Platero

Platero

After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scottish storyteller Mike Maran is bringing his breathtakingly beautiful production of Platero Travels with a Donkey to Chelmsford Cramphorn Theatre on Thursday 2 May. 

Maran teamed up with Georgian puppeteer, Nino Namitcheishvili, to create this stage version of Platero y Yo by Spanish Nobel Laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez. The show is directed by Levan Tsuladze, Artistic Director of the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The original book is a series of short prose poems painting an affectionate portrait of Moguer, a small town in the Andalusian countryside where the poet lived with Platero, his little silver donkey, at the turn of the last century. In 1960 the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco wrote a suite of classical guitar music for the great classical guitar player, Segovia, to accompany some of the stories and Craig Ogden, the Australian best selling artist, has especially recorded the music to accompany this production.

Mike Maran specializes in shows combining storytelling with music with previous productions including Mahler Song and Dance Man, A Christmas Carol and A Funny Valentine as well as two long-running shows - Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Italia ‘n’ Caledonia. He originally conceived the idea for Platero y Yo  in 2009 when he first met Nino Namitcheishvili. 

“I had always loved the stories for their simplicity and humanity and had thought about how to stage them. The music perfectly reflects the poetry of the stories but I felt it needed a visual element to go alongside the spoken word and the music. When I met Nino it all fell into place, especially when I discovered that the book had been translated into Georgian and was a favourite of hers.”

Since that first meeting Mike and Nino have collaborated on a large-scale production of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin with five actors and over thirty puppets, a co-production between the Marjanishvili Theatre and the Mercury Theatre Colchester directed by Levan Tsuladze. That team is now reunited for this production with the addition of bestselling classical guitarist Craig Ogden who travelled to Georgia to record the soundtrack during the rehearsals in Tbilisi.

Tickets are £13.00 and concessions £11.50 (a £1.50 booking fee is applicable per transaction, except for cash and debit card payments made in person). Tickets can be booked online by visiting www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or via the Box Office on 01245 606505.

The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare

Friday 12 April 8.00pm

The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare

Cramphorn Theatre

I saw this Eastern Angles show in Sudbury - certainly worth a look when it comes to Essex. 

It explores the facts and myths about the life and health of England’s famous 19th century ‘peasant poet. The Long Life & Great Good Fortune of John Clare comes to the Chelmsford Cramphorn Theatre on Friday 12 April.

The play focuses on a man who believes he is John Clare. His psychiatrist, Melody, is busy swotting up on the poet trying to fathom the reasons behind her patient's delusion. Meanwhile, Melody's partner, writer and literature graduate Rafe, is fixated on his own version of the Clare legend. In their search for the real story all three characters reveal some startling truths about themselves

We think we know all about John Clare - 'innocent poet’ sent to the asylum by the ‘evil Dr Skrimshire'.  On one hand he was our most loved chronicler of nature, an eco-warrior for his time. But he is also seen as a man robbed of his birthright and unfairly locked up for his visions.

John Clare is remembered for his life more than his poetry – lime-burner, labourer, womaniser, walker, visionary, lunatic. But, in Tony Ramsay’s play, a new John Clare emerges.

Eastern Angles are known for their extensive Spring Tours designed to bring professional theatre productions to audiences in rural locations across the Eastern region. As part of the company’s commitment to bringing high-quality theatre work to audiences on their own doorstep, The Long Life & Great Good Fortune of John Clare will be performed 52 times visiting a total of 42 venues across East Anglia during March, April and May 2013.

Book tickets whilst they are still available. Tickets are priced £15.00 and can be booked online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or via the Box Office on 01245 606505.

Tickets cost £13.00, concessions £11.50 and can be booked online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or via the Box Office on 01245 606505.

A Soldier’s Song

A Soldier’s Song comes to the Cramphorn

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War and one of the hits of the 2012 Edinbrugh Festival, A Soldier's Song is a true story of conflict told by a guy who was there, bringing the battlefield to the stage in an extraordinary work of theatre. It comes to Chelmsford Civic Theatre on Friday 8 March.

The Falklands Conflict happened 30 years ago. It was dubbed "Britain's last colonial war". Maggie Thatcher, mired in political turmoil at home, sent 5000 troops 8000 miles down to the bottom of the world to reclaim a tiny pair of islands at the southern tip of South America colonised by less than 1000 British Subjects which had been 'illegally' invaded by Argentina.

The conflict lasted only two months, but encapsulated everything that war is; the failed politics, the military build up, the epic voyage, the beach landings, sinking of ships, artillery strewn battlefields, grenades and bayonets, the heroism, the horror and the tragedy. Britain's victory saved Thatcher's premiership and secured Conservative supremacy for 15 more years, but left hundreds of soldiers with the deep scars of war, the loss of comrades, and a lifetime of Post Traumatic Stress. But, the Falklands victory also epitomized the fortitude of the Great British Tommy, and remains a potent source of national pride.

Ken Lukowiak was there - a lowly infantryman in 2 Para - at the beach landings at San Carlos, the famous pitched battle at Goose Green, the death of Colonel H Jones, the sinking of the Galahad in Fitzroy, and at the liberation of Port Stanley. He saw it all. A decade, suffering from post traumatic stress, he penned his memoirs as an act of catharsis. They were snapped up and published in acclaimed article for the Guardian Weekend Magazine in 1992 from which he was commissioned to write his book - A Soldier's Song. It was a best seller and Ken then started a new career as a renowned war correspondent.

In 1998, Guy Masterson adapted the book for the stage and toured the show globally over three years to widespread acclaim. Now, 12 years on, commemorating the 30th anniversary, Lukowiak himself will now take on the role of his life and tell his own story' and say it like it was.

This is the theatre of War in its facets, invoking the horror, terror, shame, black humour, futility and tedium of a soldier's life on the front line and the lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress. Deeply disturbing and frightening at times, it utilises a pounding, totally authentic multi-directional soundscape. It is also extremely funny, the dark "squaddie" humour offsetting the darkness. The brutal demotic language and reality of the battlefield is brought to vividly to life.

An ex-Paratrooper stands in a spotlight and transports the audience back to the Falklands War. Surrounded by pounding sound effects (using authentic ordnance) from four sources all around the theatre, the audience are in the middle of the action. Ken Lukowiak leads us from the landing, through the pitched artillery battles, surviving friendly fire, rescuing enemy soldiers, freezing to death in ice filled trenches to the raising of the Union Jack in Port Stanley.

Incredibly powerful language, often poetic and heightened, spoken by the very soldier that wrote the words. The issues of war and what it is like to be there are brought to the fore. This piece of heart-felt theatre also touches on the politics of war, death, dealing with fear and terror.

There will be a post show discussion with Ken Lukowiak after the production

Tickets are £13.00 and concessions £11.00. Tickets can be booked online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or call the Box Office on 01245 606505.

David Copperfield

David Copperfield

Thursday 21 June 8.00pm

Cramphorn Theatre

A child born towards the small hours on a Friday night is destined to be unlucky in life

In celebration of the 200^th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, Mad Dogs and Englishmen Theatre Company bring his classic tale of David Copperfield to the Chelmsford Cramphorn Theatre on Thursday 21 June with a twist and a flourish in their new adaptation.

Replete with comic, cruel and repugnant characters, Dickens’ semi-autobiographical novel follows a vulnerable boy on his journey to manhood. It is a story of the struggle against poverty and obscurity: a story of loss, of loneliness, and the betrayal of innocence.

Dickens’ favourite novel is brought to the stage with all its dark comedy by Mad Dogs and Englishmen Theatre Company in this fast-paced and faithful adaptation. Directed by Ann Courtney, the cast of two capture the hilarity and pathos of Dickens’ writing with finesse, depth and ingenious dexterity.

As part of the internationally-celebrated bicentennial year of Dickens’ birth, Mad Dogs & Englishmen’s adaptation of David Copperfield is compulsive theatre.

‘Of all my books, I like this the best… Like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.’

Charles Dickens (from the Preface to David Copperfield)

Recommended age: 11 years +

 Tickets are £12.00 and concessions £10.00. To book tickets go to www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or call the Box Office on 01245 606505.

HONK!

HONK! A witty musical comedy by Drewe and Stiles, the British partnership that also brought Betty Blue Eyes and the re-worked Mary Poppins to the West End, HONK! is based on one of the world’s favourite fairy-tales, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Popular the world over this show has been seen by over 5 million people and beat the Lion King and Mamma Mia to the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical. Ugly, doesn’t quite fit in around the farmyard and is an easy target for the crafty cat. He ends up lost and during his long search for home meets many colourful characters including a rather military goose, some tap dancing bullfrogs and a beautiful swan called Penny, but can Ugly make it back before the winter sets in? Family fun for all ages, HONK! shows us that being different is the new cool! 

BOOK YOUR SEAT BY THE DUCKPOND NOW ! 
BY TELEPHONE: 01245 606505 or Online

Private Resistance

Private Resistance, a new theatre production from Eastern Angles, will be playing at Chelmsford Cramphorn Theatre on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 March. 
Written by Eastern Angles’ Artistic Director, Ivan Cutting, the play is an emotional wartime drama focusing on the lives of one East Anglian Family. An intriguing ‘what-if’ scenario, the drama explores how Britain would have coped with an enemy invasion.
It’s summer 1940. Britain is at war with Germany and the on-going conflict has thrown Diane Bowles’s life into turmoil. With her husband behind bars in a POW camp, Diane is left in charge of her teenage nephew Wilf, a keen boy scout eager to get one over on ‘Jerry’.
Out in the fields Diane’s brother-in-law has more ambitious ideas. His plan? To build a secret underground bunker manned by a small unit of men ready to wage guerrilla warfare in the event of enemy invasion.
His first port of call… Frank Evans, a gamekeeper with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the local landscape.
When 19-year-old Prue, a recent recruit to the Auxiliary Territorial Service comes looking for lodgings, Diane welcomes the spirited young woman into her home. Soon the five villagers find themselves dealing with events and emotions they never thought they would have to face…
Directed by Naomi Jones, whose Eastern Angles credits include Return to Akenfield, Lincoln Road and
The Long Way Home, Private Resistance will be a fantastic start to Eastern Angles’ 30th anniversary year.


I saw the show in its first week - my thoughts are here.


Tickets are £12.00 and concessions £10.50.To book tickets visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or
call the Box Office on 01245 606505.