The Lowry Archives - Page 3 of 10

4Dec

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

The Good Enough Mums Club – The Lowry

When the local Council threatens to close a local community centre, five women who have been thrown together in a Mums and Babies group discover that they are stronger as a group than as individuals. Their story is told in the form of a musical which addresses the common issues that women with newborns face and takes us from the moment the pregnancy test announces the impending new arrival to the collective success of five women coming together to fight for a resource they need and value. In the opening number, a gentle parody of Chicago’s Cell Block Tango, we were presented with five women clutching positive pregnancy tests and taken on a three trimester journey of sickness, cravings, fatigue, discomfort, bladder pressure, Braxton Hicks and finally labour and birth. Confidently and cl...

3Dec

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Edward Scissorhands – The Lowry

There are very few certainties in life, or theatre. One is surely that a night with a New Adventures dance production is always magical. The latest revival of Edward Scissorhands definitely confirms the rule, even if this is far from stellar Matthew Bourne. Tim Burton’s classic movie was first reinvented as a ballet in 2005. As one would expect with this creative team, the show feels as fresh and spectacular as it must have been nearly two decades ago. The iconic score was made for movement and Danny Elfman’s composition marries beautifully with the newer music and arrangements created by Terry Davies. Enchanting is really the only word for it. Fans of the cult flick can be reassured. This is a faithful retelling of the story of the unfinished humanoid with scissors for hands. Ho...

Hit supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story returns to The Lowry in 2024

27Nov

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Hit supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story returns to The Lowry in 2024

Following a sell-out Halloween run last month, Danny Robins’ edge-of-your-seat, supernatural thriller 2:22 - A Ghost Story is returning to The Lowry, Salford in June 2024. Vera Chok (Hollyoaks, Cobra) will play Lauren, Jay McGuiness (The Wanted, BIG! The Musical, Rip It Up) will play Ben, Fiona Wade (Emmerdale, Silent Witness) will play Jenny and George Rainsford (Call the Midwife, Casualty) will play Sam. The show returns from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th June 2024 and tickets are on sale now. Vera Chok (who will play Lauren) said: ‘Theatre brings me such joy, and I'm raring to get back on stage, and what a show to come back with! It's going to be so fun to share 2:22, an absolute rollercoaster ride of a show, with audiences across the UK. Laughs, tension, and jump-out-of-your-se...

20Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: La rondine – The Lowry

The curtains opens to 1920’s Paris in director James Hurley’s take on Puccini’s take of the La Traviata tale and with the backdrop of Leslie Travers rich and glamorous set, suitably illuminated by Paule Constable and Ben Pickersgill, we meet Magda (Galina Averina), the mistress of a wealthy banker, Rambaldo (Philip Smith), but when the poet Prunier (Elgan Llŷr Thomas) reads her palm and predicts that like la rondine – the swallow – she will travel south in her pursuit of happiness, the die is cast for what is to come. When she meets the young Ruggero (Sebastien Guèze), glamour soon turns to decadence as she follows him to the nightclub Bulliers where they fall in love and decide to run away to the south of France, and with Prunier equally smitten with Magda’s maid, Lisette (Claire Lees), ...

Opera North: Masque of Might – The Lowry

17Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Masque of Might – The Lowry

Sir David Pountney’s exuberant production is billed as ‘eco-entertainment’ and it certainly takes re-purposing to a whole new level with its glorified collage of Purcell’s semi-operatic musical form of the 17th Century masque lyrically enhanced to explore a range of contemporary themes including the rise of strongman leaders and the devastation of climate change, and how these may be rightly overcome. By its very nature and whilst sung, the piece is narrative in form and whilst merging various disparate musical moods, by and large it holds together quite well with the assistance of side panel surtitles in English of an English libretto. Although its success can be very much attributed to the genius fusion of the original composer and the adapted libretto by its director, it is also unf...

16Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Falstaff – The Lowry

The rainbow-striped curtain rises on Opera North’s sustainable take on Verdi’s final masterpiece, a comic opera drawn from Shakespeare in director Olivia Fuchs’ re-imagined riotous and rampant romp that serves up satire, slapstick, and stags along the way. Roguish knight Falstaff (Henry Waddington) is down on his luck, residing in the car park of the Garter Inn and reliant upon its Host (Gordon D. Shaw) to keep him in good spirits of any kind! When he informs Bardolph (Colin Judson) and Pistol (Dean Robinson) that he intends to seduce Alice Ford (Kate Royal) and Meg Page (Helen Évora) they refuse to deliver his letters, so he throws them out, turning to his assistant Robin (Robert Gardiner) instead. When the letters are eventually received, Mistress Quigley (Louise Winter), Meg, Alice,...

1Nov

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

2:22 A Ghost Story – The Lowry

Written by Danny Robins and directed by Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr, ‘2:22 A Ghost Story’ is an Olivier Award nominated thriller that first premiered in the West End in 2021. Having already captivated the West End, this gripping story is now on the move to impress more audiences across the country. Appropriately opening at the Lowry on the evening of Halloween only added to the audience’s anticipation. The story is essentially about the potential haunting of a new home. New mum ‘Jenny’ (Louisa Lytton) argues that the house is haunted and her husband, science obsessed ‘Sam’ (Nathaniel Curtis), vehemently disagrees. Over the night Jenny becomes more and more desperate to quash all of Sams ‘scientific theories’ as she is convinced there are strange ‘ghostly’ occurrences in the house. ...

25Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Quiz – The Lowry

'Quiz' begins with a statement; 'the English love a pub quiz as it combines their two favourite pastimes, drinking and being right'. As someone who has always loved both of the aforementioned (and even appeared on 15-1 many moons ago), I was always going to be well disposed to a show detailing the rise and fall of 'The Coughing Major' and his attempt to cheat his way to the top prize on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' back in 2001. However, when the writing talents of James Graham are combined with the directorial flair of Daniel Evans, theatrical alchemy is at work and we have a story that makes the leap from the news to the stage in an original, successful and hugely enjoyable manner. Graham is the most prodigious writer working in television and theatre today, ever since his breakou...

18Oct

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Noises Off – The Lowry

There have been a few fairly sniffy reviews of Noises Off recently. Both of this touring version of last year's 40th anniversary production and of the Michael Frayn classic more generally. The argument seems to go that the 1982 farce is showing its age and the same joke - a play within a play going all wrong - can be seen elsewhere. It is an interesting quirk of theatrical criticism that comedies are occasionally treated in this way. Dramas, on the other hand, become 'period pieces', described as 'kickstarting a trend'. What should matter, of course, is whether a play works in its own right. Yes, Noises Off is a product of its time, yes it has been lovingly ripped off in recent years but yes, in the right hands, it is still riotously funny. The cast on the Lowry Lyric st...

TONY! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) – The Lowry

3Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

TONY! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) – The Lowry

With the Tory party conference infesting the centre of Manchester this week, Salford is sticking a metaphorical two fingers up at Rishi & Co by hosting TONY! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) in the lovely Quays Theatre at The Lowry. I gladly crossed the River Irwell to witness a musical that had a satirical bite hidden within the high camp farce. With Music & Lyrics by Steve Brown and a book by comedian Harry Hill, we were never going to be presented with a totally serious analysis of political events in the eighties, nineties and noughties, their zany and sometimes surreal take on events allowed younger members of the audience a potted history delivered in an entertaining fashion, without patronising those of us of an older vintage who lived through these episodes. Hill initiall...