Hazel Earle

About Hazel

2011-11-13T21:35:00.001Z

Hazel trained at Arden School of Theatre Manchester, graduating with a BA Acting degree in 2006.

In 2008 Hazel was nominated for a Best Actress Award at the Buxton Festival Awards for her role as brain damaged Sarah in 'ContreCoup.'

She has appeared in theatres across the North West including Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre, Library Theatre, Lowry Theatre, Contact Theatre and The Crucible Sheffield.

She has also appeared in a number of films,including two British Features, and has been cast as the principal lead in the up coming web-series, Cities of Reign.

Hazel is also the Creator and Co-Producer of Hazel Tree Productions; a Manchester based theatre company whose accolades include two sell-out productions of Shakespeare shorts.

Contact:
info@hazelearle.co.uk

Hazel's Spotlight
Hazel's Casting Call Pro
Hazel's Agency (Actors Direct)

Review - The Killing of Sister George 2009

2010-03-05T22:08:00.005Z

The Killing Of Sister George (Salford)
Venue: The Lowry
Where: Salford
Date Reviewed: 25 September 2009
WOS Rating:
Reader Reviews:

A mixture of mid-twentieth century furniture in the middle of the bare stage of the Lowry's Studio Theatre, forms a 1960s lounge scene which serves as the single setting for this deceptively simple play. With only four female characters it manages in its two hours to cover the themes of love, art, obsession, creativity, abuse, power and betrayal, and to raise a laugh at the same time.
It emerges that Buckridge's character flaws, as well as falling ratings, may be responsible for the sudden demise of her character. The play explores the actress's reactions to this news as well as therelationship between her and her lover, Alice, and with the people around them.

Tara Daniels, as Buckridge, gives the part her all. At first it seems like over-acting, but it soon becomes apparent that this is a trait of the character, not the actress herself, as the subtleties of her characterisation accumulate to create a sympathetic monster.

Hazel Earle's Alice is carefully drawn and appealing, and provides the audience with their way into the play.

Claire Disley and Menyee Lai support the main characters well, with Lai turning in a wonderful comic turn as Madam Xenia.

The stage design may be simple, but it works well, and the lighting change at the end works to enhance the power of the script. Wyllie Longmore's direction is also straightforward, but small touches - such as the imaginary hallway to the apartment - create a very real location out of the bare studio space. Audio is confined to the occasional sound-effect and occasional excerpts from Applehurst, leaving plenty of space in which the darkness and conflict of the script can play out.
This is a powerful and darkly comic play and is handled well by the Zeitgeist company. It is a simple production, but thought-provoking and moving, and the storyline, so current in the 1960s, still has just as much relevance today.
This is a good performance of an intriguing play and well worth seeing this weekend.

-Calum Kerr

Reviews - ContreCoup 2007

2009-10-23T22:51:00.007+01:00

Writer Ross Andrews returns to 24/7 this year with yet another acutely observed and finely written drama/comedy.
Chronicling the journey of a husband who must come to terms with his wife’s disability, “ContreCoup” is at times heart rending, at others hilarious, but always challenges the audience to engage with a non-sentimental portrayal of disability and the questions asked of a man who suddenly finds himself in the role of carer. All the performances are engaging, but Ian Curley in the lead stands out; he has a definite edge, but very real tenderness in the scenes played with wife, Hazel Earle.

"The decision for Earle to be on stage as the handicapped Sarah (who lacks both speech and motor control) for a good portion of the play, is a bold one; only possible due to Earle’s truthful portrayal."

The play uses video for scenes outside the home, and while these were dynamically shot (particularly the scene in the park (watch out for the foreshadowing of the doggie-doo!), I wasn’t sure why they had to be filmed, and not performed live; I also wasn’t sure about the dramatic music, set against the suburban locale. Also, The Pure: Funktion venue still has a problem with its massive, industrial sized fan whirring throughout the performance. Perhaps some enterprising artist could sabotage the damn thing next year?
But an inspiring play! Ross is concerned with ordinary people who face monumental emotional struggles. He possesses a keen eye for nuance in his characters and continues to produce plays that are both humorous and moving.
Highly recommended!

Rik O’Neill

Review - ContreCoup 2007

2009-10-23T22:50:00.008+01:00

ContreCoup by Ross Andrews - Second Nature Theatre Company

(a new play by Ross Andrews)
There's something decadent about leaving a theatre at midnight and stepping outside with a warm glow within as a result of a play you've just seen - well as future performance times remain at 10.45pm, you too can indulge yourself in a little bit of naughty midnight pleasure - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Don't let the subject matter of Ross Andrew's new play put you off - a husband left to care for his severely incapacitated wife following a car crash may sound like an evening of bedpans, morose lamentings and dribbling, but it isn't (well there is dribbling then). It's a well cast play with both a heart and humour, an ideal combination, aided nobly by excellent acting and a 'proper' script.
Proceedings open with Malcolm (Richard Sails) making a house call on his Richard (Ian Curley) his son-in-law. "I was just passing" says Malcolm - "We live in a cul-de-sac" Richard replies - the tone is set for their early exchanges.
Richard, a children's writer, has given up his work along with just about everything else and dedicates his life to looking after his wife Sarah who is wheelchair bound following the accident - the severity of her brain contusion renders her impervious to events around her - Richard has accepted her condition and despite still loving her, openly acknowledges that he has lost the person who was his wife. Malcolm is quite the opposite and in total denial about his daughter's sad state, chatting to her and expressing concern about the quality of her life as though she still has an awareness of events - he's also scornful of Richard's attitude. Check that, he's actually scornful of pretty much everything and anybody...typical happy families then!
The established status quo look set to continue, until that is, a catalyst appears...in the shapely and leggy form of Penny (Amanda Leigh Owen), a SWF new neighbour who moves into the close. She's certainly not backward at coming forward and her vampish radar immediately targets Richard as someone she'd like to borrow a cup of sugar from...regularly! The quintet is completed by lovely cameo from Katie McArdle, who plays Michelle, a home help nurse; her whimsical musings are always amusing (especially the references to sombreros).
I liked the way the key characters developed - though they were slightly lager than life, it was a case of all being proportionally so. The staging made us feel comfortable voyeurs and the effective use of rear projection added genuine poignancy.

Thankfully the drama never played 'the victim' card, so we were able to view Sarah's plight impassively (Hazel Earle's excellent silent portrayal is almost forgotten but essential).

The humour worked well too; Malcolm's views on when 'full marital relations' are appropriate are eye-opening lets say and the moment when Malcolm bursts through the door with a pair of binoculars is sublime farce.
For me the scene where Malcolm applied make-up to Sarah was a too long (or introduce the projection earlier) and perhaps Malcolm could have offered glimmers of his real feelings earlier as that would have added more meaning (humanity) to his initial encounters with Richard which were a bit one-dimensional. But these are minor grumblings
I sensed the small audience present thoroughly enjoyed it and hope that the performances over the next 3 days are more heavily populated - there's no excuse not to see it!
Run time: 70 mins (no interval)
Stoon

Review - ContreCoup 2007

2009-10-23T22:17:00.013+01:00

ContreCoup

By Ross Andrews
24:7 Theatre Festival
Pure Funktion Room, Manchester

Review by Andrew Edwards (2007)
It is eighteen months after the accident which left his wife Sarah confined to a wheelchair having suffered brain damage and Richard is in limbo: unable to move forward with his life but barely coping with the task of taking care of his wife as well as himself. He has an interfering father-in-law called Malcolm and romantic complications in the shape of the svelte neighbour Penny. The scene is set for a dark comedy which explores the challenges of surviving a life changing trauma.
Writer Ross Andrews manages the delicate balance between comedy and drama very effectively. The play is touching when it needs to be and yet also amusing at the right moments.

" The presence on stage of the mewling and dribbling wife Sarah played very skilfully by Hazel Earle was reminiscent of the character of Joe Egg in the famous play by Peter Nicholls."

All the characters were well drawn. Ian Curley was a believable Richard whose struggle with his changed wife was convincingly depicted. Amanda Leigh Owen was a suitably flirty next door neighbour and Richard Sails and Katie McArdle as respectively Malcolm and Michelle the nurse provided much of the humour in the piece. The only thing that took away from the sterling efforts of the cast and crew was the rather loud fan type noise in the Funktion room which this reviewer found to be quite distracting.
ContreCoup 2007

Review by Andrew Edwards (2007)

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Review ContreCoup 2007

2009-10-15T13:50:00.018+01:00

It seems that this year 247 has gone multi-media mad, with the next of tonight’s pieces also incorporating video montages. ContreCoup is a third consecutive entry from the award-winning writer-director partnership of Ross Andrews and Sue McGeorge, and yet again they have come up with a play and production to rival anything you’ll find in the mainstream subsidised theatre.

Much darker than last year’s comedy Eating Out, “ContreCoup” refers to the brain injury which lawyer Sarah sustained in a car accident and which has left her as a wheel-chair-bound cabbage. Several years on, the eternal triangle between Sarah, her husband Richard (now a full-time carer) and her interfering father Malcolm is fractured when a glamorous career-woman moves in across the road.

"Poor Sarah with her spastic limbs and constant dribbling is movingly and convincingly portrayed by Hazel Earle; her powerful stage presence recalls A Day in the Death of Joe Egg."

Ian Curley’s Richard is both likeable and cynical, and his growing relationship with the man-eating Penny (Amanda Leigh Owen) is entirely credible.

Richard Sails as ex-policeman Malcolm is nothing short of magnificent in a performance that seems to go beyond mere acting, and Katie McArdle has a lovely comic cameo as the hairdresser turned home-help Michelle (well worth catching on the 247 podcast).

As usual Ross Andrews’ script is flawless in structure, characterisation and story-telling, and his dialogue is effortlessly witty. Sue McGeorge’s direction does more than justice to this wonderful play.

Review Cabbages 2006

2006-01-24T23:30:00.002Z

Cabbages From Inkyfingers Theatre Company
Reviewed By Roy Gray

The Geeks of Yesteryear
Who were the geeks of the 1950s? For Lawrence Ghorra and Mark Winstanley, writers of Cabbages which ran from 14th-18th February 2006 at Manchester’s Contact Theatre they were the librarians.
This is horror in the asylum as Dr Spinoza, the self-proclaimed genius psychiatrist in charge of Ravenscroft Mental Asylum, decides librarians are the key to world domination. They hold the world’s knowledge and he intends to hold them.
In the park outside that institution two librarians Geoffrey Ramsbottom, a cliché naive trainee, and his fully qualified co-worker, Audrey, are courting. Audrey suddenly disappears in the midst of declaring her admiration for Geoff’s “natural flair for the Dewey System”. One act later two detectives are accusing Geoffrey of murder. His denials are worthless because he can’t remember what did happen. So what’s to do but ship him to Ravenscroft. Will he find Audrey? Can a librarian’s innate knowledge of Dewey Classification Numbers help resist the evil machinations of the megalomaniac Dr Spinoza? At first it seems so but Dr Spinoza has reserved at least one further horrible assault on the mind of the librarian, picture books!

The fifties, the time of ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ and the decade of lithium, brain washing, sleep deprivation, hypnotism, locking prisoners in mental asylums, meals in pills, tranquillisers plus electric shock treatment and Dr Spinoza wields them all.
Joe Atack had the best lines as that self-deluding, Napoleon admiring, doctor and played the part brilliantly; his very tall, almost gaunt, frame along with a deliberate stilted diction, in a dry quiet, soft but menacing voice made his ambitions seem very credible.
In the fifties Donald Pleasance had the epitome of evil voices and it made him champion of memorable horror and other movie villains in the mad scientist/doctor mould. I foresee a similar career for Joe Atack if he is happy to be so typecast.
The actors were generally good but some shouted at times. Zoe Nicholas, as Nurse Hart, cleverly expressed her unrequited passion for Dr Spinoza.

"Hazel Earle, doubling up as Nurse Clench and Audrey, was nicely geekish, dominant, blank and sexy as the plot unfolded."

Kenan Ali did well as Geoffrey, the librarian who knows his Dewey numbers but little else.