Classics, comedy and snooker greats all part of Octagon's new season line-up
Bolton Octagon has revealed an exciting line up for its autumn/winter programme bringing comedy, family fun and classics to the venue.
And there will also be a special night marking the 40th anniversary of one of sport's greatest moments.
The season opens with Noël Coward's timeless comedy, Private Lives in September directed by the Royal Theatrical Support Trust's award-winner, Tanuja Amarasuriya.
Private LivesSet against the backdrop of 1930s' glamour, this comedy of manners promises a hilarious and shocking adaptation filled with razor-sharp wit, sizzling chemistry and timeless sophistication.
Snake in the GrassThis is followed in October by a gripping production of Alan Ayckbourn's masterful dark comedy, Snake in the Grass in a co-production with Theatr Clwyd.
As has been previously announced, the Christmas season will see the Octagon present a joyful musical stage adaptation of the favourite Dickensian classic, A Christmas Carol which runs from November 13 until January 10.
A Christmas CarolThe musical is adapted for the stage by Kate Ferguson and Susannah Pearce, writers of previous Octagon productions Around the World in 80 Days and Treasure Island.
MacbethIn March next year, former Octagon artistic director Mark Babych will be returning to Bolton with a powerful and chilling new production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. This is a co-production with Derby Theatre and Hull Truck Theatre. Mark is currently Hull Truck's artistic director.
King ArthurOther theatre highlights include Le Navet Bete (writers of Dracula: The Bloody Truth) presenting an hilarious re-telling of the Arthurian legend in King Arthur and the John Godber Company returning to the Octagon with a brand-new comedy, Black Tie Ball.
The Octagon will present its first ever Awaaz Festival on Sunday, June 29 showcasing and celebrating the finest South Asian arts and culture.
There will be a number of one-off shows to enjoy including Hi-de-Hi legend Su Pollard bringing her one-woman show to Bolton and tributes to Motown and Diana Ross.
Snooker legends Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor will relive their epic world championship final from 1985 which kept more than 20 million TV viewers enthralled hosted by John Virgo on Sunday, November 2.
The Octagon's annual Family Festival will also make a welcome return this summer and there will be a number of shows and events for children.
Octagon Artistic Director, Lotte Wakeham said: 'I am delighted to share details of our new season with audiences, and hope they are as excited as we are by this upcoming programme.
"The Octagon has always been a home for incredible emerging talent, and I'm thrilled that we're kicking off the autumn season with a brand new production of Private Lives, directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya, winner of the prestigious Sir Peter Hall Award, supported by the Royal Theatrical Support Trust.
"We then have a stellar selection of productions from some of the world's most iconic playwrights, including Alan Ayckbourn and William Shakespeare.
'In addition, over the next few months we'll have a wide selection of entertainment from some of the best touring productions from across the country, including live music, comedy, variety and family fun. We can't wait for you to join us.'
Tickets for the new season go on general sale from 11am tomorrow. For full details, visit www.octagonbolton.co.uk.
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Time Magazine
a day ago
- Time Magazine
Jamie Lee Curtis on Her Big Moment in 'The Bear' Season 4
Jamie Lee Curtis manifested her role on The Bear. She remembers watching the show's first episode—specifically a scene between Carmen 'Carmy' and Natalie, when the chef doesn't have enough money for his restaurant's food supply, so his sister brings him his jacket to sell. Before she leaves, she asks him a question. 'Have you called mom?' He hasn't. 'You should,' she tells him. At that moment, sitting at home inside what she calls her 'witness protection cabin,' Curtis began envisioning what their mother might be like. 'Oh, I think I'm going to be her,' she thought. It didn't take long. In 'Fishes,' the sixth episode of the second season, she debuted as Donna Berzatto, embodying Carmy and Natalie's mother whose alcoholism and mania has turned her home—and large family gatherings—into a mental trauma zone. Though very different from her character, Curtis could relate to Donna's substance abuse issues and mothering challenges, and leaned into her most toxic traits. By the end of the electric and overwhelming episode, for which Curtis won an Emmy, Donna has drunkenly left the Christmas dinner table and crashed a car into her house, effectively fracturing her relationship with her son. But in Season 4, Donna gets a chance to make amends. About five years after the disastrous holiday, she spends the majority of the ninth episode, 'Tonnato,' sharing her regrets with Carmy inside her home. While looking at old family photos together, Donna admits she's been sober a year and then reads an apology letter, acknowledging the pain she's caused and explaining the reasons for her poor choices. Carmy eventually reciprocates, sharing his guilt for leaving the family and expressing his love for her. It's a powerful, emotional exchange that crystallizes the season's redemptive, healing themes. Then, as an act of reconciliation, Carmy prepares for his mother a chicken dinner that he learned to make while training as a chef at The French Laundry. Here, Curtis unpacks that emotionally charged sequence as she talks about the experience of playing Donna, and how her own life informed parts of the character. I'll be honest, I get anxiety every time your character appears on the show—and I think it's mostly because we've only really seen you through Carmy's perspective. What was genius from the beginning was you don't meet Donna for 16 episodes. The anxiety is built up through hearing about her from other people and the amount of anxiety Carmen carries. She's designed to create instability. What I found beautiful is that in episode 10 of Season 2, when they're opening the restaurant and Donna's out front chain smoking—I said to [creator Chris Storer], 'I think [Donna] is sober four months. She has enough self knowledge now to know that she has an effect on people, particularly when she's drinking. And so the pacing in front of the restaurant is the 'Do I? Don't I?' push and pull of addiction, which, when you're newly sober, you're very fragile. You show up in a couple episodes this season, specifically for Episode 9's conversation with Carmen. How does it feel for you to parachute in and out of Donna's headspace every year? We shot Season 3 and 4 simultaneously. So the truth is, I did the scene with Sugar in the hospital, which was an entire episode. And two days later, I did my part at the wedding. And then the next day, my scene with Jeremy at the house. So it was a lot of Donna, which was not dissimilar to the Christmas episode where I came in for like a three-day bombardment and then was gone. I've been an actress since I was 19. I've done a lot of different work. Some of it good, some of it great, some of it awful—much of it awful. Everybody works differently. I also didn't know how Chris worked before we met on the Christmas episode. Our entire relationship was a text relationship where he said, 'So excited you're coming!' And I said, 'How do you want her hair to look?' And he sent me a picture of Monica Vitti. And then I said, 'What about her nails?' And he sent me a picture of the desperate housewives of New York and that was the entirety of the background that I got from him before I walked in the kitchen the day we shot 'Fishes.' I got a sense that he understood that I was going to show up fully-loaded ready to shoot. That gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of freedom because I knew, having seen the level of intensity, what the show was like. What was your initial impression when you read this scene between Donna and Carmy, and how did you want to approach it? People forget that she hasn't seen Carmen since Christmas five years earlier. It's not like there's a chyron that's under the screen that reminds the audience at the wedding. And obviously she has seen the rest of the family. She attended the birth of her granddaughter. She goes to family birthdays. She sees Lee. She sees Jimmy. So there's an indication that she is a part of this interesting melting pot family, but she hasn't seen Carmen. So that moment when she sees him at the wedding—and the way all his friends come around him and are like, 'Hey, they need you in the kitchen right now.' Donna knows what's going on. She's very smart so she understands that this is a big moment for both of them. And then she has that lovely scene with Sydney and then she gets the f-ck out, because she understands. In recovery, there's a phrase, 'We suit up and show up.' So Donna is suiting up and showing up. And of course who does she run into? Michelle. And Michelle says, 'Are you good?' And we all know that question is Donna's fire starter. Right. That is the fire starter, one of those clicking flame things that we all have in our houses to light matches. It's that click. And her response, which is, 'I'm good.' And then get the f-ck out. I'm not going to play Michelle. I'm going to go. And so we've teed it up beautifully. Yep. I'm sober. I've been sober a long time. I talk to a lot of sober people. Part of being sober is acknowledging the past. There is a process within being a sober alcoholic or sober drug addict that in order to move freely into the future, you have to acknowledge the past. I don't think Donna wanted to acknowledge it with him for a long time. I think she's been working on that for the better part of a year. She's had that little piece of paper in her desk drawer, and when he comes over, I think the intention was to see him and keep it light and polite—another phrase we use in recovery. And I think that was her plan until she started going through the pictures and saw Mikey. Yeah, I wondering if you wrote that letter yourself. It was from the script, but of course I did! Was that a cathartic experience—thinking about what that symbolizes generally for a mother to a son, but then also specifically for Donna to Carmy? Very much cathartic. We both knew what we're doing. The script is beautiful. I learned that having a kid who you don't know how to help is one of the most powerless experiences as a parent. I personally have a child with special needs. I have a child who has a learning difference. And the powerlessness you feel when you can't actually help them—you can find people who can help them, but you can't. So the part of that scene that gets me every time is when she talks about Mike. Because clearly Mike had that problem since he was a little boy. And being a parent and not being able to help your kid and not knowing what to do to help them—and finding that alcohol just made it all more palatable and easy—to play a woman who has struggled with that, and then to have the beautiful writing that articulates that exact powerlessness and turmoil, and resulting shame and self-hatred, and then the addiction on top of it—I just thought it was a beautifully constructed. The line that hits me the hardest throughout your interplay is when you tell Carmy, 'I don't know you, and you don't know me, and I did that.' Was there a line or a moment in this conversation that impacted you the most? Oh yeah—what I just said about Mike. I did that as a statement of fact. I have to live with that. She also says it to Sugar in the hospital when Sugar says, 'You scared me and I don't want my baby to feel scared.' I said, 'I scared you?' Hearing that you have that effect on a human being's life is powerful. And so I can totally accept that we're operating as strangers in this family. That is when she really is showing the pain and suffering of her own childhood, her marriage, her being a mother to three. That is when Carmen really softens and says, 'I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you.' What does Leonard Cohen say? "There has to be cracks because that's where the light comes in." That's the moment when you understand that Carmen is now understanding the multitude of Donna and what she has struggled with. What was it like working with Jeremy that day? I feel very motherly toward all three of these kids. I've stayed a little in contact with them in the most cursory way. I'm not pretending we're buddies, but I also reach out occasionally. So he and I have that. Again, not with any supposition that it's more than it is. He's just a beautiful performer. We use the term scene partner a lot in actor talk, but he's a scene partner. We don't rehearse it. We don't talk about it. We stay away from each other until it begins, and then it begins. And he has beautiful eyes, and they are expressive and soulful and sorrowful and very alive at times and very emotional at times. And I think you see all of that in this whole season, but in that scene in particular. And then the coup de grace, which is him cooking for her. I really love that he goes back to his time at French Laundry where he learned to make roast chicken. Do you feel like a meal is one of the kindest gifts you can give somebody? For sure. I'm not a foodie. I was raised by a very skinny woman. Food was not a friend in a generation of women in her industry who starved themselves under the tutelage of the studio system. My mother was incredibly beautiful and she held it all the way through her life. While many of her other friends succumbed to middle age, she starved it away. So I was raised around cereal and a grilled cheese sandwich, which would be like gold for me. But apparently I make really good penne with butter, garlic salt and a little parmesan cheese and my elder daughter, Annie, was talking with her friends about memories in their high school years of having me make that penne. Hearing that that is a memory for my daughter is something comforting. I'm kind of embarrassed by it because it's not a French Laundry chicken. And yet the act of making it and the act of receiving it as something special is very moving to me. Of course Carmy is going to truss and baste and bake and broil a beautiful chicken for his mother. It's a wordless moment and, needless to say, very moving. It's very clear that there's a path forward through that act that is him basically saying, 'I'm sorry that I didn't kind of meet you, that I stayed away from you and that I didn't face this.' It's pretty powerful to end a series on a full-circle moment. He also tells you not to wash chicken in the sink. Yeah, because, of course! What he's saying is that the salmonella goes all over the place. You think it's just going down the drain, but in fact, you're polluting your sink. This season felt very redemptive and healing in a lot of ways. What it was like to have a moment of reconciliation with Donna, as opposed to playing such a vicious antagonist? I'm the child of alcoholics. I'm a sober drug addict and alcoholic. I have lost so many friends to alcoholism and drug addiction. My baby brother died at 21 of an accidental heroin overdose. We're also living in a world that doesn't feel redemptive. When you talk about an antagonist, it feels like there are antagonists running the world right now. So from a spiritual place, if we're not healing, we're dying. And I didn't know if Donna was going to heal or get a chance to. I saw it in Season 3, but as I said to you, I already knew that Season 4 was coming. I don't know the origin stories necessarily, but if we're not healing, what are we doing? And so I'm beyond grateful that Chris gave everybody a moment of grace—every single person's story! The end of Season 3, Carmen says that in his vision for the restaurant, 'to make it good, you have to filter out the bad.' And I think this whole season was in line with that mission statement. It's just gorgeous work. The grace note at the end—you know those sandwich shops are going to be successful. We know what the numbers are going to be. They're going to blow the place up. But Carmen also knows he has to step away from this and let these people do it. And the fact that that's the gift that he's giving everybody, and that he'll now go figure out who Carmen is. And he'll be able to do it with a mother in his life now. Yeah, and Donna is sober now. Can Donna stay sober? I hope so. I've stayed sober. What was wack to me—the same day that this season of the show dropped, I woke up in the morning and a friend of mine in Los Angeles sent me a picture of a billboard on Sunset Boulevard. It's the Foundation for a Better Life, a program they run called 'Pass It On.' Inspirational people and ideas. And there's a billboard with my picture that says, 'My Bravest Thing? Getting Sober. Recovery. Pass it On.' And for Jamie and Donna, who had different stories but the same disease, to have that happen simultaneously was kind of another grace note. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Who's family at 'The Bear' wedding? John Mulaney, Brie Larson's links, explained
Spoiler alert! "The Bear" Season 4, Episode 7 wedding details are discussed below. Nothing brings out the chaos in FX's "The Bear" like an extended Berzatto family blow-out. Jealousy, unresolved pain and long-running feuds surface in Episode 7 of the comedy-drama's Season 4 (now streaming on Hulu/Disney+) as Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) watches his ex-wife Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs) celebrate her marriage to wealthy, handsome and sensitive Frank (Josh Hartnett). Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is among the family wedding guests, which also include matriarch Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis), her gentleman friend "Uncle" Lee (Bob Odenkirk), actual cousin Michelle Berzatto (Sarah Paulson) and Michelle's husband Stevie (John Mulaney). Carmy's sister Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto (Abby Elliott) also plays a prominent role with her feuding childhood best friend, Francie Fak (Brie Larson). Which wedding guests were in the 'Fishes' Christmas episode? Many of these family members celebrated an explosive Berzatto family Christmas. The famed Season 2 "Fishes" flashback episode, released in June 2023, featured an argumentative Mikey Berzatto (Jon Bernthal) before his death by suicide, and Donna mentally falling apart while preparing the traditional Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes. That critically acclaimed episode ends with Uncle Lee and Mikey being restrained during a dinner-table brawl, punctuated by Donna driving her car through the living room. It also garnered nine Emmy nominations and won four awards, including best guest actor for Curtis and Bernthal. The wedding episode reunites the dysfunctional group. Richie, who is called "cousin" by Carmy despite lacking blood relations, is just one among the bombastic brood. Let's meet the rest of the family and how they fit in. Brie Larson is introduced as the infamous Francie Fak Family relations: Related by forever friendship to Natalie Berzatto, despite their deep disagreement. Larson steps in to play the infamous Fak family member viewers had only heard about before the wedding. The childhood best friend remains locked in a heated longtime feud with Natalie, which is so toxic that it's referenced in shocked whispers during the "Fishes" episode. The source of their bitter battle, which erupts immediately at the reception, is unclear. But the revelation that the duo had "hooked up" in the past, dropped at the wedding, is particularly telling. In Francie's eyes, no girlfriend has ever been good enough for her two brothers, Theodore (Ricky Staffieri) and Neil (Matty Matheson). Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs) marries Frank (Josh Hartnett) Family relations: Richie's ex remains close to the Berzattos. Tiffany was pregnant and nauseous during the Christmas "Fishes" episode, when she was cared for by her then-husband Richie. Pain points in their marriage, mostly surrounding finances, are explored in the Christmas setting. Two seasons later, their daughter Sophie is a beautiful wedding participant. But the marriage has fallen apart, and Tiffany has moved on to a new life with Frank (Hartnett). Her own family didn't show up for the wedding, highlighting Tiffany's love for the Berzatto clan, who roll in en masse. Richie is still gutted but supportive, helping Frank deal with dance-shy Sophie, who hides under a table during the reception. Jamie Lee Curtis as a sober Donna Berzatto Family relations: The troubled Berzatto matriarch. Donna has sought professional help after her wine-fueled "Fishes" breakdown. However, she is visibly nervous meeting the family, especially Carmy. When offered a cocktail at the reception, Donna turns it down with a simple "I'm not drinking right now. I'm trying to be healthier." Donna makes an early, quiet exit from the event with Uncle Lee. "There's a lot of pain in there," Lee tells Carmy in a key moment. But Donna is learning to deal with it "before it builds up. I'm learning it too." Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) has an honorary family title Family relations: Honorary uncle in the Italian-American family and Donna's on-and-off paramour. Mikey had always been suspicious and resentful of Lee Lane, despite the "uncle" title and Lee's insistence that he's just a supportive friend to Mikey's mother, Donna. The "Fishes" episode blow-up is fueled by Uncle Lee prodding the dinner fork-throwing Mikey into a fight by lobbing truth bombs at the Christmas table. Carmy is even more suspicious at the wedding, despite Lee insisting he and Donna are "just friends." Lee reveals to Carmy that he made peace and became good friends with Mikey after the Christmas fight, and "after I stopped trying to be his dad." Cousin Michelle (Sarah Paulson) supports family, Carmy Family relations: Michelle Berzatto is Carmy's cousin, who is married to Stevie (Mulaney). The supportive Berzatto cousin and New York City restaurant owner, Michelle has been good to Carmy, allowing the then-aspiring chef to stay at her New York City home when he was a struggling chef – and urging him to come back to New York City. She leaves the wedding early to catch a flight, but not before bonding with the bride. Stevie (John Mulaney) doesn't miss Berzatto family events Family relations: Michelle Berzatto's husband, family drama spectator. Stevie is a family in-law but doesn't miss Berzatto events, if not for the sheer spectacle of seeing the family fireworks. Stevie begrudgingly gives a poignant dinner-table blessing at the "Fishes" table before the fight really starts. At the wedding, Stevie predicts more family drama. "There's no wording to sum up what this is going to be," he says. Natalie 'Sugar' Berzatto (Abby Elliott) brings Francie feud to wedding Family relations: Donna's daughter, Carmy's sister. Natalie bore the brunt of her mother's pent-up anger in the kitchen on Christmas. The "Fishes" episode also revealed the source of her nickname, from the time Natalie poured sugar instead of salt into the gravy, making it taste like Hawaiian Punch. Mother and daughter reconciled in the Season 3 finale, when Natalie gave birth to her son, Billy. At the wedding with her husband Pete (Chris Witaske), Natalie and Francie patch up their differences with a reception table heart-to-heart. Pete (Chris Witaske) brings a smile to Berzatto events Family relations: Natalie Berzatto's husband Good-natured Pete made the mistake of bringing a fish dish to the Christmas "Fishes" dinner, which had to be immediately disposed of before his mother-in-law saw the proposed dinner addition. At the wedding, Pete tries to make peace between his wife and Francie and is shocked to find out they had hooked up in the past. He gets over it quickly and dances happily with his beloved at the end. The Fak brothers are back, now with their sister Family relations: Family through forever friendship. The Fak brothers are quick-talking rowdy merrymakers who dress in matching green plaid shirts with red sweaters over the shoulders at the "Fishes" holiday dinner. They hustle a baseball card money-making eBay scheme (which Stevie happily pays $500 just to watch unfold). At the wedding, the brothers, this time wearing natty matching suits, have evolved. They now attempt to extract $500 from Pete through an art scheme. Theodore brings his first serious girlfriend, Kelly, to the wedding to meet the family and his sister. James 'Cicero' Kalinowski (Oliver Platt) is transactional Uncle Jimmy Family relations: Longtime family friend and business associate. The title of uncle is honorary. Southside Chicago business hotshot James "Cicero" Kalinowski (Oliver Platt) is a longtime and highly transactional friend of the Berzatto family. He loaned Mikey $300,000 to fund his original Italian beef-sandwich restaurant and later made an even bigger loan to Carmy for fine-dining The Bear. Uncle Jimmy stays out of the family fire and refuses to take a side in any conflict. He warmly greets Francie in front of fuming frenemy Natalie, who angrily reminds him that he's her "uncle."
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Coca-Cola rival shares wild new Amazon partnership
I am not averse to paying a premium subscription price for a streaming service if it means I get to skip the 30-second commercials spliced into movies and TV shows. Yet I have happily watched some of the unboxing videos that fill my social media feed, even if the person is oohing and ahhing over something I have no intention of purchasing. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Perhaps it's because those unboxing videos evoke the excitement of opening presents on one's birthday or Christmas morning. Or maybe it's the soothing sound of rustling boxes or fingernails clicking on products (yes, I admit it's relaxing). Related: Coca-Cola makes biggest bet in 133 years Apparently, I'm not alone. YouTube alone has clocked around 4.8 billion views per year for unboxing videos, according to data from Zipdo. Where do all these unboxing videos come from? Celebrities and social media influencers with high follower counts are often sent free, aesthetically pleasing PR packages by brands that encourage them to hit record as they open them. The mission, of course, is to convert those followers to paying customers. Most content creators love getting free stuff, and they love posting about it even more. Brands dedicate staff and budgets to forging these influencer connections. Related: PepsiCo lawsuit alleges company deceived consumers It's not just a shot in the dark, because social media users are giving unboxing videos more than just a cursory glance. The average watch time for unboxing videos is a whopping eight minutes long, per Zipdo. Clearly unboxing videos work - to the tune of 84% of social media users stating that these videos influence their purchasing decisions. And 52% of consumers say they've gone ahead and bought a product after watching a video. Capturing a sale from one out of every two social media users is a pretty big feat. And now one Coca-Cola rival is hoping to find that same success with unboxing videos this summer. Image source: Shutterstock Olipop better-for-you prebiotic sodas contain fiber and just 2-5 grams of sugar per can. Founded in 2018, the company has been valued at $1.85 billion and is the top non-alcoholic brand in the U.S. by dollar sales and unit growth, per Marketing Dive. The big brand has even bigger summer plans. For starters, it's running a "Time Travel Agency" sweepstakes, where entrants can win a stay in a flavor-themed retro motel suite in Austin this summer. It is also teaming up with Amazon Ads to offer 5,000 VIP boxes containing cans of Olipop's most popular flavors, along with a limited-edition cooler tote and a few other summer-related goodies. But there's something unique about the PR swag drop coming on June 30. The boxes cost just five cents (the original price of a soda can, the company says), and they'll be available to anyone who can grab one before supplies run out. More beverage news: Coca-Cola finally brings viral soda mash-upPizza Hut makes big menu change amid startling customer behaviorStruggling brewery, beer scene reaches a sad milestone Why is Olipop going for everyday consumers rather than established influencers? The FAQs on the PR box signup page read: "Because where would we be without our fans? (Answer: absolutely nowhere.) This one's for the people who made us - because you don't need millions of followers to get our attention. Just love for great soda." Olipop is wise to try to stand out from the pre-/probiotic beverage crowd. PepsiCo announced in March that it will proceed with the nearly $2 billion purchase of Poppi, while Coca-Cola went ahead with its own version, called Simply Pop. With that said, watching a video about soda is different than viewing one to see how a lipstick color looks, the way a shirt fits, or even how easy it is to use a gadget. For beverages, you have to rely on the person's reaction to the taste, along with their description of flavors. Related: Upstart nutrition brand rivals Red Bull with unusual energy drink That's why the know-like-trust factor is so important with influencer marketing. But how much of that factor exists with everyday social media users who don't have much of a platform? Considering anyone with a nickel and good timing can get in on Olipop's PR drop, the company's strategy might be expecting too much from unboxing videos this summer. Only time will tell whether this campaign will pop - or if it will be a bust. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
