Melanie Whitehead, Author at Blackpool Social Club

16 Feb

The Vocal Local: From Blackpool to Butterworth (via the hills of California)

Melanie Whitehead2 CommentsColumns & Opinion

A new play set in Blackpool has just opened in the West End. The creative director of Blackpool's newest theatre, Melanie Whitehead, got an expensive train down to see it and can only assume that the high-profile writer behind it assumed no one from the town would bother. I travelled from Blackpool on Saturday 10 February 2024 to see Jez Butterworth’s new play The Hills of California. I was attending for two reasons. Firstly, as a Blackpool resident, it was exciting to see such a high-profile play set in my chosen hometown premiering in the West End. Secondly, having just…

19 Dec

Trans Pride with Kate O’Donnell & Friends

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

(Eds Note - this review was not published at the time it was written in error. As it is a review, not a preview, the content remains valid so we have decided to run it late). On Friday 9 June, kicking off Blackpool Pride celebrations with a beautifully sparkly platform sandal; talented, award-winning and completely loveable performance artist Kate O’Donnell brought her piece Hayley & Me to Blackpool’s Viva (a venue which is currently also under-going something of a transformation). The cabaret-style performance centres around Coronation Street’s anorak-wearing, transgender character Hayley Cropper. Using narrative, song and video as well as…

13 Dec

Blackpool Visitor Business is Booming

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsLocal Newsblackpool families, blackpool tourism, holidays in blackpool, things to do in blackpool, visitor economy

Blackpool’s tourism economy is riding on the crest of a wave after two surveys showed significant growth in visitor numbers over the past 18-months resulting in a valuation of visitor economy of £1.5billion which in turn supports more than 25,000 full-time jobs in the resort. VisitBlackpool, the tourism arm of Blackpool Council tasked with promoting the town to leisure and business visitors, both domestically and internationally, commission regular surveys which collate data from a variety of sources such as households, hotels, attractions, tourist information centres and events to estimate the number of visitors, revenue generated, satisfaction ratings, reasons for visiting and…

13 Sep

It’s an Early Valentine in Blackpool for Jodie

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Willy Russell’s classic award-winning hit of stage and screen Shirley Valentine opened at Blackpool Grand Theatre last night starring TV’s musical darling Jodie Prenger and gained standing ovations from audiences who were held in the palm of her hand throughout. This new touring production returns to Russell’s original script: a one-woman piece that sees Shirley, a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, whose kids have left home, making chips and egg for her husband while talking to the wall. Throughout the whole of the first half, she questions what has become of her life and mourns the brave, feisty girl she used to be.…

24 Jul

Four-legged Groove Machine Miles & Erica hit Thornton

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

The Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls are touring the UK later this year in support of their third studio album and are including a date at Thornton Little Theatre. On Saturday 28 October, indie icon and charismatic front man of The Wonder Stuff, Miles Hunt along with partner violinist Erica Nockalls will bring their ‘We came here to work’ tour to the Fylde Coast venue. Since 2006, the duo has toured the UK, Europe and the USA performing acoustic shows including tracks from their own albums in addition to The Wonder Stuff material and the occasional cover version. All interspersed with…

19 Jul

Get Fruity At Pier Jam Part 2

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

Hot on the heels of its spring bank holiday weekend event in April, Pier Jam has announced the second instalment of its summer long series. Returning for its third year to the iconic Blackpool North Pier between 2pm–11pm on Saturday 29 July, Pier Jam will once again invite 4,000 party people to join them in enjoying the outdoor stages delivering cuts of quality house, bass and garage music. The line-up has now been announced and includes a huge selection of contemporary house heavyweight big hitters such as Gorgon City whose tracks ‘Go All Night’ and ‘Zoom Zoom’ have been everywhere in…

14 Jul

IOU’s Rear View owes me more

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

Yesterday, I was lured by the pictures of a chopper bus, what The Stage described as “a profound, perception-altering experience” plus organisers LeftCoast’s own copy that tells us that Rear View by IOU is a “mind illuminating ride around the streets and seafront of Blackpool” using “pioneering technology”. I was not really any wiser about what to expect but it all sounded very exciting! As I arrived at Grundy Art Gallery in time to start my experience, I was signposted upstairs and 10-minutes later we were ushered through a secret corridor that linked to Central Library. Here we were surprisingly…

12 Jul

Pure Klass at Back To The Old Pool

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

If you are, or ever have been, a fan of dance music, and you weren’t in Blackpool 12noon-11pm on Saturday 8 July, you missed out on one of the best old-skool club classics parties around in Back To The Old Pool. Returning for its second year to Blackpool, but this time upgraded from its former site at Lawson Showgrounds to the glorious Tower Festival Headland, BTTOP made history as the first dance music event to take place on this site. This was a celebration of rave culture from eighties to noughties across five venues where Blackpool front shone gloriously in the blazing…

07 Jun

Small festival has global outlook

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

Micro-festival Smaller World is set to take over Winmarleigh Village Hall this Saturday 10 June with a programme of culture from across the globe. The festival aims to promote different cultures through music, food, travel, arts and crafts, while also offering local artists a platform to share their work. This year’s festival features photography exhibition Festival Coast by Blackpool-based photographers Claire Griffiths and Jill Reidy. Showcasing images of the many festivals and cultural events which have taken place on the Fylde Coast over the past few years. Ranging from flying machines to punk, circus performers to transport-themed arts, the exhibition sees…

02 Jun

Sombre sell-out spectacular at Stanley Park

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Last night, DEPART arrived in Stanley Park, Blackpool; Australian circus artists, Circa’s final destination of a sell-out tour. The piece, inspired by the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, uses a mix of circus, dance and singing and guides audiences on a 90-minute walk-about performance full of high drama and breath-taking tableaux. Meeting at the main gates to the park, the initial atmosphere is slightly odd; as the 300-strong audience stand in line, we are handed cards saying “Don’t Look Back” in reference to the Orpheus legend apparently, and presumably the theme-park ride synonymity is designed to heighten our anticipation.…