Tag / Theatre

by Gareth

Live comedy catch-up

Just thought I’d make a quick post to document my last two comedy shows of the year. Last Thursday I was at The Lowry’s Lyric Theatre to see John Robins perform his latest comedy show, ‘Howl’. I’d had the ticket since the beginning of January and when I bought it, the only ones still available were on the back row of the lower circle – the furthest back I’ve sat in there!

‘John Robins – Howl’ at The Lowry.

When I was at the Edinburgh Fringe back in August, he was doing two shows – ‘Howl’ and a ‘Work-in-Progress’, so I decided to go to the WIP since I knew I already had a ticket for ‘Howl’ later in the year, and guessed that it would probably contain more stuff that wouldn’t end up in the main show. The Lowry show was in two parts and ran for about an hour and a half, and I was pleased to discover that whilst I recognised a bit of the material from Edinburgh, the majority was new to me. I thought he was really good… it’s a weird kind of show because it focusses a lot on mental health and dealing with alcoholism, so although it was quite dark and heavy in places, it was also pretty powerful and really funny, and I think the balance he struck was spot on.

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by Gareth

Video games and Bristol visitors

Lee at Arcade Club.

Last month, I spent a fun evening at Arcade Club in Bury with Michael and Lee. We went there back in January, and they have 4 floors of arcade machines and some other classic games from the 70s up to now! Just like my first time, my gaming skills weren’t the greatest, but it was really nice to catch up with both Michael and Lee – I’d seen Lee briefly whilst in Edinburgh in August, but I don’t think I’d seen Michael since our last time doing this.

Michael and Lee.

Michael at Arcade Club.

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by Gareth

Penn & Teller

Last night I got to see two of the world’s most famous magicians live in Manchester! Back in 2021, I spotted that they had planned to do a UK tour then but it’d been pushed back to 2023 because of Covid, so I checked to see if there were any tickets available and there still were a very limited amount on sale for the new date.

Penn & Teller.

I think I first saw them doing stuff back in the 90s when they had a TV show on Channel 4, where they’d do tricks with chainsaws and the like, often including a lot of fake blood! And obviously they’re massive in America, with a Vegas residency and appearing on TV quite a bit over there. They opened with a gag about them now performing age-appropriate magic, since they’ve been working together for 50 years, so started off with an escapology routine with them in rocking chairs with on oxygen cylinder on hand to help with their breathing!

Penn & Teller.

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by Gareth

The Lion King and Arcade Club

Last night I was in Manchester to see The Lion King at the Palace Theatre – it’s in the middle of a run that finishes at the start of March, and I’ve got stuff coming up next month so thought it’d be good to get a ticket to see it now. I’m a big fan of the soundtrack to original film – I’ve listened to it many, many times, so it’s definitely a musical I’ve always wanted see.

The Lion King at the Palace Theatre.

Anyway, I only bought the ticket last week – there were hardly any seats still available apart from a few really expensive ones, but there was a single seat available on the second row of the circle for a pretty decent price. It had a note on the booking site saying it had limited legroom, but the difference in price meant I thought I’d go for cost over comfort! And they really weren’t lying about the legroom – there wasn’t much room at all between the rows!

The show itself is absolutely amazing! I actually felt emotional at the start as it opened with Circle of Life, from the iconic music to all the performers swarming onto the stage from the sides and the stalls.

The Lion King cast.

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by Gareth

A week at the Edinburgh Fringe

So it’s been quite a busy August so far! Last week, I was up in Scotland where I spent five days up at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. I had a bit of nightmare journey getting there. I’d had a couple of days back home after being down in London, and then last Tuesday caught a 10am train from Stockport, planning to arrive in Edinburgh mid afternoon to give me plenty of time to check into my accommodation, and then head to the first show I’d booked which was at 6pm.

Of course, it didn’t go quite to plan. We got Lockerbie where the train didn’t move for quite a while because of a major power outage on the line – then about an hour later we were told they decided to take us to Glasgow instead, and we’d then have to make our way to Edinburgh by any connecting train we could get – perfect! So we got into Glasgow Central at 4pm (2½ hours after I was originally supposed to arrive in Edinburgh!), and then had to race across the city with loads of other passengers to get a train from Queen Street station, and I was lucky to get on one that was leaving right away, so got into Edinburgh not too long after 5 o’clock. This gave me just enough time to get to my accommodation on Hollyrood Road, and then up to the Pleasance Courtyard for Tim Vine’s show at 6pm. It was pretty tight, and I felt a bit worn out by the time I made it to the venue, but was just relieved to have finally made it!

George Square Gardens.

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by Gareth

Wimbledon and the West End

Just got back from a really great week filming down in London. I was staying down there for seven days working at Wimbledon for the ‘Play Your Way To Wimbledon’ tournament, producing social content each day for ESPN. Ahead of the week, I’d done a few filming days profiling three of the players, so had already had a chance to work with some of the crew – Ged who was producing all the content (and who I’ve been aware of for years through mutual friends, but never worked with before), and another cameraman called Billy who’s based in the midlands and mostly does stuff for Sky Sports.

Filming at Wimbledon.

Me, Billy and another cameraman called Tony spent the days filming lots of the tennis matches, as well as shooting extra features with former tennis pro Laura Robson, who was with us to present each day’s social video. I felt a bit sorry for the editor Alex who had to deliver the final video at the end of each day, because we were constantly supplying him with more and more footage as he was trying to compile that day’s edit! I was kind of happy that I was filming rather than editing on this project!

Tony, Ged, Laura, Liam, Saff and me in Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

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by Gareth

Recent shows

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been out to a couple of live shows in Manchester – the first one was just over a week ago, when I went to see the National Theatre production of ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time‘ at the Opera House.

‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time’ at the Opera House.

I first heard about it a while back – I think it debuted about 10 years ago, but it came to my attentions because of its good reviews, and also the fact that it uses projection mapping to use video imagery as part of the set to tell the story, so that had also been a factor in me wanting to see it.

Connor Curren as Christopher.

I was also interested in the fact that the lead character has autistic traits, and that the video content was used to reflect what’s going on inside his brain, and wanted to see how that was all handled.

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by Gareth

Recent gigs

Just thought I’d do a bit of a catch-up on some gigs and shows I’ve been to so far this year.

Last night I was at the Manchester Arena to see the Stereophonics. I had a seated ticket, and I was in a block quite near to the stage, so had a pretty good view. With the current situation regarding Coronavirus, I was a bit concerned about being in such a big crowd, but luckily there was no-one nearby coughing crazily(!), and I tried to make sure I didn’t touch my face, or touch too many doors or bannisters! It made me feel glad I’d only been able to get a seated ticket when I saw how much the people down on the main floor were squashed up against each other!

Stereophonics.

Stereophonics.

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