Category Archives: What’s on / Listings

NEWS: Platform announces Eastern Promise 2018 festival line-up

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Now in its eighth year, Platform’s Eastern Promise festival brings a thrilling mix of live music, performance and visual art to Glasgow’s East End over two evenings on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th November 2018.

This trailblazing event offers a stellar line up of gigs, performances, film screenings and installations to inspire, provoke and entertain. Platform opens up its performance and studio spaces, creating a dynamic festival atmosphere, with food and drink available all evening.

FRIDAY 16th NOVEMBER

Platform is delighted to welcome keyboard and accordion maestro Hailu Mergia back to Scotland. The Ethio-jazz funk pioneer recently released Lala Belu, his first full-length album in nearly two decades. The album builds on Mergia’s remarkable career resurgence over the past few years and features Ethiopian traditionals alongside Mergia originals. His old recordings are cherished revelations for Ethiopian music fans; however, Mergia’s return to the stage has been just as inspiring and electrifying.

Turner prize nominated Monster Chetwynd presents a screening of her subversive and magical short film, Face Cream. Commissioned by GoMA in partnership with Platform as part of Glasgow 2018 with a focus on play, the film used museum venues across Glasgow and Platform, working with some of the groups that meet there. Inspired by the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, this joyous, fun and surreal short film reveals a magical Glasgow discovered through the natural power of face cream.

POST is a new theatre show presented by performance maker Xavier de Sousa exploring national identity. We live in an ever-shifting political and geographical landscape. Some believe we are heading towards a world without borders, without countries or nations whilst others vouch for protectionism and more borders. The audience is invited to join de Sousa at the table, eat Portuguese food, drink potent Cachaça, get merry, make new friends and challenge what constitutes a nation.

SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER

Legendary West coast jazz mavericks, Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids make a welcome return to Platform announcing their new album release, An Angel Fell (Strut) with intergalactic jazz funk, afro-beat grooves and hypnotic licks. The album has been celebrated by Quietus magazine as #2 album of the year and the band will also be performing music from their lauded 2016 album We Be all Africans. Expect psychedelia, cosmic jazz and the healing power of music from this theatrical spiritual jazz ensemble.

Apostille is a man who’s torn through enough sound-systems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Michael Kasparis, who runs Night School Records whilst making forays into hardcore punk with groups Anxiety and The Lowest Form brings his solo electronic venture Apostille to Platform. At once minimal and courageous Apostille songs race off with unchecked abandon, skittering drum machines, thick walls of sequenced synth and decidedly elastic basslines. His recent album Choose Life is full of life and energy, and like his live show as disobedient as it is heroic in its pursuit of liberation.

Chivas/Reid/Smekot present Decline, a dynamic relationship instantly and continuously transforming, told through the bodies of three distinct performers. This collaboration is a meditation on things that draw us together and those that fall away using the distinct voices of dance and live music. Directed and performed by Monika Smekot, Penny Chivas and Jer Reid Decline offers a unique, honest and open viewpoint into human relationships, it asks us to challenge others and ourselves to delve into our inner world.

Glasgow-based artist and musician Sarah Glass presents 13 +/-, an opportunity to watch a desperate act of self-care made manifest, reflected and refracted back. The performance uses light and sound to explore coping mechanisms for social anxiety and similar maladies. Glass works predominantly in sound, light and performance art and her work reflects interest in themes such as social control, feminism, noise, and the distortion and re-appropriation of (sub)cultural media.

Jumbies is presented by Ashanti Harris in collaboration with Zephyr Liddell and Paul Shofolahan. Jumbies is an exploration of Derrida’s concept of Hauntology (haunting and ontology) in the form of an Afrofuturist masquerade. Working with dance, sculpture, sound and printed fabrics, Jumbies creates a layered fictional dimension, a space of alternate realities, apparitions and re-presentation. It is a ritual wearing of thresholds and a place of absence, repetition and continual transformation.

Food and drink is available all evening from Platform’s cafe bar with pop up food from Soul Food Sisters.

 LISTINGS

Friday 16 November, 7pm till late

●       Hailu Mergia

●       Monster Chetwynd presents Face Cream

●       Xavier de Sousa presents POST

Saturday 17 November, 5pm till late

●       Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids

●       Apostille

●       Sarah Glass presents 13 +/-

●       Chivas/Reid/Smekot present Decline

●       Ashanti Harris, Zephyr Liddell & Paul Shofolahan present Jumbies

TICKET INFORMATION 

£10/£7.50 (local links) per night

£15/£10 (local links) weekend

platform-online.co.uk / info@platform-online.co.uk / 0141 276 9696 (opt 1

Platform is running a return bus from Mono, Kings Court to Eastern Promise. Please pre book to ensure a space – either purchase your £5 ticket from Mono in person or email info@platform-online.co.uk to reserve your place.

Platform, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Glasgow, G34 9JW

NEWS: ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS SHOW ANNOUNCED FOR EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE

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Eastwood Park Theatre is rounding off its 45th anniversary celebrations with an original Christmas show penned by the writer of many successful festive shows for the Citizen Theatre and produced by Showroom, one of Scotland’s most exciting theatre companies.

Tickets are on sale now for Jack and the Beanstalk II: Return of the Farmer, brought by four renowned Scottish theatre talents – written and composed by Andy McGregor, directed by Julie Brown, designed by Claire Halleran and produced by Callum Smith of Showroom.

This unique Christmas show is a twist on the traditional tale, centring on Jack McJack, who is now living a life of fame, fortune and fanciness. He owns Giffnock’s most successful supermarket and everything is going his way – until the trickster of a farmer who gave him his magic beans returns and demands his share of the profits. In the hilarious new tale he recalls the story of his heroic trip to the top of the beanstalk, before facing the farmer in an epic showdown.

The show will take centre stage at Eastwood Park Theatre from 11-30 December, with dedicated British Sign Language Interpreted (21st December, 7.30pm) and “relaxed” (15thDecember, 1pm) performances for audience members with Additional Support Needs.

Anthony McReavy from East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure said: “We’re delighted to attract a quartet of Scottish theatre talent to Eastwood Park Theatre. Our Christmas show is full of fun, with lots of laughs and plenty of local references to keep all the family entertained.”

Producer Callum Smith, originally from Clarkston, a theatre producer who has worked for a variety of the UK’s leading theatres said: “This is a Christmas show for all ages – a magical, wacky and hilarious twist on a traditional pantomime, personalised for Eastwood Park Theatre starring top Scottish acting talent, who will be announced soon…”

Tickets are priced at just £11 standard, £8 for concessions and a family of four can catch the show for £35. The show also qualifies for the group discount – buy ten tickets and one person can go free.

Book now:  https://www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk/article/9742/Jack-and-the-Beanstalk-II

WHAT’S ON JULY: The Classic Thriller Theatre Company presents The Lady Vanishes

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The Lady Vanishes
Mon 1 – Sat 6 July 2019
Theatre Royal
Tickets from £13

Husband and wife Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield lead the star cast in the latest installment of the Classic Thriller Theatre Company.

The cast also features Lorna Fitzgerald, fresh from her shock departure from the role of Abi Branning in BBC’s EastEnders, Matt Barber, Atticus Aldridge in Downtown Abbey and Robert Duncan, Drop The Dead Donkey.

When Socialite Iris’ unexpected travelling companion suddenly disappears, Iris is perplexed to find that all the other passengers deny ever having seen her. But with the help of musician Max, she turns detective, and together they try to solve the mystery of why the lady vanished…

WHAT’S ON FEBRUARY: Ian Hislop and Nick Newman reunite for Trial by Laughter

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Trial By Laughter
Mon 11 – Sat 16 Feb
Kings’s Theatre, Glasgow
Tickets from £13

Following critical acclaim for The Wipers Times, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman have once again taken inspiration from real life events for their new play Trial by Laughter.

William Hone, the forgotten hero of free speech, was a bookseller, publisher and satirist. In 1817, he stood trial for ‘impious blasphemy and seditious libel’. The only crime he had committed was to be funny. Worse than that he was funny by parodying religious texts. And worst of all, he was funny about the despotic government and the libidinous monarchy.

WHAT’S ON JANUARY: Rebus – Long Shadows comes to Glasgow

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Tue 29 Jan – Sat 2 Feb
Theatre Royal
Tickets from £13
By Ian Rankin, adapted by Rona Munro.

Featuring Charles Lawson as John Rebus, Cathy Tyson as Siobhan Clarke and John Stahl as Big Ger Cafferty, directed by Robin Lefevre.

The new story exclusively on stage. Detective Inspector John Rebus is retired but the shadows of his former life still follow him through the streets of Edinburgh. Whisky helped but now he’s denying himself that pleasure. But when the daughter of a murder victim appears outside his flat, he’s back on the case and off the wagon.

NEWS: Exciting, live action planetarium show for children comes to Glasgow

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There’s an out-of-this-world adventure for children coming to Glasgow Science Centre this November.

You Are Here! is a brand-new, live action planetarium show that perfectly combines the excitement of live theatre and storytelling with an immersive 360° full dome experience.

The 30-minute show takes the audience on a virtual trip around the Universe with WOW Tours. Expecting to attend a lecture from ‘The Professor’, the tour is unexpectedly confronted with the disappearance of the stars – not to mention the disappearance of The Professor.

Equipped with only umbrellas and a mysterious A-Z guidebook of the Universe, WOW Tours embark on a magical journey. With help from the audience they uncover where The Professor has gone and discover “the most incredible, remarkable, mind-blowing thing in the universe!”

With Jupiter as the ultimate ‘behind you’ moment, a zoom through Saturn’s rings and a voyage down to the surface of Mars, You Are Here! is a show unlike any other. The unique fusion of arts and science is both educational and entertaining, and designed to make the complex concepts of space and time accessible to children.

Written by acclaimed children’s theatre playwright, Andy Cannon, You Are Here! is a collaboration between Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium and Glasgow-based theatre company The Occasion. The project has been made possible by a £48,500 grant from Arts Council England and support from Airbus. The performance in Glasgow forms part of the UK tour which sees performances in Winchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Leicester.

Ben Ward, CEO of Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium said:“Having previously managed touring theatre productions and arts centres, I’m excited to champion theatre and the arts to communicate STEM subjects to as wide an audience as possible. The Occasion trialled a short pilot last year and the feedback from the audience was great. Sitting in the planetarium and hearing gasps from children as Jupiter rose up behind the actors on the huge 360° screen was a really special moment for me.”

Peter Clerke, Co-Artistic Director of The Occasion and Director of You Are Here! said:“The Occasion is very excited to be collaborating with Winchester Science Centre on this unique project. We’re not aware that this combination of live performance and full dome Planetarium film has ever been done before and will provide a fast-paced, fun and immersive experience. Wholly accessible, this is where the excitement of theatre meets the wow of full dome film! Entertaining and educational, it’s the perfect adventure for children and their families.”

You Are Here! will play at Glasgow Science Centre on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November, with schools performances taking place on 14th – 16th. Tickets are priced at £6 per adult and £4 for children as a standalone ticket, or £3 as an add-on to entry to the Science Mall. For performance times and to book tickets visit

www.glasgowsciencecentre.org.

 

NEWS: Top Scottish Talent Announced for Eastwood Park Theatre’s Original Christmas Show

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Eastwood Park Theatre has announced the cast line up for its original Christmas show, Jack and the Beanstalk II: Return of the Farmer, featuring top Scottish talent including a local Netflix star and CBeebies favourite.

The role of Jack will be taken on by Scottish actor Joshua Aitken, a recent Glasgow Academy of Musical Theatre Arts graduate, whose previous credits include National Theatre Scotland’s Submarine Time Machine.

The role of Rosie will be played by East Renfrewshire’s Kim Allan, who stars as Isabella MacDuff in the forthcoming highly anticipated Netflix film, Robert the Bruce action drama The Outlaw King, which will be available next month. She has also appeared in BBC drama The Replacement and Channel 4 and Netflix series Lovesick. Kim’s parents met on the stage while performing in amateur dramatic productions at Eastwood Park Theatre, so she is sure to feel at home when taking on her new role.

Scottish actor Ross Mann, who has a string of theatre, television and film credits to his name including TV series Outlander and forthcoming Ken Loach film Beats, I Am the Architect and Not a Word, will take on the role of Jack’s nemesis The Farmer.

River City’s Sarah McCardie, otherwise known as ‘Sharon McLaren’, will be taking on two roles – the evil Witch and Jack’s Mother. Sarah recently appeared in STV’s The Victim and is known to young children as the presenter ‘May’ of the CBeebies programme Big City Park, which won a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Children’s Programme.

The unique Christmas show is brought by four renowned Scottish theatre talents – written and composed by Andy McGregor, directed by Julie Brown, designed by Claire Halleran and produced by Clarkston’s Callum Smith of Showroom, one of Scotland’s most exciting theatre companies.

Anthony McReavy from East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, said: “We’re delighted to welcome some of Scotland’s best acting talent to our original Christmas show, which has been penned by the writer of many successful festive shows for the Citizen’s Theatre and produced by Showroom, one of Scotland’s most exciting theatre companies. Tickets are already selling fast so STALK up while you can!”

A hilarious twist on a traditional Christmas show, Jack and the Beanstalk II: Return of the Farmer follows Jack McJack, who is now living a life of fame, fortune and fanciness. He owns Giffnock’s most successful supermarket and everything is going his way – until the trickster of a farmer who gave him his magic beans returns and demands his share of the profits. In the hilarious new tale he recalls the story of his heroic trip to the top of the beanstalk, before facing the farmer in an epic showdown.

Playing at Eastwood Park Theatre from 11-30 December, there will be a dedicated British Sign Language Interpreted (21st December, 7.30pm) and ‘relaxed’ (15th December, 1pm) performances for audience members with Additional Support Needs.

Tickets are priced at just £11 standard, £8 for concessions and a family of four can catch the show for £35. The show also qualifies for the group discount – buy ten tickets and one person can go free.

Book now:  https://www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk/article/9742/Jack-and-the-Beanstalk-II

 

FESTIVE FUN: FAIRY CONTRARY ARRIVES AT MACROBERT ARTS CENTRE THIS CHRISTMAS

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There’s a Sleepin’ Cutie arriving at Macrobert Arts Centre this Christmas when another panto extravaganza from the pen of Johnny McKnight comes to life on stage. Macrobert’s Artistic Director Julie Ellen is taking the helm, directing a top cast packed with our much loved Stirling regulars to entertain you. The festive fun opens on Fri 23 November and runs until Mon 31 December.

This year’s Dame duties are delivered by Keith Mcleish, who’s making his first Macrobert Panto appearance. Robert Jack, Helen McAlpine and Katie Barnett are back for another year, with the return of Kara Swinney and Gavin Wright. Chloe Edwards and Shane Convery are also welcomed aboard this year, with a host of other characters being played by our hugely talented local Young Cast.

Working with Julie to summon up some dazzling entertainment are the team behind last year’s acclaimed production of Chick Whittington – Johnny McKnight (Writer), Grant Anderson (Lighting Designer), Alan Penman (Musical Director / Composer / Arranger), Karen Martin (Choreographer) and Alison Brown (Costume Design), with the 2018 Stirling Stella set designed by Richard Evans.

Preview performances of Sleepin’ Cutie begin on Wednesday 21 November, with opening night on Friday 23 November at 7.30pm.

Tickets priced £9.50 to £19.50 are selling fast with a number of performances, including Christmas Eve, already sold out. For more information and to book tickets call the Macrobert Arts Centre Box Office on 01786 466 666 or visit www.macrobertartscentre.org.

 

NEWS: PANTO KING JOHNNY McKNIGHT RETURNS FOR MAMMY GOOSE AT THE TRON

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It’s almost panto time at the Tron Theatre and they have announced that their 2018 pantomime MAMMY GOOSE (27 Nov ’18 – 6 Jan ’19) is once again written by, directed by and starring the undisputed king of panto Johnny McKnight. sponsors.

Johnny McKnight is sure to dazzle and delight as Mammy Goose, a hard-working café owner who has always had big dreams of glittering Hollyrood parties and hob-knobbing with the Scottish elite like The Krankies and Sean Batty. As for her son Jack, well, he’s in love and is considering leaving the family business! Even though her dreams have gone down the pan (the frying pan) and her life is less Debbie McGhee and more McGhee’s the Bakers, at least she can rely on her best friend Lucy who just happens to be a 6ft talking goose.

When a mysterious stranger makes her an offer- the chance to be young again, Mammy Goose has the opportunity to start her life over. But, there’s a catch. In order to be granted her wish she must trade in her beloved goose! Will Mammy Goose choose eternal youth over friendship and love (seems to have worked out okay for Kim Kardashian, hasn’t it)? Will Jack and his new pal Will dare to climb that hill together and see what’s up there? Will Lucy the Goosey taste better with BBQ or plum sauce?  There’s only one way to find out in this year’s rip-rollicking panto MAMMY GOOSE.

MAMMY GOOSE is designed by Kenny Miller, with original tunes by Musical Director Ross Brown. Festive favourites Darren Brownlie, Julie Wilson Nimmo, Ryan Ferrie and Lauren Ellis Steele are back and will be joined some new faces including Duncan Brown and Lorna McMillan for yet another unmissable all-singing, all-dancing, irreverent, gallus, festive extravaganza.

Venue:          Main Auditorium, Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB             
Dates:          Tues 27 Nov – Sun 6 Jan, times vary
Tickets:                £9 – £23 (prices vary)
Box Office:     0141 552 4267 or http://www.tron.co.uk

WHAT’S ON OCTOBER: TRAM DIRECT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS CONTROVERSIAL PADDY’S MARKET PRODUCTION

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One of Scotland’s most exciting theatre companies has announced dates for a new play about Glasgow’s incredibly controversial Paddy’s Market. Set for four shows across three days in October, Tram Direct will explore the contentious story of the market and the lives of the hawkers (traders) who worked there.

Started by Irish immigrants more than 200 years, Paddy’s pre-empted the Barras Market by over a century and was the bread and butter for many of the city’s residents. The market served as a lifeline for thousands, scarred by poverty. It was a vibrant place, eclectic, strange and beautiful – real Glasgow. It fashioned its place permanently in the hearts and minds of Glasgow’s burgeoning pop culture and music scene in the late 70s and 80s, having dressed many pop stars and BBC dramas.

Before it’s closure Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand said “It does have a personality about it which is embraced in other cities….a part of Glasgow’s soul would be erased if Paddy’s market were to go.”

Unfortunately Glasgow City Council closed the market controversially in 2009 to much abhorrence. It brought to an abrupt end this iconic Flea Market that had existed for over 200 years. Given the new attitude to “artisan and market” its sadly ironic Paddy’s was shut down, it has, for nearly a decade, been touted as the site for Glasgow’s new Covent Garden.

This show shall bring characters back to life, displaying how you literally could find anything up this lane. You’ll hear from Shady Sadie, Makeup Lady, Tina The Tarot, Pet Foods Patsy, Bashed Tins Betty and Fellow Favan to name a few.

Writer Paul Moore said “My play is poignant and political and focuses on the idea of these traders aka hawkers as the “family’ and how Mother Glasgow betrayed them in a dirty deal. They were promised loads, given nothing and abandoned.”

Paddy’s Market is written & devised by Paul Moore, directed by Isobel Barrett and a new original score comes from Michael McEneny.

Show dates and times are as follows:

Friday 19th October – 7.30pm

Saturday 20th October – 2.30pm

Saturday 20th October 7.30pm

Sunday 21st October – 2.30pm

Tickets are available now from the Tram Direct website http://www.tramdirect.org/tickets.html

PADDY’S MARKET THE SHED, 26 LANGSIDE AVENUE, GLASGOW 19-21 OCTOBER 2018

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