Site search

Alice In Wonderland - Adult Pantomime

Sleeping Beauty Pantomime

We Chat to NTU Graduate and World-Renowned Filmmaker Jeanie Finlay About Her Long-Standing Connection to Broadway Cinema

One of the most notable aspects of Nottingham is the rich film scene and array of fantastic independent cinemas available in the city. We chat to NTU graduate and world-renowned filmmaker Jeanie Finlay about her long-standing connection to Nottingham’s Broadway Cinema, how she got into documentary making, and her latest award-winning film Your Fat Friend…

Tom Hopcroft Pantomime Day

We Catch Up With Documentary Maker Jeanie Finlay About Her New Film ‘Your Fat Friend'

Known for her ability to tell human stories with respect, intrigue, and honesty, Nottingham-based Jeanie Finlay has established herself as one of the country’s finest documentary-makers. Now, she’s releasing her ninth feature, Your Fat Friend, which tells the story of anonymous blogger turned best-selling author Aubrey Gordon. We hear all about it…

Nottingham Playhouse's Adam Penford on This Year's Live and Online Pantomime, Cinderella

Cinderella will go to the ball! The Nottingham Playhouse panto will be going ahead this Christmas, despite the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown. It will look a little different – and, for the first time in years, there is a new writer/director at the helm: Artistic Director, Adam Penford. Our Stage Editor Rebecca Buck caught up with him for a chat...

Theatre Royal Is Staging a Socially-Distanced Sleeping Beauty This Christmas

To them, to you...

Nottingham Playhouse Will Be Performing Cinderella For This Year's Panto

Despite current restrictions, Nottingham Playhouse are determined not to let Coronavirus ruin Christmas…

Confetti Industry Week 2020: Stephen Graham, Jeanie Finlay and Julian Foddy

Confetti's Industry Week is now in its 14th year, giving students the chance to hear from experts in film and television. We checked out the highlights... 

Notts’ Panto Legends Kenneth Alan Taylor and John Elkington on Bringing Sleeping Beauty to the Playhouse This Christmas

This year marks 35 years since Kenneth Alan Taylor first brought pantomime to the Nottingham Playhouse when he arrived as Artistic Director. For a generation, his gentle northern tones were the voice of the quintessential panto dame, a role he reprised over and over before hanging up the costume changes for writing instead. It’s also been 21 years since John Elkington first appeared in a Playhouse panto and solidified himself as the current dame of choice. Our Stage Editor – and massive panto fan – sat down with them both during rehearsals for Sleeping Beauty to find out about this year’s production… 

Theatre Review: Sleeping Beauty at Nottingham Playhouse

Kenneth Alan-Taylor’s 37th Pantomime at Nottingham Playhouse is a glitter-filled, magical celebration of the traditions of panto that will delight audiences of all ages.

Review: Jeanie Barton at Peggy's Skylight

Adrian Shaw headed down to Peggy's Skylight to check out the musical talents of Jeanie Barton...

Award-Winning Documentary Maker Jeanie Finlay on Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth

We might only be in June, but 2019 has been a very busy year for Jeanie Finlay. The Broadway-based filmmaker has followed up the success of her 2015 film Orion: The Man Who Would be King with not one, but two enormous, yet wildly different films. We caught up with the award-winning documentary maker to talk about both projects, starting with Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth, a film that follows Freddy McConnell, a transgender man, on his path to parenthood after making the decision to carry his child himself…

Nottingham-Based Award-Winning Film Maker Jeanie Finlay on Her Official Game of Thrones Documentary The Last Watch

We talk to the Notts-based documentary maker, about Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, the film she crafted after spending a year embedded during filming of the final series of the HBO hit series…

Panto Review: Beauty and the Beast at Nottingham Arts Theatre

We got down to Nottingham Arts Theatre to check out this year’s panto: Beauty and the Beast…

Panto Review: Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood at Nottingham Playhouse

We got down to Nottingham Playhouse to catch this year’s panto: Robin Hood and the Babes in The Wood…

Jeanie Finlay on Orion: The Man Who Would Be King

A man who sounded exactly like Elvis made a record that ended up at Riverside Festival. Luckily, it went into the hands of one of our favourite local filmmakers

Jeanie Finlay on Pantomime

Unenamoured with celebrity, Jeanie Finlay documents real people doing, well, real things - from goths to fibbing Scottish emcees, to the last of Nottingham’s lace manufacturers. In her latest film, she focused her lens on the Nottingham Arts Theatre’s panto, Puss in Boots, catching the triumphs and tragedies of the players who make Christmas magical for so many...

Interview: Kenneth Alan Taylor

Kenneth Alan Taylor has spent a lifetime playing panto dames but he’ll finally hang up his sequined frocks and beehive wigs after this Christmas. More than a man in a dress, he also writes and directs the Playhouse pantos he stars in. His career hasn’t been all fairy dust and glass slippers though, there’s been Coronation Street and ‘serious’ theatre too...

Jeanie Finlay on The Great Hip Hop Hoax

In 2003 Sony signed two Californian rappers, Silibil n’ Brains, to their label and hailed them as the next big thing. Friends with the likes of Madonna and tour buddies with Eminem, they seemed destined for stardom. The only problem was, it was all an elaborate lie: they were actually two lads from Dundee who had created fake personas after being ignored by the industry because of their Scottish accents. The Great Hip Hop Hoax is the documentary that tells their tale. We caught up with filmmaker Jeanie Finlay and collaborative illustrator Jon Burgerman to see how they went about separating the truth from the lie...

Interview: Fists

The on-their-own-terms, no-compromise, if-you-want-something-done-properly-do-it-yourself attitude of Fists has made them one of the most respected bands in town. We asked James Findlay and Angi Fletcher why it took ‘em so long to play a gig, and in which decade we could expect an LP...

Interview: Jeanie Finlay on Sound It Out

Originally from the North East, but now firmly established in Nottingham as both an artist and a film maker, both music and community have played a big role in Jeanie Finlay's work. Now the two come together for her latest project, Sound It Out - an observational, documentary portrait about Teeside's last surviving independent record shop...