Well, Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel does exactly what it says on the tin, with a few surprises. Walking into the Quays Theatre, a smaller and more intimate space within the Lowry Theatre building, the audience were initially greeted by a beautiful violin solo (delivered by Ms Corrina Connor), reminiscent of an opening ball scene in a period drama. Amidst the general bustle of audience members shuffling along rows and flicking through programmes and scrunching up tickets, the performers themselves could be seen, dressed in full Regency costume, fluttering in the wings and murmuring to one another. Two of them then began wandering through the aisles with top hats outstretched, into which the audience threw slips of paper with suggested titles scrawled on them.
The Nutcracker is a fairy-tale-type story of Clara, a young girl who receives a handmade toy (the Nutcracker) for Christmas from her godfather. On Christmas Eve, all the toys come to life and the Nutcracker leads the toy soldiers into battle with the Mouse King who is defeated. The Nutcracker then turns into a charming prince and whisks the young girl away to an enchanted forest wonderland with dancing snowflakes. It turns out to have been a dream and the young girl awakes on Christmas morning by the Christmas tree with her toy Nutcracker.
And Then You Kissed Me explores the way in which sexual chemistry and an innate need for love and care within all of us can become toxic. The relationship experiences of several characters are interwoven to illustrate how one choice can define a person for many years.
And Then You Kissed Me completes a trilogy of hard-hitting plays from award-winning company Footlights, which includes Just A Few Quid (Media City UK, 2012) and The Queen Is Dead (The Lowry Studio, 2014).
Settling down to watch my evening’s performance of ‘An Inspector Calls’ I am not embarrassed to admit I was initially unsure whether a mid-20th century classic detective drama would keep me engaged during its one hour and 45-minute single act performance. However, it soon became clear that the seemingly traditional detective story was a subtle cover for quite a controversial and still current social message from J.B. Priestley. The entire play takes place during an extravagant engagement party within the home of the upper-middle class Birling family, until a suspicious Inspector Goole arrives to try and unravel the mystery around the death of a young girl that very same day.
Where do I start with this? It really is not in anyone's interest to write or read a negative review, and I really don't like having to do so; but sadly with this particular production, trying to find something positive to say about it is a little like trying to find compassion inside Jeremy Clarkson!
The premise for the story, as far as I could tell yesterday, was that each of the sisters, between their annual get-togethers at a local pub, all receive either bad or good news which they try to share on that occasion; the most devastating of which is that one of them has terminal cancer. She is the eldest of the group and holds a secret which she unburdens at that occasion, namely that she is the real mother of one of the sisters, the orphan that she adopted.
This was something of a triple first for me. A new theatre company, Play With Fire, that I had never seen before (not surprising since this was their inaugural production), in a venue that I'd never been to before (not surprising either since Hope Mill Theatre is itself an extremely new venue), and to watch a play that I had never heard of before.
The theatre, a converted space in an old mill in Ancoats doesn't really sound very welcoming or theatrical, but think again, it is actually really quite wonderful and extremely versatile. There is a spacious bar area with a warm atmosphere, and once you enter the theatre itself, then you can see that the possibilities of using this space in pretty much any configuration are endless. King's Arms and 3MT beware - there is a contender to your crowns, and a very worthy contender it is too! Tonight's play saw the central part of the space being used as a stage with audience in a semi-circle round two sides. It was up-close and intimate, and worked splendidly.
The Russian State Ballet of Siberia accompanied by The Russian State Ballet Orchestra of Siberia present Giselle at The Grand Theatre, Blackpool. It is part of a three night run, also presenting The Snow Maiden and The Nutcracker. It is a return visit for the company to this wonderful theatre within the shadow of the famous Blackpool Tower.
It is also the second time I have seen Giselle performed, the last time was in Covent Garden, London by the English National Ballet Company. My expectations were high, the setting was beautiful, the program was glossy and well put together but, unlike the reviews of the first performance of this ballet in June 1841, which were “full of praise for performances that surpassed the expectations of the captivated audience”, my experience was sadly underwhelming.
Last week at the Opera House in Manchester cries of ‘he’s behind you’ rang out through the auditorium as Cinderella played its final week at the theatre. Now a week later those cries are but a memory and have a very different meaning as the colossal juggernaut that is The Rocky Horror Show rolls into town to begin the 2016 season on a high.
Following the huge success of the 40th anniversary UK tour culminating in a live cinema broadcast last year Rocky Horror is back on the road and it is as good as ever.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without The Nutcracker!
It has been a long standing family tradition of mine to have an annual seasonal visit to my family’s favourite ballet, The Nutcracker. Although some may say that Christmas is over and done with, we haven’t quite reached Epiphany and therefore, albeit slightly delayed, a trip to The Nutcracker was the perfect end to my Christmas 2015 celebrations.
After seeing many pantomimes and children's plays this season, it has taken me right up until the last one before Christmas Day itself, before I find one which does exactly what it sets out to do - entertain children, in the most inoffensive and age-appropriate way possible!
I went to Uppermill, a small town east of Oldham and part of the area known as Saddleworth, to their Civic Hall, to watch Red Riding Hood, a Christmas play for children presented by Hard Graft Theatre Company.
What a delightful and lovely show! Whether or not the very young ones 'got' it or not, I doubt - and this was being advertised as suitable for ages 3 upwards - but the older children certainly did, most of them sitting quietly and listening for the entire 55 minutes.
The production in question was Snow Child, a child-friendly adaptation of an old Russian folk story about a childless couple in a forest village wishing so hard they had a young child that they create a young girl out of the snow and put clothes on 'her'. As the lady kisses the child the warmth of her breath injects life into the snow child and she becomes real, ending up living with the couple as their own daughter.
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