Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

As has been posted about a fair bit recently… Toyah’s three quite different and, more than quite, brilliant albums: Desire – originally released in 1987, Prostitute – originally released in 1988, and Ophelia’s Shadow – originally released in 1991, were made available digitally, for the first time, earlier this month. There’s been a lot of related promotion…

Desire: Read Toyah’s Letter, first published in Tellurian One (Spring 1987); View info on Tenterhooks, Echo Beach (Acoustic) and Desirable; Visit the album page at toyahwillcox.com; Read a full transcript of Chris Limb’s 1987 interview with Toyah; Listen to the album at Spotify; Buy at Amazon or iTunes; Browse Dreamscape’s Desire news…

Prostitute: Read Toyah’s Letter (Summer 1988); Visit the album page at toyahwillcox.com; Read a reflection by Craig Astley; Listen to the album at Spotify; Buy at Amazon or iTunes; Browse Dreamscape’s Prostitute news…

Ophelia’s Shadow: Read Toyah’s Letter (Summer 1990); Visit the album page at toyahwillcox.com; Listen to the album at Spotify; Buy at Amazon or iTunes; Browse Dreamscape’s Ophelia’s Shadow news… 

Explore Toyah’s Instagram for rarities related to all three albums (Thanks to Breaking Through).

The 28th Bewdley Festival has been described as a great success by its organisers.

Bewdley Festival brought its traditional mix of local talent, regional celebrities and national and international stars of stage, screen and concert halls, all packed into an eventful ten days and all delivered entirely by volunteers. The event, which ran from Friday, October 9, to Sunday, October 18, is much anticipated by lovers of music, comedy, drama and the arts in Wyre Forest.

Other performances across the 10-day festival included Toyah Willcox, Lesley Smith, Andrew Downes, Dr Phil Hammond and Max Keen.

• Continue reading at The Kidderminster Shuttle. Browse our Bewdley Festival 2015 news.

Today is Toyah’s first day on the set of Lies We Tell, filming in, a rainy, Leeds.

To be released in 2016, Lies We Tell has been filming since the beginning of September around West Yorkshire in the UK. It stars Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel. Sibylla Deen, Mark Addy, Reece Ritchie, Omi Puri and Emily Atack. It is written and directed by Mitu Misra and the Executive Producer is Santosh Sivan.

• View the full cast and crew at the film’s imdb entry. Follow Lies We Tell at Twitter. Browse lots of info on the film at Byrneholics.

Doctors: BBC1: Tuesday 10th November: 1.45pm
Afternoon of the Living Dead. By Paul Campbell. Featuring Toyah in a guest role. Full synopsis available soon… View a photo at Toyah’s Instagram. Keep your eyes on the BBC One/Doctors website for an interview with Toyah soon.

There’s a trio of Acoustic, Up Close & Personal dates for Toyah over the next few days; in Runcorn (22nd October at The Brindley). Oswaldtwistle (23rd October at Hyndburn Arts Centre) and Bridgwater (25th October at The McMillan Theatre), as well as an appearance at the Celebrity Autograph Convention, Viva Blackpool, with other cast members from Quadrophenia (24th October). Full details on all of these, and more, at toyahwillcox.com.

A rare photo of Toyah from 1983. I’m not sure where this, circa The Vow, shot originates from but it was obviously taken at the same time as the photo session these two, previously available, photos are from. Click below to view a larger version.

Desire, Toyah’s second solo album, originally released in 1987 was issued digitally at the beginning of October.

As well as a new digital booklet to accompany the release a plethora of Desire-related extras have been made available by toyahwillcox.com to complement the album.

TENTERHOOKS | AN AUDIO SLEEVENOTE To accompany the recent digital release of Toyah’s 1987 album Desire comes an exclusive audio sleevenote. (Concept: Craig Astley | Execution: Chris Limb | Based on an original Toyah interview conducted and recorded by Chris Limb in London, 1987).

ECHO BEACH [ACOUSTIC] A previously unreleased and unavailable acoustic take on Echo Beach. Recorded live in 2014.

DESIRABLE EP compiling Echo Beach & Moonlight Dancing B-Sides in new sonically refreshed transfers. Tracklist: 1. Echo Beach (Surf Mix); 2. Plenty; 3. Sun Up; 4. Re-Entry Into Dance.

• Click on each of the covers below to download/stream the Desire goodies. (Thanks to Breaking Through)

Aaaaaaaah! is available to download now, from all the usual online digital stores. Comedy set in a primate-like society, a roaming alpha male comes into a town, along with his beta friend, where he finds a feud happening in the local community. He decides to challenge the dominant male there in a bid to take over the tribe and restore order to the area. Click below to buy or rent, in SD or HD, from Amazon.

Browse the full collection of BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives, including the, recently aired, final episode of Series 37 with Toyah paying tribute to the incredible Katharine Hepburn. Many of the episodes are still available to listen to online via iPlayer, and some are downloadable as podcasts.

2015 has been, yet another, packed year of Toyah gigs, and there are still plenty left over the next few weeks.

Half a dozen Acoustic, Up Close & Personal: The Brindley, Runcorn; Hyndburn Arts Centre, Lancashire; The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater; The Cresset, Peterborough; Goole Junction, Goole and The Pavilion, Hailsham.

As well as a trio of Proud, Loud & Electric gigs: The Picturedome, Holmfirth; The Fleece, Bristol and The Garage, London.

• Check out the Official Toyah Gigs page for full details and ticket links.

• 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.