Knopfler & Sawayama

Taking box office hit films and making them into stage plays has been something of a trend if not an obsession for some time now. Some work beautifully and the rest… well they shall remain nameless. Now Bill Forsyth’s classic film Local Hero is being staged by Chichester Festival Theatre, written by David Greig and with music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler formerly of Dire Straits. Local Here will be directed by Chichester Artistic Director Daniel Evans and stars Tony Award winning American actor Gabriel Ebert and opens on the 8th of October.

Find tickets and more information about Here Local, here.

Apparently the devil works hard, but Rina Sawayama works harder. The newly minted British-Japanese pop star is following up her celebrated debut album SAWAYAMA with Hold The Girl, a colossally ambitious and utterly original record that marries intimate storytelling with arena-sized tunes. Watch and listen… That opening sounds so familiar but hauntingly so. I, for one, am fascinated. Rina – whose whole raison d’être is bending huge chart influences and blockbuster melodies to her will with precision-tuned songwriting and powerful vocals – is the rare pop artist for whom honesty is never not an option. Definitely fascinated now, Rina Sawayama is at Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Sunday the 23rd if October.

Tickets for Rina Sawayama at Brighton Dome, found here.