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USA Today
11-03-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Cobra releases limited-edition DS-Adapt PTC drivers
AI-assisted summary Cobra Golf has released limited-edition DS-Adapt PTC drivers in collaboration with DJ Kygo and Palm Tree Crew. The drivers feature "Neon Nights" colorways and graphics, with performance similar to the standard DS-Adapt drivers. Cobra's FutureFit33 adjustable hosel system allows for 33 different loft and lie angle settings. On the eve of the PGA Tour's crown-jewel event, Cobra Golf has released a set of limited-edition drivers that will make any golf lover feel serious Florida vibes. Collaborating with DJ Kygo and Palm Tree Crew, the DS-Adapt PTC drivers will perform like the standard DS-Adapt drivers that were released last December, but these unique DS-Adapt X, DS-Adapt LS and DS-Adapt Max-K drivers ($640 each) feature 'Neon Nights' colorways and graphics on the sole and navy blue carbon fiber crowns. Each of the DS-Adapt drivers features a titanium chassis with carbon fiber crowns and large carbon fiber sole plates. Cobra has also added an internal weight inside the heads of the DS-Adapt drivers, but the weight locations are different based on the loft of the clubs. Why? Golfers with different playing styles and needs typically buy different drivers, so Cobra customizes each club and encourages players to work with fitters to find the model that suits their swing. The DS-Adapt PTC drivers also have H.O.T Face technology. The acronym stands for Highly Optimized Topology, and it blends thick and thin areas that enlarge the sweet spot and protect ball speed on mishits. Finally, each of the DS-Adapt PTC drivers has Cobra's excited new FutureFit33 adjustable hosel system. It lets players and fitters set the driver into 33 different positions to find the ideal loft and lie angle.
The Independent
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
960-seat Soho Theatre Walthamstow to open in May with programme announced
The new Soho Theatre Walthamstow is to open its doors for the first time in May with a programme including performances from comedians Dara O'Briain, Mark Watson and Suzi Ruffell. The 960-seat venue is housed in the Grade II-listed former Granada Theatre building in the London area, and also features new studio spaces, four bars and a restaurant, after it was developed by Soho Theatre, which currently runs a venue in the capital's Dean Street, and Waltham Forest Council. Along with its comedy programme, the theatre will also hold a number of shows such as Natalie Palamides's Weer, Neon Nights and Aladdin And The Magic Lamp. Alongside the creative powerhouse that is our Dean Street home, we'll be presenting world class artists to even larger audiences in our new and gloriously refurbished venue in Walthamstow, east London Dame Heather Rabbatts Speaking about the venue's launch, chairwoman of Soho Theatre, Dame Heather Rabbatts said: 'It's been an incredible journey for Soho Theatre. We're a small theatre, always managing to creatively punch above our weight and with an impact that has been felt in TV, film and commercial theatre. 'The fantastic array of artists that we've worked with, together with our presence at Edinburgh Fringe, in India and elsewhere is testament to that. But we're no longer a small theatre. 'Alongside the creative powerhouse that is our Dean Street home, we'll be presenting world class artists to even larger audiences in our new and gloriously refurbished venue in Walthamstow, east London.' Other performances at the venue will include live versions of popular podcasts Brown Girls Do It Too and Tifo Football, along with a two-day film festival, while Soho Theatre Walthamstow will also host a number of taster workshops to nature young talent. Co-executive directors of Soho Theatre Walthamstow, Mark Godfrey and Sam Hansford, added: 'We're thrilled to be announcing Soho Theatre Walthamstow's opening and first shows. 'Decades in the making, this iconic building with a remarkable history is reinvented as a fantastic new venue for the future, supporting culture-led growth and regeneration. 'None of this would be possible without the passionate grassroots campaign to save it, and the commitment of Waltham Forest Council to invest in it. 'We thank the very many people who have contributed to it and can't wait to announce more and to welcome you in from May.' During its days as the Granada Theatre, the venue featured performances from the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Ronettes, and Chuck Berry. The venue has also served as a pub and cinema, while one owner once tried unsuccessfully to transform it into a church. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on Thursday, January 30 on the Soho Theatre website, with 15,000 tickets for £15 available for those living nearby throughout the venue's debut year. The venue's full programme can be seen on the Soho Theatre website.
The Guardian
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘A sight to behold!' Soho Theatre Walthamstow brings live performance back to historic venue
It opened as a Victorian music hall, had various incarnations as a picture house and hosted concerts by the Beatles, Dusty Springfield and James Brown. But for most of the 21st century, the site of the former Granada cinema in Walthamstow, east London, has remained shuttered. Now, after a major restoration in partnership with the local council, the Grade II* listed building in Hoe Street is set to reopen as Soho Theatre Walthamstow, with a 960-seat main auditorium, three studio spaces and a generous four bars. It will be operated by Soho theatre, which has run a lively venue in Dean Street, central London, for 25 years. The sister site will present a similar mix of comedy, cabaret and theatre from May onwards. The opening programme, announced on Tuesday, includes a monthly comedy lineup show, Neon Nights, with guests including Sara Pascoe, Rosie Jones and Sindhu Vee. Acclaimed autobiographical theatre-maker Bryony Kimmings has been commissioned to create a new show, Bog Witch, 'about uncertain times and finding new ways to be happy'. There will also be a pantomime, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, written and directed by Susie McKenna, who has an illustrious track record of creating pantos in Waltham Forest's neighbouring borough at the Hackney Empire. Billed as 'a local theatre with a national profile', it will offer 15,000 tickets priced at £15 in its first year, available to those who live, work or study in Waltham Forest. The rich film history of the borough where Alfred Hitchcock was born (in Leytonstone in 1899) will be celebrated in a festival organised by the local McGuffin Film Society, which ran a lengthy grassroots campaign to save the venue during a period when its heritage as an arts destination (dating back to 1887) looked bleak. In 2003, the building – then operating as a cinema – was purchased by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God which planned to convert it into a place of worship, like Finsbury Park's former Rainbow theatre which it had taken over in the 90s. But the plans stalled when the church was unable to receive planning permission. The disrepair to its interior was then made public after an illegal rave was held at the site in 2011; local MP Stella Creasy arrived and gained entrance, taking photos of the damage inside. Mark Godfrey, Soho theatre's executive director and CEO, has been developing a strategy for the venue since around 2010. Nearby is a small performance and community space, Centre17, and the theatre pub Ye Olde Rose and Crown whose programme includes standup comedy. But the performing arts offering in the neighbourhood has been otherwise 'a bit thin on the ground', said Godfrey. 'At the same time, a tremendous number of artists and creatives live in the borough.' Alessandro Babalola, creative associate and co-chair of Soho theatre, added: 'It was frustrating because there was so much creative energy in the borough and it needed an outlet.' When he was growing up, Babalola was involved with local street dance and youth performing arts organisations but he and Godfrey, who also lives in the borough, said it had needed a better entertainment infrastructure for years. Godfrey remembered attending early meetings about the future of the building which 'overflowed with passion' for its renewal as an arts venue. At one stage, plans had included a performance space and a cinema but there is now a new independent multiplex, operated by Forest Cinemas, around the corner. After a public inquiry in 2012, plans for the site to become an entertainment venue were deemed viable. The building passed from UCKG to the pub chain Antic, temporarily becoming a bar and performance space, before the council invested in its purchase as part of its London Borough of Culture 2019 legacy commitment. The new theatre's USP, said Godfrey, is presenting comedy at a scale unavailable elsewhere. 'London has small venues for comedy like Soho theatre and Leicester Square theatre,' he said. The biggest is Hammersmith Apollo, which holds more than 3,500 people for comedy. 'But there isn't a dedicated space on that midscale level of around 1,000 seats.' The main stage at Dean Street has a capacity of 200. 'We have worked with so many brilliant artists who were once new and emerging and are now really established. We can work with some of those people on a scale that they deserve.' For example, the opening show is the Edinburgh festival hit Weer performed by Natalie Palamides, an American comedian who has been bringing shows to Dean Street for years. Later in May, Ahir Shah will perform his Edinburgh Comedy award-winning show Ends. In the summer, Walthamstow will host the biggest London shows to date for Biswa Kalyan Rath, one of a number of Indian comedians championed by Soho theatre in recent years. The new venue will continue Soho theatre's community engagement programme. 'That's how we have created generations of artists who feel like part of a Soho theatre family,' said Babalola. Enthusiasts will be able to take part in labs – a way, said Babalola, 'to take inspiration from the work they've seen on stage and do something themselves'. The venue will also run the Primary Playwrights programme inviting primary schoolchildren to write plays, some of which will be performed by professionals, and launch a Panto Young Company in partnership with McKenna. In 1930 the site was redeveloped with exteriors designed by Cecil Masey and interiors by Theodore Komisarjevsky. Its Moorish influence has been kept in an 'arrested decay' development by Willmott Dixon Interiors and Bond Bryan Architects. 'We want people to feel a sense of its history,' said Godfrey. The venue will acknowledge its musical history from the 60s, and a stint in the 00s as a Bollywood cinema, while also representing the cutting-edge brand of Soho theatre. 'It's a sight to behold,' said Babalola. 'A lot of people will want to come in just for the beauty of the venue.' Comedy lovers may be used to heading to Hammersmith for a night at the Apollo. How easily will they be wooed to Walthamstow, the last stop on the Victoria line? 'It starts with the programme,' said Godfrey. 'You have to put on work that people want to see and I believe we're doing that.' He stresses that the venue is close to Walthamstow Central, served by overground trains, tubes and buses. 'We'll work hard to put it on the map,' he added, observing that there has been a 'move to the east' in the arts. The Islington dance institution Sadler's Wells, for example, has just opened a new venue in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in nearby Stratford. Walthamstow already has a world-class visual arts reputation thanks to the designer William Morris, whose former family home in Lloyd Park is now a buzzy gallery. Soho theatre will be counting on comedians to pull in crowds just as the craftsman has done.
