For a great cause it is my pleasure to highly recommend a fantastic cookbook for those of us who love food, love the stars of stage and screen and love helping those in more need than ourselves.
The name Tom Roberts probably won't mean much to many but so many huge artists now not only know who Tom is but have given up their time and their favourite personal recipes for a very unique cookbook.
Tom is the son of actor Neil Roberts (Charmed, Beverley Hills 90210, Doctors, Holby etc). The book only exists after a lot of hard work on Tom's part and the generosity of so many people and companies.
I don't want to go into too much detail as I would rather you appreciated it for yourself but what I will say, having purchased the book, is that it is 160 pages and beautifully presented throughout.
Keira Knightley, Melanie Chisholm, Sir Ian McKellen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Louise Jameson, Richard E. Grant, Colin Baker, Emma Thompson, Joseph Fiennes, Raymond Blanc, Stephen Fry - all these and dozens of other huge (household name) stars have contributed. They would not have supported Tom if the cause hadn't been a worthwhile one.
Please consider buying this cookbook which is so refreshingly different from anything else you will find in a bookstore.
I've now got a side aim - to see over the coming years how many artists I can get to sign their recipe. Well I've started with one - Tom's dad - wonder if Jeremy Irons and Dame Judi Dench have a moment to spare me for starters?
Leanne Jones - Bev
Julie Buckfield - Tricia
Alison Young - Faith
"If you liked Calendar Girls & Stepping Out then you'll LOVE the Naked Truth"
Not my words but those of the Manchester Evening News and for me this quote is spot on.
It's a very apt comparison to make. The cancer themed background story bears more than a striking resemblance to that of Calendar Girls (which was of course a true story). In addition the characters' desire to do something different to liven up their troubled lives, in this case pole-dancing, is very similar to the characters in Stepping Out wanting to be great dancers.
Stepping out I enjoyed. Calendar Girls was OK but it really didn't rock my boat.
The Naked Truth?
Absolutely brilliant!Very funny, yet continually thought provoking and above all very well acted with an amazing cast.
What a line up Claire King (ex Emmerdale) Leanne Jones (West End Hairspray) Michelle Heaton (Liberty X) Julie Buckfield (Hollyoaks, Grange Hill) Maureen Nolan (The Nolan Sisters) and Alison Young.
Hold on.......... Alison who?
Well I doubt if many will have heard of Alison but believe me you will remember her after seeing The Naked Truth. I feel for her a little because she's not on the leaflet cover or the programme cover yet I think she is likely to be one of the main talking points when the show ends.
Her character, Faith, is the scatty, ditzy one of the group. In the low moments, as Sarah deals with her cancer diagnosis, clever writing ensures Faith is normally the one who lightens a sad time with her innocently naive misinterpretations of the English language and limited sexual knowledge.
On her CV Alison has actually done a lot of theatre and TV work and directed a play. She has also played Faith on 2 previous tours of the Naked Truth. I'm not surprised. This lovely young lady is perfectly suited to this most hilarious of roles. But come on producers if Alison does another tour stick her on the cover! She's just as important as the other 5 actresses! This does bug me slightly when they stick the better known names on a cover but leave off a central , important, character just because he or she doesn't have the same level of fame!
How about our more well known names?
Claire King - Playing Rita, the victim of a troubled marriage, Claire is great in this role as a "bit of a mouthy cow". Boy this fine and well known actress has kept herself fit!! You'll enjoy her performance throughout but when it comes to the finale with the pole-dance routine she is really impressive too.
Maureen Nolan - Sarah is our cancer victim. Let's be honest , although she is very modest about it, I think Maureen is very brave to play such a role with a subject so close to her heart for personal family reasons. But this personal experience of confronting cancer Maureen admits has helped her in this role and she is playing Sarah in her own determined way. The result is a very believable portrayal of how a middle aged woman may cope with breast cancer. She demonstrates effectively both the emotional lows yet maintaining a strong willpower to get through each and every day.
Leanne Jones - She's big, bubbly, warm and extremely lovable, both on stage and off. As the large lady, Bev, aspiring to pole dance she is clearly the obvious candidate for a spot of bitchy bullying and I'll come to this later. There are laughs throughout with her pole dance 'skills' but Bev is also a strong character with a complicated love life. Leanne delivers the great performance that would be expected from a West End star.
Michelle Heaton - "here we go...", many will say, "a singer trying her hand at acting". Often it doesn't work. But what many may not know though was that friendly Michelle was acting long before her Liberty X and Popstars days. With appearances on Heartbeat, Byker Grove and Crimewatch under her belt she had a good start in front of the camera.
Her desire was always to go back to her first love, acting, and here she is fulfilling that ambition. Gabby is the pole-dancing teacher, and of course Gabby has her own personal troubles. But whilst dealing with those she has to try and get 5 women with varying characters and physical abilities to pole-dance convincingly for a cancer fund raising performance. I thought she played the part really well and as one of the minority of blokes in a female dominated audience watching this very fit young lady do her finale pole-dance routine was just the icing on the cake.
Julie Buckfield. I've seen both Julie and her twin sister Claire so many times now it is often difficult to recall who was in which show. But here we have Julie who has a stack of theatrical credits to her name together with appearances in TV shows like Hollyoaks, Grange Hill, London's Burning, The Bill and Casualty. In her character as Tricia she is the insensitive bully, gloating on her perfect life, perfect man and picking on the apparent flaws she sees in others - including Bev and her weight. But is Tricia's life really so great? Julie tells Tricia's story flawlessly and like Michelle she is a pole-dancing diva! She is to the pole what her sister was to the ice, an expert! Perhaps a new combined venture for them beckons pole-dancing-on-ice?
I should just point something out here. Ladies for goodness sake take your fella to this show! This is in no way a male-bashing-production. It is also not planned to have a female only audience. It is a very funny and very thought provoking play about a disease that affects the lives of all it touches. Women do not go through cancer on their own they need the support and love of those around them. So get your old man or partner off his backside and take him to a show which he will laugh at a lot and he may just learn something about the consequences of breast cancer! Besides aren't men supposed to appreciate pole-dancing? I certainly did, especially the performance the girls put on at the end.
All 6 actresses are extremely professional and this was demonstrated admirably in the second half whilst theatre staff ejected rowdy audience members from the auditorium. I'm glad they stepped in quickly as eyes were beginning to deviate from the stage and as we all tried to spot the idiots who had drunk one too many in the interval and those around the group went "Shhhhhhhhh!" in a vain attempt to shut them up.
After the pole-dancing finale this Breast Cancer Care awareness/fund raising show received a massive loud reception from this Tunbridge Wells crowd. This was fully deserved for a fabulous show which deals with such a serious subject in such a light hearted, yet at the same time very sensitive, way.
The appreciation did not end there though. The charity buckets came out and I can honestly say that I have been to many a charity fundraiser at theatres and this is the most money I have ever seen going in to buckets as the audience leaves. Whether this was appreciation for a super show or simply a contribution for such a worthy cause who cares? As long as money keeps going in those buckets we may soon have the hope that a cure for breast cancer is imminent!
Finally the pictures on this review are possible because, with thanks to the Julie Buckfield and her agent for the arrangement, I was able to do one of my Starcards signing in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital for children before this show.
Clicking any image and viewing the image description will give you information on how you can support another worthy cause by bidding on future auctions of these autographed charity playing cards.
Thank you so much to Claire, Leanne, Michelle, Julie, Maureen and Alison for taking part in this especially when you are raising funds for Breast Cancer Care.
So people if you are wondering whether The Naked Truth is any good it's actually far better than good. So go and see it, take your other half and take some extra money to buy some fun fund raising souvenirs and to fill those all important buckets !!!
Having already reviewed this brilliant show when it was in Eastbourne I don't anticipate writing reams on this Royal Tunbridge Wells production. Readers may therefore also wish to refer back to my previous review.
The show was, as usual, a sell-out and it was refreshing seeing every seat in the Assembly Hall occupied.
Many script changes have taken place since we last saw ISIHAC and Jack's comedy routines at the beginning of each half of the show are brilliantly scripted. For anybody who isn't familiar with this part of the show it is where Jack's jokes relate to the local demographic area and it's history.
To produce such routines for each venue must take a considerable amount of time and research.
The improvisation rounds are as hilarious as ever and the audience participation on the kazoos was particularly impressive.
It's always good to go out and have a laugh and as so many have discovered this is one of the best shows for doing just that. 2 hours of improvised hilarity from 5 of the country's most respected entertainers with Colin Sell on the piano and long-term producer Jon Naismith getting a constant ribbing about the fact he was apparently wearing a 'blouse'.
Would you like to own a piece of unique memorabilia and support a worthy charitable cause? Well the ISIHAC team kindly supported Great Ormond Street Hospital by signing special celebrity charity playing cards.
Please keep an eye on www.starcards.org/ and www.flickr.com/photos/starcards/ to see the mounted end products which will be auctioned on eBay for the famous childrens' hospital. Note it may be a while before they are professionally prepared so keep these pages bookmarked.
Left to right Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jack Dee (host), Graeme Garden, Jeremy Hardy, Barry Cryer
As you can see Jack has signed a Jack D(iamonds) on his own and there is a team collection too with Jack signing the Joker this time.
Thank you so much to Jon Naismith and all the ISIHAC team for their time and generosity and to the Assembly Hall staff for allowing me not to freeze at the stage door.
That reminds me there were 3 men looking for autographs at the stage door, none of whom were seeing the show.
As I waited to be let in Barry Cryer came out for a cigarette, he had a bit of a laugh with us and went back in.
One of the men pointed out that Barry had dropped his cigarette butt on the ground.
Joking, I said "Perhaps you should try putting it on eBay?"
My jaw must have dropped as he said "I hadn't thought of that. Do you think it will sell?", as he promptly picked the dog-end up and put it in his bag. "I'll give it a go he said."
Almost as funny as the show itself. Anybody seen Barry Cryer's Butt on eBay?
The Winter Gardens Theatre in Eastbourne had probably never before seen an event on this scale.
In fact isn't the Winter Gardens usually used for sedate things like Tea Dances?
Tonight's event was anything but sedate. Not a tea in sight. But dances yes! (some decidedly better than others)
In aid of muscular dystrophy support Steve Crow and his Crew (of hospital radio Eastbourne) were the organizers behind 80's Live.
A real blast from the past as iconic 80's pop acts performed to raise money for a worthy cause.
Meanwhile, as the evening progressed attendees submitted their bids in a silent auction for various items of pop memorabilia (signed) , days out, meals and more. Pop memorabilia auction items included everything from a signed Status Quo Tour programme to a guitar signed by all the acts performing on the evening.
The line up included, amongst many more, Carol Decker of T'Pau, Ben (of Curiosity Killed The Cat), Musical Youth , the lovely Natasha England (probably best known for the song Iko Iko), Katrina (of Katrina and the Waves), Sonia, John Parr (St Elmo's Fire), Scarlet Fantastic and Stephen Singleton of ABC. I must also give a mention to Kovak, to be honest I'd never heard of them, they are a local band based in Brighton - I thought they were just as good as any of the well known names so well done to them!
I believe just about every act performed 3 hits making it a very worthwhile and entertaining night.
I haven't got a clue the total raised for muscular dystrophy on the evening, if I find the total I will post it here.
I have learned tonight though that a guitar signed by the Arctic Monkeys which was one of the silent auctions went for £750
From memory I believe there were around 30 lots in the auction so I am sure the auction total alone would be pretty impressive on its own without any attendance fees being included.
If I had to pick my own highlights for the evening my top one would be meeting and speaking a lot to Natasha England who I have to honestly say is one of the most genuine, down to earth, honest and friendly people my wife and myself are ever likely to meet. You are a star Natasha and that is before you even sing!
Meeting Musical Youth backstage was also something I won't forget. The lads are so friendly and their performances as entertaining as ever. I notice they are touring some holiday camps at the moment - seems a good reason for a holiday on it's own.
Despite Liz McDonald on the TV soap Coronation Street, just a few days earlier, describing her as "that loud mouthed cow from T'Pau" Carol Decker was more than willing to sign an autograph. As were Katrina and Sonia who is just as friendly and bubbly as she appears on-stage.
Congratulations to those members of the public who dusted off their 1980's wardrobe for this worthy cause. Very brave for many who had also left the 1980's body they once had still in the wardrobe.
All artists who gave up their time should be very proud of their performances.
To Steve Crow and the team behind this event I must say a huge well done. I know you are thinking of making this an annual event and I know that if this first event is anything to go by we'll be first in the queue for tickets!
A real blast from the past as iconic 80's pop acts performed to raise money for a worthy cause.