The week has come to an end, and the final play I had the pleasure of watching was, 'The Crimson Retribution'. As a volunteer at this festival, and because I'm such a rebel, I liked to simply shorten it to, 'Crimson'. Or maybe I'm just lazy... Or maybe I struggled to pronounce the last word... I'll leave you to decide which.


So, 'The Crimson Retribution' (said in a superhero strong manly voice) follows the story of a superhero freeloading in another woman's house, with retribution to seek. However, I would say there wasn't much dramatic story to follow. You kind of just sat and watched them 'be'. But before you judge this play, you need to understand there are other things that make it a 'must see'.

Before I let you in on the gossip, I should let you know what I endured, just so I could get to see it and review it for you lovely readers. (if there are any) I firstly pretty much pleaded to sit in. One volunteer front of house always has to sit in. But as you are probably aware, this show was a constant sell out! So my chances were slim. But not slim enough, as I was granted entry in to this prestigious event!
...
BUT. And it's a big but. I had to hold the door closed. It was faulty. This big, heavy, squeaky door was faulty. So within 5 minutes of lights down, my arms were aching. I had to constantly shift to relieve them of the pressure. My muslces were bulging after 60 minutes. My weight training for the decade that was!
...
Oh, you think it stops there? No, no, no, no. There was a huge pillar structure standing right in view of the stage. The most inappropriate block of bricks I have ever come across. I had to duck, dive and lunge every different direction to simply watch the action! But I went through it for you lovely reader(s)...

Back to the review. The first thing I noticed was the excellent use of projection, something I criticised 'Rainbow Connection' for. They maybe should have took notes from 'Crimson' as it really added to the play. It helped show change of scene, venue and time. It was cleverly drawn in comic book style too! The bonus of a comic strip without the bore of reading it. Watching the action on stage was much more fun!

Something else that made it special was the variety of locations we were taken to in just one environment. We were not limited to the living room of the house. The characters performed outside, in cars and in pubs through using the space on stage. I liked being transported over to the door step of an old woman, were Kyle and Sean were successfully scamming her. Wait, that sounded wrong. I don't agree with the scamming, I agree with the inventive scene structure. I particularly liked the sofa which transformed into a car.

Another cleverly written (Steve Pearce) and directed (Clare Howdon) aspect of this play, were the time passing scenes. Imagine a montage in a film, well this is the same but on stage. The actors mimed specifically choreographed actions, interacted with each other and successfully portrayed weeks passing. I felt like the writer and director really played around with the possibilities of theatre. Straight drama plays are great, but this show was as varied as a drunkenly mixed cocktail at your work leaving do! And we cannot deny enjoying treats like that every now and again.

Regarding the characters, two stood out for me. The superhero Crimson (Paul Sockett) gave the play most of the witty humour. I would describe him as Mary Poppin's stronger, cooler brother. He regularly cleaned the house, made tea and settled arguments gracefully. He also wouldn't leave until his job was done. Is that how you imagined a superhero? Me neither. He's practically perfect in every single way. (Marys Poppin's reference if you didn't 'get it') The actor, Paul Sockett was brilliantly versatile, evolving into many different characters and performing them with confidence.

Kyle (David Degiorgio) played the typical villain. He was most definitely the 'baddie' of the play. I would like to commend Degiorgio on his appropriate physicality. He had an exaggerated walk, claw like finger extensions and smug look on his face. He played this character with focus on the body and facial expression. Great actor. Very well performed!

Overall an inventive and inspiring idea, with modern twists on how to bring scripts to life on stage! Entertaining, current and unique! I think it's a great first timer show for theatre virgins too!! Give it a go and you'll be hooked!

Easily, this was the funniest play I watched at the 24:7 Festival. It oozed humour by the bucket load. I don't think a minute went by without at least a chuckle from the audience. As a comedy writer myself, I know how difficult it is to make people laugh. So, well done to the writer Joanne Sherryden, who executed comedy with precision.

There isn't a story to follow exactly. Just the journey of a gay man and a straight woman, who have more things in OPPOSITE than that! However, what's that famous saying, 'opposites attract!'. So we all know from the word go that their friendship has to work, no matter how many obstacles are thrown in the way.

I would suggest, this play simply revolves around the two main characters interaction. Shelley (Danielle Henry) and Joe (Anthony Crank). Shelley was your typical loud, over confident and gobby woman with the hidden vulnerability that was inevitably existent. She would fit right in down here in Rochdale! Her entrance reflected this perfectly as she barged into Joe's home, looked around as she pleased and chatted nonsense without an intake of breath.

Where as Joe began fairly reserved, but don't you worry, he soon turned into that 'bitchy' gay man lurking inside. The more comfortable he became, the more gay qualities he let loose. His claws were well and truly sharpened with some of his hilarious comebacks. A great example being when Shelley advertises her new dresses, holds one up to her body and enthusiastically asks Joe, 'What does this dress say to you?' His very simple, somewhat harsh reply, 'Leave £10 on the table, love.' Comedy genius. The dialogue was realistic, and was a smooth as my dove moisturiser. Sherryden has a real flare for the natural rhythm of  speech and conversations.

Shelley was the ultimate faghag! They argued, laughed, mocked, criticized and bitched knowing it was all in good humour. There are no consequences in a relationship like theirs. You do follow them through their highs and lows, slowly realising they help each other out in the process. Nearer the end of the play, more emotional and serious scenes jumped out at you! So much laughter, turns into a lot of sorrow. But still, hints of humour were present, even through their tough times. The characters make this play, and the actors definitely did them justice.

I feel the ending was a little disappointing. The energy fizzled out, and I think the last two scenes were unnecessary. I like to be left at a crucial point of a play, and a resolved ending seems a bit of a cop out. However, this may have suited the nature of the play better. One other small problem, was their use of projection. They used it at the beginning to show clouds and then right at the end to show a rainbow. I don't think it helped the play in any way, and there wasn't a real point in using it.

Otherwise, a light hearted, heavy, happy, sad, witty, simple, cultured, common mess of a play! Most definitely an entertaining watch. Great if you want to get out of the house, leave your troubles behind, sneak into another world of drama and earn an evening of laughter! After all, we all love a a bit of gossip, right?!

This is the first family show EVER to be involved in the festival. And a magical one at that!


This is a story that follows Peggy's (and rovers) mission to meet the spaceman!  She wants to go into space to escape Mean Janine, but first has to get to the town hall to see you're a banana... sorry I mean Yuri Gagarin.

I had the chance to see the audience before the event. The adults bantered in groups around the bar, whilst the children happily played 'tig'. Admittedly I got a little tired watching them play, where do they get the energy from! Anyway... once the children were let into the room they ran straight to the colourful mats that had activity books laid out for them. I glanced over to the children during the play, and adorably their mouths were rested open in concentration, wide eyed in fascination and head titled up to admire the exciting performance!

The play is set in 1961 and is based around Yuri Gagarin's visit to the wonderful land of Manchester. It uses factual references throughout, so us adults 'get' them! The script isn't as straight forward as I expected it to be, and in honest truth... educated me on this historic event! (I hated history, so well done for making me listen guys!)

Saira Chowdry (Peggy) was suitably cast as the naive, energetic and determined girl. Her big wide eyes really captured the innocence of a child. Eve Robertson (Mean Janine and many others) added a great sense of humour to the piece. Her portrayal of a dog was excellent, and stole a lot of the laughter. She really did research dog like qualities. She was versatile and played a variety of characters with ease. Luke Walker (Father and Yuri Gagarin) performed the emotional roles, where he genuinely seemed like a doting father and role model. The warmth of his character glowed off him only to burn into my heart.

The design by Olivia Du Monceau was simply genius. There was one box, which could have been mistaken for a Transformer! It changed into a blackboard, cupboards, spaceship, time capsule and probably more! It was a skilfully designed piece of equipment, adapting to the needs of each scene. Very clever. It even had lights that twinkled on the side... I think I was more amazed than the kids at this point!! I was admittedly fascinated by a box... a box!

I didn't want Peggy's story to end, but she needed to go back home. The question is, was this adventure her creative imagination at work, or did it really happen? Come and watch to find out!!

A colourful, fascinating and enjoyable piece of theatre. And they didn't lie in the flyer, it is fun for all the family. I don't have children, but if I did, they'd be there. Just so I could see their little faces light up!

I said goodbye to the audience as they left, and bent down to a little boy to ask if he liked it. His reply, the most memorable of the day was:

'The Shadow Of Your Hand's' plot could be described very simply; the events that follow when a man invites a homeless woman into his flat.

Now, I know what you're all thinking. You think you can predict what happens. Go on, decide now what happens. Done? HAH. You're wrong. I know I was. This play was far from predictable.

Firstly, we are introduced to Steve (Steven Pinder - apparently he was in Brookside for a long time, but I'm too cool to watch that...) who is a rich, socially difficult and agitated business man. I must admit, Steven Pinder stole the show for me. He played the character with style.

He invites the surprisingly un-naive homeless woman (Rosie Fleeshman) into his flat for a home cooked meal. Steve is extremely caring towards her, treating her almost like a queen. This immediately made me 'like' his character. Yes, the whole situation seems a bit iffy, and yes, I know something bad is inevitably going to happen, but... Steve seemed adorable. His nervousness and OCD like qualities made him the vulnerable party! Even when he finally snaps and has her tied up and gagged, I thought 'aww, he just wants some company'. I know! I was freaked out myself that I was thinking like that. But I liked Hannibal Lecter, so it might just be me...

Rosie Fleeshman plays a strong young woman who has clearly lived a hard life. She strolls in with her baggy top, 'chavvy' trakies and quite frankly stinks of ASBO (her character that is, Rosie was actually lovely!) She begins the play quiet, with the hint of an attitude but grateful for Steve's kindness. Then slowly transforms into the tough, loud and manipulating villain.  

Throughout the play you see a power struggle between them both. The protagonist and antagonist roles swap numerous times until you start to get slight nausea. But I loved this, as the performance stayed fresh. Their hidden pasts are slowly revealed as their relationship becomes more intense. The annoying noises coming from backstage did affect my viewing, but I guess its hard to walk around in the dark without some clumsy trips. So I made do.

Even though it was a dark play, there was so much witty dialogue; primarily from Steve's character. The writer (Michael Stewart) hit the tragicomic timings perfectly! Evident through this simple line;
'I won't touch you... I'll be wearing pyjamas'
The jokes seemed to leak out through the characters mannerisms and reactions. All the little details staged by the director (Sue Jenkins) were beautifully placed. Resulting in presumably, sought after laughter.

The hint of a possible future between them at the end is an eerily uncomfortable thought. The scene itself reflects that of my thought! The ending was a little weak as I didn't exactly understand some of it. I did feel the momentum began to fizzle out nearer the closing stages. I'd of preferred a hard hitting ending, to compliment the hard hitting theatre. However, I guess opposites attract, and a serene ending worked in a weird way.

It is a dark, surprisingly witty and definitely gripping piece of theatre! My favourite of the day!!

EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY

So, the big day arrived and it was finally my graduation! Three years of hard work, hard exams and hard... partying. Ok, scratch the last one.

I had been up since 6am. I kid you not, I actually awoke that early. You can probably guess why; I had to wash my hair at least 3 hours prior so it could dry naturally. This stuff matters. So, I dressed into my brand new outfit, a bargain 'all in one' pussycat bow blouse and black pencil skirt. £10 discounted from £35. I know, I couldn't believe it myself! I poured the perfume 'Ghost' all over me, the outfit and I'm pretty sure my boyfriend took a gulp of it accidentally. It's fine, his breath was perfumy fresh  for the rest of the day!

So, there we were, me and my family driving up to Edge Hill University for possibly the last time... ever. Everyone dressed up formally and, if I'm going to be completely honest, warned to be on their best behaviour. My family are fairly nuts. If you look closely on the top of their hands, you can just about make out a faded 'INSANE' stamp. They had to scrub away all night to make it less visible. The institute kindly let them out on day release, since it was such a big occasion. The first 'Cooke' to graduate... and probably the only one at that!

Ok, we arrived. I skipped over (difficult in heels) to collect my gown. I couldn't wait to get the robes and little square hat! It is the most talked about section of graduation. People always want to see what you look like. Nobody ever asks 'let me see your certificate' or 'how were the speeches'. Always, 'let me see a picture!'.

Once my very grand attire had been fitted, I truly felt like a woman. It dawned on me that I had made it. I walked along the lake in the sunshine, hand in hand with my fellow graduate boyfriend, looking over to my proud parents on the other side. It felt like the moment was in slow motion. All it needed was an emotional underscore of music and the scene would be perfect. This was by far the most memorable part of the day.

Lots of pictures were taken (evidence that it had actually happened!) Families and friends all bantered in the sunshine. The Edge Hill ducks floated on the lake simply watching the event pass. The atmosphere was of excitement, nerves and joy. Then we entered the hall!

Now, as expected speeches were an important part of the ceremony. But, who would had imagined that the Chancellor of Edge Hill, Dr Tanya Byron, would be such a comedian! And how many people can say, Jennifer Saunders came to my graduation for an honourary doctorate... no one!

Dr Tanya Byron                              Jennifer Saunders

So, Dr Tanya Byron gracefully walked to the podium and was an instant crowd pleaser. She had a couple hundred people laughing away. I can shockingly announce, she rocked the room! She turned to the graduates and said, 'you look like the cast of Harry Potter' and 'ok, I should be commending you on graduation and giving you advice but blah blah blah, I've better stories.' That said, her speech was just as inspiring and profound.

She then went on to tell of my favourite story; how she had kissed the president of the united states, Barrack Obama... twice! The whole room sighed in admiration, mainly jealousy. She was at a meeting in Downing Street, when suddenly someone was in need of eye lash glue. She was ushered down stairs by body guards and had the job of sticking fake eye lashes on to the very precious eyes of the first lady. She then introduced her to Obama. He kindly shook Dr Tanya Byron's hand and kissed her on the cheek, were she then said that, 'my knickers crashed to the floor.' That is fact. I have documented footage as evidence of that statement on the Edge Hill's website video archive.
http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/video/graduation-21-07-2011-2pm-ceremony-10

Next, her famous best friend, Jennifer Saunders came up to make a speech. That Jennifer Saunders from the hit comedy 'Absolutely Fabulous', 'French and Saunders' and most famously known for being at the top of the leader board for Top Gears 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car!' Yes, that's right, a celebrity! Her speech, understandably was at another level of comedy. The jokes skilfully danced out of her mouth, leaving the audience and graduates in stitches. Her speech began with this appropriate statement,

She gave advice useful to students. I shall list a couple:
- Spots never end.
- Pot noodles have no nutritional value; you have to eat vegetables or you will die.
- Girls, shoes are important and don't let anyone tell you any different.

A couple serious ones:
- Be confident.
- Don't be afraid of change.

She left centre stage to let us graduates, well, graduate! I stood at the side of the red carpet, heard my course BA (Hons) Creative Writing and Drama announced following my full Christian name. 'Georgina Mary Cooke'. My smile couldn't have been any wider, my parents eyes couldn't have been full of any more water and my life couldn't have been any more amazing.

3 years of hard work, for 3 seconds of shaking a hand. Officially my degree was complete!

The quote of the evening, announced by the chancellor, was strong, passionate and inspiring.

So, today I got my shifts confirmed for the 24:7 Manchester Festival! A week long event, which as the festival producer David Slack proudly announces, 'nurtures new talent in both writing, directing, performing and producing theatre.'


I will definitely be working at 'Peggy and the Spaceman.' The first Family Friendly show to be performed at this festival, which is in it's 8th year! I have never seen a live performance created entirely for kids before, so I'm excited to see how it's done!

Firstly, I think it'll be exciting to see all the children and families in the foyer. If I'm working Front of House, I'm sure the place will be buzzing!! Lots of people running wild, screaming for some ice cream and that's just the parents! The children might have to calm their parents down, let them know this is a professional event and they need to behave. I can't wait to blog about things I see and hear on the build up to letting the kids loose in the performance room!

On topic of the actual show, I'm sure I'll be sat there thinking, 'how patronising' and then realise, 'wait, I'm not 6'. How is it going to be staged? How adventurous will the story be? How colourful will the costumes be!! And the most anticipated question, what is the spaceman going to be like? All of these questions I want answering now. I'm stomping my feet like a child trying to get my own way, but the 21 year old in me knows I have to be patient and wait until Monday 25th.

And did I mention, I'm pretty sure I'm working on the show twice!
Only a week to go before my blogging on the event begins.
(and what a busy week before I have!)

I'm now just really looking forward to my time at the 24:7 Fest! :)

life is...
jokes
The purpose of this blog is to give me a way of getting my thoughts out in to the big wide web! Hence the title of my blog 'everthought'. You see I'm a writer at heart, I'm qualified and everything now with my BA (Hons) Creative Writing and Drama degree! I got a 2:1. No, no you can hold the round of applause. Very kind of you. You can always come round to my house where the certificate will be hanging  in a golden frame in the middle of the wall. Worshipping dates and times will be issued in due course.

So you know I'm legally allowed to write now. Believe it or not, you can't actually write publicly until you get your qualification. I'm not joking. The police come and raid your house, and literally smash it up. You might get off lightly with a slapped wrist and a warning if it's your first offence, but if not, then kiss goodbye to all of your precious belongings. So yeah, that is why I have waited until after my degree to start up my blog. I'm just being a good law abiding citizen.

Anywho, the next couple of weeks are going to be crazy. I'm graduating in a week, so I've got to find an outfit. That is the most important thing about the event, wearing something nice! Then my 21st birthday, which I should be excited about but there are more important things happening right now. For example I have job interviews to attend and hopefully more to come with the amount of applications I've sent off. I want to work in a theatre environment, either on the marketing side or directing workshops. I've also applied for content editor work, which would focus on my writing skills. Something I clearly love too!!

I'm even volunteering at the 24:7 Theatre Festival in Manchester for a week! I'm so excited to start reviewing the shows and telling you about my time there!! All important experience to get me started in that scary thing they call world of work.

Clearly, this blog should be packed full of all sorts of things. Just keeping you updated on my life, which is constantly changing at the moment.

So yes, this is the first of many many many posts!
:)