Quays Life A lifestyle webzine based-in Salford Quays

Christine Mackie in IRON Pic credit James Mackie

People To do & see

Christine and Lois Mackie on bringing IRON’s powerful mother-daughter story to life

For the first time, real-life mother and daughter Christine and Lois Mackie will share the stage in Rona Munro’s intense psychological prison drama ‘IRON’. Touring the North West...

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Nik Kershaw. Photo courtesy of M P Promotions

People

“Am I going to sit at home watching ‘Homes Under the Hammer’?”- Nik Kershaw on his latest Six in 26 tour

“What am I going to do? Am I going to sit at home watching Homes Under the Hammer for the rest of my life?” Laughs Nik Kershaw, as I ask him about the motivation behind his ‘Six in 26’ tour due to...

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L-to-R Harriet O'Shea as Small Alison and Alex Young as Helen Bechdel in Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Credit: Johan Persson

Reviews Theatre

Fun Home: Review

The Fun Home is not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, sometimes it’s not funny at all, what with marital discord, hidden secrets and suicide to contend with. The reason partly may be because the...

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Sewing a Button. Part of Ai Weiwei Button Up at Aviva Studios. Photo credit Hugo Glendinning

Art Reviews

Ai Weiwei: Sewing A Button – Review

If art is a weapon, then the corollary of such a statement is that it is also a weapon which can be used against the artist. Such was the case with Ai Weiwei who was imprisoned by the Chinese...

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Reviews

Twelfth Night HER Productions. Photo Credit Kelsea Knox

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Reviews Theatre

Twelfth Night HER Productions: Review

Steve TimmsAdd comment

Manchester based HER Productions has been doing modish Shakespeare adaptations since 2017, and this is their ninth. Co directed by Kayleigh Hawkins and Stuart Crowther, the 2026 tour of Twelfth Night is a bold, day-glo, all female and non binary...

Something Rotten. Pamela Raith Photography

Reviews Theatre

Something Rotten: Review

Carmel Thomason

Matthew Bourne's THE CAR MAN. Harrison Dowzell (Luca) and Company. Photo by Johan Persson

Reviews Theatre

Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man: Review

Carmel Thomason

To do & see

Nya, TPE's Pets as Therapy Dog. Photo courtesy of Transpennine Express

Dog's Life People

The dog taking the stress out of train journeys

Lorraine Worsley-Carter

One of my dear friends is Chaplain, Reverend Mike Roberts, Rail Industry and British Transport Police Chaplain whom I have featured in QuaysLife in the past. Earlier in the year, Mike included me in the following email. “Hi Lorraine Meet Steve...

People To do & see

Stephen Webb opens up about being Frank-ly fabulous Sweet Transvestite

Carmel Thomason

Fifty years on, ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ is still the most riotous party in town. At its centre struts Frank-N-Furter, an outrageous role of glam-rock legend. Quays Life caught up with Tottenham’s Stephen Webb, the latest actor to...

To do & see Travel

The only swing bridge aqueduct in the world

Lorraine Worsley-Carter

Lorraine Worsley-Carter stumbles upon a unique wonder of the canal age in Salford After taking a short cut to our favourite Trafford DIY store, our sat-nav suggested a route which took us over an old bridge which we had not traversed before...

Art Reviews

Ai Weiwei: Sewing A Button – Review

Dave Porter

If art is a weapon, then the corollary of such a statement is that it is also a weapon which can be used against the artist. Such was the case with Ai Weiwei who was imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for 81 days 15 years ago. He recreates the...

People

Matthew Bourne's THE CAR MAN. Jamie Duncan Campbell (Vito) and Company. Photo by Johan Persson

People To do & see

Matthew Bourne on The Car Man and Ballet’s Bisexual First

Carmel Thomason

Matthew Bourne’s award-winning dance thriller ‘The Car Man’ returns to Lowry, Salford as part of a new 2026 UK tour. Loosely based on Bizet’s ever-popular opera, ‘The Car Man’ has one of the most thrilling and instantly...

Daniel Casey (Barnaby) in The Killings at Badger's Drift, credit Manuel Harlan

People To do & see

Daniel Casey steps up as DCI Barnaby for Midsomer Murders on stage

Carmel Thomason

Daniel Casey has been promoted. After playing DS Gavin Troy on Midsomer Murders for a six-year stint, he’s now back in the UK’s most dangerous county (fictionally speaking, at least) as DCI Tom Barnaby in the stage play The Killings at...