Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

A free-spirited, gloriously rude, take-no-prisoners blast of a show with a soundtrack to die for. Marking the 40th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s iconic film, the Royal Exchange’s world premiere of Chris Goode’s stage adaptation of Jubilee is here.

This is set to appeal to young punks, old punks, and anyone who’s ever wanted to set the world on fire.

A marauding girl gang are on a killing spree and a time-travelling Queen Elizabeth I. Her Majesty is played by original film cast member and legendary punk warrior Toyah Willcox.

This has an electrifying ensemble cast, including Lucy Ellinson as Ariel and Travis Alabanza as Amyl. They are re-imagining Jubilee for a 2017 audience. A co-production with Chris Goode & Company, this riot of a show will run from 2 – 18 November.

Chris Goode is a writer, director, performer and musician. Since 2011 Chris has been lead artist of Chris Goode & Company. His work with CGC has included two (of his four) Fringe First award-winning shows.

Toyah Willcox has avoided categorisation for 41 years. She is an award-winning singer/ songwriter/ actress with multiple silver/gold/platinum albums under her belt. Toyah’s career started at the National Theatre when she was 18. It was there where she formed her first band named TOYAH and took the punk scene by storm. It even managed to avoid categorisation within the movement, and successfully pushed out the boundaries for women in music.

Derek Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.

• Continue reading at The Nubian Times.

1980s music icons Lloyd Cole and Toyah Willcox confirm gigs for Teesside venue

Toyah and Lloyd Cole to play Yarm’s Princess Alexandra Auditorium within a week of each other in February wo huge music names from the 1980s and 1990s have confirmed gigs at a Teesside venue.

Lloyd Cole, who wrote some of the classic hits of his generation, has announced a date at Yarm’s Princess Alexandra Auditorium on Saturday, February 24 next year. … The Lloyd Cole gig comes the week after a show by another iconic 1980s musician – Toyah Willcox. The “It’s A Mystery” singer – who is becoming a regular visitor to Teesside and even dropped in for a pie at Guisborough’s Pie in the Sky cafe last year before playing Middlesbrough’s Longlands Club – plays the Yarm venue on Saturday, February 17.

• Continue reading at Gazette Live.

Derek Jarman and Aeschylus: the theatre to book now for November

The best new plays in London and Manchester

Jubilee, Royal Exchange, Manchester: 2nd to 18th Nov

Another film adapdation this time of  Jubliee, Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk movie. It was as wild and outrageous as it was imaginative, with Elizabeth I time-travelling to hear Anarchy in the UK and a murderous girl gang listening to New Wave music. One of the girls was Toyah Willcox, now returning to the scene of the crime as Gloriana in Chris Goode’s stage adaptation celebrating the film’s rebellious spirit.

• Continue reading at Prospect Magazine.

This year’s North East Ladies Day Anniversary Luncheon took place on Wednesday 20th September 2017 at the prestigious Hardwick Hall Hotel and it was an amazing day, enjoyed by over 500 ladies.  This marked our 35th Annual Luncheon since NELD began in 1981.  The day was superbly hosted by Toyah Willcox who filled the room with laughter and joy throughout her entire talk.  Toyah gave the audience insight into her very successful acting and singing career, ending her speech with a live performance of It’s a Mystery.

Each of our ladies enjoyed a beautiful three course lunch and had the full day to shop and win prizes at over 20 different stalls.  Our Grand Prize Draw also offered over 15 ladies the opportunity to win a wonderful prize too.

• Continue reading at NELD. (Photo © NELD)

Jubilee – Derek Jarman’s chaotic and giddily incendiary punk classic is reimagined and updated for the stage by Chris Goode, 40 years after it first appeared in cinemas. One of the original cast members, Toyah Willcox, returns, this time taking on the role of a time-travelling Elizabeth I who finds herself in a contemporary London where girl gangs rampage across the streets and order has given way to violence.

Royal Exchange, Manchester (box office: 0161-833 9833), 2-18 November.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

At the World Premiere of Lies We Tell it was all about the truth as Premiere Scene interviews actors Emily Atack, Toyah Willcox, Jan Uddin, Sibylla Deen, Reece Ritchie, Danica Johnson, Hamish Rush, director Mitu Misra, producer Andy McDermott and composer Zbigniew Preisner.

In Extremis has received six award nominations at the American Horror Film Festival 2017.

Alex is a man with everything – the well-paid executive job, the impressive house in the country and the beautiful wife and child. When he inexplicably decides to leave work early one Friday nothing will ever be the same again.

Toyah just gets busier and busier – films, theatre, music, gigs and much more – stay updated on all things Toyah the best way there is, direct from my favourite workaholic herself – at Twitter.

Thanks to everyone who has been emailing about the lack of news posts here. After 17+ years of updates at this site and three years working on the Toyah fanzine without a break between 2013 – 2016 I decided 2017 would be a year of very sporadic updates at toyah.net.

Toyah Willcox In Conversation with Dave Haslam
15 November 2017

The original punk princess Toyah Willcox, is interviewed by legendary Manchester DJ, journalist and author Dave Haslam during her run as Elizabeth I in the Royal Exchange Theatre’s production of JUBILEE.

From award-winning rock legend to critcally acclaimed cult actress of stage, film and TV, Toyah’s eclectic, outspoken and colourful career spans over 40 years, amassing thirteen top 40 singles, twenty-four albums, two books, over forty stage plays and fifteen feature films (working alongside Sir Laurence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn).

Toyah will explore her creative beginnings playing MAD in Derek Jarman’s seminal punk art house film, JUBILEE, her dominance of the 80s music and fashion scene, and her evolution and endurance as a much loved actress, performer and household name.

• Continue reading at Royal Exchange Theatre.

Punk princess, pop icon, acclaimed actor and all round nice girl, well nice with a saucy edge, that’s what you get from this remarkable survivor of an industry that is notoriously destructive. Toyah steps out onto the stage with just two excellent acoustic guitar players to accompany her on a musically illustrated romp through here career. A romp that she has finely honed to create a good balance of story and song, an evening spangled with hits and lightened by incisive comments and witty anecdotes. But above all Toyah can still deliver those hits, her own and some she chooses to cover with not only conviction but with artistry. The voice is better than ever, the accompanying slides remind us of her brilliant visuals and her pithy commentary rattles along creating a compact evening of fun and great music, at times nostalgic but overall there is a sense that this is a woman who is still a valid and relevant musical force.

• Continue reading at Latest Brighton.

Toyah’s blog for October 2017 is available to read at toyahwillcox.com. Catch up on all of the monthly blogs, including September’s, by clicking here.