Culture
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Some years ago, I visited the site where Julius Caesar was said to meet his maker. The Curia in the Theatre Of Pompey is not only a place of significant historical importance but much to my total and utter glee, a colony for feral cats. Cat lovers this is your Mecca, cat not-lovers probably give
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FilmFear at HOME Mcr, the reviews…
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I do sometimes question why I come away with so many positive feelings, thoughts and, well, reviews, from productions that I’ve been lucky enough to see in theatres in and around Manchester. Be they performed on a stage in a large auditorium, in a church, in a renovated mill, even in a pub cellar, theatre
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October is about Hallowe’en and Hallowe’en is basically about films. Keep your costumes and candy (yes I know we’re British but the whole trick or treating is increasingly of the USA and essentially it was good alliteration. Last year’s FilmFear brought us many cinematic sensations but most of all Nicolas Cage being more Nicolas Cage
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One of my favourite sketches, amongst thousands (which, incidentally, does not include the bloody parrot one), is Monty Python’s irreverent (could it be anything else) look at working class life: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2q1ojy Turning matters on their head, whilst t’father in ‘is rolled up sleeves, braces and britches, sweats over his work as an award-winning playwright in
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If like me (I do miss Denis Norden – I interviewed him by fax once…) you are obsessed with all things West Wing (including The West Wing), you’ll be fascinated by the upcoming book by BBC North America Editor, Jon Sopel, A Year at the Circus. Not only that, you’ll be fascinated to get a
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An extraordinary collection of drawings and prints by Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) are to be exhibited at The Whitworth, Manchester, from 24 August 2019 to 1 March 2020. Gifted and place on long-term loan to the Whitworth by gallerist, collector, author and publisher Karsten Schubert, this means that the Whitworth now impressively holds the
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Last year I shared my immense joy at what was an evening of entertainment, enlightenment, education and laughter (I couldn’t find a synonym for lolz beginning with ‘e’, ok?): Penguin Pride – less a review, more a tribute Well it’s back and I’ll be there and you should be too. And I’ll tell you for
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Last summer I spent a very happy evening wandering round Heaton Park, not lost (although I’ve done that too), but at Romeo and Juliet – a production that took its audience to different locations round the park giving depth and reality to the oft told tale. So this year I’m thrilled that I’ll get to
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Manchester International Festival is your opportunity to see something different. Something new, something especially commissioned, someone new, someone big… The Nico Project is the perfect case study of all of the above. The late Nico, real name Christa Paffgenmade, entered the musical zeitgeist in 1967 with The Velvet Underground, and the ‘show’ is inspired by
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Those who have already discovered this award-winning arts festival will be thrilled to hear that Refract is back for its third edition in and around Sale, this July. Those who haven’t yet discovered Refract – you’re in for a treat. Running from Thursday 18 July to Saturday 27 July, this unconventional 10 day festival, curated
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Verdi’s Aida is admittedly one of the operas I knew little about, in terms of both narrative and its musical score. An opera in four acts, Aida is set in Egypt at the time of the Pharoahs. The priesthood, through its self-proclaimed ability to interpret the gods’ will, controls the government and have long been
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I’ve been to a few book readings/launches/talks now. Two of those have been under the Penguin Live moniker (the first being the rather marvellous Penguin Pride – less a review, more a tribute. As someone who has earned their stripes as a regular book club member to boot, talking about a book retrospectively can have its
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Bank Holiday Monday and I was whisked back to the 1960s last night. A time when Woolies was still a thing, Donovan was number 3 in the charts and who you loved or even just fancied could consign you to a prison cell and a place of deep shame and castigation in society. All I
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Forgive me, Manchester theatre world and community, for I have sinned. Despite being a fairly frequent theatre-goer and the space being in operation since 2015, this week was the first time I entered the wonderful world that is Hope Mill Theatre. Forgive me further, Girl Gang Manchester and Unseemly Women, if I take a moment
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It was the late, great, Mr Manchester himself, Tony Wilson, who said if it’s between the truth and the legend, print the legend (someone else said it first but all should defer to Tony). I’m a sucker for legend. It’s always more fun. The Bard must have listened to Tony Wilson (I know, but like
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My mum told me this story of being at the cricket at Old Trafford. Frank Sidebottom had made a glorious appearance (actual Frank – there were many pretenders to the papier-mâché head aesthetic with ‘hilarious’ consequences…) In fact in Being Frank… John Thomson tells us of Chris Sievey getting out a scrap book he kept
honorary manc 