The King’s Arms Archives - North West End UK

10Nov

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Playing Burton – The King’s Arms

Many times, actors get labelled as icons, legends and titans of their craft. Richard Burton was someone who would be extolled as such yet tempered by opinions that his was a wasted talent, squandered in the depths of a bottle of gin and never truly realised on account of his untimely death at the age of 58. Resurrecting the man via Mark Jenkin’s rich and lyrical script is a tall order for anyone, especially where they are required to hold their audience through a long monologue. And Burton was renowned for his love of the spoken word whether in the prose of Shakespeare, the poetry of Dylan Thomas or within the scripts of the Hollywood epics he was adored for, so delivery is critical. Off the bat, Sean Cernow neither looks, nor sounds, like Burton so it is best to put a pin in ...

28Jul

By Hannah KellyNo Comments

North West

Flat 4 – The King’s Arms

Influenced by her own experiences and trauma, Isobel Songer’s ‘Flat 4’ is a powerful one-woman show that forms part of the Greater Manchester Fringe 2025 at the King’s Arms Theatre. Impressively, Songer has both written the play and performs the roles of all characters and monologues within the story. Through its entirety, ‘Flat 4’ demandsthe audience’s undivided attention. The performance is essentially about the complexities of female friendships, introducing ‘Alex’ and ‘Becks’ and their flat share at university. Songer guides the audience through Alex’s downwards spiral as she deals with abuse, anorexia and her subsequent depression. The combination of spoken word poetry alongside theatre is an interesting approach to the story. Integrating frequent poetic monologues ...

26Jul

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

The Invocation – The King’s Arms

In one of the most suited theatres for such a performance, the King's Arms welcomes "The Invocation", a bizarre twilight zone-esque evening by Casino Improv, an Improv troupe from Wigan as part of Greater Manchester Fringe.As the audience settled into their seats, the cast, clad in black clothing and red capes, began engaging with the audience in a ceremonial fashion as they asked for "requests" that could be improvised into a horror story. The requests chosen were randomly selected via an iPad and then the stories began!The evening then essentially became the presentation of a bunch of improvised horror stories in a hilarious "off the cuff" style by the comedy quintet. Eerie music and various sounds to accompany stories were used throughout. There is no denying the talent on stage and the...

26Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Robo Bingo 2.0 – The King’s Arms

‘IT Consultants’ Lloyd Henning and Peter Sutton, better known as Foxdog Studios, have, in true IT style ‘turned it off and on again’ on one of their popular shows, Robo Bingo, rebooted as 2.0 with new wi-fi, new games and a whole lot of new coding headaches to keep both our dynamic duo and audience on their virtual toes. Mixing Flight of the Conchords musical jamming with the social awkwardness of The IT Crowd, Foxdog invite the audience to play along not only in games of bingo but also classic childhood games of Snap, Guess Who and Spot the Difference albeit constantly interrupted with a variety of pop-ups and other technological interludes. Henning and Sutton are a charming and witty duo, with quips and quick thinking as they navigate the chaos, bringing gales of laughte...

24Jul

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

Soaked – The King’s Arms

As Greater Manchester Fringe makes a welcome return, The King’s Arms is appropriately in the hub of it all again! This time, directed by Peter Macqueen, the play ‘Soaked’, a La'al Marra production, is gracing its stage. Written by Emma Rydal, ‘Soaked’ it is a story that many can identify with. The writing seems effortless, and the main characters could be any one of us chatting, interacting and simply trying to juggle life. Soaked is an intelligent piece of theatre with no pretentions and a thought-provoking storyline. At times it felt like the audience were presented with potentially a challenge as to whether it was appropriate to laugh or not. There are some seriously amusing parts of the play and Emma Rydal must be applauded for interjecting humour into such a serious thread of ...

23Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Leeches – The King’s Arms

How far would you go for influence? Would you be prepared to use work colleagues, friends, or even family, in the name of ambition? Leeches, written by Kieran Scott and slickly directed by Thomas Bateman explores themes of insecurity, cancel culture and personal ethics, amongst others, through the eyes of three highly flawed narrators. When a protest erupts in the city centre, it results in a moment of violence that has significant repercussions for all three. Simple staging with nothing more than a crowd control barrier and a couple of chairs allows the spotlight to shine on three strong actors from the Manchester School of Theatre, who do an excellent job of showcasing Scott’s tight and compelling script, peppered with deft touches of levity, and which itself smartly exposes an...

20Jul

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Almost Famous – The King’s Arms

“Escaping and pretending is better than the truth,” says Emily Benton (Jac Wheble), the hero of this one-woman show about identity, fame, and the desire to be seen, not for what you are, that’s boring. She has a thirst, a craving almost to be seen in the spotlight, out front, and famous. Benton, we find out, is living a lie from the start. Suddenly, we are taken into an examination of identity in a world where everyone is pretending. She came from Australia to the UK in the early 1970s to pursue her dream of finding fame and fortune as a performer. “Naivety gets you through,” she says as she looks back at her younger self and the pitfalls she faced in a business where more established, powerful men will take advantage of her with the promise of a record contract or a juicy part o...

Your Therapist is Clueless – The King’s Arms

19Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Your Therapist is Clueless – The King’s Arms

Holding an audience rapt for any period of time where the subject is the meaty, nuanced and personal elephant that is mental health support in the UK is a very big ask of any performer. One thinks of writers such as Adam Kay, who’s book and tour, This is Going to Hurt, vividly brought to life the warts and glory of being an NHS doctor. Or copper turned stand-up comic Alfie Moore’s It’s a Fair Cop in which, by allowing the audience to play police, he highlights the idiosyncrasies and impotencies of the criminal justice system. Tonight, performer Nathaniel Tresise shares his experiences of working for a Greater Manchester mental health charity where a dreadfully under-resourced service attracts people with all the quirks you expect, often risking those with genuine, urgent need bei...

15Jul

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Varnish – The King’s Arms

We are all the stars of our own lives, and in this one-man show, Jonathan Mayor is undoubtedly the star of his. Mayor comes onto the stage full of glitter and glam. A sparkling presence, the epitome of the outrageous stage and screen performer. He is the star of the show, and all the stars have come out to see him, including Dame Judi, Oprah and Tom Cruise, on a booster seat! He is charismatic and camp as he starts the show. You feel that in his head, he imagines he is at the opening of his Las Vegas residency or appearing at the top of the bill at the London Palladium. However, this isn’t a show. It’s a play written by his friend, Janet Taylor, and based on his life. It is not necessarily the unvarnished truth, but who, in reality, tells the truth of their own lives, even to the...

14Jul

By Kathryn GortonNo Comments

North West

Magic and Sex – The King’s Arms

I didn’t know what to expect walking into Magic and Sex — a one-woman stand-up, magic, and improv show by Australian comedian Kathryn Haywood — but I was more than pleasantly surprised. Even on a very, very hot and stuffy night in the upstairs room of the King’s Arms, Haywood’s boundless energy and zany charm kept us all laughing, chuckling… and then laughing some more. From her entrance in sparkly tail coat, top hat and deck of card leggings and tap shoes she bounded round that space and sucked us in, immediately. She is a very engaging performer. Part stand-up, part magic show, with a cheeky (but not over-the-top) nod to the title’s promise of “sex,” Haywood’s performance is a joyful, chaotic romp. She has a knack for creating an easy rapport with the audience, she read them well ...