North West Archives - Page 98 of 128

Giovanni Pernice: This is Me – Bridgewater Hall

9Apr

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Giovanni Pernice: This is Me – Bridgewater Hall

For those who are not well versed in the Strictly Come Dancing universe, Giovanni Pernice is one of the most loved professional dancers on the BBC show, having started his Strictly journey in 2015 and only last year managing to win the series with Strictly’s first ever deaf contestant, Rose Ayling-Ellis. Giovanni has long been a programme and an audience favourite, with his suave good looks, his sensual dance moves, and his Italian cheeky-chappy persona. With all this in mind, I was under no illusions that Giovanni, a natural-born performer, would put on a great show - and oh, he did. From the beginning I did question the choice of venue for this production - I didn’t feel the Bridgewater Hall was able to contain the amount of energy and exuberance that a show like this would h...

9Apr

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Me & Thee – Empty Space

Salford based theatre company Farewell Theatre opened their show Me & Thee at the Empty Space Theatre last night for a two-night run. The show was written by James Ward making his writing debut with this piece. Based on true events set in a flat after a night out. One played by Ross Thompson and Two played by Reece Hallam, had come home a bit worse for wear from a few cans of larger it also appeared after a few drinks they had become involved in a fight. Now we’ve all got friends who are a bit.. well.. eccentric and that was definitely Two. Two opened up about his past and the decisions he made, he wanted to see his son again, but he had to prove he had changed by going on the straight and narrow and not get involved with scams or drugs. Whilst One gave his account of what it was like ...

8Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Tosca – Opera House, Manchester

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Puccini, structured as a through-composed work, with arias, recitative, choruses and other elements musically woven into a seamless whole. Set in Rome in June 1800, the city is threatened by the advancing army of Napoleon Bonaparte. In the inside of the church of Sant' Andrea della Villa, Cesare Angelotti (Eugeniu Ganea), former Consul and now an escaped political prisoner, has taken refuge. He hides on the arrival of a Sacristan (Valeriu Cojocaru) before the painter Mario Cavaradossi (Vitalii Liskovetskyi) appears to continue work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene, based on a blonde-haired woman who is in fact Angelotti's sister, and he compares her to his dark-haired lover, the singer Floria Tosca (Elena Dee). Cavaradossi promises...

7Apr

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

All Shook Up – Hyde Festival Theatre

“I gotta follow that dream” Elvis once crooned. Two years later than planned, Hyde Musical Society have finally realised their dream to bring All Shook Up, featuring the hits of Elvis, to the stage. The musical is a frothy 50s comedy, loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. ‘Bad boy’ Chad (who, thanks to the family-friendly stylings of the show, is about as dangerous as a glass of milk), swings into a small Midwestern town whose residents cower under the thumb of their very own Mary Whitehouse-type, Mayor Matilda – anything she considers immoral is banned. With less a nod, more a vigorous headbang towards the plot of Footloose, Chad’s hip-thrusting dance moves and rock and roll songs soon upset the applecart as the townsfolk are encouraged to let loose. Local ‘grease monkey’ me...

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – Palace Theatre

7Apr

By Hazel BumbyNo Comments

North West

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – Palace Theatre

Not entirely sure where to start with this at all. Oh, my word, from the welcome outside the theatre, red carpet treatment (technically for all the soap stars there, but we walked it anyway) a red rose per special guest/press and a small but scrummy rose fondant cupcake, to the buzz and excitement that seemed to be in every corner… As per usual The Palace Theatre is always on top note on press night and tonight was no exception. Well done to the Palace Theatre and your super staff. The show was incredible from start to finish and what a start it was with an incredibly famous voice kicking off the show off in style. The set was just wonderful with pieces moving seamlessly from one side to another either suspended in air or on the round. Sound and lighting were on point to,...

6Apr

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Peter Pan – St Helens Theatre Royal

It was a great pleasure to see Peter Pan the pantomime in St Helens last night, by Regal Entertainments. The audience was full of families ready to boo and hiss whilst shouting he’s behind you. It’s worth noting if you see the show double check the start times as they are afternoon and teatime showings. Peter Pan (Harrison Vaughan) lives in Never-land. In Never-land it is a place full of lost boys. Where you can’t grow old. They all fight together against Captain Hook (Scott Gallagher) and his pirates. Peter had won the first fight against Hook by taking of one of his hands which was replaced by (you guessed it) a hook. However, Hook wasn’t going to lose the next time and plans to find his hideaway and poison Peter Pan whilst his cronies kidnapped the lost boys along with Wendy (Lauren ...

Jane Hair: The Brontes Restyled – Hope Mill Theatre

6Apr

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Jane Hair: The Brontes Restyled – Hope Mill Theatre

A salon in the village of Haworth, West Yorkshire is an unlikely location for a play to be set. However, we soon meet the stylists; Emily, Charlotte and Anne and finally it all becomes clear. This is a modern day look at the Bronte sisters written by Bradford lasses Kirsty Smith and Kat Rose-Martin. From the get go the characters are instantly likeable and have their own unique personalities. However, before going on with the review I must state on the night I watched the production the actor who plays Charlotte was isolating due to Covid-19. However, instead of cancelling the performance the ladies ploughed on and the stage manager stepped up to read the role of Charlotte, and she more than delivered. The action really starts when a post appears online from a ‘Lizzie G’ (any gue...

6Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Sheila’s Island – Liverpool Playhouse

It’s Bonfire night and Sheila (Tracy Collier), Denise (Abigail Thaw), Julie (Rina Fatania), and Fay (Emily Jane Kerr) are Team C in Pennine Mineral Water Ltd.’s annual outward-bound team-building weekend. Somehow, Sheila has been nominated team leader, and, using her cryptic crossword solving skills, has unwittingly stranded her team on an island in the Lake District. Our intrepid heroines find themselves manufacturing weapons from cable ties and spatulas and create a rescue flag with plastic plates and a toasting fork. Questions are asked; truths are told; dirty washing is aired. Is it possible to build an adequate night shelter with a prom dress and a sleeveless jumper? What is Julie’s husband really up to in Aldi? And why are they on this bloody team building exercise when they...

5Apr

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Hindle Wakes – Lyceum Theatre Oldham

There are a lot of people who would shiver significantly at the thought of a dash up to Oldham (or Owdham to us natives) on a soggy cold Monday night. As a daughter of that fair mill town, I was more than happy to abandon my South Manchester residence and head up t’ th’ills to see the Lyceum’s current production of Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes. Written in the first decade of the 20th Century and just prior to the First World War, this beautifully comic play, which presented one of the first powerful working- class female protagonists, was controversial, shocking and highly contentious amongst both audiences and academics when first produced. Fanny Hawthorn, spirited mill worker and a lass who knows her own mind, spends an illicit weekend away with the boss’s son, who happens to be...

4Apr

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

North West

Swim – Theatre by the Lake

Sitting in The Studio just a few yards from Derwentwater the urge to run down to the shore and into the icy water is extreme after Liz Richardson’s performance of her play Swim, writes Karen Morley-Chesworth. This is a new version of the production performed at HOME in Manchester and at the Edinburgh Festival before the lockdowns. Originally with a cast of other performers, sharing the experiences of a group of wild swimmers, during the following couple of years, Liz revisited her work and focused on the true-life experience of her and her friend Lisa B. This one-woman performance works beautifully, distilling their intertwined story into the one voice. The setting for this production at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick is simple and effective. A chained curtain backdrop upon which the...