Martin ThomassonIt is a not-quite-paradox of human life that we are all the same and yet each is so unique. One way or another, these two facts underpin all of human joy and suffering. Take, for example, grief: so universal an experience for humanity, yet so...
I always feel obliged to stick around for post-show Q and A sessions. Perhaps, just maybe, one or other member of a creative team, will release some precious nugget into the stream of consciousness triggered by the host’s (or the audience’s)...
The nice woman working security at the Lowry approaches me with her metal-detecting device.“Do you have a pacemaker,” she asks. “I don’t think so.” This is not to be found on anyone’s list of Sensible Answers. What was I thinking? That some rogue...
I posted a photograph on social media last night, showing the musicians starting to take their seats on stage at the Lowry’s Lyric theatre. You can also make out how thinly populated the auditorium is. “Sparse,” a friend of mine commented. Indeed...
Even without the masks (which most of us are wearing) and the deliberate, careful spacing of the audience, the metallic click and breathy “gasp” of cans of cider being opened around the auditorium (there’s no bar tonight), would tell you this is not...
Martin Thomasson describes how lockdown encouraged him to rediscover his family’s past and write a collection of memoirs ‘Random Notes from Life’ When my Auntie Madge (my great aunt Madeleine) died, I was very sad; sadder than I’d...
A Scottish film with an opening scene featuring our hero (a working class lad called Davie) running down the street, hotly pursued by an irate adversary, might put you in mind of Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Irving Welsh’s Trainspotting. Trailer The...
When I was young, if someone exhibited a peculiar phobia or obsession, people used to say his mother must have been frightened by something associated with that obsession during pregnancy. I can only conclude that Christopher Nolan’s mum was...
“I was never any good at football.” So says 15-year-old Nico (Francesco Di Napoli), when ageing Camorra boss, Don Vittorio (Renato Carpentieri) asks him why he doesn’t try to get rich through the ‘beautiful game,’ rather than the very ugly game of...
I confess that, as a man well on the road to decrepitude, the thought that a charming, beautiful and much younger woman – say, Katie Holmes – might fall for me is an appealing fantasy. If ever I reach Sir Patrick Stewart’s age, even the...