Archives

Within these archives you will find, appropriately enough, old news updates from times of yore. You may notice a few inaccuracies in our projected dates and plans but don’t worry, you don’t need to tell us, just laugh and point at us like a school kid who’s just called his teacher “mum”.

NEWS

**CANCELLATION**
September 11th 2009

It is with great regret that Kobal Theatre Company have been forced to cancel the production of “Little Tin Rock God”, scheduled for performance on 8th & 9th October in the Lowry Studio, Salford. Apologies and we’ll be announcing Kobal’s future plans as soon as we can.

Change of Plan
May 18th 2009

We’ve got a good news/bad news situation here folks. First up, the downer: due to a myriad of issues our Edinburgh production (and subsequent tour) of “Dave & Jeff Versus...” has unfortunately had to be postponed. Conversely, part of the reason why we’ve had to take this decision is because Kobal’s management team are expecting not one but three babies during mid-late August! That’s one single and a set of twins folks – congratulations to Mark & Martha and Catherine & Jason on their baby-making efforts thus far.

These arrivals will be joining two more recent additions to the Kobal brood, since habitual ad-libber Paul Bowles and his wife Angela have welcomed a son, Luke, to their household and recurrent actor James Kilgour and his fiancée Helen have also been blessed with a boy, Logan. So yay to them too!

Don’t think that our preoccupation with the Kobal crèche puts our plans for world domination on hold though, as we are proud to announce that Distin & Lowe are hard at work putting the finishing touches to a full-length version of “Little Tin Rock God”. The production will premiere at the Lowry on 8th and 9th October this year. More details will follow shortly, along with some other little tidbits for your enjoyment.

(Almost) March already?!
February 27th 2009

Happy New Year everybody! Belated maybe, but heartfelt nonetheless. So, three months into 2009 and what does the year hold for Kobal? The Edinburgh Fringe and a North West tour, that’s what. Details are still being confirmed by those that can, however we are delighted to confirm that we are taking “Dave & Jeff Versus the Crazed Corpse-Loving Consultant from Cardiothoracics” to the Pleasance as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August before going on a tour around the North West of England during September and October. We’ll bring you specifics on both the Fringe and the tour productions as soon as we can.

Elsewhere in the world of Kobal there’s the news that Catherine Manford is currently touring with Opus Theatre Company around Staffordshire in “Bride or Groom” by Bill Cashmore & Andy Powrie; performance details are available on their website www.opustheatrecompany.com.

Also on tour (wearing his lighting technician mask and cape) is Mark Distin with some show called “The Tempest” by a guy called Shakespeare. The tour is kicking off in Stratford-Upon-Avon before tootling around the UK. For dates go to www.rsc.org.uk.

Another place to keep an eye out is over at Dark Smile Productions, where they are currently putting the finishing touches to their radio play “Chief Surgeon Mal Practeeeece’s Theatre of Horror” which features the short “Dave & Jeff Versus the Maniacal Cannibal Orderlies on the Missing Floor”. For more info visit www.darksmile.co.uk.

So that’s where we’re currently at. We’re excited, hope you are.

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!

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!

How’s your pint?
14th August 2007

As promised here are the thoughts of not one, but TWO members of KOBAL’s Management Team on our recent delivery of “Beer!” to Buxton Fringe Festival. The company’s Creative Director (Stephen Michael Lowe) and Technical Manager (Matt Lever) give their opinion on the happenings both leading up to and during the production, with a photo or two for good measure.

The big changes on the site are that we now have a forum section. It’s still in the experimental stages as we’re not sure how much use this will be and as such it’s a freebie one with loads of adverts from the evil internet overlords.

In other news, we’ve performed at Oldham Coliseum in their “Wordsmith ‘07” writing festival and “Blue 5” at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. The cast did brilliantly, in fact the Manchester Evening News said “Paul Bowles, Marcus McMillan and Catherine Murphy…gave fine performances” and they’re not wrong. We’ll bring you further details on these as soon as we can, including recollections on the performances and some pictures of the latter’s production.

For those of you hoping to find out what we’re up to next, unfortunately that’s a trade secret; for the minute at least. Our management are back in the development and proposal stages for future productions but rest assured we’ll give you news as soon as we can. In the meantime we’ll try to keep you satisfied with yet more feedback on our recent crazy time!

What a week!
23rd July 2007

Did you see it?

It felt like last week went by in the blink of an eye but it’s done, after six months of preparation KOBAL performed their “Half Pint” edition of “Beer!” as part of Buxton Fringe Festival. If you’re curious to know how it went, have a read of the review taken from the Fringe’s official website here. Any spelling errors are direct from their site so don’t blame us (Stephen will cry if you do). The over-riding feeling of the company is that it was a great experience with the only major downside being the bloody awful weather.

As well as Buxton, KOBAL took part in “Platform” last Thursday as part of Oldham Coliseum’s Wordsmith Writing Festival. Performing an in utero version of “Little Tin Rock God” in order to garner opinion on the piece before its full premiere this Thursday at the Royal Exchange, the evening served as a great introduction to some and a “hello again” to others. Feedback was very positive and the actors are straight back in rehearsals this week so they’re fully prepared for the 26th; not that they need much polishing, everyone involved did us proud and if you miss them in “Blue 5” the loss is yours.

Look out for more updates over the coming weeks, including cast and crew’s thoughts on Buxton, a lowdown on “Blue 5” and also a barrage of photos from “Beer!” including a few of the cast in various states of undress – oo-er!

Stay tuned and stay lucky!

The Month Ahead
30th June 2007

It appears that July will be a very busy month for KOBAL, what with "Beer!" at the Buxton Fringe Festival between 15th and 18th July, taking part in Oldham Coliseum's "Wordsmith '07" on the 19th and now...Blue!

Yes, we'll be taking a turn for the dramatic in "Blue 5" at Manchester's Royal Exchange with "Little Tin Rock God", Distin & Lowe's dark tale of death and celebrity. Thursday 26th July, Royal Exchange Theatre, St. Ann's Square, Manchester. Tickets cost £5 and are selling fast. To book ring 0161 833 9833 or visit www.royalexchange.co.uk for details.

Also, if you follow this link here you'll find the poster for "Beer!" at Buxton. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that it's a variation on the poster for December's production at Contact, but when the original was so good why start over!

"Are you not entertained?"
13th June 2007

Howdy folks. This week has been a biggy for KOBAL as rehearsals for the Buxton Fringe version of "Beer!" started - very well they went as well. It was great to have the cast together again and breathing life into the updated script.

We also received this from the powers that be at Oldham Coliseum about the Wordsmith Writing Festival - or "Wordsmith '07" as it is now known. They have a great selection of events planned including the premiere of this year's winning Alfred Bradley Bursary Award play, a masterclass with legendary playwright John Godber and, well, us. Here's the snippet of their press release that refers to our performance...

Thu 19 July 7.30pm
Platform
Human Pyramid Theatre Company
Second Nature Theatre Company
KOBAL Theatre Company

"Introducing Platform, which offers small scale theatre companies from across the region a chance to experiment with studio work and get feedback from industry professionals. Three companies will present extracts of their developmental projects. It's also an opportunity for you, the audience, to have your say and contribute towards the future direction of the pieces and the North West's exciting fringe theatre scene."

Performances & discussion £4
Bookings through Box Office on 0161 624 2829.
For more info visit www.coliseum.org.uk

KOBAL becomes a Gladiator
8th May 2007

No, our mascot isn't doing a Russell Crowe and (allegedly) going toe-to-toe with the paparazzi; nor will we be hitting Wolf with a giant cotton bud. The (rather misleading) title actually refers to the news that KOBAL will be participating in the Oldham Coliseum's (geddit?) Wordsmith Writing Festival in July. It appears all those proposals we've being writing were worth it. More details to follow soon.

High Praise Indeed
2nd May 2007

It's a busy time here at KOBAL Central - we're preparing proposals for future shows, writing draft scripts and prepping for Buxton Fringe Festival - and there are times in all this madness when we lose perspective. Thankfully Kismet tends to throw something at us which makes us realise what all the effort is for and today we received this sound bite about December's production from none other than award winning stand-up comedian and Xfm Breakfast Host Jason Manford:

"Beer!" is funnier than someone farting and sneezing at the same time."

Which we take as a good thing.

More news soon folks!

Happy Easter
20th April 2007

Did you enjoy Easter? Get many eggs? Presents? Lincoln logs in your sock drawer? If you did then well done you, if not then don’t worry because we’ve got plenty of goodies for you right here. That’s goodies as in gifts, not the seventies comedy trio.

Let’s kick off with the changes to the site. The more astute of you will have noticed that the news articles for 2006 recently found their way into the archives – it’s the best place for them, they’ve got plenty of room to run around and play with their archived friends.

The other biggie is that in order to avoid any confusion the “Beer!” sub-site has been split to differentiate the last production at Contact with our up-coming presentation at the Buxton Fringe. We’ll be updating the new section with exciting tid-bits and goings on as and when we have chance.

Now on to the new stuff which, ironically enough, is all to do with the old production of “Beer!” at Contact. Firstly there’s the biographies for the veritable man-mountains that are our sound and lighting designers, David Wimpenny and Tom “Dexter” Scott; then there’s the long overdue second half of Stephen Michael Lowe’s recollections on the production and finally a few image captures for the show itself.

As well as the changes and additions there is also the news that KOBAL has finally got its act together and joined MySpace. You can find us here so why not have a look, add a comment, maybe even be our friend.

Finally there’s the fact that we will soon be organising auditions for a couple of (as yet secret) future productions. So if you are a) talented and b) interested then please feel free to email your CV's and head shots to kobaltheatre@hotmail.co.uk

So there you have it. Hopefully there’s enough here to keep you occupied until our next update. Have fun and don’t forget to book your tickets for Buxton soon!

After our success bringing "Beer!" to Contact in Manchester, KOBAL are taking our special brew to the Buxton Fringe Festival. We'll be performing a new "half pint" version of the script - shorter measure, sharper jokes, bigger laughs - at "Nice One" in the Old Clubhouse from 15th to 18th July. the performances will start at 9.30pm and finish in plenty of time to get to the bar for last orders.

So there it is, the big news we've been promising. In other news, Peter Lord throws his two-penneth in about his experiences with "Beer!" here, originally written at Christmas before he got himself an agent (oo-er). Click here to read them.

Keep coming back as there'll be more news to follow soon, including details of Stephen's cack-handed attempt to set up KOBAL's MySpace.

BEER!
18th December 2006
That's it! "Beer!" is done and dusted, a little over two years after Distin & Lowe first scribbled the title on the page. The show went incredibly well, thanks in no small part to the great audience we had; if you were one of the many may we say a great big thank you!

If you want to offer some feedback on the show or the website, ask a question or just rant about something in particular then email us, we're always keen to talk to strangers, despite what our parents warned us. If you're more a voyeur however then keep popping by the site, as updates from the director and producer will be posted later this week, along with news on what KOBAL plans to do next.

Radio Gaga
10th December 2006
Marconi's little box of tricks seems to be going mad for KOBAL. After Friday's shout-out by Jason Manford on Xfm's breakfast show, Distin and Lowe are appearing on 96.9 All fm's Artbeat Show, presented by Andrew Edwards, between 1-2pm today and on Radio Manchester tomorrow at 3:30pm. Listen in for fun and frolics!

The Beer! is Fermenting
23rd November 2006
KOBAL's producer Marcus updates his blog... a little late. Click here to read it.

Beer! Progress Report 1
21st October 2006
Sparky Bebe (aka Mark Distin) presents an update on the world-o-Beer! Click here to read it.

16th November 2005
The calm before the storm

26th February 2005
Beer! Tasting

23rd February 2005
Introducing Mistah Samuel Lowe!

9th February 2005
Beer! Still Fermenting

31st January 2005
Female Fancies Revisited

6th December 2004
The results are in...

17th November 2004
KOBAL Needs YOU!