GM Fringe Archives - Page 3 of 3

2Jul

By Julia PanovaNo Comments

North West

After Shark – GM Fringe Online

Who knew a casual stroll down a Cornish beach, could lead to a shark sighting? ‘After Shark,’ is a part of The Greater Manchester Fringe line-up this year. It wonderfully displays the consequences of living in an environmentally changing world and how people should rise as a community to help these issues, for humanity to live in a greener world for years to come. “It’s time to take a stand.” Based on the true events at Newlyn Harbour earlier this year, the 36-minute show aims to make an audience think about what they can do to enjoy the natural beauty of the world around them. Written by Lita Doolan, the show includes a talented cast of actors such as: Jo Philips-Lane, Julie Broadbent, Kara Cole, Ian McShee and Sara Haggerty. The production took on a modern approach, it in...

2Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

North West

Tree Confessions – GM Fringe Online

As I logged on (no pun intended) to listen to Tree Confessions, part of the 11th Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, I realised if I was a tree, I would be a solid oak and not a willowy sapling. You see, at the opening of the audio production, we were advised to sit down under a tree, press play and listen. However, the weather outside was atrocious so, much as I love trees, I wasn’t prepared to get my hair wet for them, so made an executive decision to sit under our giant indoor plant, a Rose-painted Calathea. Big mistake. Getting back up proved nigh impossible. What on earth was I doing? There was no bark on the plant for me to press my ear against, so I plopped back onto the sofa and pressed play. With no other distractions, such as audience members passing by, musicians tuning...

Greater Manchester and Edinburgh Fringe are back!

5May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Greater Manchester and Edinburgh Fringe are back!

As the arts continues to return to what we used to call normal, we are starting to look ahead to both Greater Manchester and Edinburgh’s Fringe festivals. North West End UK has been supporting GM Fringe since our creation in 2014 and Edinburgh Fringe since 2018 following our expansion, and we are looking forward to the biggest year yet at both festivals. We are currently busy recruiting reviewing teams at both locations and look forward to having the largest number of reviewers onboard prior to the opening of each festival. If you know of anyone interested in joining our team for either just the festival or all year round reviewing, please ask them to contact the relevant email address below. GM Fringe runs from the 1st – 31st July and Edinburgh returns from the 5th – 29th August. We...

Comedy Double Bill: Who Here’s Lost? & Wife On Earth – The King’s Arms

26Sep

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Comedy Double Bill: Who Here’s Lost? & Wife On Earth – The King’s Arms

There are many ways in which someone can try and make you laugh. We have gag tellers and slapstick prat fallers, satirists and surrealists who will all try and make us chortle. For this comedy double bill at the King’s Arms, as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, we were treated to some character comedy from Joanna Neary and a story from Ben Moor. First on was Joanna, who in Wife on Earth, was examining marriage through different characters. Taking us through this dissection of matrimony was Celia, a middle-class Joyce Grenfull-esque posh lady who was not unlike Celia Johnson in the film Brief Encounter. She was married to Fred who seems to spend most of his time doing sudoku or crossword puzzles. Celia is hosting an evening to raise money for the church roof and the d...

7Sep

By Alison BainesNo Comments

North West

Toxic – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Suicide is a perennially important topic and one that has to be approached with care, compassion and tact. This was the subject of Toxic; no easy task to take on. As part of Manchester Fringe festival, Toxic, at The Altringham Garrick, is a story that follows two best friends and the circumstances which have caused them to spiral. Andy discovers his husband has been having an affair. Stuck in a soul-crushing job, his lifejacket of love was the only thing keeping him afloat. His best friend James is a man’s man who uses gags to disguise his vulnerability. The writer, Dan Lovatt, explores toxic masculinity, with each character clearly defining the traits of men you recognise from your own life. As a woman, the pressures upon men within a toxic society can be alien, but the piece does w...

3Sep

By Louise PennNo Comments

North West

Alexithymia – GM Fringe Online

Alexithymia is a term used in psychiatry as “the inability to recognise or describe one’s own emotions”. Although not a core feature of autism, it can affect as many as 50% diagnosed with it. In Madison Weinhoffer’s short theatre piece, which runs at less than twenty-five minutes, we are following the journey of “Friend”, who is a lost being needing assistance to find their way back to who they are. The production starts as more art installation than theatre. Projected images and music add to a general sense of confusion and disorder. The letters which spell the title of the show mix and disintegrate as watch. Friend and voices engage as abstract images are shown on a landscape we can only partly see, but not fully appreciate. Then the show becomes more of a traditional theatre pi...

2Sep

By Julia PanovaNo Comments

North West

Fruit Salad – GM Fringe Online

Cherry and Peaches, two fruits which wonderfully complement each other. Or perhaps Cherry and Peaches, the two friends who at first glance don’t seem remotely similar but at the core have a unity that’s imperishable. Or at least that’s what we thought... Fruit Salad follows a friendship that formed over their fruity names and fruity nature. We watch as the two meet up from their late teens to early twenties to catch up over cheap wine in their favourite pub. Soon enough they both move to different universities, make new friends, fall in love with new people and ultimately see one another less. Cherry seems to have it all together and worries for ‘Princess Peach’ seeing as her life is falling apart. One does wonder if their lives will ever get back on the same page, or perhaps if it’s th...

2Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

North West

The Relatives! – GM Fringe Online

Growing up as part of a large family myself, I was intrigued to hear whether writer Siân Parry-Williams’ experiences of her own kith and kin came close to my own familial memories. So, as 6pm neared on Wednesday evening, I logged on to my laptop and opened my online ticket in readiness to listen to The Relatives!, part of the 10th Greater Manchester Fringe. Parry-Williams informed us she is “sure” the antics of her characters will remind us of our own relatives. Well, to be honest, nothing during the 30-minute audio event came close to anything heard or seen in my own, Yorkshire, family. But then, Parry Williams’ characters relate to folk in her Welsh background. However, comedy can cross all borders … The Relatives! kicks off with a conversation, on Skype, between mother an...

1Sep

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Judas – GM Fringe Online

This quirky and off the wall satire on religion written and performed by BeeJay Aubertin-Clinton re-imagines the relationship between Judas and Jesus from a queer perspective. Aubertin-Clinton has written a clever and sometimes witty monologue that does not seek to offend, rather it highlights the broader issues of relationships and queer identity. All the religious tropes and stories about Judas and his special man are performed at a campy breakneck speed, occasionally stopping for very brief interludes of emotional depth, which sometimes seemed at odds with the comedic elements of Aubertin-Clinton’s dazzling and sharp script. The dialogue is crisp and fresh, and you are immediately drawn into Aubertin- Clinton’s warm and imaginative character, he holds your attention throughout and...

A Simple Tale of Love to play Camden and GM Fringe Festivals

12Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

A Simple Tale of Love to play Camden and GM Fringe Festivals

Rude Raven Productions is a new production company set up by writer Sasha Ravencroft and this play will be its professional debut. Ravencroft has been involved in the arts for many years as a writer, actor and producer of a puppetry theatre company. A Simple Tale of Love is directed by Nicole Roberts Ryder for the digital recording for Greater Manchester Fringe, the live shows at Camden Fringe, and as it goes on its premiere tour. The play follows the relationship between Molly and a sinister stranger, JD, who holds a terrifying secret, and her life is never the same again. It is a story about a woman who has lost not only her confidence but also herself along the way. Cheated on by her vicar husband and bullied at work, Molly is broken and yet clutches on to hope. In order to carry ...