If you remember the 2014 controversy regarding certain Birmingham schools and the so-called ‘Trojan horse’ revelations, you most probably recall it as a conspiracy by certain Muslim governors to take over and radicalise British schools, a conspiracy...
Flo, the most junior of doctors, wearing her scrubs, already weary, stressed, overloaded with information and feeling out of her depth, excluded from case conferences by her white-coated seniors, is in need of a night’s rest, to take it all in, to...
“I hope you have not become robots but humanised” (or in Cocteau’s native tongue “J’espère que vous n’êtes pas devenu des robots mais humanisé”) comes the call from the grave. This was Jean Cocteau’s message filmed in 1962 – a...
It has been called Shakespeare’s problematic comedy and, even if the only information you had about it was the title, it’s not hard to see why. The idea of calling a woman a shrew is bad enough, without adding the idea of taming her into the story...
The Thunder Girls is a new show, premiering at The Lowry, that sold-out way before its opening night. It is inspired by Melanie Blake’s book of the same name, of which the action in the play is just a small taster. The novel follows the fortunes of...
‘Fringe theatre’ is a nebulous term that most people will be familiar with but perhaps struggle to define. Usually it conjures up images of a group of ex drama students, gamely staging a piece of new writing – on a zero budget – in a pub back-room...
Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’ ends with the wedding of four couples, including Rosalind and Orlando, with the ceremony overseen by the God of Marriage, Hymen. But how do you go about depicting a god onstage? The answer for the Royal...
Director, Kimberley Sykes talks about her playful and passionate version of Shakespeare’s much-loved romantic comedy, As You Like It. What has influenced your thinking around the production? Kimberley: “I think a big thing which has influenced...
It is easy to feel jaded as a reviewer, particularly when a play you’ve seen countless times pops up again on the season brochure. When it comes to refreshing an old favourite, star casting works. In Manchester we’ve recently seen Jodie Prenger...
In 2012, comedian Laurence Clark starred in BBC1’s documentary ‘We Won’t Drop the Baby’ which followed his family’s journey as they welcomed their second child into the world. The worldwide response was unprecedented and among the uplifting and...
Martin Thomasson
Moses Kabunga
Carmel Thomason
Steve Timms
Lorraine Worsley-Carter