Seeta Patel is surely the UK’s prime proponent of Bharatanatyam, the classical south Asian dance form. Whilst it is still the case that this form is less well known in this country than Kathak, that is in the process of changing, due in large part...
One reviewer described this show as ‘brilliantly bonkers.’ I shall strive to be similarly generous, but I give you fair warning: I expect to fall some way short. To begin at the beginning… We are gathered to witness the birth of Diktat, a strongman...
In case you’re so pressure-cooker busy you don’t have time to read the rest of this review (cue scream-face emoji), I’ll come straight to the point: This Opera North production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” is simply splendid. Shakespeare’s Sir John...
Quiz, the story of cheating to a million on Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire? is a highly theatrical narrative of blindsiding, hoodwinking and Craig David’s first album.After being dead good at quizzes down the pub, Diana Ingram (Charley Webb) along...
Ailey 2, the second company of New York’s Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, arrives at The Lowry mid-way through its first UK tour in over a decade. The company, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is renowned for giving exceptional young...
Whether it has been artists looking forward or looking back, the year 2000 has always held fascination as a turning point in our psyche. Eun-Me Ahn Dragons emerged from an idea to capture the experience of young dancers from across the Asian...
Some stories are so strange you couldn’t make them up, and others, like the seventeenth century tale of the crown jewels heist, become even more absurd with time. Simon Nye’s comedy revolves around the unlikely but true story of an attempt to steal...
Being cast alongside Kathryn Hunter can’t be an easy job for an actor. I speak here not of her personality – of which I hear only only positive reports. I refer to Hunter’s remarkable capacity to inhale the air from all four corners of the...
Sir Ian McKellen may or may not be a real wizard, but he is certainly a knight in shining armour for theatre. I’ve seen many a Christmas pantomime, more recently Easter pantomimes, but never before a pantomime that spanned both seasons, with no gap...
Leos Janacek’s three-act opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, is a peculiar beast – part children’s folk tale, part tragedy, part modestly profound meditation on the cycle of life. It’s a difficult piece to mount successfully, but Opera North’s...
Martin Thomasson
Cathy Crabb
Carmel Thomason