Sean Payne

With books, stand up, poetry evenings and a blindingly good show of sci-fi recollections under his belt Colin Davies is fast becoming a one man industry of top notch creative output, get in to see him now because very soon he will be hitting the big time and we will have to share him with the rest of the world. You will be able to see him this November in the large yet still intimate setting of Blackpool’s Catholic Club in the dual performer evening 'Speaking of Empty Fields'. Davies will performing his new show 'Random' for the first half…

We all like a laugh, it can be the only answer to why people voted for Brexit, Donald Trump and explain the runaway success of Mrs Browns Boys… To be honest there is little to laugh at with those but that's ok because the Grand Theatre has the laughs covered. The Laugh Out Loud Club returns to the Grand this Friday with a roster of top rank stand up comedians to help blow away the mid-year doldrums and give our chuckle muscles a work out. Australian performer Colin Cole, Re-Play comedian of the year Chris Washington and multiple award winning…

The perennial rags to riches story of the welder with a dream of becoming a dancer, Flashdance is coming to Blackpool later in the year. The story and indeed the show hinges on the leads being the top of the crop, to power their way through the ups and downs of Alex’s struggle to gain entrance to the dream dance school the Shipley Academy requires the leads to be the best on offer, the show's return to the UK after six years away has got the two leads in needs in the form of Joanne Clifton and Ben Adams. Joanne,…

Cyber-attacks, Brexit, Trump, the slow impending heat death of the universe, there seems to be a lot less to laugh at these days. What can be done to combat this grim state of affairs, who can save us from this ever present ennui? Well it seems the Grand Theatre can. On Friday 2nd June The Grand is hosting the Laugh Out Loud Club, an evening of top rate comedy which is guaranteed to blow away the misery of an ever creeping 21st century angst. Four comedians will gracing the stage, Sean Meo, Chris Cairns, and Liam Pickford, all multi award…

Her name is Ellen, she is lost. Where? Somewhere inside herself, in the confusing hinterland between reality, the waking world and the great barrier between life and death. She is not alone. This is the premise of V-TOL's current theatre work touring the country, Out Of This World. Out Of This World was at Blackpool's Grand Theatre for a one off performance last week. It's a real pity it only had the one performance, I would have booked tickets for another showing and dragged people off the streets to see it such was the power and grace of the work.…

Whatever he does it leaves people amazed, full of wonder and if we are honest a trifle frightened. That's right Derren Brown is back in town and set to confound and confuse us with his distinctive style of Svengali like illusion and mentalist powers. The nations favourite brain bending showman is coming back to The Grand to give us DERREN BROWN: UNDERGROUND. The show is a kind of 'best of' album of the modern day wizards favourite illusions from over fifteen years of constant tours and shows. Whether he is making a table fly on stage or subliminally convincing someone…

They are a real rattle bag of an evening, they went away for a little while but now are back, Scratch Night returns. New acts, turns, treats and a new venue awaits us. Like the Terminator, the ever popular Scratch Night from last year has come back, not to kill all the humans but to entertain and challenge them with new and emerging performers. This time its more like the shiny guy from Terminator 2 as there is a new fangled technological aspect to the modern variety night as Scratch creator and all round theatrical tornado Melanie Whitehead explains: "Some…

The Russians are back! The incredible Russian State Ballet Of Siberia made a triumphant return to the Grand Theatre last month with a series of classic ballets including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and my favourite Coppelia. For those who may not know the plot its the age old story of boy meets girl, boy then meets robot girl, first girl pretends to be robot girl, boy realises he was happy with the first girl all along, they all dance. It's a cracker. It's nice to see that people dressed up for the occasion and everyone is very smart looking as…

Dust off those leg warmers (and the welding mask) because the toe tapping musical classic Flashdance is coming to town. The Winter Gardens is playing host to the stage hit of the classic 1980's smash movie Flashdance, which if you remember the first time round was considered to be the dance version of Rocky. The inspiring story of one woman's struggle to turn from factory welder to queen of the dance is fondly remembered as one the high spots of 1980's movies and I defy anyone to not sing along with an exaggerated passion to the Oscar winning theme tune…