The Bike Shed Theatre was the perfect venue for the recent performances of TheatreState’s intimate and absurd brand of theatre.
The Fanny Hill Project V 2.0 came to the bike shed following a run in London and a earlier summer run at the Edinburgh fringe. The piece juxtaposed the stories of Fanny Hill, a literary creation of an eighteenth century prostitute, penned by John Cleland, with the autobiographical account of a graduate drama student, Tessa, who worked at a foot fetish parlour in New York.
The performance started in true untraditional fashion with some audience...
I had been promising my 10-year-old son Sam a trip to Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park as soon as the wet weather disappeared. So, with the promise of a dry weekend on the cards and with the recent opening of new attraction The Lost World of Atlantis, last weekend was the perfect time to head for Devon’s greatest adventure park!
Sam and I have been fairly regular visitors to Crealy over the years and it never fails to amaze me how much the park grows each year.
This year is certainly no exception as Crealy is celebrating its 25th birthday, and to mark the anniversary...
Stage-Wright Productions backed a winner in Suze Gardner's Motherland. A double first: new company and new play.
The script was amusing and informative, and portrayed the main character to perfection. We all know of Marie Stopes, but few know of her controversial and pioneering birth control clinics had a dual purpose: perporting to help the poorest of women limit the number of offspring, but equally furthering Stopes' rather more sinister involvement in eugenics. The script brought to light her dodgy personal contacts with...
Sean Hughes has probably changed a little bit since you last saw him. He is, after all, forty seven and not on our screens as much as he was in his Nineties TV heyday. Even his Irish accent has faded. But he’s still funny.
His latest show Penguins begins in zany fashion with Sean performing a brief puppet show to the strains of Edith Piaf’s 'Je ne regretted rien'. Which he proceeds to mime to. While in drag. The reasons for his choice of dress are never really explained and Sean even questions his own music selection arguing (convincingly) that anyone who tells you that they have...
Proposals to save more than £1.2 million next year from the way the County Council manages waste and recycling have been put forward for consultation this week.
The potential savings are part of a wider plan to reduce the council’s budget by over £100m over the next three years to meet the latest Government spending targets. In addition to renegotiating and re-tendering existing waste management contracts , a series of measures are being proposed for 2014/15. These include:
A reduction in the opening hours at Household Waste Recycling Centres by one hour in the morning and...
2013 has been a year of reunions. Some have resulted in reincarnations of former musical glory and some have been completely disastrous resurrections of pop music’s better-off dead. ITV’s reality sensation ‘The Big Reunion’ has paved the way for boy bands and girl groups from the 1990s to step back into the limelight for one last helping of fame and fortune.
On Thursday night Blue stopped off at the Plymouth Pavilions to perform to a sell-out crowd of their fans from the glory days alongside support acts Keedle and Loick Essien, as they travel around the country on their UK Tour....
The UK’s economic recovery appears to have strengthened during the third quarter of 2013, based on a wide range of indicators, according to a review by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Estimates of output in the services and construction industries both show an acceleration between the second and third quarters, while retail sales volumes grew at the fastest quarterly rate since the start of 2008. The labour market continued its recent improvement, with employment and hours rising and unemployment falling. Following a period of relatively flat output growth during 2011 and...
Devon County Council has completed the first stage of its review of Devon’s youth services. The review, launched in August, aims to look at how the council offers its support and services to young people in Devon and in particular how to support those in the greatest need by improving how youth work is linked with early help and prevention services. The review was launched following Devon’s children’s protection services being given an inadequate rating by regulating body Ofsted. The review has sought the views of over 600 people, 130 youth workers and 140 community and voluntary...
Offered the opportunity by Exeter Phoenix to take part in a new one-day workshop at the lively arts centre and write about it for The Exeter Daily , I agreed with alacrity. I signed up for 'Experimental Drawing' thinking it might give my drawing practice the kick-start it needed.
The group of ten who gathered on Monday morning came with widely differing experience and expectations. ‘Experimental’ could sound intimidating, but at least one participant interpreted it as open to those with little technical expertise. This proved to be true as there was no assumed knowledge and no...
Tap dancing and jazz in the Cathedral? Christmas Jazz last Saturday, presented by Exeter Festival Chorus with soloist Jacqui Dankworth and the Big Buzzard Boogie Band, led by Andy Williamson, was the most joyous, exciting musical and spiritual experience. Jacqui Dankworth's perfectly modulated and clear voice transfixed us with the beauty of her sound and exquisite interpretation. Her voice has matured and developed so that she equals her mother Cleo Laine's range and expression, but absolutely asserts her individual style.
We were led by the musical director and conductor Nigel...
