The Week in Light & Sound
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TRSE head of learning and participation Flo Paul said: “We’re delighted to be able to offer this streaming service to people in our local community who are not able to make it to Theatre Royal Stratford East to see our much-loved annual panto. This year we are expanding the offer to adults in care homes, as well as children in hospices and hospitals. At Stratford East, we believe it’s vital to offer a range of opportunities for people of all ages in Newham and the surrounding boroughs to engage with our theatre.”
Dick Whittington is directed by John Haidar and stars Sèverine Howell-Meri, Harry Jardine, Vedi Roy, Bree Smith, Lizzie Winkler, Francesca Zoutewelle and Tom Giles. It runs until January 11, 2020.
Chart Watch - Robbie Williams has become the joint most successful solo act in UK album chart history after scoring his 13th number one, level with Elvis Presley. Robbie's The Christmas Present moved to the top spot after entering at number two behind Coldplay last week. The Beatles hold the overall record with 15 UK number one albums.
Beyond The Fringe - A Morecambe arts venue is closing after failing to secure funding. Alt-Space, a venue that hosts the Morecambe Fringe Festival, has had 12 applications of financial support turned down by Arts Council England. The venue’s director Matt Panesh, who opened the space in September 2018, said: “I simply can’t afford to keep the place going out of my own pocket. The last time we had any kind of funding help was in March for the scratch festival.”
He said the future of the Morecambe Fringe was not affected, because it takes place in multiple venues, but warned that “the capacity for the local community to actively take part in the fringe sadly will be affected”. During the 2019 fringe, the venue ran multi-disciplinary workshops, and produced eight shows involving local residents. In addition to serving as a theatre, the venue hosted comedy nights, spoken-word events and was used by students studying art and design at Lancaster and Morecambe College.
Panesh plans to launch a new Morecambe venue, the West End Playhouse, in 2020, and has set up a crowdfunding initiative aiming to raise £5,000 by December 24.
Time Travel - An immersive Doctor Who experience is set to premiere in London in February 2020. Based on the television series, Doctor Who Time Fracture: An Immersive Adventure will recreate the world of Doctor Who and involve solving challenges to ‘save the planet’. The experience is produced by BBC Studios and Immersive Everywhere, who also produced The Great Gatsby immersive experience. The exact London location is yet to be confirmed.
In The Courts - Chris Cornell's widow is suing his former band Soundgarden over claims of unpaid royalties, according to reports. Vicky Cornell has filed a complaint in a Florida federal court which alleges that the rights of several unreleased songs have been breached. The complaint says that "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in royalty payments are "indisputably owed" to Cornell's widow and children.
Court documents claim that Cornell's former bandmates are attempting to "strong-arm Chris' estate into turning over certain audio recordings created by Chris before he passed away", according to reports. It is also claimed that Soundgarden "resorted to pressure tactics, harassment, unlawful conversion of royalties and extortion" by suggesting that Vicky is blocking the release of new music.
(Jim Evans)
10 December 2019
