Preview - Miss Crispy 1988 - Gala Theatre

Journey back to the 1980s for a play that is packed full of fun and flavour

Shoulder pads, tiaras and cheese and onion crisps – beauty pageants and North East factory lines collide in a must-see play set in the 1980s.

Miss Crispy 1988 tells the story of a group of female friends whose working life at a Teesside crisp factory is turned upside down when they are invited to enter a beauty contest. 

The production is set to entertain audiences at Durham’s Gala Theatre at 7.30pm on Friday 17 January and is inspired by the stories of workers at The Crispy – the nickname given to the KP crisps factory in Billingham. 

The factory was a major employer in the area in the 1980s and theatregoers can look forward to big hair, legwarmers and plenty of Northern wit in this nostalgic yet moving comedy about female friendship, love and overcoming adversity. 

Miss Crispy 1988 was written by David Tuffnell and is produced by Less is More, a Middlesbrough-based theatre company with a passion for telling stories from working-class communities. It received rave reviews when it first toured the region in 2013, and the Less is More team cannot wait to bring the show to the Gala.

The theatre is close to the heart of the play’s director Laura Lonsdale, who is currently appearing as the genie in this year’s Gala pantomime, Aladdin. Laura previously taught at the Gala Theatre Stage School and has gone on to cast many former students in the shows she has directed over the years. 

Laura, from Middlesbrough, said: “It’s always a joy to come to the Gala Theatre. County Durham audiences are a pleasure to perform to and I know they will love Miss Crispy 1988. It’s the tenth anniversary of Less is More this year and what better way to celebrate than to tour a show that epitomises what we are all about; honesty, drama and humour.”

 

David added: “I think Miss Crispy has received such a positive reaction because it’s a story that is set in our region with characters people can relate to. Those of us who lived through the 1980s will enjoy the sense of nostalgia it evokes – the music, the clothes, the big perms.  

“However, the 1980s were also an important period in history and a time of great change, especially for women. This is explored in the play through the thoughts, experiences and ambitions of five unique but very relatable female characters.”

Tickets for Miss Crispy 1988 are priced at £15, £13 for concessions and £12 for Gala members. To book, visit www.galadurham.co.uk or call 03000 266 600.

Approaching Empty - Live Theatre - Review

Approaching Empty

Live Theatre 

Feb 8th, 2019

Set against the backdrop of Maggie Thatcher’s death in 2013 (yes she has been dead that long!) in a Minicab Office in Middlesbrough of all places, this play written by Ishy Din has the audience laughing along. It could be set anywhere and still work as the writer states.

Times are changing and nowhere has this been more apparent than in the business world, and the taxi business is no exception. With their competitor Fleet doing really well, will Raf’s company survive? Raf (played by Nicholas Khan) is a chain-smoking, no-nonsense business man who knows why he got into business. On the other hand, Mansha played by Kammy Darweish, is a wise old fox who has been in the job for years; unlike Raf he just wants to be secure. He loves his job more than himself. These two men are just trying to get by as friends.

Shazad, Raf’s son, played by Karan Gill, is at university studying business. He has no interest in the taxi business but gets shoehorned in at any occasion to help out. Sameena is the new kid on the block; she's been to prison and has something to prove and wants to create a new life with her children. Sully played by Nicholas Prasad the more experienced driver we see, is a young man coping with the loss of his father who died after a long term health problems related to working in the factories. Raf and Mansha have different views on the factories closing under Thatcher with Raf saying it was a good thing but Mansha saying it was a waste of talented men. I do believe that both characters are right, and we needed the closing of the mines and factories but we didn't need to do it in the way it was! But that's in the past we can't change it, only learn from it.

Raf wants to sell the company and has an offer of 120k from Fleet but Mansha is against working for them. Mansha offers to buy the business but he hasn't got the money and isn't normally a risk taker. How could he get the money? His help comes from an unlikely source in Sully and Sameena and eventually they buy the business. But you always suspect something is wrong. Things begin to come to light which the three new partners don’t understand and Raf is giving no straight answers.  Tany - Sameena’s brother and the local hard man - comes into the fold (played by Maanuv Thiara) to save the day but not before he shows Raf what a cut-throat world being in business literally is. 
We finish off with a new owner, new manager and the rest of the characters in limbo deciding what they want to do in life. 

But for Raf there is nothing that can be done, and he is dying. 

As for Mansha, he's off on holiday. 

This play was a great laugh, well written and everyone involved should be pleased with the result. Rina Fatania who plays Sameena gets performance of the night for me. Great direction from Pooja Ghai, assisted by Heather Carroll and a great team.

On until Saturday 23rd February

Prices from £6 - £22 

Age14+

Reuben Hiles

*Picture credit Helen Murray