Newsrevue
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NewsRevue is a topical, satirical song and sketch show based at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice, London and annually at the Edinburgh Festival. It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest running live comedy show.
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[edit] Format
[edit] Personnel
On the performance side, the team consists (almost always) of two male and two female performers, a director and a musical director - all of which change every six weeks. On the writing side, however, there is no such rotation, and some writers have stayed with the show for several years.
The performers, director and musical director for the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival run are chosen from the best of the preceding year's talent.
[edit] Content
The content is a series of short satirical sketches and gags coupled with spoofs of popular songs, targeting various aspect of the daily news from politics to show business. It has been compared to Spitting Image, The News Quiz, Beyond The Fringe and many other topical, satirical shows.
The show is about an hour long. In London, NewsRevue runs every Thursday to Sunday, 50 weeks a year, and is updated on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. On average, between 15 and 30% of the show is updated from one week to the next.
[edit] Early History
NewsRevue was started in 1979 by Mike Hodd and Jack Thorington who were, at that time, writing on BBC Radio 4's topical show Weekending. Hodd and Thorington took the inaugural show to the Edinburgh Festival on 18 August 1979 and it proved so successful that it later transferred to The King's Head Theatre in London for a lunchtime season.
The show headed back to Edinburgh in 1980 and was awarded a Fringe First by The Scotsman. The show then transferred to The Gate Theatre in Notting Hill and in March 1981, started a continuously-updated regular run. The team from Weekending allowed NewsRevue to use scripts submitted to the radio programme, and Lee Cornes, Mark Elliot and Stephen Frost made up the cast. Along with Mark Arden, this team were later to form BBC Radio 4's The Wow Show.
At the 1981 Edinburgh Festival, NewsRevue played the 650-seat auditorium at the Assembly Rooms and was nominated for a Perrier Award. After an unsuccessful attempt to transfer to the Fortune Theatre in London's West End, NewsRevue missed the 1982 Edinburgh Festival - the only time it has failed to appear since.
NewsRevue transferred from The Gate to the Canal Cafe Theatre in 1984, and has remained there ever since. In 2004 the show was awarded a Guinness World Record for the world's longest running live comedy show on the occasion of its 25th birthday.
Since its opening night in 1979, NewsRevue has performed well over 7,000 shows, presenting over 10,000 sketches and songs to a total audience of over 350,000. It has used more than 1,000 actors, musical directors and directors, and over 500 writers have had their material in the show.
[edit] Alumni
Given the large number of people associated with NewsRevue over the years, this list can only constitute a very small selection, and it has been gleaned from the Canal Cafe Theatre's records.
[edit] Performers
Lee Cornes, Paul Mark Elliott, Stephen Frost, Rory Bremner[1], Bill Bailey, Alistair McGowan, Arthur Bostrom, Saskia Reeves, John Sparkes, Nick Wilton, Michelle Collins, Elizabeth Bower and Rupert Degas.
Ben Elton auditioned for the show but was not cast as his singing and dancing were not felt to be up to scratch.
[edit] Writers
Mike Hodd, Jack Thorington, Nick Yapp, John Random, Noel Christopher, Ian Christiansen, Nick Revell, Brian Jordan, Rob Newman, Simon Townley, Mark Brissenden, Barry Grossman, Ivan Shakespeare, Terry Newman, Marc Blakewill, James Harris, Simon Ounsworth, Colin Stutt, Simon Blackwell, Alan Stafford, Christopher Hale, Terry Newman, Philip Lunn, Stephen Follows and Laurence Howarth.
[edit] Directors
The theatre's records cite the following directors for outstanding Newsrevue runs:
Edward Wiley, Tim Whitby, Elaine Cook, John Elms, Tania Jones, Diane Messias, Bill Bailey, Denise Thompson, Michael Eriera, Mark Brissenden and Sarah Sylvester.
