Paul Wilcox, Author at North West End UK

5Dec

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Singin’ in the Rain – Royal Exchange

We all know that Manchester has a reputation for enjoying a drop of rain, so it was entirely apt that a downpour greeted ‘Singin in the Rain’ as it landed in the Victorian splendour of the Royal Exchange for the festive period. The weather did nothing to dampen the palpable sense of excitement of the packed press night audience and were not to be disappointed. This is a show with the high quality production values, a great ensemble, superb leads and a beautifully orchestrated score, that left me walking through soggy St Anne’s Square singing 'do de do do, do de do de do do do, I'm singin' in the rain, just.......', into the Mancunian night. The plot, charting the demise of silent pictures and the rise of the 'Golden Age' of 1920s Hollywood 'talkies', is well known, less so is the fact t...

24Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

A Christmas Carol – Octagon Theatre

The economics of modern theatre production are currently on full display at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, with their festive offering of ‘A Christmas Carol’ beginning its run for a mammoth eight weeks. This is a decision that may bear fruit at the box office but does little to enhance the artistic merit of this normally excellent producing house, staging a show that is threadbare and tonally inconsistent, leaving me with little of the Christmas cheer I hoped to find. In keeping with the Scrooge like nature of this review I won’t waste my word count on an explanation of the plot of Dicken’s most famous novella; the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge (David Burrell) over the course of one Christmas Eve is one of the most enduring stories in literature and has been used on countless occasions...

Voices of Manchester – The Studio, Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

14Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Voices of Manchester – The Studio, Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Thankfully avoiding the stereotype of the modern Mancunian, with their bucket hat, Adidas tracksuit and simian stroll, writer Duncan Battman has succeeded in producing a new piece of writing that celebrates the values of Manchester without ever resorting to cliché, displaying its innate humanity through six stories of the people who have made their lives here. Rather than being presented with the rather austere format of six separate monologues, Writer/Director Battman chooses to fragment and overlap the stories onstage, the first three being set on a tram heading into the city centre with the trio after the interval moving the action into a city centre pub. So, boarding at Altrincham Interchange heading into ‘town’ are Jennifer (Louise Kershaw), Duncan (John Jones) and Lillian (Victori...

22Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Fiddler on the Roof – Palace Theatre

This 2024 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production has been cleverly restaged for an extensive UK tour, landing at the grand old Palace Theatre on Oxford Road for a two week stay from this evening, Whilst retaining all of the energy that makes this one of the most popular and profitable musicals in theatre history, Director Jordan Fein manages to place a liberal and humanitarian message about the plight of refugees in amongst a fantastic evening’s entertainment. The story centres around Anatevka, a village in Tsarist Russia at the start of the 20th Century, where Tevye (Matthew Woodyat) is the local Milkman, a pious soul struggling to bring up his five daughters with his wife Golde (Jodie Jacobs) in poverty, subject to the cruel whims of an uncaring system. His three oldest girls...

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

16Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

Writer Brian Friel is universally regarded as one of the leading figures in English language drama, a reputation which seems to grow with every passing year since he died in 2015. The style of his work, examining the transitional culture and politics in Irish society in the 20th Century, has drawn serious comparisons with Miller, Williams and especially Anton Chekhov. This Autumn, in a continuation of their recent return to form, the Royal Exchange has teamed up with The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to produce a spellbinding production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’, Friel’s exploration of his memories of growing up in rural 1930s Ireland. The comparisons of Friel with Chekhov are a serious one; both writers work is set in communities on the cusp of radical change from rural to industrial ec...

10Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Orphans – King’s Arms Theatre

Over the last few years, Lisa and Colin Connor have quietly built something special in the small pub theatre above the King’s Arms on Bloom Street. As the area rapidly succumbs to gentrification all around it, this beacon of Salfordian working-class culture continues to produce exciting and interesting work, giving voice and opportunity for local creative stage talent to shine. This superb run of form continues with a blistering new production of ‘Orphans’, the 2009 piece by Dennis Kelly exploring urban violence and the moral quandaries that family obligations place us under. Helen (Hollie-Jay Bowes) and Danny (Ryan Clayton) have managed to unload their five-year-old son Shane onto Danny’s mum for the evening and are relaxing into a well-deserved date night together, Helen has discovere...

8Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Power Cut – Olympus Fish & Chips

For one night only, ‘On The Go Theatre Company’ bring their production of “Power Cut’, a new play by Josie Byrne and Lynda Gray, to the salubrious surroundings of Olympus Fish & Chips in downtown Bolton. Unfortunately, what aspired to be a character-based situation comedy with a political edge proved to be more of a broad 1970s farce with a muddled script, both poorly staged and executed. I have often visited ‘thOlympus’ in Bolton before reviewing at the nearby Octagon, revelling in its camp glory. The bright and spacious Dining Room is complete with potted palms and a dinner jacketed pianist playing show tunes on a grand piano, whilst delicious food is served to pensioners by speedy teenagers in smart black uniforms; I always leave smiling. Their decision to convert the restaur...

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

27Aug

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

If we could travel back to 1985 and tell David Gedge -the inspirational lead singer and songwriter of indie musical darlings The Wedding Present - that forty years later his songs would be used in a musical theatre production, he would have laughed in your face and maybe kicked you in the balls for good measure. Back then the worlds of musical theatre and guitar-based indie rock were so far apart musically as to be on different planets. Gedge freely admits to not even knowing whether he even liked the format when initially approached by Writer/Director Matt Aston. Thankfully his trademark curiosity won out and he engaged with the project, resulting in the World Premiere of ‘Reception - The Wedding Present musical’ at Slung Low Warehouse in the suitably gritty streets of Holbeck, Leeds, the...

Merrily We Roll Along – EUSOG @ St Augustine

17Aug

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Scotland

Merrily We Roll Along – EUSOG @ St Augustine

At the beginning of 2024 I was as fortunate enough to be in New York to see the Broadway production of ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ which eventually won 4 Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. Now Broadway comes to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with an excellent student rendition of this poignant commentary on the nature of friendship from EUSOG at Edinburgh University. On its initial run in 1981, ‘Merrily’ closed after just two weeks and was a commercial disaster for Sondheim and co-writer George Furth, critics at the time found the storyline confusing and the characters unsympathetic and audiences agreed. But, as with many Sondheim productions, a reassessment has happened in the intervening four decades and helped by significant changes in subsequent productions, modern audienc...

A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads it First – theSpace @ Niddry Street

16Aug

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Scotland

A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads it First – theSpace @ Niddry Street

Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland are bringing their award-winning comedy back to Edinburgh this year with a reprise of ‘A Letter to LBJ….’ which is playing to sold-out houses on Niddry St this month. This is the first opportunity for me to witness their Absurdist clowning in the flesh, and I confess I was completely charmed and blown away by this moving take on the idealised 1960s American childhood. Ace and Grasshopper are two young Scouts, covered in mud and badges and on a self-proclaimed mission to see President LBJ’s train as it whistles through their town. Ostensibly this is a simple tale of boyhood, camaraderie and adventure but the setting of the timeframe in early 1960s America foreshadows the boys' later involvement in the Vietnam War and the horrors of Southeast Asia for the...