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The greatest show and other bromances: Adam Riches and John Kearns ARE Ball and Boe @sohotheatre

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Alfie Boe and Michael Ball seem to be a bit of a joke act anyway. Their endless interpretations of popular songs (also known as covers) and their double-act bromance make them quintessential crossover artists where popular music meets opera and Broadway. And a perilous choice for the discerning listener. It’s not that they aren’t talented musicians and performers in their own right. Still, their musical choices are always safe, predictable and less than their potential. But every country deserves to have a pair of self-described national treasures that can tour the local arenas and give people a good time for the bargain price of £175 a seat.  And so the concept of Adam Riches and John Kearns - two world-famous from the Edinburgh Fringe comedians taking on this bromance seems like a curious choice for a Christmas musical fare. One can only hope that over the fourteen nights, it is playing at the Soho Theatre that the show evolves into something more substantial than a series of po...

Reminder to get writing: The Adrian Pagan Award 2016


The Adrian Pagan award is back for a third year. If you think you’ve got what it takes to address the state of the nation rather than reading random blogs on the interwebs, then this might be for you.

The King’s Head are looking for directors, producers and creative teams to pitch plays that capture the current mood in an exciting, thought-provoking and entertaining way. Other than that, anything goes - new writing, revivals and musicals... They will take anything that pokes them the right way.

The winning company will receive a full King’s Head production budget to produce their show at the venue.

Applications are open until 31 July. To enter, you need to download an application from the King’s Head website and it by the deadline.


Shortlisted entrants will be invited to pitch to a panel of industry professionals in September.

Adrian Pagan was a stage manager for ten years before his first play, The Backroom, won the Verity Bargate award and was produced by the Bush Theatre. The award was set up following his tragic death at the age of 39. The first winner of the 2014 award was Thomas Pickles’ Dead Party Animals.

The second winner, in 2015, was Kate Lock’s Russian Dolls which recently concluded a run at the King’s Head (5th - 23rd April 2016).

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