Dave PorterIf you’re not a fan of audience participation, this show is probably best avoided. The cast mingle with the audience queuing up outside the theatre to get in and once inside anyone sat in the first few rows is seen as fair game for some friendly...
Lucy Tobin“I’m hoping for absolute chaos!” It’s an unusual aspiration for the creative behind a brand-new musical to want from his audience reaction – especially when he adds that he wants the audience to be “shouting out and jumping up and down and...
Carmel ThomasonDear England, the hit Olivier Award-winning play by James Graham, comes to Lowry, Salford direct from a 10-week run at the National Theatre in London. After scooping the award for Best New Play In 2024 the production has been updated following last...
Combining art forms to create something beyond traditional description has become a hallmark of Factory. Hence why Hamlet Hail to the Thief is advertised not as a play or musical, but as ‘a live experience, fusing theatre, music and movement’. In...
Cathy CrabbAll the hype over the past few weeks is true – A Knight’s Tale is a firework of a show. And I mean literally at points. Figuratively it zings, glitters and explodes. Faux leathering their way through one jukebox banger after the other, the...
Arthur Miller was originally going to call Death of a Salesman ‘The Inside of His Head’, and it’s easy to see why in this lucid and powerful production of the postwar American classic. Willy Loman is a man in disintegration and assailed from voices...
Steve TimmsGizza 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...
Lorraine Worsley-CarterSt George’s day will be celebrated at the end of the April but how did England’s Patron Saint manage to have a castle named after him in Portugal? As our family’s connection to Portugal has grown, so has our fascination with the country’s rich...
Sarah HemmingIt’s been a long time coming. Ever since Yosser Hughes strode onto the screen in 1982 and into television drama history, with his brilliant, heartbreaking catchphrase “Gizza job”, people have been urging Alan Bleasdale to bring Boys from the...
There’s nothing like a bit of sun to lift the spirits. So, as Spring arrives, it feels there couldn’t be a better time for Mary Poppins to fly into Manchester and blow away any last wisps of winter cobwebs. This stage musical, from Cameron...