Carmel ThomasonWhether 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...
Martin ThomassonBeing 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...
Natasha Tripney talks to author, Malorie Blackman and director, Esther Richardson about The Pilot Theatre’s new stage adaptation of Noughts and Crosses coming to The Lowry. What inspired you to create the Noughts and Crosses series? Malorie...
If ever grief was captured in a performance, this is it. Opera North’s Orfeo ed Euridice is a dramatic concert performance, where the set and costume design is stripped back, leaving the singers and music to take centre stage. That said, the stage...
This extravagant production of Verdi’s La Traviata arrives at The Lowry at the end of its run for Opera North, and this last week of shows bursts with the energy of a final hurrah. Verdi’s La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) has long been one of the most...
A lot has changed since Deborah Moggach first introduced us to retirement Indian-style. For one, her 2004 best-selling novel These Foolish Things has become a phenomenon; changing both how we view old age and how Hollywood views it. Under a new...
Georgina WellsNorthern 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...