Paul Wilcox, Author at North West End UK

Fringe: The Musical – Workshop Theatre, Leeds

27Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Fringe: The Musical – Workshop Theatre, Leeds

When I was offered the opportunity to preview the ‘Fringe: The Musical’, the latest offering from Chevron Theatre, prior to its forthcoming run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe next month, I jumped at the chance. This Leeds based theatre company have produced some funny and thought provoking new musical theatre for the Fringe over the last few years and I’m pleased to say that ‘Fringe: The Musical’ carries on this excellent tradition. ‘Fringe’ is set in an Essex hairdressing salon, Darren (Zak Muggleton) is struggling to make the business survive, whilst simultaneously bringing up his young daughter Sam (Izzy Peter), following the recent death of his wife. The staff are all supportive of Darren; gossipy Claire and Emma (Alice Gedye & Erin Foster), introverted Gemma (Ava King) and frustr...

The Audience – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

21May

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

The Audience – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Back in 2013, well before ‘The Crown’ became a Netflix sensation, Peter Morgan wrote ‘The Audience’. This reimagining of the weekly meetings that take place between the monarch and her first twelve Prime ministers was a smash hit in both the West End and on Broadway, garnering Olivier and Tony awards for Helen Mirren in her role as Elizabeth II. Altrincham Garrick Playhouse has now taken up the challenge of producing this deep dive into post war British history, resulting in a sumptuous and informative production sprinkled with excellent performances. The set (Barry Purves) could not be simpler; two chairs on a bare stage - which Equerry (Howard Yaffe) informs us may or may not be Hepplewhite - allow Queen Elizabeth (Ros Greenwood) and her various Prime Ministers to illustrate political...

9May

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

JB Shorts 24 – 53two, Manchester

A bare stage in a formerly disused railway viaduct would seem an unprepossessing setting, but when hosted by Simon Naylor and the superb team at 53two, JB Shorts has firmly established itself as a ‘must see’ on the Manchester Theatre scene over the previous twenty-three seasons of its existence. Tonight is no exception, the six plays- each lasting just fifteen minutes - address both the political and personal in modern society and make for an eclectic and enthralling theatrical evening. Isobel Openshaw Saves the Day Writer Joyce Branagh takes the lead as the eponymous Isobel, an Aldi shop assistant who decides to stand for election to parliament against the Conservative forces of darkness embodied by Rory Cheese Bogg (Callum Sim). Elements of Victoria Woodesque writing pepper the scr...

Little Shop of Horrors – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

26Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Little Shop of Horrors – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Composer Alan Menken is best known nowadays as the man who, together with Writer Howard Ashman, revitalised the Walt Disney franchise in the early 1990’s, through their work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Indeed, such is his creative genius that he is one of only 19 people in all entertainment history to be classified an EGOT, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony for work spanning five decades. Tonight, we have the opportunity to enjoy one of Menken and Ashman’s earlier creations from 1986, with a cracking revival tour of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ reaching the Octagon Theatre in Bolton. ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ has become a staple Amateur and Youth theatre production over the last thirty years, combining a small cast with a relatively simple set it can be sta...

A Taste of Honey – Royal Exchange Theatre

21Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

A Taste of Honey – Royal Exchange Theatre

In 1958, a 19-year-old Salford girl called Shelagh Delaney went to watch 'Variation on a Theme' by Terence Rattigan at Manchester’s Opera House. Incensed at the portrayal of homosexual relationships in the play, she came out of the theatre thinking she could do something far better, inside two weeks she had written 'A Taste of Honey'. This raw and powerful story of poverty, race and sexuality quickly became a crucial part of the 'British New Wave’ and later supplied Morrissey with half the lyrics on the debut Smiths album. The beating heart of this play is the relationship between Helen (Jill Halfpenny) and her teenage daughter Jo (Rowan Robinson), they are first seen arriving in squalid lodgings in a Salford backstreet with little money and even less hope. Helen is described by Dela...

Unravelling the Ribbon – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

20Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Unravelling the Ribbon – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

At a time when life in the real world presents significant strain, spending an evening at the theatre is seen by many people as an opportunity to escape the stress of their everyday lives. Therefore, ‘Unravelling the Ribbon’, a play dealing with a diagnosis of cancer and its effects on the lives of three women may seem a difficult subject with which to tempt people away from the comfort of hearth and home. However, should they choose to do so they will be rewarded with a production that both tugs at the heartstrings and tickles the funny bone despite its dark premise. Director Lou Kershaw takes the helm for the first time in the tiny Lauriston Studio and brings an intimacy borne of personal experience to the story of Rose (Caroline Giles), Lola (Alex Saint) and Lyndsey (Holly O’Malley) ...

17Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

American Buffalo – King’s Arms, Salford

As a reviewer, five star shows appear in many guises; last night I sat in the cavernous surroundings of Manchester Opera House with 1,919 other hardy souls watching Sir Ian McKellen give a bravura performance as Falstaff in a four hour adaptation of Henry IV. Now, less than 24 hours later a sold out audience of just 35 are privileged to witness a very different, but equally compelling production in entirely different surroundings. Lisa Connor combines the job of Director of the Greater Manchester Fringe with her role as owner of The Kings Arms in Salford, in the latter capacity she has pulled off something of a coup by tempting legendary Director David Thacker to stage a production of David Mamet’s ‘American Buffalo’ in the tiny theatre that nestles above this backstreet Salford boozer....

Northanger Abbey – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

6Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Northanger Abbey – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

The first months of 2024 have brought a plethora of fresh writing to our region and following hot on the heels of new works by Jim Cartwright, Emma Rice and Phoebe Eclair-Powell comes an absolute gem by a little known writer from Hampshire called Jane Austen… Of course, we know that Northanger Abbey was published over two centuries ago, and Austen is so famous that she adorns every ten pound note in England, but this radical and stylised adaptation from Zoe Cooper allows us to see the story as almost freshly minted, the result is a startlingly fresh and inventive take on the mores of Regency England. Subverting Austen’s own omniscient narrator, we hear the story from the perspective of Cath (Rebecca Banatvala), reenacting her life and recent adventures with Iz (AK Golding) and Hen (Sam ...

Vanya – National Theatre Live – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

4Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Vanya – National Theatre Live – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The latest offering from National Theatre Live screened this evening at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse, and whilst ‘Vanya’ featured an acting performance from Andrew Scott that garnered deserved plaudits during its West End run last year, I found the overall production something to be admired rather than loved. Scott, director Sam Yates and designer Rosanna Vize share equal billing as co-creators alongside writer Simon Stephens, who relocates Chekhov’s tragicomedy to a 20th-century Irish farm, preserving the plaintive sadness of the 1897 original story whilst seeking to shed new light onto the characters through Scott’s inventive interpretation. He plays everyone, differentiating men and women, young and old, with subtle changes of vocal register and body language. His performance is w...

Shed: Exploded View – Royal Exchange Theatre

16Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Shed: Exploded View – Royal Exchange Theatre

Back in 2019, in those halcyon pre pandemic days, Phoebe Eclair-Powell won the biannual Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and with it the opportunity to develop ‘Shed: Exploded View’ for production at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Now, after an enforced hiatus of nearly four years, we finally get to see the startling and thought provoking theatre she produced, a piece of writing that will both challenge and engage its audience. The play follows the lives of three couples over a thirty year period from the mid-nineties to the present day as they negotiate the vicissitudes of married life, from the early promise of new love to the dark reality of a relationship breakdown, all the troughs and peaks are explored. We meet Frank (Jason Hughes) and Naomi (Lizzie Watts) in 1994, honeymooning ...