North West Archives - Page 2 of 190

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – Buxton Opera House

6Oct

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – Buxton Opera House

It’s the 1880s, and in Jane Austen’s classic romantic novel, the five Bennet sisters are seeking love and the security of marriage while navigating society’s rules, expectations and challenges. It is a story that is well known by most people – even if only through film or television – but it is a story that still resonates. A story of a young woman who knows what she wants, and that is to find love her way. That story is brilliantly told in this adaptation of Pride & Prejudice by writer Isobel McArthur, who also directs the production. Her goal was to make Austen’s novel more accessible, and she has absolutely done that. By promoting the use of regional accents, by weaving modern music and vocabulary into the script, and by providing a visual setting that is easily and quickly under...

5Oct

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

North West

The Farmer’s Wife – Theatre by the Lake

Set around the kitchen table in the farm kitchen, The Farmer’s Wife holds nothing back in telling her guests, the audience, just what life is really like living off the land on the Cumbrian Fells. Inspired by the memoir A Farmer’s Wife by Helen Rebanks, the new play by Hannah Khalil, The Farmer’s Wife, had its World Premiere at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick just a few miles from where Rebanks lives. Having read the book, I did wonder how they would incorporate the beautifully eclectic style of stories from the Rebanks family life, recipes, photos and letters. However, this was achieved superbly with the sharing of the baking and sorting of an old tin box. This is a story about the changing lives of women living and working on the farms. Three generations: daughter, mother, grandm...

4Oct

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Othello – HOME Mcr

This striking co-production between Northern Stage, HOME Manchester, Citizens Theatre, and Royal & Derngate delivers a stark, modernised vision of Shakespeare’s Othello. Director Anthony Almeida transports the tragic downfall of the Venetian general to early 1980s Britain against the backdrop of the Falklands War, reimagining Cyprus as an isolated, high-strung military outpost. The period shift proves remarkably effective, demonstrating how effortlessly the play’s core themes of jealousy, manipulation, and social performance translate across centuries. Natasha Jenkins’ sparse, metallic set creates a hard-edged, sterile arena devoid of softness or warmth, perfectly mirroring the cold calculatedness of the narrative. Erin Guan’s background video design further amplifies the emotional ...

1Oct

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Terminal 2 – 53two

There can be few settings better suited to contemplating life’s bigger questions than the strange limbo of an airport departure lounge. In Terminal 2, written by David Payne, that familiar mundanity becomes the backdrop to something altogether more poignant. The simple set consists of little more than airport seating and a screen charting the interminable delay to George (Allan Nicol) and Lynda’s (Janice Fryett) flight. The pair are already waiting as the audience enters, immediately establishing the sense that we have simply stumbled across two ordinary people in transit. And ordinary they initially seem. Their conversation wanders entertainingly through everything from Al-Qaeda, Viennetta to Russ Abbott, to the supposed similarities of Grindr and Sky+, with occasional witty bar...

1Oct

By Helen JonesNo Comments

North West

Jane Eyre – Waterside Arts

Jane Eyre is unarguably Charlotte Bronte’s most successful novel. First published in 1847 it is a hugely popular book and currently a recommended school’s text. At the start Jane is ten, orphaned and ends up being taken in by her maternal aunt but is mistreated and neglected. Eventually she is sent to Lowood School and remains there initially as a pupil for the first six years and the last two years as a teacher. At eighteen, Jane leaves Lowood and begins working as Governess to young Adele Varens at Thornfield Hall. Appointed by the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax, Jane does not meet Adele’s guardian Edward Rochester until sometime later. Over time Jane’s feelings for Mr Rochester grow and eventually she confesses her feelings only for him to admit he feels...

28Sep

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

Cryin Air – 53two

Lauren Bugg’s play Cryin’ Air is a wonderful tour de force exploring emotions of loneliness, grief, and friendship. Following a break-up with her indifferent boyfriend, innocent but ultra-anxious Grace (Milly Overland) seeks support from multiple over-the-phone therapists, but this provides little relief for her. She decides to book a city break to Amsterdam as a “solo female traveller” to escape her troubles, even though she is terrified of flights, travel, strangers and just about everything. Meanwhile, following the death of her father, Kerry (Ella-Maria Danson) decides to follow through on her promise to take a trip and scatter his ashes in an exotic city. Cue a (much delayed) flight to Amsterdam, where our two protagonists meet and become fast friends. Their newfound friendship will b...

28Sep

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

Mrs Dalloway – HOME Mcr

Fans of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Mrs Dalloway will be intrigued to follow the new adaptation of the story, written and directed by Jen Heyes and starring Kit Green in multiple roles. The play does not follow the conventional rules of drama, offered as more of a commentary on the story of Mrs Dalloway and how the characters relate to modern life than a straightforward performance. Green frequently breaks character and the fourth wall to engage with the audience and comment on the relevance of Virginia Woolf to aspects of modernity such as mental health, technological change and socioeconomic uncertainty. If this all sounds like heavy-going, the truth is that these breaks in the story are the highlights of the production, offering funny and upbeat respites in the official narrat...

27Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

North West

BULL – HOME Mcr

Imagine if David Brent busted a few moves and communicated in British Sign Language (BSL) then you get a sense of what BULL was all about. Like Mamet’s masterpiece Glengarry Glen Ross this was on one level a play about toxic office politics, but also a perceptive examination of power, and more importantly which of the characters had it. What sets BULL apart is that the cast communicate in BSL throughout with hearing members of the audience relying on captions above the stage. I’d seen a few works at Leeds Playhouse where BSL had been partially integrated but Deafinitely Theatre as the first deaf led company had gone much further as the hearing amongst us found ourselves where people with hearing issues routinely find themselves in theatre land. As director Paula Garfield no...

Achy Breaky Bride – Theatre Royal, St Helens

27Sep

By Kevin EcclestonNo Comments

North West

Achy Breaky Bride – Theatre Royal, St Helens

‘A wedding, a bridal shop and a whole lot of country-pop fun.’ Forget the traditional wedding bells — Achy Breaky Bride brings guitars, sequins, family drama and plenty of chaos to the Theatre Royal St Helens in a lively comedy that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Starring Merseyside favourite Leanne Campbell as Jolene, alongside X Factor star David Heath, Rachel Wood, Conor Barrie and Liverpool drag queen Sania Pain, the production brings together a colourful cast who clearly relish the opportunity to have some fun. Set inside a bridal shop in St Helens, the story follows the increasingly complicated events surrounding a bride-to-be as wedding plans begin to go spectacularly off course. Throw in family tensions, romance, misunderstandings and a generous helping of musi...

24Sep

By Rebecca CaseyNo Comments

North West

We Will Rock You – Winstanley College

Tonight was my first time at Winstanley College and my first time seeing a production by Orrell Musical & Dramatic Society (OMADS). The company was set up in 1967. I have seen the Westend production of We Will Rock You but working it out it must be 20 years ago. We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical Featuring over 20 hit songs by the British rock band Queen formed in the 70s. Story and script by Ben Elton a comedian and writer. Set in a post-apocalyptic future it tells the tale of a world where music and individuality is banned. At the core of the story, the principal cast, Emily Reacher as Scaramouche and Jerome Antony Pargetor as Galileo. Pargetor was the epitome of a triple threat musical theatre performer, his dancing was strong, the vocals flawless. As a pair these too...