honorarymancblog@gmail.com
honorary manc Rounding up some happening highlights from Manchester and Salford over the next month unTaPped 2026 at Lowry This contemporary theatre festival at Lowry is crafted by the Arden School of Theatre and Performance’s Third Years, and is a platform for the next generation of up-and-coming theatre-makers, allowing them to push boundaries of performance,…
Keep readingTrigger warnings. They give a flavour of what’s to come. For some that is indeed ‘a mere flavour’, for some a true warning to brace and self-care, for some a strong indicator that this production just isn’t for them. In all honesty, I scanned over the warnings, thought ‘blimey, buckle up’, and instead chose to…
Keep reading*(full title – The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)) Walking into the lovely Hope Mill theatre space after enjoying the lovely Hope Mill theatre bar space, I was met with an open coffin (empty at this stage, I should fiercely stress)…
Keep readingIt all got a bit meta on Wednesday night. Checking out the flyer at the venue for the theatre show I was about to watch, there was me, telling me (and others) that I want you to see it for yourself and feel the sucker punch I did. Was I caught up in another time…
Keep readinghonorary manc Rounding up some happening highlights from Manchester this month Soul Safari – Macharia at Contact theatre Coming to Contact this Friday 17 April, artist Macharia blends her own music with Kenya coastal and Kikuyu folk traditions. The show, performed in Swahili, Kikuyu and English, combines music, storytelling and audience interaction, exploring themes of…
Keep readingThese stories continue the tale, the titan, the cinematic feast that has been Manchester Film Festival 2026. For Psychopomp, The Good Boy and Father, Mother, Sister and Brother, see Manchester Film Festival 2026 – the stories so far…(part 1) Day 3 – North West Shorts 1 Love me a Short, I do, and this package…
Keep readingI think this is my third time seeing this brilliantly delicious Noel Coward play. First in this very theatre, the Royal Exchange, in 2011 BHM (before honorary manc) with Simon Robson and Imogen Stubbs). The second was in 2022 with Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodge (blog here). And my hat-trick was realised back at the…
Keep readingIt’s already been a week of factual, fictional, frictional, emotional, experimental and exceptional big screen content in Manchester. A film-fest, if you will. And I surely have. As has been the case over the last few years, the selection at this year’s Manchester Film Festival has been rich and diverse and with various pulls on…
Keep readingDeliciously witty, sparky, tongue-in-cheek and coquettish. The Constant Wife is all of these things. Kara Tointon is all of these things. The dapper dialogue is all of these things. And I liked it very, very much. 1927. Constance is a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense” says her mother “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and…
Keep readinghonorary manc Rounding up some happening highlights from Manchester and Salford Alfreda at The Lodge, Manchester We start straightaway and today – the weekend isn’t over until it’s over, and this one is no exception. Alt -pop phenomenon, Alfreda, is kicking off her tour tonight, March 15, in, where else, Manchester, at The Deaf Institute…
Keep readingContinuing the wonderful partnership that is English National Opera (ENO) with Greater Manchester, last night saw the first of two performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comic production Così fan tutte. Now, readers, this translates to Thus Do All (Women). And in this context, what it is that all women supposedly do is not the best. Ferrando and…
Keep readingYou couldn’t write it. But thank goodness someone did, both in terms of the original source and idea, and some 70-odd years later, when, in 2019, some clever creatives decided to turn an incredible tale into an art form. This production could have let the annals of history do the heavy lifting. It could have…
Keep readingSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
honorary manc