{"id":39372,"date":"2023-12-15T13:09:50","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=39372"},"modified":"2024-04-26T13:47:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:47:56","slug":"bristols-jam-packed-theatrical-lineup-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2023\/12\/15\/bristols-jam-packed-theatrical-lineup-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol&#8217;s jam-packed theatrical lineup this Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"720\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1280 \/ 720;\" width=\"1280\" controls src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Arabian-nights.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a challenging time for the arts, Bristol&#8217;s theatrical offering is standing firm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From Oliver Twist set in the cost-of-living crisis to Poirot in Peter Pan, there&#8217;s plenty to watch at theatres across the city this Christmas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the productions have adapted classic tales that are staples at this time of year and set them in the modern day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Locally casted talent are plentiful too, which one key player in the city&#8217;s art scene told Bower News was really important.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Director of Oliver Twist &#8211; and Artistic Director of the Tobacco Factory &#8211; Heidi Vaughan said that Bristol&#8217;s &#8220;fabulous theatrical heritage&#8221; was crucial to&nbsp;honour&nbsp;in the casting process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heidi added&nbsp;&#8220;artists are part of our city&#8217;s creative infrastructure&#8221; so by supporting them, &#8220;we all win&#8221;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explaining the decision to set their rendition of the Charles Dickens classic during the current cost-of-living crisis, Heidi said that the story&#8217;s power allows Oliver Twist to &#8220;live beyond the era&#8221; it was written in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tobacco-factory-crop.jpg\" alt=\"A theatre\" class=\"wp-image-39383\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:700px;height:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tobacco-factory-crop.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tobacco-factory-crop-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tobacco-factory-crop-640x366.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/tobacco-factory-crop-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Tobacco Factory is a cultural staple in South Bristol.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tobacco Factory in&nbsp;Southville&nbsp;only receives 5% of its income from public funding, so Heidi said it&#8217;s necessary for the theatre &#8220;to make work people want to see&#8221; and &#8220;exceed expectations&#8221;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, at the Bristol Old Vic, their&nbsp;Christmas production is Arabian Nights.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Star of the show Saikat Ahamed told Bower News that the production&#8217;s &#8220;modern sensibility&#8221; made it relevant and important today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the traditional tale, the plot is a more conventional love story, but Saikat said this adaptation from writer Sonali\u00a0Bhattacharyya gives the female lead significant &#8220;agency&#8221; from a tyrannical King and brings it into the 21st century.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bristol Old Vic, which is funded partly by the council, has its financing under threat as a result of the local authority having its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-bristol-67576065\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cultural investment&nbsp;programme&nbsp;slashed<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are household names in the city this Christmas too:\u00a0<em>Poirot\u00a0<\/em>star David Suchet is playing villain Captain Hook in the Bristol Hippodrome&#8217;s Christmas pantomime, Peter Pan, throughout this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though the future may seem tough for these cultural institutions, the picture is not completely bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tobacco Factory has been &#8220;blown away&#8221; by a surge in ticket sales for its Christmas play, and Arabian Nights has been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2023\/dec\/02\/shake-things-up-this-christmas-your-guide-to-the-best-culture-for-the-festive-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lauded by critics<\/a>\u00a0as a must-watch this December.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Arabian Nights runs until the 6<\/em><em><sup>th<\/sup><\/em><em>&nbsp;of January at the Bristol Old Vic.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Oliver Twist runs until the 21<\/em><em><sup>st<\/sup><\/em><em>&nbsp;of January at the Tobacco Factory.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Peter Pan runs until the 31<\/em><em><sup>st<\/sup><\/em><em>&nbsp;of December at the Bristol Hippodrome<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a challenging time for the arts, Bristol&#8217;s theatrical offering is standing firm.&nbsp; From Oliver Twist set in the cost-of-living crisis to Poirot in Peter Pan, there&#8217;s plenty to watch at theatres across the city this Christmas.&nbsp; Many of the productions have adapted classic tales that are staples at this time of year and set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":39379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1624],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39372"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39450,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39372\/revisions\/39450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}