Vive Le Rock Awards: I Want To Be Free
Toyah performing I Want To Be Free at the Vive Le Rock Awards on 12th April 2024. (Thanks to Piranah Pete)
Toyah performing I Want To Be Free at the Vive Le Rock Awards on 12th April 2024. (Thanks to Piranah Pete)
Toyah Willcox chats about ‘Revolting Rhymes with Toyah Willcox’ taking place at The Courtyard, Hereford on Wednesday 1 November at 3pm. For tickets head here…
Roald Dahl’s wickedly reimagined fairy tales narrated by Toyah Willcox Orchestra of the Swan presents two of Roald Dahl’s wickedly reimagined fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. We all love stories and there is no better storyteller than Dahl who manages to pull off the ingenious trick of appealing to both adults and children. Narrated by Toyah Willcox and featuring a perfectly pitched musical score by Paul Patterson this performance will appeal to children and adults of all ages.
Orchestra of the Swan Presents Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes with Toyah Willcox
The Courtyard’s resident orchestra, The Orchestra of the Swan will present a musical reimagining of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes with Toyah Willcox this November.
This wickedly reimagined take on, Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, will be narrated by Toyah Wilcox and accompanied by the Orchestra of the Swan. This show is suitable for people of all ages using Roald Dahl’s beloved rhymes.
The score for Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes was composed by Paul Patterson and is a perfect blend of humour and suspense. There is no better storyteller than Dahl who manages to pull off the ingenious trick of appealing to both adults and children, and what better way to enhance his stories than setting them to music.
Toyah Willcox is an English singer, actress and television personality who has released over 20 albums and has starred in numerous films and television shows. Her flamboyant and eclectic style is just what is needed to add to the children’s fairy tales.
Explaining how she got involved, Toyah Willcox said; “The Orchestra of the Swan invited me to do it and I think it’s a gorgeous piece. It has so much strength in pulling young people into what an orchestra can be. Music is part of our lives and I just hope this performance will introduce children to classical music. The way I see it I think the music is now the greater part of the experience as children are more worldly-wise and more aware of the dangers – but I think they are not learning about music on the level I used to.”
• Continue reading at EatSleepLive Hertfordshire. See also The Courtyard.
Iconic movie Jubilee is showing as part of Queer Time, Queer Space at Indiana University Cinema next month.
QUEER TIME, QUEER SPACE: JUBILEE + NEW QUEER SHORTS
Fri, Feb 24, 7 pm; $5
Derek Jarman | 1978 | United Kingdom | Not rated | DCP
Queen Elizabeth I travels 400 years into the future to witness a dystopian London overrun by a vicious gang of punk guerrilla girls led by the new Monarch of Punk. Preceded by three shorts from up-and-coming queer filmmakers.
About Queer Time, Queer Space: Jubilee + New Queer Shorts
Queen Elizabeth I asks her court alchemist to show her England in the future and she’s transported 400 years to a postapocalyptic wasteland of roving girl gangs, an all-powerful media mogul, fascistic police, scattered filth, and twisted sex. Legendary British filmmaker Derek Jarman channels political dissent and creative daring into a revolutionary blend of history, fantasy, cinematic experimentation, satire, anger, fashion, and philosophy. Starring cultural icons Jordan, Toyah Willcox, Little Nell, Jayne County, Adam Ant, and Brian Eno. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes! [106 mins; drama, fantasy; English]
“Ahead of its time and often frighteningly accurate in its predictions, [Jubilee] is a fascinating historical document and a gorgeous work of film art.” — The Criterion Collection
“Jarman’s sophomore film is a Molotov cocktail of celluloid—a film that practically dares you to watch it.” — Film Threat
“One of the most original, bold, and exciting features to have come out of Britain in the 1970s.” — Variety
• Continue reading for further details and ticket link at Indiana University’s website.
Toyah entertained guests at the NCBC 99th Christmas Party in Nottingham on Friday, talking about her career and more. Here’s a great photo of Toyah with Ray post-event. (Photo © Ray Sears)
Hundreds attend Peter and the Wolf performance
On Saturday, 5 November, 450 people turned out to hear singer and actress Toyah Willcox narrate Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, with Salisbury Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music John Challenger taking on the ‘orchestral’ role with the famous Father Willis organ.
• Continue reading at Love Salisbury. NB. Toyah also narrates two performances of Orchestra Of The Sawn – Into The Woods at Stratford Playhouse, as part of Stratford Music Festival 2022, on Sunday 20th November. More info/Ticket links here and here.
Organ Festival 2022: Toyah Willcox announced as narrator
A famous face will be returning to this year’s Organ Festival at Salisbury Cathedral.
Actress and singer Toyah Willcox returns to Wiltshire on Saturday, November 5 for a Fireworks Day performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
Toyah and her husband Robert Fripp lived in Broad Chalke in the 1980/90s. She will tell the story of the heroic small boy Peter who takes on a fearsome Wolf, accompanied by a duck, a bird, and a cat.
Timed to work in with firework displays later in the day, the concert begins at 2pm with an hour-long programme.
• Continue reading at the Salisbury Journal. See also SalisburyCathedral.Org.
Toyah is guesting at the Motorhome & Caravan Show 2022 on Thursday 20th October.
The six-day event is taking place at the Birmingham NEC from 18th to 23rd October.
Toyah will be recalling memories of family caravanning holidays and outdoor adventures when she was growing up.
• Visit the Motorhome & Caravan Show website. Use the code TOYAH for a discount. See Toyah’s tweet here.
Toyah Willcox film telling disabled Quakers fan’s incredible life story to premiere in Darlington
Give Them Wings is set to premiere at Darlington’s Vue Cinema on July 16 to honour the writer’s hometown and the film’s location
A feature film based on the life story of a disabled Quakers fan will premiere at Darlington Vue Cinema on July 16. Starring Toyah Willcox, Give Them Wings chronicles the journey of Paul Hodgson, who was left disabled after being diagnosed with childhood meningitis.
Darlington born Mr Hodgson was diagnosed with the illness at just 10 months-old and his parents were told he would never move or speak. The now 57-year-old has defied all odds by becoming an award-winning novelist, film producer and screenwriter and Give Them Wings tells the story of his journey.
• Continue reading at Teeside Live.
The London ‘Leicester Square’ premiere for Give Them Wings is happening on Thursday 28th July at 6:30pm. The film will be released on all platforms on August 1st. Click below for more details.
As well as the aforementioned nomination for Best Actor In A Female Role in a Feature Film by The Richard Harris International Film Festival, Toyah was awarded a Judges Special Mention Award for her role in Give Them Wings. The 2021 Awards were announced on Friday Evening, May 6th, 2022 at 8pm Irish time via a You Tube premiere.
• Click below to see the full list of award winners. Browse our Give Them Wings news archive.
Toyah is nominated in the Best Actor In A Female Role in a Feature Film (2021) for Give Them Wings, at The Richard Harris International Film Festival. See all the nominees in the video below.
Martin Kiszko’s fifteen-part audio/radio drama King Frank & The Knights Of The Ecoquest has won Bronze Award as best Children/Young Adult Programme at the New York Radio Festival. Toyah plays Haroldia The Herald in the epic audio production.
The 45th Anniversary Concert for Marc Bolan – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – Saturday 17th September. presented by T.Rextasy, Marc Almond & Neal X: includes special guests: Tony Visconti, David Vanian, Toyah, Holly Johnson, Andy Ellison & more!
Justham Family Room & Jane How Room
On Record: In Conversation with Toyah Willcox
Thursday 05 May 2022 | 7.30pm
About On Record: In Conversation with Toyah Willcox
Steel Pulse bassist Amlak Tafari and broadcaster Satnam Rana present twenty-two conversations with Birmingham musicians, promoters, managers, venue owners and entrepreneurs who have all contributed to local, national, and international music culture. Join us and our special guests for conversations about their lives in music, their connections to the city, and how Birmingham has inspired or influenced them, personally and musically.
Selected dates also feature free live performances from the artists appearing On Record. The first of its kind, On Record is a multi-artist, multi-genre concept album forming a sonic love letter to the city of Birmingham. Produced as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, the eleven-track album will be available on a limited vinyl release and across all streaming platforms.
From her early days as a Birmingham punk to the recent internet phenomenon of Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, Toyah Wilcox has become an award-winning rock legend as well as a much-loved actress, and music composer. In this conversation we’ll dig deep into Toyah’s enduring career, what influences and drives her.
And what a career! Toyah has amassed thirteen top 40 singles, recorded twenty-five albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays, acted in over twenty feature films, including Derek Jarman’s seminal punk epic, Jubilee, and presented hundreds of TV programmes in her own charismatic, outspoken, and impossible to categorise way. She released Posh Pop, her first solo studio album since 2008, in August 2021.
Produced in partnership with B:Music
• Continue reading, and details on booking free tickets for In Conversation with Toyah Willcox, at B:Music. See further info and more events taking place here.
Rebel Run – Toyah Willcox proves she is still a musical powerhouse at 63 in Cabaret All Stars
Toyah Willcox might be 63 years old but she is still a musical powerhouse who doesn’t drop the ball for a second.
The original punk rocker has started her stint at Proud Cabaret as one of their resident celebs for the All Star shows.
She comperes in between the burlesque, circus and magic acts and takes the time to share some of her favourite moments in her career spanning more than 40 decades.
Toyah doesn’t hold anything back, cracking jokes including “These are the feet that ran away from Jimmy Saville” and did her best imitation of Princess Margaret and the Queen mother. The singer also shared that she wrote an early draft of her song I Want To Be Free when she was nine and had jailers telling her lags were singing it behind bars.
When she sang it live, it was hard to tell that it had been decades since she first sang it on record. She was accompanied by the dazzling Katrina Louise who was doing aerial work suspended by chains – her first time back with this prop since giving birth.
Each time Toyah came on stage she had a new getup from a different coloured breast plate to her hair in a new style – the singer certainly got into the spirit of cabaret.
• Continue reading at The Sun.
Great shots of Toyah at Proud Cabaret on Wednesday night. These were taken during performances of These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, I Want To Be Free, and Sweet Child O’ Mine. Hoping to add a new Proud Cabaret Gallery to this website soon with more great photos. Click below to zoom! (Thanks to Ian | Photos © Ian Davis)
Toyah Willcox, 63, dons a kooky silver breast plate and multicoloured hairpiece as she storms the stage for a performance at All Stars Cabaret
Toyah Willcox donned a fun multicoloured hairpiece and a kooky silver breast plate as she performed at All Stars Cabaret at London’s Proud Embankment on Friday.
The singer, 63, was known for her quirky ensembles when she rose to fame in the 1980s, and she looked spectacular in the outfit for her performance.
Completing the look, she wore a mesh mock neck T-shirt with racy hot pants which she paired with fishnet tights and thigh high leather boots.
She also wore a black tulle skirt which she fastened to the back of the shorts. On stage, the songstress changed into a smaller gold breast plate which she paired with a matching belt.
While performing, she changed into differing head dresses including an orange and cream one which fanned out over her head. She put on a lively display on stage as she laid back on the bannister of some stairs while belting out tunes.
The performance comes after Toyah starred in videos on YouTube wearing very racy ensembles during lockdown. She covered her nipples with black tape and went braless under a sheer embellished blouse in one video and shared the hashtag #FreeBritney, Toyah belted out her famous hit, Toxic, as she performed alongside her guitar-playing husband Robert Fripp, 74.
As well as her see-through top, Toyah wore a black mini skirt and top hat, wearing Clockwork Orange style make-up on one eye.
• Continue reading at the Daily Mail. See further info on Toyah with Proud Cabaret, here.
Toyah made her Proud Cabaret debut last night at Proud Embankment, London with Proud Cabaret’s All Stars, in a show with music, cabaret, burlesque, fire eaters and more. See Toyah’s tweet – with photos – about the show, here.
• Pay a return visit to Dreamscape soon for more photos from Proud Cabaret. (Thanks to Damon – All photos © Damon King)
There are now just a few days until Toyah joins Proud Cabaret’s All Stars – Thursday 4th November – Watch Toyah talk about this here.
A fierce, proud Punk Noir cast! Britain’s punk princess Toyah Willcox joins Proud’s Cabaret All Stars for a limited run this November & December. Expect an action-packed show to get you in the festive spirit! Further info/Book tickets by clicking below.
Further Toyah/Proud Cabaret images have just been revealed! Toyah joins Proud Cabaret All Stars in Nov/Dec for a outrageously punktastic performance & fine dining experience. She is joined by a cast of #cabaret stars from Moulin Rouge dancers to Vegas showgirls. Tickets are available via: proudcabaret.com or call 020 7482 3867 10am-6pm.