Not many people outside of Ireland will know that 2016 is a special year for Ireland. It marks 100 years since British rule was ended and the Republic of Ireland was established. The events unfolded on Easter week in 1916, and has become known as The Easter Rising. The Risen Word is a collection of poems, stories and performances by the Manchester Irish Writers to commemorate the centenary.
However, what was different about this production is that we got to hear the stories that never made it to the history books. Barbara Aherne, whose mother was alive in 1916, gives an account of what happened in Manchester during the Easter Rising. ‘Being There’ written by Kevin McMahon and performed by Orla Cottingham tells us what it was like to be a young female in 1916.
If the title or the opening music doesn’t give it away, the first few lines definitely will: The Curse is about menstruation, violence, and perhaps a little something more. Originally conceived as a 10-minute short, the play, written by Jane Bradley, has been lengthened into an hour-long instalment of a modern horror story surrounding two teenage girls just out of secondary school.
Without wishing to sound too arrogant, both my companion and I got the ‘twist’ of the play around five minutes in. I spent the remainder of the play trying to work out what possible way the writer could flip this around to twist the plot even more, but in the end my initial thoughts were played out in front of me, after plenty of wordplay hints in the dialogue and projections onto the back of the stage which massively foreshadowed my later confirmed suspicions.
Growing up with a cricket loving father, the voices of Henry Blofeld and Peter Baxter (amongst others) became the soundtrack to summers in my household be it in the garden while my dad pottered in his shed or the weekends of a test match sat next to him with a cup of tea and digestive biscuits.
Blofeld and Baxter are masters of crickets with over 100 years of cricket broadcasting experience between them. Blofeld has been commentating on matches since 1963 while Baxter was the producer responsible for Test Match Special for 34 years after joining BBC 3 years after Blofeld. What they don't know about the sport surely isn't worth knowing.
London based Box Clever Theatre present their unique and energetic interpretation of one of Shakespeare's most loved texts in the beautiful performance space at Oldham Library. The company, which have recently celebrated their 20th birthday, generally perform this piece in schools for GCSE level students, so had their work cut out today to make it relevant for a mixed audience of school children, OAPs, and a few somewhere in the middle! It is somewhat difficult to review what is essentially a TIE piece for a public audience, but I will try to give as fair a review as possible.
Personally, I've not had any first-hand experience of mental illness, all I know, is it’s good to talk about it, but it turns out, for this performance, all you had to do was listen. Bryony Kimmings and Tim Graybrun perform their own personal 'love story' as Bryony calls it to a sold out theatre. Their mundane, silly, perfect yet not so perfect relationship is beautiful and so is their story. One thing to take away from this documentary cum very personal tale is that depression not only affects the individual's mental health but also the mental health of those around them. Bryony and Tim relive parts of their relationship and the challenges they face as Tim combats his depression and tries to become tablet free.
Visiting the theatre to watch a performance of a classic tale is always a treat, always bringing a sense of comfort I believe to the audience. In addition, on this dreary Wednesday evening, West Yorkshire Playhouse’s (WYP) performance of the Charles Dickens classic ‘Great Expectations’ did not disappoint this firm belief. With the tale being widely well known, the company had a great challenge of bringing a new lease of life into the narrative and presenting to the audience an original performance of the tale. With the book originally being published in 1861, and with countless adaptations and media re-makes of the novel I did have apprehensions as to how this performance would be any different to the forms I had previously observed. Saying this, as soon as I sat down in my seat and gloried at the breath-taking set encompassing the entire stage, I knew that the WYP had squashed any initial doubt I may have had.
Walking into arguably one of the most heavenly buildings in Britain to hear descriptions of (dining) hell was intimidating enough without the prospect of reviewing one of foods most notable critics. The spectacular grandeur of St Georges Halls Concert Room, the space that saw Dickens read A Christmas Carol publicly for the first time, could rival the luxury of any hotel or restaurant in the world and provided the perfect backdrop for a trip around the food world with one of the most knowledgeable and respected in the business, Jay Rayner.
The touring production Of Mice and Men, is a Birmingham Repertory Theatre Production, presented by The Touring Consortium Theatre Company and was performed at the Wolverhampton Grand. As this is a well known and well loved story, expectations were high as the audience entered the theatre. We were met with Liz Ascroft's design; wooden floors creating a playing space in the middle of the stage with a crack running horizontally across the space, creating the area in which Lennie is to wait for George if anything 'bad' were to happen. The back drop was beautiful with a sunset projected onto a wall which changed colour throughout. Unconventionally, in a Truman Show like manner, the 'sky' had a door in the centre and the two main characters entered through it. Prior to that we were treated to a lovely rendition of This Land Is Your Land by the whole cast which took the audience straight into the world of the play.
If Gracie Fields were to describe this show she would say, in her down to earth Lancastrian tones, “It’ a belting night out.” If so she would be doing it less than justice, because that may be so, but it’s also funny, clever, deftly acted, well written and performed in exactly the right setting.
Writer Philip Goulding, who also written for the New Vic and the Courtyard Theatre London has had several successes with plays on local themes, - the House at Nab End is probably the best known, but the story of “Our Gracie” is one of a world superstar born a few miles down the road from Oldham and where at least one of the oldest members of Tuesday night’s audience still remembers her from her local tours. Others talked of her with the kind of adoration a twenty year old would reserve for Beyonce today.
Little Orphan Annie, a small girl with big dreams of finding her real parents. Set in 1930’s New York at Christmas time, Annie becomes the lucky child of the Orphanage to spend Christmas with Mr Warbucks – a billionaire who plans to adopt her, much to the dismay of Miss Hannigan – The Orphanage Matron.
For those of you who have suffered the embarrassment of forgetting to turn off your mobile phones during a performance then this is definitely the show for you. From the start you are actively encouraged to keep your phone on and take pictures and videos and post on social media!
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