Peter Losasso in Fighting Irish for Coventry’s City of Culture finale

Peter Losasso has been at the Belgrade Theatre playing irreverent youngest brother, Jimmy McGough in Fighting Irish; a show that marks a climactic finale to Coventry’s year as City of Culture.

The debut play from Coventry writer Jamie McGough tells the story of his own family’s struggle for identity in and out of the boxing ring. ‘I’m Irish in England and I’m English in Ireland, who am I?’.

Directed by newly appointed Creative Director at the Belgrade, Corey Campbell, the production used dynamic physical sequences and live music to weave family drama, sporting scandal and the political minefield of the Troubles into a show with all the buzz of a live boxing match!

★★★ “Fabulously Inventive… The real thing…” BehindTheArras

★★★ “An Absolutely Knock Out” WarrickshireWhat’sOn

★★★ WestEndBestFriend

★★★★ Broadway Baby

★★★★ The Reviews Hub

★★★★ EastMidlandsTheatre

Annette Flynn in world premiere of Gravity (A Love Story)

Annette Flynn performed in the world premiere of Gravity (A Love Story) at the Belltable, Limerick.

This new play by Neil Flynn and directed by Conall Morrison is a stirring multi-dimensional drama inspired by the tidal wave of forces, earthly and cosmic, that shape our lives knowingly and unknowingly, and with myriad life-altering effects.

Annette joined a stellar cast of four as they play dozens of characters crossing centuries and continents, culminating in a fated union whose origin lies in a momentous cosmological event.

The show ran until 19th Feb 2022. Learn more about the show on the Lime Tree Theatre and Belltable website.

Jack Collard joins the Bridge Theatre’s The Book of Dust

Jack Collard will be bringing his puppetry, multi-rolling, accent, firearms and stage combat skills to the Bridge Theatre as he joins the company for The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage.

Director Nicholas Hytner returns to Philip Pullman’s parallel universe to direct a gripping adaptation of by Bryony Lavery, eighteen years after the National Theatre’s landmark production of His Dark Materials.

Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.

The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage runs at until 26 Feb 2022. For full details and booking information please visit the Bridge Theatre or view the trailer below:

Adam Fitzgerald makes his TV debut in The Crown

Adam Fitzgerald makes his TV debut in Season 4 of the Netflix hit series The Crown. Adam plays Graham Evans, Chief of Staff to Australian PM, Bob Hawke, in the sixth episode – Terra Nullius – where Prince Charles and Princess Diana visit the country on a royal tour.

The Crown is available to watch on Netflix.

Adam Fitzgerald in The Crown

Creativity in lockdown

Lockdown has seen a rise in some wonderfully creative thinking from our brilliant industry when it comes to finding different ways to deliver performances to audiences despite restrictions. Here we highlight some of the work our clients have been involved with during lockdown.

Marc Zayat has been kept busy with the new and hilarious comedy play, Bog Roll Bandits. Hosted by Ethereal Theatre Company, which Marc also co-founded, and in collaboration with The Cockpit Broadcast, Bog Roll Bandits follows six neighbours in lockdown prepared to risk everything to pull off the biggest toilet paper heist of 2020. Set in the magical world of Zoom, with friendships, jobs and Banana Bread on the line, will they succeed? Marc is co-creator of the project and plays the role of the lovable, geeky conspiracy theorist, Tyler.

Another Actorum member creating brilliant lockdown-inspired work is Maria Forrester who is currently co-writing, co-producing and co-starring in new web series, The Insiders. Available to view on YouTube, the series follows the highs and lows of a couple isolating together during the Covid-19 lockdown in London. It’s a feel-good, modern series that tackles a relevant and difficult subject with loads of heart and courage. Impressively, the series is all shot on one iPhone in a small one-bed flat.

It’s not all about brand new work though, Actorum’s Ben Galpin recently took part in a live-streamed reading of Shakespeare’s Love Labour’s Lost as part of The Show Must Go Online. The project comprises a global cast in weekly readings of the Complete Plays of Shakespeare, read in the order they were believed to have been written. Ben played the love-struck Berowne, complete with a green parrot, collection of hats and a wooden spoon tree! Full show available here.

Nadia Shash can be seen on The Little Angel Theatre’s YouTube channel reading the well-loved classic Beauty and the Beast. These recordings are part of The Little Angel Theatre’s ‘Stories for Children’ series, taking tales, read by some of their brilliant actor-puppeteers, in to their audience’s homes to provide some comfort and entertainment whilst the theatre is having to be closed. Nadia has previously worked with Little Angel Theatre on both Zeraffa Giraffa and Emily Rising.

Rosie Abraham can also be seen online reading a children’s story and hers is for dramatherapy charity, Roundabout. Since the start of lockdown Roundabout has been providing therapeutic online resources for their clients, one of which is “Roundabout-A-Story”. It aims to create a bank of stories for children and their families to share at this challenging time. Rosie wrote and recorded a story called Magnificent Dolores, which is about a pony who doesn’t know she’s a unicorn.