The very brilliant impresario, TV fan and publican Gareth Kavanagh has transmitted the following v exciting news about Who-related events in Manchester next month. Live theatre and talks and sheer transdimensional fun - in some of my favourite city centre venues...! Read on...!
Who at Fifty – Manchester’s very own Doctor Who fringe festival
16th – 30th November, 2013
“Manchester pays homage to Doctor Who with a two week fringe festival of
new drama, screenings and special appearances”
Doctor Who is
fifty years old on the 23rd November, 2013 and four of Manchester’s
best loved venues are teaming up with a host of events over two weeks to help
you celebrate! New drama, live
episodes, screenings, poetry and a great big party for Doctor Who’s 50th
birthday on Saturday, 23rd November. With more goodies than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at,
it’s truly bigger on the inside!
THE ART OF WHO kicks things off on
Saturday, 16th November with your chance to meet some of the amazing
talents behind the Doctor Who comic strip – currently the Guinness Book of
Records World Record holder for the longest running tie-in comic strip. You’ll see rare art, chat to the creators
and maybe buy some original art if the fancy takes you!
Another key
creative Who at Fifty is also delighted to welcome is ANDREW CARTMEL who will be in conversation at the Lass O’Gowrie on
the 30th November. As script editor during the later years of the
original run, Andrew did much to lay the ground for Russell T Davies triumphant
return in 2005 and is a key voice in the evolution of the show from ratings
also-ran to conqueror of Ant and Dec!
Sunday, 17th
November sees a chance to meet the very first director of Doctor Who – WARIS HUSSEIN, one of the men who
created Doctor Who in 1963. A
BAFTA winner and renowned director, this is the first time Waris has appeared
in Manchester and is not to be missed!
Waris will
also be present at a very special live restaging of his original debut AN UNEARTHLY CHILD at FAB Café. A full cast,
live performance of the very first episode of Doctor Who from 1963 starring
Phil Dennison as the Doctor, this unique presentation is being staged in
support of the Alzheimer’s Society and is brought to you by Lass Productions
and Scytheplays, the team behind 2013 fringe smash hits V for Vendetta and the
Ballad of Halo Jones.
An
Unearthly Child runs on the 17th, 18th and 19th
November and is performed as a double bill with the follow-up, EDGE OF DESTRUCTION on the 23rd
November. Edge of Destruction then
continues its run on the 24th and 25th November.
The drama
doesn’t end there. Who at Fifty
also showcases the premiere of AN
ADVENTURE IN TIME AND SPACE; 50 YEARS IN 50 RELS – an
anarchic and hilarious celebration of everyone’s favourite Time Lord, brought
you by our ridiculously talented ensemble and Manchester Theatre Award
winning playwright (and lifelong Who fan) Ian Winterton. Other Doctor Who inspired drama
not to be missed includes THE PYRAMIDS OF
MARGATE, a solo theatre tragicomedy addressing
(alien) life, love, dreams and … Tom Baker which wowed the critics at Edinburgh
and NEMESIS – a rehearsed play
reading from David Agnew, a bittersweet tale of a couple and how the return of
Doctor Who to our screens in 2005 makes an indelible mark on their lives.
Doctor
Who has always had a great and British sense of humour at its heart. The programme even had comic genius
Douglas Adams as script editor in the late Seventies! With this in mind, Who at Fifty showcases more comedy than
you can shake a Perigosto Stick at!
Fringe
favourites THE SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK
PUPPET THEATRE return to the Lass on the 17th November with
Socks in Space, their sell-out Edinburgh show with some very special new Doctor
Who material to tease us with.
They are also joined later that evening by a Doctor Who themed WET FEET special stand-up evening, with
Manchester’s biggest Who fan comedians giving their all
with MC JOHN COOPER. John is also at the helm for JUST AN EARTH MINUTE – A Doctor Who
tinged edition of the Radio Four classic.
Stand-up and poet, ROD TAME tells us how Doctor Who makes his life make
sense with his sell-out show STRANGE
WORLD, ODD PERSON on the 25th November, while fans themselves
get to dictate the action in a very special improvised episode of Doctor Who
performed by the Comedysportz improve comedy troupe in LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS on Saturday, 30th November.
You
don’t necessarily need to be an avid fan to take part in the fun? Thursday, 21st November sees
a very special Doctor Who edition of the LASS
PUB QUIZ, in association with the Manchester Library Service. Hosted by ROD TAME with special guest
BERNARD PADDEN, who starred as Tylos in Full Circle – a Tom Baker Doctor Who
story from 1980, the quiz promises, fun, clips and other interactive treats to
challenge the casual fan and hardcore followers of Doctor Who alike.
It
wouldn’t be Doctor Who without a few screenings either, and Who at Fifty has
plenty on offer. Monday, 18th
November sees a rare 16mm film screening of THIS SPORTING LIFE – the 1963 kitchen sink drama starring Richard
Harris and William Hartnell that convinced BBC TV bosses to give Hartnell the
role of the Doctor and in doing so, change TV history. The 26th November sees a
screening of the David Tennant epic THE
STOLEN EARTH while the Lass O’Gowrie will show the big anniversary special
– the DAY OF THE DOCTOR on big
screens in HD on the evening of the 23rd and docu-drama AN ADVENTURE
IN SPACE AND TIME on the 22nd.
Finally, Wednesday THE COBBLES OF
DOOM on the 20th at Taurus celebrates the links between Corrie
and Doctor Who with an evening of clips and interviews brought to you by the
Fiction Stroker and PHIL COLLINSON, the only man to have ever produced both Doctor
Who and Coronation Street.
Discussing the
programme, Festival co-ordinator Gareth Kavanagh notes;
“Doctor Who at Fifty is something we’ve been
building up to for years. We’ve
had so much pleasure from this wonderful show over the years and Who at Fifty
is Manchester’s love letter to Doctor Who. With our links to the show being as
strong as they are – ‘beit it from the links between Corrie and Doctor Who or merely
as home to Russell T Davies and the place he drew his inspiration from as he
plotted the show’s triumphant return to our screens in 2005, it just feels
right for our City to give something back to the fans!”
Tickets are
available on the door (unless sold out) and advance tickets are available from http://www.wegottickets.com/.
Participating
venues include; the Lass O’Gowrie, FAB Café, Taurus and the Town Hall Tavern.
Unearthly
Child photoshoot credits - shot director Paul Anderton, lighting Peter
Michael George, ace photographer Andrew Greenland and Steven
Mitton's smoke machine!
#whoatfifty
For more
information or for interview requests, please contact the Festival
Co-ordinator, Gareth Kavanagh on 07748103698 or on garethkavanagh@hotmail.com
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