Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
ThickSkin and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Urging its listener ever onwards, Keep Going Then Vanish journeys down alleyways, side streets and main drags, hurriedly criss-crosses a river, and lingers only to take a breath in historic squares or a rare patch of greenery. Its guiding voices are alert to the city that flits past, but [...]
HOME, Manchester. There can't be many shows that can lay claim to transforming an ancient Mesopotamian ruler into an unlikely ear-worm but cult cabaret duo Bourgeois & Maurice's first foray into full length musical theatre has left King Gilgamesh's name lodged on random repeat in my head now for five days and counting. Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh. [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. “Terror made me cruel; and finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes...” Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. Like director Bryony Shanahan, writer Andrew Sheridan hadn't read Emily [...]
Oldham Coliseum. When a video of seventeen-year-old Jack having sex with his girlfriend appears online, his parents struggle to cope with the implications. His exams are looming, and the bright future they'd mapped out for him seems in peril. As Di and David try to protect their son from the fallout, and make sense of [...]
King's Arms, Salford. On a family break to Haven Holidays, Ann finds herself unexpectedly falling for good-looking barman Danny. His charming smile and shiny shoes attract her attention but it's their shared taste in music, including a love of Shakin' Stevens, that seals the deal. It was, she says, a "match made in heaven". Three [...]
HOME, Manchester. PUSH Festival 2020. Katie isn't contagious, she isn't permanently attached to her wheelchair, and she doesn't sleep in it. That she has to clarify this might seem incredible but responding to ridiculous and insensitive questions has become a regular occurrence for Katie Staples ever since she took possession of a set of wheels. [...]
HOME, Manchester. PUSH Festival 2020. Bost-Uni Plues? I peg your bardon! Ugly Bucket Theatre explain the misheard origins of that title later in their show but you won't need a degree in linguistics to guess what it's all about. Using accounts of real-life experiences, three cheerful clowns launch themselves into an effervescent, knockabout exploration of [...]
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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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