The mere sight of one another from their hotel balconies on their respective honeymoons is enough to tell the previously married Elyot and Amanda that they are still in love. Noël Coward’s brittle, bickering, perennially popular pair return in Tom Attenborough’s new production of Private Lives, but does it still charm a modern audience?

Famously written in three days in 1930 and premiered at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh the same year, any new production has to tread carefully to prevent Coward’s venomous barbs from slipping into parody. Attenborough’s production doesn’t deviate from the well-trodden path of his predecessors, this is very much a traditional production and at an economical two hours including interval, you’ll be out in time for the last train home.

Tom Chambers (Elyot) has recently been making a successful career out of playing louche lotharios from the 20s and 30s, and indeed, his talents are fully exploited here. The former Strictly Come Dancing and Top Hat star gets an opportunity to show some nifty dance moves as well as his singing and piano playing skills in a medley of Coward classics. Chambers’ Elyot isn’t as fully-fleshed-out as one would want it to be and some of the pithiest and wittiest lines are thrown away in his delivery. This is not a duel of equals as Coward intended it to be, Laura Rogers’ Amanda is a far more feisty foe than her former spouse. That said his performance is both engaging and entertaining. Indeed, his entry alone prompts applause from the appreciative audience and there are murmurs of anticipation before each of these oft-quoted lines.

In support Charlotte Ritchie as second spouse Sybil and Richard Teverson as ‘rampaging gasbag’ Victor have little to do, but what they do, they do well.

Attenborough’s production offers nothing new and may not be as ‘jagged with sophistication’ as it could be, but Coward’s wonderful words retain their ability to amuse and entertain over 80 years after they were written.

Runs until 27 February 2016 | Image: Alasdair Muir

This article was originally published at: http://www.thereviewshub.com/private-lives-theatre-royal-glasgow/

Removed from the constraints of competing in Strictly Come Dancing, Brendan Cole gets the chance to highlight his considerable choreographic and performance skills to a packed house in Glasgow on his Night to Remember tour.

Despite suffering from pneumonia, a visibly pale and thin Cole presents the most spectacular and professional production of any of the Strictly alumni. The programme carefully curated to appeal to a wide audience: the music a mix of old and new and the choreography both modern and classic.

The dancing is interspersed with songs from vocalists Iain MacKenzie and Julie Maguire and there’s the ubiquitous Q & A session where fans get the chance to ask their dance hero some personal questions.

To his great credit Cole performs with gusto despite suffering from serious and debilitating illness and his cast, band and singers are of the highest quality. The set and costumes also set Cole’s production head and shoulders above his peers. A class act from start to finish, Cole’s show always delivers.

Images – Visual Devotion

As one of Country legend and global superstar Dolly Parton’s 11 siblings, singer and actress Stella Parton, like most of her family, has been performing since childhood, and enjoyed chart success in the 70s with a series of singles including Danger of a Stranger and Undercover Lovers, I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight.

In Parton sings Parton: a Sister’s Tribute, Stella Parton presents a night of country music based on the recently released tribute album to her sister, Mountain Songbird.  Punctuated with images from her own personal photograph album, Parton shares her sister’s inspiration for her songs and performs her own chart hits with her five-piece band.

Concentrating on the so-called ‘story songs’ that hold personal meaning, it’s undoubtedly her sister’s big hitters that get the best reception, but the younger Parton’s own efforts largely hold their own. A competent singer, (there are some pitch issues at the higher end of her range) she has a good belt that goes down well with the crowd.

This entertaining production is undertaken with her older sister’s blessing, and while some may perceive it as cashing in on her sibling’s success, it comes across as a genuine and heartfelt personal tribute.

Touring the UK throughout spring.

Brighten up your winter with Opera Highlights.

Four singers and a pianist will be packing up their props and costumes and hitting the road to brighten up your winter with a musical mix of opera highlights. This year’s programme includes favourites from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Verdi’s La traviata, as well as lesser-known works by Vaughan Williams, Copland and Ambroise Thomas. Add in a smattering of operetta and a world premiere from Scottish Opera’s Composer in Residence, Lliam Paterson, and you’ve got a night out that’s not to be missed.

A favourite with audiences across Scotland this gem of an evening, packed full of energy, versatility and fun, is certain to brighten up even the most dreich of winter nights. So whether you’re new to opera or a seasoned fan there’s sure to be something for you, be it a tune you’re discovering for the first time or an old favourite you’ll be humming all the way home.

Opera Highlights EAST KILBRIDE VILLAGE THEATRE
Saturday 19 March 2016 / 7.30pm
£11.00 / £5.00 under 26s

A comically sinister study of the tensions in an Edinburgh tenement, where the cleaning of the common stair is always a matter of contention among the residents.  A psychological whodunit.

Old Mrs Mackie has always been in charge of her stair, the communal stairwell she shares with  inhabitants like tough single-mum Kay and brittle young couple Lisa and Brian.

And then there’s dodgy Bobby who just gets on everyone’s nerves.

Your Turn to Clean The Stair
A Sinister Comedy by Rona Munro.

East Kilbride Village Theatre
An amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Books
Wednesday 6 – Saturday 9 April 2016 / 7.30pm
£8.00 / £6.00 concession

After receiving five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Festival, columnist, television presenter, actress and singer Michelle returns to East Kilbride with an updated version of ‘Michelle McManus’ Reality – The Musical’.   An upfront and humorous take on her life since winning ‘Pop Idol’ just over a decade ago, with famous show tunes from the West End and Broadway.  From ‘Chicago’ to ‘Cabaret’, ‘Les Miserables’ to ‘Chess’ this fabulous evening of entertainment is set to have everyone singing along and laughing with Michelle as she recounts some of the ups and downs of her life as a TV reality show winner and exactly how she feels about Simon Cowell and Gillian McKeith.

Michelle McManus’ Reality – THE MUSICAL

EAST KILBRIDE ARTS CENTRE
Thursday 19 May 2016 / 8.00pm
£12.00 / £10.00 concession

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is the charming, kooky and hilarious 1950s musical sci-fi spoof.

Seymour Krelborn, the assistant at Mushnik’s Flower Shop in downtrodden Skid Row, becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers a strange and exotic plant. He names it Audrey Two in order to impress glamorous Audrey, the colleague he’s secretly in love with.

Audrey Two quickly starts to wilt, putting Seymour’s job and dream future with Audrey at risk. Accidentally pricking his finger, Seymour discovers Audrey Two needs a little more than plant food to thrive. The plant grows into a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed carnivore whose voracious appetite becomes increasingly difficult to satisfy. How far will Seymour go for the woman of his dreams? With music by the legendary Alan Menken, best known for his numerous Walt Disney film scores, Little Shop of Horrors is a cult film and one of the longest running off-Broadway shows of all time.

Presented by Sell a Door Theatre Company who have previous toured critically acclaimed productions of Avenue Q, The History Boys, American Idiot and Seussical the Musical.

Theatre Royal Glasgow 14 – 19 November 2016

Tickets here

The team behind 2013’s smash hit The Pirates of Penzance returns with another Gilbert & Sullivan comedy classic. A stellar cast, in the hands of director Martin Lloyd-Evans, brings the fun to life with a delicious mix of cheeky English Music Hall and exquisite Japanese tradition.

The Mikado has decreed that flirting should be punishable by death. But when his son Nanki-Poo falls for the beautiful Yum-Yum, it looks like someone might be heading for the executioner’s block. Unfortunately for Nanki-Poo, Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner also has Yum-Yum in his sights. Can a case of mistaken identity save the day?

Packed with anti-Establishment silliness, and full of larger than life characters including self serving politicians that are all too recognizable today, this playful show features some of G&S’s most popular tunes, including ‘Three little maids’, ‘Tit-willow’ and ‘I’ve got a little list’.

Several of the team from The Pirates of Penzance return including: Richard Suart, Nicholas Sharratt, Rebecca Bottone, former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Sioned Gwen Davies and conductor Derek Clark. They are joined by Baritone Stephen Richardson, singing The Mikado, and comic genius Andrew Shore as Pooh-Bah.

Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 3QA 
Buy

Following the phenomenal decade-long success of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, which shaw old over two million tickets and continually played to packed houses around the UK, Bill Kenwright presents a new production of one of stage and screen’s all time classic thrillers, from the pen of the legendary award-winning writing team Levinson and Link, whose work includes the mystery series Murder, She Wrote and Columbo.

Playwright Alex Dennison is left heartbroken when his fiancée and leading lady Monica Welles is found dead from an apparent suicide after the opening night of her stage debut. On the anniversary of that ill-fated night, Alex assembles the same cast and crew in the same theatre, for a reading of his new play. But as the reading begins, it becomes clear that Alex believes that Monica was murdered and his new play is a devious cat-and-mouse chase to uncover her killer…

THEATRE ROYAL GLASGOW

22nd – 27th August 2016

Tickets

The hysterical and uplifting show is heading on another tour this autumn. Packed full of one-liners about hot flushes and memory loss backed by an instantly recognisable soundtrack of parody versions of pop classics. This all-singing, all-dancing comedy is set in at a department store, where four women with seemingly nothing in common meet by chance at a lingerie sale. Starring Linda Nolan

King’s Theatre, Glasgow for one night only Sunday 1st May 2016

Tickets: here

From the team that brought you Dreamboats and Petticoats, Save the Last Dance for Me will take you back through the ‘music and magic’ of the early 60’s, a time when each passing week brought another Rock ‘n’ Roll classic. This nostalgic, feel-good journey will transport you back to music’s golden era as we follow two teenage sisters through the summer of ’63. Featuring Antony Costa from BLUE, the biggest British boy band of the ‘Noughties’.

For the first time without their parents the sisters embark on a holiday to the seaside. Full of freedom and high spirits they meet a handsome young American who invites them to a dance at the local U.S. Air force base. But young love and holiday romance is never as simple as it sounds, and the sisters soon realise that while the world around them is still watching itself in black and white, life and love can be much more colourful.

ANTONY COSTA (Milton) has previously appeared on stage in Blood Brothers (West End) and Boogie Nights (UK Tour). He is best known as one of the members of BLUE, the biggest British boy band of the Noughties, who enjoyed chart success with three number one albums, and 11 Top Ten singles, including their debut song All Rise. Blue, which also included Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan and Duncan James, disbanded in 2004 but then reunited in 2011, and that year they represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. This year they released their fifth studio album Colours before embarking on a UK tour.

FEATURING THE CLASSIC HITS OF POMUS & SHUMAN INCLUDING… A Teenager in Love; Sweets for my Sweet; Turn Me Loose; Here I Go Again; Viva Las Vegas; Little Sister; His Latest Flame; Suspicion; Can’t Get Used to Losing You; Save the Last Dance For Me and many more…”

Glasgow King’s Theatre from 3rd to 7th May 2016

Tickets: here

Viva Las Vegas is a brand new musical revue featuring songs celebrating all that Las Vegas is famous for including casinos, wedding chapels and headline acts. Featuring a wonderful selection of music including songs by Elvis, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Britney Spears, Tom Jones, Sher, Rod Stewart and Tina Turner, a stunning set and fabulous costumes the show is a great night out for all the family.

Tuesday 19 – Saturday 23 April 2016

Motherwell Theatre

Ticket Prices:        Tuesday £12/Concession £10/Children (U16) £6

Wednesday – Saturday £14/Children (U16) £7

Ticket Sales:         01698 322867

www.ticketsource.co.uk/easteregg

Performed by:      DHSFPA Easter Egg Club

Runway Theatre Company brings legendary Broadway composers Kander and Ebb’s hilarious musical Curtains  to Eastwood Park this spring.

Curtains is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots. Set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts, it follows the fallout when the supremely untalented star of Robbin’ Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call. It is up to Lt. Frank Cioffi, a police detective who moonlights as a musical theatre fan to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself!

Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 May 2016 at Eastwood Park Theatre
7.30pm each evening
2.30pm Saturday matinee

Tickets £12-£15 from www.runwaytheatre.co.uk

Tickets also available from 07801 048527 or email susan@runwaytheatre.co.uk

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET confirms Glasgow dates 56 years after Elvis Presley landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, claimed to be the only place in the United Kingdom he ever set foot.

The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and West End smash hit is to embark on its first ever UK Tour, coming to the King’s Theatre Glasgow on Monday 14 until Saturday 19 November 2016.

Inspired by the true story of the famed recording session where Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll” brought together icons Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET includes more than 20 legendary rock ‘n’ roll hits, including Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, I Walk The Line and Great Balls of Fire.

On December 4, 1956, history was made when these four young musicians gathered at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest impromptu jam sessions ever. It brings to light the extraordinary story of broken promises, secrets, and the once-in-a-lifetime celebration of four friends that is both poignant and heartwarming.

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, featuring a score of rock hits which bring you inside the recording studio with four major talents who came together as a red-hot rock ‘n’ roll band for one unforgettable night.

Million Dollar Quartet is written by Tony Award nominees Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux and produced by Simon Friend and Mark Goucher. Olivier nominated Ian Talbot OBE, renowned for his tenure as both Artistic and Managing director at The Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park directs.

Casting is to be announced.

www.milliondollarquartetlive.co.uk

Million Dollar Quartet

King’s Theatre Glasgow

Mon 14 – Sat 19 Nov 2016

ON SALE SOON

Box Office 0844 871 7648 (bkg fee) Calls cost 7p per min plus your phone company’s access charge

www.atgtickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

With the national tour of Jersey Boys finishing in Edinburgh last week, fans of the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons needn’t despair. Four piece vocal group The Jerseytones deliver their own take on the fabulous hits of the 50s and 60s.

With a refreshing mix of favourite tunes from the Four Seasons, some greatest hits of the rock n roll era, a Dirty Dancing medley, a bit of Uptown Funk and a few modern classics with a doo-wop twist, it’s a programme of wall-to-wall winners with the packed auditorium at the East Kilbride Village Theatre.

The slick choreography and winning set-list are backed up by some first-rate vocals and rather than having a lead there are four fine singers here.

A thoroughly entertaining evening that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, a song in your heart and a spring in your step – highly recommended.

Jenny Crowe has been announced by Platform in Easterhouse, Glasgow as their new Arts Manager, replacing current Arts Manager Jackie Shearer who will take up her role as Chief Executive at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock. Jenny will join Platform in April in this the tenth birthday year of the complex.

A number of celebrations are planned for the 10^th birthday year iincluding a full venue birthday party on July 30th and Made in Easterhouse in October featuring a host of events which celebrate the area and work created in the area.

Councillor James Coleman, chair of Greater Easterhouse Arts Company said: “We are delighted to appoint Jenny Crowe as Arts Manager. She brings a wealth of experience and a bold vision to Platform and will build on the strong legacy left by her predecessor, Jackie Shearer. Jenny’s experience includes project managing the successful Generation project which celebrated 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland and mentoring and project managing a community based public art and garden project in Ferguslie Park. Her experience demonstrates her commitment to the importance of engaging artists and communities at all levels – an aim that is shared by Easterhouse’s thriving multi-arts space.”

Jenny Crowe said: “I am delighted to be taking up the post of Arts Manager at Platform. Having previously worked in Easterhouse I know how special the venue is to local audiences. Platform has a fantastic community engagement team who have delivered ambitious forward-thinking projects over the last 10 years and I look forward to developing our future programme together.”

Jenny Crowe has worked across the arts sector as an independent pubic art commissioner and project producer for nearly 20 years. Recent roles include coordinating the national programme GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland, a partnership between National Galleries of Scotland, Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland and as National Coordinator at Scottish Contemporary Art Network. Jenny has developed considerable expertise working directly with audiences and in community engagement. Jenny is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Glasgow Sculpture Studio.

Following the success of Bugsy Malone, Stage Experience returns with a brand new production of the magical musical, The Wizard of Oz. Glasgow Theatres’ Creative Learning team offers a unique training experience giving young performers the opportunity to act, dance, sing and follow the yellow brick road onto the prestigiousTheatre Royal stage.

When a tornado hits Kansas, Dorothy and her pet dog Toto are swept away in their house to the magical Land of Oz. With a fond farewell from their new friends, the Munchkins and Glinda the Good Witch, the pair set off on their journey to the Emerald City to ask the Wonderful Wizard of Oz for his help to return home. En route they meet some more colourful characters: a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Man who needs a heart, and a cowardly Lion who longs to be courageous. Before the great powerful Oz will consider their wishes, he demands they bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. Will the group succeed before the witch gets her hands on Dorothy’s enchanted ruby slippers?

The Creative Learning team is looking for Stage Experience participants aged between 10 – 18 years who are passionate about performing musical theatre or want to learn more about the production process behind the scenes. To register your interest in attending an open audition at the Theatre Royal on Friday 6 or Saturday 7 May 2016 please email clglasgow@theambassadors.com, registration closes on Thursday 31 March 2016. No experience is needed, you do not need to prepare anything in advance, just bring lots of energy and enthusiasm. Please wear clothes suitable for dancing and trainers or dance shoes.

Following the auditions, places will be offered on the Stage Experience two week course led by industry professionals (fees apply) from Monday 11 until Saturday 23 July 2016. Rehearsals end with three live performances of The Wizard of Oz on the Theatre Royal stage.

This spellbinding musical features the much-loved songs from the Oscar-winning movie score includingSomewhere Over The Rainbow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road, and We’re Off To See The Wizard. The Wizard of Oz is an amateur production by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Limited of New York.

A specially composed, darkly gothic tale of murder, mystery and mayhem set in Scotland is coming to the stage for the very first time. The young singers and orchestral musicians of Scottish Opera’s Connect Company will perform a new take on the 1920s silent horror film Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari, with the action transferred to Glasgow in 1898.

Written by composer Karen MacIver and librettist Allan Dunn, and set in a fairground on Glasgow Green and in an asylum, it tells the story of Dr Caligari, a carnival entertainer with a charismatic personality who lures trusting audiences with a mysterious cabinet. Francis, his girlfriend Jane and her friend Ellen, watch the doctor as he reveals the secret of the cabinet, unravelling terrible consequences.

More than 70 Connect participants, aged 14 to 21, who fit in rehearsals and performances to their study and work schedules, are joined on stage by professional performers including former Scottish Opera Emerging Artists Andrew McTaggart and Sarah Power. They are directed by Julie Brown, who previously worked with the Connect Company onThe Walk from the Garden and Dr. Ferret’s Bad Medicine Roadshow double bill (2015) and two Kurt Weill works in 2013.

Designer Lisa Sangster has worked with Brown to create a truly sinister atmosphere, and MacIver has added background recordings to the score, as well as pre-recorded music and sound effects which play at the same time as the orchestra to add to the brooding oppressiveness of the production.

The show, which is ideal for all the family, is designed to ensure the audience feels very much a part of the action, as they will be seated along two sides of the performance space, with the orchestra to one side.

Director Julie Brown said: ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari lends itself beautifully to being rehomed in Glasgow. The complex narrative allows the young Connect Company some exciting opportunities to play with different characters. Double, indeed triple, casting stretches the talented young singers who have to learn their music and roles over an extensive rehearsal period whilst at the same time coping with school work, writing dissertations for university and holding down part time jobs. This dramatic new commission has caught their imaginations and fired their thirst for performance. They continue to inspire me as they learn extremely complicated and vocally challenging music.’

Woodside Halls, 36 Glenfarg Street, Glasgow G20 7QE

Sat 9 Apr 3.30pm

Sat 9 Apr 7pm

Sun 10 Apr 3.30pm

Sun 10 Apr 7pm

BOX OFFICE: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Box Office, 0141 332 5057

Final casting has been announced for the UK tour of Save the Last Dance for Me. Lola Saunders, a finalist on The X Factor 2014, will make her theatrical debut in the role of Jennifer starring alongside previously announced Antony Costa as Milton, with Wayne Robinson as Curtis and Elizabeth Carter returning to the role of Marie.

From the writers, producers, creators and director of the huge success Dreamboats and Petticoats, Save the Last Dance for Me will take you back through the ‘music and magic’ of the early 60’s, a time when each passing week brought another Rock’n’Roll classic. The production will start its UK tour at Theatre Royal Windsor from Wednesday 6^th April, visiting the King’s Theatre Glasgow from Tuesday 3 until Saturday 7 May 2016.

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’, ‘Birds of a Feather’ and ‘The New Statesman’) the show features the unmistakable music of Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman, authentically recreating the Rock ‘n’ Roll sound live on stage with hits including Sweets for my Sweet, Please Mr. Postman, Viva Las Vegas, Can’t Get Used to Losing You, the title track Save the Last Dance For Me and more. This nostalgic, feel-good journey will transport you back to music’s golden era.

Save the Last Dance for Me follows two teenage sisters through the summer of ’63 as they embark, for the first time without their parents, on a holiday to the seaside. Full of freedom and high spirits they meet a handsome young American who invites them to a dance at the local U.S. Air force base… But young love and holiday romance is never as simple as it sounds, and the sisters soon realise that while the world around them is still watching itself in black and white, life and love can be much more colourful.

Lola Saunders (Jennifer) came to the public’s attention on The X Factor in 2014, becoming the UK’s most famous fishmonger almost overnight! Originally from East Boldon in South Tyneside, Lola wowed the judges with her powerful voice and soulful tone taking her as far as the judges’ houses before being sent home – only to return for the live shows as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini’s wildcard. Most recently Lola has been headlining concerts around the UK and writing and recording new music. Save the Last Dance for Me is her theatrical debut.

Elizabeth Carter (Marie) played Marie in the 2013 UK tour of Bill Kenwright’s Save the Last Dance for Me. Her theatre credits includeDreamboats and Petticoats (UK tour 2012 for Bill Kenwright Ltd) and the original cast of Dreamboats and Miniskirts (UK tour 2014/15 for Bill Kenwright Ltd). Elizabeth also appeared in The Wizard of Oz (Popular Productions) and Peter Pan (Evolution Productions).

Wayne Robinson (Curtis) most recently appeared in Kiss Me, Kate (Opera North / National Tour), Thriller (West End/International tour) andIn The Heights (Southwark Playhouse). Wayne’s many other theatre credits include Stephen Ward (West End), We Will Rock You (West End) and The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Previously announced, Antony Costa (Milton) has appeared on stage in Blood Brothers (West End) and Boogie Nights (UK Tour). He is best known as one of the members of Blue, one of the biggest British boy bands of the Noughties, who enjoyed chart success with three number one albums and 11 Top Ten singles including their debut song All Rise. Blue, which also included Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan and Duncan James, disbanded in 2004 but then reunited in 2011 and that year they represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. This year they released their fifth studio album Colours before embarking on a UK tour.

The cast also includes: Sackie Osakonor, Rachel Nottingham, Kieran Kuypers, Joe McCourt, Andrew Joseph, Michael Kantola, Chris Coxon, Sheridan Lloyd, Josef Pitura-Riley, Alan Howell, Anna Campkin and Kate Hardistry.

Save the Last Dance For Me

King’s Theatre Glasgow

Tue 3 – Sat 7 May

Tue – Sat eves 7.30pm

Wed, Thu & Sat mats 2.30pm

Box Office 0844 871 7648 (bkg fee) Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.

www.atgtickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

The Village Storytelling Festival kicks off today, Tuesday 22^nd March, with a celebration and exploration of the art and application of storytelling past, present and future. It’s storytelling like you’ve never seen it before.

This pioneering new festival proves definitively that stories are not just for kids. While a family fun day, the Village Fete, takes place on the Easter weekend, the extensive programme of performances, film, discussion and art will unlock the magic of storytelling for teenagers and adults across the city.

Festival performances include a former National Poet Laureate, Scottish premieres from Adverse Camber and brand new work from Scotland’s finest storytellers, and offer rich, diverse and dramatic methods of storytelling; from powerful, celebratory tales of Mali and Persian culture which are performed with live virtuoso musicians, to the intimate cinema of the mind created by The Devil’s Violin and immersive soundscapes of Ian Stephen’s haunting Hebridean odyssey.

Highlights are Tim Ralphs’ and Cat Gerrard’s new show The Four Chambers of the Heart, with tales that will make your heart bump, bleed, break and flutter, and the Devil’s Violin’s in-demand show Forbidden Door.

Exclusive performances from Adverse Camber are not to be missed. The Festival features two powerful and absorbing shows, so immerse yourself in the majesty, passion and music of West Africa in an epic story of Mali, The Old Woman the Buffalo and The Lion of Manding, with Jan Blake, and experience Persian mythology coming to life in the passion-filled adventure, lust and romance of the Shahnemeh with the incomparable Xanthe Gresham-Knight. Not only that, but Ian Stephen will be premiering his new show commissioned especially for the festival – haunting Hebridean odyssey,Circumnavigation.

The festival will feature performances by community groups (including Kinship carers, young people from different areas, older adults, and people with physical and learning disabilities) from across Glasgow, who have each worked with the Village Storytelling Centre, through story and another art form in a variety of different ways over the past year. From visual art, through dance and film to a digital soundscape, each group tells the story of their “Village” and what it means to them, in their own way.

Running alongside the performances is a series of thought-provoking symposia which ask how storytelling benefits society and indeed, how this ancient tradition remains relevant and contemporary in the modern world. With expert speakers from storytelling community and beyond, this is sure to inspire you, fire up your imagination, and generate robust debate.

We end the festival with a Village Fete – a community arts festival at our premises in Pollok. The project was supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland Open Project Funding.

Emma Collins, Executive Director of The Village Storytelling Centre, said “The Village Storytelling Centre is a special organisation. Over the years we’ve worked with tens of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds to empower them to gain the skills and confidence they need to live the best life they can. We’re delighted to invite you to this festival to share our 15^th birthday celebrations. We are grateful to Creative Scotland for the funding which has made this possible.”

Kaite Welsh, Literature Officer at Creative Scotland said: “Storytelling is at the heart of Scottish culture and the Village Storytelling Festival is part of a vibrant oral tradition that celebrates our history and binds communities together. With an eclectic, exciting programme, this year’s festival promises to be a colourful display of one of our oldest art forms.”

Xanthe Gresham Knight, storyteller in Adverse Camber: “After a tremendously warm welcome for Shahnameh at Edinburgh University a few years ago, I’m so looking forward to telling this wonderful Epic from Greater Iran in Glasgow with Arash Moradi.  Scotland is such a repository of fine stories from Myths to Traveller Tales it always feels like home territory. Stories have no passports and speak to every time, culture and country but Scotland is so conversant with the language and pure truth of this art form, that’s it’s always a pleasure to visit. This Festival will be magic.”

Many events are free, and all are ticketed.

Tickets can be purchased from Eventbrite http://bit.do/VSF2016