Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah Willcox: ‘I’d rather have been a 70s punk than be young today’

After playing a member of the anarchic and murderous girl gang in the 1978 punk film Jubilee, actress and singer Toyah Willcox is revisiting the story in its first stage version. Is she still punk, 40 years on?

“I can’t live in a world of dullards,” Toyah says. “So I think on that level, I’m definitely punk.”

Toyah, who forged an acting career while also making her name as a pop star, is still rebelling against the expectations of society – in her own way. “For me, it’s non-conformist,” she says. “I’m just not interested in the norm. The only example I can give you is I can’t go to a hairdresser and talk about holidays. I just don’t live in that world. It’s not me.”

Being punk means something different in 2017 compared with 1977. But the world’s a different place now, and Toyah is almost 60.

• Continue reading at BBC News.

“1st night has arrived. Soooooo excited“. Jubilee opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre last night. Click below to view the full version of the photo Toyah tweeted. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah guested on Becky Want’s BBC Radio Manchester show yesterday, chatting about Jubilee, turning 60, performing gigs all year, punk and more.

Becky speaks to Toyah Willcox about her return to the stage in Jubilee, an adaptation of the Derek Jarman film, which first came out for the Queen’s Jubilee.

• The interview begins at around 1hr 47m into the show, after a blast of It’s A Mystery, and runs for approximately 30 minutes (includes a break for news/music). Listen at BBC iPlayer Radio.

Chris Goode: Everything I know about theatre, I learned first from Derek Jarman

Almost everything I think I know about theatre, I learned from someplace else. Sometimes it’s just easier to spot the clues about theatre that are encoded in some other kind of event or relationship. You glancingly recognise something and immediately know you want to take it into your next rehearsal room.

Something about the obliqueness of the angle matches the radical hospitality of theatre. The understanding that the wholly new and unexpected is ready to rush in and surround us, if only we can remember that we come to theatre not to make things, but to make spaces for things to happen in.

Several years ago, I wrote a blog post ridiculously entitled “The young anarchosyndicalist’s guide to theatre space”…

• Continue reading at The Stage.

Dreaming With Open Eyes – The Films of Derek Jarman

In many ways, it is surprising that Chris Goode’s realisation of Jubilee, Derek Jarman’s 1977 state-of-the-nation punk film fantasia, is the first adaptation for the theatre of an original work by the late, great artist, director, writer, designer, activist and gardener.

There are many lenses through which one can consider this hugely influential maker and his prolific, fecund and diverse oeuvre, but the ‘theatrical’ is certainly absolutely central to Jarman’s vision of creative possibility, regardless of the medium in question.

Even before one encounters his work – and this is most resonant for those who actually met him – the ‘staging’ of his persona, his declared ‘self’, a dynamically creative gay man in a generally hostile culture, suggested how importantly he viewed the productive tensions implicit within the very idea of theatre: I am, and am not, the person I present. This extended to his choice of living space, at once private and public, from the pioneering loft on London’s Bankside to his final years at Prospect Cottage on the windswept shingle of Dungeness.

• Continue reading at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

“40 years since Toyah starred in the cult punk film ‘Jubilee’, she’s back in a new stage version“. Watch a short clip of Toyah discussing Jubilee at BBC Breakfast‘s Twitter.

40 Years On Derek Jarman’s Cult Punk Film Is Remixed For The Social And Political Turmoil Of 2017

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 sure 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, played by original film cast member and legendary punk warrior Toyah Willcox, observes it all. An electrifying ensemble cast, including Lucy Ellinson as Ariel and Travis Alabanza as Amyl reimagine JUBILEE for a 2017 audience. A co-production with Chris Goode & Company this riot of a show will run from 2 – 18 November.

• Continue reading at About Manchester.

The spirit of punk — and ‘Jubilee’ — lives on

In director Derek Jarman’s cult punk film Jubilee (1978), three characters stand on a London rooftop considering some high-rise housing. “Never lived beneath the 14th floor till I was old enough to run away,” says Sphinx, a young man who lives in a squat, played by Welsh actor Karl Johnson. “Everything was regulated in that tower block . . . didn’t know I was dead until I was 15 . . . my generation’s the blank generation.”

• Continue reading at the Financial Times.

Two great pics of Toyah in character/preparation as Queen Elizabeth I for Jubilee onstage, and Dr. Bennett in the forthcoming film SwipeRight. (Photos © Toyah Willcox)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Derek Jarman’s punk classic Jubilee to be reignited on stage  

Toyah Willcox plays the time-travelling Elizabeth I in the Royal Exchange’s version of the film that caused outrage after 1977’s silver jubilee

Derek Jarman’s anarchic punk film Jubilee is to be adapted for the stage with a cast including Toyah Willcox who made her screen debut in the original version 40 years ago. Willcox played the cackling pyromaniac Mad, a member of a girl gang whose fights, orgies and random acts of cruelty are witnessed by Queen Elizabeth I when she is magically transported to the 1970s. The new stage version, which will open at Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre this November, casts Willcox in the role of the time-travelling queen.

“At the time it was made, it was utterly outrageous,” says Willcox of the film, which she describes as the tale 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.” The stage version will be firmly set in the modern day, with the script updated throughout the show’s run to acknowledge current events.

“If there’s something noteworthy in the news at 1pm, hopefully you’ll be hearing a reference to it in the show in the evening,” says Chris Goode, the show’s director. Goode, who first saw Jarman’s film as a teenager and has been influenced by the DIY punk ethos throughout his theatre career, added: “We didn’t want our version to be an exercise in nostalgia. Part of the impulse was thinking about where punk is at now.”

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

Toyah Willcox in Jubilee and the return of Julie Hesmondhalgh among highlights of Royal Exchange Theatre’s new season of shows

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre reveals an exciting mix of plays for its Autumn/Winter season

80s pop icon Toyah Willcox will play Queen Elizabeth I as she makes her Royal Exchange Theatre debut in Jubilee, part of the striking new programme of shows for the Autumn/Winter season announced by the Manchester venue.

Toyah will star in the theatre adaptation of Derek Jarman’s punk cult classic movie Jubilee, a film she originally starred in as the character Mad in 1978.

She will now take on the role of Queen Elizabeth I, who is transported into a shattered modern Britain in the story adapted by Chris Goode who makes his exchange debut as new associate artist.

• Continue reading at the Manchester Evening News.

Chris Goode is to adapt Derek Jarman’s cult film Jubilee for the stage at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

The production will take place as the film marks its 40th anniversary, and will star original film cast member Toyah Willcox. Goode, who joins the Royal Exchange as an associate artist, will adapt and direct Jubilee. It premieres from November 2 to 18, with press night on November 7.

Goode described the project as “brilliantly daunting and irresistible”, adding: “Derek Jarman has been a hero to me for 25 years and the opportunity to stage a brand new adaptation of one of his most iconic films with one of the country’s most iconic theatres is mind-blowing and heart racing in equal measure.”

“Under Sarah Frankcom’s visionary leadership the Royal Exchange continues to consolidate its position as a boldly risk-taking and boundary-exploding venue where we get to come together and talk about the biggest questions of our age in the most exciting ways we can imagine. At a time when dialogue and dissidence feel more precious than ever, I want Jubilee to be a celebration of the energy of our anger and our hope.”

• Continue reading at The Stage.

Manchester Royal Exchange announces autumn 2017 season  

The season includes an adaptation of the film Jubilee and two plays by Bruntwood Prize winners

From 2 to 18 November, the theatre will stage the world premiere of Jubilee, Chris Goode’s stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s 1978 film. Original cast member from the film Toyah Willcox will front the production, which is updated for the political and social scene of 2017.

• Continue reading at What’s On Stage.

“I cannot wait to start JUBILEE at the TRE Manchester…it will be wild, groundbreaking and compelling xxx” – Toyah Willcox