Tag Archives: Oldham

Book:  Melvyn Bragg Music and Lyrics: Howard Goodall Director: Douglas Rintoul Reviewer: Helen Jones Writer Melvyn Bragg wrote his original novel The Hired Man in the 1960s.  He used his grandfather as the basis for the story of an ordinary working man in Cumberland towards the end of Victoria's reign.   Newly married John Tallantire and his wife Emily are at ...

Writer:  Martin McDonagh Director:  Chris Lawson Martin McDonagh was already an established playwright and writer of several Indie screen classics when his award-winning film, Three Billboards OutsideEbbing, Missouri, brought him overnight fame and World-wide attention in 2017. As a young writer in his mid-twenties, McDonagh emerged as an enfant terrible of the British theatre scene with his highly acclaimed Leenane ...

Writer:  Jimmie Chinn Director: Noreen Kershaw Reviewer: Richard Hall Actor and director, Kenneth Alan Taylor first performed at the Oldham Repertory Theatre in 1959 and has since appeared at the Coliseum in over three hundred productions. During two spells as the Coliseum’s Artistic Director, Alan Taylor directed some of the theatre’s most memorable productions including in 1998 the premiere of ...

Writer:  Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti Director:  Pravesh Kumar Reviewer: Richard Hall Having previously visited the Oldham Coliseum with the Bollywood inspired musical, Britain’s Got Bhangra and the comedy-drama Happy Birthday Sunita; Rifco Theatre, one of the UK’s leading Asian Theatre Companies return with a bittersweet comedy that will strike a chord with anyone who has suffered and survived the agonies and traumas of adolescence. ...

Writer:  Shelagh Delaney Director:  Chris Lawson Reviewer: Richard Hall Written when she was only 18, Shelagh Delaney’s, A Taste of Honey, has been credited as being one of the first kitchen sink dramas of the Twentieth Century. It is claimed that Delaney wrote it in response to seeing a play by Terrence Rattigan and wanted to rid the stage of ...

Writer: Compton Mackenzie Adaptor: Philip Goulding Director: Kevin Shaw Reviewer: Donna Kelly As Britain marks 100 years since women first gained the right to vote, Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre and New Vic Theatre present a brand new, all-female adaptation of Compton Mackenzie’s comedy classic Whisky Galore. Set in 1955, Whiskey Galore tells the story of the islanders of ...

Writer:  Tom Wells Director: Chris Lawson Reviewer: Richard Hall Following the success of his debut production, Jumpers for Goalposts, the Coliseum’s Associate Director, Chris Lawson, closes the theatre’s winter season with another of Tom Wells’ award-winning plays The Kitchen Sink. Winner of the Critics’ Circle Award for most promising playwright in 2011 and the George Devine Award in 2012, The ...

Writer: John Godber Director: Chris Lawson Reviewer: Iain Sykes Over thirty years after its inception in the rugby league heartland of Hull, John Godber’s comedy Up’n’Under is as sharp as ever in another hotspot of that particular sport. This Oldham Coliseum production has the unusual aspect of the Oldham audience cheering for a group of Yorkshire lads rather than the ...