Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

The final preview of Jubilee took place at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester last night. View production shots of Toyah as Queen Elizabeth I at Twitter and Instagram. Click below to book tickets. (Photo © Johan Persson)

15.11.2017. In Conversation: Toyah Willcox with Dave Haslam at Royal Exchange.

The Royal Exchange is currently running a stage adaptation of Derek Jarman’s film, Jubilee (read our preview). And later this month, fans can spend an evening with Toyah Willcox, one of the stars of the play (and indeed the original film). She will be talking to the journalist and author Dave Haslam. They won’t be short of things to discuss, as Toyah has had a long, storied career not only as an actor, but also as a musician and writer. She first broke through in the late seventies as a punk pioneer. Around the same time, she starred in both Quadrophenia and another Jarman film, The Tempest. Over the years, she has appeared many more movies, TV shows AND released 24 albums. Recently, she wrote a book detailing her experiences with plastic surgery. Despite all this, she’s still best known to some as the narrator of Teletubbies.

• Continue reading at Manchester Wire.

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.

Toyah Willcox In Conversation with Dave Haslam
15 November 2017

The original punk princess Toyah Willcox, is interviewed by legendary Manchester DJ, journalist and author Dave Haslam during her run as Elizabeth I in the Royal Exchange Theatre’s production of JUBILEE.

From award-winning rock legend to critcally acclaimed cult actress of stage, film and TV, Toyah’s eclectic, outspoken and colourful career spans over 40 years, amassing thirteen top 40 singles, twenty-four albums, two books, over forty stage plays and fifteen feature films (working alongside Sir Laurence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn).

Toyah will explore her creative beginnings playing MAD in Derek Jarman’s seminal punk art house film, JUBILEE, her dominance of the 80s music and fashion scene, and her evolution and endurance as a much loved actress, performer and household name.

• Continue reading at Royal Exchange Theatre.