No matter what the weather, it is always hard to drag kids away from the excitement of their screens. So, if the summer sunshine isn’t enough to entice your little ones away from their digital devices, our 10-year-old reviewer has tried out some of...
England is one of the most travelled countries in the world. But while millions of tourists visit Manchester and London every year fewer venture off the tourist path to discover England’s hidden gems. If you’re visiting from outside the...
We will never tire of a summer beach holiday. But, sometimes, even the best of breaks when they become too familiar can leave us thirsting for a new kind of adventure. If this is you, here are 6 unique styles of holiday to explore something new...
Violinist, Jordan Brooks moved from South Africa to the UK specially to study at Chetham’s School of Music and is now graduating as one of the UK’s best young strings players. Performing with Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra is the pinnacle performance...
First of all, an apology to the woman sitting next to me (a total stranger) for blurting out the reveal (in a determined stage whisper). I’m sure she was ahead of me on this, but even so… I’m sorry. (Note to self: Button it!) Written by Matthew...
Finisterre, the sixth studio album by English pop group Saint Etienne, features a series of spoken word interludes from actor Michael Jayston. ‘Rock could be so good’, he solemnly intones, ‘but we make it all so rubbishy.’ It’s hard to disagree...
Let’s pretend we’re contestants in that popular BBC quiz show, “Pointless”. “Identify these famous female vocalists, mimicked by LV in Jim Cartwright’s hit play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.” A: Parisian chanteuse, affectionately known as the...
Shows about bad acting are nothing new. Tom Stoppard’s Real Inspector Hound probably got there first, closely followed by Michael Green’s Art of Coarse Acting, and later Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s enduring farce within a farce. The irony is that it...
Contact Manchester helped set Keisha Thompson on her artistic path when she joined one of the venue’s programmes as a young poet, writer and performance artist at the age of 15. Now, at age 32 she has become the venue’s youngest Artistic Director...
Rambert’s mixed programme Dance may have a rather unimaginative title, but it does what it says on the tin – three very different short pieces combine to create an evening showcasing the versatility of the company. It opens with the unsettling Eye...










