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PREVIEW: Let it Snow – Actually Gay Men’s Chorus

Don’t let the cold bother you this Christmas time!

Brighton and Hove’s ‘Actually’ Gay Men’s Chorus will present their annual Christmas concert Let it Snow! at St Andrew’s Church, Hove on Friday, December 22 at 8pm.

The men from Actually look forward to warming you up with their festive version of chorus favourites such as The Spirit of Christmas and O Holy Night as well as some lesser well-known but equally beautiful and atmospheric musical moments.

Sit back, relax and kick off your Christmas holiday in style enjoying classic tunes such as White Christmas and modern classics such as Let it Go!.

No Christmas concert is complete without a sing along. Join in with the chorus and sing audience favourites like O Come all ye Faithful and God rest ye Merry Gentlemen.

‘Actually’ will be joined on stage for the evening by the talented local soprano Karen Orchin.

The concert will be conducted by Musical Director Samuel Cousins, accompanied by Simon Gray on piano and supported by a festive Brass Ensemble throughout.

Proceeds from ticket and programme sales will be going to the chorus’ two chosen charities – The Sussex Beacon, who provide specialist care and support for those living with HIV and Inclusion for All (IFA), a national award-winning charity working across the UK to help prevent homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying in schools.


Event:  Let it Snow with Brighton and Hove’s Actually Gay Men’s Chorus

Where: St Andrew’s Church, Waterloo Street, Hove

When: Friday December 22

Time: 8pm

Cost: £14 / £12 concessions

To book tickets online, click here:

Or available in person at Prowler Store, St James Street, Brighton

 

REVIEW: The Real Thing @Theatre Royal

The Real Thing

By Tom Stoppard

Theatre Royal

A warm and comfy opening promised much, good music, a well-balanced cast, glossy set, a fun opening scene, a rug-pull, such potential; but then a miasma seemed to come over me and the play receded into cynicism.

I wasn’t gripped and although folk rave about this play I found it trite and unengaging, the characters are unpleasant, the humour mean and the laughter snobbish. I’ve been a fan of Stoppard for most of my life but this play, thirty years old now and certainly showing its age, has made me reassess him.  This is a play all about the heart, but without one of its own.

The set was as interesting as the acting, there was some pretty good Gplan furniture on show, well sourced by designer Jonathan Fensom including a simply perfect Halo Groucho sofa in faded Aniline leather, a fetching teak Danish style sideboard and a Charles E. style Swivel Chair with its ottoman that I coveted but I failed to engage with the actors. The ‘twist’ was more of a slight curve to the right and more of the same continued. It must be hard work to act so dismissively for so long and although the detachment of the characters and the dichotomy between what they say and what they do is part of the narrative engine of this play, I wasn’t convinced.

Stoppard’s words fly around, they are funny and caustic, the actors obviously enjoy speaking them, even if the sentences are often more than a mouthful, the set piece speeches are entertaining and irritating, clever, deep and shallow and it’s all very showy and apparently entertaining on one level, out came that cricket bat, but I was stumped.

The second half brought more laughter from the audience than the first and the cast seemed more settled, I sustained an interest in the sentences as they flew by but I didn’t care about any of the people on stage, the subplot of the solider/prisoner just another excuse for implausible grubbiness.  I wondered if a middle class intellectual so obsessed with taste would have prominent forearm tattoos’ in the early 1980’s , but that was it. At its core this is a depressing piece of theatre with far too much clowning around dressed up as meaning.

This play is all about honesty, I didn’t enjoy this play, honestly.

Plays until Saturday, November 4, 2017.

David Essex guest stars on video in Brighton family panto

Producers behind the new family pantomime, Cinderella, which opens on December 22 at The Hilton Brighton Metropole, have announced their cast for the show.

The line-up, which will see David Essex appear on-screen as Baron Hardup, includes West End performers, Jon Robyns as Prince Charming: Joseph Peters as Dandini and Alasdair Buchan playing one half of the repugnant ugly sisters Donaldina and Melania.

Completing the disgusting duo is none other than Cinderella co-producer and career pantomime dame David Hill.

Finally, the cast boasts a host of local celebrities in Lou Nash and Alex Baker from Juice 107.2, playing The Lord and Lady Chamberlain, Keris Lea from The Sundaes playing The Fairy Godmother and Dean Kilford from Latest TV, 1 Brighton FM and BBC Sussex, as Cinderella’s happy-go-lucky best friend, Buttons.

Co-producer David Hill, said: “The reaction to Cinderella has been overwhelming and we’ve already added an extra date due to the demand for tickets. We have secured a first class cast for this production and I’m very proud to be part of it”. 

A county-wide ‘Search for Cinders’ was mounted just over a month ago which resulted in over three hundred applications from actresses hoping to play Cinderella.

Co-producer and writer of the new show, Tim Newman, said: “Hannah Bailey who will be playing Cinderella offers us everything we were hoping for in this part and I know that every young girl in the audience will fall in love with her. I’m not sure what Hannah is more excited about, playing Cinders or having David Essex as her father in the show!”

Cinderella is being produced by Brighton Premiere, a collaboration of two Brighton based companies, E3 and The Brighton Academy of Performing Arts.

The creative team is also composed of West End stars, and has two cast members from 2015’s Disney’s live action version of Cinderella within its ranks!

It will be directed by Stuart Dawes with choreography from Emma Green and musical direction by Alex Turney.

This new production, which features a huge LED video wall and one of the largest pantomime casts in the country is only half of the experience. Ticket holders to the 750-seated auditorium, will also enjoy free entrance to a magical Christmas Fayre including delicious food options, dodgems and a chance to meet Santa himself!

Each performance will also be raising money for the three biggest children’s charities in Sussex, Chailey Heritage Foundation, Chestnut Tree House and Rockinghorse.

To purchase tickets online, click here:

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