Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 6 & 8 December 2017. Director Michael Buffong shuffles Frank Loesser’s musical along Broadway and uptown to 135th Street. His all-black cast brings Damon Runyon's tales of gamblers, salvationists, chancers and dreamers right in to the beating heart of the Harlem Renaissance. The stage is all hustle and bustle, drugstore doorways, sharp [...]
53two, Manchester. 5 December 2017. On the other side of a brick wall, eight characters are waiting. All we know about them are a few lines on a piece of A4. Clues, glimpses, pointers. Angry and volatile. Jolly hockey sticks. Glory boy. Down on her luck. Searching for a little security. No pitch from the actors, just [...]
The Lowry, Salford. 17 November 2017. Until this month, my only recent experience of opera was a slight obsession with a recording of John Adams' 'Doctor Atomic' and seeing members of Opera North’s Chorus perform in a production of Sondheim's 'Into The Woods' at West Yorkshire Playhouse last year. Apparently the involvement of the Chorus [...]
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. 15 & 21 November 2017. Manchester's musical mill is warming up another revival for a surely inevitable transfer to London. This time they're hosting the European premiere of 'Little Women - The Musical'. The musical version of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, premiered on Broadway back in 2005, views the lives of [...]
HOME, Manchester. 9 November 2017. Before Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' even gets going, characters are already mourning the loss of their youth, looks and opportunities. All gone, gone, gone. Walter Meierjohann's finely judged production creates a household awash with feelings of regret and dissatisfaction, its inhabitants searching desperately for signs of hope. A sense of place is [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 7 November 2017. Punks, queers, anarchists and firestarters. Derek Jarman's 1978 film 'Jubilee' is reimagined 40 years on by director Chris Goode for both the stage and a new generation. This Millennial 'Jubilee' clings pretty tightly to the messy narrative of the original. At her request, Queen Elizabeth (1.0) is taken on [...]
Royal Exchange. Manchester. 10 November 2017. "Hello from the children of planet Earth". Well, in this case, those that live on Preston Road... Ian Kershaw's new play, premiered at the Royal Exchange, is a very human piece of storytelling. Peopled with a neighbourhood's worth of characters all brought to life by a solo performer. It's [...]
The Lowry, Salford. 27 October 2017. In ‘Superposition’ Chanje Kunda embarks on a voyage of self-discovery through scientific theory, lap dancing and personal reflection. Pondering her place in the universe, the laws of attraction and even her identity as a woman Kunda seeks insights from a particle physicist, a professor of philosophy and her son. [...]
Contact, Manchester. 24 October 2017. Once upon a time... cabaret artist Le Gateau Chocolat was inspired to make a show for "families, children and the young at heart". Its name was 'Duckie'. It's the story of a little duckling who can't seem to be the duck his parents want him to be. He can't even [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 20 October 2017. Kat is a young woman, who has decided she must sacrifice herself for a greater cause. She never specifies what she is protesting about or the change she is seeking to achieve. Nor do we see how she reaches that threshold. When we meet her she is ready to [...]
Circles & Stalls 