Steve TimmsWho killed Oldham Coliseum? That’s the question many are asking as this historic local theatre closes after over 100 years of business. A theatre which has survived two world wars, a global pandemic, and which helped launch the careers of Stan...
Dave PorterWar in Europe, the far right in the streets with their dog whistles, and a sharp rise in anti-Semitism: it’s not hard to see parallels between the inter-war period and today’s political landscape, where Putin invades a neighbouring country on the...
When writer and director Isobel McArthur was commissioned to produce an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, it came with a word of warning: make sure it connects with a Glasgow audience. The advice must have worked not only for a...
Georgina WellsFollowing 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...
Paul ThomasonAnyone for snot macaroni and toenail ice-cream? Paul Thomason experiences the gross-out fun of watching David Walliams’ story live on stage. Less than a week after children all over the land have been going to school dressed as one of many of...
Martin ThomassonJeremy Sams, adapter and director of this stage version of the popular 1970s sitcom The Good Life, points out how current the central clash of ideas seems to be. On the one hand, we have careerist Gerry (played here by Dominic Rowan) and his...
Portraying a beloved public figure is a risk for any actor but when it comes to Princess Diana, it seems like a poisoned chalice. There have been several soapy TV versions of her sadly short life, featuring actresses looking coy, and cocking their...
As Hope Mill Theatre’s Executive Director William Whelton observes in his programme notes, the journey to bring their production of Rent to the stage has been a difficult one. Originally scheduled for performance in the summer, national lockdown and...
After seven months with no live theatre, it felt like a miracle to be part of the audience that gathered outside The Lowry on a dark October evening to watch Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show. Imitating the Dog’s new touring work – created with the...
Moses KabungaSet in the mid 1980s, Kevin Elyot’s My Night with Reg tells interacting stories of six gay men living in London. The play was first produced a decade later and thanks to the Green Carnation Company is now enjoying a revival. The entire play is set...