The Manchester Opera House is beautifully traditional: long rows of small velvet green seats; gold features on the walls; the dependable old proscenium arch; the reassuring safety curtain.
Enter, then, King Charles III, a modern play which perfectly exemplifies the clash of solid tradition and modern ideals, and explores the possible blurring of the two. The play, with its often Shakespearean language spoken by well-known contemporary figures, delves into the complexities of retaining a monarchy while twenty-first century Britain has moved so far away from everything such a power stands for. The set itself is a semi-circle of medieval castle wall enclosing a raised platform which lent itself perfectly to the atmospheric yet perhaps slightly bloated opening scene and continued to provide an ominous presence throughout the performance.
Celebrating their 35th anniversary the Vienna Festival Ballet, a self-funded touring company founded by Peter Malek in 1980 brought Swan Lake, one of ballet’s most popular productions to the stage at the Theatre Royal.
With simple but effective scenery throughout, the ballet is set into 4 acts and performed to the music of P.I. Tchaikovsky with choreography by Terence Etheridge after Marius Petpa, restaged by Emily Hufton. Nothing compares to an orchestra obviously and the lack of one tonight was the only negative of the evening.
Brendan Cole is one of the original Strictly Come Dancing professionals from when it began back in 2004 and he has the auspicious honour of being the first winner, with celebrity partner, Natasha Kaplinksy. Brendan had a reputation as the 'bad boy' of Strictly and was well known for his (entertaining but slightly scary) spats with the Judges, particularly Craig Revel Horwood. In recent years, he has become less volatile and is one of the most charming of the male professional dancers and I always look forward to his choreography as he favours traditional ballroom dancing but is able to bring something fresh and exciting to all of his routines.
Pornography is everywhere, and much easier to access now than ever before by. This also means that it can be accessed by anyone, including minors. Which is what happened to mother of two; Lizi Patch when her eldest son informed her that he had watched some hardcore pornography after being sent a clip from a classmate.
The production starts off rather promising with a good stage layout, and Patch is definitely a very likable performer. As these are all her own experiences you immediately get the sense that this is a personal reflection, which is refreshing rather than seeing actors trying so hard to relate to characters.
Tonight I watched ‘Lion Man’ at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. It is a new play written by Tom Roberts, and was an absolute pleasure to watch.
Firstly, the staging on the play was well thought out, as the stage was an oval shape with the audience on both sides, which helped the audience connect and feel the realness of the story. The play begins with Scott (Ali Wilson-Goldsmith) being interviewed at a police station, but what showed was Scott talking into a light with an over voice. Throughout the performance I found this over voice very helpful and interesting, as it would give clues and information to the story.
I’m not a massive Batman fan, like most people I’m aware of the iconic nature of the character from his beginnings in comics, the 1960s TV series and then the many depictions in the movies. You’d have to walk around with your eyes and ears closed or live on another planet not to have some awareness. It was with this awareness that I walked into the 50 minute show co-written and performed by the very talented James Wilson-Taylor and directed by Jon Brittain.
Fascinating Aida is a national institution that has entertained the masses for decades' on-stage, online and (apparently) even in television! The funny female comedy trio (maybe I should have worded that as 'trio of comedy women'...) have had success all over the globe, and their founder Dillie Keane is the brains behind the operation, writing the extremely clever and poetic lyrics and momentous melodies full of wit, often alongside her fellow member and dear friend Adele Anderson.
Who's Afraid of The Working Class, a play written by Luke Barnes and Directed by Will Hammond is the latest piece of theatre to grace the stage of Liverpool's Unity Theatre, performed by LIPA's third year students. Its themes throughout portray the social class and post war in the 1940s, and the view points of the affected people in each class structure - The working and the ruling class.
From the title of the piece, you automatically know it will target the political issues in which people still face in the day to day life we lead now, including such themes as race, sexuality, drugs and poverty.
Humour and poignancy intersect in Aizzah Fatima’s warm and engaging one-woman show, which interweaves the stories of six Pakistani-American women in post 9-11 America.
A one-act play of 65 minutes, Dirty Pakistani Lingerie lays out the stories of its characters like colourful washing on a line, encouraging the audience to pick up and inspect each individual piece and try them on for size.
It has just been proved to me you do not need a stage full of scenery nor a cast of many to keep an audience totally enthralled. Well maybe you do if you are not Cornish actor David Mynne who tonight told the tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, adapted by Andrew McPherson and directed by Simon Harvey.
This evening was my first visit to the theatre to watch a ballet for over 50 years having seen only one as a young child with school and I wasn’t sure that it would be something that I would entirely enjoy. Accompanied by my mother who has never seen a ballet we were both overwhelmed by the brilliance of the performances from the start of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet.
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