The Lowry Archives - Page 9 of 11

16Feb

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

Private Lives – The Lowry

When you put Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers on a stage together, you already know it’s going to be a great show. Noel Coward’s Private Lives by the newly formed Nigel Havers Theatre Company does just that, and it’s everything you hoped it would be and more! Set in the 1930s, the play tells the story of Elyot (played by Havers) and Amanda (played by Hodge) who were once married and find themselves in adjoining rooms at a French hotel with their new partners, with the unexpected happening and the couple reconnecting. Havers takes on the role taken by Noël Coward himself in the original production in 1930 with a Suaveness we’ve come to expect, the character being delightfully charming but also quite stubborn and obstinate. Olivier Award winning actress Hodge is effortlessly glamorou...

14Feb

By Rachel FosterNo Comments

North West

Kattam Katti – The Lowry

Pagrav Dance company comprises of a cast who have Indian heritage, have taken to the road on their latest tour (four musicians and four dancers) who bring their unique take on traditional Indian Kathak dance. Kattam Katti means ‘cutting through,’ and they do that with a mix of dance, singing, music composed especially for the performance and a splice of comedy. The setting is the frenetic energy of the Uttarayan Kite Festival which the performers deftly bring to life with expression and movement. The kites are left to our imaginations, the long strings are shown and woven across the stage creating a barrier or difficulty to dance. While the dancers use performance to illustrate the range of emotions that the kite festival incites. To put into context this festival is such a big deal ...

1Feb

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

The Play What I Wrote – The Lowry

Morecombe & Wise are without doubt a British institution, with their Christmas specials drawing in over 20 million viewers in their day; delivering shows packed with laughter and jokes a plenty. To write a stage production on them must be a daunting task, but one which writers; Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben have excelled at in this new play; The Play What I Wrote. With a cast of just three (well actually four but we’ll get to that), this isn’t a biographical piece about the famous duo, far from it. This is original, but yet still just as dynamic and very very funny! The story follows two performers; Dennis played by Dennis Herdman & Thom played by Thom Tuck. Dennis wants to do a play about the famous duo for the potential money, whilst Thom aspires to write serio...

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe – The Lowry

10Dec

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe – The Lowry

There can’t be many people who don’t know the story of the four Pevensie children and their adventures in Narnia, overcoming evil while learning about sacrifice and redemption. Edmund’s rescue from the thrall of the White Witch, Mr Tumnus’s bravery and Aslan’s triumphant return are some of the many key moments from the book that make it onto the stage in this vibrant adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s classic story. Condensing a whole book into 105 minutes is not an easy task, but director Michael Fentiman and his creative team met the challenge head on. The production succeeds particularly in its incredible design, and not only visually. Set (Tom Paris), lighting (Jack Knowles) and music (Benji Bower, Barnaby Race) are beautifully layered so that the audience can clearly understand exactly whe...

7Dec

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Eric and Ern – The Lowry

Anytime there is a poll on the public’s favourite comedy act, or a look back at the TV of yesteryear, one double act will feature, without fail – Morecambe and Wise. Icons of their era, they’ve left a legacy of classic comedy that is adored to this day. So, whilst modern-day comedians may attempt to push boundaries with their material, it’s a brave soul that attempts to re-visit the most-loved sketches of these titans of British comedy. Ian Ashpitel (as Ernie) and Jonty Stephens (as Eric) are those souls, having developed tonight’s variety show from their stage play of the duo’s enduring partnership. But it is quickly obvious that even the most die-hard fans will be breathing a big sigh of relief that the material is in very safe, and very funny hands. Soaking the audience with a ...

Matthew Bourne’s The Nutcracker – The Lowry

25Nov

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s The Nutcracker – The Lowry

It’s endearing, magical and delicious - all in equal measure! Matthew Bourne’s The Nutcracker returns to the stage after almost 10 years delivering a show-stopping performance which engages all the senses and is a must see this festive season! It’s fascinating to witness such a reinvigorated and new adaptation of this traditional ballet; the score remains traditional but the costumes, the sets and the stage presence makes it something totally renewed and fresh and anything but traditional! I particularly loved the mise-en-scene of this reboot; starting with the stripped back - dark and cold orphanage for its opening scene and doing away with the grandeur of the traditional ‘throw everything we’ve got at it’ type of opening; it draws you in to the story and makes the transition to ...

17Nov

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Dial M For Murder – The Lowry

The Lowry Theatre’s production of “Dial M For Murder” is probably one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen in a long, long time. Having no prior knowledge of the storyline – past the intriguing title and the vaguest of recollections of a film made in 1954 by the king of suspense, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock – I came into the Lowry Theatre on a cold Monday night not knowing what to expect... but nothing prepared me for the theatrical brilliance that awaited me. The set was simple – one single set, designed to replicate art deco living room-cum-kitchen in London’s trendy Maida Vale that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a 1960s edition of House and Home Magazine. But even in its simplicity, the set was wonderfully dynamic. It was functional, believable, and helped set the scene of mid...

Opera North: Trouble in Tahiti – The Lowry

13Nov

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Trouble in Tahiti – The Lowry

Trouble in Tahiti is a one-act opera in seven acts, composed by Leonard Bernstein, who is perhaps best known for his musical West Side Story. It is one of Bernstein’s darker and more autobiographical works, based on the relationship between the composer’s parents, combining themes of domestic struggle and breakdown with operatic melodrama, performed here by Opera North at The Lowry in Salford. The opera is set in the 1950s, and opens with a jazz trio (Laura Kelly-McInroy, Joseph Shovelton, Nicholas Butterfield) singing about domestic bliss in an unspecified suburb in the form of a radio advertisement for the American Dream. The reality, however, is very different, as we soon follow the story of Sam (Quirijn de Lang) and Dinah (Sandra Piques Eddy), a young couple whose marriage is collap...

11Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Carmen – The Lowry

Hard on the heels of 'Waitress' at the Opera House this week, another musical tale of female lust and empowerment comes to Manchester, with the arrival of Georges Bizet's 'Carmen' from Opera North playing at The Lowry. Unfortunately, whilst this production promises 'desire and hot-blooded passion', what we are served is a reheated dish that attempts to be innovative and succeeds only in being lacklustre and imitative. Carmen was hugely controversial upon its initial staging in 1875 with its story of immorality amongst the proletarian class of Andalucia; the eponymous heroine being both lawless, amoral and (spoiler alert) suffering a brutal on stage death at the denouement. Bizet died less than three months after the premiere of his final work, never getting to see it staged to internati...

19Oct

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

Tell Me on a Sunday – The Lowry

Coming across an Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical which I’d never seen before was reason enough to see the new touring production of Tell Me On A Sunday at The Lowry Theatre...and seeing Jodie Prenger in the title role will be my reason to go back and see it again! This one-act production features just one cast member (Prenger) and the concept was originally conceived for television being the very first collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, away from Tim Rice, with this in mind it has a very different feel to other Lloyd Webber shows, but has more emotion! It follows the young English girl; Emma and her romantic misadventures in New York in the heady days of the 1980’s with her search for love which sees her cross to Manhattan and California in search of love. The diffi...