Questions concerning who should be permitted to write about certain topics and, more pointedly, which actors should be allowed to play certain roles have become increasingly vexed in recent times. I donāt wish to poke my finger into wounds that are...
Leos Janacekās three-act opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, is a peculiar beast – part childrenās folk tale, part tragedy, part modestly profound meditation on the cycle of life. Itās a difficult piece to mount successfully, but Opera Northās...
Of the two generations represented in Bill Naughtonās Spring and Port Wine, the older one (the parents) have departed this world and even their children will now be in their eighties. So, much as Boltonians love their adopted son (Naughton moved to...
Pucciniās Madama Butterfly continues to pull the crowds; partly, of course, because of the maestroās music, but also because it is a simple, truthful story, based (albeit at some creative distance) upon real life events. The entire opera is set at...
I donāt mean to say Iāve lost count, or that I was found, as a babe, at Victoria Station. What I mean to say is that I have not yet found how to be the age I am. I often donāt feel right, āin myself,ā as the saying goes. There are, of course...
It does my Christmas spirit no good at all to be writing a less than warm review about a Maxine Peake project. The star of Dinner Ladies, Silk, and the rightly acclaimed post-Hillsborough docudrama, Anne (plus a glittering array of theatrical...
The curtain rises to reveal four young men, each naked but preserving a modicum of dignity by holding a small pile of his own clothing (shoes and all) at a strategic height. These four are the latest inmates, just arrived at Shawshank Maximum...
English National Ballet’s production of Swan Lake is entirely conventional. And perhaps, with such a classic piece, this is what audiences demand – after all, the magnificent sight of ballerinas in white tutus moving in unison is one of...
The regionās cultural shores are currently awash with new musicals. Boltonās Octagon Theatre is right now premiering, āThe Book Thief – the musicalā. A couple of weeks back, here at the Lowry, your doughty reviewer saw, āIdentical – the...
In handing over his entire back catalogue (40 albums) with permission to āuse any songs in any way he likedā, Bob Dylan dealt the gifted Irish writer, Conor McPherson a far better hand than, for example, Benny and Bjorn allowed Catherine Johnson...
Martin Thomasson