Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
Review of Betty! A sort of Musical at Royal Exchange, Manchester. Meredith Ankle (Maxine Peake) has a plan to ensure The Dewsbury Players will be the talk of the West Riding. Determined not to be outdone by their Batley-based rivals’ upcoming production of Frozen on roller skates, her amateur-dramatics group are developing a production that [...]
This year I saw over 240 pieces of theatre. From those, I've chosen my 10 favourite Manchester shows of 2019. As in previous years, I've focused on productions that either premiered in Greater Manchester or could only be seen here. So I've not included any shows that were passing through on tour or that were [...]
23 September 2019. Octagon Theatre, Bolton at Bolton Library Theatre. Beryl Burton. Wife, mother, Yorkshire woman, cyclist. Who? Never heard of her? You're probably not alone. Maxine Peake's play starts with the premise that Beryl is not that well-known, undeservedly so, and sets about putting that right. Along the way, it also explores what drove [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 9 & 19 July 2018. After a recent stint on the Royal Exchange's main stage as a spinning Winnie in Sarah Frankcom's production of Happy Days, Maxine Peake is back again, although this time as the writer of Queens of the Coal Age. Taking us deep underground, her play reimagines the true [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 30 May 2018. Staging Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at the Royal Exchange, in the round, poses an obvious challenge - what to do about that "expanse of scorched grass rising centre to low mound". Director Sarah Frankcom must have been toying with several ideas initially, when tickets first went on sale only [...]
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Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
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Theatre and performance reviews in the Greater Manchester area
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