North West Archives - Page 49 of 128

4Jul

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Choosh – Unity Theatre, Liverpool

People often say they’re scared of clowns. What they usually mean is they’re scared of a thick layer of white greasepaint covering a face with a red nose and overexaggerated red mouth sitting beneath a green wig. Julia Masli is not that type of clown and Choosh, part of Physical Fest 2023, is like nothing you’ve seen before, either in or out of a big top. Masli has worked with dramaturg, Annie Siddons, to create a surreal and unique homage to migration, hunger, desperation felt during a job search, and love at first sight, whether that is for another human or a hot dog. The set is simple: an orange suitcase sits on a floral platform, but of course the simplicity is not what it seems as the suitcase is crammed with Masli’s props and tricks. She bursts onto the stage with an inside out...

Tigers In the Wisteria – Greater Manchester Fringe (GMF Digital events)

3Jul

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

Tigers In the Wisteria – Greater Manchester Fringe (GMF Digital events)

Tigers in The Wisteria is a 30-minute monologue in digital format that was inspired by Ottoline Morrells Stonemason ‘Tiger’. The digital monologue is available in virtual format and is a performance for Greater Manchester Fringe Digital Events. Written by award winning writer, Lita Doolan, it tells the story of a challenging romance and all its complexities. Doolan is undoubtedly a talent and has had a previous show at the Manchester Fringe with her digital show ‘After Shark’ which is nominated for an Off West End Award. The film is only 30 minutes and for the first few minutes ‘Tigers In the Wisteria initially feels chaotic and somewhat complex to the viewer. Set in 1922, it is a story about Lady Morrell who is searching frantically for the correct love letter to put in a memorial for ...

3Jul

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Smell the Roses – King’s Arms, Salford

Meet Molly. Young, motivated, engaging and real. She runs her own florist and from it helps her customers acknowledge key moments in their lives by saying it with flowers. Whether it is the joy of assembling a bridal bouquet or a jilted lovers desperate offering, she constructs floral arrangements that are full of meaning and symbolism… who knew geraniums represent folly and stupidity? Certainly not me when I filled my garden with them! When George finds his way into Molly’s little shop for a much needed Fuck You Bouquet a ‘romantic comedy’ begins. The problem is, I found it neither romantic nor comic. George finds ways to come in and out of Mollys shop for multiple reasons, none of which are especially convincing. He asks Molly to teach him about floristry and the meanings of flowers w...

An Evening With: Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram’s North-West Mixtape – Shakespeare North Playhouse

3Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

An Evening With: Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram’s North-West Mixtape – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kicking off a series of conversations at the Playhouse, two of the biggest politicians outside of the Westminster bubble – the Mayors of Liverpool and Manchester - are here to (no surprise given the title) talk about the musical influence of the North-West. It’s no surprise that the evening is a little more freewheeling, inevitably spilling into politics, as well as football, railways and 70s/80s fashion, bookended by two up and coming music acts – Merseyside’s Ni Maxine, a striking and soulful jazz singer, and Manchester’s charming and funny Test Card Girl with a dreamy electro-folk/pop sound. Both Mayors are in a relaxed and chatty mood, with a clear friendship between the pair visible throughout – regular, comical jabs over football rivalries and which is the better city remain jo...

The Pride of Pripyat: Tales from the Chernobyl Disaster – International Anthony Burgess Foundation

2Jul

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

The Pride of Pripyat: Tales from the Chernobyl Disaster – International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Some events are so burned into the general subconscious they can be immediately recollected with just one word. Chernobyl, for example. But how much do we really know about the life of the nearby town - Pripyat - beyond a vague image of an abandoned ferris wheel? American classical music ensemble the Perspective Collective set out to answer just that question in their operetta. Across a handful of vignettes, ‘The Pride of Pripyat’ explores the personal impact of the disaster on the lives of some of those living in the shadow of the doomed power plant. Beginning and ending with the perspective of the city’s chief architect, the show also explores the experience of a local school teacher with a husband at Chernobyl and a pair of nurses unsure how to approach a patient with radiation...

Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play – Royal Exchange Theatre

1Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Untitled Fck Mss S**gon Play – Royal Exchange Theatre

The biennial Manchester International Festival (MIF) opens across our wonderful city this weekend and under its umbrella purports to 'cut across disciplines and blur the boundaries between art and popular culture'. As their offering, in conjunction with the Young Vic and Headlong productions, the Royal Exchange have chosen to give the world premier to Kimber Lee's 'Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play', a coruscating satirical drama about racial stereotyping and casual prejudice towards people from the Asian diaspora. It manages to find both sharp humour and pathos in such a serious subject but may struggle to engage with an audience beyond the esoteric confines of the MIF devotees. Lee takes 1906 as her jumping off point, the year that 'Madama Butterfly’ by Puccini received its US premiere, ...

30Jun

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Sixteen Swans – Liverpool Philharmonic

Sixteen Swans was a collection of dramatic and enchanting music, which created a wonderful evening of high emotion played by very talented musicians. Conducted by Roderick Cox, this combination of Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius is a powerful combination which mesmerised and enthralled the captive audience. The dramatic opening of Strauss’ Don Juan with powerful percussion allowed the flutes, played by Cormac Henry and Helen Wilson, to really shine through with an air of mystery. The tinkling of a triangle provides an air of sweetness before the strings sweep away as gentle melodies contrast well with more intense themes. Accomplished pianist, Inon Barnatan plays on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. Another piece with a dramatic opening, staccato piano is complimented by pizzi...

Richard III – Shakespeare North Playhouse

30Jun

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Richard III – Shakespeare North Playhouse

I was intrigued – as an avid Shakespeare fan, frequent visitor to the amazing Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescott and having an avid fascination of the venomous Richard III (as most people have), I was really looking forward to seeing Richard III a one person show in the intimate Brite theatre. To cover the unscrupulous story of Richard III - a King renowned for his deformed body as much as his villainous ways, (his notoriety recently escalated due to his remains being found in a Leicester car park), was, I would imagine be no mean feat. But the magnificent Emily Carding, who has performed this show internationally across the UK, Iceland, Prague (winning every single award at the Fringe), Edinburgh (winning the ‘Bobby award at the Fringe), Rome, Verona, Slovakia, Romania, Pakistan, St...

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...

30Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Sealskin – Liverpool Everyman

‘In a village far away, by the wild landscape of the sea, every full moon the Selkies appear. As they peel away their seal skin, they dance freely in the moonlight, as humans. One such night a fisherman discovers their secret and, stealing away a Selkie’s skin, our story begins.’ Devised by the Tmesis Theatre and directed by Elinor Randle, with the assistance of Stage Manager Joey Colasante, Sealskin is described as a powerful story of betrayal, power, otherness, and loss. It is all these things yet more as, rich in meaning and metaphor, it explores what it means to be, to long, to belong. The cast – Stephanie Greer, Faye McCutcheon, Samuel Pérez Durán, Mariana Pires, and Jaquell Walker – excel with each taking a principal role as well as supporting in an ensemble as we embark on a m...