Heart and Sole being put into Snow White

Theatre & Arts

Friday, May 16, 2008

While most of us have been enjoying our first taste of sun this summer, Londonderry company Sole Purpose has been spending the past couple of weeks putting the finishing touches to its latest production.

So what have they got lined up for us? A Midsummer Night's Dream, perhaps? A seaside comedy, or maybe Dancing at Lughnasa? Something that speaks of sunshine, anyway?

Not quite. Sole Purpose is presenting Snow White — the Remix, a funky fairytale for all the family in a modern retelling that uses song, dance and humour, and at its heart is a warning about society's obsession with beauty.

The Story goes something like this: Snow White is banished by her evil stepmother because a talking mirror announced that the young girl was better looking. While she hides in the woods Snow White meets a dancing fairy who informs her that the Queen is about to undergo cosmetic surgery. The cast includes Rea Curran as The Cosmetic Surgeon; Karen McLaughlin of The Henry Girls supplies musical direction; Abby Oliveira of The Poetry Chicks is the Storyteller and other performers include Tara Vij, Tony Doherty and Ellen Factor.

Snow White is on tour across Northern Ireland this month, and plays Larne this evening, Strabane, Belfast and Newry next week.

I don't know what Gordon Ramsay might say about unseasonal plays. But who knows, come next week, we could be sheltering from blizzards. Nothing is certain these days. I mean, would you have dared to bet that some day, the Grand Opera House would stage a show that featured a red arrows-style display, featuring tractors?

But that day has come. At the start of next month, comedy duo Grimes & McKee will bring a stage adaptation of their TV hit series Tractor Show into the Opera House. That means plenty of laughs, and a host of comic creations, including the disco farmers, the Rev Gilkinson Black, Turloch and Trayloch's folk club, and a selection of singing farm animals. Who says we have no culture in this part of the world?

From farm animals to pets — specifically cats and dogs. Back in the early 1990s, Quentin Tarantino turned Hollywood on its head with his film Reservoir Dogs. Now, for the first time in Belfast, Theatre Knights is performing the entire script with an entirely female cast, in Reservoir Cats.

The show is on stage at the Black Box, and there's just one more chance to see it this evening, before the cats move on out. Plenty to consider about gender roles and stereotypes there, I should think! All proceeds are going to the Rape Crisis Centre in Belfast.

Now, news of a great opportunity for young people here — the Ulster Association of Youth Drama is offering them the chance to take part in a summer youth theatre event which will see over 120 young people from youth theatres in Italy, Ireland and Northern Ireland come together to create new performances to tour to the Kildare Festival of Youth Drama.

UAYD is looking for young people, aged 15-25, to take part in the event and to continue to meet over the next year to create a forum for youth theatre. Anyone interested is invited to contact UAYD and register to take part in its audition selection procedure on May 24 in Belfast.

Those selected will spend the first two weeks of July working with artistic director, Des Kennedy, to create a performance to showcase at the nine-day Kildare Festival later that month.

Anyone interested in auditioning for a place on the International Festival of Youth Drama should contact UAYD now for an audition registration form.

Telephone 9250 9520 or email uayd@ukonline.co.uk with your name, address, telephone number and age.