Six Sitcoms in Salford
Last week, Salford hosted a veritable whirlwind of fresh comedy in the form of the Salford Sitcom Showcase. We caught up with Creative Director Rebecca Papworth who said it had been "absolutely brilliant but I鈥檓 looking forward to some sleep!鈥
Not surprising as the Showcase involved 鈥渙ver 50 cast members, wearing over 50 costumes, in over 50 scenes鈥 on a set that transforms into 24 places鈥 for a three night run of six different sitcoms to audiences of over 280 people.鈥
Citizen Khan - why plan your daughter's wedding when you can read the paper instead?
There were shows from both new and established writers: Tony Sarchet's听Sandwiched; Pippa Evans' Be Our Guest; Jason Cook's Hebburn; Adil Ray, Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto's Citizen Khan; Georgia Pritchett's Up!,听and Dan Gaster and Rob Colley's Single White Male.
In the words of Cheryl Taylor, 麻豆社 Controller of Comedy Commissioning, there was 鈥渟omething to suit all tastes鈥, from interfering in-laws to culture clashes, hapless hotel staff, faulty gaydar, wedding nightmares, and dead hamsters.
Hebburn - Girl talk... Best tackled with a strong cuppa
The cast and crew had roughly four days to rehearse - this may well explain the recent upswing in sales of caffeinated drinks around Greater Manchester. There were also plenty of new faces, with many of the actors seconded to sitcom from stand-up, radio and sketch, including Chris Ramsey, Adil Ray, Pippa Evans and Imran Yusuf. As Hebburn鈥檚 director Martin Dennis explained, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a challenge, with not much time and a big cast, some of whom had not acted before, but it felt like the audience bought into the family which was great.鈥
Single White Male: Pam and Kath out on the town, or in the words of Pam's son Paul - "mutton dressed as mutton"
The new breed performed alongside established screen stars like Ardal O鈥橦anlon, Sophie Thompson, Shobu Kapoor, Russ Abbot, Kris Marshall, Pippa Haywood听and Les Dennis. As Imran said to us after the show, 鈥I grew up watching the likes of 鈥楲edge Dennis鈥, Pippa Haywood and Ardal O鈥橦anlon so it鈥檚 been wonderful working with them.鈥
Up! - The six housemates scramble to nab one of the five remaining rooms
What set the showcase aside from other sitcom performances was the fact there were no TV cameras, no retakes, and no long pauses while the lights get adjusted. Just 6 x 30 minute theatrical performances in front of live audiences with no distractions. Peter Salmon, Director of 麻豆社 North said on Wednesday night, 鈥淚t takes guts, nerve and a sense of humour to present new comedy to an audience.鈥 And after three nights of hard-core chuckling, it鈥檚 clear that the gamble paid off.
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Here鈥檚 a selection of highlights so you can laugh along with us (and don鈥檛 forget 鈥 there are more pics on 迟辞辞)鈥
Be Our Guest - Why talk when you can text?
Jack commenting on his extensive culinary experience in Be Our Guest:听
"I've cooked for huge events - International Scout Camp 2003, IInternational Scout Camp 2004..."
The impromptu warm-up act, Mr Russ Abbot:
鈥淭hey can鈥檛 afford a warm-up, so they鈥檝e got me!鈥
厂补苍诲飞颈肠丑别诲鈥s Sylvia reminiscing about Leonardo DiCaprio in That Film:
鈥淪ad isn鈥檛 it?听 He loved her enough to sink!鈥
Citizen Khan, musing on his daughter鈥檚 impending nuptials:
鈥淢aybe we should do English wedding 鈥 twenty minutes in register office, cup of tea, cucumber sandwich, bye bye thanks for coming.鈥
Jason鈥檚 Mom and Dad in Hebburn, frantically cutting holes in bread rolls with the aid of an apple corer.听 Why, you ask?听 Because that鈥檚 how you make bagels!
Ian, aka a Single White Male, affectionately referring to his personal website:
鈥淚 like to call it 鈥榮it on my Facebook鈥 dot com.鈥
Rebecca from Up!, following a recent break up:
鈥淗e says I鈥檓 obsessive.听 I鈥檓 not obsessive. I鈥檝e told him that like 50,000 times!鈥
Tune in later in the week for more from stand-up stars and newly turned sitcom-writers, Pippa Evans and Jason Cook, who鈥檒l be giving us the lowdown on the writing process鈥 and in Jason鈥檚 case, telling us how it felt to watch his life story on stage, with his best mate, Chris Ramsey, in the title role!
Sandwiched - Sweet Dreams as Sylvia 听casually brings up the chinese brothels...
Photographs by Vishal Sharma and Michelle Brooks
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