Dave PorterHow does a person end up sleeping rough in a hostel and spending their days camped out on a park bench asking strangers for loose change in exchange for a swift rendition of Danny Boy? More specifically, how does a woman fall so much lower rather...
A huge bodhran hangs over the set of Dancing at Lughnasa like some leaden sky settling down on the inhabitants of this village in Donegal. Together with the fiddle it represents freedom from the cares of everyday life, a chance to dance and escape...
It turns out that nostalgia is what it used to be. That’s certainly the case with this show which depicts an imaginary meeting between a triumvirate of comedy – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – backstage in a dusty dressing room of a...
What happens when you fail to reach the giddy heights of success as an actor? When a career high translates into a summer season in Blackpool rather than the bright lights of Broadway. That’s the intriguing premise of a play written by Andy Moseley...
In 1945, a week-long series of meetings took place in Manchester which was to change the course of history in Africa. Several of the attendees went on to become presidents of African nations and it has been argued that the Fifth Pan-African...
If you’re not a fan of audience participation, this show is probably best avoided. The cast mingle with the audience queuing up outside the theatre to get in and once inside anyone sat in the first few rows is seen as fair game for some friendly...
Arthur Miller was originally going to call Death of a Salesman ‘The Inside of His Head’, and it’s easy to see why in this lucid and powerful production of the postwar American classic. Willy Loman is a man in disintegration and assailed from voices...
Abigail’s Party was first staged as a play in 1977, and then later screened on television to great acclaim. The play was as much of its time as the Cinzano adverts with Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, and like the ad has since filtered down into...
There are so many songs in this production, at times it seems like the characters barely have time to break into dialogue. This frantic take on Shakespeare’s romantic comedy takes a full-throttle approach to adaptation, with gags galore, pratfalls...
It’s arguable that in youth-obsessed culture there’s a distinct lack of older people represented on stage, giving scant roles for those getting on in years. Beckett had some memorable characters and Arnold Wesker made some headway with The Old Ones...