I love Beyonce. I loved Destiny’s Child when I was growing up. I’m pretty sure every song she’s made has either been an instant hit with, or a grower on me. When I saw her live last year it was incredible and definitely one of the best live shows I’ve seen. She is a powerhouse and her energy on stage is incredible - a singer, a dancer, a wife, a mother, a business woman, an activist for Chime for Change and a recent contributor to The Shriver Report, writing an article entitled ‘Gender Equality is a Myth!’ and all at the grand old age of 32. However, when her latest album rocketed into the media at the end of last year I was definitely surprised at seeing quite a large change in direction. Was this the same Beyonce I knew and loved? At first when I listened to the songs and watched the videos (and whether you’re a fan of the album or not I think you definitely need to take the time to watch the whole thing because it is designed to be a visual album, if you don’t it would be like watching a film with your...

They say that variety is the spice of life, which means that my job equates to a well-stocked spice rack because every day is genuinely different and it’s rare that I spend the whole day at my desk. Which I love. There are boxes of show print to be moved (I’m aiming for the best gun show in the building), the pantomime-branded transit van to be driven, people to meet, meetings to be had and press nights to attend. There is a lot to be said for on-the-job training and, in particular, the amount you can learn simply through listening to, and observing others, within a workplace, which is why The Marlowe scheme of one-year traineeships is so special. I’m learning not only about how to market a show (which audience to target, how to get press coverage, the bits and pieces that make a great marketing campaign) but also where the marketing team sits within the structure of The Marlowe Theatre as an organisation, and where that organisation sits within the landscape of regional theatre in 2013. This is invaluable knowledge to carry with me to my next position, whether that be at another regional theatre or into...

Taken from ayoungertheatre.com The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a place for both the classic and the cutting edge, which is why a new take on Shakespeare is the ideal combination for a chance at Fringe success. With many of Shakespeare’s plays being taken up every year, it can be a hard task to stand out from the crowd in amongst the many Romeo and Juliets, shortened versions of Hamlet and the odd Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night. Two companies taking on this challenge are The Fifth Act from The Netherlands and Straylight Australia from down under, who are focusing on females, both within the plays and those that surrounded Shakespeare himself during his time. Straylight Australia’s piece Shakespeare’s Queens: She-Wolves and Serpents explores “what it means to be a Queen” in Shakespeare’s England, where many of the issues “are still high on women’s agenda’s today: career or family first?; negative perceptions of powerful females; forced marriages arranged for political or commercial gain; infidelity, infertility and the use of sex as a bargaining tool.” The wheel of history turns once more, showing us that what goes around comes around – or has it ever left us? “The passionate, seductive...

Taken from ayoungertheatre.com On average people spend more than 22% of their time online using social media, checking their smart phone, Facebook, Twitter, email, pager, landline, postbox, carrier pigeon et al over 34 times a day. People will be at live gigs, recording and therefore watching through the screen of their camera. I’ve seen a person walk through the Louvre in Paris looking at all the treasures only through the screen on their video camera without actually looking at anything for real, despite the fact that it was right in front of their face. In an age where one can always be in digital communication with the rest of the world at all times, it would seem having person-to-person contact and experience is on the decline, but what if you create a person-to-person contact about the digital world in which we live? Step forward Red Chair Players and Hidden Stories Theatre, two groups of young performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival who have done just that: created live theatrical pieces that focus on our need for technology and the consequences that it has on our lives. Hidden Stories Theatre is a homegrown Edinburgh company made up of recent graduates...