Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Mark Shenton: How do audiences and critics react when a show is designed to provoke them?

At the start of the second act of Jubilee, the stage version of Derek Jarman’s 1978 film that has transferred from Manchester’s Royal Exchange to the Lyric Hammersmith, one of the performers surveys the audience and notes that there have obviously been some early departures.

I was very nearly one of them. I decided that I would spare myself – and the show – the need to write a review (because it is of course a total no-no to do so after only seeing half a production). But, after leaving the theatre in the interval to get a little bit of sugar comfort, I went back.

After the show, I tweeted what a bad time I’d had, and my colleague Lyn Gardner replied: “Oh narrowly missed out on being in my top ten shows last year. I loved it.”

When I searched out her original review of that run, I found she cautioned: “Don’t think of leaving at the interval: the first half may drag a little, but the payoff is delivered in the show’s final 50 minutes, in which fierce energy gives way to aching loss as a generation with no future searches for a phoenix in the ashes.”

• Continue reading at The Stage.

The late Derek Jarman had a reputation as an iconic but iconoclastic filmmaker but, even by his standards, Jubilee was eccentric and frequently any meanings were too deeply buried for common or garden viewers to mine. It is now probably best remembered for a cast that included punk idols Toyah Willcox and Adam Ant, along with a dedicated team from the acting profession amongst whom was the late Ian Charleson.

40 years on, Chris Goode has taken the original film script, which Jarman wrote with James Whaley, and updated it for a fresh generation. Give the new writer-director credit, what should have been an unintelligible, unruly mess is always over the top, frequently rather fun and conveys some timely messages to its audience today.

Many of those present will not even have been born in the days when punk threatened to change British society forever. Like Queen Elizabeth, whose pontifications along with those of her alchemist and necromancer John Dee and ethereal Ariel frame the modern scenes, it is merely a short historical note that may well have passed them by.

In a happy connection with the original, punk Queen Toyah Willcox embodies the Virgin Queen having played Mad on celluloid so long ago. She also provides one of the evening’s highlights with a brief but lively rendition of “I Want to Be Free”.

• Continue reading at British Theatre Guide. Review by Philip Fisher.

A fiercely powerful staging of Derek Jarman’s punk classic

People have been pontificating on what punk is – if it’s sold out, if it’s dead – pretty much since it showed up. So I’m not going to join them. Except to say that if anyone’s keeping the ripped Union Jack flag flying, it’s got to be queer people of colour who are risking everything to live outside the rules of a heteronormative, post-Brexit society. Chris Goode’s play, transferring to Lyric Hammersmith after opening at Royal Exchange Manchester, gets this. He reimagines Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk cult movie ‘Jubilee’ just enough to make it speak to today, but leaves its wild nihilist momentum intact.

It’s set in a squat (although this being 2018, it’s probably a warehouse share) where the cast bicker, wheel a pram on fire around, violently demolish the patriarchy, rewrite history, and watch YouTube videos. Travis Alabanza (playing Amyl Nitrate, the group’s historian) brings us up to speed on this show’s world, and pretty much anticipates every possible criticism of it: ‘Welcome to ‘Jubilee’. An iconic film most of you have never even heard of, adapted by an Oxbridge twat for a dying medium, spoiled by millennials, ruined by diversity, and constantly threatening to go all interactive. You poor fuckers.’

• Continue reading at Time Out. Review by Alice Saville.

How Jubilee Became the Greatest Punk Film of All Time

Today, Derek Jarman’s punk classic turns 40 – to celebrate, we track its journey from notoriety to immortality

“Punks were in the audience screaming ‘THIS AIN’T PUNK!’ and ‘WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS!’ and ‘SHIT!’” That’s how Jayne County recalled the raucous atmosphere at the premiere of Jubilee, Derek Jarman’s dark sci-fi reckoning with a dystopian England, in an interview from 2011.

County, a veteran of the New York punk scene who cameos in the film, was no more charitable in his own assessment of Jarman’s vision, released in cinemas 40 years ago this month. “Wasted celluloid”, she called it – though the scene she starred in wasn’t half bad, naturally.

• Continue reading at Another Man.

Jubilee, Lyric, Hammersmith, London, review: In the Lyric Hammersmith’s fine tradition of reanimating controversial classics

Chris Goode’s stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s 1977 punk classic ‘Jubilee’, recasts Toyah Willcox who played Mad in the film, as Queen Elizabeth I, who time-travels to today

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” says Amyl Nitrate, towards the end of the end of Chris Goode’s raucous, shrewd and free-wheelingly rude re-imagining of Derek Jarman’s cult movie.  “In 1977, someone shouting “NO FUTURE” sounded like the most extreme nihilistic punk.  Forty years on, it’s a fact.  It’s mainstream climate science.”  To mark the ruby jubilee of Jubilee (1978), Goode’s stage version — a co-production between his company, the Lyric, Hammersmith and Manchester’s Royal Exchange — does more than pay tribute to the inherent theatricality in Jarman’s apocalyptic vision or recreate the paradoxical ethos of a broken Britain sodden with royalist propaganda during that flag-waving year.

• Continue reading at The Independent. Review by Paul Taylor.

Chris Goode’s adaptation of Derek Jarman and James Whaley’s Jubilee was a ravenously sex-fueled and unvarnished representation of the state that the world is in.

It assures to have one question if royalty or religion are still relevant in an ever-changing society.

Toyah Willcox goes from rebel to regal as she makes a comeback having played Mad in the original movie and now bringing delightful grace to the stage as Elizabeth I. Unsurprisingly she owns every second of her role as an onlooker from the past. Jubilee’s blatant dialogue and minimal use of symbolism makes for a refreshing take on what are usually controversial topics. It is explicit beginning to end and makes no apologies for it.

• Continue reading at GScene. Review by Tin Nguyen.

Check out Broadway World’s five star review of Jubilee at the Lyric Hammersmith – “Sexy, riotous, celebratory and a bloody good night out“.

Jubilee is an event that fucks with every theatrical convention, but it also provokes its audience in the most important way. Derek Jarman’s iconic film has been adapted for the stage by Chris Goode, centring around a marauding girl gang on a killing spree and a time-travelling Queen Elizabeth I – telling a story of what happens when creativity and nihilism collide.

The company hold nothing back – be it via nudity, crassness or direct address, they actively attempt to make you feel something. And I imagine you’ll feel a lot, even if it’s the sensation of being uncomfortable. Which is good; you should be.

After the interval you can tell who the non-progressive, potentially prejudicial people were in the audience. As Act Two begins many seats are now empty. People have left due to their own insecurities and biases around seeing naked flesh on stage, or as Travis Alabanza calls it, “one too many ballsacks”.

• Continue reading at Broadway World. Review by Alistair Wilkinson. (Photo © Tristram Kenton – Visit the Lyric Hammersmith’s Facebook page to see a great gallery of Tristram’s Jubilee production photos)

Toyah Willcox to visit the region ahead of starring in film about Darlington man’s life

Toyah Willcox is preparing to play the mother of a North-East football fan in a movie about his life.

The popular musician and actor will visit the region next month to attend a showcase event hosted by the team behind Give Them Wings, an upcoming feature film about Darlington man Paul Hodgson.

Ms Willcox is the latest cast member announced for the project, which tells the story of Mr Hodgson’s battle with childhood meningitis, which left him unable to move or speak. She will join a team including award-winning director Sean Cronin and Holby City actor Bill Fellows in bringing the PIMM Productions venture to the big screen.

• Continue reading at The Northern Echo.

This week’s best theatre shows: Our critics’ picks (February 20)

Jubilee – Lyric Hammersmith, London

Chris Goode directs and adapts a stage version of Derek Jarman and James Whaley’s 1978 film Jubilee, in a production first seen at Manchester’s Royal Exchange last November. The Stage called it “scrappy and self-aware”, but veteran punk star Toyah Willcox, who also appeared in the original film, makes it interesting to see again. It opens officially on February 20.

• Continue reading at The Stage.

• The Independent: Why The Sudden Rash Of Movies Onstage Now?: And it’s not just van Hove; theatre has been experiencing a boomlet of movie adaptations. Derek Jarman’s punk-inflected Jubilee (1978), adapted by Chris Goode, opens at the Lyric Theatre after earning rave reviews at the Royal Exchange in Manchester – Continue reading at The Independent…

• London Evening Standard: Things to do in London this weekend (and next week too): 3. Anarchy in the UK: Jubilee – Derek Jarman’s 1978 state-of-the-nation punk film has been adapted for the stage by Chris Goode – Continue reading at the London Evening Standard…

• London Evening Standard: London Arts: The best art, theatre, dance and concerts to see this week: Jubilee – Embrace the spirit of punk this week as the Lyric heads back to 1977 for a stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s cult classic film. Expect a time-travelling Queen Elizabeth I, DIY fashion, sex, swearing, and a very loud soundtrack – Continue reading at the London Evening Standard…

• London Theatreland: Jubilee, Lyric Hammersmith: “An explosive, no-holds-barred punk musical that’ll set your world on fire!” – Capturing the punk wave at its dizzying height, English film director Derek Jarman captured the spirit of the rebellious era of the late 70s. Now his seminal work is once again sticking two fingers up… – Continue reading at London Theatreland…

The actress tells us the musical numbers she couldn’t live without

Toyah Willcox is best known for her career as a singer and has had eight top 40 singles from over 20 albums. Her biggest hits include “It’s a Mystery”, “Thunder in the Mountains” and “I Want to Be Free”.

Her stage credits include Calamity Jane, Amadeus and Three Men and a Horse. She is currently starring in the stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s Jubilee – having featured in the original film – which runs at the Lyric Hammersmith until 10 March.

We caught up with Toyah and asked her: “If you were stranded on a desert island which five showtunes could you not live without?”

• Continue reading, and see Toyah’s Top 5 showtunes, at What’s On Stage.

Toyah is interviewed in today’s print edition of the Metro.

The singer and actress loves walking from Regent’s Park to Kensington’s museums and wants to live by the BFI

Is there an area of London that you love?
The South Bank, because my first experience of London was the National Theatre in 1977. I was 18 when I joined the National, and Ian Charleson, who played Eric Liddell in Chariots Of Fire, introduced me to (film director) Derek Jarman who lived on Butler’s Wharf so lots of my formative years were spent in the area. In the late 1970s it was nothing like what it’s like now, it was derelict, there was no sign of any money going in. The National was ground-breaking for being built there at that time. Today, it’s still my favourite part of London. It’s vibrant, you have the arts on tap, it’s multicultural, it’s interesting and I love the architecture. If I could afford to I would live right next to the British Film Institute.

What are the most memorable London Stages you’ve performed on?
The Olivier (theatre) at the National Theatre is a sacred space to work in and I was one of the first people to perform on ‘the revolve’ (revolving stage) which was built in 1976, in the play Tales From The Vienna Woods. It was the first play to use the revolve, which was in its embryonic stages, and kept breaking down. When it broke it had to be operated manually by hand. The other stage is Wembley Arena, which I’ve done once. It was a dream come true. I love playing arenas and, as a performer, you have to have ticked off Wembley. It was big, it was loud, it was beautiful.

• Continue reading at Twitter. (Thanks to Talent 4 Media)

Queen Elizabeth I is now in residence at the Lyric Hammersmith, London – Jubilee previews began last night. The, already sold out, Press Performance takes place next Tuesday (20th February)…

• Lyric Hammersmith: First preview of Jubilee DONE! – Continue reading…

• Hammersmith London: Catch stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s film #Jubilee at @LyricHammer until 10 March! https://lyric.co.uk/shows/jubilee . With @toyahofficial @travisalabanza – Continue reading…

• Toyah Willcox Instagram: Jubilee the stage adaptation of the iconic 1978 Derek Jarman film opens tonight Thu 15 Mar at Lyric Hammersmith, London | Whereas Toyah played Mad in the original film, she now takes the role of the time travelling Queen Elizabeth 1st. #Toyah60 – Continue reading… (Image © Official Toyah)

• Broadway World: Long Day’s Journey Into The Night Leads February’s Top 10 New London Shows: 3. Jubilee, Lyric Hammersmith – Derek Jarman’s seminal 1970s punk film – featuring a marauding girl gang, time-travelling Elizabeth I and anarchic culture wars – comes to stage in an intriguing new Chris Goode adaptation. Promising a soundtrack “to die (horribly) for”, it also has a cast led by original film cast member Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…

• Lyric Hammersmith: The Royal Box is occupied. The Queen hath arrived. Toyah is getting acquainted with our theatre during Jubilee tech – Continue reading… (Photo © Lyric Hammersmith)

• Toyah Willcox Twitter: “Lizzie wants you to be her valentine” – Continue reading…

• Playbill: Schedule of Upcoming London Shows: Derek Jarman’s iconic film captured punk at its giddy height: a riot of music, DIY fashion, and every kind of sex – with a little pyromania thrown in. Now, forty years on, this new stage adaptation of Jubilee remixes it for the social and political turmoil of 2017. Centred around a marauding girl gang on a killing spree and a time-travelling Queen Elizabeth I, it’s a story of what happens when creativity and nihilism collide – Continue reading…

• The Official Toyah Willcox Website: Stage Adaptation of Jubilee Opens in London 15 Feb: Derek Jarman’s anarchic punk film Jubilee has been adapted for the stage with a cast including Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…

• Toyah Willcox Twitter: “Hello Queenie my old friend, glad 2 b u again” – Continue reading…

• Jubilee @ the Lyric Hammersmith: 15th February – 10th March 2018 – Book Now

• Toyah Willcox Instagram: “First night” – Continue reading…

• Jubilee Playlist: “Turn it up loud and release that inner punk” – Listen @ Spotify… (account required)

• Jubilee (London) @ Dreamscape: Browse our news, so far, on Jubilee at the Lyric Hammersmith – Continue reading…

• Jubilee (Manchester) @ Dreamscape: Browse our news archive on Jubilee at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – Continue reading…

What to see this week in the UK: Five of the best … theatre shows

Jubilee – Chris Goode’s stage version of Derek Jarman’s classic punk-era film stars Toyah Willcox, who played Mad in the original, as Elizabeth I. It is wildly entertaining, billing itself with a knowing leer as “an iconic film most of you have never heard of, adapted by an Oxbridge twat for a dying medium, spoiled by millennials, ruined by diversity, and constantly threatening to go interactive”. Not for the faint-hearted; definitely for the big of heart.

Lyric Hammersmith, W6, Thursday 15 February to 10 March

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

Derek Jarman’s punk-inflected “Jubilee” (1978), adapted by Chris Goode, opens at the Lyric Theater here on Thursday after earning rave reviews at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

• Continue reading at The New York Times.

Grieve The Capital: Derek Jarman’s Jubilee Turns 40

Derek Jarman’s film of visionary alchemy and edgeland punks now tells of a time before the gentrification of the capital when occulture and subculture sat side-by-side, says Adam Scovell

Released in Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee year of 1978 as a provocation seemingly towards just about everyone, it’s little wonder Derek Jarman’s second feature film, Jubilee, caused such an uproar. The Queen herself is mugged and killed for her crown early on in a Deptford edgeland, the punk movement still then raging over London is unconsciously sent up by some of the very people who were part of it, and the raw mixture of violence, conservative nostalgia, swipes at Catholicism and copious nudity makes it as anarchic as anything the director made afterwards.

Amongst this incredibly heady concoction of both successful and failed attempts at creating a feasible narrative world, however, sits something far more essential; a time-capsule of a period in London’s history when subcultures grew overtly and naturally due to the city’s many affordable, derelict areas.

The film begins with Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) and her alchemist, Dr. John Dee (Richard O’Brien), who conjures forth Ariel (David Brandon), William Shakespeare’s magical being from The Tempest. Thanks to Ariel’s powers imbued into a crystal, the trio travel forward through the cascading years, from the sixteenth-century to a brutal, dystopian vision of 1970s London. The city is ravaged but alive, the streets housing violent groups of punk girl-gangs who fend off police harassment and cause mayhem. Prams are burning and people are killed whilst bands, including Adam And The Ants and Siouxsie And The Banshees, play endlessly on television. Ritual violence is spreading as is this new form of music, ready to be co-opted by financial maniacs to sell to a brainwashed youth; providing further wealth to buy up the newly empty Buckingham Palace and turn it into a recording studio. The film is perhaps more famous for its string of cameos: Adam Ant, The Slits smashing up a car, Toyah Willcox playing Mad and too many others to name. But it’s more than the sum of its pop-culture reference points.

• Continue reading at The Quietus.

Toyah Willcox and Islington Council commemorate Derek Jarman at his old flat in Liverpool Road

Much-loved artist, film director and LGBT activist Derek Jarman has been commemorated at his old flat in 60, Liverpool Road.

Mr Jarman, who died in 1994, was renowned for directing films such as Sebastiane (1976). He was also instrumental in the campaign to lower the age of consent for homosexuals, and esteemed for speaking so openly about being HIV-positive.

He lived at number 60 between 1967 and 1969 in a top floor studio. It was here where he worked on artwork and costumes for Sadler’s Wells Opera’s production of Don Giovanni in 1968.

Yesterday, Islington Council held a plaque ceremony commemorating his time there to coincide with the start of LGBT month. It was unveiled by actress and singer Toyah Willcox, a friend of Mr Jarman’s who worked with him on the film Jubilee (1978).

• Continue reading at the Islington Gazette.

Toyah unveils plaque to ‘Jubilee’ film director and LGBT activist Derek Jarman

A plaque has been unveiled marking the former residence of the artist, film director and activist Derek Jarman.

An outspoken campaigner for gay rights and HIV/Aids aware­ness, Jarman is renowned for directing films such as Sebastiane in 1976 and Jubilee in 1978, now adapted into a stage play.

Actress and singer Toyah Willcox, who made her screen debut in the original Jubilee film 40 years ago, was given the honours of unveiling the plaque yesterday (Thursday) at 60 Liverpool Road, where Jarman lived from 1967-69.

Toyah told the Tribune: “In the past 50 years gay politics has come along in leaps and bounds. It has developed into gender fluidity and trans fluidity which weren’t so defined or certainly weren’t public 40 years ago.

“All of us flourish in good, strong communities and one of the blessings of Derek’s life was he had a good community around him. But, it had to be a secret community because of the restrictions on being openly gay back then. What Jubilee addresses today is Derek’s collage of images, colours and ideas but the politics are brought up to date by young actors who are gender fluid and know what it’s like to live in a straight cis world.”

• Continue reading at the Islington Gazette.

Toyah Willcox webchat – your questions answered on punk, rabbits and fighting for her back catalogue

The singer and actor, who is starring in a stage version of Derek Jarman’s Jubilee, on her bucket list, how she’d explain punk to aliens and what she’d like for her 60th birthday

This has been great fun! It’s enlightening to hear your questions. Thank you so much for your time. Let’s do it again! And come and see Jubilee at the Lyric Hammersmith from 15 Feb to 10 March. Be prepared to be offended, to laugh til you hurt, to shed tears at the sheer brilliance and beauty of it.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

The singer and actor, who is starring in a stage version of Derek Jarman’s punk movie Jubilee, will answer your questions at 1.30pm GMT on Monday 22 January

Toyah Willcox is not a woman to be pinned down. A singer, actor, TV presenter and stock market magnate, she has been a permanent fixture in British culture since the age of 19, when she played flame-haired pyromaniac Mad in Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk film Jubilee.

Since then, she has recorded 24 albums and had 13 Top 40 singles, including It’s a Mystery and I Want to Be Free. She has also appeared in more than 40 plays and 15 films, including Quadrophenia, The Ebony Tower (opposite Laurence Olivier) and The Corn is Green (with Katharine Hepburn). On TV, she’s been a religious affairs reporter for The Heaven and Earth Show, narrated Teletubbies and done a stint on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

Now, she is returning to Jubilee in a new stage adaptation at the Lyric Hammersmith in London. She takes on the role of the time-travelling queen who arrives in a dystopia where a new generation seethes with anger at the establishment. “At the time it was made, it was utterly outrageous,” Willcox has said of the original film, describing it as a story of “women who are trying to kind of kill everything that controls them or that has exploited them … It’s a very resonant story today. Nothing’s changed except the technology.”

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

Toyah Willcox to perform at Jack Up The 80s 2018

Pop sensation Toyah Willcox is set to join T’Pau and Leo Sayer at Jack Up The 80s 2018.

The award-winning rock legend, stage/screen actress, and music composer, has enjoyed a career spanning over 35 years. She has amassed 13 Top 40 singles, recorded 24 albums and toured across the world.

Organisers said “We’re really thrilled, Toyah was a major force of the UK music scene in the 1980s and has remained a well-respected contemporary artist.

“She is renowned for her lively, energetic stage performances during which festival-goers can expect to hear hit singles It’s a Mystery, Thunder in the Mountains, I Want to be Free, Good Morning Universe, Brave New World and Rebel Run.”

• Continue reading at the Isle of Wight County Press. Browse Toyah’s confirmed gig dates and festival appearances for 2018 at toyahwillcox.com.