Stephen Dunstan, Author at Blackpool Social Club

27 Oct

October Half Term At The Mount Pavilion

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsLocal News

Not sure how to while away the daylight half-term hours before the fantastic Lightpool activities get underway? If you have younger creative types to entertain a spooktacular option is the Halloween themed activities at The Mount Pavillion, Fleetwood from this coming Saturday through to Bonfire Night. The free programme assembled by LeftCoast brings together a wide selection of things to do including arts and crafts, storytelling, street art and more. The Spin Doctors are back with their fantastic splodge-a-matic machine on Saturday 29 October from 1 to 4pm. Creepy additions have been unleashed and the Monster-Splodge-A-Matic spin painting machine will…

25 Oct

A Tory’s Story

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Entertainment and politics rarely overlapped in the past, increasingly they do. Even current politicians get in on the act, as anyone who has seen Barack Obama’s early voting video will know. But it’s former politicians who are particularly keen to show their lighter side, with a steady stream of participants on the likes of Have I Got News For You and Strictly Come Dancing. More distinctive is the niche carved out by Michael Portillo, who is coming to Lowther Pavilion on 7 November. It is perhaps difficult to know what Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is best known for these days,…

12 Oct

10 Things To Do In Blackpool During October Half Term

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsLocal News

Whilst we are currently enjoying an Indian summer on the Fylde Riviera, there are no guarantees it will hold out until half term. So if the weather actually does what it often does in the north west of England in autumn what options do you have? Here are ten suggestions, covering a mixture of indoor and alfresco activities and ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to nature walks. Go Down The Rabbit Hole LightPool 16 brings three brand new shows being projected on the Tower each night until November 6 including Down The Rabbit Hole, an astronaut’s astonishing journey through space; Chasing…

10 Oct

Drag Yourself to Ruby Slippers

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

If you are going to stage a drama about a fictional Blackpool drag club, where better to host it than the foremost real venue of this kind in the town. Break A Leg Productions have secured Funny Girls for the performance of Ruby Slippers on 2 November, in a radical departure from the normal cabaret offer at the Dickson Road establishment. Raz, owner of the Blackpool drag club The Ruby Slippers, is on top of the world. He has met Ryan, the man of his dreams. However all is not as it seems. Business is poor and a rival club…

05 Oct

Ghost Hits All The Right Notes

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Devotees of late 80s / early 90s chick flicks have been spoiled at the Winter Gardens this autumn, with the extended run of Dirty Dancing followed this week by Ghost – The Musical. It was clear from discussion around me that many people had decided to attend both. As someone who associates Ghost largely with a slow burning Righteous Brothers track and a potters wheel I was pleased to share the views of those around me that this production was enjoyable and worthwhile. One thing that rather surprised me from fairly early on in the proceedings was the fairly strong…

03 Oct

Walk Like A Man at the Grand

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

It was recently announced that Frankie Valli & The Four Season will be coming to the UK on tour in the spring of next year, including a Manchester date on 27 April. What better way to get in the mood then than to visit the Grand Theatre this month to see one of the best Frankie Valli tributes, Walk Like A Man. If you don’t know Frankie Valli’s songs, you will definitely recognise his falsetto voice. With the Four Seasons his canon of hits includes Sherry, Let’s Hang On, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, My…

29 Sep

Shakin’ Stevens Hits Blackpool

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsMusic & Gigs

At the turn of the millennium presenter and book club advocate Richard Madeley featured twice in the top ten ‘TV Moments From Hell’. Undisputed number one was his impression of Staines Massive comedy character Ali G. At number 7 was an incident which those of us who are old enough to remember it found completely perplexing. For reasons that remain unclear an erstwhile mild mannered Welsh rock and roll star play attacked Madeley during an interview on the regional news show ‘Calendar’ (Ed - scroll to the bottom of this post to watch that little gem). For this alone some…

26 Sep

Preview: Nobody’s Perfect

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

Blackpool has a long and proud history of men masquerading as women in the arts. From the Tower Circus and pantomimes at the theatres to drag acts at Funny Girls and other clubs there has been a lot of entertainment to be had from cross-dressing. Upholding this tradition is Nobody’s Perfect, the latest Talking Scarlet production which comes to Blackpool Grand Theatre Tuesday 4 October to Saturday 8 October 2016. Harriet Copeland runs a feminist publishing house called ‘Love Is All Around’ and is holding a competition to find new romantic fiction written by women only. Leonard Loftus is desperate to…

23 Sep

Travel to the Grand… With Your Aunt

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsTheatre, Dance & Performance

When the lights went up on Travels With My Aunt at The Grand I was a little surprised to see the set was essentially a pub. I wasn’t clear how this was going to reconcile with a journey around the world. And I suppose the answer to that is it didn’t, but it never really mattered during an unusual but generally very absorbing and rewarding production. For those who are unfamiliar with Graham Greene’s novel, now approaching its half-century, it features the recently retired and very straight-laced bank manager Henry Pulling. He grows dahlias in his garden and otherwise leads…

22 Sep

Fireworks for Aunty Social

Stephen Dunstan0 CommentsLocal News

Aunty Social have lit up the Fylde independent cinema scene in recent years and on Saturday 5 November they have more than one reason to set off fireworks, when the Film Society of the Year Awards are announced, as they have made the shortlist. The awards have a 45 year tradition; the first winners were Southport Film Guild, just a short hop over the Ribble from Blackpool and still going strong. These days there are several categories, and Aunty Social are in the running for the Best Single Event for their Winter Gardens Film Festival. The ground breaking festival took place…