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Alison! A Rock Opera
''Alison! A Rock Opera'' is a musical with music and lyrics by playwright Leo Butler and Dan Persad. The modern rock 'n' roll song-cycle tells the story of ordinary woman Alison who breaks up with her boyfriend Jimmy and goes on a journey of self-discovery. "Yes, breaking up is hard to do. It’s loud, it’s thrashy and the lyrics and storytelling are first class" – Aleks Sierz. The show premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in September 2011 as part of the theatre's Rough Cuts season, with its original title (and opening song) ''A Separate Reality''. It was directed by Nick Bagnall, and featured Anna Francolini and Rhashan Stone in the cast. In September 2012, the full-length show, retitled ''Alison! A Rock Opera'', was produced at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London. It was directed by Bagnall, and the cast featured Clare Cathcart in the title role. In April 2014, the show was revived at The Spread Eagle Theatre The Spread Eagle Theatre is a 50-seat capacity studi ...
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Leo Butler
Leo Butler (born 1974 in Sheffield) is a British playwright. His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Almeida Theatre. His plays have been published by Bloomsbury A & C Black. His 2001 play Redundant won the George Devine Award. Between 2005 and 2014 he was Playwriting Tutor for the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. Plays *'' Made of Stone'' (2000) premiered as part of the Young Writers' Festival at Royal Court Theatre, directed by Deborah Bruce *'' Redundant'' (2001) premiered at Royal Court Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke *''Devotion'' (2002) produced by Theatre Centre premiered at Redbridge Drama Centre, directed by Liam Steel *''Lucky Dog'' (2004) premiered at Royal Court Theatre, directed by James Macdonald *''The Early Bird'' (2006) premiered at Queen's Theatre in the Belfast Festival, directed by Rachel O'Riordan *''Heroes'' (2007) premiered by touring with the National Theatre, directed by Samantha P ...
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Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Theatre Prize, Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999. History The first theatre The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including ''Randall's Thumb'', ''Creatures of Impulse'' (with music by Alberto Randegger), ...
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King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ+ work, work that is joyful, irreverent, colourful and queer. Background The small theatre is located in the back room behind the bar at the King's Head pub on Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre is housed in a Victorian building, but a public house, originally known as ''The King's Head Tavern'', has been on the same site, opposite St Mary's Church, since 1543. The theatre was previously used as an old boxing ring and pool hall. 'Isling ...
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The Spread Eagle Theatre
The Spread Eagle Theatre is a 50-seat capacity studio theatre situated above the Spread Eagle pub in Croydon, England. Opening in October 2013 in response to the closure of the Warehouse Theatre in 2012, the pub transformed its upstairs function room into a theatre space. The Spread Eagle Theatre supported and hosted the campaign to save the David Lean Cinema, the nearby arthouse cinema which later reopened. The theatre works closely with its sister venue, the Old Joint Stock Theatre The Old Joint Stock Theatre is a studio theatre and pub located at 4 Temple Row West in the centre of Birmingham, England. The listed building was designed as a library but owes its present name to its use by Birmingham Joint Stock Bank. Histor ... in Birmingham, on co-productions with professional theatre companies. Both venues champion "big plays for small spaces", with an emphasis on supporting new writing. External links The Spread Eagle Theatre {{DEFAULTSORT:Spread Eagle Theatre 2013 es ...
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Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre ...
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Aleks Sierz
Aleks Sierz is a British theatre critic. He is known for coining the term "In-yer-face theatre", which was the title of a book he published in 2001. Sierz was educated at Manchester University and holds a PhD from Westminster University. He works as a freelance writer and has written for publications including ''Tribune'', ''The Arts Desk'' and ''The Stage'', as well as newspapers such as ''The Independent''. He co-edits ''Theatre Voice''. He is a visiting professor at Rose Bruford College, and has been a lecturer on Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...'s "Study Abroad" programme in London. His publications include *''In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today'' (Faber, 2001) *''The Theatre of Martin Crimp'' (Methuen, 2006) *''John Osborne's Look B ...
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Anna Francolini
Anna Francolini (born 30 October 1973) is an English actress. Early life Francolini was born in Chertsey, Surrey, attended Bristol Grammar School and studied theatre at the University of Warwick. She also trained as a member of the National Youth Theatre. Career After appearances in ''Godspell'' and '' Oliver'' during the early part of her career, Francolini appeared in two acclaimed musical productions at the Donmar Warehouse - '' Company'' (1995) and '' Merrily We Roll Along'' (2000), both by Stephen Sondheim. She also played the Baker's Wife in the Royal Opera House production of Sondheim's ''Into the Woods'' in 2007. She won the 2009 TMA Award for Best Performance in a Play with her portrayal of Jean Brodie in Muriel Spark's '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', which was staged at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton. During the period from December 1997 to December 2004 Anna Francolini was a mainstay of London's tiny but influential Bridewell Theatre during the latter part ...
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Rhashan Stone
Rhashan Stone is an American actor and comedian based in the UK. He is best known for appearing in many comedy shows such as ''Desmond's'' and '' Mutual Friends''. Stone is also a stage actor who has performed in numerous productions for The Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, The Royal Court and in London's West End. His roles have included the heroic soldier Claudio in '' Much Ado About Nothing'', Hero in the Sondheim musical ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'', and the king's brother Clarence in ''Richard III''. Stone is a singer and musician in a wide range of styles, including jazz, soul and gospel. He is also a classically trained singer, musician and composer, and also works occasionally as a playwright. Early life Stone was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Joanne Stone; he does not know who his father was. When he was six years old his mother married the English singer/songwriter Russell Stone and they moved to the UK to live with him. Tog ...
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Clare Cathcart
Clare Cathcart (2 October 1965 – 4 September 2014) was a Northern Irish actress. She was known for her appearances in Coronation Street, '' New Tricks'' and '' Call the Midwife'' in which she played Mrs Torpy. Cathcart also appeared in the TV programmes ''Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...'', Goodnight Sweetheart (TV series), Goodnight Sweetheart, Come Fly with Me (2010 TV series), ''Come Fly with Me'''', ''Doctors (2000 TV series), ''Doctors'', ''The Bill'', and Casualty (TV series), ''Casualty''. Onstage, she appeared in ''The Comedy of Errors'' at the National Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke. Her film appearances include Hotel Splendide (2000 film), ''Hotel Splendide'', ''Up on the Roof (musical), Up on the Roof'' and in 1999 Maeve Murphy's ' ...
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Plays By Leo Butler
Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Play Mobile, a Polish internet provider * Xperia Play, an Android phone * Rakuten.co.uk (formerly Play.com), an online retailer * Backlash (engineering), or ''play'', non-reversible part of movement * Petroleum play, oil fields with same geological circumstances * Play symbol, in media control devices Film * ''Play'' (2005 film), Chilean film directed by Alicia Scherson * ''Play'', a 2009 short film directed by David Kaplan * ''Play'' (2011 film), a Swedish film directed by Ruben Östlund * ''Rush'' (2012 film), an Indian film earlier titled ''Play'' and also known as ''Raftaar 24 x 7'' * ''The Play'' (film), a 2013 Bengali film Literature and publications * ''Play'' (play), written by Samuel Beckett * ''Play'' (''The New York Times ...
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Rock Operas
A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been adapted as rock musicals. The use of various character roles within the song lyrics is a common storytelling device. The success of the rock opera genre has inspired similar works in other musical styles, such as rap opera. History A number of rock artists became interested in the idea of creating a rock opera in the 1960s. In an early use of the term, the July 4, 1966, edition of '' RPM Magazine'' (published in Toronto) reported that "Bruce Cockburn and Mr illiamHawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only 'something to say'." Mark Wirtz explored the idea in a project ''A Teenage Opera'', from which an early song " Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" recorded by Keith West was releas ...
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2012 Musicals
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. In conventions of sign where zero is considered neither positive nor negative, 1 is the first and smallest positive integer. It is also sometimes considered the first of the infinite sequence of natural numbers, followed by  2, although by other definitions 1 is the second natural number, following  0. The fundamental mathematical property of 1 is to be a multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. Most if not all properties of 1 can be deduced from this. In advanced mathematics, a multiplicative identity is often denoted 1, even if it is not a number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number; this was not universally accepted until the mid-20th century. Additionally, 1 is the ...
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