Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

• Beyond The Joke: Film Review – Aaaaaaaah!: One thing is certain. You won’t see another film like Aaaaaaaah! this year. Or, probably, any year. And not just because Steve Oram’s directorial debut has no dialogue except for ape-like grunts, but also because it features Toyah Willcox having a shit in a kitchen and Noel Fielding getting his knob gobbled in a seedy cameo – Continue reading…

• Bloodguts: Aaaaaaaah!: Ever wondered what would happen if our evolution stopped part way through? What if we became the appearance of what we become with the mentality and attitude of the apes that came before us? Wonder no more as the premise behind ‘Aaaaaaaah!’ is just that… The performances of the cast are next to brilliant and watching Toyah Willcox slam a steak across a wall in imitation to something she has seen is a true reflection of how influential Oram is as a creative. If you can get the stars of The Mighty Boosh, Toyah Willcox and Tony Way to play a complete film with no sound except that of a monkey and mimic their actions in a way that becomes believable, then Steve Oram, you have our attention – Continue reading…

• Pissed Off Geek: ‘Aaaaaaaah!’ Review: There are some movies that are brave and they present something to the audience that is truly different. Aaaaaaaah! is a film that may be hard to acclimatise yourself to and will be outside of your comfort zone, but once it grabs you it won’t let go – Continue reading…

• Close-Up Film: Aaaaaaaah! Close-Up Film Review: Can you imagine what a Mike Leigh film would look like if the actors based all their lines/noises, behaviour and interactions on several hours of Richard Attenborough narrated Ape documentaries? If you can then you will have pictured something close to Steve Oram’s disquieting directorial debut Aaaaaaaah! – Continue reading…

• Electric Sheep: Aaaaaaaah!: Also caught in the adventure is Julian Rhind-Tutt playing an alpha male scoffing in front of a brand new plasma screen and playing video games; Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding from the surrealistic The Mighty Boosh; and Toyah Willcox, who played Miranda in Derek Jarman’s Tempest (1979) but also, prophetically, Monkey in Quadrophenia (1979), and who plays the leading female part. With Willcox came Robert Fripp, who happens to be her husband and who improvised a bewitching music that advantageously compensates the total absence of articulate dialogue. (And make sure you stay for the final credits if you are a King Crimson fan.) – Continue reading…

• Echo Beach: Watch/Listen to Toyah’s 1987 single, with remastered audio by Toyah fan David Anning, at The Official Toyah You Tube channel – Desire, the album from which the single was taken, is available digitally now.

• Gazette & Herald: Arts festival starts: Our headline performer this year is Toyah, who will be appearing at the Civic Centre on Sunday, November 1. Musical icon of the 80s and star of screen, TV and stage, Toyah will be playing acoustic versions of her hits, discussing her life story, and meeting and greeting after the show – Continue reading…

• This is Wiltshire: Trowbridge comes alive with history and light for Arts Festival: Trowbridge Arts Festival, which runs until November 1, is heralded by a baronial event on Friday, one of many emphasising its status as a Baron Town in this 700-year celebration of the Magna Carta… The festival closes on November 1 at the town’s Civic Centre, where ’80s pop icon Toyah plays an acoustic, up close and personal set which wanders trough her musical life – Continue reading…

• EDP: Celebrities create puppets to help support Norwich theatre: About 25 quirky characters – made by a mix of celebrities and artists – have been sent to Norwich Puppet Theatre ready for a celebrity puppet auction on November 25… Who has provided a puppet for the auction so far? Actors and comedians: Tom Conti, Anita Dobson, Jenny Eclair, Neil Innes, Maureen Lipman, Gwen Taylor, Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…

• Toyah @ Twitter: Stay updated on Toyah, direct from… yes… Toyah herself at Twitter…

• The Guardian/Guide: Charlie Lyne’s Home Entertainment – Aaaaaaaah!: Frightfest Presents, VOD: Even as physical media starts to look like a relic from a less enlightened age, the internal hierarchy of home video lives on, decreeing that real films come out on Blu-ray – Continue reading… (Thanks to Lärwi for the scan)

• The List: 10 Best New Horror DVDs for Hallowe’en: 5. Aaaaaaaah! (Icon) Aaaaaaaah! is the pick of the new FrightFest Presents imprint (other titles include Some Kind of Hate, Estranged and Night of the Living Deb). The directorial debut of actor Steve Oram (Sightseers) verges on the experimental with a society that hasn’t developed language but communicates via grunts, hoots and gestures. Imagine chimpanzees in a domestic urban setting (anyone who has read Will Self’s masterpiece Great Apes will recognise the concept) as they fight, squabble and rut. Deeply weird but strangely brilliant – Continue reading…

• Westword: Denver Film Festival Announces First Wave of Programming and Early-Bird Discounts: LATE NIGHT – Aaaaaaaah! / UK (Steve Oram): Humans live like wild apes in the midst of a present-day London neighborhood — grunting, fornicating and fighting to kill — in this exuberantly low-budget mash-up of horror, comedy, cult sci-fi, and commentary on social devolution from co-star, screenwriter and first-time director Steve Oram – Continue reading…

• EW: Denver Film Festival to screen Gaspar Noé’s Love, action movie Camino, and Aaaaaaaah!: The Gaspar Noé-directed 3D erotic drama Love, the Zoë Bell-starring action-thriller movie Camino, and the horror-comedy Aaaaaaaah! — about humans living like wild apes in present-day London — will all screen at this year’s Denver Film Festival – Continue reading…

• Brutal as Hell: New Sizzle Reel For FrightFest Presents VOD Platform: At the stroke of midnight on 19th October, FrightFestPresents.com will release its first six titles for VOD. In conjunction with Icon Home Entertainment, the biggest name on the British horror fest scene are now bringing some titles from their 2015 flagship event into the digital realm for all to see – and the first movies to be released under this banner are The Sand, Estranged, After Death, Aaaaaaaaah!, Night of the Living Deb and Some Kind of Hate – Continue reading…

Singer, actress, TV personality, author – Toyah Willcox has gained fame from all of the above in a career spanning over 30 years. And, as she prepares to come to East Lancashire for a special show celebrating her music she reveals she’s probably having the best time of her whole career.

“I’m fortunate to have had such longevity,” she said. “But I really do think this is the best time for me.”

In her new show which comes to Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre next Friday, Toyah will be performing many of her hits acoustically. For those familiar with her many chart successes including Thunder in the Mountains, Brave New World and Ieya, the idea of an acoustic show may, at first, be surprising.

But Toyah can put them at their ease. “It all works fabulously well,” said the star who had eight top 40 singles and has released over 20 albums. “I thought I’d give it a go so there’s me and two guitarists who can also both sing and that’s it. When you take away the drums and a lot of the volume the songs really prove themselves. You can hear the harmonies and people have been coming up after the show saying that they like many of the songs even more the acoustic way than the original.”

• Continue reading at the Lancashire Telegraph.

Something you don’t see every day – The Toyah band 1981 reunited for first time in 34 years! Joel Bogen, Nigel Glockler, Adrian Lee, Phil Spalding. Not in the same room altogether since a promotional TV appearance for Thunder In The Mountains in Germany, September 1981. Brilliant! One of the best posts in our, almost, 16 years of news. (Thanks to Official Toyah)

All four episodes – 1. Away To Neverland, 2. In The Mermaid’s Lagoon, 3. An Awfully Big Adventure. 4. Spring Cleaning Time Again – of JM Barrie – Peter Pan, which aired this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra, are now available to listen to at your leisure at BBC iPlayer – for the next month. Click on the cast photos below (Thanks to Official Toyah) to browse the iplayer list.

Episode 3 of Blink, featuring Toyah & Cheryl Baker, is now available via Channel 4’s On Demand. Two 80s pop legends, Cheryl Baker and Toyah Willcox, try audio and visual music challenges.

Toyah played an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date at The Exchange, Sturminster Newton on Thursday. The venue is auctioning a huge, signed, banner from the gig… (Photo © Official Toyah)

College News: 80s cult pop star Toyah is coming to Bridgwater

Pop and 80s icon, Toyah Willcox will be performing a lively unplugged storytellers style gig at Bridgwater College’s The McMillan Theatre later this month.

This gig on Sunday, October 25, 2015, at 7.30pm will be a unique chance to experience Toyah up close and personal.COLLEGE NEWS: 80s cult pop star Toyah is coming to Bridgwater

The evening will include Toyah performing an acoustic set of her loved hit singles and classic songs, alongside recalling stories from her colourful 35-year career. Tickets cost just £18 and are available from www.mcmillantheatre.com or the Box Office in person or by phone, 01278-556677.

• Continue reading at Bridgwater Press.

In his directorial debut, Sightseers star Steve Oram delivers a remarkable film that satirises human behaviour with apeshit craziness.

Set in a superficially recognisable South London of semi-detached houses, football pitches and fashionable clothing boutiques, Aaaaaaaah! nevertheless offers an alternate reality that entirely eschews dialogue for primal grunts and gesticulations, with civilisation repeatedly shown to be a thin veneer over simian wildness.

Aaaaaaaah! features some dark and comically extreme sequences, but it’s not too aloof in its arthouse outlook. Plotwise, it’s essentially Romeo and Juliet.

• Continue reading at Chortle. Catch up on all of our Aaaaaaaah! news here.

The world of VOD is sometimes seen as the bargain bin of film but new services like Frightfest Presents and its new ape drama might be about to change all that

British comedy stalwart Steve Oram’s directorial debut Aaaaaaaah! sees a host of famous faces (Toyah Willcox included) occupy a world in which human beings act like apes, their social graces eradicated and all known language replaced by a series of unintelligible grunts. So far, so kooky, but from the opening moments of the film – in which Oram’s character weepily urinates over a photo of his ex-wife – Aaaaaaaah! reveals itself as something much more tender than its offbeat premise might imply.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

A popular Shipley Gate venue is hosting the auditions for a new rock music-based show. Thunder Valley Rocks is a nine-episode television show, filmed in a “live” format, and presented by Toyah Willcox.

Each episode features five live, unsigned rock bands, with celebrity guests appraising the bands’ performances and offering tips and advice from their own experiences.

The premise behind the show is that rock bands receive minimal exposure on national television compared to solo artists and pop music. In the final episode, the guests will choose a band between them, who will be offered a chance to play at a top UK music festival in 2016.

The pilot show will be screened on November 14. The celebrity guests will be taken from a range of different eras, and include musicians such as Roy Wood, Suzi Quatro, Kofi Baker, Rex Brown, Rick Wakeman, Ginger Fish, Martin Turner, Mark Brzezicki and more.

• Continue reading at Belper News.

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl: Sony TV: Wednesday 21st October: 10.35pm
Secret Diary Of A Call Girl: Sony TV: Thursday 22nd October: 1.40am
Series One. Episode Eight. After falling out with her agent, Belle meets two women who run a company called Diamond International who invite her into their books. Starring: Billie Piper, Toyah Willcox, Aleksandar Mikic, Jamie Sives, Aislinn Sands and Scarlette O’Harlette. (Also airing on Sony TV + 1)

Quadrophenia, still awesome and legendary some 36 years after first being released, is showing at the Pawsons Arms, Croydon in South London this Friday – Seminal rock and roll infused portrait of ’60s British youth culture – More details by clicking below.

Watch Live With… Toyah at the Vintage TV website right now!!

Live With… Toyah is repeated tonight on Vintage TV at 10.30pm. A great six-song acoustic set from Toyah – with songs from Sheep Farming in Barnet, Anthem, The Changeling and Velvet Lined Shell – plus chat and reminisces inbetween the songs.

1. Thunder In The Mountains, 2. Danced, 3. Little Tears Of Love, 4. It’s A Mystery, 5. Dawn Chorus, 6. I Want To Be Free – Go Live With… Toyah at The Official Toyah Instagram.

Live With… Toyah: Vintage TV: Monday 12th October: 10.30pm
New! The high priestess of punk, who has been a prolific singer, musician and actor for three decades, takes to the stage. We’re launching a brand new show where it’s all about the music! From Sister Sledge and Glenn Tilbrook to Hazel O’Connor and Eddi Reader, we’ve invited musical icons to perform up to six tracks from their repertoire. Filmed in an intimate studio setting. ‘Live With’ gives you all the entertainment of live gig, without having to leave your living room! Vintage TV is available on Sky 369, Freeview 242, Virgin 343 and Freesat 505.

The Aaaaaaaah! T-Shirt, first revealed by Toyah and Steve Oram at the Birmingham screening of the film at the beginning of October, is now available to buy online from Last Exit To Nowhere.

The vibrant red shirt, with the Aaaaaaaah! image on the front and logo on the reverse, comes in various sizes (small to xxl) and is priced £20 plus postage.

Aaaaaaaah! – Regular T-shirt
Inspired by Aaaaaaaah! (2015)

We’ve been working with Rook Films on a T-shirt for Steve Oram’s (co-writer and star of Sightseers) subversive comedy and directorial debut, Aaaaaaaah! A six colour design, hand screen printed on a regular fit, 100% cotton red t-shirt.

Maigret: ITV Encore: Sunday 25th October: 2.05pm
Maigret and the Hotel Majestic. Crime series featuring Georges Simenon’s celebrated Parisian detective. Maigret is called to the scene when a beautiful woman is found dead in the basement of the Hotel Majestic with a gun in her handbag. The Chief Inspector’s investigations initially centre around the staff at the hotel – until he discovers that the woman’s husband booked a trip to Rome that he never made. Starring: Michael Gambon, Geoffrey Hutchings, Michael Shannon, Toyah Willcox (1993). Also airing on ITV Encore HD and Plus 1.

A reminder that there’s another chance to hear the four-part audio drama Peter Pan, with Toyah in the lead role and also starring Ron Moody, June Whitfield and Roy Hudd, all this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

There are four airings of each of the episodes. Full details here. This was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1995 so these latest could be considered the 20th Anniversary repeats. (Thanks to Anthony for the ‘Radio Times’ clipping below)

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of J. M. Barrie’s tale of childhood adventure starring Toyah Willcox as Peter Pan and Ron Moody as Captain Hook. These audio editions, especially dramatised for BBC Radio, are of timeless stories that have enchanted generations of readers both young and old – See Peter Pan at The Official Toyah Instagram.

Today Toyah retweeted Ultimate Classic Rock’s tweet about the 46th anniversary of the release of In The Court Of The Crimson King. Read an article on the album at Ultimate Classic Rock.

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip: Yesterday: Friday 23rd October: 6.30am
DJ Tony Blackburn and punk rocker Toyah Willcox take to the road, scouring the shops of York and Pickering in the hope of finding some poptastic period pieces to flog at auction.