Preview/review
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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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Manchester theatre company, Dibby Theatre, is raising funds to help take their hit show First Time to Edinburgh Fringe. A funny and frank autobiographical solo-show, First Time is written and performed by theatre-maker and HIV activist, Nathaniel Hall. Diagnosed just two weeks after his 17th birthday and only months after coming out as gay to his…
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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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It is here where I would love to show off about my travels around Japan, the food I’ve eaten, the sights I’ve seen, the cherry blossom I’ve been beguiled by… But I have not been. But I have this, and it’s mine… My late father was a musician and musical director. Amongst those he musically…
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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…
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The ideal short – film, story, play should leave the audience wanting more without needing more. Celebrating 10 years of theatre production and story telling, 20 sell-out seasons and 120 world premieres, JB Shorts have brought something extra special to those glorious arches of 53two. On until 30th March, JB Shorts Reloaded brings six JB Shorts…
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The marvellously titled Bag of Beard Theatre had me at… …it’s a Millennial Withnail and I… when telling me about their show Renaissance Men, coming to 53two on 19 and 20 April. Fresh from sell out shows at the Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, this is Manchester’s (and surrounding areas of course – in fact…
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An hour of theatre last night felt like ten years. I don’t mean how that sounds. Manchester Actors’ Platform (MAP) has brought The Stretch back to the 53two stage from 6 to 15 March, following rave reviews at the JB Shorts Festival. Written by Joe Ainsworth and directed by Simon Naylor, the piece follows Lee (James…
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Mozart can do no wrong. It’s not even up for debate. When I was knee-high to an etc., I went with my parents to Austria, visiting Salzburg along the way and so to the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The actual birthplace – the house. My Dad, a professional pianist, was keen to fulfill an…
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I was going to start this post off with the sentiment, I love Manchester. It’s true, I’ve got a t-shirt with it on and everything. But to do so, I would have committed the cardinal sin of referring to a ‘happening’, an ‘event, an ‘occurrence’ as being in Manchester rather than Salford. I do this…
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Writer, film-maker and leading thinker, Paul Mason, is coming to Manchester on 30 April 2019, to discuss his latest book, Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being, with BBC 6 Music’s, Stuart Maconie. On the eve of publication, Penguin Live, will play host, at The Dancehouse, Manchester, to what promises to be a…
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‘Twas a Monday in October when a woman who was still recovering from her (cough)th birthday party two nights before, did approach a table laden with 30 wines. 30. What craziness is this? I hear you cry. Get this woman an intervention. Or Graham from Jeremy Kyle. Or…just something. But you see it was ok.…
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There are plays, productions, shows that you appreciate the work of, admire, praise, write about, commend. Then there are those that you actually want to frogmarch people into the theatre to see. You almost don’t want to write about it, lest it spoil the experience. You want to write of it, of course. But not…
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Following their previous stage success The Wipers Times, which sold out both in the West End and across the country, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman are back to entertain us with their latest sharply observed stage production, showing this week at The Lowry theatre, Salford. Inspired by real life events and based on the critically acclaimed original…
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I love Prokofiev’s score, Shakespeare’s story, and I love going to the ballet. So with all ingredients in place, it is natural that I have seen multiple ballet productions of Romeo and Juliet in the past and either because of or despite this, I happily wanted to see the latest brought to Manchester; this time by the Moscow…
honorary manc 