Reviews from Salford Quays
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...
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A tropical forest isn’t the setting you might imagine for a Christmas musical. But when temperatures are minus 7 outside, the idea of being transported to a lush green land, if only for a couple of hours is inviting. The adventure starts from first...
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Erich Kästner was an exceptional writer of fiction for children (Emile and the Detectives is perhaps his best known work). Identical is a new musical adaptation of another of Kästner’s tales, Lisa and Lottie. If you’ve seen any of the film versions...
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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...
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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...
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Do you hear the people sing? Yes, I do. And I hear them cry – there are even nose-blowing sobs to the left of me. I also hear the roar of approval with thunderous applause that sees the whole auditorium on its feet as soon the stage goes black. This...
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It was a very smart move of Tim Firth to adapt his 1998 TV comedy, Neville’s Island, for the stage in 2013. It has rarely – if ever – been out of production since. It looks like being another smart move for him to realise (or be...
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Old Etonian, Eric Blair – better known to us as George Orwell – walked-the-walk rather more determinedly than most bourgeois left-leaning artists and intellectuals. His early works of social criticism (Down and Out in Paris and London...
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“Where did all the happy endings go? Where can all the good times be?” asks Eglantine Price. Is there an adult in the audience who isn’t thinking the same? As the song goes, many of us are at ‘The Age of Not Believing’ but Disney always has the...
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Northern Broadsides’ As You Like It is the first production I’ve seen staged in the round at The Lowry’s Quays Theatre, and it’s a layout that certainly suits both venue and play. It feels more novel and intimate than a proscenium arch staging...
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Steve Timms
Carmel Thomason
Martin Thomasson
Niamh Melody
Georgina Wells