preview

  • Ghost Stories finally hit The Lowry on Tuesday and oh how it did. To whet the appetite, a couple of weeks ago a group of us were treated to a Ghost Walk round the Quays by Manchester writer and historian, Jonathan Schofield, all in anticipation of the arrival of acclaimed stage show, Ghost Stories, written

    Read more →

  • Film Review: Greed

    As a child i was terrified of the poem, The Lion and Albert, by Marriott Edgar. Set at a ‘famous seaside place called Blackpool’, it was all literally a bit close to home for me (growing up in a small village about 3 miles out….) It still haunts me. Anyway, I’ll just leave that here

    Read more →

  • As mentioned in last week’s blog post, Ghost walks and Stories and pig heads. Oh my Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s massively, hugely, other superlatives-ly acclaimed Ghost Stories comes to The Lowry this Tuesday 18 February and lurks until Saturday 22 February. Details of the show are understandably shrouded in mystery, in order for audiences

    Read more →

  • The press release promised a run-down B&B which doubled as a swinger’s club, a gambling man, a fortune teller and an elderly deviant. My immediate thoughts turned to Benidorm. It’ll be leopard print, ‘bosoms’, nudge nudge wink winks, Carry On Abroad (at home), that glorious feature length film that took the cast of Are You

    Read more →

  • Friday nights can get a bit samey, don’t you think? Don’t get me wrong, they definitely remain my favourite night of the week. Ever since my school days when even the best telly was on on a Friday when you got home – Scooby Doo was on on a Friday. Byker Grove was on on

    Read more →

  • I’ve been to a basketball game and I really enjoyed it. A million ‘mehs’ sound out across the land by those who have been to a million games and don’t feel the need to advertise it. The point is (and there is a point) that I had to go to Brooklyn to do so. And

    Read more →

  • Charlie Chaplin. He was instrumental in my phonics education. He was. And clearly on my cultural radar, and thus important to me, at a very young age (thank you mum and dad). 5 years old and engaged in a word game with my parents. The rules being thus – say the initials of a famous

    Read more →

  • Queen and Slim is Crash, meets Bonnie and Clyde, meets True Romance. But most of all it’s Queen & Slim. Read my view of Queen & Slim on my sister blog What the Projectionist Saw – https://whattheprojectionistsaw.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/review-queen-and-slim/ Copyright: Universal Pictures Opening in cinemas across Greater Manchester from 31 January 2020 including https://www.myvue.com/film/queen-and-slim Home MCR https://www.everymancinema.com/film-info/queen-slim

    Read more →

  • If you haven’t yet heard that Back to the Future The Musical (no less) is coming to Manchester’s Opera House on 20 February 2020, great Scott, you’d better make like a leaf and get outta here! Yes, I did that homage and I’m very proud of my little self… Starring Olly Dobson as Marty McFly

    Read more →

  • Dickens, eh? Have you ever noticed the sheer amount of old English pubs which boast the accolade that Charles Dickens once drank there? It’s a wonder he got anything done. Well done he did and one of the things wot he done was David Copperfield. And now Armando Iannucci did done it too. Read my

    Read more →

  • Whilst works, appreciation, opinions and afforded gravitas come in all shapes and sizes, art should be inclusive and HOME is bringing this ethos to life by celebrating the amazing talent of Greater Manchester. In the first region-wide exhibition of its type, HOME welcomed submissions from all across all 10 boroughs, for the inaugural Manchester Open

    Read more →

  • I’m as guilty as the next person at taking our streets of Manchester and Salford for granted. Focused squarely on not tripping over my own feet (the great tumble of St Annes Square of 2003 – never forget), or striking out straight into the path of a tram, I, alongside many residents, workers and visitors

    Read more →

  • 2020 heralds 75 years since the liberation of the Nazi death-camps. On Monday 27 January, Manchester Jewish Museum will mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), with two premieres of musical and theatrical performances, staged at Manchester Central Library. Songs of Arrival During the afternoon, music by acclaimed Israeli composer Na’ama Zisser,the first to introduce cantorial music into

    Read more →

  • I’m cough years old but a good pantomime won’t fail to touch even the most jaded, cynical, grown up of adults. And this was no exception. In fact, and at the risk of over-exuberance (although at the time of writing I’ve had a 12 hour cooling off period) I’d say this was the bar by which pantomimes

    Read more →

  • I love a good kick-start to the festive season. For some it’s a trip to Dunham Massey’s ever popular lights extravaganza, some a performance of The Nutcracker, for some the appearance of the ‘red cups’ or even seeing Zippy being put together outside the Town Hall (Rest in Peace). This year I spring-boarded into the

    Read more →

  • I’m currently trying my hand at screenwriting (under the excellent tutorage of Scriptwriting North), love a regular visit to HOME and dip my toe in the world of film both here and over at What the Projectionist Saw So battling my way through a frankly annoying barrage of emails in my inbox about Black Friday,

    Read more →

  • Will Self has written his memoir, Will, and we should all rejoice. Almost as much as I rejoiced when he took part in the Geordie Jumpers sketch on Shooting Stars. Yes I know his incredible back catalogue of daring and original writing and I bring Geordie Jumpers into it (oh just Google it and thank

    Read more →

  • 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

    Read more →

  • NQ Jazz is one of my favourites things. Yes we have Matt and Phred’s and I give thanks to the gods of live jazz that we do. But Manchester needs even more and NQ Jazz gives us that more in a gloriously dark, underground befitting location that is The Whiskey Jar. To speak in New

    Read more →

  • 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

    Read more →