Hope Mill Theatre Archives - Page 3 of 5

Jane Hair: The Brontes Restyled – Hope Mill Theatre

6Apr

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Jane Hair: The Brontes Restyled – Hope Mill Theatre

A salon in the village of Haworth, West Yorkshire is an unlikely location for a play to be set. However, we soon meet the stylists; Emily, Charlotte and Anne and finally it all becomes clear. This is a modern day look at the Bronte sisters written by Bradford lasses Kirsty Smith and Kat Rose-Martin. From the get go the characters are instantly likeable and have their own unique personalities. However, before going on with the review I must state on the night I watched the production the actor who plays Charlotte was isolating due to Covid-19. However, instead of cancelling the performance the ladies ploughed on and the stage manager stepped up to read the role of Charlotte, and she more than delivered. The action really starts when a post appears online from a ‘Lizzie G’ (any gu...

30Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

North West

Vagina Cake – Hope Mill Theatre

Making friends at university can be a risky business as four friends have found out as they run round the stage pandering to the unreasonable demands of an unseen ‘The Duchess’. In between Laura Harper’s warm, funny but very perceptive new work unpeels the power and complexity of female friendships as Fraggle, Dipsy, Mumps and Mary migrate from their relatively carefree twenties into the much choppier waters of their thirties. Harper has based Vagina Cake on extensive chats with women of different generations, and the regular gales of laughter from the mainly female audience proved she has nailed the inevitable changes in friendships that start when you are essentially still a big child. The first half centres around a disastrous wedding sketching out each of the women’s r...

Passion starring Ruthie Henshall to play 4-week run at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

18Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Passion starring Ruthie Henshall to play 4-week run at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

Full casting is now announced for Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine’s Passion this May: Dean John-Wilson (Steven Spielberg’s Masters of Air, Apple TV; Aladdin) will play Giorgio, the man who finds himself at the heart of a passionate love affair, alongside Olivier nominated Kelly Price (What’s New Pussycat?, Birmingham REP; A Little Night Music, Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre) as Clara. The cast is completed by Adam Robert Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty’s Theatre), Charlie Waddell (South Pacific, Chichester Festival Theatre), Danny Whitehead (Wicked, UK tour), Dalton Harris (The X Factor), Ray Shell (Starlight Express, The Lion King), Steve Watts (As You Like It, Cheek by Jowl), and Tim Walton (Matilda the Musical, RSC). They join the Olivier Award winner and mu...

My Favourite Place in the Whole Wide World – Hope Mill Theatre

3Mar

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

My Favourite Place in the Whole Wide World – Hope Mill Theatre

Trauma can have impact people in many different ways – some people grow and flourish from the ashes, some people can see their life, and the things that bring them comfort, cruelly collapse and leave them shattered. Award-winning playwright Ian Townsend explores this journey along with themes of sexual identity, self-esteem and the very human craving of connection with others in his newest work, “My favourite place…”, directed by James Schofield. In and amongst a simple set of stacked black and orange-striped boxes, we meet J and Ruth, two people who have endured their own childhood traumas, and who, through a cleverly executed moment of serendipity, are thrust into a most unlikely friendship. The script is very much a tale of two halves. In part one, we watch each character lay ...

9Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

1974 Productions return to Hope Mill

Following their success with the 2019 tour of Ian Townsend’s multi award winning play All The Bens (sold out dates, Greater Manchester Fringe Award for Best Drama, Nominated for Best Actor, Best Revival and Oldham Coliseum Pick of the Fringe), 1974 Productions are proud to present Ian’s new full-length play My Favourite Place In The Whole Wide World. Longlisted for the 2019 Bruntwood/Royal Exchange International Playwriting Competition, this beautiful new play tells the story of Ruth (Claire Eden) and J (Ben Kenzie), two people in search of love and purpose in a world of confusion and loss. We watch Ruth and J grow from children to adults and see how they’ve been influenced by events and circumstances. Shot through with humour, My Favourite Place In The Whole Wide World is an engagi...

11Jan

By Craig HepworthNo Comments

Blogs

In The Spotlight

Hello North West End Welcome to my new weekly column here on the site, where I will talk all things theatre from local to touring, West End to Broadway and more. My name is Craig, and I am a playwright and director here in wonderful Manchester and also the co-owner of the long running theatre production company Vertigo. I am thrilled to be able to spend a little time with you each week with this column and share what's going on in the theatre world. So, with that said, I thought it might be best to bring you up to date with all that's going on around the world in theatre when it comes to everybody's least favourite party guest... Covid. It's been a dreadful two years for the theatre industry, and today we are still fighting to figure out a way to move forward in this new norma...

28Nov

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

The Wiz – Hope Mill Theatre

There are a few big secrets in musical theatre. One of the biggest is that aside from one overwrought and over-covered number there’s not a lot of great music in The Wizard of Oz. It’s not the only retelling of L. Frank Baum’s original story, so why is it considered a classic when The Wiz remains unknown to many? Unknown despite having more songs, better music and a lot more heart? Why have there only ever been three professional UK productions of The Wiz on stage? Why has it never made it to the West End, whilst a lordly revival of the Judy Garland movie was deemed worthy of a primetime TV show? Important questions. I will leave the answers to others except to say there was something incredibly powerful about taking a seat in the Hope Mill Theatre in front of a sparse stage and ...

19Oct

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Forgotten Voices – Hope Mill Theatre

The adaptable Hope Mill Theatre hosted the one woman show inspired by the life of Eva Moorhead Kadalie the wife of Clements Kadalie first black national trade union leader from South Africa. Shareesa Valentine whose stage and tv credits include Band of Gold, Hollyoaks, The Syndicate, Dumping Ground and Last Tango in Halifax played Eva a strong South African woman who was reflecting on her life and the transitions through the voices in her head that had been forgotten or suppressed that made her the female she was just before she was about to embark on the last journey to a new life in England with her son Victor. ‘Forgotten Voices’ was written by David Moorhead the grandson of Eva who stated in an interview "My grandmother was glamorous and warm hearted but beneath lay a complex per...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Hope Mill Theatre

9Oct

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Hope Mill Theatre

What is Shakespeare’s best comedy? Although plenty of people would vote for A Midsummer Night’s Dream it is, in truth, an impossible question to answer. Why? Because the Bard’s plays exist to be performed and any humour in the script is only conveyed to the audience with great direction. With a good director at the helm, Dream is hilarious, fast-paced and emotional. With a poor director in charge, it can feel turgid, long and devoid of comedy. This production has an excellent director in charge. It’s hard to walk out of the theatre thinking anything other than Dream is the best Shakespeare comedy and this must be one of the very, very best telling’s of this timeless tale. All Female Shakespeare does exactly what it says on the tin. Created by Unseemly Women, HER Productions and Girl Ga...

Cast Announced for The Wiz at Hope Mill Theatre

6Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Cast Announced for The Wiz at Hope Mill Theatre

Following its sold-out, critically acclaimed production of ‘Rent’, Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre in association with Ameena Hamid Productions announces the cast for a radical new version of the 70s musical The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Directed by Matthew Xia (‘Into the Woods’, Royal Exchange), The Wiz is a joyous retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ reflecting contemporary African-American culture. Its 1975 Broadway premiere production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Matthew Xia said: “The Wiz is approaching its 50th anniversary, it now exists within the canon of mainstream musicals and it’s due time for some bold reinvention. Originally a funk and soul-based analogy for the African-American e...