A staple of school set texts no doubt, Blood Brothers is testimony to this fact with what felt like hordes of schoolchildren descending upon The Lowry for this most primeval of shows. The tightly-structured plot and allusions to Greek tragedy make...
Comedian and new mum, Amy Vreeke talks to Carmel Thomason about debunking the myths of motherhood in her new stand-up show, Glowing, and using humour to put people at ease to shine a spotlight on some of the trickier topics of life. How are you...
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...
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...
If I could turn back time, I would have been hot on the phone for a ticket to see Cher’s 2019 Here We Go Again tour at Manchester’s AO Arena. Given the level of audience excitement at hearing the opening bars of one of her hits at the start of this...
Melissa Johns’ one-woman show, Snatched, opened its tour at The Lowry on Friday night to a packed studio theatre. The title of disabled actor Johns’ self-written show is a play on both a slang term for attractive or perfect-looking, and a reference...
Singin’ in the Rain is the musical equivalent of comfort food. We know what we’re getting but it’s so good we never grow tired of it. In many ways it is an easy sell – audiences come because they love the 1952 movie. But once the theatre is...
Following 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...
I’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...
Dave Porter
Carmel Thomason
Martin Thomasson
Steve Timms
Georgina Wells