Manchester
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Coffee and iPhones and printers and festivals and hammocks and hypothetical letters. The Aldi middle aisle? Maybe, but also just a few of the topics that singer/songwriter, satirist, Chris Tavener treated us to at that glorious little theatre space upstairs at The Kings Arms last night. Thanks to my outrageous decision to spend the first…
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As I sat in a beautiful space, having taken my place ‘in the round’, easing into the latest production to grace the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, I was privy to an unexpected and potentially earth-shattering statement. Reader, it threatened to swipe the metaphorical rug from beneath my very feet as I heard the line…
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Jesus Christ Superstar indeed. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Hoping for a more sophisticated, somewhat less basic lead in to a blog post review of my theatrical experience of a production in the Greater Manchester area? I choose childlike exuberance on this occasion. My regular reader will be more than au fait with the…
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Frankie never wanted to be a star, and after a chance encounter with a director, she finds herself transported to the ruthless world of Bollywood. As she climbs the sparkling staircase of stardom, Frankie must confront what she is willing to do for fame and fortune. Can she stay in the Bollywood family and still…
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Tis a strange thing. Strange but true. I get a frisson of excitement, a soupçon of a thrill, when I enter a theatre space and the set is sparse. There’s no particular science here but it usually equates to good, honest theatre. A statement as broad and sweeping as they come. But there’s nowhere to…
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A sweeping state-of-the-nation play that embraces huge political and economic ideas in a magnificent gritty social drama. Nottage’s stunning writing pits friend against friend as social and racial tensions, once buried by a sense of solidarity, soon rise to the surface in this breathtaking drama. Divide and conquer. If it wasn’t for the accents, I…
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Years, I’ve been in a state of tension. For many reasons, granted. But akin to a reality TV show fan, nervously scrolling through online forums, terrified to uncover some spoiler from the latest episode before they’ve had chance to catch up (I say all that like that’s also not me), I’ve spent years, years, avoiding…
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One of my favourite names for a mocktail (like I ever have one…) is the Bloody Shame at Con Club, Altrincham – the gag being that it’s a Bloody Mary without alcohol… Deviating for a second, my favourite ever name for a tribute band is R We Them…give it a second. Bloody Mary’s (aka Mary…
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The boardgame Cluedo had a special place in my family’s hearts growing up. Once I’d got everything I could from Rings on your Fingers, Matching Pairs and Ludo, it was time to graduate to the heady heights of Monopoly and Cluedo. And given my maiden name is Peacock, we of course found it oh so…
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Ah I came out of this screening exclaiming it was one of the best things I’d ever seen. Now I’ve had time to calm down, I would say that it’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I can only imagine the criteria for me to pronounce something ‘best’ is wide, wild and all…
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Just like the Renegade Master, Manchester Film Festival (MFF) is back once again, and for the 10th time! Taking place at the Odeon, Great Northern, until Sunday, 24 March, this celebration of cinema features an incredible lineup of films from across the globe. Read more about the official selection here on the MFF website. Having…
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An Imitating the Dog and Leeds Playhouse co-production, directed by Andrew Quick, Pete Brooks and Simon Wainwright, and performed by Georgia-Mae Myers and Nedum Okonyia. A storm gathers outside. In an ordinary home, the lights flicker, a radio crackles, and an extraordinary tale begins. As a couple confront their own fears about impending parenthood, the…
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Yes, that’s right. It’s actually THE Sleeping Beauty. I did not realise that, but there you go, big moment for me. The Sleeping Beauty. Do you know, reader, there are times when I wish I could sleep for 100 years… (That’s got that obvious quip out of the way). Cursed by a wicked fairy, a…
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What are you watching at the moment, any recommendations? Television has always been the mainstay of what was known as the ‘watercooler moment’. With the amount of content at our literal fingertips, there’s more to discuss than ever before. It’s the ultimate topic to fill a silence, share a bond and a viewing tip or…
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I’m often drawn to starting my blog with a pithy or whimsical anecdote. Not so, this time. I feel inclined to do away with the preamble, the “how does this relate to me”s, the “int Manchester/theatre/art/food/drink (delete as appropriate) great”s of it all. Three couples. Thirty years. Mothers and daughters. Lovers, partners, husbands and wives.…
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Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, goes the old witticism. Last night was pure nostalgia. A knowing nostalgia. A trip back to a 90s televisual treat none of us really expected was coming. But come it did, as Drop the Dead Donkey marks the 30th anniversary (yes 30) with The Reawakening! Starring the original…
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I’m not really into ‘over sentiment’, as a rule. Nostalgia is a different story. I can lament about the good old days of last Tuesday with a wistful sigh, but in the moment, I can’t do twee. I feel awkward, embarrassed and also awkward again. But Little Women was truly hand-claspingly, heartwarmingly lovely. It just…
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At the top of the world lives the Snow Queen who is supposed to control the weather.But the seasons aren’t behaving. The world is getting warmer. And it hasn’t snowed for years….Lumi gazes up at the stars and worries about the world. The adults don’t seem to have noticed that the seasons aren’t behaving, or…
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I’ve done it. I’ve completed the holy trinity of moving, animal-based theatre. A triptych, if you like, of creature tear-jerkers which, for those who know me, will also know that that is my Everest. It all started with Watership Down, with a stop along the way to Born Free, with frequent accidental visits to Attenborough’s…
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I’ve had a rather Shakespearean run over the last few weeks. Bard-heavy, you might say? I say, that with productions of Romeo and Juliet and Falstaff in Manchester (and a quick return visit to Shakespeare country, Stratford-upon-Avon itself), it’s been a joy to immerse myself in texts which are classically brilliant in their origins but…
honorary manc 