Carmel ThomasonThe wonder of play is seeing a child take a set of building blocks and visualise anything from a barn to an elephant. But sometimes it can be good to add some inspiration to get the spark of creativity flowing. Kid’s view The new set from...
From a multi-coloured fox to a cathedral, our young reviewer’s imagination explores the world of Connetix magnetic tiles. Kid’s review Connetix Tiles are a range of colourful magnetic shapes that can be used to create both flat and 3-D...
Message in a Bottle is a new show set to the music of Sting which promises gravity-defying lyrical dance and breath-taking music alongside a moving story of humanity and hope. Ahead of its run at The Lowry, we talk to director and choreographer...
If asked to name last year’s overall bestselling author in the UK, who would you pick? Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling? Horror writer Stephen King? Master of mystery, Richard Osman? You’d be wrong on all three counts. In fact, Julia Donaldson took...
In many ways Romeo and Juliet, bursting with the passion and energy of youth, feels like the perfect ballet for an innovative company like Sir Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures to stage. And if you think there are no new ideas to be mined from...
As Strictly Ballroom the Musical quicksteps into The Lowry on its first ever UK tour, it begs the question: what took it so long? It’s more than 30 years since Baz Luhrmann’s film version dazzled critics and audiences alike. And the ongoing TV...
It was 11-years-ago when I last saw the RSC perform Julius Caesar at The Lowry. What changes the world has seen since then! In this new production, Atri Banerjee brings us a very different production for a very different time. Yet Shakespeare’s...
Starring in the UK’s first ever tour of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom is a childhood dream come true, Kevin Clifton and Faye Brookes tell Quays Life: When Kevin Clifton was 10 years old he watched the film of Strictly Ballroom and, as...
When the tour of new comedy The Way Old Friends Do opened in February, no-one could have imagined the next month we’d be saying goodbye to Paul O’Grady. On hearing his distinctive Scouse voice open the show audiences would probably laugh before any...
Christine Mackie, aka Coronation Street’s Dr Gaddas, is taking a break from the cobbles to take on the title role in an all female and non-binary production of King Lear. She talks to Carmel Thomason about preparing for one of theatre’s...