Theatre Record News

August news

August

This month is mostly given over to the Edinburgh Festivals and you'll see the reviews appear in purple on the 'latest production reviews' page. They will appear in a separate issue as usual, once all the reviews are in. The first 2 have just gone on, and we'll see if we can match last year's entries - 590 productions with 1328 reviews.

Speaking of totals, looking at the entries since 2022 when we started the new database, we've listed 12,318 actors, 13,695 creatives, and listed 15,513 reviews. We've entered reviews from 543 different theatre venues with 53 different reviewers. We currently have 5738 productions listed and in total there have been 21,228 productions on the listings page. The most popular actress has been Blythe Jandoo and the most poplular actor has been Sam Stopford.

We're also continuing to improve the press contact details on the 'What's On' page as well as continuing to enter the archive to improve the search facility. In typing up 1985 I've been entering some names including Ralph Fiennes, and his first stage debut as Curio in Twelfth Night at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London. 1985 and 1986 should be searchable within the month.

As always, please do get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions.

July news

July

This month we have continued to add listings for the Edinburgh festivals, and we are gearing up to review all that we can during August. We will, as always, produce a separate issue just for the festivals as well as the usual one.

We have made some small changes including moving the side bar with 'Latest News', 'Latest Reviews' and 'Affiliates' down to the bottom of the page now, which makes the main page easier to read.

We will continue to improve the 'What’s On' listings, and are aware there is still more work to do here, including making sure all the press contacts are there.

It’s not been all work and no play. I did manage to see a wonderful production of 'The Sweet Delilah Swim Club' by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, which was presented by my local drama club here in Weymouth. What a great production. I’m always impressed by the talent as well as the commitment, and of course by going to productions such as this, we can all support the arts and ensure they thrive in our own communities.

Thank you for your continued support as always, and do let us know if you have any suggestions or comments at editor@theatrerecord.com

May news

May

This month we're continuing to enter the archive, and it's slow progress. We're getting there one year at a time.

Also, we've tweaked a few things to keep the site running efficiently and smoothly. We'll continue to improve the listings page further too.

I'm pleased to say that Doollee is now on line again and you can click on the link under 'Affiliates' to get there. There will shortly be some changes to the site so that people know that the website is left in tribute to Julian who died in September 2022, in honour of his work. His family have some ideas to develop it in the future but for now, it's lovely to have it available again.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions please do let me know at editor@theatrerecord.com

April news

April

We've made some more improvements to the website this month. On the 'What's On' tab you can now sort by title, theatre and date, which we hope may be very helpful. Edinburgh Festival listings are continuously being added too.

We're working on improving the 'What's On' section further, to make sure that shows don't get listed twice. We'll get that changed soon, as well as making sure the description sections are correct. Thanks to all of you who pointed out these errors - it really helps us to improve.

Outdoor theatre has started again - shame about the weather though. I hope the sun comes out as more of these productions take place all over the country. We'll try and list as many of these as we can.

We're making some headway into adding the backlog to make everything searchable too, which is great.

As always, do let us know if you have any suggestions or comments at editor@theatrerecord.com

March news

March

Although it's only March, the Edinburgh Festival line up has already been announced. We have added the Edinburgh fringe listings to the website, and as more performances are announced, we shall add them as time goes along. The Edinburgh International shows are announced on 7th March, so we'll add them to the listings too. There's more information if you're interested - www.edfringe.com and www.eif.co.uk.

I've managed to catch a few shows this month, one being Cecil Beaton's Diaries, which was reviewed in TR at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022. Reading the reviews, it was a mixture of opinion but I did agree with The Reviews Hub review in that it was a 'delightful, intimate, personal performance'. I'm glad I saw it.

I've also seen Casting the Runes by Box Tale Soup at our local college theatre. It was wonderful. The acting was superb, the puppets (which they made themselves) were an excellent addition, and so skillfully used, and the minimal set was cleverly moved and used. Thoroughly enjoyable.

As you know, TR lists major productions as well as small ones, and I hope you manage to see some great theatre this month. As ever, we'll try to list and review as much as possible from around the country.

We're continuing with entering the backlog of TR, so more and more is now searchable. It's a slow process, but we'll get there.

As always, do let us know if you have any suggestions or comments at editor@theatrerecord.com

January news

January has sped by already and we have completed issue 1 of 2024 with 32 productions so far. We are making progress with inputting the backlog of reviews and we are experimenting with using AI to speed up the input. Fingers crossed we can get somewhere with this, as this will speed things up considerably.

On another note, now Christmas is over I've been creating my new birthday/Christmas list as I tend to do through the year, and have found some interesting titles on 'Stageplays' under 'gifts for thespians'. I'm definitely putting 'Grinning at the Edge - A Biography of Alan Ayckbourn' on my list. Have a look for some great presents by clicking on the 'stageplays' link under AFFILIATES and use the 'browse' tab.

We are still making improvements to the 'listings' page, and thank you to those of you who gave some ideas for this. It may take a bit of time as we work things into the website, but it can only get better.

We are continuing to collect copies of the printed Theatre Record, so if you wish to part with some of your spares knowing they will be rehomed or if you need any to complete your collection, do please let us know.

We'll have all the reviews as always, and we hope you enjoy reading what February has to offer. Thank you too for those of you using Theatre Record for your studies. It's always a pleasure, knowing that Theatre Record can help here too.

As always, do let us know if you have any suggestions or comments at editor@theatrerecord.com

Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year Everyone

Thank you for continuing to subscribe to Theatre Record and we appreciate all of your support over the last year.

As you'll see in the archive, we've posted the Christmas issue as well as a December issue. We hope we've managed to post all of the major productions and will be adding a few more yet. Here are some statistics you might be interested to know -

So far we have covered 54 Christmas productions, 17 of which were in London with 37 regional ones. A Christmas Carol in all locations was reviewed 58 times. There were a total of 344 cast listed across the Christmas shows with 541 creatives. Just goes to show how important all the creatives are in the industry.

The pantos and Christmas shows will continue into February and I'm sure many of you will catch your local production or indeed, have seen it already.

On another note, we have had a few requests from people looking to complete their magazine collection so if any of you have any Theatre Record magazines you wish to pass on, do please let me know. Also, if you're searching for any missing copies, we may be able to help you out there too.

The digital backlog is still progressing, and will be completed this year, which will be wonderful. The whole archive will then be searchable.

As always, please do get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions

editor@theatrerecord.com

December news

December News

We are continuing to add more and more to the archive so all is fully searchable, and some of you have suggested some ideas to improve this search engine even further. We'll implement all that we can, and of course continue to introduce any new ideas and suggestions that you might have, if possible.

It's panto time now too, so we will aim to cover as many reviews as we can to give a round up of what's going on nationwide. There will be a separate issue for Christmas, which will appear at the end of December. Of course, you will still be able to read all the reviews as normal under the 'reviews' tab, as they come out.

I wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas, and thank you all for your continued support.

November news

November News

This month we have entered another couple of years from the archive, so now everything from 1981 to 1983 is now fully searchable. It's interesting to see what names come up such as, Tilda Swinton and Judi Dench. We'll continue entering the data and we're on track to enter the whole archive by next summer. It will be a wonderful addition to Theatre Record.

Thank you to all of you who have suggested ideas to improve Theatre Record, and we will implement them as we go along. One of the things we will be doing is to create a way to put the 'What's On' listings into alphabetical order. We'll also be tidying up the listings page. If you have any more suggestions, we'd love to hear them. Suggestions are always welcome to editor@theatrerecord.com.

Enjoy any shows you manage to see this month and as always, thank you for subscribing to Theatre Record.

October news

October

I hope some of you have managed to catch some outdoor theatre and have been lucky with the weather. I managed to catch a reworking of 'The Tempest' outside at Portland Bill, here in Dorset. It was part of the b-side Festival fringe and was created by professional actors and writers working with local people and local actors. I loved it, and thought it was a great piece of community theatre, set in a dramatic location to add to the atmosphere. Costumes were created by local designers and students of Bournemouth University, and the music and singing came from Portland's Island Voices Community Choir. A great collaboration. Well done to all involved.

The last time I saw 'The Tempest' was in the early 90's, again an outdoor production set in the grounds of Corfe Castle here in Dorset. I didn't really think anything at the time, but in the lead role was a young Mark Rylance. Again, a fantastic, atmospheric production.

I've been busy inputting the data for the search engine of Theatre Record from 1981 this week. It has been interesting to see names come up from then, and I saw that Mark Rylance was in a production of Eastward Ho! in 1981 at the Mermaid Theatre. Another young actress in the same production being Anita Dobson.

As I reflect on the career of another great, Sir Michael Gambon, I read the reviews form the 1981 production of Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre, where he played Benedick.

As I continue to add all the 40 plus years of information from Theatre Record, it's so interesting to see where some of these famous names started out. I hope once I've finished inputting all the data that Theatre Record will be a comprehensive, essential resource and the database will increase with time.

As always, please pass on any comments or suggestions to editor@theatrerecord.com.

Thank you

September news

September

Edinburgh Fringe and International festivals are over for another year and I hope you enjoyed them if you managed to go. Most reviews are in now, and you can now see the listings on the 2023 archive page. We managed to cover 590 productions with 1328 reviews so far. There were nearly 3000 cast involved and almost 1700 creatives. What an achievement for everyone and I'm sure it was a great experience for those first timers.

We're still working on adding the back catalogue and this month we will be adding 1982 and 1983, so they will then be fully searchable. It's interesting to see some names back in the 80's issues as people were just starting out or working mostly in theatre such as Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Tessa Peake Jones and David Bradley.

We'll continue to bring you all the reviews and as always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know at editor@theatrerecord.com

August - Edinburgh Festivals

August - Edinburgh festivals

Well, we're mid way through the year and looking forward to the Edinburgh festivals - Fringe and International. It should be a busy month and you'll be able to read all the reviews of course, here on the website.

As well as preparing for that, we've started to enter the Theatre Record archive onto the website so when you search for a title, author, theatre, director, cast or creative you will see everything within Theatre Record for that search. In the past, it was a bit hit and miss. Some things were there and some where not. Also, it sometimes took a while to load. As you might imagine, it's a big task but as we enter each year, of course, there will be more and more information which is searchable. We've just entered 1981 so that's now fully searchable. It's going to take about 6 months before everything is on there but it's getting there. We'll keep you updated as the months go on.

I went to see Oklahoma! with Maureen Lipman and Hugh Jackman, the 1998 revival in my local cinema as part of NT live and was very much looking forward to it after reading the reviews on Theatre Record. The singing, the dancing, the set, the choreography, the acting... all wonderful. Although the audience was small, everyone came out feeling like they had just watched something spectacular.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know at editor@theatrerecord.com and enjoy the Edinburgh Festival if you get a chance to go.

June - Edinburgh Listings

June - Edinburgh Listings

Another month has flown by and we're getting ready for the Edinburgh Festival. You'll now see that we've listed all of the Edinburgh Fringe theatre productions that have been issued so far - there's just over 750 listed at the moment - and more will be added weekly as they appear.

Last year there were just under 800 productions listed of which 380 were reviewed and published in Theatre Record. We'll certainly publish as many as we can if they are reviewed. I'm about to add the Edinburgh International theatre productions too, so they will be on the website shortly. All is available to see under the 'What's On' tab.

I've seen 'Best of Enemies' from the Noel Coward theatre recently as part of the NT live sessions. What an amazing set. How do they do it? I'm looking forward to seeing Oklahoma! next with Maureen Lipman and Hugh Jackman, the 1998 revival. Looking at the reviews, it should be wonderful. I hope you get to see some great theatre if you can and we'll continue to cover all the reviews in Theatre Record. Fingers crossed for a sunny evening if you are watching an outdoor performance.

Thank you to those of you who have offered suggestions, which helps us to make Theatre Record even better. As always you can send an email to editor@theatrerecord.com

Alison Cook

May news

May news

This month at Theatre Record we will be adding the listings for the Edinburgh festivals ahead of our coverage. At the moment there are about 300 theatre productions as well as cabaret, comedy of course, and music. We'll also continue to add outdoor performance listings when we see them and I'm looking forward to seeing some local outdoor performances myself in the next month or two.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their magazines to the British Library for their collection. I'm happy to say, they've almost got a complete set of Theatre Record magazines now but are still missing issue 1 of 1985, so if anyone has a spare out there do let me know.

I really enjoyed watching WOW, perform 'Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Teen Edition' at my local theatre this month. What a lot of talent amongst these young performers and it was a pleasure as always to watch them perform. I also watched the NT live broadcast of 'Good' at my local cinema. That was also a full audience. I enjoyed them both, one perhaps considerably more than the other but terrific acting and very talented creatives throughout. You can't like them all but that's ok. I compared my thoughts with those of the reviewers in Theatre Record and I was not alone.

In the news at the time was the story about the behaviour of audience members which was on my mind as I watched both performances. I can see why some people feel their evening is spoilt by other people's 'inappropriate' behaviour. I'm sure we all have an opinion on what's right and wrong.

I will be watching the NT live production of 'Best of Enemies' from the Noel Coward theatre in May and no doubt I will catch a couple of local drama group productions too. Enjoy whatever you manage to see and enjoy reading all the reviews in Theatre Record.

As always, do let us know of any feedback and/or suggestions at editor@theatrerecord.com

April news

April news

We hope you enjoyed the VAULT festival if you were able to go. The issue is out now and you can see it on the 'Archive' page along with the issue for the L.I.M.F. In these difficult times, I hope that the VAULT festival can find a new home.

This month has also seen the closing of Oldham Coliseum and the sad news that Riverside Studios going into administration. Even with support from folks like you and me who regularly use their theatre, it may be that spiralling costs just don't make it viable any more. It’s a tough time for arts venues and we all feel very sad about this.

We've had to fight in the past to keep our local theatre open and thanks to some great work from campaigners and many volunteers, it has worked. I'm off to see my local youth theatre company, WOW, perform 'Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Teen Edition' next Saturday and I know the 1000+ seat theatre will be packed, full of support for these talented youngsters. Many of them have gone on to work within the drama industry using the experience they gained at WOW to help them.

As always, please do tell us your comments and ideas. They're always welcome at editor@theatrerecord.com

Happy Easter everyone

Alison Cook