Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
53two, Manchester. 7 March 2019. Originally a well-received fifteen minute play performed at 53two last year as part of JB Shorts, The Stretch has now been developed by director Simon Naylor and writer Joe Ainsworth into a fully formed production. A grim and gritty exploration of ten years in prison, Ainsworth's script is quick to [...]
Oldham Coliseum. 6 March 2019. Greg is a football mad fourteen years old. "Red through and through", his bedroom wall is covered with Liverpool memorabilia. It's 1989, and Kenny Dalglish jostles for space on that wall with footballers John Barnes and Jim Beglin. When Greg's not thinking about his beloved team, he's moaning about his [...]
Oldham Coliseum. 26 February 2019. Summer is on its way out, and rays of sunshine are in short supply in Martin McDonagh's darkly comic play set in a small community on the west coast of Ireland. There's plenty of heat generated by the endless chatter between gravedigger Mick, his assistant Mairtin, stoney-faced neighbour MaryJohnny and [...]
53two, Manchester. 28 February 2019. Jamie and Katie have been together for three years. They've done all the usual couple milestones, including meeting each other's parents, so what's next? Jamie has booked a hotel room for them, so that they can spend an evening together talking, something he feels they don't do enough of. They're [...]
Martin Harris Centre, Manchester. 20 February 2019. In 1885, James W Wallace, an architect’s assistant from Bolton, established a book group for local working men, within his family home. This modest two-up two-down terraced house came to be known as Eagle Street 'College', a meeting place for a collective of like-minded "upstarts from the back [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 13 February 2019. It's 2080. Europe is no longer a collection of nations, it has become The Grid. The Reds and the Blues are at war, fighting for possession of each individual grid square of land. Self-styled "entrepreneur" Mother Courage follows the conflict in search of profit. Her daughter and two sons [...]
HOME, Manchester. 14 February 2019. "I've got two dads. One's white. One's black". David Judge's new play unflinchingly explores identity, race and family through the lens of his own experiences, as a mixed-race child adopted by a white man. Performed as a monologue by Judge, the story is told from the perspective of Dave, a [...]
HOME, Manchester. 23 & 25 January 2019. The theatre seating is out-of-bounds. Heads of broccoli have been placed at intervals on the floor around the space. Their varying shades of green and yellow stand out within the black box surroundings. The audience gathers among the cruciferous forms. We are on our feet. In the centre [...]
53two, Manchester. 6 February 2019. Formed from a group of Royal Exchange Young Company alumni, Manchester-based Switch's aim is to "provide young artists with a platform to showcase their talents, working together to create exciting theatre". Currently resident at 53two, Switch's first full production is a double bill of new plays, both written by company [...]
Oldham Coliseum. 2 February 2019. Jimmie Chinn's A Different Way Home unpicks a bitter estrangement between siblings Leslie and Maureen. Split into two monologues, the play tells one story from each of their perspectives, with actor Kenneth Alan Taylor playing both brother and sister. Leslie has lived with his mother all his life, and he [...]
Circles & Stalls 