North West

Writer: Jon Brittain Director: Donnacadh O'Briain Reviewer: Dave Cunningham Although Rotterdam has only recently started to tour, Jon Britain wrote the play some years ago. It would be great to report that the need to be tolerant of the wishes of other people- one of the themesof the play- has now been absorbed into our culture. Unfortunately, the homophobic attack suffered ...

Writer: Harriet Madeley Director: Max Barton Reviewer: Jo Beggs Shocking, brutal violent crimes. They happen in a moment, but for those they leave behind – perpetrators or victims – there’s a lifetime of anger, hurt and wondering how life could have been different. But when Writer Harriet Madeley stepped into the world of a group of people whose lives had ...

Directors: Charlotte Mooney & Alex Harvey Reviewer: Jay Nuttall The examination of the inter-generational is the driving force of Ockram’s Razor’s new show. A company specifically interested in aerial work their shows lie somewhere between physical theatre and circus with simplicity running through its core. This Time is a piece that wants to explore different ages, bodies, and the idea ...

Music, Book & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez & Matt Stone   Directors: Casey Nicholaw & Trey Parker   Reviewer: Jay Nuttall   The hype around The Book of Mormon in Manchester is huge. Posters flood the city advertising its eleven-week run over the summer at The Palace Theatre. For any theatre-goer decanted to Mars over the last few years ...

Writer/Performer: Urielle Klein-Mekongo Director: Gbolahan Obisesan Reviewer: Sam Lowe We are witnessing a future star in the arts industry, her name is Urielle Klein-Mekongo. China Plate present Yvette, a one-woman show with new music about societal pressures young girls face, a stolen childhood, and living with a perturbing secret. This is based on a true story. The central character Evie ...

Writer: Harold Brighouse Adaptor: Tanika Gupta Director: Atri Banerjee Reviewer: May Mellstrom Harold Brighouse's 1916 classic comedy Hobson's Choice, set in a Salford cobbler's shop in 1880, last graced the stage of the Royal Exchange in 2003, mere months before playwright Tanika Gupta's adaptation, featuring a present-day family of Ugandan Asian tailor's, premiered at the Young Vic Theatre in London.  ...

Writer: Emma Culshaw & David Paul Director: Sylvie Gatrill Reviewer: John Roberts Take one bridal shop in St Helens, add a heavy dose of Country and Western music and soak it with plenty of scouse humour and you have the ingredients for the Theatre Royal’s latest home-grown comedy.  It might not be the most sophisticated of productions, its most certainly ...

Writer: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields Director: Mark Bell Reviewer: Phoebe Patrick Mischief Theatre are back, after the runaway success of The Play that Goes Wrong and the seasonal hit Peter Pan Goes Wrongwriters Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields have set their sights away from the on-stage madness of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and refocused their ...