Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

No mystery why Princess of Punk gone all Posh Pop

Once known as the Punk Princess, Toyah has proved she has proved she is no one-trick pony.

She is an actor of note, featuring in films such as Jubilee, Quadrophenia and recent The Ghosts Of Borley Rectory, as well as TV shows such as Shoestring, Minder, Kavanagh QC and Maigret.

She has supplied her voice to animated Mr Bean series and Teletubbies and has “done” Shakespeare’s The Tempest, writes Martin Hutchinson.

But to most of us, she is a singer who took the charts by storm when she first erupted on the scene in 1980. After five releases that failed to interest the mainstream chart, despite going top ten in independent charts, Four From Toyah EP –that included the fantastic It’s A Mystery – reached number four in mainstream UK singles’ charts and was the first of four consecutive releases to top UK independent charts.

She followed her breakthrough with I Want To Be Free and another release Thunder In The Mountains, both of which were top ten hits, before follow-up EP Four More From Toyah.

Toyah has also had ten chart albums, including 1981’s Anthem, which got to number two in the charts.

• Continue reading at the The News. See all of Toyah’s upcoming Posh Pop Tour dates at toyahwillcox.com.

Sunday Lunch video star and Posh Pop queen Toyah to play Pocklington in March

Eighties’ pop star Toyah will play Pocklington Arts Centre on March 3 on her up-close-and-personal Posh Pop Tour.

Her “lively cinematic sound” will combine Toyah’s vocals with keyboards and stand-up bass in her arrangements of such hits as It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free, modern-day works Sensational and Dance In The Hurricane and selections from last autumn’s Posh Pop album.

These will be complemented by stories from her colourful 40-year career that has gained YouTube momentum latterly with Toyah’s Sunday Lunch videos with husband Robert Fripp, drawing ten million views since being started in lockdown. A new season was launched last weekend with their quickfire take on The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks.

Toyah: Posh Pop Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, March 3, 8pm. Box office: 01759 301547 or at pocklkingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Ahead of her Pocklington show, Martin Hutchinson profiles Birmingham-born singer, actor, television presenter and writer Toyah Willcox

Once known as the “Punk Princess”, Toyah has proved that she is no one-trick-pony. She is an actor of note, featuring in films such as Jubilee, Quadrophenia and Ghosts Of Borley Rectory and the TV shows Shoestring, Minder, Kavanagh QC and Maigret.

She supplied her voice to the animated Mr Bean series and Teletubbies and has ‘done’ Shakespeare, playing Miranda in Derek Jarman’s 1979 film version of The Tempest.

To most of us, however, Toyah is a singer, who took the charts by storm when she first erupted on the scene in 1980. After five releases that failed to interest the mainstream Top 40, despite going top ten in the independent charts, Toyah broke through with the Four From Toyah EP, featuring the fantastic It’s A Mystery that propelled it to number four.

• Continue reading at Charles Hutch Press. Browse all of Toyah’s upcoming live gigs and festivals at toyahwillcox.com.

Toyah Willcox needs little introduction; musician, actress, author and presenter….and latterly in lockdowns – internet sensation.

In a pop career spanning more than 40 years, Toyah has released circa 20 albums and scored 13 Top 40 hits, including the 1980s anthems “It’s a Mystery” and “I Want To Be Free”.

Toyah secured her place in the UK’s acting pantheon in the 1970s, starring in at least 40 plays and 10 feature films – perhaps most notably in Derek Jarman’s cult punk movie “Jubilee” (1978) and the iconic mods‘n’rockers film “Quadrophenia” (1979), while at the same time demonstrating her diverse talent by playing Miranda in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”.

Legends… Since then, Toyah’s acting credits have seen her billed alongside the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Sir Laurence Olivier, Greta Scaachi and Harvey Keitel…and even seen her enter the world of children’s TV presenting.

• Continue reading at Music Republic Magazine.

This weekend’s Toyah At Home included Toyah revealing the inside track on how the single Levitate came about and more insights into the making of the album, Posh Pop.

Music, chat and more of your questions which this week come from Toyah’s flower-filled garden! There’s a classic song, some chat about shooting on location for The Tempest…. AND It’s a special episode celebrating the newly released Levitate, the first single from the forthcoming album Posh Pop. See the video in full, get some insights into the creation of the song and its video and the inside track on some of the songwriting on the album.

• Season 2, episode 25 of Toyah At Home aired on Saturday. Watch/Rewatch by clicking below.

A review of The Blue Meaning by We Are Cult.

Toyah: ‘The Blue Meaning’

“Cherry Red’s second re-release of Toyah’s early output, The Blue Meaning is full of lyrics that reflect her interest in sci fi, occultism and Nostradamus… Self-admittedly pretentious in a good way, Toyah’s lyrics and singing style often also seem to be influenced by Broken English-era Marianne Faithful and Patti Smith.”

1980 was a busy year for Toyah. Working as both an actress and a musician she was only 22 but had already appeared in films such as Quadrophenia, Derek Jarman’s Jubilee and The Tempest and George Cukor’s remake of The Corn Is Green with Katherine Hepburn and Patricia Hayes. As well as television work in Shoestring, Second City Firsts and the TV remake of Quatermass, Toyah had also already acted in productions at the National Theatre.

In this short one-year period Toyah starred in a Royal Court production of the controversial Nigel Williams play Sugar and Spice, filmed over the course of three months for an hour-long ATV documentary, appeared in the TV series A Question of Guilt and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and guest-hosted the talk show Friday Night, Saturday Morning in which she interviewed (and played Space Invaders with!) Steve Strange, Derek Jarman and Vivian Stanshall. The year was also the prelude to her chart success of 1981, which occasioned hit singles It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder in the mountains and numerous Smash Hits and Look-In covers.

• Continue reading at We Are Cult.

The Film London Jarman Award at a glance

A world-renowned annual prize for artists’ moving image in the UK, established in 2008 | Inspired by visionary artist filmmaker Derek Jarman | Artists are nominated by art and film world experts across the UK each year | A jury of industry leaders select 6 artists for the shortlist | Works by the shortlisted artists are toured to key cultural venues across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | £10,000 prize money

Film London Jarman Award Patrons
Spanning actors, artists, screenwriters and musicians, the Patrons’ work and support are vital in the development and success of the Award. The Film London Jarman Award Patrons are John Akomfrah, Terence Davies, Rupert Everett, Dexter Fletcher, Hetain Patel, Tony Peake, Tilda Swinton and Toyah Willcox.

The Patrons’ expertise, industry knowledge and connection to Derek Jarman in either a professional or a personal capacity help to introduce artist filmmaking to a wider audience. Together they help promote and sustain the legacy of Jarman, whose inventiveness and bold ambition is seen in the work of artists practising today and those shortlisted for the Award.

“I consider myself extremely lucky to have worked with Derek Jarman, not only on the movies Jubilee and The Tempest, but also to have been present in his personal life. To have seen first-hand his creative processes and above all to learn from him what it is to live by the rule ‘no compromise’. This is the Jarman that inspires me so much today, not only a great visionary, artist, writer and collector of ideas, but a man who saw beyond class, gender, even intellect, into the very important stories of each individual’s soul.” – Toyah Willcox, singer, writer and actor

• Continue reading at Film London. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Info from Saturday’s third instalment of Toyah At Home, which aired at Toyah’s official You Tube channel.

• It’s A Mystery: from Toyah’s second EP was the song of the morning. She talked about her reaction when first hearing the song, written by Keith Hale of Blood Donor, and how it ultimately changed her life.

• The Humans: “It’s Humans day!!” said Toyah, and a very quick look at all of the Toyah & The Humans releases – Four vinyls and a great box set. Toyah mentioned Bill Rieflin wanted to call it “The Humans’ Greatest Hits”.

• Derek Jarman: Toyah talked about her experiences working with the late writer/director on the films from her early career; Jubilee and The Tempest.

• The Tempest: Detailed discussion on working on this film. Lots of memories from Toyah, including two wonderful keepsakes Derek Jarman gave her at the end of filming, and playing Miranda as a wild child. Toyah said: “The Tempest for me was one of the most important films of my career“, and her introduction to Shakespeare.

• Making Movies in Los Angeles: Toyah talked about relocating, or more to the point not relocating, to the USA for acting work, and whether her younger self would have done so now if she had the opportunity.

• Glastonbury: The experience of playing the legendary festival (in 2016) but never attending it as a festival-goer!

• Most Haunted: Toyah chatted about the various haunted homes she has stayed in, and the activity generated within them.

• In The Fairground: Interesting chat about the song from the 1981 EP Four More From Toyah; its origins, what the lyric is about, and how it relates to today.

• In The Fairground: Toyah said: “I listened to that and thought, wow this track, it’s really nice. I could probably sing it a lot better now than I did back then. Back then we were on tour, we had to deliver for Christmas. It was 1981 and was pretty much made in between live shows, and I think I could develop that now much better for the acoustic show“.

• New Studio Album: by the Toyah band of now? There are a number of obstacles, including geography, finances, the ongoing pandemic, but “It’s a possibility” Toyah said.

• Telepathic Lover: Live archive footage of this great song from Four From Toyah: Birthday Edition EP and 2019’s In The Court Of The Crimson Queen album. Toyah said: “One of my favourite songs live. I just love the groove and when we’re on stage, this is the Toyah band at their best. It’s absolutely fabulous“.

• Ask Toyah: Toyah said “Please keep those questions rolling in. It’s really good to do this. I love, I love It, I love it! They are wonderful!“.

• Toyah at Home: This week’s show was promoted on Toyah’s official Instagram with a rare Four From Toyah era photo (directly above).

• See you next week for Toyah At Home #4.

An archive Toyah interview has been re-published today by The Guardian.

Toyah Willcox, the thinking man’s punkette – archive, 1980

3 July 1980: “No one can rip me off. I’m too much of a bitch,” the self-confessed megalomaniac tells Robin Denselow

Four years ago, Toyah Willcox left a “very boring all-girls public school” in Birmingham with only one O level, in music, and a whole heap of bad reports. At 14 she’d been banned from art, her favourite subject because her paintings were too erotic. She got into fights, confused the teachers by making her own clothes and “by wearing a Dr Spock haircut with the back of my head shaved. I was a very paranoid kid and I hated every minute of it.”

Today, at 22, Toyah is being hailed as a sort of Thinking Man’s Punk, and is certainly the most impressive female all-rounder to have emerged in the latter days of the new wave. Earlier this year she won considerable acclaim for her part as Miranda in Derek Jarman’s exquisite film version of The Tempest. Her acting career had already included everything from Jarman’s punk celebration Jubilee, to Quatermass, and Quadrophenia.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

Edinburgh singer Shirley Manson has written a heart-felt apology to her teenage inspiration, Toyah Willcox

Edinburgh singer and iconic Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson has revealed how Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox inspired her in a heartfelt post on her Facebook page, in which she recalled seeing the diminutive punk princess at The Playhouse in 1982.

Introducing Toyah to nearly 300,000 followers on her Facebook page, Shirley wrote, ‘This is Toyah Willcox and this is a true story. I loved her growing up but I never admitted it publicly because I knew deep down that it wasn’t considered very cool by the serious music press to do so. The worst possible thing for me at that age was to be thought of as uncool. However truth was she fascinated me and I think it’s fair to say I studied her. By that I mean I obsessed over photographs of her in magazines and tried to emulate her fabulous, esoteric style, copy her make up, style my hair like she did.’

Singer and actress Toyah fronted the band of the same name between 1977 and 1983 scoring chart success with hits like It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free. She also appeared in cult movies such as Jubilee, The Tempest and Quadrophenia.

After recalling how Toyah was considered ‘pretty mainstream’ back in the Eighties, Shirley remembered seeing the singer, who is now 62, at The Playhouse, ‘I was 15 and pretty mainstream myself but as I said, needed more than anything to appear cool to my peers so I kept my tastes to myself. I went to see her play when she came to The Edinburgh Playhouse in the summer of 1982. I remember the undeniable, visceral thrill of seeing Toyah on stage…. The impact of seeing your idols on stage, in the flesh for the first time was something immense and extraordinarily overwhelming… I just remember the lights and lusting after Toyah’s hair and being utterly transfixed.’

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

• Charity Stars: “The Rose” by Toyah Willcox inspired by Amanda McBroom’s Song: Dimensions: 8×8 inch canvases inside 30x30cm frames. Painting on canvas. The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against male suicide – the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK – Continue reading/View auction…

• Toyah Live 2020: Toyah Willcox Featuring Supporting Act The Lomax Brothers: Toyah plays Bacup Royal Court Theatre in Lancashire this Saturday – Further info/Book tickets…

• Official Toyah: Doll House Released 23 March: Doll House ia a new British horror film starring 80s pop legend and 4-time Brit Award winner, Toyah Willcox (Quadrophenia, The Tempest, Invasion Planet Earth) and Film and TV legend Mark Wingett (The Bill, Quadrophenia, Snow White and The Huntsman) with also reality TV star Paul Danan (Celebrity Love Island, Celebrity Big Brother, Hollyoaks) – Continue reading…

• Toyah Solo: Toyah unboxing her first box set can also be viewed at You Tube…

• Pop Goes Christmas: This newly uploaded clip includes the rare ITV Christmas 1982 advert for Pop Goes Christmas – Watch here…

• Charity Stars: “Beneath My Feet” by Toyah Willcox based on a lyrical poem by the artist. Dimensions: 8×8 inch canvases inside 30x30cm frames. Painting on canvas – Continue reading/View auction…

• Toyah Live in London 2020: Toyah performing the, always awesome, Danced – Watch/Listen here…

Square Chapel Arts Centre is celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month with a series of live events and special film screenings

During February 2020, Square Chapel Arts Centre is celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month with a series of live events and special film screenings.

LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. LGBT History Month provides role models, builds community, and represents a civil rights statement about the contributions of the LGBT community.

The programme of events Square Chapel has on for audiences includes:

The Tempest + Christopher Biggins Q&A
On Thursday 13 February from 7:00pm audiences can see The Tempest, a film directed by Derek Jarman and starring Toyah Willcox and Christopher Biggins. The film will be followed by an in conversation with the English stage and screen actor, Christopher Biggins who is best known for his role as Lukewarm in the BBC sitcom Porridge. Fans can expect an entertaining evening from this national treasure.

Jubilee + Toyah Willcox Q&A + Gig
On Saturday 1 February from 4.45pm the arts centre will start will screen the film Jubilee starring Toyah Willcox and directed by Derek Jarman, followed by a Q&A hosted by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins. The night will end with a live gig from Toyah and her band.

• Continue reading at Square Chapel Arts Centre.

Safari Records’ late 70s/early 80s timeline of Toyah dates the band signing to the label as January 1979, though their “Our History” implies it may have been late 1978:

In 1978 a Melody Maker postage stamp picture of Toyah together with a small but glowing review of one of the very few gigs that her band had ever played led us to a leaky rehearsal space under Waterloo Bridge, where we saw the band and they signed with Safari who then were pleasantly surprised to learn of Toyah Willcox, actress, her performances in The Corn is Green (starring Katherine Hepburn), Jubilee, Quadrophenia and her current casting as Miranda in Derek Jarman’s forthcoming The Tempest.

Toyah was a special guest for an In Conversation event at the Derby Film Festival 2018 on May 5th. She discussed her screen career and more at the festival, which also screened Jubilee and The Tempest as part of its programme. Here are photos from Toyah Willcox: In Conversation. Please click below to view larger versions and read all of our Derby Film Festival 2018 news here. (Thanks to Peter, pictured with Toyah, for the photos | Photos © Peter Beecham)

• Rock The Rec: Toyah Willcox headlines, on Saturday 21st July, with her full live electric band. You can expect to hear hit singles: Good Morning Universe, It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free, Thunder In The Mountains, Brave New World and Rebel Run – Continue reading…

• Derby City Council: Derby Film Festival 2018 – special guests, film previews and events in QUAD: Toyah Willcox will be in Conversation in QUAD on Saturday 5th May at 5:00pm. Both Jubilee (15) and The Tempest (15) will be screened as part of the festival on 8th & 9th and 9th & 10th May respectively – Continue reading…

• Lively and Late: Toyah appearing at Thoresby Hall Hotel on Saturday 20 October 2018: 80s Festival with the fabulous Toyah, plus And Finally… Phil Collins, Jayne Middleton as Annie Lennox, Jasun Watkins is The Voice of Boy George and more, with a DJ both evenings – Continue reading…

• Bristol 247: Queer icon David Hoyle discusses Blackpool, BHS and binaries: In those formative years, Hoyle says he was influenced by contemporary performers like Siouxsie Sioux, Toyah, and David Bowie as well as classic stars like Bette Davis and Liza Minelli. He rose to notoriety in London in the ‘80s but since then, what changes has Hoyle noticed? – Continue reading…

• Visit Derby: DFF/Paracinema: Toyah Willcox In Conversation: It is hard to imagine a more perfect guest for the eclectic nature of Paracinema than Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…

Blu-ray: Derek Jarman Collection, Vol One 1972-1986

Voyage through an alchemical universe: the magical realm of a flawed English genius

This BFI boxset of Derek Jarman films from the first phase of his career, brilliantly curated by William Fowler, is an exemplary package: a treasure trove of extras accompanies his first six features, here presented in re-mastered form, and a thorough, well-illustrated and thought-provoking 80-page booklet with extensive material about the films and a wealth of essays.

The collection makes it possible to follow the evolution of Jarman as a film-maker, always riding the wave of creative and mould-breaking adventure, from the mysteries of In the Shadow of the Sun (1981), a film that built on much of Jarman’s super-8mm footage from the 1970s, the controversial Sebastiane (1976), through to the explosive punk-inspired politics of Jubilee (1978), followed by The Tempest (1979), surely one of the best adaptations of Shakespeare on film, the avant-garde rigour and homo-erotic delirium of The Angelic Conversation (1985), and the assured and more straightforward account of the rebellious life of the painter Caravaggio.

• Continue reading at The Arts Desk. Read further info on this release here.

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend, QUAD launches the first edition of Paracinema, a festival dedicated to films and genres outside of the mainstream. Expect a steady diet of horror, sci-fi and fantasy but in addition to this Paracinema will be exploring other genres outside the mainstream with special guests, previews and talks on a whole range of unusual genres and subgenres.

Toyah Willcox In Conversation
Saturday 5th May at 5:00pm

It is hard to imagine a more perfect guest for the eclectic nature of Paracinema than Toyah Willcox. After gaining positive notices for her debut in the television play Glitter in 1976, Toyah then played the anarchic role of Mad in Derek Jarman’s seminal punk film Jubilee . From there she went on to appear alongside Katherine Hepburn in the TV movie The Corn Is Green, in the mod classic Quadrophenia as Monkey and reteamed with Jarman in his Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest. Genre fans should note her role in the John Mills starring Quatermass series, BBC TV Movie Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde and Tales Of The Unexpected. Since that early-mid 80s boom, Toyah has gone to appear as Miss Scarlett in the Cluedo TV Series, as Billie Piper’s mum in The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, and in children’s TV series The Ink Thief. Recently she appeared in the genre defying Aaaaaaaah! by director Steve Oram and alongside Gabriel Byrne and Harvey Keitel in Lies We Tell.

We are excited to welcome Toyah to Paracinema for an on-stage discussion of her screen career.

• Continue reading at Derby QUAD. Visit Toyah’s 2018 Gig Diary at toyahwillcox.com for all confirmed dates and appearances.

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend, we launch the first edition of Paracinema, a festival dedicated to films and genres outside of the mainstream. Expect a steady diet of horror, sci-fi and fantasy but also we’ll be exploring other genres outside the mainstream with special guests, previews and talks on a whole range of unusual genres and subgenres.

Confirmed Guests and Previews

Special Guest – Toyah Willcox. We are delighted to be welcoming actress and pop star Toyah Willcox to Paracinema and Derby Film Festival on Saturday 5th May to talk about her career appearing in classics like Derek Jarman’s Jubilee, The Tempest and the mod classic Quadrophenia as well as juggling a hugely successful pop career.

• Continue reading at Derby Quad. Visit the Derby Film Festival 2018 website here.

The BFI have announced details of a long-awaited collection of the films of Derek Jarman, to be released on Blu-Ray this spring. Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986 will be a limited-edition, five disc box set, available from 26th March 2018 – more info/pre-order at Amazon.

Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986
5-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set

Jarman’s multi-faceted work is inspirational in its fearlessness, yet remains touchingly personal. The dynamism of these features evokes comparison with the bold romanticism of directors like Ken Russell (an early champion) and Michael Powell, as well as artists Paul Nash and John Piper. But Jarman was also a subversive force in film. Beginning with his psychedelic debut feature, In the Shadow of the Sun (1972-1974), then came the provocative Jubilee (1978), the evocative Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest (1979) and The Angelic Conversation (1985), in which he invoked Elizabethan occultist Dr John Dee and explored alchemical imagery, a subject in which he was well versed. In Sebastiane (1976) and Caravaggio (1986) he revived key gay and homo-erotic figures from the past with edgy and unmistakable style.

Derek Jarman’s first six feature films have all been newly scanned at 2K from original film elements and are presented in this lavish box set alongside an exciting array of new and archival extras drawn from Jarman’s archive of workbooks and papers held in BFI Special Collections. Newly interviewed exclusively for this box set are some of the people who worked on these films; punk legend Jordan, producer and filmmaker Don Boyd, production designer Christopher Hobbs and artist filmmaker John Scarlett-Davis.

Special Features

• All films presented in High Definition for the first time in the UK
• Sebastiane: A Work in Progress (c.1975): newly remastered from 16mm film elements held by the BFI National Archive, this sadly incomplete early black and white work-print of Sebastiane differs significantly from the finished film. This previously unseen alternate edit assembled in a different order, featuring a different soundtrack was never subtitled or released
• The Making of Sebastiane (Derek Jarman & Hugh Smith, 1975): previously unseen Super 8 footage shot on location in Sardiniai
• Jazz Calendar (1968): a rarely screened documentary record of the 1968 ballet by Frederick Ashton, performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, for which Jarman designed sets and costumes
• Message from the Temple (1981)
• TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981)
• Pirate Tape (WS Burroughs Film) (1982)
• Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014); the singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
• Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
• Stormy Weather: The Magic Behind The Tempest (2016): Toyah Willcox and Stuart Hopps share their memories of working on Derek Jarman’s 1979 production of The Tempest
• Don Boyd remembers The Tempest (2018): Producer and filmmaker Don Boyd remembers the production, release and critical reception of The Tempest
• A Meeting of Minds: Christopher Hobbs on collaborating with Derek Jarman (2018): production designer Christopher Hobbs looks back on his long and fruitfully creative friendship with Derek Jarman
• Fully illustrated 80-page book with new writing on the film, contemporary reviews and full film credits
• …plus lots more

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.

“She was Miranda in Derek Jarman’s 1979 film of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Today, Toyah is Queen Elizabeth I in a stage version of Jarman’s Jubilee. (She was also in the original 1978 film)”

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.