Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

The Lyric Hammersmith in London has announced its 2018 season, which will include Chris Goode’s stage adaptation of Jubilee, starring Toyah Willcox.

Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars will also feature in the upcoming season, in a co-production with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Philip Venables’ opera adaptation of 4:48 Psychosis, Sarah Kane’s play, will return to the Lyric as part of the season, produced by the Royal Opera.

Jubilee, based on the 1977 film of the same name, plays at the Lyric in February following its premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, as previously announced. It will be co-produced by the two theatres, with Chris Goode and Company.The Lyric’s auditorium will be reconfigured to recreate the Royal Exchange’s in-the-round space

• Continue reading at The Stage.

Toyah Willcox to star in new season at Lyric Hammersmith  

The actress and singer will star in a new stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee

The Lyric Hammersmith has announced its 2018 season with highlights including a new stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s punk film Jubilee. The new season will kick off with Frantic Assembly’s Thing I Know To Be True, which returns to the venue following an acclaimed run last year.

Then from 20 February to 10 March, Toyah Willcox will star in a new staging of Derek Jarman’s seminal film, Jubilee, adapted and directed by Chris Goode. Wilcox starred in the original film about the height of punk, forty years later the piece has been remixed for the social and political turmoil of 2017. The Royal Exchange, Lyric Hammersmith and Chris Goode & Company co-production will see the Lyric’s main house reconfigured to recreate the Royal Exchange’s theatre-in-the-round.

• Continue reading at What’s on Stage.

Jubilee: London Live: Tuesday 7th November: 10pm
Queen Elizabeth I travels through time from 1578 to 1978, where she sees what has become of her once glorious kingdom: law and order have broken down and punks roam the streets. Director: Derek Jarman. Starring: Jenny Runacre,  Nell Campbell, Toyah Willcox, Hermine Demoriane, Ian Charleson, Karl Johnson. (Click here or below to browse our comprehensive Jubilee news archive)

NB: London Live is available on: Freeview 8, Sky 117, Virgin 159, YouView 8.

Aaaaaaaah! receives its UK television premiere this weekend on Film 4.

Check out our huuuuge Aaaaaaaah! news archive here or by clicking on the poster below. (Thanks to Darren)

Aaaaaaaah!: Film 4: Sunday 29th October: 00.30am
Writer-director-star Steve Oram’s experimental satire is set in a parallel present in which, despite wearing clothing and developing advanced technology, mankind never attained the power of speech. Instead, people communicate in gestures and non-verbal vocalisms, ranging from grunts to whistles and growls. And this isn’t the only similarity to our great ape cousins, as social and sexual behaviour is closer to that of gorillas or bonobos and is completely shorn of social niceties. The film opens with a grieving alpha male and his companion ritually urinating on a photo of the dominant male’s wife to mark her loss. They then move through woodland and into London’s sprawling suburbs, intent on staking out new territory for themselves…

Starring: Jade Alexander, Julian Barratt, Missa Blue, Holli Dempsey, Marcus Dempsey, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox.

Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Tuesday 24th October: 11.20pm
Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Saturday 28th October: 8.55pm
Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Monday 30th October: 3am
Features interviews with the talent behind FilmFear 2017’s British premieres: actor-director Alice Lowe talks about Prevenge; actor-director Steve Oram talks about Aaaaaaaah! and A Dark Song; director Gareth Tunley and star Tom Meeten talk about The Ghoul; director Liam Gavin talks about A Dark Song; and director Nick Gillespie talks about Tank 432. (Photo © Film4 FrightFest)

Rock legend and actress Toyah on the road to Stow

Rock legend Toyah Willcox will be performing at St Edward’s Church, Stow-on-the-Wold, on Saturday, October 28, at 8pm as part of the Music at Stow concert series.

From punk princess to high priestess of TV, Toyah is a uniquely gifted performer. Charismatic, outspoken and impossible to categorise, she is one of Britain’s iconic household names – an award-winning rock legend as well as a much-loved actress and music composer. Toyah is one of our most versatile and popular personalities whose vibrance and energy has won over many audiences in a career spanning some 40 years.

• Continue reading at Loving The Cotswolds.

Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Sunday 29th October: 8pm
Punk. Narrated by Noddy Holder, this eye-opening series turns its attention to the origins of punk music. With Toyah Willcox and DJ Annie Nightingale. (Episode, Series 1, Episode 5)

How Toyah Willcox lost her punk virginity: the making of Derek Jarman’s Jubilee 

There were two Englands in 1977. There was the Establishment England, ready to wave flags and hold street parties as Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her silver jubilee. And then there was the alternative England, embodied by the rise of the punk movement and, in particular, the Sex Pistols whose single God Save the Queen equated the monarchy with fascism. The song was rumoured to have been kept from the number one spot by the British Market Research Bureau on account of its seditious intent.

The film-maker Derek Jarman represented the dichotomy of England at that time. A middle-class, ex-public schoolboy, he was starting to get noticed as a film-maker at the forefront of the avant-garde.

• Continue reading at The Telegraph (subscription required).

Alex Hurst – Observer Mondays Director – gives us an insight into the first week of rehearsals for Jubilee, directed by Chris Goode. Click below to read.

Kim Wilde and her band will be joined by special guests Lawnmower Deth, Carol Decker and Toyah for their Wilde Wild Christmas Show at Manchester O2 Ritz on Thursday 22nd December 2017. Tickets are available by clicking below.

Released today by the Network label, Shoestring Complete Collection DVD. Toyah guests in the fantastic episode “Find The Lady” which originally aired in 1979.

Trevor Eve stars as radio “Private Ear” Eddie Shoestring in the massively successful BBC drama series.

Co-created by Robert Banks Stewart, Shoestring also stars Michael Medwin as Eddie’s long-suffering boss Don Satchley; Liz Crowther as station receptionist Sonia; and Doran Godwin as Eddie’s landlady, on-off lover and occasional assistant Erica. This complete-series set also features appearances from Diana Dors, Harry H. Corbett, Toyah Willcox, Geraldine James and Michael Elphick.

Poison phone-ins and threats to a disc jockey lead Radio West to hire private investigator Eddie Shoestring – who discovers it may be a longer-running job than he first thought!

This set also includes a brand-new book on the making of the series by archive television historian Andrew Pixley, with contributions from original cast and crew members.

Another chance to catch Toyah’s 2016 guest appearance on ITV’s The Chase, the celebrity special which also featured Germaine Greer. (Photo © ITV)

The Chase: Celebrity Special:
ITV4: Sunday 22nd October: 8pm
Bradley Walsh hosts the quiz show as four celebrities take on the Chaser. Singer Toyah Willcox, ex-footballer John Barnes, writer Germaine Greer and heavyweight boxer Audley Harrison pit their wits against one of the country’s finest quiz brains in the hope of winning thousands of pounds for their chosen charities.

This November, our friends at The Royal Exchange Theatre are staging a free-spirited and gloriously rude reimagining of Derek Jarman’s classic punk movie Jubilee.

The Royal Exchange Theatre are looking for a group of participants to take part in the show, specifically to perform in a key scene set in an outrageous underground club venue.

They are seeking a diverse range of people – from club kids to fetish fans; queer teens to drag queens; New Romantic throwbacks to old-school riot grrrls; and old punks and young punks alike. The Royal Exchange Theatre are looking to represent a real variety of cultural backgrounds, body types, ages and styles.

• Continue reading at Superbia.

A free-spirited, gloriously rude, take-no-prisoners blast of a show with a soundtrack to die for. Marking the 40th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s iconic film, the Royal Exchange’s world premiere of Chris Goode’s stage adaptation of Jubilee is here.

This is set to appeal to young punks, old punks, and anyone who’s ever wanted to set the world on fire.

A marauding girl gang are on a killing spree and a time-travelling Queen Elizabeth I. Her Majesty is played by original film cast member and legendary punk warrior Toyah Willcox.

This has an electrifying ensemble cast, including Lucy Ellinson as Ariel and Travis Alabanza as Amyl. They are re-imagining Jubilee for a 2017 audience. A co-production with Chris Goode & Company, this riot of a show will run from 2 – 18 November.

Chris Goode is a writer, director, performer and musician. Since 2011 Chris has been lead artist of Chris Goode & Company. His work with CGC has included two (of his four) Fringe First award-winning shows.

Toyah Willcox has avoided categorisation for 41 years. She is an award-winning singer/ songwriter/ actress with multiple silver/gold/platinum albums under her belt. Toyah’s career started at the National Theatre when she was 18. It was there where she formed her first band named TOYAH and took the punk scene by storm. It even managed to avoid categorisation within the movement, and successfully pushed out the boundaries for women in music.

Derek Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.

• Continue reading at The Nubian Times.

1980s music icons Lloyd Cole and Toyah Willcox confirm gigs for Teesside venue

Toyah and Lloyd Cole to play Yarm’s Princess Alexandra Auditorium within a week of each other in February wo huge music names from the 1980s and 1990s have confirmed gigs at a Teesside venue.

Lloyd Cole, who wrote some of the classic hits of his generation, has announced a date at Yarm’s Princess Alexandra Auditorium on Saturday, February 24 next year. … The Lloyd Cole gig comes the week after a show by another iconic 1980s musician – Toyah Willcox. The “It’s A Mystery” singer – who is becoming a regular visitor to Teesside and even dropped in for a pie at Guisborough’s Pie in the Sky cafe last year before playing Middlesbrough’s Longlands Club – plays the Yarm venue on Saturday, February 17.

• Continue reading at Gazette Live.

Derek Jarman and Aeschylus: the theatre to book now for November

The best new plays in London and Manchester

Jubilee, Royal Exchange, Manchester: 2nd to 18th Nov

Another film adapdation this time of  Jubliee, Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk movie. It was as wild and outrageous as it was imaginative, with Elizabeth I time-travelling to hear Anarchy in the UK and a murderous girl gang listening to New Wave music. One of the girls was Toyah Willcox, now returning to the scene of the crime as Gloriana in Chris Goode’s stage adaptation celebrating the film’s rebellious spirit.

• Continue reading at Prospect Magazine.

This year’s North East Ladies Day Anniversary Luncheon took place on Wednesday 20th September 2017 at the prestigious Hardwick Hall Hotel and it was an amazing day, enjoyed by over 500 ladies.  This marked our 35th Annual Luncheon since NELD began in 1981.  The day was superbly hosted by Toyah Willcox who filled the room with laughter and joy throughout her entire talk.  Toyah gave the audience insight into her very successful acting and singing career, ending her speech with a live performance of It’s a Mystery.

Each of our ladies enjoyed a beautiful three course lunch and had the full day to shop and win prizes at over 20 different stalls.  Our Grand Prize Draw also offered over 15 ladies the opportunity to win a wonderful prize too.

• Continue reading at NELD. (Photo © NELD)

Jubilee – Derek Jarman’s chaotic and giddily incendiary punk classic is reimagined and updated for the stage by Chris Goode, 40 years after it first appeared in cinemas. One of the original cast members, Toyah Willcox, returns, this time taking on the role of a time-travelling Elizabeth I who finds herself in a contemporary London where girl gangs rampage across the streets and order has given way to violence.

Royal Exchange, Manchester (box office: 0161-833 9833), 2-18 November.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

At the World Premiere of Lies We Tell it was all about the truth as Premiere Scene interviews actors Emily Atack, Toyah Willcox, Jan Uddin, Sibylla Deen, Reece Ritchie, Danica Johnson, Hamish Rush, director Mitu Misra, producer Andy McDermott and composer Zbigniew Preisner.

In Extremis has received six award nominations at the American Horror Film Festival 2017.

Alex is a man with everything – the well-paid executive job, the impressive house in the country and the beautiful wife and child. When he inexplicably decides to leave work early one Friday nothing will ever be the same again.

Toyah just gets busier and busier – films, theatre, music, gigs and much more – stay updated on all things Toyah the best way there is, direct from my favourite workaholic herself – at Twitter.

Thanks to everyone who has been emailing about the lack of news posts here. After 17+ years of updates at this site and three years working on the Toyah fanzine without a break between 2013 – 2016 I decided 2017 would be a year of very sporadic updates at toyah.net.