Tag Archives: Manchester

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 ...

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.  ...

Music: Giuseppe Verdi Libretto: Antonio Ghislanzoni Director: Annabel Arden Conductor: Sir Richard Armstrong Reviewer: Sam Lowe There couldn’t have been a better venue choice for tonight’s opera than Bridgewater Hall. The sound of music and singing effortlessly swirls around the acoustics of the auditorium. Opera North’s concert staging of Aidamixes everyone around: the performers are right at the front, followed ...

Writer: Michael Gyngell Directors: Samuel Holmes and Nick Winston Reviewer: Helen Jones The Eighties were all about big hair, big shoulders and living life to the full. The austerity of the Seventies was left behind and the young were out to make their mark on the world. Club Tropicanaattempts to capture the hedonistic glitz of the mid to late part ...

Writer: Peter James Adaptor: Shaun McKenna Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: Frances Scott Plunging all their money into a rundown 1750s manor in Sussex, the Harcourt family have packed up their city life and relocated for a chance at country living. Freelance web designer, Ollie (Joe McFadden, Heartbeat and Holby City), his high-powered solicitor wife, Caro (Rita Simons, EastEnders) and their sixteen-year-old ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: John Haidar Reviewer: Dave Cunningham Headlong do not have to try too hard to demonstrate the relevance of Shakespeare’s Richard IIIto contemporary audiences. After all, the play is set in a divided society governed by a populist ‘strong man’ ruler whose narcissism conceals a deep insecurity and rage against the world. Not too difficult, therefore, to ...