Latest Articles - Page 275 of 645

21Oct

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Toxic – HOME

Currently playing at HOME Manchester is Dibby Productions’ Toxic. Written and performed by Nathaniel J Hall as The Playwright and with Josh-Susan Enright as the Performer this is a sharp, quick witted, fast paced piece of theatre which tells the story of two thirty something men who meet, fall in love and f*ck it up. Set in Manchester in 2017, two damaged individuals meet in a hot and sweaty queer warehouse party, their hearts collide, and a bond is formed. What plays out is the powerful story of that love. They love hard, live hard, play hard and I’m not gonna beat around the bush here, they f*ck hard too. From the opening ‘4th wall’ smashing sequence where we were told what the play would not be the audience were gripped and that attention did not waiver as the 90-minute performanc...

21Oct

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Portia Coughlan – The Almeida

There were many factors that made me giddy to see Portia Coughlan. My Irish heritage, The Almeida’s track record for uniquely dazzling theatre, an attraction to the dark side and the play’s notoriety as a ‘90s game changer. Broadly speaking, Marina Carr’s Gothic shocker didn’t disappoint, but might be prey to having a lot to live up to. Alison Oliver plays Portia Coughlan and turns out a compelling, complex performance that’s haunting, oddly thrilling and almost alien to behold. Portia is a spiky, volatile mystery to the other characters in the play and the audience who’re also grappling with her quirks. We meet Portia on her 30th birthday. She is wallowing in pain and grief, fifteen years after the suicide of her twin brother. Portia chooses to self-destruct with drink and spiteful rag...

19Oct

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Funny Girl – Northwich Memorial Court

Tonight, marked KMTC’s 126th production, it is hard to believe that this company began in 1943 as Knutsford Amateur Operatic Society (KAOS) as it is a company that has not been on my radar before this evening, but certainly will be from this day forward. KMTC is one of the leading community theatre companies in the North West of England, with a vision to bring a diverse and talented mix of performers together and to make theatre accessible and affordable to everyone. I was honoured enough to meet Lesley Reed KMTC’s President who informed me about her 40-year run involved with this magnificent theatre company, and how things have evolved over the years. There is clearly a family feel with this company with its resident Director Ben Ireson with his huge accolade of awards and vast experie...

18Oct

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

I, Daniel Blake – Traverse Theatre

It’s too glib to simply give this a theatrical review. Yes, it’s well-acted, well-lit, commitment and emotion running through the production from top to bottom, but to thoughtlessly term it ‘entertainment’ would be to miss the point entirely. Roughly eight years after a financial crash laid bare the clandestine, labyrinthine world of modern finance, providing a golden, once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the rotting edifice, the film ‘I Daniel Blake’ was released, illustrating by how far this opportunity had been missed. Mysteriously, by 2016, many of the architects of the 2008 disaster were somehow richer than they’d ever been. Clearly there was still wealth-a-go-go in the country; it just kept winding up in the same pockets while ‘austerity’ persisted unabated, resulting in cut...

18Oct

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Noises Off – The Lowry

There have been a few fairly sniffy reviews of Noises Off recently. Both of this touring version of last year's 40th anniversary production and of the Michael Frayn classic more generally. The argument seems to go that the 1982 farce is showing its age and the same joke - a play within a play going all wrong - can be seen elsewhere. It is an interesting quirk of theatrical criticism that comedies are occasionally treated in this way. Dramas, on the other hand, become 'period pieces', described as 'kickstarting a trend'. What should matter, of course, is whether a play works in its own right. Yes, Noises Off is a product of its time, yes it has been lovingly ripped off in recent years but yes, in the right hands, it is still riotously funny. The cast on the Lowry Lyric sta...

18Oct

By Emma LambeNo Comments

North West

Peter Pan Goes Wrong – Liverpool Empire

If you haven’t already heard of Mischief Productions and their work, then look them up, they’re brilliant. You can find some of their TV work on BBC also. Writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Sheilds do a fantastic job at making a beloved classic work as a slapstick comedy production. Think lights flickering, props being misplaced, set falling apart and performers being injured. This is the kind of show that you could watch with friends and family old and young and they’re sure to love it. The concept for Peter Pan Goes Wrong is just like the title says, Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society presents J M Barrie’s timeless classic Peter Pan and things don’t go quite to plan. The show officially begins as the audience are still taking their seats. With actors weaving in and out of...

18Oct

By Ella CatherallNo Comments

Scotland

Pickled Republic – Assembly Roxy

Walking into the Assembly Roxy space to be greeted by a tomato with legs, I was a little suspicious of what I had gotten myself into with this show. However, ‘Pickled Republic’ a ‘surreal cabaret’/sketch show in which all the acts are vegetables played by Ruxy Cantir, is astoundingly good fun. As a solo show, the quality of the piece lives and dies on the strength of the performance and Cantir’s performance makes it such that this show is live and kicking. Her extraordinary physicality paired with the incredible costumes (Visual Design by Fergus Dunnet) that she swaps out between sketches makes this an unbelievably fun show to watch. Also impressive is the speed at which she’s able to get the audience on side while dressed as a tomato with legs. I can’t have been the only audi...

18Oct

By Alison BainesNo Comments

North West

Musicals That Made Us – 53two

There is no denying that musicals are a guilty pleasure for many people. Whether you’re openly a musical theatre lover or there’s the odd one you can’t help but sing along to, musicals make us feel something deeply; joy, sadness, confusion, sorrow, and there’s something so thrilling about watching a talented cast sing, dance and act their way into an audience’s hearts. 53Two’s latest show, ‘Musicals That Made Us’ is a celebration of all of that. Current Manchester School of Theatre student, Nejc Lisjak, and recent graduates Megan Keaveny and Lara Rose Hancox take the audience on an exploration of musicals old and new in a cabaret style performance. Described as a production that “takes you through the mistakes they’ve made and the lessons they’ve learnt through the medium of musi...

18Oct

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Metamorphosis – Liverpool Playhouse

Originally written in 1915 as a novella Franz Kafka’s claustrophobic and deeply unsettling classic is brought to the stage by one of this country’s finest physical theatre companies, Frantic Assembly. Poet Lemn Sissay OBE has successfully adapted Kafka’s dark story of devilish transformation and its presented here in all its surreal and muscular glory. Kafka’s dark fairy tale is simple in its construct , telling the story of Gregor Samsa a travelling salesman who slowly turns into a gigantic insect much to the horror and distaste of his dysfunctional family. Given that the subject matter would be quite difficult to translate to either film or stage Frantic Assembly and Lemn Sissay have achieved some success in delivering an uncompromising and totally addictive piece of theatre. ...

18Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Sweeney Todd – Waterside Arts

I always jump at any chance to see a show written by Stephen Sondheim, and as we approach the second anniversary of his death next month opportunities on both the professional and amateur stage approach thick and fast. Tonight, Sale & Altrincham Musical Theatre present 'Sweeney Todd' written by Sondheim and his long time collaborator Hugh Wheeler, a production that despite some excellent individual performances never fulfils its potential as the 'sensational horror show' that Sondheim conceived. Written at the zenith of his productivity in 1979, 'Sweeney Todd' is the tale of a tortured barber (played this evening by Richard Ross), escaping from transportation to Australia for a crime he did not commit, returning to Victorian London to exact his revenge on evil Judge Turpin (Jon Gard...