Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
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 [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. Muna is good at "talkin' and that", listening to problems and dishing out advice. She's funny, full of life and bursting with confidence. Yet, there's something she can't tell even her closest friends at school, a problem she's too embarrassed to seek professional help for - she's been 'cut'. Playwright Charlene James [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. In recent years the Royal Exchange has been serving up a musical as their festive season main course, and things are no different this year. A rags-to-riches story, set in 1920's Vaudeville and packed with familiar tunes, Gypsy promises a touch of glitz and glamour to brighten the winter months. It also [...]
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 [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 29 October 2019. Life ends. Death comes. Light falls. As Christine collapses to the floor in the drinks aisle of the Co-op on Stockport's Heaton Moor Road, she recalls details from her life as if they are flashing before her eyes. At that moment too, she shares with the audience her deep [...]
18 September 2019. Royal Exchange, Manchester. "Is this a dagger which I see before me?". Well, yes and no, but I definitely see a red balloon, and a bloke in a bear costume at a banquet, and someone munching crisps loudly on the front row. Christopher Haydon's Macbeth is certainly surprising, often visually arresting, and [...]
22 August 2019. The Den, Stalybridge Civic Hall. Using Thomas More's book, published in 1516, as their starting point, the Royal Exchange Young Company explore the concept of Utopia in their latest show. In these uncertain times, it seems only natural to search for alternatives, wish for something that's not broken, and perhaps even dream [...]
When HOME proudly announced three "world premiere productions" as part of its 2019 theatre season you'd be forgiven for assuming that those shows would be premiering in front of local Manchester audiences. However, following that announcement back in November last year, it gradually emerged that the majority of those world premieres were being saved up [...]
29 July 2019. Royal Exchange, Manchester. Sub-titled Scenes From The Luddite Rebellion, Lauren Mooney and James Yeatman's new production provides exactly that – a rousing collection of voices, sounds and stories from a time of great turmoil. Drawing on archive material, including letters, court reports and newspaper articles, Mooney and Yeatman trace the increasing radicalism [...]
5 & 27 June 2019. Royal Exchange, Manchester. Cobblers? Not this production of Hobson's Choice! The Boot Shop of Harold Brighouse's classic comedy is now a tailor's in Tanika Gupta's zippy new adaptation, and the original play's Salford-based family business has crossed the Irwell to become embedded within the hustle and bustle of 1980s Manchester. [...]
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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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