Nick Hennegan's Bohemian Britain
Lifestyle tales from the city
I’m here at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloan Square, London, to see the RSC’s production of Cowbois, with the brilliant Lucy McCormick. It has Birmingham connections…!
Lucy stared in ‘Roller Diner’ by Stephen Jackson, which won the Verity Bargate award and was at the Soho Theatre in London. The play had its early roots though with Maverick Theatre at the Billesley Pub in Brum!
Fantastic first time @wiltonsmusichall in #London to see the brilliant @guymasterson What a venue and performance. Reviews to follow…!
Nick Hennegan talks to Guy Masterson about Animal Farm, George Orwell and life as an artist and performer.
Look Behind You by Daniel Wain.
🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 out of 5 glasses of Christmas Spirit!
Theatre At The Tabard, Bath Road, London W4.
Welcome to the cross-dressing, thigh-slapping, wise-cracking world of pantomime, where monkeys talk, dreams come true and people are hit but never hurt. Now look behind the scenes… at the bad-mouthing, two-timing, pill-popping pressure cooker that is backstage reality. The perfect bitter-sweet antidote to the seasonal slush!
A very glamorous curtain at the start of the show points to its ambition. We follow the run of a gruelling pantomime at the fictitious ‘Britannia Theatre’, both front of cloth, backstage and in occasional dressing rooms.
With a cast of eleven, I was keen to see the REAL dressing rooms at The Tabard. But I guess they coped.
We join a cast of ‘traditional’ panto stereotypes - a weather girl, a couple of jobbing pros, the privileged daughter of a local businessman, a couple of soap stars, a
clueless pop star, a ‘know-it-all-what’s-my-method’ recent drama school graduate and the Dame, who also owns the theatre and in real life, is the writer and founder of Theatre Company Strut and Fret.
Look Behind You is a clever conceit even if the first half is over-long and a bit short on story. But things pick up in the second half and there are some great, funny, genuine panto moments and some glorious set pieces, including nostalgia on stage, a blackout scene, an argument with a hand puppet and a hand gun, some touching emotional truths, a Cat that finally grows claws and some spot-on political statements!
The pantomime season may be winding down, but go Look Behind. You at The Tabard. It’s a charming, cheering, mixed bag of pro performers. Oh yes it is!
Look Behind You
TICKETS: £23.50 / £19.50 concessions. Previews (17th/18th January): £19.50 / £15.50 concessions. Final week: £25.50 / £21.50 concessions
AGE GUIDANCE: Warning: Look Behind You contains lots of Pussy, Dick… and Nuts. Over 14’s only
Nick Hennegan celebrates the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe – the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. His Mother was an English born actor.
Nick Hennegan celebrates recent birthdays and words of wisdom, advice for writers, inspired music and insightful quotes from world-famous talents, Tolkien, Asimov and Forster.
At the @riversidestudioslondon for a #writing event. The place where I first saw #actor Barry Rutter in the first ever performance of his new theatre company Northern Broadsides! http://www.mavericktheatrecompany.com
You know when you make the deadline to deliver the first ep of a spec #TV #script series that you know will probably never get made, but it’s been in your head for so long, even over Xmas. But now it’s not? That!
Happy New Year! x
Our ‘A Christmas Carol’ is still playing off-Broadway, New York, 🇺🇸 but Nick is in Hollywood…!
A studio, Classic ASMR and A Christmas Carol http://www.TheChristmas.co.uk
