February 13th February 2025
Jack Baldwin and Charlie headed into the studio at BBC Radio Manchester this afternoon to chat all things Hold on to Your Butts with Simone Riley. The interview can be listened to for 30 days at BBC Sounds - Jack and Charlie’s chat starts from 3h22 into the programme.
February 12th 2025
As announced in the post-show speech at The Lowry tonight, Hold on to Your Butts is getting a WEST END RUN!
It’ll be on for a week at the Arts Theatre 7th-12th April with tickets available here.
February 7th 2025
Hold on to Your Butts opens at Leicester Curve this evening, which marks the start of the UK Tour.
Tickets and further information can be found here.
Current tour dates and venues include:
Leicester Curve, 7th-8th Feb
Salford Lowry, 12th-15th Feb
Norden Farm, Maidenhead, 19th Feb
Macready Theatre, Rugby, 20th-21st Feb
Worcester Theatres, 22nd Feb
Bolton Octagon, 18th-19th Feb
Birmingham Rep, 21st-22nd Feb
Exeter Northcott, 25th-26th Feb
Norwich Playhouse, 30th March - 1st April
Dukes Lancaster 4th-5th April
Hull Truck 15th-16th April
Slung Low, Leeds, 19th April
December 17th 2024
The reviews are in for Hold On To Your Butts!
But the true star of this movie marathon is Charlie Ives. - The Times
The production’s brilliantly effective use of foley sound effects, created live on stage by Charlie Ives, is reason itself to see it. - The Stage
Charlie Ives’ foley work is a marvel – offering a rich and detailed sound texture to the world that really allows the show to feel as epic as the film it’s based on. It’s also a great source of humour and play in itself, and she’s folded into the show really smartly. - Whats On Stage
An unexpected highlight of Hold On To Your Butts? Charlie Ives, the show’s live Foley artist. … Ives is completely in tune with the Baldwin and Pears, easily keeping in time with them for over an hour as they switch scenes and characters. - Broadway World
On the sidelines, but equally a star, is foley artist Charlie Ives recreating T-Rex roars, rainstorms, computer beeps, creaking branches and everything else that helps make the fun funnier. - The Spy in the Stalls
Speaking of talents, Foley artist Charlie Ives creates a world of sound in an extra layer to this show which sets it apart from other parodies out there. The rapport Ives has with the two actors creates another dynamic as she attempts to keep up and seemingly improvises with them at certain moments. - All That Dazzles
The true star of the show is Foley artist Charlie Ives. With incredible skill and impeccable comic timing, she uses her voice and a plethora of household objects to realistically – well, sometimes less realistically, like when she offsets her immense vocal skill with a flat, spoken ‘roar!…in the distance’ – recreate Jurassic Park’s sonic soundscape, and of course, iconic soundtrack, with the help of kazoos. The ensemble are intensely in tune to each other’s movements, showing this off when the slightest action in a naturally noisy scenario has to be mimicked vocally by Ives. - A Youngish Perspective
Charlie Ives, in particular, is a standout as she spends most of the performance ingeniously creating all the sound effects and noises that accompany the actors' movements and scenes. - Theatre and Tonic
Both actors (Jack Baldwin and Laurence Pears) and Foley sound artist (Charlie Ives) have fantastic comic timing.
All three performers are particularly in tune with one another – essential when you have one performer doing the movement and another making the sounds to go with it.
On that note, Charlie Ives’ Foley sound performance – the use of everyday items (think spoons, glass jars, computer keyboards) to create live sound effects – is incredibly fun to watch, not to mention her perfect timing. You could spend the whole show just watching Charlie and be entertained, although you would then of course miss out on Jack and Laurence’s great performances. - West End Best Friend
Upstage right sits Charlie Ives, with a table full of props. The production’s Foley artist (a craft that is unlikely to be replaced by artificial intelligence any time soon), she did brilliantly to work in real time in what was a briskly-paced show. - London Theatre 1
Charlie Ives’ skill on the Foley desk is incredible. - Fairy Powered Productions
December 12th 2024
Recent Cutbacks’ Hold On To Your Butts at the Arcola Theatre is officially open! Production shots by Mark Senior.
December 1st 2024
Rehearsal photos by Mark Senior for Hold On To Your Butts!
October 18th 2024
Charlie’s next theatre project has been announced and it’s a total joy! She’ll be using her musicianship and comedy skills to provide live sound and foley onstage in the London transfer of Hold On To Your Butts at The Arcola from 10th December until 4th January. Tickets are available here.
Here is the press release as published by whatsonstage.com.
Jurassic Park shot-for-shot parody Hold On To Your Butts to transfer to London ahead of tour
by Alex Wood for Whats On Stage
Sally Cade Holmes and Heather Shields have announced the London premiere of Hold On To Your Butts, following its sold-out run at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The show, created by Recent Cutbacks, will run at the Arcola Theatre from 10 December 2024 to 4 January 2025 before embarking on a UK tour. Tickets are on sale now.
Hold On To Your Butts is a live, shot-for-shot parody of Jurassic Park, performed by just two actors and a live foley artist while strictly adhering to all the necessary copyright laws.
The cast includes Jack Baldwin (The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery) and Laurence Pears (The Mousetrap, Magic Goes Wrong), with live sound and foley by Charlie Ives (A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story, Private Lives). The show is directed by Kristin McCarthy Parker (Puffs), and a cappella arrangements are by Kelsey Didion.
Recent Cutbacks, a New York-based creative ensemble founded in 2014, is known for their live movie parodies that blend comedy, theatre, and nostalgia.
Holmes and Shields said: “Hold Onto Your Butts is everything we love about theatre – it celebrates imagination, is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and reinvents a classic. After the success at Edinburgh Fringe, we’re excited to bring this ridiculously fun show to London this holiday season. The show delivers pure joy, and we can’t wait to share the laughter with audiences at the Arcola and beyond!”
May 25th 2024
Laughing Boy has been extended for an extra week and will play at Jermyn Street Theatre until May 31st before transferring to Theatre Royal Bath from June 4th until June 8th.
May 2nd 2024
Laughing Boy officially opened on April 30th to critical acclaim. Tickets are selling fast and can be booked by clicking here.
March 20th, 2024
Now that Jermyn Street Theatre have made the cast announcement, Charlie is delighted to share that she will start rehearsals for the World Premiere of Laughing Boy, written and directed by Stephen Unwin (after Justice for Laughing Boy by Sara Ryan) next Monday. This intensely personal and political play brings the story of Connor Sparrowhawk and his family to the stage for the first time.
"Connor is, well, Connor. He loves buses, Eddie Stobart, and Lego. He also has learning disabilities. When he dies an entirely preventable death in NHS care, his mum Sara can’t get a straight answer as to how it happened. But Sara and her family won’t stop asking questions and soon an extraordinary campaign emerges. Demanding the truth, it uncovers a scandal of neglect and indifference that goes beyond Connor’s death to thousands of others.”
Charlie will be playing Connor’s brother Will, plus a myriad of other roles including support workers, teachers, lawyers, and more.
January 9th, 2024
Babies and Bathwater has been programmed as part of VAULT’s ‘A Pinch of Vault’ Festival, and Charlie will be playing the roles of Jess, Marguerite, and Thalia.
There will be two work in progress performances in The Spacement @ The Glitch, Waterloo at 1.30pm on Saturday 24th February and 2pm on Sunday 25th February. Tickets are on sale now and can be bought here.
November 15th, 2023
Charlie chatted to The Stage about all things understudying, drawing on her experiences of going on for Caroline Quentin in Mrs Warren’s Profession at Chichester Festival Theatre, being hired as second cover Sibyl/Louise in Private Lives in the West End, and her current Swing role in A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story at Alexandra Palace.
The full feature can be read here.
October 29th, 2023
Having completed her final week on Private Lives at the Ambassadors Theatre, Charlie is preparing to travel up to Nottingham to start A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story rehearsals. It’s a co-production between Nottingham Playhouse and Eleanor Lloyd Productions. Charlie will be joining the company as Ensemble/Swing for the run at Alexandra Palace from 24th November - 7th January. Tickets and more info can be found here.
September 17th, 2023
This week Charlie has been at The Cockpit theatre working on the R&D for Amy Garner Buchanan’s Babies and Bathwater, directed by Emily Louizou. A shorter solo version of this play won the Sean Meehan Identity Award at Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2022, and the week was spent turning the script into a two hander with Amy playing the part of Evelyn and Charlie developing the roles of Jess, Thalia and Marguerite.
The play is being submitted for festivals across the UK and Ireland. Keep checking back for updates!
August 14th, 2023
After a very successful tour with The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company, which finished late last night in Eastbourne, Charlie is heading straight back to London for a read through! She is joining the company for the West End transfer of Theatre Royal Bath/The Nigel Havers Theatre Company’s Private Lives as Second Cover Sibyl/Louise for a number of dates in August, September, and October.
Private Lives runs at the Ambassadors Theatre from Thursday 31st August until Saturday 25th November 2023. Tickets are available here.
February 24th, 2023
Charlie is delighted to be joining The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company for their open air tour of new physical comedy actor/muso show Miss Popplewell’s Garden from 7th June - 13th August. Rehearsals will begin in Eastbourne on 8th May and the show will tour to rural Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Devon and Dorset throughout the summer. She will be playing Dotty, Gusty Plum, and Miss Mavis Cramp. For tour dates and tickets please click here.
December 4th, 2022
Charlie played the role of Mrs Warren for a total of four performances at Chichester Festival Theatre this week, with Executive Director Kathy Bourne describing her as ‘extraordinary’. Caroline was able to return for the final two shows on Saturday 3rd December.
Below is an excerpt from a review of Thursday night’s show:
”But in our performance the night belonged to Charlie Ives. Taking on the role of Kitty with such short notice, she threw herself into the play with gusto, giving us all the character’s brassy confidence, mother-from-hell-type bossiness, but still with a great sense of humour and a definite twinkle in her eye; 80% of the time you totally forgot that she wasn’t Caroline Quentin and was reading the script and she definitely held the evening together, rather than her supporting cast holding it together for her – if that make sense. I admit, we were tempted to cancel seeing the show, and taking the theatre’s generous offer of a credit. But I am so glad we didn’t.”
The full review can be read here.
November 30th 2022
Due to the indisposition of Caroline Quentin and her understudy, Charlie will be playing the titular role of Mrs Warren in Mrs Warren’s Profession at Chichester Festival Theatre this afternoon at 2.30pm.
October 10th 2022
Charlie starts rehearsals this week for Theatre Royal Bath’s production of Mrs Warren’s Profession, starring Caroline Quentin, Rose Quentin, Simon Shepherd, Matthew Cottle, Stephen Rahman-Hughes and Peter Losasso. She will be understudying the role of Vivie Warren.
Mrs Warren’s Profession tours to Theatre Royal Bath, Richmond Theatre, and Chichester Festival Theatre this Autumn, with more venues to be announced for Spring 2023.
February 2022
Charlie will be touring Austria with Vienna’s English Theatre as Millie Dorton in The Show Must Go On from February until July 2022. This play-within-a-play is a new adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days in which Charlie will be playing the role of Phileas Fogg.
20th January 2022
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman has reached #5 on Netflix: Top 10 in the UK Today.
18th January 2022
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman is out on Netflix in the UK and all around the world. Charlie plays Sarah Smith in this gripping docuseries in which a cruel conman masquerading as a British spy manipulates and steals from his victims, leaving ruined families in his wake.
2nd November 2021
We Never Get off at Sloane Square is on at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London, from Wednesday 8th - Saturday 11th December 2021 at 7.30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 3pm and a parent and baby matinee on Thursday 9th December 12.30pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Drayton Arm’s website.
Directed by Max Kirk
Written by Amy Garner Buchanan
Cast: Amy Garner Buchanan, Lewis Bruniges, Charlie Ives, Mohamed Faizal Abdullah
Charlie has been attached to this play since a rehearsed reading at the Pear Tree in July 2018. The script had an R&D at the Park Theatre October-November 2018, and a further post-pandemic R&D at Theatre Deli in May 2021. Amy Garner Buchanan’s epic adaptation of Helen Dewitt’s The Last Samurai is FINALLY coming to the London stage. Don’t miss out!
31st October 2021
A Halloween surprise! Charlie performed at The Pleasance, Islington with One From the Vaults: Live, as part of London Horror Fest 2021. This was a live production of the comedy-horror podcast from Sinema Society and Medium Rare Productions. It was Charlie’s first time playing an audience plant, and once she’s got the bloodstains out she’ll be more than happy to do it again!
14th October 2021
Charlie has just completed a 4 week comedy course with Sean Turner (The Play that Goes Wrong) and Lucy Jenkins (of Jenkins McShane Casting). It was incredible to be back in a workshop space, clowning, improvising, and collaborating with a room of comedy actors.
11th June 2021
For the second time, Charlie submitted a self-tape competition entry to Do or Die Studios’ ‘Cast Me Comp’. Her entry can be viewed here.
4th May 2021
After a successful Crowdfunder for Sloane Square Project’s We Never Get Off at Sloane Square, Charlie is back in the rehearsal room this week at Theatre Deli researching and developing the most recent draft of the script. The team have received exciting news about a potential venue for a run of the show in London later this year. Keep your eyes peeled for updates! Sloane Square Project can be found on all social media pages at @ProjectSloane.
2nd May 2021
Charlie has just wrapped a two-week shoot, filming a brand new documentary drama miniseries for Netflix with an incredible team. More details to be announced later this year.
26th March 2021
Charlie voiced both Thora Hinge and Helen in episode 7 of One From The Vaults, released today on Spotify and Apple Music. One From The Vaults is a comedy horror co-production between Sinema Society and Medium Rare Productions. Listen to 007 ‘The Spookening’ on Spotify by clicking here.
16th March 2021
The Crowdfunder for Sloane Square Project’s We Never Get Off at Sloane Square is live at crowdfunder.co.uk/projectsloane. There are a variety of different perks available to claim in exchange for any amount of money you can pledge. The aim is to raise enough seed funding (£4500) for the deposit on a theatre venue in late 2021, to fund a short R&D in May, and if we reach our stretch goal of £6500 we will be able to create a programme of community engagement to run alongside the play.
To receive updates about the work of Sloane Square Project please click here.
29th January 2021
Charlie voiced Janice in episode 3 of One From The Vaults, released today on Spotify and Apple Music. One From The Vaults is a comedy horror co-production between Sinema Society and Medium Rare Productions. Listen to 003 ‘The Face Without a Face’ on Spotify by clicking here.
27th January 2021
Charlie will be playing Dr Watson in Les Enfants Terribles’ Sherlock Holmes: An Online Adventure opening in February 2021, alongside a number of other fantastic actors. Tickets and further details can be found at sherlockimmersive.com
