Social Refuge Archives - North West End UK

July in Manchester means the return of the Greater Manchester Fringe - an opportunity for a variety of comedic performances to grace the many stages within the area. As part of the festival, Chip Slap Comedy brings this production Patience to the quirky venue of Social Refuge. This two-person comedy piece stars Rachael Dennis as a doting Mum trying to secure a spot at the local state school for her son. Her co-star is Marianne Walsh, takes on the increasingly difficult and unhelpful assistant to the headteacher, and is also the writer of the play. Both show impressive character work as they quickly bring reality and authenticity to their characters - for better or for worse, these are both characters you can picture in real life. The duo has great comedic chemistry, and it is clear ...

The marketing and pre-show announcements for Boyography promise a unique story about queer love and fluid sexuality in a “post-gay world”. The reality is a lot more commonplace. It starts promisingly. When two boys bump into each other in a school corridor something unspoken and powerful is sparked. The locker room encounter between Oliver (Isaac Radmore) and Jake (George Bellamy) feels inevitable, but Oliver’s reaction is a lot more surprising. Experience would tell an audience that the cocksure and laddish one in a relationship like this would be closeted and outwardly homophobic. Far from it. Oliver has a girlfriend, but he also happily sleeps with boys. It is just sex. After all, “bodies are bodies”. Sadly, the intensely modern idea of young men without doubt who reject la...