Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
HOME, Manchester. 7 March 2018. "One. Two. Three. Three. Start again." Vermont, New England. Five people. Lying on the floor of a community centre. Mid-exercise. Week one of a creative drama class. So begins Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize winning play. They start again. It's a six-week course. Led by the unconventional Marty, the class comprises [...]
It's all change in Manchester this month, with lots of new theatre and performance. The following are three shows I'm particularly excited about. As well as these three choices, there are many more new openings and touring productions that are worth checking out in March, and I've included a brief overview of some of those. [...]
HOME, Manchester. 21 February 2018. "Do you like surprises?" she asks. "How would I know?" replies Lucian. The two of them are on a circle of sand, the size of a living room carpet. It's a tropical island or so they say. But how much can we trust what they tell us or even what [...]
HOME, Manchester. 20 - 27 January 2018. Over the sixteen days of HOME's annual PUSH Festival I saw a total of twenty pieces of work in various stages of development. I've already written about the first week, here are my thoughts on the shows I enjoyed in the second (and final) week. One the strengths [...]
HOME, Manchester. 12 - 19 January 2018. In the first seven days of HOME's annual PUSH Festival I managed to see eleven shows in various stages of development. Here are my thoughts on some of the theatre I've seen so far. It's worth noting that quite a few of the things I enjoyed most were [...]
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HOME, Manchester. 17 January 2018. I first saw YESYESNONO's new show [insert slogan here] in development at the Royal Exchange's Co:LAB festival last year and I confess that I found it frustratingly flat. And yet a few months later, at HOME's PUSH Festival, it feels like a different show. I came out of it and [...]
Although many of the big Christmas shows (and pantomimes) keep on going well in to January, there's also some really interesting new theatre to look forward to this month. HOME's PUSH festival is packed with local talent and generates lots of interest but that doesn't mean there isn't also great stuff on elsewhere in Greater [...]
This year I've been lucky enough to see lots of great theatre in Manchester as well as in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Sheffield and York. The following are my favourite Manchester shows of 2017. I've restricted my choices to productions that were either premiered in the city or could only be seen here. What I've [...]
HOME, Manchester. 14 December 2017. For their festive show HOME ditch the fairy at the top of a tree and give us 'Agent of Social Change' Busty Beatz holding forth from the summit of a full-on hive of activism. The Hot Brown Honey hive dominates the stage, a compact structure packed with blindingly bright lights. [...]
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 [...]
Circles & Stalls 