 |
| ON
TOUR APR- JUN 2010 'Back
to the Land Girls'
A new comedy by Kate Bramley |
 |
DOWNLOAD LOCAL NEWS PRESS RELEASE AS PDF
HERE>> coming soon
DOWNLOAD SMALL IMAGE FOR WEB USE
HERE>>
DOWNLOAD LARGER IMAGE
HERE>>>IMAGE ONE
DOWNLOAD LARGER IMAGE
HERE>>>IMAGE TWO
|
TOUR DATES
to follow
|
| Reviews for previous shows: For 'Laurel and Charlie' 2008-2009
Full marks all round to
Badapple,North Yorkshire's own "doorstep theatre" enterprise, for their latest
production "Laurel and Charlie". The tale of two music hall artists in a grim
Victorian boarding house in the North of England, poised on the verge of world fame and
cinematic glory, is nicely framed with a vaudeville touch and a sardonic eye for detail.
Writer-director Kate Bramley has not only managed to forge a fresh and very funny take on
two characters that are familiar to us all, but has also managed to cast two exceptional
actors to fill their shoes. (The show) swings with all the timing of the best in stand-up
comedy, and Colin Moncrieff bears an uncanny resemblance to Laurel, both in looks and
comedic style, all of which enhances an on-stage rapport between these two men that draws
the audience into the plot completely. Clever use of musical and filmed interludes, some
well judged slapstick routines and an attractive and surprise laden stage-set transcends
the village-hall atmosphere that is Badapple's chosen domain, inducing all the atmosphere
of the larger venues that are surely where the future lies for theregion's brightest light
in touringtheatre.
NORTHERN ECHO COLUMNIST April 2008
For 'Amy Johnson' - Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'a sensitive play... directed with
a sure hand...an inspired success... a master stroke of theatre' Avis Carminez, Eastern
Press
'the writing is authentic and
economical...successfully turning piles of contemporary diaries, letters and newspaper
reports into an engaging guide to this special woman's life.... as I left the theatre
I felt ashamed that I had not known more about this record breaking Hull
export, and Bramley's respect for her subject was infectious'. Tracy Fletcher, Hull
Daily Mail
'Badapple Theatre Company presents an enthralling portrait of a woman who chases her
dream....(and have) succeeded in shedding new light on a true pioneer'. Margaret Woods,
Halifax Courier
For 'Marlowe, meet
Raymond Chandler' - Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'a witty look at writers and their
work....Guiliano Neri as Phillip Marlowe has (a) world weary cynicism that provides much
of the plays humour' Kathryn Cecil, Hull Daily Mail
For 'Fighting The Tide'
- Written and directed by Kate Bramley with songs and music by Jez Lowe.
'It is nice to see
something original and “Fighting the Tide” was just that. This musical play by
Kate Bramley deals with the promise that things will get better, but of course they never
do, a promise that has been and will continue to be made till the end of time. The time in
this instance is just beyond now...Some nice songs emerge from the story, the most notable
of which is “The net me father left me” and the man responsible was Jez Lowe
writing his first music and lyrics for the stage — something he should do again...'
BA Entertainment Online.
For 'Still
Marilyn' - Written and directed by Kate Bramley
'After 1998's high-flying Amy Johnson, the detection
work of Marlowe, Meet Raymond Chandler and the trawling tale of Fighting The Tide, Bramley
has taken on another subject with history and mystery in equal measure: Marilyn Monroe.
This is her biggest challenge with the biggest
budget so far - £21,000 in project funding - as Bramley looks anew at "the most
famous movie star of all time, the most famous woman on earth".
She picks up the Marilyn story at its crescent in
the early 1950s, and follows her through a decade in which she would marry sporting hero
Joe DiMaggio (not seen in the play) and playwright Arthur Miller (one of four
characterisations taken on by Patrick Poletti, along with Clark Gable, both imagined and
real, and Jack Kennedy).
We also see Jane Russell (Cristina Gavin),
confident, composed and chic, as she and Marilyn work on a dance routine for Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes. It is late, Marilyn (Gilly Cohen) is desperately concerned to get it
right, and even then, her coach would be turning up later still.
That is a typical vignette from Bramley's portrait,
an affectionate, admiring work that seeks to balance the tragic vulnerability and rising
neuroses with the burning brightness of a starlet who read James Joyce's Ulysses and Edgar
Allan Poe, knew her politics (and not only through bedroom intimacy with the Kennedys) but
struggled with demons and pills.
That struggle is depicted as both external and
internal: Marilyn's intelligence had to break through the `dumb blonde' barrier and her
fight for recognition as a serious actress was as much undermined by her own doubts as
blonde prejudice.
At the core of Still Marilyn - and part of the
reason for that Still Marilyn title along with a search for stillness and a sense of her
abiding allure beyond death - is a developing relationship with a young female
photographer, Mia (Gavin again). The most precious insights into her private life come in
these scenes, the camera constantly on her as always, with a wall of mirrors - an echo of
1953's How To Marry A Millionaire in Ruth Paton's set - as her other regular companion.
The angular Gilly Cohen may not look like Marilyn
but she moves, talks and emotes like her, still Marilyn indeed.' Charles Hutchinson, York
Evening Press. |
|
|
|
|
|
 YORK PRESS REVIEW 'THE LAND GIRLS OF YORKSHIRE'- By Jon Butler
19th June 2009
Jon Butler reviews The Land Girls Of Yorkshire,
Badapple Theatre, Suddaby's Crown Hotel, Malton
9:13am Friday 19th June 2009
THE Land Girls Of Yorkshire is a delightful,
light-hearted comedy inspired by true stories gleaned from Land Girls who toiled to help
feed the nation during the dark days of the Second World War.
The production is in mid-tour and if you get the
chance to go and see it do, as it is a joyful and uplifting experience.
The full house at Suddaby's Crown Hotel in Malton
certainly enjoyed it, and with two former Land Girls in the audience the opportunity for
the occasion to be quite poignant was rejected in favour of frequent and spontaneous
laughter at Kate Bramley's
witty and well observed script.
The dialogue is beautifully paced, and while you
would expect the subject matter to deal with the facts and fashions of the day, Bramley
cleverly digs beneath such veneers to expose the anxieties and aspirations of her two
female characters.
Buff, (Natalie Bennett) with her confident, brash
Scouse exterior, finds herself billeted with Biddy, (Lois Creasy) a Yorkshire lass whose
innocence cautions her against Buff's ambitions to form relationships with any or all of
the American servicemen and Italian prisoners of war who reside nearby, including
Giovanni, played on screen by Colin Moncrieff.
There are lots of lovely subtle lines, such as Buff
wondering if meeting these men might affect her density, and the mention of Walter Pigeon
(the Brad Pitt of the day) reminding them more of their hunger for food than love.
The play subliminally offers an interesting
comparison between today's consumer-obsessed society and an age where the lack of material
possessions did not mean a famine of fun.
With none of our contemporary distractions, Buff and
Biddy explore their dreams, hopes and plans, and have the time to find themselves. But
Buff's ambitions to become a singer prove to be the making of Biddy.
The characters grow on you, and it is a credit to the
skills of Bennett and Creasy that by the end of the play you feel you really know the
characters they portray.
The stage production is inventive too, and Jez Lowe's
music really defines the era and literally sets the tone.
This is a production brimming with creativity and
talent and a large feather in the cap for Badapple Theatre>>
|
