizen here. I am so glad as I really enjoyed this production (despite being neither a Bolton native nor a Wanderer). Seems that a lot of others felt the same way as the auditorium on press night had a definite buzz.

Lofty the Lion also made an appearance but to the dismay of two of our production staff, who should be old enough to know better, got changed out of his costume before they got a chance to have their picture snapped with him! Don't worry lads, your identity will remain a secret for now.

As I think I may have mentioned before, Arun Ghosh composed and arranged the music for the show, which was simple, elegant and beautiful. Not only that but he also grabbed his clarinet to jam with the band in the bar after the show! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so no photos so you'll have to take my word for it. Having never seen him perform before, it was a delight to watch him in action. You really should go see him performing in the Bill Naughton Studio Theatre this week.

Bolton Win FA Cup Final!

And Did Those Feet, the story of Bolton's journey the the 1923 FA Cup Final, opened last night and seems to have been well-received by the audience. Apparently some die-hard BWFC fans even turned up in full kit, such is their dedication!

I managed to to get a look in at the dress rehearsal and despite my apathetic approach to football, there was plenty in this production to keep my attention. The clogging is great and I loved the homage to silent movies that were so popular at the time! On the subject of movies, I hope to upload a 'talkie' about the production next week, so you can have a look.

In the meantime have at look at some of Ian Tilton's lovely shots of the production below:

Jeff Hordley (Ted) 'avin a brew!

Chris Finch (Billy) modelling the BWFC kit.

The cast (clockwise: Hayley Jayne Standing (Martha), Jeff Hordley (Ted), Martin Barrass (Bob), James Quinn (Alf), Susan Twist (Hilda) and Paul Simpson (Jim)) get ready for the FA Cup final!!

Page 3 Girls!

Not normally ones to hog the spotlight, there is a nice article in The Bolton News on our intrepid Stage Management teams own journey to bring the FA Cup home to Bolton. Don't they look lovely? You can read the whole article here! Plus you can see the photo above in glorious technicolour.

And in other football related news, we have a special guest and very well known Bolton Wanderers face coming to press night on Friday!