# data[].attributes.headline
The Clayman. A site specific spectacle. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Clayman. A site specific spectacle. 

# data[].attributes.body
Manchester City of Drama

# data[].attributes.headline
The Modernists               by Jeff Noon Produced & Directed by Rikki Tarascas 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Modernists               by Jeff Noon Produced & Directed by Rikki Tarascas 

# data[].attributes.body
This was a second version of the Modernists which included songs and live music ,

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
THE MODERNISTS
Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton, Wednesday, June 18, to Sunday, June 22

I DON'T wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see?"

Jimmy's famous quote from legendary Brighton-set movie Quadrophenia captures the paradox at the centre of any youth movement, from the Mods who changed 1960s London to the rave scene of the early 1990s.

And that paradox plays a part in Jeff Noon's revived and revised play The Modernists, following a Mod band The Now as they stand on the cusp of making it in the early 1960s.

Having premiered the play in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre back in 2003, Noon has teamed up with director Rikki Tarascas of Brighton-based Tanglehead Productions to revise the story.

"We did two nights last year at Komedia and got a really strong audience response," says Noon, who moved down to Brighton from his native Manchester more than a decade ago after a memorable book reading at the late lamented Sussex Arts Club.

"Every time you put a play on you learn from the audience. This time we have put some songs into it - they are the first songs I've written for about 20 years - and there's a bit more action in there too."

Set in 1962 the play sees the original trio behind Mod band The Now clashing with new lead singer Terence who seems intent on changing the band.

Noon, who was inspired to write the play after seeing the word Modernist in Gardner Street Mod emporium Jump The Gun.

He admits the period between the late 1950s and early 1960s holds a fascination for him.

"I was born in 1957, and I thought of my older brother as a Mod," he says.

"I wanted to move away from the whole riots in Brighton aspect and look more at how the Mods created this fashion and lifestyle. It was Technicolor in a post-war grey time."

Like punk 15 years later, things changed when the movement went overground. Previously homemade Mod fashion suddenly became available on Carnaby Street.

"It was like being able to buy torn and safety-pinned punk T-shirts in the 1970s," says Noon.

"When you're young everything means so much, especially if you see yourself as an originator. The Mods had a whole set of rules they had to follow, looking at tiny details such as the number of buttons you had done up.

"There was a hierachy with the Faces at the top, and the Tickets at the bottom - the name implied they had bought their gear in a shop with the price tag still on it. It was quite militaristic in a way."

The irony was that the Modernist movement came as National Service ended.

"The Mods were allowed to be young for longer," says Noon. "The Teddy Boys were the first real teenage fashion movement, but after National Service they came out as men and put that to one side.

"The Mods were working class kids who didn't want to work in factories. They'd got an education and were working in banks and insurance offices. They were into being clean and smart - which is why they didn't like the rockers with this horrible dirty look and greasy hair."

Noon hopes this Brighton production will launch a crowd-funded national tour, including dates in London and Edinburgh.

"Rikki and I started out taking shows in a van to Edinburgh from Manchester in the early 1980s - my first love was theatre," says the writer of cult sci-fi hits Vurt and Pollen. "Writing novels is quite a lonely life - you never know what people think of them. In a theatre the audience is all around you - they tell you whether they like it or not."

He is currently working on a new large novel project, possibly under a pseudonym to allow him to explore new genres without the weight of his back catalogue.

"People expect certain things and have expectations when they see your name," says Noon. "Musicians do it all the time - using five identities to put out slightly different records."

Duncan Hall

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
council news for brighton hove lewes worthing shoreham and sussex

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Novelist Jeff Noon's play The Modernists is revived at Komedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
THE MODERNISTS Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton, Wednesday, June 18, to Sunday, June 22 I DON'T wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see?" Jimmy's famous quote from legendary Brighton-set movie Quadrophenia captures the paradox at the centre of any youth movement, from the Mods who changed 1960s London to the rave scene of the early 1990s.

# data[].attributes.headline
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Directed by Rikki Tarascas Live at THE KOMEDIA.BRIGHTON 

# data[].attributes.subject
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Directed by Rikki Tarascas Live at THE KOMEDIA.BRIGHTON 

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNi5biqZ_jk&t=1113s

# data[].attributes.body
Director : Devised in collaboration with dancer and therapist Emily Burns .Vocal & percussion  performance at Brighton Dome . Exploration of The Shamanic Voice.,Breath & the Body .
THE PRECURSOR to RITUAL TO REVOLUTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQmeZ_chdYA

# data[].attributes.body
Producer,Director ,Musician .REVIEW

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An enthralling performance once again from Tanglehead Productions at this year's Brighton Fringe at the Happy Cell, with their revival of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Expectations are certainly exceeded having won last year's Audience Choice Awards after receiving outstanding reviews following their production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

A deliciously daring and delectably dark tale of an ill-fated Scholar; increasingly discontent in his quest to gain absolute knowledge of the world. Faustus is quick to take solace among the dark arts, forming a perilous pact with the Devil. Wickedly sexual and boldly blasphemous, with a hearty share of debauchery and mischief, Faustus sends us into a hellish nightmare, a fiery warning of the consequences of greed. This terrible tale of Faustus is somewhat comparable to the fable of Icarus, who fell to an untimely death on flying too near to the Sun. Undeniably unlocking the enigma of Faustus's inevitable demise, furthermore echoing the idea of 'hubris - excessive pride' that is epitomised in the tale of Icarus. Though rather fragmented, the play upholds great sentiment to Marlowe's original, with an exceptionally mesmerizing performance from Jason Kennedy as our luckless Faustus.

The story begins with opening scene having our unfortunate Faustus sent tumbling through a mound of moth eaten books, a brilliantly executed arrival. A certain allure is kept on entering the venue, we are greeted by rather glamourously kitted out personnel, perhaps an anticipated clue to what's in store and we reluctantly sign away our souls. We are then led into a seemingly undersized room, with seats positioned on either sides of a rather ornate gangway. Plucky members of the cast are sat amid the audience creating a refuge of peculiar comfort.
Tanglehead's production of this under appreciated classic is a genuine pleasure to watch, a brilliantly fearsome performance from a fiendishly foolhardy cast.

On leaving you are left with far more than you bargained for.

Written by Amy Banks
brighton fringe 2012

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brighton Fringe Presents Doctor Faustus, The Imaginarium. - We Love Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An enthralling performance once again from Tanglehead Productions at this year's Brighton Fringe at the Happy Cell, with their revival of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Expectations are certainly exceeded having won last year's Audience Choice Awards after receiving outstanding reviews following their production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

# data[].attributes.body
transfers to Komedia ,Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Having recently won the 2011 Brighton Fringe Festival Audience Award for their adaptation of Dale Wasserman's play of the classic Ken Kesey novel - the company's work proved to be a catalyst for the Komedia.

Marina Kobler, Artistic Director of the Komedia, said: "We haven't been involved in theatre for over a year but this wonderfully realised version of the play, proved a spur for us, and it has been a pleasure to bring the show to the Komedia."

The play skilfully, and often comically, uncovers the dehumanising affects of society's labelling and incarceration of individuals in mental institutions.

Although an ensemble piece, the performance particularly focuses on the impact of Randle P McMurphy (Dodger Phillips) who, to escape prison, feigns madness and ends up in the Institute.

McMurphy, a freewheeling gambling man with a zest for women, brings vigour, life and chaos into the sterile, conformist environment of the mental institution.

In doing so, he starts to defy the implacable authority of the 'Establishment', embodied by Nurse Ratched (Sarah Barfoot).

A struggle that gradually restores to his fellow patients - but particularly 'Chief' Bromden (Gordon Winter) the 'mute' narrator of the drama - the dignity and voice they had long since given up.

"The work is funny, dramatic, tragic, but ultimately redemptive, and although written in the 1960's the piece has a resonance for a 21st century audience. As we increasingly find ourselves in a society that has both become progressively atomised and seen a significant rise in mental illness", said Rikki Tarascas, the Company Director.

"It is a fabulous piece of theatre that shines with humanity - being at once a challenge to, and reflective of, the wonderfully absurd and magnificent world we inhabit"

Set up in 2010 by Laurie Cannon, Rikki Tarascas and Sarah Barfoot, the Brighton based production company was brought to life with the intention of establishing Tanglehead as the South East's premier theatre company through a combination of dynamic energy and experimental approach to live performance fusing music, theatre and film.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest @ Komedia Brighton until 22nd January - For more info visit
komedia.co.uk/brighton
by: Mike Cobley

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brighton Magazine - One Flew Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: Award Winning Theatre Comes To Komedia Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Having recently won the 2011 Brighton Fringe Festival Audience Award for their adaptation of Dale Wasserman's play of the classic Ken Kesey novel - the company's work proved to be a catalyst for the Komedia.

# data[].attributes.body
Writer Director & Co-Producer .SHORT FILM

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
COURIER- A spin painter and cycle courier discovers that he's delivering human body parts. His life and art meet in a final crescendo of paint and blood. The script for Courier won the Alfred Hitchcock Script Writing Award .A short film shot on Super 16, the script gained financial support for production from Waltham Forest Arts Council, The London Film & Video Development Agency and VET.

# data[].attributes.body
Transferred to Man Space at The Komedia Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is a brave company that takes on Ken Kesey's literary masterpiece One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

Revered by avid readers and moviegoers, it is one of those stage adaptations that some feel should not be touched.

Yet Brighton-based Tanglehead Productions' take on the story, which follows Randle P McMurphy serving a sentence inside a state mental institution, brings a new and exciting take on the classic.

Kudos must go to the director Rikki Tarascas on the use of the Komedia venue in Brighton.

With the audience on both sides, performance areas created in and above the audience, and paying members of the public involved throughout, the feeling was that you were with the cast, rather than observing them.

This was further extended into the interval as medical staff wandered around the audience encouraging people to become "medicated".

A sluggish start - perhaps put down to first night nerves - was overcome and very quickly the ball was rolling with the comedy sequences particularly well received.

Dodger Phillips as McMurphy was excellent and the supporting cast of patients in the "loony bin" each brought their own take on what living with mental health issues must be like, even now when the stigma is tackled head on rather than hidden away.

On the whole, much like the medication, it was a thoroughly captivating performance which got more addictive as it went on.

To be picky, questions could be raised about the accents used and some of the vocal and musical interludes.

But overall it was clear how the thought-provoking production received the audience choice award at Brighton Festival Fringe last year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Komedia, Brighton, January 19

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is a brave company that takes on Ken Kesey's literary masterpiece One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Revered by avid readers and moviegoers, it is one of those stage adaptations that some feel should not be touched.

# data[].attributes.body
Producer,Director ,Song,Writer & Performer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brighton Source - Ritual To Revolution Review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mind blowing theatre from Tanglehead Productions, Ritual To Revolution combines visual arts, music, and performance in an unconventional show at St Andrew's Church.

# data[].attributes.body
Producer & Director
Review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tanglehead Productions

Genre: Drama

Venue: The Clarendon Centre

Festival: Brighton Fringe

Low Down

' Little boxes on the hillside / Little boxes all the same. / There's a pink one and a green one / and a blue one and a yellow one / and they're all made out of ticky-tacky / and they all look just the same.'

Remember 'Little Boxes', Malvina Reynolds' song about American middle-class conformity, made famous in 1963 by Pete Seeger? It goes on -

' And the people in the houses / all went to the University / where they were put in boxes / and they all came out the same. / There's doctors and lawyers / and business executives / and they're all made out of ticky-tacky / and they all look just the same.'

Review

Benjamin Braddock is a graduate - The Graduate - just returned home after university, and his parents have thrown a party in his honour and invited their middle-class friends and his father's business associates. We met them first in the foyer of The Clarendon Centre, and were invited to have a drink and dance with the other guests. Then everyone was ushered upstairs to the main space on the first floor, where we the audience took our seats and the party continued on the stage.

I was reminded of the song when I saw that director Rikki Tarascas had dressed all the party guests in 'Little Boxes' colours - there were dresses in pale blue and pink, and jackets and slacks in yellow and green. The party guests had rather stylised movements, too, with facial expressions that were over-the-top and body language to match, and the overall effect made them seem cartoon-like. We'd already had a taste of this downstairs, where there were video screens running old Hanna-Barbera cartoon clips and TV ads from the sixties.

Thomas Malyon's set design reinforced the two-dimensional feeling. The Braddock house was furnished with chairs, tables and sofas, but the rooms themselves - walls and doors - were just defined by white lines on the floor, like an architect's plan drawing of a building. This cartoon unreality gave the set an unnatural, plastic feel ('all made out of ticky-tacky') and the middle-class lawyers and businessmen represented the corporate future that awaited the newly-graduated Benjamin. One of his father's associates put his arm round Benjamin and offered him fatherly advice - "I have one word for you ... Plastics. There's a great future in plastics - think about it."

These cartoon stereotypes of people were designed to be ridiculous, absurd. Benjamin doesn't want to be part of this world, but in fact he doesn't know what he wants to become, and when he won't join the party and he exclaims to his father - "They're grotesque, Dad. I'm grotesque, we're all grotesque." - we can see exactly what he means...

So Benjamin doesn't have any agenda. But then we notice someone walking through the party guests. Blonde, drink in hand, dressed in a simple black dress which immediately sets her apart from the others. It's Mrs Robinson, wife of Mr Braddock's friend and business associate, and she most certainly DOES have an agenda. Sandie Armstrong plays her downbeat at first, but as she goes upstairs to Benjamin's bedroom and attempts to seduce him, Mrs Robinson's manipulative nature becomes apparent. You know what they say about playing with fire - Sandie Armstrong can do predatory, and her performance smouldered, always threatening to burst into open flame.

Miles Mlambo gave us the gauche awkwardness of the virgin Benjamin, jumping back and forth like a cat on hot coals as he tried to book a hotel room for his tryst with Mrs Robinson, or later, when attempting to undress her. His performance was funny, but I didn't get a real sense of the anomie that the graduate felt about society's 'little boxes'.

You all know the story, of course. Charles Webb wrote the book in 1963, Mike Nichols made it into an iconic film in 1967, and Terry Johnson drew on both the book and the film to write this stage adaption in 2000. Benjamin has a secret affair with Mrs Robinson, while his parents fret about his lack of plans and push him into a date with her daughter Elaine. Of course, Benjamin falls in love with Elaine (it's a rom-com), and the recriminations begin ...

I should tell you more about Elaine. When we first see her she's dressed in a pink jacket and speaking in a mummy's-little-girl voice, and she seems to be one of the plastic cartoon figures that Benjamin is so revolted by. He's determined to wreck the evening, so he takes her to a seedy strip-joint, full of low-lifes and loud music. There's a burlesque dancer whose behaviour reduces Elaine to tears (a great performance from Honour Mission - she played this with silver lurex and nipple tassles, and she also played Benjamin's mother, in an enormous beehive hairdo), and Elaine's distress changes Benjamin's view of her, and ignites his love.

Tegen Hitchens gave us a wonderful portrayal of Elaine's transformation, as she revealed the social conscience beneath the preppy, middle-class exterior. Benjamin considers that his life -"is bullshit", and that he knows it's bullshit - "Because I've had a very good education". He doesn't want to be put into one of the 'little boxes', but Elaine can see the bigger picture - "Then be grateful - there are people FIGHTING in Alabama - fighting State Troopers for a good education. Do you think THEY think life is bullshit?". Hitchens brought out the steel in Elaine's character, as well as the idealism of nineteen sixties' social and political activism.

Later on, when the facts of the affair were revealed, Armstrong and Hitchens played an unforgettable scene where Mrs Robinson and her daughter deal with the situation by getting completely drunk together. Difficult to act convincingly 'stewed', but these two brought it off. (Elaine almost brought it up, too, a couple of times...)

Tanglehead Productions are known for their site-specific work, making use of venues that are not primarily designed for theatre, and it was here that I thought that the production was misconceived. The upstairs space at The Clarendon Centre was simply too big. I've mentioned the architect-plan set already, with the rooms drawn out on the floor - now visualise that inside a space bigger than a tennis court. The acting area was dwarfed by the unused empty space around it. Worse, the set was stretched out, two living rooms wide and with the bedroom on a raised section at the rear, so that the actors had a lot of walking to do just to get to where they were needed. This staging spread out the action so much that the intensity was diminished.

There were sixties TV ads running on two screens at the back, showing the glories of consumerism and the American Way of Life , and it occurred to me that this was also the era when America was developing and testing atomic bombs. To get a nuclear explosion, you have to squeeze enough plutonium into a small enough volume to achieve a 'critical mass'. If you don't achieve critical mass, if the material is too spread out, you don't get a fission chain reaction and an explosion, just a damp squib. I felt that that was the case here - there was lots going on, but there wasn't that tight focus of attention that makes for really gripping theatre.

( I'll bet that's the first time anyone's put a lecture on nuclear weapons design onto a fringe theatre website...)

Another staging problem - putting the bedroom at the rear of the acting area meant that the actors in that location were always a long way off. It felt like we were seeing them on a small TV set from the early sixties. I liked the backlit screens, where we saw the sex scenes in silhouette - black shadows against torrid crimson light - but when these same screens had to be physically moved around to produce different locations it felt... clumsy. There was some beautiful continuity music from Rotait - two musicians on guitar, drums, cello and vocals - though a number of us found Jareth Tait's guitar interludes overlong. Perhaps they had to be, though, giving the actors time to get themselves to where they needed to be within the enormous space.

The Graduate deserves three and a half stars, really. It makes that fourth star on the strength of stunning performances from Tegen Hitchens as Elaine and Sandie Armstrong as Mrs Robinson. So here's to you, Mrs Robinson.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tanglehead Productions Genre: Drama Venue: The Clarendon Centre Festival: Brighton Fringe ' Little boxes on the hillside / Little boxes all the same. / There's a pink one and a green one / and a blue one and a yellow one / and they're all made out of ticky-tacky / and they all look just the same.'

# data[].attributes.headline
Dr Faustus : The Imaginarium . Director & Producer 

# data[].attributes.subject
Dr Faustus : The Imaginarium . Director & Producer 

# data[].attributes.body
Review: OUTSTANDING SHOW

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dr faustus The Imaginarium - Google Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
13 Nov 2016 ... [Fig 1.1] Promotional poster for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus .... edition of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

# data[].attributes.headline
Dr Faustus .The Imaginarium . Review in The Argus .Brighton 

# data[].attributes.subject
Dr Faustus .The Imaginarium . Review in The Argus .Brighton 

# data[].attributes.body
Heaven and Hell defined by different Floors in an Offic Block

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Brighton's Tanglehead Productions won an Audience Choice Award for their debut at last year's Fringe, a site-specific version of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at this alternative health centre.

This year's effort returns to last year's venue with Christopher Marlowe's 1604 play about the doctor who sells his soul to the devil for 24 years of fame, power and knowledge. Similar to the group's debut, Dr Faustus: The Imaginarium uses the building's multi-floor layout of near-identical rooms, this time to represent over two halves the slow descent into hell of our proud protagonist.

The first half represents young Faustus as he makes his pact while railing against organised religion in an arrogant and sexual frenzy. Played by Jason Kennedy as the ultimate angry young man, he is introduced to the pleasures of the flesh and the seven deadly sins, as a kind of S&M orgy (complete with burlesque star Honour Mission) plays out. Though slightly too shouty without subtlety (some ill-judged buffoonery merely annoys), black humour and the excellent Gordon Winter as deal-breaking demon Mephistopheles usher things along nicely.

The second half, though, is when Tanglehead's show really comes into its own. The older Faustus (Mike Rawlings) has a gift for dark looks, a cocky Clockwork Orange swagger and gleeful mocking of religion. His double-act with Winter is a particular highlight. Combined with Rikki Tarascas's haunting direction of ghostly entities and an equally haunting guitar and drum score, events build to a gripping, emotional climax worth the ticket price alone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Doctor Faustus: The Imaginarium, The Happy Cell, Hove, until May 27, call 01273 917272

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brighton's Tanglehead Productions won an Audience Choice Award for their debut at last year's Fringe, a site-specific version of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at this alternative health centre. This year's effort returns to last year's venue with Christopher Marlowe's 1604 play about the doctor who sells his soul to the devil for 24 years of fame, power and knowledge.

# data[].attributes.body
Producer Director ,Song Writer & Performer .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ritual to Revolution a Tarascas Production for Tanglehead Productions . A devised site specific experience directed by Rikki Tarascas .

# data[].attributes.body
FACEBOOK PAGE
General Examples of Some Past work including music videos' etc

# data[].attributes.headline
Courier.                 16mm Short Film .                Writer,Director,Co-Producer Rikki Tarascas .

# data[].attributes.subject
Courier.                 16mm Short Film .                Writer,Director,Co-Producer Rikki Tarascas .

# data[].attributes.body
Winner of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK AWARD for Screen Writing.
Funded by LFVDA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The story of Luke Woo, a spin painter and cycle courier who delivers human body parts and is drawn i

# data[].attributes.headline
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest .5 Star Review .Winner of The Audience Choice Award .Brighton Fringe 

# data[].attributes.subject
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest .5 Star Review .Winner of The Audience Choice Award .Brighton Fringe 

# data[].attributes.body
2011 Performed at The Happy Cell a Black Glass Modern Office Block and Then Transferred for a sell out run to The Main Space at The Komedia ,Brighton .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Low Down

'When charming rogue Randle P. McMurphy serves a sentence inside a state mental institution he realises he has not taken the easy way out. He clashes with head nurse Ratched and leads the detainees in a revolt. As his antics escalate the institution decides to finally 'fix' him.

Tanglehead explore how authoritarian, repressive regimes rely on fear to control individuals.'

Review

It is not often one finds them self in a place such as The Happy Cell Factory in Hove; a place dedicated to help those who are struggling to live a healthy life with classes of yoga, meditation,Qi Gong, Shiatsu, dance, singing.

I can see now see why it was a inspired venue choice by director Rikki Tarascas. The idea of seeing one of my all time favourite books/plays and films performed live in a site-specific setting was a no brainer for me when deciding what to watch this year and I was not disappointed.

It seems my choices of shows which I have seen this year so far have proved some of the best theatre I have had the pleasure of watching.

Tanglehead Productions version of Dale Wasserman's 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest' truly captivates and admits the audience to the facility before they have even entered the building with terrifically improvised characters.

From Nurse Beaver, to the many doctors including 'doctors who are not doctors but, believe they are doctors'.

Holding the rails and following the red line along the floor I was a little unsure what to expect. ushered into the reception where I was given a wrist band with 'my name' on...Rod Stewart...lovely.

I follow the line of other bewildered and nervous audience members to where we were given blue slip-on shoe covers and given our medication.

I was involved and beginning to lose myself in this bazaar medical facility. We are shown to a studio, a long clinical looking room. chairs in two rows on either side the curable, non-curable thank the lord I was on the curable side at least I could leave if I wanted to.

In front of me sat 'Sean Connery' the first to spot 'Chief' played by Gordon Winter rocking in a chair. Soon the rest of the inmates entered instantly creating relationships with the audience, everyone of them interacting and perfectly acted. Clearly a lot of time and attention to detail was taken when casting Dodger Phillips and his band of merry men.

Though each one of the characters presented has a interesting look, every actor bursts with energy and stage presence. The use of live musical accompaniment by Ben Kidd, Elliot Spring and Rikki Tarascas is beautifully placed.

The ominous rumble every time the wonderfully stern 'Nurse Ratched' played by Sarah Barfoot enters the scene. With her she brings the clinical 'house' lighting which washes away all sense of atmosphere created by low wall lights, the drums and sound effects of 'Chiefs' monologues to 'Pupa'.

When 'Randal Patrick McMurphy' played by Dodger Phillips enters the room fills with energy once again, The characters burst to life revelling in the new addition to their 'council'.

Relationships and character dynamics are explored and tested with his introduction. Breaking the norm and encouraging a sense of anarchy Dodger plays and fits 'McMurphy' wonderfully.

A reservation I had as I sat anticipating his entrance was, 'I hope he doesn't just try to emulate Jack Nicklson's portrayal'. He did not.

Instead he brought McMurphy to life much like the other performer had done with the like of Jason Kennedy as 'Billy' and Xelis De Toro's perfectly comedic 'Martini'.

I must stress how captivating all the inmates were to watch every single one able to hold the attention of any of the audience. At times the space was filled with such mayhem that it was impossible to give all the time needed to really appreciate the efforts the actors were making, However, it was not for nothing as it was needed and made for an exciting and believable act. During the Interval the improvisation was carried throughout, led, it seemed, by 'Nurse Beaver' who was hilarious, supported by a host of wonderful doctors and nurses.

Back into a different studio space for the second act, in the basement of the 'facility' this time. Again the audience on either side of the space creating a through way down the middle with Nurse Ratched's medicine station at one end and the poker table at the other.

More improvisation ensued with one audience member being restrained and carried out (Believably I might add).

It was the small details like this which made the whole experience believable and I am sure I am not the only one who found their attention rapt through out the duration of the two hour experience.

I use the term 'experience' rather than 'performance' now as Tanglehead's production is more than a group of players entertaining an audience, they ARE Scanlon, Ruckly, Harding and Cheswick to name a few.

The second act kept pace and the build up to the party was gratefully met with appreciation for Tarascas directing of the part scene itself. The party scene accompanied by the band and then a live version of 'You don't know me' beautifully sung by Ellen Capron playing Sandra.

In slow motion all the characters revel in their debauchery led by McMurphy serving the drinks and Cheswick administrating the 'medication'. This scene is so heart warming and poignant I wish I could have joined in! As this band of merry (unlikely) men celebrate the emancipation of 'Billy's' virginity the whole scene was brilliant and captivating.

It is true to say Tarascas is a puppet master, a emotional engineer, able to inspire and evoke the most fantastic emotional journeys for the audience through his actors. Without the 'party scene' or in fact any of the above taking place, being felt or experienced the final scenes would be nothing more than actors playing the last lines out like any normal 'play'. But this production of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' is not just a normal play. Not by any means.

The scenes leading to the end were believable and emotionally charged and the scream of 'Nurse Ratched' pierces the atmosphere and the audience is thrust into what seems like a whole other experience, like losing a friend McMurphy lays on the bed lifeless.

The experience finished with tears and a standing ovation. The performers beaming with pride and maybe a little relief take a bow on a VERY well deserved applause. It is without a doubt worthy of a residency at the Happy Cell Factory, a national tour, or if a venue could be found a run in the West End. I would love nothing more than for this experience to be a regular and well marketed experience for all.

My only disappointment was the reaction to what happens to 'Billy'. This here was the only moment I felt (a little) let down, maybe it was the script as the acting from Sarah Barfoot and scenes to follow were faultless and as mentioned the scream is haunting. Maybe a little blood might have carried on the realism of the experience.

Each and everyone of the performers involved are exceptional and should be proud of not only themselves but the whole show. I am sure Mr Rikki Tarascas is a proud and happy man!

This should be the 'pick of the fringe' this year, it should be nominated for an award and I hope it is not sold out so I am able to take my friends and tell everyone I meet during the festival to buy a ticket in advance because once word gets out they might need a bigger facility.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'When charming rogue Randle P. McMurphy serves a sentence inside a state mental institution he realises he has not taken the easy way out. He clashes with head nurse Ratched and leads the detainees in a revolt. As his antics escalate the institution decides to finally 'fix' him.

# data[].attributes.body
Produced ,Directed and Choreographed by Rikki Tarascas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Modernists (REMADE) By Jeff Noon  Produced,Directed and Choreographed by Rikki Tarascas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Modernists (RE-MADE) by Jeff Noon .Produced,Directed and Choreographed by Rikki Tarascas .As Performed at the Komedia ,Brghton 2014. After the first version off the play Noon and Tarascas reworked the text adding songs and music.

# data[].attributes.body
Review of production at Guildhall Theatre, Derby, 2017 toured again in 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mATtBnZreLE&t=21s

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kevin Fegan

Guildhall Theatre, Derby

From 28 September 2017 to 01 October 2017

Review by Steve Orme

Michelle Todd as Bess

When Michelle Todd handed playwright Kevin Fegan a short biography of one of Derbyshire's most famous women, he knew Bess of Hardwick's story would make a powerful drama.

Bess: The Commoner Queen is the result. Not only is it testament to Fegan's writing credentials, it is also a vehicle to show Todd's lavish talents to the full. The two-hour play is a tour de force for the actress who now lives in Canada: although Bess's husbands appear on film, it is in effect a one-woman show and requires someone capable of holding the audience's attention throughout. In this Todd succeeds admirably.

This is Bess's story told from her viewpoint and no one is going to prevent her from telling it. This comes over in a slightly humorous way at times, for example when Sir William Cavendish, later Bess's husband, appears on screen only to be told, "not now, Cavendish. I'll call you up when I'm good and ready. I have an important speech to deliver first."

Bess: The Commoner Queen starts with the 33-year-old Bess in the Tower of London in 1560. She is Lady St Loe, wife of William, Captain of the Queen's Guard, and Lady of the Privy Chamber to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. She is in the Tower not because of her own marriage but of that of Lady Jane Grey's sister Katherine. Despite Bess's warning, she had married without the sovereign's consent. Fortunately, St Loe is able to secure a royal pardon for Bess.

The play covers Bess's life from the age of 19 when she is in service at the home of Lord and Lady Grey until just before her death at 81. Todd is comfortable and creditable with depicting Bess at all stages of her life, from the lively, innocent teenager to the stooping, slightly demented octogenarian.

She comes over as a feisty, spirited woman, ahead of her time in many ways because of her determination to make a life for herself rather than be subservient to her husbands.

Todd also shows Bess to be controlling, tenacious in her search for a husband for her granddaughter Arbella and furious when she eventually chooses a youth ten years younger than herself. This is one of the most dramatic scenes in the play. Arbella is a puppet doll operated by Todd, an apt interpretation.

And being from the East Midlands, Todd is perfectly capable of bringing out the commonality of Bess who slips into a Derbyshire dialect when she is away from court.

Rikki Tarascas, who has a theatre and film background, directs with precision. Film maker William Simpson cleverly brings to life the other characters in Bess's story as well as showing Bess in the majestic surroundings of Hardwick Hall.

Bess: The Commoner Queen is slightly long in a couple of places and the first half might benefit from more tension. The most dramatic scene is towards the end when her fourth husband George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury is forced to be the official witness at the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots and describes her death in great detail. Bess is distraught at hearing the account.

Overall, though, Bess: The Commoner Queen is a striking, outstanding production which is a triumph for both Michelle Todd and Kevin Fegan.﻿

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Theatre review: Bess: The Commoner Queen at Guildhall Theatre, Derby

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kevin Fegan Guildhall Theatre, Derby From 28 September 2017 to 01 October 2017 Review by Steve Orme When Michelle Todd handed playwright Kevin Fegan a short biography of one of Derbyshire's most famous women, he knew Bess of Hardwick's story would make a powerful drama. Bess: The Commoner Queen is the result.

# data[].attributes.body
A MEXICAN GHOST STORY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BVJin5iags

https://brightonsource.co.uk/reviews/week-three-brighton-festival-fringe-2017/

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/topic/brighton-fringe/