HOME Mcr Archives - North West End UK

20Nov

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

That Love Thing – HOME Mcr

This moving and entertaining piece follows the inner life of Peter, a man living with cerebral palsy, and his companion Michael, as they narrate the ups and downs of life with a serious disability. All the touchstones of Peter’s life – including his love of music and Shakespeare, his relationships with his unseen mother and brother, the travails of sex and dating, and his love/hate relationships with his various wheelchairs – are covered with wry humour. Just enough detail is given in each vignette for the audience to feel that the sketch is authentic and serious without overpowering the momentum of the show. Gradually we are introduced to main characters in Peter’s life – some real, some fictional, some perhaps both, including the Satanic Mr C.P., who appears to mock and torment...

14Nov

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

After the Act – HOME Mcr

A new musical inspired by the nationwide societal impacts of Section 28, After the Act continues its winter tour with a penultimate stop in Manchester- long a welcoming city boasting one of the country’s largest LGBTQ+ populations. Ellice Stevens, Nkara Stephenson, Ericka Posadas and Zachary Willis deliver monologues from those who experienced the oppressive, anti-gay culture of the late 1980s as an ensemble, with Frew providing live music. The Conservative government’s law prevented schools and councils from “promoting” homosexuality. While the source material is discernibly moving, its delivery is drawn out by being overly verbatim: every single “um”, “er” and false start is unnecessary. Where this doesn’t result in anecdotes losing their focus, activity from the non-speaking cast ...

24Oct

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Nowhere – HOME Mcr

Where do you go when the unbearable becomes persistent? This is just one of the initial questions asked by Khalid Abdalla in his profound and beautiful piece of theatre, Nowhere, currently playing at HOME, Manchester. It’s a question that, given the current situation in the Middle East, slaps you in the face and makes you pay attention to what is about to be said. What follows is a personal history of multi-generational activism; friendship, love and loss; personal and political protest; family legacy and our personal history. It is Abdalla’s own history that inspires this journey. The son and grandson of political prisoners, it is his involvement in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and the subsequent counter-revolution that shapes his journey. It is the stories of his forefathers and of...

7Oct

By Anna Ní DhúillNo Comments

North West

WRESTLELADSWRESTLE – HOME Mcr

While you might not think Judo and racism are the easiest go-tos for a (sort-of) one-woman show, Jenni Jackson’s expert weaving of personal experience with community accountability in WRESTLELADSWRESTLE cracks the subject matter wide-open in an approachable way, inviting us in to listen and learn. The piece, at its core, is built off the universal desire we have as humans to assert ownership over our own pain: at least if we can decide when and how it happens, we can be somewhat prepared. Out of this, we learn anecdotal stories, as well as news snippets of traumas that have occurred to women when they simply weren’t prepared. So: Jenni prepares us. What we learn, among other things, is how to get people out of our house when they start to act aggressive. Bringing her ‘girl gang’ onstage...

28Sep

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Two of Us – HOME Mcr

It seems somehow apposite that this play about the last meeting of Paul McCartney and John Lennon should be staged just as a certain well-known group from Manchester is about to reunite. Not just because of the massive debt that Oasis owed the Beatles but because Lennon and McCartney were in some ways like a pair of warring brothers only with more wit and talent. Throughout the seventies, until John Lennon was murdered, they would both be constantly asked if The Beatles were going to reunite. There is a story that even after Lennon’s death the remaining three were offered a fortune to get back together but they all turned it down as they said without John it wouldn’t be The Beatles. On an April night in 1976, Paul makes a surprise visit to John’s apartment in New York. Lenn...

12Sep

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

I Bought a Flip Phone – HOME Mcr

Have you every stopped to wonder what would happen to you if you dumped your smart phone? No more WhatsApp groups, no social media, no googling, no maps. Just a phone for calls and text and nothing else. This is the question Panos Kandunias asks in his one man show which tells the story of Charlie, an almost 27-year-old gay man who has become sick of shuffling and buys himself a flip phone in an attempt to address his 5 hour a day addiction to his now ditched smart device. I Bought a Flip Phone is a passionate exploration of modern digital burnout and the perpetual feeling that life is on hold. It is the very engaging story of a young man searching for deeper and more personal connections with his fellow humans. The staging is sparse. An empty stage with a simple bench and table a...

17May

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

Frankie Goes to Bollywood – HOME Mcr

Rifco Theatre Company delivers two and a half hours of delightful entertaining theatre with this enjoyable show; with comedic stereotypical depictions of characters from the Bollywood film industry, beautiful Indian costumes, energetic dance routines, an original musical score and abundant high-speed costume changes this production is a ‘must-see’. The story centres on Frankie (Laila Zaidi), a British Indian girl working in the Milton Keynes branch of a multi-chain cinema, serving popcorn with her cousin, Goldy (Katie Stasi). Frankie’s mother (Helen K Wint) passes away leaving her daughter with memories of her career and her longing to break into Bollywood. Frankie decides to try and fulfil her mother’s ambitions and auditions for a part in a Bollywood film, although never having ...

10May

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Tender – HOME Mcr

Supported by Arts Council, England and Derby Theatre, Tender emerged as the new production for Phosphoros Theatre, a London based company running theatre projects for refugees aged 16-25. Featuring young performers from Iraq, Eritrea, Chad, Albania and Ethiopia the work began development in 2021 and is playing at Home, Manchester this week. Given the changes to the Illegal Migration Act and the very recent passing of the disturbing Rwanda Bill it is a timely opportunity to highlight the stories of the young refugees that find themselves between a rock and a hard place with no safety net, no right to work and understandable deep concerns about how they build a future for themselves. Phosphoros Theatre have invited young refugees and artists from around the UK to contribute material...

Black Is The Color Of My Voice – HOME Mcr

29Apr

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Black Is The Color Of My Voice – HOME Mcr

Apphia Campbell’s play, inspired by the life of Nina Simone, has won critical acclaim and sold-out venues around the world. It is not hard to see why. Black Is The Color Of My Voice is about as accomplished a one-person show as you are ever likely to see. Confined to one sparsely decorated room, jazz singer Eugenia vows to ditch the booze and the cigarettes as she tries to connect with the spirit of her late father. Campbell’s character clutches a framed picture of ‘daddy’ as she reflects on her life, loves and losses. Artefacts and articles of clothing pulled from a suitcase trigger memories. Memories that are beautifully and believably portrayed to a spellbound audience. Memories punctuated by stunning interpretations of Nina Simone classics. Within the first few beats of the fi...

6Mar

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Work It Out – HOME Mcr

“Five, six, seven, eight - step right, swimming motion, move like Jagger, turn and again!” Exercise is good for us. We all know that. It is beneficial not just because it helps to shed a few pounds, it also gives a much-needed boost to our mental health. Progress over perfection is the key to success. Writer Eve Steele has produced a play so full of heart you can hear it pounding like the ticker of an unfit beginner at their first exercise class. This finely judged play is polemical when it needs to be, veers on the right side of sentimentality and brings together a wonderfully disparate group of characters. Together they become their own little mini community. They all have their problems including drug addiction, alcoholism, hoarding and overeating. Damaged and defeated they com...