The 90’s and noughties was a golden age for television comedy. Looking back, it’s hard to believe Father Ted, The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You, Big Train, The Fast Show, League of Gentlemen, Smack the Pony, The Mighty Boosh, Brass Eye, and The...
Returning to the Here & Now musical for the UK and Ireland tour, Rebecca Lock promises that audiences are in for a theatrical treat. “They can expect a rollercoaster of emotion,” she says, “and it’s so joyful, colourful...
This ghost story, directed by Matthew Dunster and written by Danny Robins, has enjoyed huge audiences and many rave reviews. A leap of faith is necessary to believe what happens, although it is directed and acted the best it could be. Two hapless...
Whether you were first introduced to the Addams Family from watching the original 1960’s TV show, the early 1990’s Angelica Houston movies, any of the numerous cartoon incarnations or are recently discovering the clan through Netflix’s heavily...
By Royal Appointment may be Daisy Goodwin’s debut play, but don’t let that confuse you as to the talent and experience that has gone into this new production about the late Queen and her dressers. Although she is new to stage writing, Goodwin is a...
It turns out that nostalgia is what it used to be. That’s certainly the case with this show which depicts an imaginary meeting between a triumvirate of comedy – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – backstage in a dusty dressing room of a...
Gizza Job. Welcome to the gig economy. The game may have changed but the rules of a capitalist society remain the same: for the powerful to thrive, the working class must be oppressed. Zero hours contracts usually involve working for companies who...
The success of The Crown tells us there is plenty of dramatic opportunity in any story about the late Queen as well as a healthy audience for it. Recently Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) too has been getting more attention from dramatists, being the...
Whitworth Art Gallery is currently home to an installation quite literally good enough to eat. Artist Bobby Baker has recreated her An Edible Family in a Mobile Home (1976, 2023) enlisting the help of Long Boi’s Bakehouse to make the edible family...
Every Britain’s Got Talent hopeful who’s had their dreams shattered by the forked tongue of Simon Cowell need look no further than Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944) for comfort. Who cares what the critics may say? Go for it anyway. Or as Florence...
Steve Timms
Carmel Thomason
Cathy Crabb
Paul Thomason
Dave Porter
Verity Marchant