North West Archives - Page 148 of 173

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! – Liverpool Empire

2Mar

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! – Liverpool Empire

So, after saying White Rabbits this morning for luck brought on 1st March, St. David’s Day, I thought having the opportunity to watch the amazing Matthew Bourne’s production of the Christmas phenomenon that is “Nutcracker!” was already all the luck I needed. I adore Bourne’s productions, having seen the Red Shoes, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake twice and so was enthralled to see this luscious show and their depiction of the classic ballet about a wooden Christmas toy that comes alive. I adore the Liverpool Empire, having been brought up in Liverpool it always feels like home and has a grandeur all its own. The house was, as expected, full and the audience, like me, poised with anticipation as the curtain rose. The opening scene of waif-like children walking upon an empty stage glarin...

Idlib – The Uniting Church in Garden Lane, Chester

28Feb

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Idlib – The Uniting Church in Garden Lane, Chester

Written and directed by Kevin Dyer, and produced by Laura Duncalf, Idlib started as a piece of prose as a prelude for a play that morphed into a short story before becoming the script for a monologue performed online in 2021. Based on the story of a Syrian baker who wanted to go home and real interviews with Syrian refugees and escapees across Europe, it tells the story of a woman (Paislie Reid) who has hope. Drawing upon this background, the evening began with the making of bread, an act so simple and pure that it is a mainstay in many communities around the world with its rich metaphors resonating throughout religious communities from Christianity to Islam to Judaism. As Dyer mixed the essential four ingredients, adding a glug of oil and yoghurt to replicate the Levant, the guar...

25Feb

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Doing Shakespeare – Hope Street Theatre

The Northern Comedy Theatre’s Doing Shakespeare, written by David Spicer and directed by Shaun Chambers, is a farcical romp through some of Shakespeare’s best loved plays. A local village theatre company have taken the decision to perform Shakespeare but haven’t actually agreed which play to do. This might all work out if they hadn’t also taken the decision to perform the play as Shakespeare himself would have done with little to no rehearsal and lots of improvisation. As they’ve all learned different plays, stitching their individual parts together will prove to be quite a difficult task! The play opens with Jason (Elliot Bailey) running through his vocal warm up before launching into the opening of Romeo and Juliet. He is embarrassed when his enthusiastic rendition is seen by the comp...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Liverpool Empire

24Feb

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Liverpool Empire

As someone who has never seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks (I know, I know, I feel like I missed out on many a cult classic) I was worried that I wouldn’t love the musical as much as someone who has nostalgia on their side. I needn’t have worried. I can hand on heart say that that was one of the most beautiful and magical shows I have ever seen in my life - or beauti-cal as our 3 heroes (Charles, Carrie and Paul) would say. We start the show with a bang, quite literally, in a breath-taking sequence of physical theatre. Beginning with the three children happily in their cosy bedroom, their mother and father saying goodnight before a sudden explosion tears their home, and lives, apart. There’s no time to gather their thoughts as we follow them, silently, as they leave the broken streets...

23Feb

By Alison BainesNo Comments

North West

Fatal Attraction – Opera House

Hide your pets! The femme fatale has arrived in Manchester as the motion picture ‘Fatal Attraction’ hits the Opera House stage – with a soap star studded cast, led by Coronation Street’s Oliver Farnworth and Kym Marsh in addition to Footballer’s Wives star Susie Amy. When happily married Dan Gallagher meets Alex, the pair share one weekend of passion. Dan quickly discovers love is a dangerous game and as he returns home, he realises this is one mistake he cannot forget. Kym plays Alex, a somewhat outdated stereotype of the over-sexualised, psychotic ‘other woman’. Marsh definitely gives the character the desired sensual nature and body language that the character demands, and her regular hysteric interludes bring a dramatic edge and thrill to the play. ©Tristram Kenton Oliver Fa...

16Feb

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Blood Brothers – Palace Theatre

Before coming to the theatre, I was told by email that due to restrictions and guidelines there were a couple of cast changes to the evenings show. Once again understudies coming to the rescue so that shows can continue to bring joy, laughter and musical theatre to those who wish to seek it. It’s an incredible thing to see and witness before me on stage. The show in question was Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers. A story about The Johnstone twins, like each other as two new pins, of one womb born on self same day. How one was kept and one given away. Mrs Johnstone (Niki Evans) was excited to start her new job as she was living hand to mouth with endless catalogue purchases and 7 hungry mouths to feed with one on the way. Or so she thought. It came to pass that she was expecting twins an...

16Feb

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

Private Lives – The Lowry

When you put Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers on a stage together, you already know it’s going to be a great show. Noel Coward’s Private Lives by the newly formed Nigel Havers Theatre Company does just that, and it’s everything you hoped it would be and more! Set in the 1930s, the play tells the story of Elyot (played by Havers) and Amanda (played by Hodge) who were once married and find themselves in adjoining rooms at a French hotel with their new partners, with the unexpected happening and the couple reconnecting. Havers takes on the role taken by Noël Coward himself in the original production in 1930 with a Suaveness we’ve come to expect, the character being delightfully charming but also quite stubborn and obstinate. Olivier Award winning actress Hodge is effortlessly glamorou...

Kevin Clifton: Burn the Floor – Bridgewater Hall

15Feb

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Kevin Clifton: Burn the Floor – Bridgewater Hall

On a wet and windy night in Manchester, former Strictly Come Dancing champion Kevin Clifton is trying to raise the temperature with the delayed revival of Ballroom dancing phenomenon, Burn the Floor. The show is a riotous celebration of dance, fusing traditional waltzes with fiery Latin Tangos; Quicksteps and Rumbas and some good old Rock and Roll to boot. It’s been a two-year wait for tonight’s performance – with Clifton joking at what proved an ill-timed decision for him to quit Strictly for a life in the theatre, just weeks before stages went dark and Covid stole the spotlight. But the show itself has been thrilling audiences for longer than some of tonight’s dancers have been alive, conceived 25 years ago at a birthday bash for Elton John. There’s a slightly contrived start...

15Feb

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

North West

A Little Requiem – Hallé St Peter’s

This performance marks a special anniversary for the Manchester Collective, it is five years since their first Manchester concert. It is also almost two years since this reviewer saw them on the cusp of the pandemic in the atmospheric White Hotel venue. This evening’s surroundings – a Grade II listed former church where the Hallé Orchestra rehearses – are more refined but equally atmospheric. This venue has Corinthian columns rather than corrugated iron shutters but as ever the Manchester Collective present a programme that duets with the architecture to provide further resonances. A Little Requiem was performed in Bristol the night before but it feels tailor made for this venue, which - like us all - has returned to life following a period of lockdown. A Little ...

14Feb

By Rachel FosterNo Comments

North West

Kattam Katti – The Lowry

Pagrav Dance company comprises of a cast who have Indian heritage, have taken to the road on their latest tour (four musicians and four dancers) who bring their unique take on traditional Indian Kathak dance. Kattam Katti means ‘cutting through,’ and they do that with a mix of dance, singing, music composed especially for the performance and a splice of comedy. The setting is the frenetic energy of the Uttarayan Kite Festival which the performers deftly bring to life with expression and movement. The kites are left to our imaginations, the long strings are shown and woven across the stage creating a barrier or difficulty to dance. While the dancers use performance to illustrate the range of emotions that the kite festival incites. To put into context this festival is such a big deal ...