Friday, December 5

Tag: Greater Manchester Fringe

Dear Eliza – The King’s Arms, Salford
North West

Dear Eliza – The King’s Arms, Salford

Barbara Diesel’s Dear Eliza, currently touring UK fringe festivals, is a powerful and raw piece of theatre that explores the fear of the effects of mental ill health upon friendship and delves into the conversations that most people find too difficult, too upsetting, too challenging to have. This one woman show presents as a live video recording of responses to letters from one friend to another. Except the letters were never sent; never received. The letters are found hidden away following the suicide of the sender. The impact on Eliza, the recipient, is recorded in response; ironically, never to be received by its intended beneficiary and cleverly pulling the audience into that role. The structure of the piece allows a linear narrative which depicts the friendship between the two y...
Fine Line: A GreySpace Production – The Fitzgerald
North West

Fine Line: A GreySpace Production – The Fitzgerald

When the stylistic choice is made to produce a play with minimal set, a small cast and a character driven storyline, the pressure of the show falls almost solely on the actors’ ability to work realistically within the space and present a believable yet fascinating relationship to entice the audience. Fine Line: A GreySpace Production manages to excel in its stylistic choice and create a realistic dynamic without crutches of realistic set. The play follows teenager Mil and her counsellor Josie reconnecting by chance after 2 years. This rekindling is inter-spliced with flashbacks to their initial relationship, which constantly blurs the lines between a professional relationship and a deeper emotional connection. As they reminisce about the past, you watch how thei...
North West

I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar – The King’s Arms, Salford

In a packed-out King’s Arms, musical stand-up Holly Redford Jones’ tuneful contribution to Greater Manchester Fringe seeks to answer the question: where have all the lesbian bars gone? Redford Jones instantly draws the audience in with a reassuring stage presence, achieving many laughs through the sardonic delivery of her musings. Social critique remains sharp as well as facetious throughout. The show’s description promises many things- including a celebration of queer women of the past, present and future. It was therefore a missed opportunity for the piece to be noticeably light on sapphic content. Where did all the lesbian bars go? A brief history of the country’s venues- from the 1930s’ Gateways Club to London’s newest joint La Camionera- would have been a welcome inclusion. ...
Natter – The Edge, Chorlton 
North West

Natter – The Edge, Chorlton 

My first trip out reviewing shows taking part in the Greater Manchester Fringe 2024 found me at The Edge in Chorlton to see Queerdog Theatre’s Natter.  Set in 1980’s Salford, we follow the story of friends and confidantes,  Helen and Linda, as they regularly meet up to watch TV, drink tea with biscuits, put the world to rights and share each other’s worries and woes. Presented very much in the vein of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s classic Lancashire matriarchs, they sit head scarfed and heavily busted in front of the telly enjoying Countdown, Neighbours, The Bill and Bullseye, to name but a few. They gossip, they judge, they bathe in denial, initially avoiding the elephant in the room, the subject of Linda’s gay son, then march through with the herd as they tackle the intri...
Enough – King’s Arms, Salford
North West

Enough – King’s Arms, Salford

When Enough was first performed at the Greater Manchester Fringe last summer it was depressingly prescient. A play about misogyny, corruption and racism in the police less than six months after a review into the culture and standards of behaviour at the Met was published. As part of a Best of Fringe season, Enough is one of a handful of last year’s highlights being revived at the King’s Arms in Salford. The play won a Best Drama award in the summer, and it is not hard to see why. The subject matter may be, marginally, less topical but is no less important. In fact, the ‘enough is enough’ message is, arguably, even more powerful now. The attention of the headlines circus may have moved on but the issues this play raises have not been resolved. As is often the case, it is down to po...
Making it Up (One Playwright to Another) – Greater Manchester Fringe Digital
REVIEWS

Making it Up (One Playwright to Another) – Greater Manchester Fringe Digital

Making it Up (One Playwright to Another) is a touching tribute to the theatre industry and renowned playwright, Edward Albee. Written and performed by Norm Reynolds, the show was filmed for online streaming by John Bertram at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, Toronto. Director, Lesley Ballantyne has brought out the best in Reynolds and made this one man show about how one man’s life was touched by theatre, into something which has universal appeal and something which everyone, whether they are familiar with Albee or not, could take something from. The play is primarily focussed around an interview with Edward Albee, and Reynolds narrates his character’s life before, during and after this interview. Beginning his career as a teacher, this endeavour was put aside on writing a semi-successful pl...
Rachel Creeger – Whitefield Garrick Theatre
North West

Rachel Creeger – Whitefield Garrick Theatre

Greater Manchester Fringe is well and truly in the swing of things, and I was honoured to review Rachel Creeger’s latest masterpiece ‘Ultimate Jewish Mother 2023’ at the intimate Garrick Theatre in Whitefield. Creeger is no stranger to the stage as she is a multi-award-winning stand-up comedian, writer, and director, and I believe the only practising orthodox Jewish woman on the mainstream UK comedy circuit. Her debut hour "It's No Job for A Nice Jewish Girl" won the Best Comedy Award at the Greater Manchester Fringe in 2017, which sold out its run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it was a Fringe Review recommended show, and went on to have a critically acclaimed, successful international tour. Her second solo hour "Hinayni!" ran at the Underbelly for Edinburgh Fringe 2019 and ...
Tigers In the Wisteria – Greater Manchester Fringe (GMF Digital events)
North West

Tigers In the Wisteria – Greater Manchester Fringe (GMF Digital events)

Tigers in The Wisteria is a 30-minute monologue in digital format that was inspired by Ottoline Morrells Stonemason ‘Tiger’. The digital monologue is available in virtual format and is a performance for Greater Manchester Fringe Digital Events. Written by award winning writer, Lita Doolan, it tells the story of a challenging romance and all its complexities. Doolan is undoubtedly a talent and has had a previous show at the Manchester Fringe with her digital show ‘After Shark’ which is nominated for an Off West End Award. The film is only 30 minutes and for the first few minutes ‘Tigers In the Wisteria initially feels chaotic and somewhat complex to the viewer. Set in 1922, it is a story about Lady Morrell who is searching frantically for the correct love letter to put in a memorial for ...
Award winning theatre company return to Greater Manchester Fringe
NEWS

Award winning theatre company return to Greater Manchester Fringe

Award winning theatre company, Northern Rep, are returning to Greater Manchester Fringe Festival in 2023, this time with two original plays. One man show BOSIE, written and performed by Rik Barnett, tells the story of Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (Bosie), the illicit lover of Oscar Wilde and reminisces on the destruction left in his wake. After being forced into exile, Bosie is powerless and angry. Compelled to face his past and the persecution endured by his father. Battling his own tour de force of personal philosophies and deep reflection on how his actions led to Oscar Wilde’s disgrace and how he, Bosie a gentleman of Victorian high society is now trapped, degraded and alone. The scandal and outrage of this overshadowed character in Wilde’s downfall is finally examined throug...
Not Drunk But Disorderly – The Empty Space
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 ...