For the witty, attractive, discerning and continent theatregoer:
KOBAL Theatre Company welcomes you.
“There’s plenty of potential for KOBAL to become
the next big thing”
Lianne Steinberg, The Big Issue in the North
Our most recent production was Dave & Jeff Versus the
Crazed Corpse-loving Consultant from Cardiothoracics as
part of “Four of the Best of 24:7” in the Bill Naughton
Studio at Bolton Octagon on Thursday 4th and Saturday 6th September.
NEWS
Postmortem: After Dave And Jeff
October 31st 2008
Life can be a little on the dull side, which is why we at Kobal
like to mix things up occasionally by living dangerously. Not really
dangerously, nothing that might actually cause a strain on the resources
of our already overstretched emergency services, just little things;
like going to the toilet in the dark, having extra chillies and
hot sauce on our mixed kebab or flouncing IT Support’s advice
and NOT saving our work often. It seems this latter ignorance has
slipped onto our updates as it has been far too long since we filled
you in on the Kobal gossip – sorry.
We’ve made up for this lack of information though by providing
a veritable avalanche of stuff. First up, news: “Four
of the Best at 24:7” went extremely well, so well
in fact that we’re currently planning a North West tour of
“Dave & Jeff Versus the Crazed Corpse-Loving Consultant
from Cardiothoracics” for late next spring! In vaguely
related news Dark Smile productions have finished recording the
short radio play “Dave & Jeff Versus the Maniacal
Cannibal Orderlies on the Missing Floor” with an
eye to an early 2009 release. More on these two items as soon as
we have it.
If you missed our very own Catherine Manford in “The
Elephant Man” at Catford’s Broadway Theatre
then worry not, because you’ll soon be able to catch her in
the interestingly (and provisionally) titled “Field of Corpes”
which is currently filming. While on the subject of our new Creative
Manager, here’s what she had to say on her new role within
the company:“I’ve worked with Kobal on various projects
over the last couple of years, and have always enjoyed their style
of popcorn theatre. I am thrilled to have been invited on-board
to the management team of Kobal. After the success of our latest
production, "Dave and Jeff Versus..."
it looks like it’s going to be an exciting year and I look
forward to working with the boys on future projects, lending my
support and of course my female intuition to the rest of the team!”
In other news Paul Bowles, Stephen Michael Lowe and Marleen Lowe
have submitted their pieces to AccentUK Comics for inclusion in
their “Western” Anthology, due for release early 2009.
Moving on from the news, if you look around the site for a moment
you’ll find a few additions and even a couple of alterations
dotted about. In the
“Dave & Jeff Versus...” section
you’ll now find a slew of production photos and some waffle
from writer Stephen Michael Lowe about the project.
“Introducing the Management” (About KOBAL) has been
updated to reflect the recent changes and in the “Beer!”
section you’ll find a scan of the Big Issue’s interview
with co-writer/director Mark Distin, held just prior to the premiere
at Contact.
Finally, a hearty congratulations to the 24:7 folk nominated for
a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award - fingers crossed that the
nominations turn into something more tangible on the 2nd December!
More news and such soon folks!
We're Wandering to Bolton
August 13th 2008
The top dogs and fat cats (who aren’t really canine, feline
or obese – although they are, as Mancunian’s circa 1996
would say, “top”) of 24:7 Theatre Festival and Bolton
Octagon have officially announced that KOBAL are one of the “Four
of the Best at 24:7” and as such will be performing “Dave
& Jeff versus the crazed corpse-loving consultant from cardiothoracics”
in the Bill Naughton Studio on the 4th and 6th September.
If you missed the production at 24:7 Theatre Festival, let us fill
you in. Given four stars by the Manchester Evening News and described
by NothingChronicle.com as “A roller coaster of slapstick
humour, witty wordplay and larger than life characters”, the
show follows nightshift morticians Dave and Jeff as their evening
of slacking is interrupted by the arrival of an re-animated bride
and the trouble that follows her.
It appears that people took heed of UKTheatre.net’s review
– “everything the mad-cap title promises and absolutely
in keeping with the spirit of fringe theatre. Book now.” –
as the show was a sell-out success. It is because of the audience
support, great reviews and immensely positive feedback that we have
been invited to participate in “Four of the Best”, so
thank you to everyone who has seen – and enjoyed – the
production.
If you want to be join the group of intelligent, witty and sexy
people we call our audience then visit www.octagonbolton.co.uk or
ring their box office on 01204 520661. The production is on Thursday
4th and Saturday 6th September (along with “Ways to look at
fish”), starts at 7.30pm and costs £10 (£8 concessions).
It's over already? Encore!
August 1st 2008
After all the hard work and effort over the last
seven months, it's hard to believe the 24:7 Theatre Festival is
over already. What a week - sixteen brilliant shows in four venues
over seven days. Don't worry if you missed it though as the Bolton
Octagon will be showcasing "Four of the Best" between
the 4th and 6th September; an official announcement of which four
shows will come on the 11th August, but you can guess from our happy
demeanour that we already know one of them.
Sorry we haven't been keeping you updated as the
festival week went on but the tangled web that is the internet has
been giving us some technical issues to contend with, as if we weren't
busy enough. Despite this we've fought through the quagmire of techno-jargon
to provide you with reviews on"Dave & Jeff Versus the Crazed
Corpse-Loving Consultant from Cardiothoracics" from various
sites (available on the "Autopsy"
section of the Show page), as well as a round-up of the production
week from our Technical Manager Matt Lever.
Speaking of managers, it is our pleasure and privilege
to announce that our long-time collaborator Catherine Manford will
be stepping into the role of Creative Manager, which was recently
vacated by stand-up extraordinaire Marcus McMillan. We've no doubt
she'll prove herself to be as much an asset behind the scenes as
she does on the stage.
So there you have it, sorry there's not much else
to add at the mo, what with official announcements still pending
and the technical problems currently beleaguering us we unfortunately
can't bring you more. However be sure to come back on the 11th August,
when we'll have photos from 24:7 and big news about "Four of
the Best". In the meantime keep an eye on www.247theatrefestival.co.uk
and we?ll see you soon!
Production week ahoy!
July 19th 2008
The 24:7 Theatre Festival starts on Monday, showcasing 16 shows
of new writing, presented by a whole heap of talent, not least us.
KOBAL (if you didn't know already) are performing and to tickle
your fancy in these last few hours to our first show on Monday,
we've added biographies of the cast and director to their headshots,
along with a few more rehearsal photos, all of which can be found
in the shows section of the website.
Also, if you're were unlucky enough to miss it on the telly, visit
www.channelm.co.uk
and watch City Life to see a feature on us and 24:7.
We'll bring you more over the course of the production - we hope
to see you there!
Cooking up a great Show
4th July 2008
Things are moving thick and fast here at KOBAL. Rehearsals are progressing
apace and the promotion for the production has kicked up a gear
with the arrival (and indeed distribution) of the posters and flyers.
However amidst all this activity Producer Mark and Tech top dog
Matt have managed to squeeze in time to not only write up their
experiences on the show so far, but cook up a recipe for the perfect
fake blood and also take some rehearsal photos. Not at the same
time obviously, but they have been busy nonetheless.
Also new to the site is the article from Friday 20th June’s
Manchester Evening News detailing Vicky Binns’ move from simply
supporting the 24:7 Theatre Festival to actually being in our production.
More photos and info to follow shortly, including details of Dark
Smile’s radio production featuring Dave & Jeff and of
course plenty more about the 24:7 production.
KOBAL goes multimedia!
18th June 2008
Following the media launch of 24:7,
brand spanking new video footage can be found in the Gallery
section of the Dave And Jeff page.
Busy like busy bees
7th June 2008
It’s been a busy couple of
months for KOBAL, due to 24:7 Theatre Festival gearing up for their
media launch on the 16th June. We’ve attended their producer’s
day and the organised chaos that was “the Big Gathering”
– to which we thank the hundreds of actors and technicians
who queued to offer their services. It was fantastic to see so much
passion and commitment for fringe theatre.
After a chance to catch our breath we set about short-listing the
two hundred plus CV’s we’d received, before choosing
a cast of seven from the fifty fantastically talented people we
auditioned over the course of two weeks. Again, we want to thank
everyone who made the effort to come to our auditions and call-backs
at Sunshine Studios – especially those who attended the evening
of Wednesday 14th (word to the wise, don’t hold auditions
in the centre of Manchester when the city is hosting the UEFA Cup
final) – you made the experience an enjoyable one for the
production team.
It was a ridiculously difficult decision but we finally selected
our very own Magnificent Seven; a good mix of new blood and old
faces whose names can be found here.
We assembled our band of daring doers last weekend at TV21 for the
first ever read-through of the script and it was such a success
that the show’s writer had tears of joy welling up behind
his jam-jar specs on more than one occasion. In fact you might be
able to spot the big Jessie weeping in the photos on the show’s
brand new webpage here.
While we’re on the subject of the website, several sections
have been updated and added, including pages for “Dave
& Jeff versus the crazed corpse-loving consultant from cardiothoracics”
and last summer’s festival short “Little
Tin Rock God”.
Elsewhere in the world of KOBAL it’s been a pretty mixed bag.
On the bright side independent comic publishers AccentUK released
their “Robots” Anthology, which features “Teruo”,
written by perennial KOBAL actor Paul Bowles and drawn by our artist/web
designer Marleen Lowe. Every silver lining seems to have a dark
cloud however, and floating above our shiny world like a dirty sheep
filled with helium comes the sad news that our Creative Manager
Marcus McMillan has left us to focus on individual projects. In
this we wish him every success and say a big thank you for all his
hard work over the last couple of years.
Anyway, less of this melancholy – onwards and upwards! With
24:7’s media launch only a few days away I’m sure there’ll
be more news and updates coming thick and fast – keep an eye
out!
The calm before the storm
15th April 2008
“It’s oh so quiet”,
or so diminutive Icelandic singer/barmpot Björk claimed; and
to be fair if she was referring to KOBAL’s last few months she’d
have been right. We hope you didn’t take our lack of news as
indication that we’re dead in the water, because beneath our
calm surface hides a veritable U-boat of activity, just waiting for
the order to strike.
That figurative order came earlier this week with confirmation that
KOBAL Theatre Company will be performing their new play, “Dave
& Jeff Versus the Crazed Corpse-loving Consultant from Cardiothoracics”,
as part of the 24:7 Theatre Festival in Manchester this July! The
festival runs from 21st to 27th July and we’ll bring you details
on the venue and performance times soon, along with information on
the show’s open auditions.
Last week also brought great news for both us and the wireless. Another
story about our favourite morticians, “Dave & Jeff Versus
the Maniacal Cannibal Orderlies from the Missing Floor”, will
be recorded as part of Dark Smile Productions’ show “Chief
Surgeon Mal Practeeeece’s Theatre of Horror” this summer.
As Distin & Lowe’s first foray into radio we’ll be
keeping a close eye on this and get back to you with more details
soon.
In other news, you may notice that certain pages on the site are down.
This may be a pain at the minute but we’re currently updating
and improving these pages. Once it’s complete you’ll thank
us, even if it’s just a little.
So there you have it; if you have a hankering for comedy set in morgue
about a couple of slackers facing off against the forces of evil then
you’re in for a great summer. More soon.
Hello and welcome to 2008!
6th February 2008
Granted, we’re just over a month into the year but we have
nary had a chance to look up from our work to notice. However, our
toiling away has led to confirmation that our application has been
received – Kobal have submitted a new play for this year’s
24:7 Theatre Festival in Manchester.
2007 went incredibly well for us. Coming off the back of “Beer!”
at Contact in Manchester during December ’06, we performed
an adapted “half pint” version at Buxton Fringe Festival
and a new piece “Little Tin Rock God” at Oldham Coliseum’s
“Wordsmith ‘07” festival and “Blue 5”
at Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre. You may already know
this, heck you may have even seen them; but it helps to know where
we’ve been to help see where we’re going.
It seems appropriate then that, five years to the week after we
premiered “Dave & Jeff Versus the Evil Blood-Sucking Zombie
Clowns from the Nth Dimension” that we’ve submitted
“Dave & Jeff Versus the Crazed Corpse-Loving Consultant
from Cardiothoracics” to 24:7. This isn’t a sequel or
a rehash of the sketch-based movie parody play, but rather a whole
new script by Stephen Michael Lowe centring on
the titular morticians. Partly because they’re such versatile
and amusing characters but mainly because Steve’s not very
creative and tends to fall back on past glories.
So with our fingers crossed for good news from 24:7 in April, we
turn to see what else has been happening in the world of Kobal.
First up is a belated hip-hip-hooray to luminous talent Catherine
Murphy and her fiancé Jason who got married in October!
Then there’s the news that our perennial dogsbody Paul
Bowles and our resident artist/web-designer/genius Marleen
Lowe will have their comic “Teruo” included
in Accent UK’s “Robot” Anthology to be published
this spring; a feat to be repeated in Accent’s subsequent
anthology “Cowboy”, which will include Marleen and her
brother Stephen’s first comic collaboration “The Legend
of El Burro”. Details on the anthologies can be found at www.accentukcomics.com.
Finally, man among men Wes Thomas proved to the
world that his wiggly little loin army know how to march when his
girlfriend Andrea gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Aimee, in
October. Congratulations to everyone.
Oh and by the way, a belated happy new year to you all from Kobal!
Archives
Check the Archives for news of KOBAL's activities from 2004-2007,
including the run-up to (and immediate aftermath of) the Manchester
début of Beer!...
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