Latest news with #CarolineParker
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Our show combines pro-wrestling with William Shakespeare's work'
Performers have been rehearsing for a show which combines William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with – Midsummer Mayhem, despite its "wacky" concept, is surprisingly true to its Shakespearean roots, its organisers say."Back in Shakespeare's day, his theatre was very similar to what it's like to go to a wrestling match today... everybody picking a side, rooting for the hero, booing the villains," said Ben Spiller, co-director of said the one-time event would be an "experiment" in trying out ideas, because he had not taken part in anything similar before. Ben added it would appeal to wrestling fans who are uncertain about Shakespeare, and Shakespeare fans who are uncertain about performance will be hosted at The Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham on will adapt The Bard's comedy, which sees four lovers flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted show will include professional actors and professional wrestlers, and the script has been written to combine the "two worlds".There will also be integrated British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation for the audience, and some of the actors involved in the production are deaf. "We want to make sure that the audience can understand what's going on," says Caroline Parker, who is partially will play Titania, Queen of the Fairies, and is a professional actress by Caroline does not have a wrestling said: "I pretend to be good [at wrestling in the show], with a smidgen of magic."It's just a different way of telling the story, you could tell the story with words, with song, paintings, sculptures, and with sport as well. So it all fits in well I think." The actors have been cast by 1623 Theatre Company, while the wrestlers have been cast by Wrestling Gordon, a professional wrestler, will play Lysander. He says he has been "counting down the days" until he can perform."I love everything about wrestling, I love the big characters, I love the athleticism, I love the drama... I love how it's allowed me to meet new people from different backgrounds," he said the show would be "special", because it combined what he loved with Shakespearean "drama, energy, and enthusiasm". Prof Andy Kesson, from the University of Roehampton, London, researches the relationship between modern performance and history."It doesn't feel like we're bringing wrestling and Shakespeare together, but they were together all along, and we're now learning what that looks like," he Kesson said his involvement had grown out of a project looking into animal fighting inside Shakespeare's theatres, and he needed to discover what it meant to fight for entertainment."Very often when we study Shakespeare at school, or when actors spend time with the scripts, that kind of text-driven approach is all about fine-tuning words."But once we start working with the body, we get comedy, we get pathos, we get storytelling all at once... the starting point is the human body and what it can do."
BBC News
06-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Reading fan 'can't stop smiling' after Rob Couhig deal struck
Reading fan 'can't stop smiling' after deal struck 8 minutes ago Share Save Share Save Caroline Parker Caroline Parker (left) is supportive of Rob Couhig's (right) takeover of Reading A campaigner and Reading fan who has worked for years to get the club sold by its owner said she "can't stop smiling" after a deal was struck. Caroline Parker, of the Sell Before We Dai fan group, said she was "absolutely delighted" by the prospect of the club being taken over by former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig. The deal includes the shares owned by Dai Yongge, who has owned the club since 2017, its Bearwood training ground and the Select Car Leasing Stadium. The deal, announced on Saturday, is expected to be finalised at a meeting on Thursday. Reading were docked six points for financial issues in the 2023/24 season and finished 17th in League One. Those financial difficulties also saw the club's women's side - a Women's Super League outfit as recently as May 2023 - withdraw from the Championship in June, and they now compete in the fifth tier. Getty Images Former Reading boss Brian McDermott said Couhig has been "consistent and persistent" in his pursuit of Reading Ms Parker said: "I can't stop smiling. All I can think is it's finally over. "All of that campaigning, by so many people, it's hard to put in words just how much of a relief it is. I'm absolutely delighted." She described it as a "real team effort". "It wasn't just Sell Before We Dai or STAR [Supporters' Trust at Reading], all of the fans, there's a list of hundreds of people to thank," she said. She continued: "Unfortunately, we are not the only sad story. "There are other football clubs that are in trouble now. I think some of the members will absolutely do their bit to try to help other clubs." The Royals finished seventh in League One on Saturday, just missing the play-offs by three points. Former Reading manager Brian McDermott said Couhig had been "consistent and persistent" in his pursuit of the club. "It's great news for everyone," he told BBC Radio Berkshire. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, , or Instagram.
