Paul Wilcox, Author at North West End UK

30Jun

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Twelfth Night – Walkden Gardens, Sale

Despite the title signalling the traditional end of the festive season, this Shakespearean romantic comedy is perfect fayre for a high summer evening spent in an outdoor setting. Tonight, the gem that is Walkden Gardens, hidden away in suburban Sale, provides the verdant backdrop to Shakespeare's tale of cross dressing and mistaken identity, the Duke's Theatre Company delighting the audience with a funny and farcical production but missing the opportunity to be truly interesting in exploring underlying themes. The Duke's Theatre Company is the grand title for the small company of six actors and crew currently playing a fifty date tour of England and Wales, covering everywhere from the Lake District to Land's End throughout the Summer. There has been a proliferation of such companies ove...

Into The Woods – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

20Jun

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Into The Woods – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Ever since the death of Stephen Sondheim in November 2021 there has been a rush on both the professional and amateur stage to produce his works, with every performer and creative wishing to pay posthumous tribute to the most influential voice in musical theatre during the latter half of the last century. As a fully paid up 'Sondaphile', I've therefore been delighted to witness this outpouring of love for the great man with productions of Company and Sweeney Todd and 'A Little Night Music' standing next to his lesser known works (Passion, Assassins and the forthcoming Pacific Overtures) in showcasing his lyrical genius. Tonight we are firmly at the popular end of the spectrum with a production of 'Into The Woods' the 1987 collaboration with James Lapine, as Altrincham Garrick finish their s...

Blonde Bombshells of 1943 – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

14Jun

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Blonde Bombshells of 1943 – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

On an evening where the mercury on the temperature gauge almost touched thirty degrees, the Octagon Theatre's air conditioning system was a blessed relief to the packed press night audience. They were rewarded for their dedication to the theatrical cause with a nostalgic and tender memory play that simultaneously pulled at the heartstrings and got the toes tapping. The eponymous 'Blonde Bombshells' are an all-girl swing band touring wartime Britain entertaining the troops. Due to their membership being unexpectedly depleted by three of the members running off with American GI's after a recent concert, they are forced to hastily audition for replacements ahead of their big break on BBC radio later that evening. The eclectic new recruits include naive sixth former Elizabeth (Lauren Chinne...

9Jun

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Lear – Hope Mill Theatre

The opportunity to see any new interpretation of one of Shakespeare's 'biggies' is never one that this reviewer will pass up, so when my June list included HER Productions' all female twist on ‘King Lear', I was excited to see what fresh perspective they could offer. Unfortunately, what we witnessed was uneven performances, poor delivery and confused themes, only partially redeemed by a couple of strong performances. We open with a sparse set and red curtain backdrop with the small brick lined theatre at Hope Mill harshly lit by overhead fluorescent strips. Lear (Christine Mackie) is relinquishing her power and dividing the realm between her three daughters according to the love they demonstrate, the resulting decisions leading to civil war and the fall from grace of this all powerful m...

Last Summer at Bluefish Cove – Lauriston Studio, Altrincham

7Jun

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Last Summer at Bluefish Cove – Lauriston Studio, Altrincham

For the final production in their season of LGBTQ+ plays in the Lauriston studio, Altrincham Garrick have produced a masterful retelling of a play that is little known on this side of the Atlantic. Not only is it extremely funny and touching, it should also be seen as an important milestone in the development of queer theatre history. For the first time it allowed gay characters to be portrayed as three dimensional beings, rather than the troubled stereotypes which had populated the theatre prior to its production. We arrive in the eponymous Long Island resort with Eva (Madeleine Healey), recently divorced from husband George, she is emotionally lost and confused and still grieving the loss of her son Lenny six years earlier. She meets Lil (Phillipa Shellard) whilst walking on the beach...

Best of Enemies – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

24May

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Best of Enemies – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The latest National Theatre Live production arrives at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse on Sunday 28th May and it’s a real political powerhouse, with stunning central performances from two superb actors at the top of their game. ‘Best of Enemies’ comes from the pen of James Graham, the prolific talent behind This House, Ink and Labour of Love, productions which manage to dramatise recent political British history in an entertaining and illuminating manner. Mining a similar seam to Peter Morgan in the Netflix smash ‘The Crown’, Graham takes real political events (Lib/Lab pact, Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of The Sun newspaper) and turns tinder dry history into unmissable drama. For his most recent success, filmed at the Noel Coward Theatre early in 2023, Graham has crossed the Atlantic and ...

No Pay? No Way! – Royal Exchange Theatre

18May

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

No Pay? No Way! – Royal Exchange Theatre

There is an extremely fine line between success and failure when producing a farce. When done badly, it can quickly degenerate into a series of mistimed entrances and exits with improbable scenarios and absurd coincidences that leave the audience confused and bored. Fortunately, Director Bryony Shanahan knows exactly what she is doing, and with ‘No Pay? No Way!’ has produced a sparklingly funny version of this 1974 play by veteran political writers Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Antonia (Samantha Power) has just nipped to the local supermarket to pick up the weekly shopping, where she finds herself in the middle of a riotous protest following the doubling in price of food and groceries. She takes advantage of the situation to ‘liberate’ some groceries and persuades her friend Margherita (Kat...

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – The Lowry

26Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – The Lowry

Based on a 2018 novel which won the author Olga Tokarczuk the Nobel Prize for Literature, 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead' certainly takes the award for the most intriguing title to arrive at The Lowry in 2023. When you add leading actress Kathryn Hunter to the mix, spearheading a Complicite production, then theatrical mouths start to water at the prospect of these quality ingredients being brought together. However, despite an astonishing central performance as well as inventive and arresting visuals, by the conclusion I was left slightly confused and personally slightly underwhelmed. The production takes its name from a line in William Blake poem 'Proverbs of Hell' and the 19th Century romantic poet is at the heart of this layered and dark story, combining e...

National Theatre Live: Good – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

18Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

NEWS

National Theatre Live: Good – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The latest offering from National Theatre Live arrives at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse on Saturday 29 April, offering northern audiences an unmissable opportunity to witness the CP Taylor play 'Good', filmed earlier this year at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes his return to the West End stage in this powerful political drama, playing John Halder, a 'good German' who gradually finds himself being drawn into the Nazi ideology in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War. His innate liberalism and tolerance is gradually corrupted, eventually leading to the betrayal of his Jewish best friend, Maurice (Elliot Levy), his embracing of fascism and facilitation of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. A show with such intensity and with a ...

6Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Mother Goose – The Lowry

Most people are introduced to the world of live theatre through the medium of pantomime, my own 1970's childhood is littered with memories of Anita Harris and Cilla Black slapping their thighs as Dandini, or John Inman in high camp mode as The Dame, household names at the time that are now consigned to occasional appearances on UK Gold. Maybe these somewhat confusing memories slightly put me off, as in the interests of full disclosure I should confess that despite spending large amounts of my time in the theatre, I don't really like pantomime! However, the opportunity to see Sir Ian McKellen live on stage is a chance any self respecting theatre buff is never going to turn down, so I duly took my seat in a packed Lyric Theatre, prepared for a couple of hours of indulgent, farcical nonsen...