Panto's - Have you been to one lately?

Panto season is a busy time for actors who can get work.
Actors normally waork 6weeks to 2months and can earn any where from £500 to £2000+ per week.

It's a lucrative and fun industry.

ES recommends that all budding actors should get themselves along to a panto this christmas and new year season and pick up a few hints and tips.

Panto is really good fun and you see actors working hard for their money!!

Here are some interesting panto's that we have found, we hope you'll find them useful.

The ES Team.
www.ethnicshowcase.com Talent Agency

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The Brothers Size
“Opening this week at the Young Vic Theatre, fusing Yoruba myth with the earthly poetic life of present day Louisiana, the productions follows the lives of brothers Ogun and Oshooi Size. Features Live Music and dance from the rich traditions of West Africa and America’s Deep South. Also running currently at the Public Theatre New York.”

November 8 - December 8
Tickets
Weekdays and matinees £15.50
Last performances £18.50
Under 26s £9.50
Other discounts available

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A Christmas Carol- Ikrismas Kherol
Adapted from Dickens

A vibrant, thrilling musical adaptation of the most enduring of all ghost stories. This time Scrooge is a woman, the setting is today’s South Africa and the past is life under the apartheid regime.
These are exciting times... The rise of a new economic class. Others face harsh poverty while Scrooge is rich and successful. But she lives a lonely, loveless life. Three ancestral spirits come to visit. By the end she understands it is never too late to learn from the past, to change and live a meaningful and happy life.
20 November 2007-
19 January 2008
Tickets
Previews £18.50
Weekdays and matinees £21.50
Christmas week (20-31 Dec) £24.50
Under 26s £9.50
Other discounts available

Call 020 7992 2922 or visit www.youngvic.org

-------------------------Pantomimes in London
2007 - 2008
Peter Pan
Millfield Theatre
Silver Street, Edmonton, London, N18 1PJ
30th Nov 2007 to 6th Jan 2008
A boy will fly at Millfield this Christmas!
Website http://www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk/

Aladdin
Broadway Theatre Catford
Catford Broadway Catford SE6 4RU
15th Dec 2007 to 6th Jan 2008
Classic tale from the Arabian Nights
Website http://www.broadwaytheatre.org.uk/

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
New Wimbledon Theatre
The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1QG
7th Dec 2007 to 20th Jan 2008
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Get ready for the ultimate adventure as the Wicked Queen tries her hardest to woo the Prince away from Snow White, and journey deep into the magical forest to meet seven loveable dwarfs.
Website http://www.theambassadors.com/newwimbledon/

Jack and the Beanstalk
Barbican Centre
Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS
1st Dec 2007 to 12th Jan 2008
Starring Suzanne Shaw (Hear'say) plays Princess Melody. She is joined by popular comic actors Mel Giedroyc (Mel and Sue) as Fairy Liquid and Steve Furst (Little Britain).
Website http://www.barbican.org.uk/

A Christmas Carol
The Rayne Theatre
Chicken Shed, London N14
3rd Dec 2007 to 12th Jan 2008
Chickenshed?s unique adaptation of Charles Dickens? classic novel will transport you back to Victorian London to witness the transformation of Scrooge.
Website http://www.chickenshed.org.uk/

Fungus the Bogeyman
artsdepot
Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley N12
24th Nov 2007 to 5th Jan 2008
Enter the underground kingdom of bogey wonderland! slime every mountain and pop up in the bright, shiny overworld of the dry cleaners in this disgusting show for all the family over the festive season.
Website http://www.artsdepot.co.uk/

Cinderella
Theatre Royal Stratford East
Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford, London, E15 1BN
1st Dec 2007 to 19th Jan 2008
Will Cinderella go to the ball to meet her Prince Charming, despite the wicked efforts of her smelly, nasty step-sisters?
Website http://www.stratfordeast.com/

The Snowman
The Peacock Theatre
Portugal Street, LONDON, WC2A 2HT
5th Dec 2007 to 6th Jan 2008
This delightful version of Raymond Briggs' tale returns for the tenth year.
Website http://www.sadlerswells.com/peacock/

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Beck Theatre
Grange Road, HAYES, UB3 2UE
14th Dec 2007 to 6th Jan 2008
Hi Ho!
Website http://www.livenation.co.uk/venue/getVenue/venueId/16785/

Puss In Boots
Glaxo Smithkline Sports and Social Club
Oldfield Lane North, Greenford, Middlesex
10th Jan 2008 to 12th Jan 2008
Holy Cross Players proudly present an all new version of the classic, and sadly neglected, pantomime. Fun for all the family guaranteed!
Website http://www.holycrossplayers.org.uk/

Aladdin
South London Theatre
2a Norwood High Street, London SE27 9NS
4th Dec 2007 to 16th Dec 2007
Magical festive fun for all the family, with South London's biggest and brightest pantomime. Join Aladdin and his friends on the quest to find the lamp, defeat the evil Vizier Abanazer and bring freedom to the people of Peking!
Website http://www.southlondontheatre.co.uk/

Dick Whittington
Greenwich Theatre
Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES
4th Dec 2007 to 5th Jan 2008
Alderman Fitzwarren is not a happy man. His cheese shop is infested with rats, his daughter is determined to ignore all talk of pirates and set sail for foreign lands, and as for his latest employee, Mrs Willamena Whittington..........
Website http://www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk/

Trouble in Pantoland
Intimate Theatre
Bourne Hill Palmers Green N13
20th Dec 2007 to 22nd Dec 2007
A seriously evil wizard has invaded panto land. With all your favourite Disney characters appearing which one will save the day? Will it be the Wicked Queens obsessive step daughter Snow white, jilted Cinderella, Amelia sweet heart or perhaps a frog.
Website http://www.platinum1entertainment.co.uk/

Dick Whittington
Intimate Theatre
521 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, N13
3rd Jan 2008 to 6th Jan 2008
A traditional family pantomime for all ages! Thursday to Saturday at 7.30pm. Saturday and Sunday at 3.00pm. Box Office: 020 8807 1810. Profits donated to Arnold House Leonard Cheshire Home who support physically disabled adults (Charity No. 218186).
Website http://www.acorntheatre.com/


Aladdin
Bridewell Theatre
Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ
8th Jan 2008 to 12th Jan 2008
Come and meet Aladdin, Widow Twanki, Wishi Washi, Emperor Wong Wei, Empress Wong Ki, PC's Dim & Sum, evil Abanazar, Princess Su Shi, & the magical Genies of the Lamp and Ring.
Website http://www.blucow.co.uk/boxoffice/

Jack and the Beanstalk
The Intimate Theatre
521 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, N13
5th Dec 2007 to 16th Dec 2007
The London Pantomimers present Jack and the Beanstalk the well known family favourite!
Website http://www.thelondonpantomimers.org.uk/

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Black actresses - "White up"

Diversity event to see black actress white up as Queen.

Exclusive - Theatre Royal, Stratford East is to stage a controversial revival of Jean Genet's The Blacks - in which a black actress will be 'whited up' to play the Queen - to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and a major conference discussing diversity within the arts.

The production, which has been remixed to create a hip hop version of the 1958 play, is also being staged to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Ghanian independence from the British Empire - Genet's initial impetus to write the piece.

The run will culminate in a day-long conference organised by Equity and Stratford East to discuss issues surrounding diversity in the performing arts. Excalibah, who will appear in and co-direct the show with Ultz, told The Stage that the pair had worked to update Genet's verse to slam poetry and hip hop inorder to give the piece greater relevance for modern audiences.

"With it being 50 years since Ghanaian independence - which was Genet's initial inspiration for writing the piece - and 200 since the abolition of theslave trade, it is perfect timing" he said.

The production will feature a company of 13 black actors, five of whom will play the Queen, her footman, an ambassador, a judge and a missionary. These performers will be 'whited-up' and positioned in a royal box watching the play within a play.

According to a spokesperson for the show, the actress playing the Queen will be made 'as close a facsimile of Queen Elizabeth II as we can manage. We'll be flipping stereotypes on their head,' added Excalibah, 'and that's exactly what Genet's play does. It plays around with the ideas of black and white.'

The Blacks runs at Theatre Royal, Stratford East from October 12 to November 10.

For more information follow the link: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/17571/diversity-event-to-see-black-actress-white·

TICKETS: £10 & £18 (concs £7 & £12)Days:
Tues - Sat Times: 7.30pm Extra show: 2pm, Wed 31st Oct

To book on online, click http://www.theatreroyallondon.com/shows.php\?display=upcoming

www.ethnicshowcase.com - UK Community Talent Agents

Stagework.org.uk website - USEFUL for actors

http://www.stagework.org.uk

Since its launch in March 2004, Stagework has become a massive and growing archive of performance-related material including film of rehearsals, performance, auditions and interviews with actors, directors, designers and administrative personnel.

Stagework unpacks the process behind key productions for students and for general life-long learners; it offers rich media content and teacher support for the National Curriculum in English, Drama, Citizenship, RE and History; it enhances the understanding of theatre as one of the creative industries and points out new career possibilities to young people.

Stagework looks at how performances are made, who makes them, and why. Importantly for teachers, it is also a repository for debate, analysis and discussion framed by the issues raised in the staging of plays such as the National’s production of Henry V at the time of the last invasion of Iraq, and its adaptation in 2003-04 of Philip Pullman’s epic anti-clerical trilogy His Dark Materials.

Stagework meets the needs of curricular audiences by covering widely-studied plays in production, such as Shakespeare’s Richard III and Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, while also appealing to all audiences with entertaining interactive material which enhances the theatregoing experience.


http://www.ethnicshowcase.com
UK Ethnic Talent agency

EASTENDERS – Where are the ethnic minorities?

Why do main stream shows on British TV like Eastenders disproportionately represent the Blacks and Asians who exist in this world?

I mean, where in the East end of London, in reality, can you find a street that does not have more than a single minority family in it?

If you know of it – please tell me where it is, I’d love to go there and see it for myself.

At present, Eastenders have 1 elderly black couple in it who run a local mini mart store. A black single mum, with 2 teenager daughters. And the only token young black male on the screens is an uneducated street cleaner! Who also, might I add, used to have a criminal brother who was always up to no good and pushing some dodgy deal through.

There are no Asians, Indians or any one from Europe cast on our screens.

My question is... Why is that?

This show is supposed to be up to date, current and dealing with topical issues... Yet grazes over minorities as if they don't exist.

You do have to wonder about what message this is sending out to the British public? And also, how we're seen abroad.

And I wonder... Is this a deliberate message on the part of TV Company’s behind these shows?

Or one that is unfortunately there and exists simply through today’s circumstances and politics?

I’m particularly worried about the people whom, shall we say, are not that well educated or don't possess any real knowledge of the 'real world'. How will they ever know that not all black people are uneducated; Have jobs other than cleaning streets and don’t spend every day plotting ways to rob or steal from others?

Where are all the successful Blacks, Asians and Indian business owners?
Where are their family members?
Where is a taste of other cultures?

And I don’t mean merely throwing another Indian family into a corner shop, cue Coronation Street. I mean real families, with generations, quirks, ambitions, love, rivalry, history and all those exciting and real elements that exist in Ethnic families and cultures right across Britain.

I mean if this show is supposed to be representing the East end of London, in 2007 and not in London 1907, surely our TV’s should be showing us something very different?

It just depresses me sometimes to watch it and see no diversity – no realness, no truth. I mean at the very least, throw us in a West Indian shop on the square and lets see Ian Beale throw his toys out of his pram about his chip prices falling because of the Beef Pattie sales. How about instead of fish and chips for a change why not let’s see Peggy Mitchell going off to buy some curry goat with rice and peas for the Mitchell clan. And the token dreadlock Rasta, whom would invariably have to run the shop, would have to have some awful dalliance with Pat Butcher at some point… Wouldn’t he?

Ok, so my mind is running off track a little here. But you catch my gist I’m sure.

There are so many talented ethnic actors in London who would jump at the chance to be on top shows like this.

There are also so many talented black and ethnic minority writers who could help scope out and develop convincing storylines for ethnic families to be added to these soaps.

Yet they don’t ever seem to be used.
Why is that?

Is casting and using ethnic families really that difficult?
Is it because we now live in such a politically correct world that script writers are scared to portray ethnic families in certain ways, for fear of a backlash?

We need to find a middle ground on this instead of just doing nothing and ignoring it.

There are ethnic actors who want to work.
There are ethnic writers who want to work.
Wouldn’t it be great to just sit down and make it happen?

It’s time.



Remi Oduyemi
Founder of EthnicShowcase.com
Online portal for UK ethnic talent

http://www.ethnicshowcase.com/blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders - Official BBC website for Eastenders