Friday, December 5

Tag: Lucy Hilton-Jones

Canal Street Lonely Hearts Club – Hope Mill Theatre
North West

Canal Street Lonely Hearts Club – Hope Mill Theatre

With an inspired creative vision, the updating of a theatre piece can breathe new life into it, bringing entirely new meanings to the story and characters. The gender-swapped Company revival provided a female-centric look at the thirty-five-and-still-single life, questioning societal expectations, while &Juliet allows the queerness of Shakespeare to be a lot more overt. But when Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club writer Jonathan Harvey‘s motivation for a modern, Northern version of his 90s London-based play doesn’t go beyond ‘f*** it, why not?’, its purpose is thrown into question before the curtain has even lifted. In a Canal Street flat, two brothers (Shaun, straight and Marti, gay) contemplate their love lives as the former’s girlfriend is being unresponsive while on holiday in...
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Hope Mill Theatre
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 Gan...