Growing up in a north east mining village I know all too well the part miners’ wives played in supporting the miner’s strike of 1984-85. Their protests were often ones of survival; sitting for hours on the cold city streets, raising awareness of the...
It’s more than 10 years ago since I first saw Mamma Mia! and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen it on stage, at cinema and on TV since then. But as the band strikes its first note, ABBA’s feel-good, disco beats hook me right back in...
It’s pink, fluffy and even has two puppies – Legally Blonde is as sweet and light as candy-floss, and OMG, you guys, this is the last week of the tour! It’s 11 years since we first met Elle Wood, the pink princess turned legal eagle, in the 2007...
When we meet Noel Lynch he looks like your average 50-something man, but like novelist, Maeve Binchy who created him, he’s a born storyteller. And as he takes us back 25 years, we are about to find out, all is not always as it seems. Noel rewinds to...
It feels a natural progression these days for popular children’s books to make their way to the stage, especially when the author is Julia Donaldson. Tall Stories, whose previous productions at the Lowry include Donaldson’s The Gruffalo and Room on...
Making Maxine Peake an Associate Artist of the Royal Exchange has enabled a growing creative partnership with Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, in which both actor and director are given freedom to explore the boundaries of their disciplines. After...
Rudyard Kipling’s collection of short stories, ‘The Jungle Book’ has been enchanting children for more than 100 years. Today most people know his famous characters, Mowgli, Baloo and Shere Khan, from the Disney adaptations – a cartoon...
At a time when Cold War rivalries are re-emerging, we could once again be facing a period of history where Russia appears a very different land. A new translation of Chekhov’s final play, The Cherry Orchard, by Rory Mullarkey promises to be truer to...
At the toss of a coin the company decides on stage which of two actors will take the crown as Elizabeth I and who will lose her head as Mary Stuart. This device, more a spin than a flip, is magnified on screens around the auditorium, while Juliet...
One of the great beauties of circus is its ability to cross boundaries of language, age and, for many of us, what we might imagine is physically possible. In the Little Mermaid, the multi-talented Metta theatre team use their circus skills to push...
Carmel Thomason