Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Autumn Fair 2010

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Autumn Fair 2010

This year the fair was held on the ground and 1st floors of the Congress Theatre with various stalls, competitions, raffles and, for the first time, tours of the Congress Theatre on offer.

I was lucky enough to be on the first tour of the day and enjoyed a very interesting explanation as to what occurs behind the scenes from both experienced theatre staff and Mark Sayer, the very knowledgable stage manager of the Congress Theatre.

At a mere £2.50 per tour this new way of fund raising was proving very popular and I hope they continue this in future years.

Actually, as the Government slashes cultural budgets it may be worth other theatres thinking about opening their doors with guided tours. We have some beautiful theatres in this country and it is nice appreciating them without crowds and looking at them from different viewpoints.

Laugh of the day came when Mark Sayer showed the plan of how Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had been accomodated and hidden behind the scenes. He then produced a large Health and Safety issues manual which appeared over an inch thick. "Is that for the theatre?" someone asked "No!" Mark responded "Just for this show!". He was serious too!

I won't go into further detail as you need to appreciate this tour for yourself. But I think it's something every Congress Theatre goer should so at least once. You will learn a lot which may surprise you.

Former Dr Who, Colin Baker, who was still appearing in House Of Ghosts at the Devonshire Park Theatre kindly gave up his time to open the event (see video below)

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Summer Garden Party 2010

I am delighted to present here many highlights of The Friends Summer Garden party held at Charleston Manor just outside Eastbourne on 7th August 2010.

On the left is actress Louise Jameson who has not only appeared at the Devonshire Park Theatre many times but is also keen to support the theatre.

She made a surprise appearance at this event to give her support.

I am kicking off the rest of the media with my pics of the wonderful Sea Gypsies, Eastbourne's popular belly dancers.

Next I move on to Richard Curtis and his wonderful K9 Freestyle dancing dogs display. Here is a slideshow of the stills I took on the day.

Part 3 arrives in the shape of the worlds finest ventriloquist (in my view anyway) Steve Hewlett and his wonderful Friends. Hope you enjoy these stills.

OK we move on.... general stills now from the event at beautiful Charleston Manor, Litlington, Eastbourne includes more of Louise Jameson's guest appearance.

OK We move on to video highlights. Here is my offering on the Sea Gypsies. It's a mix of HD and standard definition footage. I made a clips production rather than posting any full track/dance sequence as I think the full performance is best appreciated live and doing this way it is more of a promotional video yet still entertaining.

More video with Richard Curtis and his K9 Freestyle Dancing Dogs. I thought I would be doing just one video. However Richard's presentation is educational for dog owners as well as entertaining. Taking this into account and with the amount of footage we shot I decided to produce individual videos of each dog.

I should point out that on YouTube many videos of Richard have ended up completely silent because users have uploaded video with Richards background music playing. The copyright owners have objected and YouTube have censored accordingly. This has effectively ruined all such videos as dialogue is cut also.

Where the dogs dance to a background track I have substituted the original music with a fully licenced Smartsound track. I have tried to use music of a similar genre and tempo and although I had doubts as to whether this would work I am actually pleased with the end result.

So here is the first video. Please welcome Richard Curtis and Whizzy....

Next up was cute and tiny Betty

Not finished yet..... here's Pogo

Finally from Richard Curtis we had a bit of a Disco

Last but not least I leave you with the amazingly talented Steve Hewlett.

Steve's had a busy year in 2010. Whilst still undertaking performances around the country he has been starring in the long season variety show Hooked On Laughter at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne. At the time of writing this he's still there until early November so don't miss it.

Steve has also been busy supporting the friends of the Devonshire Park Theatre. From my other videos you will know Steve entertained at their Spring Fair and here he is at the Summer Garden Party held at Charleston Manor Litlington, Eastbourne.

We had the whole routine on video but I don't think it benefits the artist duplicating the whole act, especially if you are going to see him live.

So, instead, I've produced a 10 minute highlights video. It's ended up being a nice little Steve Hewlett promo video.

In his routines Steve is always very complimentary about other well known ventriloquists. However I truly believe this guy beats them all hands down both by way of skill and personality.

It's not just the ventriloquism but the spontaneity of his act that makes him stand out. Many artists abide by a script no matter what. Not Mr Hewlett he seems to be able to use things going on around him to benefit the act.

His 'voice throwing' skills are amazing and his variety of 'friends' all makes for an act that always leaves you smiling.

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Summer Fair 7th August 2010

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre

Summer Fair

7th August 2010

Charleston Manor

West Dean

East Sussex

The excellent Steve Hewlett is bringing his friends along for what is guaranteed to be an entertaining routine. Brilliant stuff like this....

Richard Curtis and his Dancing Dogs. Who? This canine training genius ........

The Sea Gypsies will return for more belly dancing and hopefully the sun will shine on them this year... although at least this year it's possible to move indoors!

Something to appeal to all generations. Kids will love Steve (big kids too)

Any pet lover should enjoy Richard Curtis and his canine chums.

Dad's should enjoy the Sea Gypsies and whilst he's occupied mum can wander off and spend his cash on the many stalls to get revenge.

All for a paltry admission fee of £1.50

The official leaflet and map is below. But if you want a clearer idea of where Charleston Manor is if you click the 'location' link at the very bottom of this post who will see an extremely clear Google Map to help you find your way.

Gotta Sing Gotta Dance Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne Review

Gotta Sing Gotta Dance

Devonshire Park

Eastbourne

30 July - 28 August

(show seen 30 July)

Cast

Craig Daniel-Adams
Lara Denning
Rebecca Lisewski
Lisa Mathieson
Phillipe Reynolds
Clare Rickard
Adam Scown

"Following the success of last summer’s visit, Gotta Sing Gotta Dance is back with a stunning new show for 2010." (source Visit Eastbourne web site by Eastbourne Borough Council)

There is a key word in that sentence which is actually about as far from the truth as you are going to get. The word being 'new'.

Well it's the kind of statement that retailers are actually allowed to get away with. TV shopping channels are, for example, allowed to describe a beauty treatment as 'new' when it is in fact the same product but in slightly different packaging.

Last years performance of Gotta Sing Gotta Dance was one of the best musical productions we'd ever seen. So good we went to see it twice in fact.

This years show fell on the eve of our silver wedding anniversary and thank God it didn't fall on the actual day as it would have been an anniversary remembered for all the wrong reasons.

A warning is clearly displayed about flashing lights for those who are photosensitive. Those at the front are rightly warned about sudden large, and quite impressive, pyrotechnics. But try as I might I couldn't see this warning displayed.

Yes in these days of efficiency we are even recycling old shows and presenting them as new.

Yes, the cast has changed, yes some of the songs have changed, yes there are new dance routines and yes there are some good special effects.

But equally there is a heck of a lot of material that was used in last years show. Same songs, almost identical dialogue on occasions and the finale was practically a performed photocopy.

Yes I realise it was first night and those are always nervy affairs for performers but vocally some of the songs were destroyed, more shouted than sang. The choreography was not even remotely close to last years dancing perfection. The costumes were uninspiring.

Seven people performed this year what last year was delivered brilliantly by just 5. Perhaps it's just more recycling but in the programme, whilst this years cast are credited, a lot of the images of last years super cast. It's like rubbing salt in the wound.

I thought things strange at the start of this show when two of the lads did a long tap routine. They looked so knackered afterwards you had to wonder if they were going to last to the interval. But last they did, announcing "we're now 20 minutes into the show" and I thought, looking at my watch "is that all?".

At the interval you could hear many comments similar to our own "the vocals are awful", "they are out of step", "they did that last year", "she has an awful voice" and "they have haven't changed much".

However I wish to be completely fair and the reaction was much, much more positive from those who had never seen the show before. They did not have any prior experience of Gotta Sing Gotta Dance to judge against. One lovely couple I met , on holiday from London, remarked  "this is good aren't they doing well for just 7 people?............ but have you been to see Broadway Bound at the Congress it's so professional?!". I resisted the temptation to reply "Yes but last year it was done a lot better by only 5 people. We saw most of this routine last year and yes the 'amateur' Rattonians are far more professional."

We seriously, in the interval, thought about going along to the Congress and offering to make a donation to The Rattonians nominated charity to watch the end of their stunning production again.

But no we stuck with it in the hope the second half would be different.

It wasn't.

Clare Rickard did stand out as being the most confident vocalist throughout. Her vocal range is excellent, she has superb facial expression and her delivery of "The Girl from 14G" was, for us, the most entertaining and beautifully delivered song of the night - and it was something genuinely new to the show.

Gotta Sing Gotta Dance, as with last year, ends with its trademark medleys and 4 minute whistle-stop tour of the West-End. For the uninitiated it is energetic and entertaining but for those of us who saw the blood brothers boys on the floor moment and the sister act comedy bit last year I'm afraid it's more of the same.

Frankly I'll be quite honest here and say that at the end of the show many in the audience did give a standing ovation to the exhausted performers but it was also very noticeable that those, like us, who were blown away by last years West End quality production stayed seated.

I daresay that vocally this show will improve during its long Devonshire Park run. I also guess that there will be some "tweaking" here and there before the nationwide tour starts.

Overall verdict as it stands? OK to see if you are new to Gotta Sing Gotta Dance but if you saw last years production let the great memories of that show stay with you.

Hopefully if there is a 2011 version of GSGD 'new' will actually mean "100% new"

Des O'Connor Congress Theatre Eastbourne 2010 Review

Des O'Connor

Congress Theatre

Eastbourne

3rd July 2010

We grew up with Des O'Connor. Well no, not literally. But both with mothers who adored the likes of Des together with Val Doonican, Max Bygraves, Neil Sedaka and similar artists we were drip-fed "easy listening" music from birth.

I fully expect that there are many others in our generation who were fed such a musical diet with many 60's rock 'n roll dishes thrown in to the mix.

Eventually becoming teens in the late 70's and choosing our own musical preferences of the 80's we are a generation who can probably appreciate what some may see as a bizarre variety of music. It does, however, still result in the occasional odd look when you go to the likes of a Des O'Connor show when you are about 20 years younger than the average audience member.

Having mentioned the 80's, fans of the decade's music may appreciate a reminder that Level 42 are at Eastbourne's Congress Theatre on 19th October 2010 (01323 412000 all tickets £25 and no - I'm not on commission or connected with the theatre)

Anyway, back to Des. If you are lucky and have collected all his records you may have in your collection one of the rare 78s. Yes most of Des's records were the standard 45 or 33 1/3 rpm issues but there are a few 78s scattered around the world.

To the right you see another 78...... Des at 78 years young..... and as I am sure you can tell from this and the other images on this page  he is still performing just as reliably as his old vinyls.

Des thank you for uttering at the beginning of your show those words that are rarely spoken by any artist these days. "If you wish to take photos please do so. When you enter show-business you must expect to have your photo taken it goes with the job." I  have always abided by the no photography rule when applied by performers so it is always refreshing when the likes of Des realize that photography provides great memories and for somebody, like me, who is trying just to promote theatre it makes the feature that much more interesting, especially for lifelong fans.

Des performs the whole show himself. After all who needs a warm up when you are a versatile master of comedy and musical performance?

He strolled on at the start to very appreciative applause from the Eastbourne audience. I have to say that given the age demographics of Hastings/Bexhill/Eastbourne/Brighton and surrounding areas I thought the size of the crowd was disappointing. But it's nothing to do with the artist - it just seems to be par for the course in theatres at the moment.

The first half of the show Des uses mainly for recounting memories, comedy and a few songs, together with requests. Much of the time is spent in two way banter with the audience. As his pianist/musical director left the stage for a short while Des made a genuine offer to the audience. He asked if anybody in the crowd could play the piano and no matter how good or bad they were he would sing along and sign one of his albums as a thank you.

At other theatres Des has had people take him up on the offer (he could even end up singing  Happy Birthday, a Christmas carol or a nursery rhyme if that's all someone could play), but sadly either nobody in this relatively elderly 450-500 strong audience could play anything or they had stage fright.

On 22nd August 2010 Des comes back "down south" to Worthing Pavilion. So people of East and West Sussex from the time I write this you have six weeks to dust off the piano or keyboard and to practice playing anything at all that Des could sing to. It would be nice if, in Worthing, he makes the same offer that a few hands went up rather than the rather rather sad Eastbourne response. Audience participation can be a great highlight of a show. Fortunately this show did not rely on it to be thoroughly entertaining. Those who wish to catch this show in Worthing can book on 01903 206206 (again I have no connection with this or any other  theatre)

Somewhat bizarrely Des is probably the only person who has had the mickey taken out of his music all his life, particularly by other comedians (the late Eric Morecambe being the first), and yet that has publicized his music and his easy going personality all the more. As a result he has sold millions of records and still continues to release albums today with Inspired being the latest.

Talking of Inspired how nice it is also to see an artist who doesn't try to milk every last penny from their audience for their merchandise. Des's album was just £5 and his £18.99 RRP hardback biography a mere £10 (a super book). If you are not "Stage Door Shy" he'll sign them too. I would advise anybody seeing Des's Shows to consider buying his items because, believe me, he is good value compared to most well known artists! (Des please send my commission cheque to ......... :) )

After the interval the rest of the Des's band join him on stage and there is a great balance of music and laughter in the remaining part of the show. He also continues to demonstrate why he has also had such a successful TV presenting career as his reminiscences of people and artists who have influenced him remain fascinating.

Happily married to Jodie and with his youngest child ,5 year old Adam, keeping him on his toes at home Des O'Connor remains as active and entertaining as ever. I certainly hope we see him touring again soon as he went down very well with the Congress Theatre crowd.

Oh and Des, if you happen to read this. If you can remember the message you asked us to pass on to Ken Dodd the following night, if we met him, we'll we did just that. The reply was "Oh isn't that nice.................... what's he after?". Thought you'd find that response as funny as we did.... there's only one Ken Dodd!

Bradley Walsh The Wife's New Shoes Tour 2010 Congress Theatre, Eastbourne

Bradley Walsh

The Wife's New Shoes Tour 2010

Congress Theatre

Eastbourne

30th June 2010

Eastbourne represented the penultimate venue for Bradley's latest tour. Only The Lighthouse in Poole was left to play the next day.

Before I get to Mr Walsh I must pay credit to Bradley's  support act, Tucker. Tucker is a local lad being from Eastbourne himself.

He too is a comedian, very much along the lines of Bradley Walsh. For a show where stand-up-comedy was the theme this was a good choice, especially as he was very good. It would have been awful to see a bad comedy warm up for a well known artist. But this was not the case and funny Tucker (took care to spell those two words correctly!) was well received by the Eastbourne audience.

That just left Bradley Walsh to try and entertain us for the remaining hour and a half or so.

And entertain the Eastbourne crowd he did. In many places following the script he had planned beforehand and in just as many other moments doing the completely unpredictable. As an actor Bradley is great. As a stand up comedian, like his best buddy Joe Pasquale, he has the ability to keep an audience laughing from beginning to end.

OK it was nowhere near a sell-out, so few shows are these days, but I heard nothing but good things muttered about Bradley Walsh's performance when the curtain came down at the end.

This was the first time we had seen Bradley Walsh but it won't be the last. If the current tour hadn't been ending I'd have even been tempted to see this show again.

I am sure my good lady won't mind me saying this but it takes a very good comedian to keep her entertained? As she raved about the complete show afterwards being so incredibly funny throughout (and continued to laugh long after) Bradley Walsh has made a fussy comedy critic very happy! She assures me this praise has nothing to do with the kiss she got from Bradley after the show.

Perhaps, in the future, Bradley and Joe Pasquale may consider doing a combined comedy tour together? It would make a great show. You can see how many years (25+) Bradley has known Joe by the superb impressions he does of him.

Many people try to do a take on Joe's 'squeak' but Bradley for me has his it spot-on. It is clear from this show that they have shared many hilarious times together - it seems a shame not to do a comedy tour sometime.

I hope you enjoy the clips below. When Bradley suddenly whipped my wife's crutch onto the stage I had to grab the camera quick - I've tagged a couple of clips after it to make a sort of mini Bradley Walsh promo video.

Incidentally Bradley has a great official web site at www.bradleywalsh.co.uk/ which is kept well updated with his latest projects both theatrical and on TV.

If you would like to see more of my pictures of Bradley at the Congress Theatre you can view them here fdpt.org.uk/bradley-walsh-wifes-new-shoes.htm

For a show that kept us laughing there is only one appropriate score.

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Spring Fair 2010

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Spring Fair 2010

Saturday 22nd May 2010

9.30am to 12 noon

Use the arrows at the side of the video to change the selected scene

An incredibly fine day for a Spring Fair with the sun shining and barely a cloud visible. You can't ask for more.

Well you could ask for an incredibly talented ventriloquist to turn up and to perform for free and for all the stars of your latest thriller to put in an appearance that may help.

Well it's just as well the Friends did ask because they ALL turned up and gave their time to this fund raising cause.

The brilliant Steve Hewlett took a break from his long season at The Royal Hippodrome theatre in Hooked On Laughter and put on an excellent spontaneous show accompanied by one of his own "Friends", Arthur. Steve showed that he is not only a skilled ventriloquist at a rehearsed routine but that he is equally skilled at ad-libbing, adjusting his routine and still being incredibly funny in an ever changing environment. The footage you see on this review is a great advert for the Royal Hippodrome show where he appears with other incredibly talented entertainers in an extremely popular show which regularly sells out.

I thought we may be lucky on the day to see one of the stars of Inside Job turn up to support the event. To have all 3 appear was amazing. The lovely Michelle Morris, together with the friendly ex-Emmerdale stars Chris Villiers and Matt Healy were all able to lend their support.

There were a range of stalls including a wine raffle, book stall and tombola. The cakes, which Steve Hewlett and Michelle Morris noticed very quickly went down well! However I must say the plant sales seemed to be incredibly popular. Probably because whoever nurses these plants obviously does a great job. A great priced, quality product, will always sell. I am now talking very nicely to some tomato plants in my greenhouse!

As is always the case with the Friends seasonal fairs, which are held at the theatre, there was the opportunity of a backstage tour with talk for £2.50. These are usually very popular, I have no idea what the take up was today.

Any downside? Well this isn't a show review but 2 and a half hours is never long enough. But with a matinee performance of Inside Job in the afternoon the clearing up would have to be done before the audience starts to arrive.

There's also no point in starting earlier as nobody would be about.

The key here is the star guests. If only you could advertise knowing 100% that these 4 incredible artists would be attending the numbers would have been a heck of a lot higher. Kids (of which there were few) would have loved Steve Hewlett!

But I realise that unless that certainty is 'cast in concrete' there is little point in doing so.

I couldn't help but look around and feel that something was 'missing' from the stalls. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but there looked to be too much free space at the front of the theatre. Some incredibly easy fund raising opportunities are also not adopted.

Nonetheless the existing fair format I expect still raised some worthwhile funds in this beautiful couple of hours.

The summer event is longer as it is held away from the theatre. If The Friends can arrange for some well known artists to definitely be there and advertise it widely people could do well to look at my videos and see that there is a good reason for a great day out. Last years summer fair raised the chance to meet Ruth Madoc, Tony Adams and Harry Dickman from The Last Of The Summer Wine Tour.

Being a Friend Of The Devonshire Park Theatre you really never know who you are going to meet!

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne Spring Fair Saturday 22 May 2010

The leaflet below is self explanatory but why not come along between 9.30am and 12 noon on Saturday 22nd May?

Highly recommended are the backstage tours of the theatre. Bring along just a few pounds and take the opportunity to look at the theatre as the artists see it from their side of the stage curtain.

Learn interesting facts about the theatre from a knowledgeable guide as you go.

If you are going to enjoy this popular feature it is best to arrive early as places on the tour fill quickly.

Come along and support a lovely theatrical building.