This week I had the pleasure of interviewing British award-winning actor, writer and director (and fellow Northerner) Mike Jibson. You may have seen him in the true crime BBC production ‘Four Lives’ released in January this year, where he played the distasteful character of DC Slaymaker. This interview gave a real insight into how he got where he is today. Despite Mike’s on-screen successes, his career started off in musical theatre, and during the interview it was fascinating to learn…

Comedian and TV Star Jason Manford comes to New Theatre, Cardiff from 14 October 2019 to 19 October 2019 starring in a brand-new UK Tour of the Tony Award winning musical CURTAINS. We caught up with Jason to chat about the show, and how he finds life in musical theatre compared to his roots in stand-up comedy.   Firstly, can you tell us a little about “Curtains”? The show was a huge success on Broadway so it’s really exciting to…

Cardiff-based amateur theatre company, Peculiar Productions, have raised £3,500 for Nerve Tumours UK with their recent stage production of a novel by bestselling UK author Sir Terry Pratchett, which ran for five performances at the The Gate Arts Centre. ‘Men at Arms’ was adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs from Pratchett’s 1993 novel.  It follows the City Watch – whose members include a werewolf, a dwarf and a troll – as they attempt to solve a series of increasingly baffling…

Theatr Clwyd takes centre stage with prestigious UK nominations Richard Harrington and Katherine Parkinson performing live in ‘Home, I’m Darling’.   Theatr Clwyd will go for gold at the UK Theatre Awards this week (Sunday 14 October) in a bid to take home three highly-esteemed awards. Nominated for Best New Play, Best Musical Production and The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre, Theatr Clwyd will fly the flag for Wales as it goes up against some of…

Fri 2 Nov – Cardiff St David’s Hall In his second adventure-filled live theatre show, Levison Wood will share tales from his most recent journeys across some of the most perilous danger zones on earth. With behind-the-scenes moments from his travels over the Caucasus mountains and his circumnavigation of the Arabian Peninsula, Levison will challenge the myths and stereotypes that plague these ancient lands. The 12 date UK tour starts in Sheffield on 28th October, tickets are on sale now. Levison’s fascinating…

Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival returns to the capital city for the third year.   Running from May 31st – June 16th, Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival (CFTF) will be home to some of the most talented artists from Wales and beyond, including Avant Cymru and Eddie Summers   The community festival, created and run by a team of volunteers, brings together performance artists for a two-week showcase across six venues in and around the Welsh capital.   Venues such as AJ’s coffee house,…

Oscar Wilde’s cherished ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is to tour the UK this Spring – but not quite as you may know it. The hilarious, two man re-imagining of the classic will visit over 20 beautiful venues across the country from Cardiff all the way to Leicester. Already one of our nation’s funniest plays, the “exhilarating” Split Second Productions is making its unique mark with their “ingenious” re-telling of the story where two actors will play every single character….

I’ll start by saying this: you need to go and see a Kinetic Arts Theatre performance.   I’m not exaggerating that throughout their performance of ‘Footloose’, I was either laughing or smiling for the full two hours straight. It felt like every single cast member was having a blast on the stage and they passed on the infectious sense of fun on to the audience too.   The show was held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and drama….

Did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins?  Set in 1960’s Liverpool, the story surrounds the ever growing Johnstone family. Blood Brothers is a heart-warming story of twin brothers Mickey (Sean Jones), and Edward (Mark Hutchinson) separated at birth. Soon they are brought together again by friendship, but their mothers, alongside social divisions, strive to keep them apart. The narrative is echoed distinctly through dark rhymes and moving musical numbers, which bring plenty of laughs (and tears!). Lyn Paul…

Having seen several performances from Kinetic Arts, we were eager to see their most recent show Seussical The Musical, which was performed at St. Davids Catholic Sixth Form College, and needless to say it did not disappoint! Seussical is based on the works of Dr. Seuss and weaves together his most famous tales and characters from many of his books. The show follows the adventures of Horton, an elephant who one day hears voices coming from a speck of dust. He…