Tag Archives: Manchester

Book:  Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan Music/Lyrics: Mel Brooks Director: Raz Shaw Reviewer: Dave Cunningham The original movie version of The Producers was so outrageously funny it is hard to imagine a musical version could be an improvement. Yet this festive season The Royal Exchange certainly have a damn good try with director Raz Shaw’s staging of the musical. Producer Max ...

Music and Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz Book: Winnie Holzman Director: Joe Mantello Reviewer: Helen Jones For those who have been living under a shell for the last fifteen years, Wicked, based on Gregory McGuire's fantasy novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is a prequel and retelling of The Wizard of Oz but from the viewpoint ...

Writer: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss Director: Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage Reviewer: Frances Scott The chopped and changed wives of Henry VIII have moved heaven and earth to tell their side of the story. Overshadowed by their husband’s reign, these queens have taken over the Quays theatre to upgrade the audiences limited knowledge of their lives. Assuming that you ...

Writer: Derren Litten Director: Ed Curtis Reviewer: Marie Smith Camp, cheesy and ridiculously crude, Benidorm Live successfully brings the hugely popular TV programme to life. Derren Litten’s stage version of Benidorm has the audience in hysterics from the word go and successfully captures the laugh out loud moments and feel good factor from the programme. Benidorm Live follows the holidaymakers and ...

Writers: Lindsay Williams, Trevor Suthers, James Quinn, Louis Ashton-Butler, Peter Kerry, Diane Whitley, Dave Simpson. Directors: Miranda Parker, Trevor McFarlane, Alice Bartlett, Simon Naylor, Chantell Walker, Roger Haines, Reviewer: Sam Lowe It's the first time, this reviewer has attended the well-known JB Shorts nights. Six more 15 minutes plays are presented to the audience written by top TV writers. The buzz ...

Writer: Jean Genet Translation: Martin Crimp Director: Lily Sykes Reviewer: Dave Cunningham When HOME stages a play as ‘theatre in the round’ they really commit to the concept. The stage area for The Maids is built over the stalls lifting the performance space to the level of the dress circle. Patrons have, therefore, excellent sightlines and are in disturbing proximity to ...

Writer: Ed Edwards Director: Cressida Brown Reviewer: Jo Beggs Mustard Tree is a charity that works to tackle homelessness, its causes and consequences, and both of those are often a dependence on drugs. So this room in the charity’s Ancoats centre is a fitting place for this short play that explores how the complicated political history of heroin has impacted ...

Producing Company: Buglight Theatre Writer & Performer: Keeley Lane Dramaturg & Director: Samantha Robinson Sound Designer: Dave Searle Lighting & Technician: Chris Hanlon Reviewer: Rich Jevons Right from her plucky stage entrance to the demanding denouement, Buglight Theatre co-founder Keeley Lane dominates the stage in this compulsive one-woman show. It was developed from her MA in Acting studies when it ...