Theatre through the eyes of a Manc
Jackie Kay has had an extraordinary life, which is detailed in her memoir, Red Dust Road. Growing up in Scotland in the 1970s, as the adopted mixed-race child of a Communist couple, young Jackie struggled to fit in with those around her. Experiencing racist attacks, her memoir is an exploration of Jackie's identity as a... Continue Reading →
Created in collaboration with prisoners at HMP Wandsworth and written by Luke Barnes, The Jumper Factory tells a series of stories depicting life behind bars. Taken from interviews with inmates, this short piece uses the authentic voices of these prisoners to relate how it feels to be locked up. Without delving too much into the... Continue Reading →
With parliament suspended, and a no-deal Brexit looking more probable than ever, you could be forgiven for thinking that the country is going to the dogs. Our democracy is under threat. The Amazon Rainforest is on fire, as the effects of climate change are already becoming apparent. These are truly depressing times that we live... Continue Reading →
What if self-identifying women around the world spontaneously started growing several feet taller? In this dystopian drama, the Sleepless Theatre Company explore the global repercussions of such a phenomenon. The injustices that women face across the globe are magnified, as women grow taller and stronger than men, are used for manual labour, but still don't... Continue Reading →
It's July! It's the time for eating strawberries and cream whilst watching Wimbledon. If tennis isn't your cup of tea, you can always visit the theatre. With a host of different festivals taking place across Manchester this month, here are my suggestions what you can watch:- THE HIRED MAN - OLDHAM COLISEUM Until 6th July... Continue Reading →
Fashion in football isn't an obvious subject matter to write a play about. However, Lost Watch theatre company seize this opportunity with their new play Shorts and Socks Included, which is part of the Incoming Festival at HOME. They manage to create an entertaining comedy about what could be an incredibly dry topic. In 1973,... Continue Reading →
KAFKAESQUE - (adjective) - Characteristic or reminiscent of the oppressive, nightmarish qualities of Franz Kafka's fictional world; blending the absurd, surreal and mundane. In Franz Kafka's novella, Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. Having to exist in a society that is horrified by his physical mutation,... Continue Reading →
Picture this... It's Manchester, 1999. Tommie is sick of his dead-end job, cold calling people. He decides to quit his job and winds up being trained as a vampire hunter by a vampire-slaying priest, Father Badass. He has to defend the world as the Devil has hatched a plan. On the stroke of the Millennium,... Continue Reading →
Richard III is a difficult play to get right. With Shakespeare's protagonist being a power-hungry, ruthless, murdering despot, there is always the temptation to place the play's context within the twentieth century, basing Richard on one of the many dictators during this period. Martin Freeman's 2014 production at Trafalgar Studios tried setting the play in... Continue Reading →
