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Opera North: Cavalleria rusticana / Aleko –The Lowry

21Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Cavalleria rusticana / Aleko –The Lowry

Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana is usually paired with Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci but director Karolina Sofulak has made an inspired choice to pair it with Rachmaninov’s rarely heard Aleko with some subtle and intricate linking of the two pieces which by and large comes off. In Cavalleria rusticana, it transpires that Turiddù (Andrés Presno) and Lola (Helen Évora) were once lovers, but when he left to join the army, Lola married another man, Alfio (Robert Hayward). Although Turridù finds consolation in the arms of Santuzza (Giselle Allen), his obsessive passion for Lola still burns fiercely as he supports his mother Lucia (Anne-Marie Owens), setting the stage for a tale of faithlessness, jealousy and violence, set in a rural community where the church maintains an iron grip on the souls of...

21Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Wizard of Oz – Bradford Alhambra

We’re off to Bradford to see the wonderful Wizard of Oz in an updated stage version of the classic Judy Garland movie that has become a must see every Christmas for generations of families everywhere. Unless you have spent your life in a closed religious order then there is no point in detailing the plot as a young girl in depression era Kansas enters a strange new world, and with the help of some new mates fends off a wicked witch to find her way home. This lively technicolour revival comes straight from a sell-out run at the London Palladium, and the good news for all friends of Dorothy is the classic movie tunes are still here, with typically solid extra songs by the venereal duo of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in the second act. Whilst staying true to the movie’s message t...

A Taste of Honey – Royal Exchange Theatre

21Mar

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

A Taste of Honey – Royal Exchange Theatre

In 1958, a 19-year-old Salford girl called Shelagh Delaney went to watch 'Variation on a Theme' by Terence Rattigan at Manchester’s Opera House. Incensed at the portrayal of homosexual relationships in the play, she came out of the theatre thinking she could do something far better, inside two weeks she had written 'A Taste of Honey'. This raw and powerful story of poverty, race and sexuality quickly became a crucial part of the 'British New Wave’ and later supplied Morrissey with half the lyrics on the debut Smiths album. The beating heart of this play is the relationship between Helen (Jill Halfpenny) and her teenage daughter Jo (Rowan Robinson), they are first seen arriving in squalid lodgings in a Salford backstreet with little money and even less hope. Helen is described by Dela...

20Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Indigo Giant – Soho Poly

“I will plant Indigo in your head.” Both threat and promise, this is the doom of a story’s characters and the hope of its audience in this touring production of Indigo Giant. Written by Ben Musgrave, directed by Gavin Joseph, and with production, dramaturgy & lyrics by Leesa Gazi, this moving play has been travelling between venues and currently finds itself nestled in the basement room of the Soho Poly, a somewhat cramped venue still in the midst of its renovation but steadily working its way toward re-emerging as a cultural and theatrical hub. Telling the story of the Bengali Indigo Rebellion, the plot begins shortly after the wedding of raiyat Sadhu (Diljohn Singh) and Kshetromani (Amy Tara), a young woman whose father was ruined by British planters exploiting both labour and lan...

20Mar

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Murder In The Dark – Richmond Theatre

After a car crash on a wintry, snowy night, Mrs. Bateman (Susie Blake), a local farmer, brings a fairly dysfunctional family back to her isolated farmhouse to shelter for the night before the trains start running again. It is New Year's Eve and everyone has better plans, but instead, they are left without food or wine along with plenty of acrimony. Danny (Tom Chambers) was a pop star once. Perhaps with a chance of making real music with his brother William (Owen Oakeshott), a hint of fame and fortune led him to leave his brother behind and join the teen pop group Dance Party 5. A string of hits and a jet-setting lifestyle saw him indulge in drink and drugs, leaving his wife Rebecca (Rebecca Charles) and young son Jake (Jonny Green) behind. Many years later, he crashes the car with his f...

20Mar

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Sunset Boulevard – Sheffield Lyceum

‘I am big. It’s the pictures that got small’. Norma Desmond’s famous line encapsulates all that is Sunset Boulevard, pure opulence from the scrumptious score to the dramatic and flamboyant performance. Based on the 1950’s film by Bill Wilder starring silent movie queen Gloria Swanson, the stage version; after many attempted and aborted musical adaptations; finally had its debut in 1992 with the book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and the music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sunset Boulevard powerfully charts the decline of the silent movies and instead of celebrating the rise of the talkies such as the musical Singing in the Rain, it hovers moodily over the demise of the stars who were cast aside and ‘dethroned’. Told through the eyes of the struggling writer Joe Gillis as he ...

20Mar

By Philip EdwardsNo Comments

North West

My Beautiful Launderette – The Lowry

For those of us who lived through the 1980’s much of the story told in My Beautiful Launderette is familiar. The need to achieve at all costs gripped much of society and some people gave up principles for the chance to get rich quick. There was a growing middle class, not least in people who settled here from different countries. It was also a time of advancing rights in the gay community despite the long shadow of HIV/AIDS. Put that lot together as Hanif Kureishi did in 1985 and you have a very successful movie on your hands which went a long way to explore Britain becoming a multi-cultural society, those who embrace it and those who resent it. The story has now been brought to the stage and once again we meet Omar as he seeks to make a success of his uncle’s rundown launde...

20Mar

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Karen – The Other Palace

Break-ups are always hard, but Karen’s Protagonist (Sarah Cameron-West, also the writer and producer) has just had a particularly rough one: it’s her 30th birthday, she’s at Alton Towers eating a Calippo, and she’s just been unceremoniously dumped by her long-term boyfriend, Joe. And if things couldn’t get any worse for our Protagonist, it turns out Joe has also been having an affair with her office nemesis, Karen. This very unfortunate event kicks off Karen, a laugh-a-minute, utterly shameless exploration of the messiest parts of heartbreak and self-discovery. For the next 60 minutes, Karen immerses the audience in the internal and external worlds of Protagonist, who often breaks the fourth wall to talk to the audience as if they’re the other characters she’s interacting with. ...

20Mar

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

Fat Chance – Theatre503

Rachel Stockdale gives a high-energy performance in this autobiographical and unapologetic confrontation with fatphobia’s entrenchment within modern culture and social attitudes. Consequently, the piece was full of provocations to challenge our prejudices. Clad in a silk robe, Stockdale became “Stocky the boxer”, a clever spin on the rhetoric of ‘fighting’ through weight loss. As she sang and danced and told us of her story, a trio of projector screens acted as windows into Stockdale’s past, displaying the dates during which she worked various jobs and the impact this had on her weight. This was also intercut with statistics to demystify BMI and highlight the great failings of diet culture. Ultimately, the numbers and facts were emphasised by a deep sense of personal indignation. There was...

Award-Winning Classic Thriller Returns to Liverpool

20Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Award-Winning Classic Thriller Returns to Liverpool

Following a sell-out tour in 2022, and a sell-out Liverpool Empire Theatre run in early 2023, Stephen Daldry’s multi award-winning National Theatre production of JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls returns to the city for another Empire stint from 19th – 23rd November 2024. Casting to be announced. The story? It's a classic: when Inspector Goole arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home, their peaceful dinner party is shattered by his investigations into the death of a young woman. His startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and challenge us all to examine our consciences. More relevant now than ever, An Inspector Calls is a must-see for a whole new generation. “We’re thrilled to be presenting another tour of An Inspector Calls," says Director S...