Manchester Bloggers

  • I can remember the first time I heard those ticking clocks. It was a friend’s birthday party at her house and we all sat round as the video was put on. The excitement was real as those clocks ticked and the camera panned across the Doc’s home and workshop in a garage in the fictional

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  • 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

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  • Gourmet pizza restaurant Croma and I have two things in common. The first is that pizza is an incredibly important part of our lives. The second is that this year marks our 20th year living in Manchester! To celebrate, I’ll be justifying ever single trip out and drink drunk with ‘it’s my 20th anniversary’. For

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • I won’t repeat my love for fringe theatre all over again (I’ll just casually leave this here – Review – Talk to Yourself at The Kings Arms and actually probably will repeat it in this review anyway). One reason for my love of fringe theatre which I’m not going on about again (am) is the

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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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  • 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 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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  • 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

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  • The word ‘typecast’ must be as abhorrent to actors as the word ‘Macbeth’ is to…erm, well actors. Having worked with a few actors on soaps in a past life, I’m aware of the frustrations some may feel when interviewed about previous roles, future roles, that many can’t see past the character they portray in living

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  • The third annual horror fest, FilmFear, returns to Manchester’s HOME this week – in association with Film4. From 26 – 31 October, residents, visitors and all round horror fanatics from Manchester can enjoy 6 days of cult films, extreme cinema and an all round fright fest on the big screen. With a mix of new

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  • It was back to school for me this week. I wish I was young enough for that to be true in the traditional sense but for every realisation that you’re not getting any younger, there is a silver lining. To be over the age of 18 is to have your name on a more important

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  • And people say she’s just a big pair of tits. (David Brent). Yes, I’ve said tits in a blog post. But there’s no point being polite as the Theatre Company I had the good grace to see perform this evening are called Shit Theatre. Although for polite publications it’s written Sh!t Theatre. I’ve already written

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  • Coming home from The Lowry theatre last night, my designated plus 1 in theatre and basically life, told me the story of the snail and the ginger beer. It’s a little like the owl and the pussycat. Well actually nothing like it. The snail and the ginger beer was the court case Donoghue v Stevenson, which

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  • Fans of singer/songwriters Jess Kemp and David Gorman will be thrilled at this double bubble news that they will be co-headlining a gig at top city venue, The Deaf Institute, on 18 May 2018. Each will be individually taking to that iconic stage with a full band, to launch some brand new music to treat

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  • I last wrote about this topic (in more detail)in my dissertation in the year cough cough etc. You understand my entire dissertation wasn’t based on Michael Douglas but a small portion of it. I don’t have a degree in Michael Douglas. I focussed on the femme fatale on film and how feminist theory has been

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