Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
Review of Beginning at Royal Exchange, Manchester. Laura and Danny lock eyes across the room at a house party, and when the last guests have all left, there they are. Just the two of them – with all the empty bottles, plates of leftovers, and a fresh cigarette burn on the carpet. David Eldridge’s ‘Beginning’ [...]
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 [...]
After a break for the last two years, my ‘best of’ list is back! As in previous years, I’ve only focused on productions that either premiered in Greater Manchester or could only be seen here. Which means I’ve not included any shows that were passing through on tour or that were revivals from elsewhere. It [...]
Review of Let The Right One In at Royal Exchange, Manchester. Tickets for front row seats for Let The Right One In come with the printed warning “risk of blood splatter” - and wherever you sit, the Royal Exchange’s latest show delivers plenty of spills, thrills and shivers. In perhaps its most shocking twist though, [...]
Review of The Glass Menagerie at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The Glass Menagerie was described by Tennessee Williams as a ‘memory play’. Which, as Tom, the play’s narrator explains, means that audiences can expect it to be non-realistic, powered by poetic licence, and a home to “truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion”. Such a [...]
Review of Electric Rosary at Royal Exchange, Manchester. St Grace’s Convent, the setting for Tim Foley’s new play Electric Rosary, has seen better days. The pleasing symmetry of the chapel’s parquet flooring is now cluttered with cardboard storage boxes, and a bucket sits ready to catch rain drops from the leaking roof. Disrepair isn’t the [...]
Review of Nora: A Doll's House at Royal Exchange, Manchester. You wait what seems like forever for an opportunity to see a production of ‘A Doll’s House’, and then three Noras come along at once – all on the same stage. Stef Smith takes Ibsen’s classic drama, and gives it a time-travelling, hall of mirrors-style [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. “It starts with a girl called Elle, she’s not your average leading lady as well, she has a heart the size of the moon, she’s far from been brought up with a silver spoon, in her gob” Centre stage, and swigging from a bottle of beer, Lauryn Redding sets the scene within [...]
Laugh if you like, but this year I’m heading to Manchester International Festival for my summer holidays. Even if I felt inclined to jet off abroad, the traffic light system feels like too much of a lottery and, as a solo traveller, price hikes make even UK destinations unaffordable for now. Meanwhile, there are 'enhanced [...]
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 [...]
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Theatre and performance reviews in the Greater Manchester area
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