Georgina WellsFollowing the likes of Rebecca, Brief Encounter and Malory Towers, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is the latest literary work to get the Emma Rice treatment, and arguably it wears it best of all. Wuthering Heights The passion, wildness and...
Steve TimmsI’ve always been drawn to plays with enigmatic titles. Some writers have a particular flair for this, Philip Ridley being easily the best (Pitchfork Disney, Mercury Fur, Piranha Heights). The Royal Exchange has some form in this area; I got excited...
Carmel ThomasonTV dog trainer, Graeme Hall, is bringing his wisdom, charm and puppy prowess to his first ever UK tour, The Dogfather Live on Stage, which arrives at the Lowry in June. And the star of Channel 5’s Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly reveals he’s had to hit...
Martin ThomassonAn older friend regularly liked to recite the following: “Never assume. To assume is to make an ‘ass’ of ‘u’ and ‘me’.” She did this for two reasons. Firstly, she was aware that I find such modern homilies twee and irri-tating. Secondly, she...
Niamh MelodyWho doesn’t love The Addams Family? Full of crazy, hilarious characters, obsessed with darkness and death, the franchise originally created by Charles Addams has been revamped and warped onto many different platforms over the years. But rest...
Katie JohnsonMusic is all about connection as Katie Johnson discovers when she talks to Manchester Collective’s CEO Adam Szabo and cellist Abel Selaocoe about their latest collaboration, The Oracle Manchester Collective are aligning once again with South...
Tim Foley won the 2017 Bruntwood Prize Judges’ Award with his sci-fi comedy, Electric Rosary. Ahead of the play’s world premiere on the Royal Exchange main stage he talks to Carmel Thomason about writing, coffee and robotic nuns Writer Tim...
The intimacy of Oldham Coliseum theatre makes it the perfect venue for family theatre. So, it is surprising that The Jungle Book is the first family show the Coliseum has produced outside of the festive season for over a decade. Perhaps the growing...
The tale may be as old as time, but this brand-new production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is ever a surprise. Imagine an enchanted castle where you’re served dinner by dancing plates, entertained by a quick-fire candlestick, warmed by a mumsy...
I love a good show celebrating women, especially when they’re so rarely done. Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World is a new musical directed by Amy Hodge and based on the picture book by Kate Pankhurst (who is, in fact, a very distant...