North West Archives - Page 84 of 128

Not Drunk But Disorderly – The Empty Space

29Jul

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Not Drunk But Disorderly – The Empty Space

As part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, Liverpool based Hindley and Amos presented their comic murder mystery to a supportive audience at The Empty Space in Salford. Brimming with energy, this fast paced, devised piece of theatre entertained us as we were introduced to Howard and Geoffrey, two local police officers, and the various residents of the fictional Newpool as they investigate a sudden murder on their patch. Hindley and Amos took on all the roles with skill, imagination and great comic timing. Strong physical theatre skills combined with a video backdrop helped set the scenes and present their many characters and situations with much humour and an excellent rapport between the two performers. At 45 minutes long, this is a short piece of well-crafted slapstick ...

<strong>Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Winter Gardens, Blackpool</strong>

27Jul

By Rebecca CaseyNo Comments

North West

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Winter Gardens, Blackpool

A magical evening at The Winter Gardens Blackpool. Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is in town this week. I have seen the show previously but even if this is the case for you, this performance was a whole new experience. This is the perfect show to bring the children to, it’s short energetic, engaging and full of fun. The performance started at 7.30pm and was over by 9.30pm with a short interval. With a mesmerising score form Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice this musical never fails to fill the theatre. It was so nice to see The Winter Gardens so busy. The cast and creatives have done a superb job putting this tour together and keeping the piece fresh. Choreography by Joann M Hunter, Direction from Laurence Connor and Musical Director John Rigby, a winning team. ...

Mother There Art Thou – King’s Arms, Salford

27Jul

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Mother There Art Thou – King’s Arms, Salford

Most plays, essentially, are about families and that age-old conflict between kids and their parents. If you go back to ancient Greek drama and myth Oedipus and Electra have complexes named after them. A child’s view of the world is created by their parents. They can, if they want, make it seem to be a scary place their kids should hide from, or they can say it is wonderful and should be embraced and enjoyed. The set-up for this darkly comic play is that a domineering rule-setting, brutal, mother has died, and her son and daughter are left to ponder how they want to live their lives. There is no mention of a father in the piece, so it is assumed the mother brought up the children on her own. Within the family dynamic son Charlie is clearly willing to follow the rules and is extrem...

25Jul

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Taking Up Space – Twenty Twenty Two

New queer writing has the potential to be pioneering, invigorating: something that challenges conventions and introduces an attention-grabbing LGBT+ narrative to a wider audience. This wearisome offering from The Empathy Club instead decides to go down the well-trodden path of perpetually unhappy gays. ‘Taking Up Space’ follows university students Jasreena (India Erlam), Saffy (Megan Webber) and Gia (Sarah Hutchinson) as they navigate the varying relationships between each other. A dry script littered with all the tropes and cliches queer storytelling has been plagued by for decades attempts to tackle far too many issues at once, resulting in a surface-level toe-dipping into the story’s deep themes from sexuality to depression to marriages of convenience. Dialogue is clunky- all c...

A Spoonful of Julie – The King’s Arms, Salford

24Jul

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

A Spoonful of Julie – The King’s Arms, Salford

Some shows need no explanation. The title does all the work. A Spoonful of Julie delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Morsels of goodness from the life and career of one of the greatest actors and singers of all time: Dame Julie Andrews. Opera singer Nicola Mills is the brave soul stepping into Andrews’ shoes. She’s accompanied on her whistle-stop tour of classics by musical director George Strickland on keyboard. Andrews’ repertoire is littered with collaborations with extraordinary lyricists and composers. From the Sherman Brothers and Lerner & Loewe to Sandy Wilson and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Yet their music was taken to another level courtesy of the voice of the young woman from Surrey. Mills can certainly belt out the operatic highs but her performance lacks some of ...

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

24Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kitty Wilkinson is the only female statue in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall, and she is brought to life by Samantha Alton to take us back to 1830’s Liverpool in a captivating one-woman show that tells an against all odds story of how a working-class Irish migrant girl, whose life was laden with poverty, loss, and hardship, fought the cholera epidemic and became a community champion. Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden provides the perfect backdrop for this intricate tale from celebrated local writer John Maguire which, told with humour and kindness, brings Kitty’s story centre stage under the direction of Margaret Connell as we are immersed in the world of a true heroine of the North. White sheets draping the open set provide the perfect backdrop for the narra...

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

23Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

What if the Liver Bird really did exist? Charlie J (Tom Browning) has heard all about Liverpool’s famous Birds from his Grandma’s (Samantha Alton) stories but are they real? Has anybody seen one fly? When things start to get difficult at school and just when he needs it most, Charlie is visited by a very special creature… Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden is well and truly brought alive by this enchanting modern-day fairy-tale from writer John Maguire, adapted here for stage by Jessica Mae Buxton of The Bookworm Players and directed by Margaret Connell. Using the simplest of sets, our two talented actors bring all of their skills to the fore through mesmerising performances with mime and puppetry added in for good measure. There is a high level of interact...

23Jul

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Alice – The Empty Space

Alice is a new play written by Tara Anegada inspired by Lewis Caroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ directed by Zoe Smith which was performed in Salford’s Empty Space Theatre as a part of Greater Manchester’s Fringe season of 2022. The script highlights the pressures females face to sexualise themselves to produce their personal art through how they physically look and act in order to conform in how society dictates to so many of our today’s youth. Anegada Theatre company is based in the East Midlands who state that they strive to make art that is diverse and will spark conversation, through adaptations that reframe traditional literature. This production is a fabulous showcase of their ethos and drive as it certainly does spark a conversation and is exquisitely written by Aneg...

It’s Not Rocket Science – The Empty Space

23Jul

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

It’s Not Rocket Science – The Empty Space

Letter for Letter Theatre presented ‘It’s Not Rocket Science’ at The Empty Space Theatre in Salford during our Greater Manchester Fringe season. The cast of three Alice Connolly (Eve), Stef White (Dad and other male roles) and Helen Knudsen (Mum and multi female roles) tell the story through eight chapters of Eve Jackson the author of book titled ‘It’s Not Rocket Science’ which depicts a women’s journey into a male dominated career. The journey starts with Eve’s desire and motivation to be involved with Space and rocket ships from early childhood believing she belonged in the stars, different from other girls in her school she clearly excels in physics and goes on to attend University to study aerospace. In a male populated world of aerospace, she soon encounters prejudice against he...

22Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Book of Mormon – Liverpool Empire

The Book of Mormon has been meting out metaphors since it first broke on the stage in 2011 and this latest adaptation continues that rich vein with recent local topical references slipped in for good measure. Two young men, Kevin Price (Robert Colvin) and Arnold Cunningham (Jacob Yarlett) have finished their training to be missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and inspired by the memory of Joseph Smith (Johnathan Tweedie) and with the title Elder inserted in front of their names, the pair are thrust together and sent off on their two-year mission to find, recruit and baptise new members into the Mormon religion. However, it’s not to be the magic of Orlando but Africa when they pitch up in Uganda to help struggling Elder McKinley (Jordan Lee Davies) and team. W...