As someone who travels a lot by train, the idea of a play about travelling 21000 miles of rail naturally appealed. I think that the concept will attract a lot of people. Writer and performer Hannah Butterfield has come up with a gem of an idea, but...
Manchester International Festival makes a fantastic cultural contribution to the city in commissioning events that bring together top talent from across the globe. But, sometimes it is good to be reminded of the extraordinary talent we have right...
The emerging urban gang culture of Victorian Manchester is a gift for dramatists who are only really beginning to scratch the surface of these complex and fractured lives. Last year, HOME staged the immersive and challenging, Angel Meadow, on the...
There’s something for everyone at The Lowry this Christmas, and for little ones the show of choice is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. My two-year-old nephew had spotted the posters, and although it wasn’t a story I was familiar with, he recognised it...
Following the success of World War I drama The Accrington Pals last year, it’s good to see director James Dacre return to the Royal Exchange, this time with his equally immersive interpretation of a classic play, Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize...
Stomp has come a long way since its 1991 premiere at the Edinburgh Festival. More than 20 years on, the show, created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, has become a global success and its popularity doesn’t show any signs of slowing. Part of...
There is something very worthy about the latest new play from the Developed with the Lowry programme that makes me want to warm to it much more than I can. The writer, Tuheen Huda is also a practising hospital doctor, working in intensive care, and...
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical that audiences never tire of seeing, no matter how many times it tours, and I count myself in that. There’s good reason for its enduring popularity – the story, taken from the Bible’s book of...
It’s hard to imagine that the first ever production of Swan Lake was panned by critics for its poor choreography. More than 135 years later, it is now the world’s most popular ballet and its swan maidens have become iconic representations of the...
If you ever question why Samuel Beckett is one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century, seeing Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby, may help quell any doubt. These are three very short plays which, when run together as in this production from...
Carmel Thomason