Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

• How You Feel: Learning To Love British Film: Jubilee: Derek Jarman doesn’t usually pull too many miseryguts Brit flick clichés, and in his punk outing Jubilee – actually one of the only films about punk made in the brief time punk wasn’t dead – he should be even more innovative and outrageous than usual.

• Arran Art: An (Odd) Day in the Dark: The Tempest will be screened at Arran’s free mini-film festival next month (Saturday 2nd February). 3.15-4.45pm – The Tempest: Derek Jarman’s 1979 idiosyncratic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest with Toyah Willcox as Miranda. Forget any notions of worthiness – this film challenges the idea of ‘faithful’ literary adaptation and celebrates the visual magic of cinema as thoroughly as the magical arts of Prospero.

• T-Shirts: Fancy a Toyah-related t-shirt? ‘WeAdmire.net’ have Jubilee and Quadrophenia apparel for sale.

• Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable: The edition of Roundtable from ‘BBC 6Music’ in which Toyah was a guest is available to listen to/download via ‘Castroller’. This originally aired in November 2012.

• Folkestone People: Hormonal Housewives come to Leas Cliff Hall: Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox is to appear in sketch show Hormonal Housewives, showing at Leas Cliff Hall later this year.

• Morning Star: Culture: Heathcote Williams – The Queen of Diamonds: Toyah’s co-star in The Tempest.

• A full transcript of Bev Meets… Toyah Willcox, which aired a couple of times over Christmas on ‘BBC WM’, is now available at the really great ‘Toyah Willcox Interview Archive’.

• Love Me: One of my favourite Toyah songs. From the magnificent ‘The Blue Meaning’. I never thought I’d hear someone covering it but littletroll has done just that. Listen at Soundcloud.

The official trailer for The Power Of Three, the film Toyah made a couple of years ago, is available to watch at You Tube. Toyah plays one of the lead characters in the film, which will be released on DVD at some point soon. View larger versions of the screen caps here.

First Toyah on TV of 2013, and it’s another airing for the legendary Quadrophenia!

Quadrophenia: ITV4: Wed 23rd Jan: 10pm
Quadrophenia: ITV4: Tue 29th Jan: 11pm
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.

• View all of Dreamscape’s recent Quadrophenia news updates here. Difficult to believe this movie was shot almost 35 years ago now.

• Toyah is currently featured on the front page of the Vintage TV website, advertising the forthcoming Toyah’s Christmas At The Zoo. There are now three showings of the new festive special in the schedules. See the air dates & times here.

• TCM Turner Classic Movies: Tempest, The (1979) — (Movie Ciip) The Goddess On Whom These Airs Attend.

• The Tempest is showing on TCM tonight at 11.15pm – The film reimagines The Tempest as a homoerotic romp with punk overtones (primarily courtesy Toyah Willcox, here cast as Miranda).

• Toyah’s short interview on Radio Verulam which aired at the end of October is now available as a transcript at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive. Click below to view/read. There’s also a great Changeling Resurrection 2012 Tour Archive. View that here.

TCM are airing a new documentary on Derek Jarman later this month, and have a new article on The Tempest in their “Weird World Of Late Night Cinema” strand.

“O brave new world, to have such people in it.”  — Miranda, The Tempest

Pioneering director Derek Jarman introduced a brave new world to filmgoers with this unconventional adaptation of William Shakespeare’s last solo dramatic effort. Prior to this 1979 release, no film director had attempted to put on screen the kind of experimental, deconstructed vision of the Bard that was starting to turn up in more experimental theatres around the globe.

• Continue reading at TCM Underground.

The Corn is Green: True Movies 2: Sunday 11th November: 3.00am
Academy Award winner Katharine Hepburn stars as a schoolteacher determined to help the people of a turn-of-the-century Welsh mining town. With Ian Saynor, Bill Fraser, Patricia Hayes, Anna Massey, Artro Morris, Dorothea Phillips, Toyah Willcox, Huw Richards, Bryn Fon, Dyfan Roberts and Robin John. Directed by: George Cukor (1979).

• Burst Radio: Win Toyah Tickets!: We have 2 free tickets to give away for Toyah at the Concorde2 in Brighton on Saturday night (worth £40). To enter, simply answer this question: Was Toyah’s first album called…?

• One Week // One Band: Adam And The Ants/Jubilee: Do people talk about Jordan much these days? Once—for a year or three—she mattered quite a lot.

• The Lee Mack Show: Toyah guests on Lee’s radio sketch show in 2005, and performs ‘Sweet Child O Mine’. Available at BBC iPlayer until Sat 3rd November.

• The Wave: The Rebel Diva 80s Show: Taking place at The Arts Wing, Swansea Grand Theatre, our very own Helen Enser Morgan – star of Cappuccino Girls and Brenda’s Big Night Out presents her unique vocal and comic tribute to the pop Divas of the 1980’s. Expect glittering performances as Toyah, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, Hazel O’Connor and Chrissie Hynde.

• Countdown to Toyah’s Creepy Room @ Birmingham Ballroom: Three days to go!

• The third series of Pointless Celebrities began airing last night on BBC1. There will be nine episodes in the series and Toyah will guest on one of them, having recorded her appearance in early February with Cheryl Baker.

• Kent News: The Marlowe’s Sleeping Beauty panto to be dedicated to late comic Dave Lee: He may no longer be with us, but much-loved comic Dave Lee will be playing as big a part as ever in this year’s Marlowe Theatre pantomime. In fact, the whole production of Sleeping Beauty, which stars Pop Idol singer Gareth Gates and eighties legend Toyah Willcox, will be dedicated to Dave, who died of pancreatic cancer in January aged 64.

• Friends Reunited: Toyah Willcox, 1985: A portrait of actress and singer Toyah Willcox.

• Nigel James Digital: Toyah Willcox plays Sheffield Corporation club: 80′s diva performs to a packed room!

• Turner Classic Movies: The Tempest – Derek Jarman’s Acclaimed 1979 Adaptation of the William Shakespeare Play.

Yet more articles and reviews for the recent Blu-ray (Region A/1) release of Quadrophenia.

• The Criterion Collection: A Whole New Quadrophenia: In this clip from a new interview on our release, Bob Pridden discusses the restoration, for which many tracks were painstakingly reconstructed from scratch, and the excitement of working in multichannel sound.

• Scene Stealers: Criterion ‘Quadrophenia’ Blu-ray Something To Scream About: What a difference a hi-definition reissue makes.

• WhatDVD.net: Quadrophenia: Criterion Collection: Quadrophenia has never looked better on this top notch Blu-Ray transfer. The print is pristine yet still retains the texture of film.

• HollywoodChicago.com: Blu-ray Review: Perfect Criterion Package for Essential ‘Quadrophenia’: “Quanrophenia” is a film that needs to be re-discovered, discovered and savored by all generations, and The Criterion Collection provides the Blu-ray and DVD package that is an honor and tribute to both The Who and the cinematic interpretation of their time-honored rock opera.

• DVD Snapshot: Quadrophenia: The Criterion Collection: Quadrophenia has been on DVD for years, but now it gets The Criterion Collection treatment, fully restored and jam packed with bonus features. The film looks incredibly good restored. For a film this old, the restoration is almost flawless.

• View all of our previous Quadrophenia on Blu-ray 2012 news here.

10 Things I Learned: Quadrophenia, By Susan Arosteguy

2. Quadrophenia was made in 1979, at the height of the British punk movement, and the filmmakers contemplated casting a punk musician as the lead, to lend Jimmy an authentic air of rebellion. They considered Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for the role, but the film’s insurance company refused to allow him to be cast. Rotten apparently would have turned down the role anyway, saying he didn’t want to “live out any of Pete Townshend’s fantasies.”

4. Wingett and Phil Daniels, who ultimately played Jimmy, were reunited a year after Quadrophenia came out, in Brian Gibson’s 1980 cult film Breaking Glass, starring Hazel O’Connor as a singer in a new wave band struggling to get to the top. The film was coproduced by the future boyfriend of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed.

• Continue reading at The Criterion Collection.

• Listen to the Alternate Mix of ‘Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard)’, view amazing Toyah 80’s memorabilia or just browse some iconic imagery… all at Fuck Yeah Toyah, the new Toyah photo blog at tumblr.

• Cinema Sentries: Quadrophenia Criterion Collection DVD Review: Dressed Right For a Beach Fight: Quadrophenia is a great coming-of-age story and a wonderful period piece of an era long past. The restored picture and sound make the Criterion Collection a must own for fans of the film.

• National Trust: A letter from the Magazine Editor – Autumn 2012: We’d asked Toyah Willcox, Coast presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff and the novelist and poet Ben Okri – to talk to us about where they like to roam and why, to help us launch our big autumn walking festival. ‘I love the views, the lake and cakes,’ said Toyah of her favoured ramble site, Croome, in Worcestershire…

• The Humans are in Seattle. Recording and… eating!! View the photographic evidence @ Twitter.

• RockURadio: Restored Version of Film Based on The Who’s “Quadrophenia” Arrives Today on DVD and Blu-ray

• Hampton Roads: Criterion hits all the high notes with ‘Quadrophenia’: Has alienation ever looked or sounded so grand?

More articles and reviews for the Blu-ray (Region A/1) release of Quadrophenia, including a feature at ‘GQ’ magazine and a comprehensive article by ‘Movie Metropolis’.

• GQ: God Save The Mods: Director Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia, newly out on Blu-ray from Criterion, is set in roughly the same era—now half a century ago—as George Lucas’s American Graffiti.

• Movie Metropolis: Quadrophenia – Blu-ray Review: One scene in “Quadrophenia” (1979) captures the absurdity and sincerity of youthful rebellion in all its sure-to-embarrass-you-in-the-future glory. Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels) says to his friend Kevin (an incredibly young Ray Winstone), “I don’t wanna be the same as everybody else. That’s why I’m a Mod, see?”

• Gibson.com: Refurbished ‘Quadrophenia’ Out This Week: Looking for a gift for the eternal Who fan” Then you may be in luck, as the restored version of Quadrophenia — the 1979 film based on the Who’s classic 1973 rock opera — is out on DVD and Blu-ray this week.

• The Portland Press Herald: New To Blu-ray: “Quadrophenia”, starring Phil Daniels and Sting. When discussing coming-of-age movies, this 1979 cult classic rarely gets tossed around with widely appreciated youth angst films such as “The Graduate” or “Dazed and Confused.” But the fact that filmmaker Cameron Crowe counts “Quadrophenia” among his favorite films of all time should tell you something.

• Jeffrey M Anderson: Blu-ray Review: Quadrophenia succeeds through its devil-may-care attitude and energy. It feels like a low-budget homemade movie from the period.

Quadrophenia in released on special edition Region A/1 Blu-ray this week by The Criterion Collection. Here are some new reviews and articles focusing on the new Blu-ray.

• Blu-ray.com: Review: (Very comprehensive look at the film, Blu-ray release and extras) As far as I am concerned, Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia is one of the all-time best British coming-of-age films. It is painfully honest, gritty yet beautiful, superbly acted film.

• The Hollywood Reporter: Quadrophenia: A restored Blu-ray/DVD of The Who’s landmark film recaptures the 1960s.

• Blu-ray Definition: Quadrophenia [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray Review: Going back nearly 50 years in time, Quadrophenia does a creditable job in conveying the fashions and fads of the era.

• The Boston Globe: The Who, why, and how of ‘Quadrophenia’: Flash back to “Love Reign O’er Me” as the soundtrack of a life, as “Quadrophenia” (1979), the immersively scruffy feature riff on the Who’s classic rock opera, arrives this week in a terrific-sounding, meticulously remastered Blu-ray.

• The Globe & Mail: The Mods are back, but who were they? They wore their jackets cut slim and checked, maybe a touch of seersucker and an open neck. They rode Vespa GS scooters with their hair cut neat. They were British Mods. But what does that all mean?

• Criterion Corner: Under The Covers: Criterion sure loves their rock odyssees (there’s this, Head, Spinal Tap, that one where Takashi Miike tortures David Bowie for 2 hours…), and they have done some serious justice to Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia.

• SLT Today: ‘Quadrophenia’ rocks on Blu-ray: On my ever-expanding list of favorite movies, two titles have shared the top spot since 1979: “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Quadrophenia.”

• DVD File: Review: What sets Quadrophenia apart from the pack isn’t as much its achievement as a ‘rock opera’ but its willingness to play among the fringes of the sub-genre.

An excellent new article on Quadrophenia, and the Blu-ray release, from The New York Times.

“Quadrophenia,” which the Criterion Collection is reissuing in a restored version on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, concerns little more than a skinny 18-year-old West Londoner trying to track down some blues (speed) for one of these seaside gatherings turned tabloid-covered riots. But the emotions that “Quadrophenia” elicits and its role in converting troubled souls to smartly dressed members of a movement (one with its own chant: “We are the Mods! We are the Mods!”) can be as forceful as the waves that open both the film and the Who’s 1973 double album.

• Continue reading at The New York Times.

Those are our three reasons. What are yours? (Erm… 1. Monkey, 2. Brighton & 3. Jimmy!!!)

Three more new reviews of The Tempest on Blu-ray.

• Ioncinema: The Tempest | Blu-ray Review: Difficult as ever, Jarman’s take on Shakespeare’s final lone play is definitely a product of his own imagining. Laced with homoeroticisms, cabaret iconography, extravagant but dirty set design, and overall unsettling imagery… Like the original story, the film centers around the magician and ex-Duke of Milan, Prospero (Heathecote Williams), along with his beautiful daughter Miranda (Toyah Willcox) and their downright scary servant, Caliban (Jack Birkett), all of which now live alone in a decrepit mansion on an island.

• Blu-ray.com: The Tempest Blu-ray Review: Stormy weather ends in sunshine: Where Jarman’s The Tempest really differentiates itself is in its unsettling oddities, its ghostly atmosphere and decayed visual style… Karl Johnson makes for a hypnotic Ariel—weird and effete, dressed all in white—and Toyah Willcox is far from the usual, virginal Miranda. Here she’s sensual and erratic, a life-sized wind-up toy doll.

• Cultural Mente Incorrecto: “The Tempest” by Derek Jarman: A different and almost subversive Shakespeare classic: “The Tempest” by Derek Jarman is a different and almost subversive Shakespeare classic. Visually stunning, with that touch of indie with hints of neorealism but a literary question fabulesca, this is a historically important film in the film, required viewing for film fans Jarman, protesters and intellectuals.

• View links to numerous other reviews of The Tempest on Blu-ray here.

The Tempest has just been released for the first time on Blu-ray. Here is the Time Out cover feature/interview from 1980 published the week that the film was originally released. View the magazine cover here.

Toyah reflects… stage actress, rock singer, icon of the New Wave, star of ‘Quadrophenia’ and now Derek Jarman’s ‘The Tempest’, Toyah Willcox on creating her own image. Next Thursday Derek Jarman’s film of ‘The Tempest’ opens. Toyah Willcox, late of ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ plays Miranda. Chris Auty went in search of Ms Willcox… 

Click here to read at Dreamscape’s Press Archive. View all of our recent retro Classic Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks to Andi)

• Jelly, the band which includes Stevie Bray of the original Toyah (Sheep Farming/Blue Meaning/Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!) line up, have been playing gigs recently. They are revisiting The Water Rats in Kings Cross for another date later this month (Friday 31st August). Visit the events page at Facebook for more info. Check out Jelly’s Facebook page for links to some of their songs.

• New Wave Photos: Toyah: An excellent selection of photos of Toyah from an appearance on Belgian TV in 1981. (Thanks to Dawn)

• DVD Beaver: Quadrophenia (Blu-ray): Quadrophenia looks highly impressive on Blu-ray from Criterion. Textured grain is prominent and establishes a strong image quality through the 1080P. I can easily state that this is the best I have seen Quadrophenia look. Sweet.

• Spy Vibe: Mod Movie Returns: The long out-of-print Mod classic, Quadrophenia (1979), will be released on DVD and Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection on August 28th.

A few more reviews of The Tempest, released for the first time on Blu-ray (Region A/1) earlier this week.

• TCM: Movie News: The Tempest – Derek Jarman’s Acclaimed 1979 Adaptation of the William Shakespeare Play: The jump to Blu-Ray for The Tempest is a substantial improvement here, given that transfer technology has improved considerably in the several years since its last telecine pass and the obvious benefits of 1080p.

• DVD Direct: The Tempest: Like most of Derek Jarman’s work, The Tempest is strange and difficult to access, but remains one of my favorite Shakespeare adaptations in all of film.

• DVD Beaver: The Tempest (Blu-ray): Jarman’s The Tempest is certainly interesting as a unique take on The Bard’s work and still recognizable to the play on many fronts but there are notable omissions. I suspect that this Blu-ray can only find an audience for those who appreciate Jarman.

The Tempest was released on Region A/1 Blu-ray yesterday. View a comprehensive article on the film and Blu-ray remastered edition at DVD Talk.

How do you follow up an apocalyptic punk-rock satire that seemed to offend even more people than A Clockwork Orange, up to and including the purist punks whose energy it was inspired by and meant as a tribute to? If you were celebrated British underground auteur Derek Jarman in 1979, having just shocked and rocked the world with your prior year’s film, the scorched-earth, anti-royalist comic nightmare Jubilee, why, of course, your next step would (un)naturally be to take on Shakespeare!

…Prospero’s daughter, Miranda (Jubilee’s sinisterly lisping girl-woman Toyah Willcox, here sporting a no less punkish ‘do of straggly dreadlocks, along with a stripped skeleton of a period dress that looks like something out of vintage Vivienne Westwood).

• Continue reading at DVD Talk.

• Sound + Vision: New Blu-rays for August 7, 2012: The Tempest (1979) is Jarman’s campy adaptation of William Shakespeare’s theatrical masterpiece which includes a full-scale Hollywood production number of Elisabeth Welch singing “Stormy Weather”…

• Indiewire: Playlist: DVDs You Should Know About Including ‘Jaws,’ ‘Quadrophenia,’ and A Pair of Derek Jarman Films.

• Coming Soon to BBC4: Love & Marriage: A new three-part BBC series on the story of love and marriage in Britain from the 1930s up to the present day, based on the personal memories of those who have the strongest tales to tell.  This will include Toyah & Robert (no transmission date available yet).

• Lytham Proms 2012: More than 25,000 people attended the three Lytham Proms concerts to see Olly Murs, Alfie Boe and the “Here and Now” stars of the 1980s. The three-day extravaganza was hailed by Fylde Council’s tourism chief as a “great success” in attracting crowds – and tourism cash – to the area. (News Source: Fylde Borough Council)

• The Acoustic Pineapple: The Concert: In 1980, I become aware of a diminutive, flame-haired singer called Toyah Willcox. Imaginative lyrics, containing elements of mysticism and science-fiction, were often backed by thumping, tribal rhythms. From the outset I am intrigued by Toyah.