Leslie James KerwinA ‘miracle’ to some, a ‘gangster’ to others, the grown-ups around Matilda Wormwood can all agree on one thing: this is a five-year-old far too smart for her own good. Now on its 15th year of touring, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s ‘Matilda: The...
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but it is in the script…” “There’s a script?” “Not tonight there’s not!” Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you’re having a lovely evening – and if you’re not sharing a bed with your appropriately-aged best friend...
One side are ‘badger-stranglers’ from Gunchester. The other eat ‘rice with Bovril’. It’s summer 1995, and in the greatest battle between bands in 30 years, Oasis and Blur are in a race to the top for UK Number One Single. In a technicolour bombshell...
Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel talk to Leslie Kerwin about reliving the magic of Morecambe and Wise on stage. “Every year we did a show for the Stage Golfing Society. They did a ‘70s variety show and asked if I would do Eric Morecambe,” Jonty...
Born in Salford and having lived elsewhere, Emily Simpson is used to the city’s reputation as Manchester’s indignant shadow. “Salford is always the other city,” she says. “It has a confusing, complex identity that is often squashed...
The concept of ‘it’s not gay if’ has long been a foundational philosophy to humanity’s evolution. Homosexual accusations have been graffitied on toilet walls since Pompeii, and even by the New Labour nineties, being “straight until”...
“We’re all born naked and the rest is drag” is an immediate thought on the first watch of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. RuPaul’s most famous catchphrase comes from the idea that there is more to a person than what is outwardly visible. The story...
Has the day of a wedding ever gone smoothly? The bride is stressing out, the groom is having second thoughts, the kids are being a nightmare, and there’s always one underpaid staff member keeping it all together. If your palms are already sweating...
Fifty years in the future, humanity has stepped down from the podium of Earth’s dominant species. Generations of damage to the planet’s ecosystem has now given rise to a new form of life: a living, breathing web of mycelium, supercharged by AI. In...
“Victims are male homosexuals and drug users who use needles… any of them could have contracted the Aids virus, and any of them could pass it on.” A tinny radio blares across a dimly-lit haze of sweating bodies and tight leather trousers. Red...