The King’s Arms Archives - North West End UK

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 ...

Pat Goldsack: How to Flirt Well into Your Grave – The King’s Arms

13Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Pat Goldsack: How to Flirt Well into Your Grave – The King’s Arms

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if your nan discovered TikTok and decided to audition for Love Island, Pat Goldsack might be your fever dream come true. Created from the mind of award-winning Kiwi actress, Katie Boyle, tonight the octogenarian granny is here to dish out her decades of expertise in the game of flirting and relationships. Greeting her audience as they trickle into the cosy side room of the Kings Arms, Pat’s repartee instantly harks back to the warm and genteel comedy of Dame Edna Everage and Mrs Merton – where even the most stinging observations somehow feel like a warm hug. As we ramble through the highly interactive show, peppered with parodies of modern hits (accompanied on the pub’s piano by Nino Raphael) and regular bursts of ‘Bingo was his Name-O...

10Jul

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Wannabe – The King’s Arms

Following on from Amy Webber’s awarding winning show ‘No Previous Experience’, Wannabe is an autobiographical exploration of her lifelong desire to be famous in the form of a one woman opera -standup - spoken word- pop song. Webber is extremely warm and welcoming to her audience, immediately putting them at their ease and instantly engaging them with her funny, quirky, humble and open style. From the moment she enters the space in the wonderful Kings Arms, she owns it and shares it in equal measure. Inspired by a visit home during which her mother ‘sorts out’ some of her childhood memorabilia, Webber uses her box of ‘junk’ - the trinkets, mementos, diaries, letters, poems and songs of her childhood, to shape a hilarious tale of longing, searching and learning that is utterly enga...

One Hundred Percent – The King’s Arms, Salford

4Jul

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

One Hundred Percent – The King’s Arms, Salford

In a claustrophobic apartment, an actor confronts the examiner who once gave him a perfect score in an acting exam. On the wall, the certificate which validates his perfect score is proudly framed and the actor, who believed he was destined for greatness, faces the consequences of his misplaced hope and the harsh truth of what it is to build a career in his chosen profession. Now I have to disclose that for 20 plus years I worked as an examiner for both GCSE Drama and A Level Theatre Studies and the premise of this darkly comedic piece of theatre directly addresses something that I had never thought about before but have significant experience of. What is the impact of a perfect score on the recipient? In this case, the actor has believed that he has a profound talent and as such has pu...

The Pornstar Martini Effect: A Bartender’s Guide to not K*lling Yourself at Christmas – The King’s Arms

28May

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

The Pornstar Martini Effect: A Bartender’s Guide to not K*lling Yourself at Christmas – The King’s Arms

It's that time of the year when theatre companies and productions gear up for Edinburgh. The team behind The Pornstar Martini Effect will be taking their show to the fringe and, judging by the Manchester previews, they are pretty much ready. Even if the first performance at the Kings Arms in Salford didn't get going until a good half hour after the advertised start time. This is a slickly directed and solidly acted two-hander with some interesting things to say about misogyny, gender stereotypes and the complexities of human nature. Kat (Zane Marsland) and Tom (Finnen McNiffe) are working the dreaded Christmas Eve shift at a packed bar. Alongside the inevitable shaking, mixing, straining and pouring they are also having to deal with inappropriate customers. Their personal s...

The Grill (Jokes about ovens) – The King’s Arms

14Aug

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Grill (Jokes about ovens) – The King’s Arms

In the small studio theatre above a Manchester pub, the pressure is on. Two chefs, drafted into a prison kitchen due to a staff strike to cook the Death Row inmates’ final meals. Welcome to The Grill where the stakes are high and the steaks are non-existent, our soon-to-be-deceased favouring garden salads and soup instead before they depart this plane of existence. Directed by Adam Cachia, our two chefs Tom and Wally filet and flambé their way through a blackly funny script that explores everything from class wars, culinary memories and how to fleece a Tesco meal deal. There are some spicy one liners, lovely wordplay, and great blocking of the two main actors that builds in some enjoyable physicality. There are a few fluffed lines here and there but both cope marvellously with the...

14Jul

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Dear Eliza – The King’s Arms, Salford

Barbara Diesel’s Dear Eliza, currently touring UK fringe festivals, is a powerful and raw piece of theatre that explores the fear of the effects of mental ill health upon friendship and delves into the conversations that most people find too difficult, too upsetting, too challenging to have. This one woman show presents as a live video recording of responses to letters from one friend to another. Except the letters were never sent; never received. The letters are found hidden away following the suicide of the sender. The impact on Eliza, the recipient, is recorded in response; ironically, never to be received by its intended beneficiary and cleverly pulling the audience into that role. The structure of the piece allows a linear narrative which depicts the friendship between the two y...

13Jul

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar – The King’s Arms, Salford

In a packed-out King’s Arms, musical stand-up Holly Redford Jones’ tuneful contribution to Greater Manchester Fringe seeks to answer the question: where have all the lesbian bars gone? Redford Jones instantly draws the audience in with a reassuring stage presence, achieving many laughs through the sardonic delivery of her musings. Social critique remains sharp as well as facetious throughout. The show’s description promises many things- including a celebration of queer women of the past, present and future. It was therefore a missed opportunity for the piece to be noticeably light on sapphic content. Where did all the lesbian bars go? A brief history of the country’s venues- from the 1930s’ Gateways Club to London’s newest joint La Camionera- would have been a welcome inclusion. ...

Amy Webber: No Previous Experience – The King’s Arms

12Jul

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Amy Webber: No Previous Experience – The King’s Arms

Ambitious opera graduate Amy Webber brings a delightful blend of music, role-play, and a hint of job-hunting to the King’s Arms theatre with her stand-up routine. Webber opens with a playful sing-through of her CV, interspersed with anecdotes that keep the audience laughing throughout. Her ad-libbed lyrics and charming fumbles on her mini keyboard are reminiscent of a genre-bending act you’d see at Eurovision, mixing humour and talent seamlessly. With an energetic and quick-witted persona, Webber enacts various occupations, from teacher to therapist, and engages in tongue-in-cheek audience interaction. Among the interesting careers in the audience were an engineer and a skyscraper window cleaner, to whom she offered some frivolous networking pointers. A humorous stint with a volu...

Chris Tavener is Faking Cool – The King’s Arms, Salford

11Jul

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Chris Tavener is Faking Cool – The King’s Arms, Salford

Armed with debonair wit and a trusty guitar, singer-songwriter Chris Tavener - no stranger to a gig - invites us into The King’s Arms to convince another of his audiences that he’s cooler than cool. Threatening to blow his cover, though, are those discordant, intrusive thoughts. It’s immediately made clear just how well Tavener knows his way around a guitar: he plays with instinctive confidence, continuously filling the space with foot-tapping riffs and melodies. His doubting inner voice plays out loud between songs, enabling the audience to hear the anxious musings that contrast Tavener’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics. This largely successful comedic device could be further deployed by using it to string a narrative; as implied by the title, the perceptibly-cool exterior battling with an i...