Time Travel hits the Hippodrome as War Horse gallops into Birmingham

On October 25th the Patrick Centre,will enter a time warp and find itself back in the early 20th century rural France.

A family friendly sleepover will take place inspired by the award winning, National Theatre's production of War Horse and as part of a WW1 commemoration. 

Creative Learning & Audience Development Manager, Liz Leck said;

 “In true theatre style, at the end of the night there will be a family performance created on the evening from scratch – we are inviting families to dust off their musical instruments and bring them along! For those less theatrical, the theatre will be recruiting for budding war correspondents and cartoonists to create and publish the first ever copy of the Hippodrome Herald.”

In short, there will be something to appeal to everyone!

The National Army Museum will be sending over some representatives who will be showing artifacts from their handling collection. 

This event is part of Family Arts Festival who organise fun family events nationwide. CLICK HERE to find out what else they are up to. 

Tickets for the sleepover are £20 for children, £30 for adults (There must be a minimum of 1 adult to every 3 children)  and can be booked over the phone on 08443385000*

This event takes place from 7pm, Friday 25 October (last post at midnight) until 8am Saturday 26 October (reveille at 7am).

For more information on this event CLICK HERE or call Liz Leck on 01216893064.


*calls cost from 5p per min, 5% fee and £1 postage applies

War Horse runs from Wednesday 16th October 2013 - Saturday 9th November 2013.

Star studded Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs meets the press...

This was certainly a magical Monday, in fact my first Monday back in Birmingham after the summer holidays. I can say for certain now that with the panto to look forward to among the many other treasures that the Birmingham Hippodrome will be dishing out this year, I am ecstatic to be back! 

This morning it was revealed that Danielle Hope will be playing Snow White. Danielle was the winner of the BBC's Over the Rainbow, where the prize was to play the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Since then she has played Éponine in Les Misérables. Once again Danielle embarks on an adventure with some slightly unusual friends in her panto debut.

Playing the ever so handsome  prince is John Partridge. John has recently finished a run of A Chorus Line at the London Palladium  but is probably best known by fans of Eastenders as Christian. John was a judge on the BBC's Over the Rainbow, so our princess will be woken up by a friendly face. 

It seems very fitting that fashion guru, Gok Wan, should play the man in the mirror in this production. Gok is known for his fashion t.v. shows including, How to Look Good Naked, on Channel 4. Gok is so stylish that even his sense of humor is in fashion but even he is dazzled by the glitter and glam of his panto debut. 

The glamorously wicked queen is played by t.v. and film star Stephanie Beacham.  She has played numerous roles both in the U.K. and the U.S. but here she is mostly known for her roles in Dynasty and Bad Girls and has even made an appearance in Coronation Street.

It may not be his debut to panto but it is most certainly a first for Gary Wilmot to be wearing a dress as the pantomime dame! Indeed, he is no stranger to the stage as he has previously starred in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Goodbye Girl and Me and My Girl. This will certainly be a bit of a change for Gary!

Another familiar face in the world of panto, funny man and ventriloquist, Paul Zerdin takes on the role of Muddles in this year's show. He brings with him however, a small loveable friend, Sam (who will be making his panto debut, I must add). 

Not a stranger to panto at the Birmingham Hippodrome, comedian, Matt Slack, returns once again to play Odd Job. He has also been in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London as well as Hot Flush! and Boogie Nights the 70s Musical. Matt is recognised as one of the country's leading panto comedians. 

All Photos taken by Lindsey Grant

Well I for one will be counting down the days now until opening night on Thursday 19th December 2013! I am very excited to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Birmingham Hippodrome this winter! 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs from Thursday 19th December 2013 to Sunday 2nd February 2014. Prices range between £12 - £39 (with discounts for concessions). 

Make this your family outing! After all, what is Christmas without a panto? 

CLICK HERE to get your tickets now!

This autumn, coming to a theatre near you...

             

                         

CLICK HERE to buy your tickets now!

The 4 Squares Weekender

Click here to find out how you can enjoy this FREE event

Youth Arts Summit!

Click here to read my review of
 Youth Arts Summit

West End Live 2013

Let's hear it for West End Live

WhatsOnStage 'tweet team' member Tal Fox sings the praises of West End Live, which took over Trafalgar Square this weekend (22 and 23 June 2013)

By Guest Contributor • 24 Jun 2013 • London

This is the fifth year I've been coming along to West End Live and the excitement leading up to the event never wavers. If you have ever been you will know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't allow me to paint you a small picture that should hopefully convince you that this is where you want to be next year...

Standing in the queue that surrounds Trafalgar Square a sea of show t-shirts sail past - Wicked, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages (to name a few I spotted) - the crowd excitedly compares which acts they have come to see that day. Then the gates open…Click here to read the rest!

The Welsh National Opera presents Wagner Dream

This was my first time at an opera and I genuinely had no idea what to expect. My first impression walking into the auditorium was that this opera was for quite a niche audience and I wasn’t so sure I would fit in.

So Wagner Dream is a biographical tale about the opera writer, Richard Wagner, who is on the edge of death but insists on finishing off a piece he has dreamed of writing for thirty years.

The play flits between real life where Wagner, is now in his dying moments just after his heart attack and his play which materialises as a hallucination before his eyes. Real life was quite dark and the colours were quite dull but this was a nice contrast to the delusion where the bright colours were more engaging and I found myself more intrigued.

Admittedly it took me quite a while to get into the show but the themes seemed quite relatable and I found I quite enjoyed the plot as it unravelled. Pataki must face obstacles in order to be with the man she loves.

The subtitles were quite useful for following the plot as the singing was in Pali, Sanskrit and German and the spoken dialogue was in English. The only issue I found was that following the subtitles made it harder to follow the action on stage. At some points the subtitles seemed to be behind the actors and at other times I thought that the subtitles were moving too quickly.

As a first time at the opera I thought that Wagner Dream had a very interesting plot.

I think now though that my first impression was right and perhaps opera is not quite for me. 

If you are an opera fan though, I would definitely recommend you go see this one!

Check out the trailer!