You can keep regularly updated with all the latest on Bruno right here, and if you wish to contact me about anything to do with Bruno or the website, then please feel free to email me!
Laura xx
A Celebrity Gala Evening
Fans - A Taste Of Honey In Nottingham
Theatre Royal
Nottingham
24/6/06
by Laura
I was really looking forward to seeing A Taste Of Honey again. As I hadn't seen it since Oldham two months ago, I was really curious about how it might have changed (if at all), and seeing how the actors have now grown and settled into their roles.
Richmond was the nearest theatre to me, but I ended up going to see the play again in Nottingham, which meant another long journey! My grandparents live in Grantham though, which isn't far from Nottingham, so this actually ended up being the easiest option for me. Me and my mum planned to take my grandma to the theatre to see the show, and also meet up with Angie again.
By the time Saturday morning came along, however, I really wasn't feeling up to going. I'd attended a charity ball the evening before and had got dreadfully drunk and so I woke up in the morning with a terrible hangover, coupled with tiredness as I'd only had about 3 hours sleep because we were catching the 6am train to London!
I managed to literally drag myself there though, and I'm really glad I did, as I ended up having a great time!
Unfortunately, the theatre wasn't very full for the matinee performance (probably less than half the available audience), and so this meant that I didn't enjoy the performance as much as I did in Oldham. When there is a packed audience (like the two times I saw it in Oldham), there is a much bigger level of audience participation and, consequently, a really electric atmosphere. This, unfortunately, is something that was lacking here.
The performance was really good, however, and I really enjoyed it, especially seeing the changes and how it differed to Oldham.
The cast now have a great rapport going on stage and seem to have become really close- there is a great bond between them all, and this really shows in the performance.
I felt that Samantha Robinson (Jo) and Chris Jack (Jimmy) had kept their performances at the same level, whereas Bruno (Geoffrey), Samantha Giles (Helen) and Andonis Anthony (Peter) had all upped their game and gave even better performances than they had in Oldham. I was especially impressed with Samantha Giles- in Oldham, I had felt that she was slightly over the top with her portrayal of Helen, to the extent that she was in danger of becoming a mere caricature. The improvement in her performance is fantastic though. She has now toned down her performance a lot and is now much more “equal” to Samantha Robinson's Jo.
Bruno is now slightly more camp as Geoffrey, but still gives a very subtle and understated performance. His dancing has improved immensely- in Oldham, I felt that he looked rather stiff as he was dancing and appeared to be stomping all over the place. Now though- well, the boy's got rhythm!!
Bruno just gets better and better performing on stage, and I think that he has a great career ahead of him as a stage actor, if this is the type of acting he would like to do more of. Considering that he only made his professional stage debut a year ago, he really is a complete natural on the stage and has taken to this style of acting like a duck to water.
Most plays go through a number of changes, and A Taste Of Honey is no different. It was interesting to see what changes they have made since Oldham, and I noted down the following:
- They've done something about the much criticised slowness of the first half. This half seems to have gelled together a lot more and also seems quicker in pace too.
- The scene where Jimmy mimes to a song on the radio in the first half has been cut. Instead of Jimmy miming to the song, he just walks away as the song plays. It's a shame they've cut this part out, but I think it was necessary as it really didn't add anything to the play, and cutting it out helps to quicken the pace.
- In Oldham, Jo walked to the front of the stage as the curtain closed behind her at the end of the first act. She then began to panic as she couldn't find her way back through the curtain, and started to hit the curtain and struggle to get back through. This wonderful touching scene ended with Jo bursting into tears and running off down the centre aisle of the auditorium. Sadly though, this scene has now been cut. Instead, the first half ends with Jo just standing on the stage as the curtain falls. There isn't a centre aisle at the Theatre Royal, so obviously they couldn't have done that bit, but I think they should have kept the curtain bit in. I was disappointed that this has been cut out as, for me, it was one of the most powerful scenes of the performances I saw in Oldham.
- At the beginning of the second half, Geoffrey usually pushes Jo down the stairs in a pram. However, the pram unfortunately broke in Richmond, and they haven't bothered to fix it! This means that Geoffrey now gives Jo a piggyback down the stairs instead! I think the pram worked so much better though, but the piggyback is a nice, fun alternative!
- Geoffrey's first dance (when he dances by himself to Cliff Richard's Move It) has been extended, which was good to see! It went on forever, for the whole of the song!! I hear that it has been receiving fantastic responses throughout the tour though, so perhaps it was extended due to popular demand! Once again, the dance was very funny to watch- especially the newly added part when he was checking his backside out in the mirror! There is also another very funny added bit where Geoffrey grabs his feather duster, holds it up to his mouth, and mimes to the song!
- Geoffrey's second dance, when he dances with Jo to When by The Kalin Twins, was also very well done, although I was disappointed to see that they have cut out the bit where Bruno does a somersault onto the sofa. The scene where Geoffrey rides around the stage on a tiny bicycle during the song, is still there, although the bike is now slightly bigger than the tiny one they had in Oldham! Bruno wasn't as daring on this new bike though, and didn't go racing around the edge of the stage. In fact, disappointingly, his bicycle ride stopped quite short.
- During one scene in the second half, Geoffrey exclaims, "women!" In Oldham, he rolled his eyes and looked out to the audience as he said it. In Nottingham, he did this again, although it seemed more exaggerated and more obvious this time.
- During the scene in the second half when Jo feels her unborn baby kick for the first time, she no longer throws her arm out and screams "wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
- During another scene in the second half, Jo says she's Irish and Geoffrey says that it's not her fault- Jo then says that she likes him, to which Geoffrey replies in an Irish accent, "do you like me more than you don't like me or don't you like me more than you do?" This wasn't said in an Irish accent in Oldham. I think the line works better said in the accent though, and Bruno really does put on a perfect Irish accent; this reminded me of my first meeting with Bruno in October when he was doing an impersonation of an Irish teacher who came to see him in Romeo & Juliet!
- Geoffrey now wears an apron whilst he does the cooking and washing in the second half. It's a simple change, but one which I think works well and adds a little something extra to Geoffrey's character.
- The scene where Geoffrey kisses Jo and she struggles against him has been extended. Rather than a slightly lingering kiss on the lips, there are now quite a few lingering kisses on the lips- Geoffrey kisses Jo and then stops. He then kisses her again and pulls away. And then he kisses her again and pulls away. And then he kisses her again, before pulling away once more. Lucky Samantha Robinson!
- During a particular scene when Jo is throwing a strop and having a go at Geoffrey, Geoffrey now pulls faces and mimicks what she is saying behind her back. This is very funny to watch!
- During the press night performance in Oldham, Peter slapped Geoffrey on the backside whilst being nasty to him in the second half, although he didn't do this during the performance in Oldham the following night. This little scene was back again in Nottingham, however, and it now appears to be a regular fixture as Peter has apparently been slapping Geoffrey's backside regularly during the performances!
All in all, the cast gave a great performance in Nottingham, and I really enjoyed the show. I was lucky to be sat right opposite Bruno when he came to take his bows at the end, and he looked in my direction a few times, although I don't think he saw me.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Bruno after the play this time- but we did meet Samantha Giles and Samantha Robinson. Samantha Giles told us that she didn't think Bruno would be coming out as he and some of the lads were watching the football….typical!! It was lovely meeting the two Samantha's though as I hadn't really met either of them before. We also saw Chris Jack as he crossed the road and he smiled at us. I wasn't too disappointed that we didn't meet Bruno- I was more disappointed for my grandma as I think she would have really liked to have met him.
I'm really sad now that there's only one more week left of the play to go, but I'm excited about Bruno's next project, and looking forward to hearing what that will be!
<< back
Nottingham
24/6/06
by Laura
I was really looking forward to seeing A Taste Of Honey again. As I hadn't seen it since Oldham two months ago, I was really curious about how it might have changed (if at all), and seeing how the actors have now grown and settled into their roles.
Richmond was the nearest theatre to me, but I ended up going to see the play again in Nottingham, which meant another long journey! My grandparents live in Grantham though, which isn't far from Nottingham, so this actually ended up being the easiest option for me. Me and my mum planned to take my grandma to the theatre to see the show, and also meet up with Angie again.
By the time Saturday morning came along, however, I really wasn't feeling up to going. I'd attended a charity ball the evening before and had got dreadfully drunk and so I woke up in the morning with a terrible hangover, coupled with tiredness as I'd only had about 3 hours sleep because we were catching the 6am train to London!
I managed to literally drag myself there though, and I'm really glad I did, as I ended up having a great time!
Unfortunately, the theatre wasn't very full for the matinee performance (probably less than half the available audience), and so this meant that I didn't enjoy the performance as much as I did in Oldham. When there is a packed audience (like the two times I saw it in Oldham), there is a much bigger level of audience participation and, consequently, a really electric atmosphere. This, unfortunately, is something that was lacking here.
The performance was really good, however, and I really enjoyed it, especially seeing the changes and how it differed to Oldham.
The cast now have a great rapport going on stage and seem to have become really close- there is a great bond between them all, and this really shows in the performance.
I felt that Samantha Robinson (Jo) and Chris Jack (Jimmy) had kept their performances at the same level, whereas Bruno (Geoffrey), Samantha Giles (Helen) and Andonis Anthony (Peter) had all upped their game and gave even better performances than they had in Oldham. I was especially impressed with Samantha Giles- in Oldham, I had felt that she was slightly over the top with her portrayal of Helen, to the extent that she was in danger of becoming a mere caricature. The improvement in her performance is fantastic though. She has now toned down her performance a lot and is now much more “equal” to Samantha Robinson's Jo.
Bruno is now slightly more camp as Geoffrey, but still gives a very subtle and understated performance. His dancing has improved immensely- in Oldham, I felt that he looked rather stiff as he was dancing and appeared to be stomping all over the place. Now though- well, the boy's got rhythm!!
Bruno just gets better and better performing on stage, and I think that he has a great career ahead of him as a stage actor, if this is the type of acting he would like to do more of. Considering that he only made his professional stage debut a year ago, he really is a complete natural on the stage and has taken to this style of acting like a duck to water.
Most plays go through a number of changes, and A Taste Of Honey is no different. It was interesting to see what changes they have made since Oldham, and I noted down the following:
- They've done something about the much criticised slowness of the first half. This half seems to have gelled together a lot more and also seems quicker in pace too.
- The scene where Jimmy mimes to a song on the radio in the first half has been cut. Instead of Jimmy miming to the song, he just walks away as the song plays. It's a shame they've cut this part out, but I think it was necessary as it really didn't add anything to the play, and cutting it out helps to quicken the pace.
- In Oldham, Jo walked to the front of the stage as the curtain closed behind her at the end of the first act. She then began to panic as she couldn't find her way back through the curtain, and started to hit the curtain and struggle to get back through. This wonderful touching scene ended with Jo bursting into tears and running off down the centre aisle of the auditorium. Sadly though, this scene has now been cut. Instead, the first half ends with Jo just standing on the stage as the curtain falls. There isn't a centre aisle at the Theatre Royal, so obviously they couldn't have done that bit, but I think they should have kept the curtain bit in. I was disappointed that this has been cut out as, for me, it was one of the most powerful scenes of the performances I saw in Oldham.
- At the beginning of the second half, Geoffrey usually pushes Jo down the stairs in a pram. However, the pram unfortunately broke in Richmond, and they haven't bothered to fix it! This means that Geoffrey now gives Jo a piggyback down the stairs instead! I think the pram worked so much better though, but the piggyback is a nice, fun alternative!
- Geoffrey's first dance (when he dances by himself to Cliff Richard's Move It) has been extended, which was good to see! It went on forever, for the whole of the song!! I hear that it has been receiving fantastic responses throughout the tour though, so perhaps it was extended due to popular demand! Once again, the dance was very funny to watch- especially the newly added part when he was checking his backside out in the mirror! There is also another very funny added bit where Geoffrey grabs his feather duster, holds it up to his mouth, and mimes to the song!
- Geoffrey's second dance, when he dances with Jo to When by The Kalin Twins, was also very well done, although I was disappointed to see that they have cut out the bit where Bruno does a somersault onto the sofa. The scene where Geoffrey rides around the stage on a tiny bicycle during the song, is still there, although the bike is now slightly bigger than the tiny one they had in Oldham! Bruno wasn't as daring on this new bike though, and didn't go racing around the edge of the stage. In fact, disappointingly, his bicycle ride stopped quite short.
- During one scene in the second half, Geoffrey exclaims, "women!" In Oldham, he rolled his eyes and looked out to the audience as he said it. In Nottingham, he did this again, although it seemed more exaggerated and more obvious this time.
- During the scene in the second half when Jo feels her unborn baby kick for the first time, she no longer throws her arm out and screams "wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
- During another scene in the second half, Jo says she's Irish and Geoffrey says that it's not her fault- Jo then says that she likes him, to which Geoffrey replies in an Irish accent, "do you like me more than you don't like me or don't you like me more than you do?" This wasn't said in an Irish accent in Oldham. I think the line works better said in the accent though, and Bruno really does put on a perfect Irish accent; this reminded me of my first meeting with Bruno in October when he was doing an impersonation of an Irish teacher who came to see him in Romeo & Juliet!
- Geoffrey now wears an apron whilst he does the cooking and washing in the second half. It's a simple change, but one which I think works well and adds a little something extra to Geoffrey's character.
- The scene where Geoffrey kisses Jo and she struggles against him has been extended. Rather than a slightly lingering kiss on the lips, there are now quite a few lingering kisses on the lips- Geoffrey kisses Jo and then stops. He then kisses her again and pulls away. And then he kisses her again and pulls away. And then he kisses her again, before pulling away once more. Lucky Samantha Robinson!
- During a particular scene when Jo is throwing a strop and having a go at Geoffrey, Geoffrey now pulls faces and mimicks what she is saying behind her back. This is very funny to watch!
- During the press night performance in Oldham, Peter slapped Geoffrey on the backside whilst being nasty to him in the second half, although he didn't do this during the performance in Oldham the following night. This little scene was back again in Nottingham, however, and it now appears to be a regular fixture as Peter has apparently been slapping Geoffrey's backside regularly during the performances!
All in all, the cast gave a great performance in Nottingham, and I really enjoyed the show. I was lucky to be sat right opposite Bruno when he came to take his bows at the end, and he looked in my direction a few times, although I don't think he saw me.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Bruno after the play this time- but we did meet Samantha Giles and Samantha Robinson. Samantha Giles told us that she didn't think Bruno would be coming out as he and some of the lads were watching the football….typical!! It was lovely meeting the two Samantha's though as I hadn't really met either of them before. We also saw Chris Jack as he crossed the road and he smiled at us. I wasn't too disappointed that we didn't meet Bruno- I was more disappointed for my grandma as I think she would have really liked to have met him.
I'm really sad now that there's only one more week left of the play to go, but I'm excited about Bruno's next project, and looking forward to hearing what that will be!
<< back
Current Projects
Calendar Girls
Genre: Musical Theatre
Character: Lawrence the photographer
Status: Bruno will be joining the tour from July to October in venues throughout Wales, Scotland and Liverpool
Aladdin
Genre: Pantomime
Status: Bruno will be performing in Buxton's annual pantomime of Aladdin throughout the Christmas period this year. Click here to book tickets.
Bruno is also currently working on musical projects. Click here to visit his official MySpace Music page and listen to some of his music! You can also find out more about Bruno and his band by clicking here.
Recent Projects
Intimate Strangers
Genre: Play
Status: Bruno participated in an industry reading of Bob Ellis and Denny Lawrence's new play, directed by Greta Scacchi and produced by Andrew Jenkins.
gallery | info | website
Flashdance The Musical
Genre: Musical Theatre
Character: Jimmy Kaminsky
Status: Toured throughout the UK from July 2008 to May 2009.
gallery | info | website
Genre: Play
Status: Bruno participated in an industry reading of Bob Ellis and Denny Lawrence's new play, directed by Greta Scacchi and produced by Andrew Jenkins.
Flashdance The Musical
Genre: Musical Theatre
Character: Jimmy Kaminsky
Status: Toured throughout the UK from July 2008 to May 2009.
gallery | info | website
Coronation Street
Genre: TV
Character: Todd Grimshaw
Status: Bruno reprised his role as Todd in October and November 2007
gallery | info | website