Categories
Uncategorised

THINGS TO DO WITH THE FAMILY IN CORNWALL 2024

There’s something magical about taking your little ones to the theatre… A place where switching off devices and living in the moment is part of the experience! And trust us when we say there’s no better feeling than watching your child’s face light up when their favourite characters come to life on stage.

So if you’re still searching for something fun and different to do with the family this year in Cornwall, we have just the thing…

Meet your favourite characters!

TUE 27 – THU 29 AUG, VARIOUS TIMES

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

MON 21 – TUE 22 OCT, VARIOUS TIMES

Photography by Russ Rowland

Go on an adventure…

From the makers of Gangsta Granny comes another David Walliams classic!

DAVID WALLIAMS’ AWFUL AUNTIE

THU 27 – SUN 30 JUN, VARIOUS TIMES

David Walliams Awful Auntie Live on Stage by The Birmingham Stage Company

Join our Youth Programmes…

Our popular Youth Theatre and Youth Dance groups are the cornerstone of HfC’s Get Creative outreach work, which engages more than 10,000 young Cornish people each year!

Do you have a passion for performance? Want to sing or dance on stage? Then Hall for Cornwall’s Get Creative scheme and our Young Companies may be for you.

Find out more here.

While most of our youth dance and theatre terms are well underway, it’s not too late to join and we’re always happy to chat to late joiners. Email [email protected] to register your interest.

Want to be first in the know? Sign up to our newsletter and we’ll tell you when new shows are coming – before everyone else!

Sign up here!

Categories
Theatre Uncategorised

THE QUEEN OF CRIME RETURNS TO HALL FOR CORNWALL…

On 15th September 1890, the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, was born. Author of at least 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, including And Then There Were None, The Mousetrap, and The Murder on the Orient Express. Christie is celebrated around the world for her genre-defining work. The Guinness Book of World Records names Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, as her novels have sold more than two billion copies!

As a creator of mysteries, it’s no surprise that this sensational writer was an enigma herself…

“Very few of us are what we seem.” – Agatha Christie

Image © The Christie Archive Trust

Surfing in Hawaii, an obsession with fast cars – her life was filled with one surprise after another. Born into a wealthy upper-middle classic family in Torquay, Devon, Christie was mostly home-schooled. At age 5, she taught herself to read, and found a love of storytelling – it was around this time she began writing her own tales. As she grew up and found her voice, her early stories received a total of 6 rejections, but finally, in 1920, her talent was recognised when The Mysterious Affair at Styles – featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot – was published.

As her fame began to take off, she longed for a way to explore other writing styles, inventing the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Under this name, which she wrote 6 semi-autobiographical novels exploring human psychology in greater depth. Her daughter Rosalind Hicks described them as “bitter-sweet stories about love”, and nobody made the connection between Christie and ‘Mary’ for over 20 years.

She married her first husband in 1914 – and had one child – before divorcing in 1928 when he met somebody else. Following the breakdown of her marriage and her mother’s death in 1926, Christie’s mysteries became a reality when she made international headlines by going missing for eleven days. Her car was discovered in a quarry, and after an anonymous tip, police discovered her in a hotel in Harrogate, where she is alleged to have been staying under the name of her husband’s mistress. She claims to have had amnesia, and cannot remember the period of disappearance – to this day, historians argue about where she went and what happened to her.

Articles from the Surrey Advertiser and Surrey Times at the time of Agatha Christie’s disappearance in 1926 (Image: Surrey Advertiser)

In 1930, she re-married an archeologist, and spent several months each year visiting him in the Middle East. Her time here further fueled her first-hand knowledge of this profession which makes an appearance in her stories. During both World Wars, she worked in hospital dispensaries, discovering the uses of poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays.

In 1955, Christie became the first person to win the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award – and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award for best play. Then in 2013, 600 professional novelists from the Crime Writers’ Association voted her as the best crime writer of all time, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as the best crime novel ever.

Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the best-selling books of all time (approximately 100 million copies have been sold!) and has been adapted for TV, Film and theatre. In 2024, we welcomed a new adaptation to the Cornwall Playhouse, directed by Lucy Bailey (Witness for the Prosecution, now in its 6th year in London).

Continuing along the Hall of Fame, her stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for the longest theatre run. It opened in the West End on 25 November 1952 and ran until September 2018 with more than 27,500 performances! In 2023, we were thrilled to welcome the production to Hall for Cornwall in it’s 70th year of touring.

We’re delighted to welcome yet another Christie classic to the Cornwall Playhouse this year.

Her beloved thriller The Murder on the Orient Express, one of Agatha Christie’s greatest literary achievements – and starring the one and only Hercule Poirot – storms on our stage from TUE 19 – SAT 23 NOV 2024!

Agatha Christie has inspired generations of crime writers, and countless adaptations of her work, for television, radio, video games, graphic novels, and more than 30 feature films.

Whether you’re new to Christie or love a good mystery, we’re delighted to welcome her greatest works – and a special appearance from her lovable Belgian detective – to the Cornwall Playhouse in 2023 and 2024.

Check out And Then There Were None, The Mousetrap, and David Suchet: Poirot and More, a Restrospective to discover more about this sensational female writer.

Categories
Uncategorised

Interview: Neil Gaiman Discusses Ocean at the End of the Lane

The National Theatre’s adaptation of the award-winning book The Ocean at the End of the Lane is coming to Hall for Cornwall from TUE 19 – SAT 23 SEP. Ahead of it’s much-anticipated arrival, we asked Neil Gaiman some questions about the story…

The book is loosely based on your childhood. What was the starting point?

The book began with me wanting to try and explain to my wife where I grew up and what that world was like. She could take me to her childhood home because it’s still the same, but I couldn’t take her to where I grew up [in East Grinstead] because the place had long since been demolished; lots of lovely neat little housing estates covered the gardens and the fields and lanes. So for me it was kind of an effort to try and evoke a past and a sense of place.  An interesting side of it for me too was that I realised that I hadn’t heard, for a very long time, the Sussex accent of my childhood. Mrs Weller came in and cleaned once a week and Mr Weller came in and did the gardens. They were probably in their 80s and they had proper Sussex accents – almost like a West Country burr. I resolved to write a novel with that in too.

How did you create the Hempstocks?

I was told by my mother – quite erroneously, I discovered, when I did my research – that the farm half-way down our lane was in the Doomsday Book. And that was the start of the Hempstocks in my head; who they were and what I wanted to do with them.

Do you find writing about family especially fascinating?

I don’t think I’ve ever been able to avoid writing about family, even when I thought I was writing about something else. Whether it’s biological family or the family we make. In the novel I created a semi-fictional family for myself, and in the play version it was one step further away from my family, which I think looking back on is incredibly healthy! But the boy is definitely me.

Credit-Pamela-Raith

The play received amazing reviews when it premiered. Without any spoilers, do you have any favourite moments?

There is something astounding about the moment when they enter the ocean. That completely fascinates me. And you’re going to see miracles made out of bits of rubbish and old plastic bags and nightmarish birds beyond your imagination. It still takes me by surprise every time I watch.

Is it true that you were so moved by the play when you saw it in rehearsals that you cried?

I saw the first full run through. About ten minutes from the end I had tears running down my face. I thought that this was terribly embarrassing and I was discreetly trying to flick them away.

You describe yourself as a storyteller. What inspired you to be a writer?

I’m not sure that all writers are frustrated performers, but for me it was the joy in getting to be all of the characters. As a writer you get to do that. Being a kid who loved books I could think of nothing cooler than giving people the pleasure that I got.

Come along and see this powerful story for yourself this September at Hall for Cornwall: click here to find out more!

Photography: (c) Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

Categories
Christmas Uncategorised

WE’VE ANNOUNCED THE CAST FOR OUR PETER PAN CHRISTMAS SHOW!

Is it ever too early for Christmas chat? ☃️ Not for us! We’re flying high with excitement as we reveal the cast for this year’s festive show, Peter Pan!?

Directed once again by acclaimed UK writer and theatre director Steve Marmion, Cornwall flies to Neverland as local actors Edward Rowe, Ollie McFarlane and Colin Leggo join a skilled set of actors with an array of accomplishments, from stand-up comedy and musical stardom to appearances on the big screen.

“Our mission is all about connecting Cornwall, and what better story than Peter Pan to do that. This is a story we all grew up with, it reminds us of the utter joy of childhood and the thrill of escaping into an adventure that stays with you for a lifetime. We’ve even given a Cornish twist to this much-loved story, so there’s something for everyone on this magical trip to Neverland, whether they’re young or young at heart.” 

– Julien Boast, CEO and Creative Director of Hall for Cornwall

Edward Rowe returns to the Cornwall Playhouse stage after a celebrated run as Long John Silver in last year’s Christmas show, Treasure Island. This year, he plays another fearsome but loveable role as the infamous Captain Hook! Edward is a writer, actor and comedian, performing professionally under the name of Kernow King. Audiences will recognise him from the BAFTA-winning film Bait, Fisherman’s Friends The Musical, and TV roles in Alex Rider, The Witcher, House of the Dragon, Strike and Beyond Paradise. Edward has written, produced and starred in Trevithick!, Hireth, The Cornwall Coliseum, and The Cornish Caretakers, and his recent short Cornish language film, Mab Hudel (Magical Son) was a local favourite. Edward is also a co-writer of BBC Radio 4’s sketch show Wasson Cornwall, where he appears opposite Dawn French.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back to the Cornwall Playhouse this Christmas.” He said. “Captain Hook is one of my favourite villains onscreen and of course in literature, so playing him this December is a bit of a dream come true.”

The Hall for Cornwall team looked all over the UK for the lead role of Peter Pan and found him right under their noses. Ollie McFarlane makes his debut at Hall for Cornwall, starring in the lead role of Peter. He grew up in Tanzania in East Africa before moving to the West country in 2010, graduating Falmouth University in 2019. Ollie has worked with a host of Cornish companies and artists including like Kneehigh, Wildworks, Golden Tree, Yskynna, Prodigal UPG, The Arc, Swashbuckling Cornwall, and of course, Hall for Cornwall. Ollie has toured nationally with Companies like Saltmine, Subtext Theatre and Oddments, taking theatre to prisons, council estates, and other disadvantaged communities.

“I’m delighted to see AMATA graduate Ollie McFarlane take a leading role in Hall for Cornwall’s festive production of Peter Pan. As a Falmouth Alum, he is a huge credit to the creative sector in the South West and it’s wonderful to see his career going from strength to strength. I look forward to seeing him sparkle this Christmas.”

– Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Falmouth University Prof. Emma Hunt

Taking up the role of Captain Hook’s right-hand man, Smee is local actor Colin Leggo.

He headlined the 2021 BBC Upload Festival and has performed at Edinburgh Fringe multiple times. ‘Leggoland’, his 2015 one-man with one-leg show about becoming a below knee amputee, received critical acclaim, including a 5-star review from the British Comedy Guide. In 2019, he won the title of UK Pun Champion, and his joke book, Jokes for the Punderdog, reached Amazon’s 2019 list of ‘Top 10 bestselling Joke and Wordplay Books’.

Joining these three Cornish actors are:

  • Dan Ball as Mr Darling (The Undeclared War, BBC’s Doc Martin and Beyond Paradise, plus many pantomimes including Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast). Most recently Dan has been filming for new feature film The Salt Path with Gillian Anderson, an adaptation of the best-selling book by Raynor Winn. 
  • Kelise Gordon Harrison as Tiger Lily. She graduated from Alra North and Rose Bruford Wigan before making her professional theatre debut in A Midsummer Nights Dream with theatre company Not Too Tame. Since then, she has toured with the Theatre Company Wrongsemble in The Not So Big Bad Wolf as Little Red, and appeared in ITV’s Waco Untold: British Tragedy as Vanessa Henry. 
  • Jade Lauren as a self-assured Wendy. Jade performed in Rent at the Shaw Theatre before graduating from the Institute of the Arts Barcelona. She has since worked on a variety of productions across the UK and Spain., including Bill Russell’s revival of ‘Elegies for Angel, Punks and Raging Queens’ at the Kings Head theatre, and Barcelona’s premier of ‘Next to Normal immersive’, directed by Simon Pittman. 
  • Sara Markland as a fairy-godmother style Tinker Bell (Casualty, Doctors, Down to Earth and Jonathan Creek). She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where she won the Chesterton Award for Best Actress. Her theatre credits include productions in the West End, RSC, RNT, Royal Court, in repertory across the country, and touring shows nationally and internationally. Recently, Sara has been concentrating on her voiceover and audio drama career alongside teaching drama and running a community choir. 
  • Lucy Park as Mrs Darling. Lucy is an actor, singer and musician born and raised in South Korea, where she worked as a professional singer before moving to London to study acting. She graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts with an MA in Musical Theatre in 2018 and has starred on stage in Play AI, Come From Away (West End), and Tokyo Rose (Southwark Playhouse, UK Tour), to name a few.
  • Olivia Warren as Nana (La Maupin, The Unauthorised Breaking Bad Parody Musical, Estella UK Tour, Say my Name!). Olivia is an actor, musician and voiceover artist who trained at Rose Bruford College. Her experience includes an array of musicals, children’s theatre, short films and virtual reality experiences. As a voiceover artist, Olivia has worked with the likes of Netflix, CBBC, Legoland, Audi, and Williams Racing. 

When Sara was offered the role, she said: ‘I am thrilled to be making my return to the stage as Tinker Bell at the Hall for Cornwall this Christmas in a piece and place both dear to my heart.’

You can find out more about Peter Pan and purchase tickets here.

“Peter Pan” is presented by arrangement with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Concord Theatricals Ltd. On behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk.