Don't Miss Oliver Twist - casting news...

We are entering that time of year when we are going to start producing our magical festive show for all the family. This year the timeless classic Oliver Twist. And following on from the marvellous and very successful A Christmas Carol, this new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ work is seeing tickets flying out of the door.

At the meet and greet today I met the Director, Josette Bushell-Mingo. She talked so passionately and enthusiastically about the show I forgot that it is still a fair few months until Christmas and got the first tingle of festive spirit. It might be because it is already dark outside as I write this. Josette told me why this show...

“Oliver Twist is a story that touches us today, putting children and what it means to be a family at it’s centre. In this extraordinary new version – almost cinematic in quality – we are led down alleyway to street and through the tunnels of Dickensian London. The set is miraculous, it’s like taking a trip to Alton Towers and with live music and twenty one performers we are transported to a magical world that is the perfect Christmas experience.”

I can certainly back up her claims about the miraculous set. It looks amazing [pictures to follow] and many of the assembled company gasped as they say the 'mini me' model. The young people, especially, are going to have much fun exploring and using the set as it is like a playground but like the best playground with doors and tunnels and nooks and crannies. Game of hide and seek anyone?

As well as the charming young people that might be new to the stage or the 'little miracles' as Lizzie our assistant director calls them, we have an experienced and talented cast to play the adult characters. Robert Pickavance who played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol returns to the Octagon to play Fagin. Starring alongside him are Fiona Bruce, Laura Cox, Esther Ruth Elliott, Tim Frances, Andrew Price and Samantha Sutherland.

And a few of the team you might be more than familiar with. Here are a few interesting factoids...

There will be four young performers sharing the role of Oliver, including 10 year old Bolton School pupil Alex O’Loughlin, who appeared in both series of the BBC’s award-winning Life On Mars as the young Sam Tyler.

Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist has been adapted for the Octagon by Deborah McAndrew, who played fashion designer Angie Freeman [who married Curly Watts] in Coronation Street. Her first break as a writer came in 2004 when Northern Broadsides produced her adaptation of The Bells by Leopold Lewis.

Director Josette Bushell-Mingo is also an Olivier-nominated actor, and she knows all about making fantastic family theatre having starred in the West End smash The Lion King.

For more information, including a full performance schedule, or to book online visit the website or contact our Ticket Office on 01204 520661.

Ghosts - some more production photos...

I had to leave after the interval on Friday but after seeing the first act, I was really sad to leave. I am going to have to catch the rest of it this week. I really enjoyed what I saw, and to be honest more than I imagined I would. I read a version of the script a while ago and I thought it might be heavy going, but it seems the phenomenal amount of work the cast have done with numerous translations has, for me, made it far more 'real' and enjoyable. So until I get to see the rest of if I thought I would show some more images...

Ghosts - the reviews...

"David Thacker directs with a welcome precision and a lightness of touch... a seamless and fluid translation.... Patrick Connellan’s set is a flexible thing of beauty...superb turns from [Oscar] Pearce and [Vanessa] Kirby... it is Margot Leicester’s Mrs Alving that engages the mind and tugs the heartstrings." WHAT'S ON STAGE Read more here...

"Erik Skuggevik’s sensitive, sinuous, almost Pinteresque translation of Ibsen’s original might well turn out to be the real star turn here. Good as these five actors are, they are the better for having dialogue to deliver that is both impassioned and utterly realistic...Olivier award-winning director David Thacker has surpassed even his recent achievements with Miller’s play. This spare, seamless production touches the raw nerve and might well be a definitive interpretation of Ibsen for our times." THE STAGE Read more here...

"Ghosts is a rewarding play, a fascinating insight into Victorian morality and a reminder to us all that we don’t always know what is happening behind a seemingly happy façade. Well worth a visit." THE BOLTON NEWS Read more here...

"It is of historical interest but has dated beyond present day relevance, impossible really to surmount the script’s melodrama and make it believable, despite this being a very good try." CITYLIFE. Read more here...

"I don’t think I have ever seen anyone look as at home or relaxed on stage as Margot Leicester...Oscar Pearce’s bohemian Oswald makes an astonishing impact on his first entrance...and the character’s gradual decline through the play is deeply touching.The intimacy of the venue and the intensity of the piece...create a unique theatrical experience." UK THEATRE NET Read more here

"...slow-burning and assured new version... George Irving becomes the pious Pastor Manders, in a particularly subdued and almost sympathetic styling... Margot Leicester is a hugely-convincing Mrs Alving... Oscar Pearce... another intensely-moving portrayal from this talented actor." LANCASHIRE EVENING POST Read mere here...

"Norwegian drama Ghosts is dark, haunting - and hugely rewarding ****" DAILY MAIL Read more here...

"It maintains its grip largely because of Margot Leicester's compelling portrayal of Mrs Alving...Oscar Pearce's nervily bright Oswald generates an intensity clouded with apprehension and fear as the darkness of his illness takes its awful hold while, as Regina, Vanessa Kirkby convincingly swaps ambition for righteous indignation. Patrick Connellan's set conveys the stultifying atmosphere of Mrs Alving's isolation, the transparent floor suggesting the fragile surface and shadowy depths of a family life built on secrets and lies." THE INDEPENDENT Read more here...

"David Thacker’s being cunning as new Artistic Director at the Octagon, stamping his identity on the stage with two of his recognised strong points...There's good work from Vanessa Kirby (never overdoing the self-seeking) and Russell Richardson. Yet Margot Leicester’s Helena Alving is the production’s heart." REVIEWSGATE Read more here...

Further reviews...

THE GUARDIAN Read more here

BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE Read more here

The PUBLIC REVIEWS Read more here

Ghosts - production photos...

Ghosts previewed last night and I am writing this as I listen to a matinee performance via Theatre FM [the in-house sound system]. I am looking forward to seeing some of the dynamite cast from All My Sons again [George, Margot, Oscar and Vanessa] and the new addition the very charming Russell Richardson. I had a good chat with Russell last night about the show and how he has been working with Vanessa to help her with her Lancashire accent.

Vanessa has also been doing her research and recording the accents of a few of my Boltonian colleagues (yes Parvati and Marie I am talking about you) so it will be interesting to see what they think of her trying out their words. Her are a few pictures.

MEN award nominations

There was much giddiness on Friday at the Octagon as not only was it press night (hence my delay in posting this) it was also the MEN Theatre Awards 2009 nomination announcement. As they say at the Oscars, the nominations (for the Octagon Theatre Bolton) are:

DESIGN

THE CARETAKER

OLEANNA

THE VENETIAN TWINS

NEWCOMER

VANESSA KIRBY, in All My Sons

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

OSCAR PEARCE, in All My Sons

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

KOSHA ENGLER, in Oleanna

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NICK HAVERSON, in The Venetian Twins

TIM HEALY, in Looking For Buddy

COLIN STINTON, in Oleanna

PRODUCTION

ALL MY SONS, directed by David Thacker

OLEANNA, directed by Iqbal Khan

You can read the full rundown here.

Special Offer! Under 26s Free Tickets for Preview Night of Ibsen’s Ghosts

As a loyal blog reader we are delighted to offer any under 26s out there FREE tickets to the opening night of Ghosts on Thursday 29 October 2009. Please see below for more infomation on the show and details of how to claim your tickets.

Preview Night
Thurs 29 October 2009

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

by Henrik Ibsen
Director: David Thacker
Designer: Patrick Connellan

Written in 1881, Ghosts was deliberately sensational. Ibsen's contemporaries regarded it as shockingly indecent. An English critic described it as ‘a dirty deed done in public’

“Skeletons are not so much rattled as violently forced out”

The Independent

“What is shocking is its perpetual relevance to the present”

The Guardian

Oswald is a young artist who has come back home after a long period abroad. His mother is an educated, Victorian woman, whose radical views are in sharp contrast to the prevailing attitudes in this conservative, northern town. Oswald’s return and the disturbing news he brings leads to a chain of events that reveals the underlying corruption of this apparently respectable society and leads to a shocking climax. The power and depth of this play had a profound influence on Arthur Miller’s development as a playwright. Ghosts is gripping, deeply moving and astonishingly modern.

How to Claim your Tickets

To book your under 26s Free Preview Night Ticket contact our Ticket Office on 01204 520661 quoting ‘Under 26s Free Preview Offer’. You will need to bring your proof of age with you when you collect your tickets.

PLEASE NOTE: These tickets are only available via our Ticket Office and are not available online. This special offer is available on the evening of Thurs 29 October 2009 only and tickets are limited and are subject to availability.

If you can't make it to preview night you can still see take advantage of the Under 26s Free Tickets scheme as follows:

Option 1: Are you aged under 26? There are a limited number of under 26s free theatre tickets available for general public on Monday night performances during the run. Call our Ticket Office on 01204 520661 to claim. These tickets are not available online.

Option 2: Do you have an NUS or student card? If you are under 26, a student and can provide an NUS or student card you could receive free tickets to Ghosts on any weekday evening performance. Contact Marie Irving-Murphy on 01204 529407 or email marie.irving-murphy@octagonbolton.co.uk and quote 'Student FTI' to get your free tickets.

Please note that Student Free Tickets are not available via our Ticket Office number or online so please contact Marie on the number or email above.

Coincidences...

Having just mentioned Corin Redgrave will be returning to the Octagon soon it brought something to mind that was once of those weird coincidences.

We had a Comms Away Day yesterday to do some planning, look at the needs to the department and our job roles etc but we decided to take it away from the office. We went to the Lowry for the afternoon. Currently, at the Lowry as well the The Sea: LS Lowry and Maggi Hambling (an exhibition of Lowry's work that focuses on the sea as well as other artists watery images) there is also an exhibition of famous faces, mainly in theatre roles taken on the last half-hour before curtain up which were quite lovely, intimate and interesting.

Anyhoo (this does have a point I swear) during a break from all that planning, we had a mooch around the exhibition and played 'Guess the Famous Face'. A little theatre-related visual quiz if you will. On our way round, I am ashamed to say I came undone on a very famous face. I knew the face and I just couldn't think of the name.....the actor? It was none other than Vanessa Redgrave and funnily enough it was a photo of her in a production of Ghosts from the Young Vic, directed by none other than our very own David Thacker! So if you want to see Corin's sister as well as a whole other host of famous faces in varying guises then mooch over to the Lowry. If you want to see a Redgrave in the flesh come and see Corin in Trumbo here in our Studio.....