Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
Oldham Coliseum. 12 September 2017. A 'musical entertainment' from the 1960s casting a satirical eye over the First World War and done in the style of old music hall theatre could sound like a dusty museum piece of a show. However while the Great War is now a century ago, as tensions simmer in Korea [...]
53two, Manchester. 1 September 2017. "Who run the world? Girls!". Anna Jordan's 'Freak' is a fiercely forensic examination of the pressures women face and the price they pay. It considers these issues through the lives of 15-year-old Leah struggling with her first serious relationship and 30-year-old Georgie at a crossroads after the end of a [...]
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. 29 August 2017. Building on its reputation as Manchester's hotbed of musical theatre Hope Mill Theatre plays host to a revival of Stephen Schwartz's 1970s musical 'Pippin'. A sort of play within a play, acted out by a wandering troupe of performers, it tells the story of a young prince (named [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 16 August 2017. It starts with a few coded knocks, a secret phrase and a charming warm Polari welcome on our entrance... The Royal Exchange Young Company's latest production begins in a louche 1950's gay bar and then takes us on a journey of lives half-lived, secret stories and modern-day oppression. 'We [...]
Contact, Manchester. 28 July 2017. Contact Young Company and Action Hero. Andy Warhol's prophetic assertion that "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" is the starting point for Contact Young Company's new show. What can you do in 15 minutes they ask? Travel to Contact on a bus from Piccadilly or bake [...]
Flare Festival at HOME, Manchester. 7 July 2017. By Massive Owl as part of Flare International Festival of New Theatre. Massive Owl create an evocative new piece of work by plundering small details from the film 'Stand By Me' and Stephen King’s novella 'The Body' on which that film was based. Set in the same [...]
Flare Festival at HOME, Manchester. 7 July 2017. By Simon De Winne/Tibaldus as part of Flare International Festival of New Theatre. Out of the darkness, the outline of Simon De Winne dancing comes in to focus. We can hear the effort in his amplified breathing and he moves around the space expansively and with abandon. [...]
What Is the City but the People? Well it might also be its weather, and the rainy city had threatened to live up to its reputation all day. As luck would have it, Piccadilly Gardens remained dry if slightly overcast - a fitting setting for Manchester International Festival 2017's opening event. The idea of ordinary [...]
The appearance of an over-sized yellow catwalk cutting across Piccadilly Gardens is another visible sign that this year's Manchester International Festival (MIF) is getting ever closer. When it was announced, new Artistic Director John McGrath's first programme seemed a touch underwhelming. A bit dull even, when compared with previous MIFs under Alex Poots' reign. Admittedly [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 19th June 2017. Written and Performed by Pauline Mayers. By the Mayers Ensemble 'How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?' Nina Simone. Inspired by those words, Pauline Mayers' What If I Told You challenges us to reflect on our times through her own story. There is to be no [...]
Circles & Stalls 