The Dartford Festival 2016: Bad Manners, Toyah and The Hoosiers
Heavyweight ska legends Bad Manners will be headlining the Dartford Festival this weekend. The two-day free festival on Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, will be packed with music acts on two stages and a funfair throughout the weekend.
On the main stage will be 1980s singer Toyah, Bad Manners, The Hoosiers and 4th Impact, along with a string of other acts over the two days. There will also be a Battle of the Bands throughout the weekend with local groups competing for a slot on the main stage.
This year the festival celebrates its 80th birthday. The annual shindig in Central Park has been providing free family fun since 1936. Up to 25,000 people turned up for the two-day event last year, and this year the council are expecting to welcome even more. The extravaganza will also feature a fairground with £1 rides, a licensed bar and a 6D cinema.
• Continue reading at Kent Online.
Local musicians have been auditioning to play at the Dartford Festival and the response has been so good two further heats have been added
Four bands are set to appear on the main stage at Central Park over Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17. Now more chances to audition have been opened, at the Bull & Vic on Thursday, June 23 and Thursday, June 30. The Community Stage will also return, with local dance and drama groups showcasing their work over both days.
Heavyweight Ska legends and 1980s pop band Bad Manners will headline this year’s festival. They will join Punk princess Toyah Willcox for the free extravaganza.
• Continue reading at Kent Online.
Drummer Chris Wong playing with Toyah and the Humans plus Scarlett and the Cherry Reds in Medway and Thanet
If you plan to spend this weekend taking it easy, spare a thought for busy musician Chris Wong.
Not only will Chris be performing with Toyah and the Humans at Chatham on Sunday, but before that he will be multi-tasking on drums and percussion with blues and rockabilly trio Scarlett Rae and the Cherry Reds in Broadstairs on Friday, April 17.
Chris is mainly known as Toyah’s guitarist/bassist but, in this latter line up, he and frontwoman Andeecorr Price, otherwise known as Scarlett, form the driving rhythm section.
• Continue reading at Kent Online.
Toyah’s interview with ‘What’s On’ magazine, published on Saturday, is now also available at Kent Online.
From chart-topping 1980s punk princess to her current racy role as a hormonal housewife, with a stint hosting Songs of Praise along the way, Toyah Willcox has always defied convention. And the feisty 54-year-old has no intention of slowing down, as Kathryn Tye found out.
It would be a brave man who ventures out for a night at the theatre with the Hormonal Housewives. The comedy show, featuring an all-female cast, comprises a series of sketches on everything that makes today’s woman tick – or ticked off – from the trials of dealing with teenagers to battling the bulge – and of course the challenges of dealing with the opposite sex.
But star Toyah Willcox says that men would be very welcome – and might even enjoy themselves! Toyah, 54, said: “It is a very female-oriented show, but we don’t demonise men in it. We like sex. There is no doubt that most of our audience will be women enjoying a night out together, but it is definitely suitable for men as well. It might even prove educational for them, getting an insight into what we talk about when they’re not there.”
• Continue reading at Kent Online.
A second review, published on Thursday, of Sleeping Beauty by Kent Online.
Where the mishaps are magical
The mark of a great panto is how unscripted those apparently off-the-cuff moments appear. Great writers weave in sequences where things seem to go wrong, that are in fact, carefully choreographed mishaps. Equally the mark of a great pantomime actor is how convincing they can make these “slip ups” appear. In both cast and script, Sleeping Beauty at the Marlowe Theatre had these qualities in abundance.
The crowd were even left wondering whether members of the audience were in fact, strategically placed crew members, such was the hilarity of some of the heckles. “Don’t touch it!” shrilly screamed someone at the back as Carabosse, played deliciously devilish by Toyah Willcox, revealed the last working spinning wheel in the land to Beauty, played by Faye Brooks.
• Continue reading at Kent Online. Read their other review, from 6th December, here.
Laughs, frights and too much water at Marlowe panto
It’s that time of year when hundreds of people gather in one place to watch a man dressed as a woman dressed as a jockey riding an ostrich.
Or at least that was my expert assessment as I sat down at the Marlowe on Tuesday to watch this year’s panto Sleeping Beauty.
Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates, as the charming Prince Michael, and ex-punk princess Toyah Willcox, playing the evil Carabosse, were given star billing.
• Continue reading at Kent Online.
