The Lowry Archives - Page 10 of 15

27Jun

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Strictly Ballroom – The Lowry

Baz-Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom first ever UK tour hit Manchester’s beautiful Lowry Theatre, full of glitz and glamour this visually stunning adaptation of the 1992 film by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce revolves around a rebellious Australian dancer Scott Hastings (Kevin Clifton). Directed and Co-Choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood with Co-Choreographer Jason Gilkison the coupling has created a masterpiece of dance, glamour, passion, and excitement. Unfortunately, on press night after the opening number the creative team ran into technical difficulties resulting in the show being halted for approximately 10-15 minutes, which must have been very frustrating for them, and the audience did get a little fidgety by the lengthy delay. After the initial hiccup the show went on, telling the...

21Jun

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Julius Caesar – The Lowry

‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen; lend me your ears!’ Julius Caesar contains some of William Shakespeare’s most quoted lines, and in fact this play begins with Caesar celebrating the height of his power and influence and being faced with a stark warning to ‘Beware the Ides of March’. What follows is a dramatic exposition of the struggles of power, that is equally relevant today in 2023 as it was when it was published in 1599. This play calls on us to consider whether our actions can be justified on the basis of their goal, and whether it is a right or a duty to speak truth to those in authority. The design of the production (Rosanna Vize) is for the most part outstanding. The creeping introduction of colour into a monochrome space was really powerful, and really made me think; why is it ...

Carrie Hope Fletcher: An Open Book – The Lowry

30May

By Helen JonesNo Comments

North West

Carrie Hope Fletcher: An Open Book – The Lowry

Carrie Hope Fletcher started her career in musical theatre at the grand old age of nine, playing the young Eponine in Les Misérables. Since then she has played a large number of roles in various musicals including the adult Eponine and Fantine and the first UK Veronica in Heathers The Musical. Here in An Open Book she takes a retrospective look at her career and her life through anecdote and song. Taking the order of story and song seemingly from an online source, for each anecdote she ‘reads’ from a different book. Stories of her childhood, adulthood and from various shows are followed by a relevant track. After her opening song Another Chapter, she goes into There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease. Her songs range from Les Misérables, He...

24May

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Wish You Were Dead – The Lowry

The line between amateur and professional theatre is a lot finer than many people realise. Sometimes it is the best am dram performances that remind one of this fact. Other times it is pro productions that feel second best. Wish You Were Dead is, sadly, an example of the latter. This isn't the first of Peter James' bestselling Roy Grace stories to be adapted for the stage but, if the formula has worked well previously, it doesn't quite deliver here. The show is very heavy on exposition, very light on character development. There are a fair few plot points and devices which would have probably been given ample time to develop in a novel but which feel thrown away, redundant or downright confusing in a two hour stage production. These problems are then compounded by some lower grade...

23May

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

The Way Old Friends Do – The Lowry

"The Way Old Friends Do," written by Ian Hallard, is an engaging, light-hearted comedy that playfully straddles the line between homage to iconic pop band ABBA and an exploration of significant societal themes. Balancing the frivolity of a tribute band with weightier undertones of male friendship, homophobia, and familial relationships, the play invites audiences to a narrative filled with laughter and introspection. The story pivots around Peter (played by the writer; Ian Hallard), a middle-aged former librarian and ABBA superfan who reunites with his old school friend, Edward (James Bradshaw). Their coincidental reunion leads them to form half of a gender-reversed ABBA tribute show, alongside the prim Mrs. Campbell (Triyé Peterside) and the endearingly anxious Jodie (Rose Shalloo). Th...

10May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Maria – Unity Theatre

Commissioned by Unity Theatre and Culture Liverpool as part of the Eurovision Cultural Festival 2023, and supported by The Lowry in Salford, Yurii Radionov and Shorena Shoniia’s world-premiere production of Ulas Samchuk’s 1934 novel, follows the life of a young woman through the history of Ukrainian upheaval from the 1861 emancipation of serfs in the Russian Empire under the Tsars through to Holodomor: the communist-regime’s induced mass starvation in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930’s. As well as marking the 90th anniversary of this horrific and unimaginable event, it is a timely parallel to the events that continue in Ukraine following the attempted invasion by Russia in 2022, echoed by its performance from a cast of seven Ukrainian refugee actors currently living in the UK as a resul...

4May

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Unexpected Twist – The Lowry

Michael Rosen is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster, and activist who has written 140 books. Rosen wrote ‘Unexpected Twist’ in 2018 which is the re-telling of the Charles Dickens classic ‘Oliver Twist’ - Michael Rosen has combined the two stories into one, with his modern story ‘Unexpected Twist’ and the 1838 Dickens classic that he states inspired it. The two stories allegedly twist together unexpectedly, set in modern-day, teenager Shona (Drew Hylton) lives with her single dad (Thomas Vernal) and relies on benefits to survive. They have been forced to move due to a familiar cycle of debt of her unemployed father following the death of her beloved mother - moving means yet another school to attend an all too cyclic event f...

3May

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Sucker Punch – The Lowry

Set in London during the 1980s Sucker Punch follows the relationship of Leon and Troy, two young black men who have been caught breaking into a local boxing gym and are now paying penance to, gym owner, Charlie (Liam Smith) in exchange for him not involving the police in their misdemeanors. Why these two young men break into the gym in the first place was not clear, it does not matter. What does matter is that the middle-aged Charlie is white, racist, sexist and homophobic and these two young men are at his mercy. On entering the theatre it is 1981. Ska music plays. Charlie and protégé Tommy (John Rogers) are warming up and then training in the ring as the audience settle. Sandra Falase’s set very successfully creates the back street gym typified in the East End of London; the boxing...

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – The Lowry

26Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – The Lowry

Based on a 2018 novel which won the author Olga Tokarczuk the Nobel Prize for Literature, 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead' certainly takes the award for the most intriguing title to arrive at The Lowry in 2023. When you add leading actress Kathryn Hunter to the mix, spearheading a Complicite production, then theatrical mouths start to water at the prospect of these quality ingredients being brought together. However, despite an astonishing central performance as well as inventive and arresting visuals, by the conclusion I was left slightly confused and personally slightly underwhelmed. The production takes its name from a line in William Blake poem 'Proverbs of Hell' and the 19th Century romantic poet is at the heart of this layered and dark story, combining e...

Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror – The Lowry

23Apr

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror – The Lowry

Like many of the audience members filing slowly into The Lowry’s Quays Theatre, I had no idea what to expect from such an enigmatically titled show: Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror. However, taking my seat to face a dimly lit stage, complete with ostentatious ceilings, wooden “bleacher-style” seating, and a number of aerial equipment suspended in mid-air, I very quickly got the idea. However, what I was *not* expecting was the way in which this circus was brought to life. This production was presented by the Extraordinary Bodies theatre troupe, combining the extraordinary talents of deaf, disabled and diverse artists. Supported by the Arts Council England and The National Lottery, this company “creates powerful performances that celebrate our vast potential as humans, we explore a ...