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Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
That Bastard, Puccini! review — music, mischief and silky wit
You can't sit through James Inverne's engagingly dotty chamber play about operatic rivalry without thinking of Amadeus. Here we are, back on the faultline that separates talent from genius, this time with Leoncavallo and Puccini competing to see who can write the better version of La bohème. What makes this nimble production at the Park Theatre in London so seductive is that the tale of ambition and skulduggery is drenched in cleverly weighted meta asides. Inverne, a former editor of Gramophone whose debut play, A Walk with Mr Heifetz, ran off-Broadway in 2018, wraps his research in layers of humour and self-referential nods and winks. And at the heart of it all is a winningly mischievous performance by Sebastien Torkia as a Puccini who is a suave wheeler-dealer and womaniser. It's not so long since I saw Torkia bring an ever-grinning facsimile of Silvio Berlusconi to life in a bio-musical of that corrupt old rogue. This year he played both Professor Van Helsing and a simpering Mina Harker in the rumbustious vampire farce Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors. He is a silky comic force. • Read more theatre reviews, guides and interviews We first see his boulevardier eavesdropping on poor Leoncavallo (Alasdair Buchan) and his ever-supportive wife, Berthe (Lisa-Anne Wood). Dogged by fears that he is destined to be a one-hit wonder, the composer of Pagliacci is outraged that the man he thinks of as a friend is muscling in on his plans to bring Henri Murger's stories of wayward Parisian bohos to the stage. Puccini denies stealing the idea, of course, and as their feud bubbles away, he feels free to lecture his rival on the meaning of creativity. Inverne allows his characters to catch each other using language drawn from the psychobabble of our own day. Buchan's mournful, dishevelled Leoncavallo always wins our sympathy, and there are even moments when he seems close to grabbing the glory at Venice's La Fenice. Wood is kept busy too, singing the occasional aria, transforming herself into Puccini's formidable wife, Elvira, and even joining Gorka in delivering a hilarious impersonation of a pernicketty Gustav Mahler who, as Vienna's leading conductor, wields godlike power over the two Italians. Could the sewing up of loose ends in the final 20 minutes have been tighter? Perhaps. Still, the director Daniel Slater, a familiar face on the opera circuit, administers it all with a light touch. Carly Brownbridge's handsome set smuggles musical notation onto the floor. In this quirky realm, a chaise longue can become a gondola.★★★★☆120minPark Theatre, London, to Aug 9, @timesculture to read the latest reviews
The Herald Scotland
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
This inspiring Scottish theatre is like nowhere else in Britain
And when you consider that the population of Pitlochry is just 2,500, and features an older demographic, well, it's almost unimaginable to believe that the theatre's till receipts boasted £1.5m last year – and looks to expand upon that number this season. In praise of Pitlochry Dougie Cameron, the Director of Finance and Operation, explains the business strategy behind the theatre. 'Our revenue comes from three broad funds. The first is selling tickets and food, and the second involves taking Pitlochry to the world so that our theatre work has a life beyond. An example of this is our co-productions, whereby we share the costs with another theatre; an example is the current show, Grease, which we co-produced with the Blackpool Grand. And the third revenue stream is philanthropy, so if our shows do well, we can attract the attention of private backers.' The finance boss adds: 'It's so much about programming, getting the right shows onto the stage, then working hard to sell them to our audience. And then when we do open the shows, there is a multiplier that come off a ticket, such as the revenue we take from wine and dinner.' John Stewart at the Opening Ceremony in 1951 (Image: Colin Liddell) Kenneth Ireland, Patricia Heneghan, John Stewart in 1957 (Image: Colin Liddell) Cameron isn't suggesting that finding funding for a mid-sized rural location theatre with annual overheads of £3m, is a walk in the heather. 'It's a world of increasing costs, such as labour and utilities. And we are always trying to prepare for the unforeseen.' Certainly, no one could have anticipated Covid. 'But what we have here is a fantastic team of individuals who are so committed to the success of Pitlochry, with great imagination and ideas, who will take us forward.' Yet, there's another reason why Pitlochry Festival Theatre has not only survived but thrived over the years. And it can only be understood by turning back the pages of the story. Way back in 1941, theatre fanatic John Stewart established Glasgow's Park Theatre but three years later found himself visiting Pitlochry, where he fell in love with this area and conceived the utterly daft, romantic idea he would return one day and build a theatre close to the beautiful River Tummel. In an early day example of manifesting, Stewart wrote a note to himself, and stuffed it inside a signpost, declaring; 'When peace is declared I shall return to this spot to give thanks to God and to establish my Festival'. On VE day, Stewart recovered that same slip of paper, offered a silent prayer of thanks, and vowed again to fulfil his promise. Yet, while post-war Britain was alive with hope it was starved of building materials. As a result, Pitlochry Festival Theatre opened in 1951 with the British premiere of Maxwell Anderson's Mary of Scotland, with Joss Ackland as Darnley, staged in a giant tent. But it was an immediate success says Colin Liddell MBE, the theatre's honorary president, with more than 35,000 seats sold that season. 'The tent was really wide, and with 498 seats in only 12 rows it meant the actors had to cover an awful lot of stage,' says the former trustee, smiling. Read more Part of that success was the pre-Beeching railway service. 'It was better than now. And you could see a play and get back to Glasgow or Edinburgh that same night." But the biggest factor in the tickets sold story was the audiences who loved to flock to Pitlochry. They appreciated the romance of the endeavour, the love shown to the theatre concept. And even when the tent fell apart, literally, after heavy winds ripped at its sides, they backed the creation of a new cladded frontage. And with trust status secured, a new Pitlochry Festival Theatre was created in 1981, on the banks of the Tummel, at Port-na-craig. Sadly, John Stewart didn't live to see the present day edifice, but his legacy has been felt in hugely successful productions which evolved in style over the years, from Alan Ayckbourn plays to works by Agatha Christie, with today's emphasis on populist shows and musicals such as Sunshine on Leith and the Sound of Music. Yet, both Dougie Cameron and Colin Liddell are entirely in agreement that the success of theatre owes a great deal to something which is not real in the literal sense. Magic. Audiences are drawn to the allure, the illusion, the natural artistry of the world surrounding Pitlochry's theatre. 'Logically, it shouldn't work, but we make it work,' says Cameron. Liddell adds, smiling. 'The metaphysical side is the big thing we do. Pitlochry can sleep 10,000 people and audiences will come for three nights in the summer, in little groups, and come back and see another three plays (thanks to its rep theatre staging programme) in September.' The theatre today (Image: free) The old theatre entrance (Image: Colin Liddell) He adds of the destination tourism factor: 'We have a theatre surrounded by mountains and water, yet accessible to most corners of Scotland. For example, when we did Whisky Galore in 2009, only three post code districts in the whole of the UK did not send at least one person to that musical.' It was the 'magic' of Pitlochry which resulted in international star Alan Cumming becoming the theatre's new Artistic Director. 'Alan shoved in an application like anyone else,' reveals Liddell. 'He was so keen to come here, seriously bitten by the enthusiasm bug when he arrived here with a TV crew to make a documentary. And you can't match Alan's profile, which brings with it a supercharged effect.' John Stewart would be delighted with his legacy. His theatre now produces more plays each year than any other in the UK. He would be rapturous to know the Studio Theatre was added in 2023. But at least he did have the chance to enjoy the widest of smiles on reading the comments in The Lady magazine in 1952, words which have spanned the decades and underlined audiences' true romance with his theatre. 'Nothing I've seen anywhere is like Pitlochry,' the writer declared. 'The incredible has come to be.'
Metro
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
The conversations after sex are the most intimate part of one-night stands
You lock eyes with a stranger across the bar. After a few drinks or a bit of flirting, you end up going home with them and, inevitably, having sex. So much talk is given to hook-up culture, but not much is said about the interactions that come afterwards. You might enjoy a bit of banter, attempt small talk about the news, or even make a bacon sandwich together. Or equally, they might confess something to you they'd only reveal to a stranger. A secret, or a snippet of insight into their life. In many ways, it's easier to open up to an outsider – it holds less emotional weight. This idea is one of many explored in Conversations After Sex, which is currently showing at the Park Theatre in North London. Centred around one woman and her encounters with one-night stands and casual flings, the play explores the 'magic and loneliness' of sex with strangers. Written by Mark O'Halloran, the work was acquired by Olivia Lindsay's Ye You Productions – and Olivia also plays the female lead, simply known as 'She.' We never find out what her name is, nor those of the men she sleeps with – and this perhaps feels intentional. What's the point in knowing someone by name if you might never see them again? As Olivia tells Metro, it's 'easier to open up to a stranger sometimes' – and what we see is 'two people who don't really know each other, but they're able to give themselves in these post-coital, immediate situations.' Love reading juicy stories like this? Need some tips for how to spice things up in the bedroom? Sign up to The Hook-Up and we'll slide into your inbox every week with all the latest sex and dating stories from Metro. We can't wait for you to join us! For She, casual sex leads to her revealing she lost her ex-boyfriend to suicide, inherited her home from her father after he died, and she's not sure whether she really wants kids. In return, her hook-ups open up about their past relationships and sick relatives – a kind of candid honesty you're not always afforded in other more long-standing relationships – and this translates off the stage, too. The conversations in the play were inspired by real-life experiences of the playwright and friends. 'It's so much easier to unload to someone who you don't know, because there's no repercussion and there's no judgement,' Olivia explains. 'You're in a vulnerable and intimate situation, but you're also able just to be honest and present with that person. I think a lot of people will recognise that in their own lives, whether that's with a one-night stand, or [meeting] someone in the bathroom, at a bar or on the Tube…you're able to offload.' For Olivia, part of the joy of casual sex is how 'funny and sexy' one-night stands can be – and that magic is often exacerbated by the fact that it's only destined to be a fleeting encounter. 'I think it can be really freeing, powerful and sexy. You don't know this person, like you're kind of figuring them out in the few hours you have together,' she shares. 'You don't have to see them again, so you can enjoy it for what it is, and utilise each other in a way that's really powerful.' Interestingly, some couples in long-term, committed relationships fail to have such deep conversations after sex. It's all too easy to get 'caught up in routines' like the 'morning rush' or simply dozing off, says Lovehoney's sex and relationship expert Annabelle Knight. And there's something about a clean slate that encourages vulnerability – even if neither party is looking for anything serious. 'Stripping that layer of expectation away with casual sex can feel liberating – like meeting a stranger who you can be raw and candid with without obsessing over the repercussions of your words,' Annabelle shares. 'It's important to be empathetic and attentive to each other's feelings, but unlike sex with a partner, you're not entirely responsible for how this is carried forward. Conversations after sex are also a form of aftercare – an 'integral part' of intimacy, according to Annabelle. They provide a crucial opportunity to 'check in with each other's moods and feelings'. Chatting, cuddling or taking a shower together release oxytocin, also known as the 'bonding hormone,' which can 'reduce stress and increase feelings of trust and affection.' 'While we don't necessarily need to build intimate connections to partake in casual sex, some people definitely need this intimacy for the sex to be enjoyable,' she adds. 'It really boils down to both parties having that space to express their boundaries, expectations, and needs, so both can feel comfortable and fulfilled in these relationships.' One-night stands can sometimes act as a mirror, where you end up learning something about yourself. Through the interactions She has with various partners, we see her taking on board a new life lesson – whether she's sharing a secret or making conclusions about the way she reacts to other people's. In Annabelle's view, casual sex can also allow us to 'experiment with fantasies' where 'dynamics have not yet been established. 'As long as it is completely consensual and boundaries are in place, casual sex can be a great environment for exploration and learning. You can often experiment with what turns you on in a non-pressure environment, without too many expectations or even responsibilities to be in alignment with your partner's needs,' she explains A 2025 study from The Times found that the younger generations are actually having less casual sex than their predecessors. In 2004, a similar survey concluded that 78% of people aged between 18 and 30 said that amongst their friends, one-night stands were common, while in 2014, statistics showed that 49% said they'd experienced one, with 20% sleeping with someone without knowing their name. In 2024, 23% of 18 to 27-year-olds said that one-night stands were happening amongst their friendship group – a decline of 55%. It's not just sex with strangers that can build you as a person – even just talking to someone new in a casual way, perhaps going on a few dates or exchanging messages on a dating app, can help you to decipher what you do and don't want in a partner. 'You're having new conversations. What are your interests? What stimulates you intellectually and emotionally?' Olivia adds. 'Dating, especially meeting new people, is so imperative to finding the right person – if you want to end up with one person.' In short – no. One-night stands don't always have to involve a life-altering lesson, or an interaction with a stranger that went beyond surface-level. More Trending Sometimes, sex is just sex – and if it's casual, it's casual for a reason – as not everyone wants to extract meaning, or indeed a relationship, out of their hook-ups. 'People have varying boundaries, needs, and expectations for casual sex, and it's essential to lay these out beforehand to avoid those feelings of rejection or dissatisfaction,' Annabelle believes. 'These open and honest conversations are a great form of intimacy. Many people forget that intimacy transcends touch, and is in the way we interact emotionally, too.' View More » Conversations After Sex is showing at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park until Saturday, May 17. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: The four real reasons there are so many virgins in 2025 MORE: The one big difference in how men and women like sex to be initiated MORE: Channel 4's Virgin Island could have been sensitive – I found it exploitative
Winnipeg Free Press
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Inside out
In April 2020, Julie Nolke caught her big break. The Canadian comedian/actor/writer debuted a new series on the sketch comedy channel she runs with her husband on YouTube: Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self, wherein a pandemic-present Julie tells a pre-pandemic Julie what's in store for her. The first video has 21 million views and counting. Five years on, Nolke has firmly established herself as one of Canada's brightest comedic voices for her ability to tap into the zeitgeist — and now, she's doing something new: Dying on the Outside, a live, one-hour, one-woman sketch-comedy show she's bringing to the Park Theatre on Wednesday. 'It's a departure from what I've done for the last, I don't know, 10 years,' Nolke says over the phone from Toronto. Last year, Nolke was feeling disconnected from her audience — which, when you're creating comedy online, is mostly measured in anonymous numbers. 'I really just wanted to see and meet the people behind those views,' she says. After three months of writing, Nolke tapped fellow comedian/actor/writer Gwynne Phillips to direct the show, which had a sold-out run in Toronto in March. Nolke's not the only viral Canadian comedian who has recently brought her work from screen to stage. Fellow Toronto comedian Laura Ramoso, who was in Winnipeg in November on her Sit Up Straight tour, has also followed a similar career trajectory. 'You know what's funny — Laura was the first person I called when I realized I wanted to do a live show,' Nolke says with a laugh. 'I called her and I said, 'We have to meet for coffee because I want to do this thing, and you are an expert in it.' 'We had a really nice, long chat, and she gave me a lot of guidance, and has been giving me guidance through this whole thing. She's an incredible community member and wonderful friend.' Without revealing too much, Dying on the Outside deals with, among other topics, death and processing death as the title suggests. The north star of all of Nolke's comedy is relatability. 'The hope is that if I've gone through something and I create a piece of content, as long as I keep it authentic, the hope is that it's going to be relatable,' she says. Nolke grew up in Calgary, where she did a ton of improv and theatre and, after high school, moved to Toronto to complete an acting degree at York University. Dying on the Outside is a welcome return to live performance. 'Of course, it's been 10 years since I've been back (onstage), so I was a little bit rusty, and I definitely had some imposter syndrome, but once I started performing, it felt very natural. And to be honest, that surge of adrenaline you get from the audience is exactly what I was looking for. It feels like a very special, once-in-a-lifetime experience that only live theatre can offer,' she says. It also allows her to exercise different creative muscles. Julie Nolke brings Dying on the Outside, her new sketch comedy show, to the Park Theatre on Wednesday. 'There's something really brave about doing something in person, live. There's that opportunity for failure that I think I need. I need that fire under my butt so I keep changing my content and making sure the audience is relating to it.' Nolke's success has not been overnight. She started her YouTube channel with her husband Samuel Larson in 2014 after years of struggling as an actor. It steadily grew enough they were able to quit their day jobs in 2016 before Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self took it to a whole new level. 'I think we just had an excellent temperature check on where people were at in the world. Our comedy just seemed to hit in exactly the way that people needed, and so those videos took off, but I am an avid believer that if it wasn't going to be those, it was going to be some other video, just because we had worked so hard and we'd gotten really good at YouTube,' Nolke says. There was a cultural shift taking place at that time, too. YouTubers and online creators were finally being recognized as legitimate artists. 'I have felt that shift in a huge way. I mean, I was on a show called Run the Burbs — we had three seasons on CBC — and the reason I was invited into that original development writers room before the show was ever greenlit is because the production company knew me from YouTube. That would not have been the case five years previous,' Nolke says. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. Now, Nolke has multiple screen credits to her name, including Murdoch Mysteries, What We Do in the Shadows, Coroner, Odd Squad and Workin' Moms. In 2023, she also had a starring role in the W Network movie The Wedding Rule. After years of grinding it out and putting in the work, Nolke has been nominated for two 2025 Canadian Screen Awards for her work on Run the Burbs. The winners will be fêted in Toronto at the end of May. The performer calls the nominations,'really surreal. Like, very, very out-of-body experience. I think there's a part of me that still feels a little bit impostery in film and TV — like, when are people going to realize I'm just a YouTuber? I try to mute that voice as much as possible but the reality is, it exists.' 'And so, the awards bring me a huge sense of validity. Like my peers, my own peers, the people that I deeply respect in the industry, recognize that I'm more than just an online creator who couldn't book a job the regular way. It doesn't go by me mildly.' Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
How to Fight Loneliness review — a moral thriller about mercy killing
For more than three decades the American writer-director Neil LaBute has maintained a reputation as an arch-provocateur. Often branded as a misogynist and misanthrope for plays and films that have focused on liars, lovers and manipulators, his subject matter has ranged from toxic masculinity to terrorism. In 2023 the Park Theatre in London scored a hit with a slickly assured revival of LaBute's The Shape of Things. His work is now back at the north London venue with the UK premiere of How to Fight Loneliness, a three-hander on the hot-button topic of assisted dying. On the surface LaBute's premise is fairly straightforward. We are in the suburban home of an anxiously conflicted couple facing an awful dilemma. Jodie (Justina Kehinde) has terminal
