Quadrophenia: ITV4: Sunday 13th September: 11pm Quadrophenia: ITV4: Tuesday 15th September: 11.35pm
The Who wrote and produced this energetic story of a young man disillusioned with his life in 1960s London. Phil Daniels excels as the alienated anti-hero Jimmy Cooper. Director: Franc Roddam. Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, and Ray Winstone. Also airing on ITV4 HD and Plus 1.
Toyah guested on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio Two show yesterday.
Toyah can be heard from approximately 47m 30s into the show, chatting about Aaaaaaaah!, being on tour, and recalling 1983 and featuring in Smash Hits etc – comparing/remembering her responses to a retro interview then and now. The interview lasts for around nine minutes, which includes a play of I Want To Be Free.
The One Show: BBC1: Tuesday 8th September: 7pm
If it’s got Britain talking then it will get talked about on The One Show. Presented by Matt Baker and Alex Jones.
Another chance to watch Toyah’s 1982 episode of Tales Of The Unexpected. Click here to read an interview and see Toyah’s TV Times cover for the programme, from April 1982.
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts: Thursday 17th September: 1.30pm Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury.
There’s a busy weekend ahead – Tonight there is the Aaaaaaaah! screening + Cast Q&A at Picture House Central in Piccadilly, London. Tomorrow afternoon Toyah guests on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio Two show, and on Sunday plays an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig at Cottingham Folk Festival (scheduled to be onstage at 3pm at The Civic Hall)
Toyah’s September blog is now available at The Official Toyah Willcox website. Lots of interesting news on Aaaaaaaah!, films, concerts… Including mention that there is going to be a Live… With Toyah for Vintage TV (“Vintage are filming a mini-version of the acoustic show“).
Toyah also mentions Extremis, a new film in which she has a cameo. She has also written (and I assume is performing) the closing credits song for it. A full press pack on Extremis is available online.
A final couple of Aaaaaaaah! reviews. See a selection of the recent opinion pieces on the film here.
• Little White Lies: Aaaaaaaah! Review: Actor Steve Oram has decided to make a movie, and the results are spectacularly disturbing… Let’s not mince words: Steve Oram is a master filmmaker. He’ll be known to British audiences for his co-starring role in Ben Wheatley’s 2012 comedy-horror hybrid, Sightseers, in which he played one half of an oddball twosome traversing the English countryside and who take a hatchet to the skull of anything or anyone that doesn’t chime with their quaint Midlands sensibilities. Aaaaaaaah! is his debut feature film as writer and director, a transgressive situationist comedy which is also one of the great British films of the new millennium. Explaining why is not going to be easy – Continue reading…
• Methods Unsound: Best of Film4 FrightFest 2015: Most Balls Out Insane Film: So let’s get to the heart of the matter, horror is often about extremes both visually and thematically, what was the most fucked up thing on offer? Aaaaaaaah! directed by Sightseer’s Steve Oram… The bluntness of the bestial activities throughout would be depraved and shocking in any other film but here they push up against human norms creating situations that are just hilariously surreal, such as Toyah Wilcox having a heart to heart with her daughter in grunts as she takes a shit on the kitchen floor – Continue reading…
On 2nd September 1985, World in Action, Toyah’s third single from Minx was released. This would be the last single from the album and Toyah’s final release on Portrait/CBS Records.
World in Action was the first single of Toyah’s career that she didn’t co-write. It was also the first release since pre-Four From Toyah not to make an appearance in the UK Singles Chart. As with the previous two singles from the album, the 7” and 12” had different sleeves. The 12” sleeve is probably the best of all six of the Portrait single sleeves, featuring a stunning, Terence Donovan, photo of Toyah. This was also the only single from the Portrait trio not to have a promo video made to accompany it. B-Side song Soldier Of Fortune, Terrorist Of Love was written by Willcox/Lee. Both were produced by Christopher Neil. The 12″ included the extra “Action Mix” of WIA.
Premiere Scene’s Alice Alexander and Anthony Bueno interview Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Lucy Honigman for Aaaaaaaah! Screening at Film 4 FrightFest 2015.
Due to demand 100 extra tickets have been released for Friday’s screening of Aaaaaaaah! at Picture House Central in London’s West End, and the film has also been moved to a larger screen.
Steve Oram’s insane debut film begins a residency at Picturehouse Central with this exclusive screening + Q&A with special guests.
Director: Steve Oram. Starring: Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox. UK 2015. 79 mins.
The scabrous bleak humour of Sightseers, which Steve Oram starred in and co-wrote, permeates his directorial debut. The film’s pointed social commentary reflects how modern manners are becoming little more than grunts and gestures – mostly selfish, often aggressive.
• Continue reading/Book tickets (if there are any remaining) at Picture House Central.
• The List: List Film: Aaaaaaaah!: FrightFest 2015: Steve Oram and co literally go ape in a hilarious black comedy – Following the magnificently deranged, award-winning Sightseers was always going to be a challenge for its co-screenwriter and star Steve Oram. Undaunted, his directorial debut takes the transgression up a notch by replacing traditional dialogue with primitive grunts and shrieks, as it reduces humans to their base impulses – food, fighting, sex – while retaining the familiar trappings of modern society (lascivious cookery programmes, wild parties and ludicrous computer games) – Continue reading…
• Empty Screens: Review: Aaaaaaaah! (2015): The committed and skilled cast – including Toyah Willcox and Alice Lowe – embrace the material with panache, making Aaaaaaaah! a tasty but acquired treat that never outstays its welcome – Continue reading…
• Vodzilla: FrightFest film review: Aaaaaaaah!: The superb cast fully commit to the conceit, delivering brilliantly physical performances. Oram is particularly good as the aggressive alpha, swaggering and sneering up a storm, while Meeten is very funny as his craven companion. Honigman is equally good as Denise and has surprisingly strong chemistry with Oram, while Wilcox is a treat as the capricious Barabara – a flashback showing Ryan wooing her over a broken washing machine is one of several comic highlights – Continue reading…
Vale Park was alive with the sound of music at the weekend, and it was all free. Punk princess Toyah Willcox headlined on Saturday night with an energetic and enthusiastic show that had the crowd shouting for more.
Thirty seven years in showbusinesses hasn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for her craft, and her voice was strong as she sang These Boots Are Made For Walking, In The Midnight Hour, It’s A Mystery, Sweet Child of Mine and I Wanna Be Free. The charismatic performer interacted naturally with the audience and was generous with her time after the show, meeting fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Sunday 13th September: 7pm/11pm Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Monday 14th September: 3am
Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.
• The Ooh Tray: Monkey Business: Note: An ape translation of this review is available – Were it not for an ingenious comic conceit, Steve Oram’s highly original comic melodrama would be a familiar story. A man splits from his wife, meets a woman at a party, trapped in an unhappy relationship, and the two decided to make a run for it and get married, returning to the home and kicking out the ineffectual boyfriend. But in Aaaaaaaah!‘s universe, human language and instinct haven’t evolved beyond that of primates, and consequently you have an eccentric and often brutally honest comedy that lays bare the base instincts and absurd animal behaviour that fundamentally characterises human relationships – Continue reading…
• Screen Relish: #F4FF15 FrightFest: Aaaaaaaah! Review: Aah, the precarious position of the alpha male. Oh should I say AAAAAAAAH!? Because that is the delightfully appropriate title of Steve Oram’s feature directorial debut. An absurd horror comedy, the film offers no dialog at all – just grunts, as humans, devolved into ape mentality, go about their poop-throwing, territory marking, television smashing daily existence. It’s the kind of overly clever premise you expect to wear thin, but honestly, it doesn’t. Much credit goes to a game cast (including Oram) that sells every minute of the ridiculousness, and to Oram again as director. He keeps the pace quick, his images a flurry of insanity you need to see more than once to fully appreciate – Continue reading…
• I’m With Geek: Aaaaaaaah! – Review: Written and directed by Steve Oram (the genius writer behind Sightseers), Aaaaaaaah! is a movie not to be missed. If you like a little strange in your life then this film is absolutely for you. Premiering at Film4 Frightfest last night, some are steal wrapping their heads around the weird and wondering movie. The struggle here, is giving Aaaaaaaah! the review it deserves… – Continue reading…
Bucks Herald: It’s here! Weekend of free live music in Vale Park
Vale Park will be hosting two great days of live music with something to suit everyone. The action starts on Saturday with Live In The Park, featuring ten hours of live music culminating in an appearance by 80s singer Toyah Willcox at 8.30pm.
Other acts performing throughout the day include disco band Platform Soul, singer-songwriter Kitty Roisin, guitarist and backing vocalist James Manders and new wave band The Synthetix.
The second part of the weekend musical bonanza in the park is on Sunday evening with Proms in the Park. Orchestral music begins at 7pm with a fireworks display to round off the evening. Both events are organised by Aylesbury Town Council. Photos and reports from all the weekend’s activities will appear in next week’s Bucks Herald.
• Continue reading at the Bucks Herald. Browse all of our Live In The Parknews.
Mix 96: Live In The Park Kicks Off Weekend Of Free Events In Aylesbury
A weekend of free outdoor entertainment in Aylesbury starts today with Live in the Park. The gig in Vale Park replaces Hobble on the Cobbles this year.
It starts at midday with local acts and a funfair and is headlined by 80s superstar Toyah. We gave Toyah a call and asked her if her audience had changed over the years:
“We still have people with us who’ve been with me for 37 years, now they tend to have children and grandchildren and they tend to come along as well. We do though have a new audience increasingly under the age of 25 and I think that’s because 80s music is so popular and it’s popular with all generations.”
• Continue reading/Listen to a short audio interview with Toyah at Mix 96.
Screen talks to the British actor about his feature directorial debut, which receives its world premiere today [Aug 28] at Film4 FrightFest.
Set to be one of the most original films of this year’s Film4 FrightFest, Aaaaaaaah! is a twisted family drama with a difference: there is no dialogue, with all actors speaking in animalistic grunts and moans.
It marks the feature directorial debut of British actor Steve Oram who, along with Alice Lowe, wrote and starred in Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers.
Aaaaaaaah!, produced by Lincoln Studios, receives its world premiere today [Aug 28] and Oram believes FrightFest is the ideal place for the film to make its bow.
“FrightFest accepts and celebrates the weirdos, and we think we fit in quite well there,” enthuses Oram. “It’s the perfect showcase for us. It’s totally un-snooty and just about people who love strange films and horror films. It’s a big opportunity to show it to the people, which is all I care about really.”
In its enthusiasm for poo-flinging, food-fights, penis-chewing, cannibalism, tea-bagging and sudden stabbings, the film sets out to shock in a particularly cosy way
Inhabiting a waste ground somewhere between radical theatre and slob comedy, Steve Oram’s debut as a writer-director-star – following up his writer-actor work on Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers – is liable to corner a small but devoted cult following. It’s at least as interested in gross-out gags that out-gross the average Hollywood frat-boy film as it is in delivering a skewed yet pointed look at a suburban Britain where everyone communicates in grunts and gestures the way cavemen and women do in Hammer Fillms’ well-remembered prehistoric adventure films (One Million Years BC, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth).
AAAAAAAAH!’s specific precedents might include such one-offs as Richard Lester’s post-apocalyptic The Bed-Sitting Room, Akira Kurosawa’s rubbish-strewn Dodes’ka-den or Claude Faraldo’s Parisian troglodyte drama Themroc, but it’s fresh, distinctive and strange enough on its own and tight enough at 79 minutes not to outwear its welcome.
