CloudNine

Well, the marvellous three-week run of LEOPOLDVILLE has now come to an end in London. PapaTango Theatre Company did a really outstanding job. And I think if you can walk away from the London Fringe with two four-star reviews, a five-star rating on the Broadway Baby website, overwhelmingly positive feedback from readers of Time Out and Whats On Stage magazines - and no bad reviews whatsoever - then you must have done something pretty special. We would have liked to have transferred to a bigger theatre but the 'right' people did not show; we would have liked a lot more press - but they were busy being wined and dined by bigger fish at bigger opening nights. Those who came were moved, shocked, stirred and shaken. This company of superb actors (and a strong director) did me proud - and if the play moves on to Edinburgh this year or to another venue  - then well and good. If not, the work remains mighty fine in the memories of those who watched it. Richard Hawley's Prentice sa...

. RemoteGoat: 4 Stars by Deborah Klayman on 16/04/10 "A superbly dark, taut thriller" “A fascinating piece of theatre.” Spoonfed Theatre Journal: 4 Stars Naima Khan on 15/4/10 “Impossible to shake off, the effects of this show plaster themselves on its audience…a stellar script…Expect to leave shaken.” Broadway Baby, 5 Stars Phil Tucker “A sharp, well observed piece of writing that is performed beautifully by this young, ensemble cast. The tension builds and builds throughout the play culminating in a harrowing twist that both excites and disgusts in equal measure…Fantastic work.” Shenagh Govan, The Group, Theatre Royal Stratford East “A fantastic, haunting, terrifying play .......very strong, young cast & tight direction. It’s the winning entry for The Papatango New Writing Competition 2010 and rightly so...”

Talent is as Talent Does April 12, 2010 Jacqueline McCarrick's "Leopoldville" PapaTango Theatre Company Talent is a terrible thing to waste, if you have it or if others around you do too. This notion is not lost on George Turvey and his fellow co-founders of the London-based theatre company PapaTango. It is the reason, after all, that they decided to start a theatre company in the first place.   “Between us we knew so many talented people be it writers, actors and directors that weren’t getting the chance to flex their muscles,” explains Turvey. “We wanted to try and create a forum for this wealth of talent, to have their voices heard.” Being keen on the possibility of the actor, writer and director working together on an even keel, PapaTango was founded in 2007 by Turvey, Sam Donovan, and Matt Roberts. They wanted nothing more than to take a fresh a piece of writing and then, together as an ensemble, take it from the page to the stage. This simple notion ...

http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/review_view.php?uid=5184

The youth of everyday? This play, I believe is set in the early 90s and follows a gang of Northern Irish lads angry and bitter at their lot who believe it is their right to take from others what they feel they are entitled to themselves. I have recently watched Harry Brown and whilst the colloquialisms change, the sadness and the desperation remains. The behaviour of some of these characters in Leopoldville is deplorable, yes, but also understandable. Desperate times call for desperate measures as the old maxim goes and these boys are desperate and as an audience member you are never sure where or indeed if they are prepared to draw the line. I was a huge fan of this piece, my friend saw it last week and suggested I should go and I was thoroughly glad I did. This is a sharp, well observed piece of writing that is performed beautifully by this young, ensemble cast. The tension builds and builds throughout the play culminating in a harrowing twist that both excites and disgus...

I'll have new poems in the next issue of Cyphers and in New York's Ouroborus Review , too. Will keep you posted.

Just taking a little breather here from PapaTango Theatre Company's absolutely stunning  production of LEOPOLDVILLE now playing at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London -  to mention my short story, The Badminton Court . This story featured recently in  The Frogmore Papers , a marvellous little journal edited by Jeremy Page.  It's always nice to get feedback for ones work - and in the middle of all the theatre work  I've been doing of late, it was most refreshing to be reminded of one's prose, too. Poet, Alex Smith, wrote to editors of the journal to comment on my story. Smith very astutely identified the source of the material as being a painting by David Inshaw called 'The Badminton Game'. Smith writes:   'Right; now I wish to come to Jaki McCarrick's short story The Badminton Court. I was totally knocked for six by this story. It is an incredible piece of writing, and if you're in touch with Jaki McCarrick, please tell her that she has a new fa...

PapaTango's New Writing Festival at Tristan Bates Theatre 15 April, 2010 by: Naima Khan Naima Khan is left shuddering after Leopoldville and utterly befuddled by My Balloon Beats Your Astronaut. Leopoldville  Jacqueline McCarrick's Leopoldville headlines Papatango's New Writing Festival at Tristan Bates Theatre, having won their 2010 New Writing Competition. Impossible to shake off, the effects of this show plaster themselves on its audience and serves Papatango well as a showcase of the talent imbued in their productions. Leopoldville follows a group of friends whose boredom leads them to a pub in an border town of strained 1990s Ireland. Intending to drink and steal anything of worth, their ill-thought out crime spirals horrifically at the hands of their fierce assumed leader Devlin, played with frightening perturbation by Jack Ashton. Working with a stellar sc...

There is a feature on PAPATANGO THEATRE COMPANY and LEOPOLDVILLE in this fringe theatre journal: http://behindthefringe.com/ No press reviews yet for LEOPOLDVILLE but the readers reports have been just great: Leopoldville (Tristan Bates Theatre (TBT), Inner London) Back to Show Details Comment Date Brilliant play, worth going to see. Beautifully written, very poetic with strong universal narrative. Disturbing, thought provoking and engaging. Cast is strong. Would like to see this in a bigger theatre. - Anne Casey (5 STARS) 13 April A wonderful play with strong performances by all. The character Mikey (played by Russell Simpson) was particularly strong and brilliantly acted. - Mandy Thompson (5 STARS) 12 Apr 10 Amazing show! Very powerful and moving. I would highly recommend the show it is much better than most of the trash in the West-End. - Joe Ralph (5 STARS) 11 Apr 10 What a fantastic piece of theatre. I went with my Irish husband and the two of us were truly blow...

I’m just back from rehearsals and the first few days of the three-week run of LEOPOLDVILLE, now playing at the Tristam Bates Theatre in London. It was a bit of a roller-coaster of a rehearsal period I have to say, and under the direction of the brilliant George Turvey the piece began to take shape within a week. I have never worked so fast on a piece of theatre in my life  – but as a result the work we produced is intense and strong.  The cast are a true ensemble and are just incredible. To think we created this play in not much more than twelve days - and on a shoe-strong budget - is a real testament to the calibre of talent involved with this production. It truly simmers. Having said that, PAPATANGO THEATRE COMPANY, who produced LEOPOLDVILLE and the three other plays programmed for their New Writing Festival – are a very organised team and pretty much everything was in place before we began rehearsals. LEOPOLDVILLE has had great feedback so far: “ A fantastic, hauntin...