Theatre Through the Eyes of a Manc
"No life should ever be small". These words drive Boston attorney, Frank Galvin to seek justice for his client, Debbie, after she is left in a coma by supposed medical malpractice, during a difficult labour. Filing a suit against St Catherine's Hospital, professional doctors, the church, and the country's best attorney, Frank certainly has a... Continue Reading →
After Joe Ainsworth's 15 minute short, The Stretch, received critical acclaim in JB Shorts '19, it has been extended to an hour long play, depicting the ten year prison sentence of its protagonist, Lee. The Stretch is a powerful play, combining dialogue with music and dance, to expose the violence, mental turmoil, and blunt realities... Continue Reading →
Opera North's double bill of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi combines two thunderous pieces of classical music with dance and opera. I am a complete novice with all three of these art forms. I have only seen two operas before, Tosca and The Magic Flute. I have only ever attended one... Continue Reading →
A year ago, I would never have considered watching an opera. I had many ingrained preconceptions around this art form. Being a working-class Mancunian, I was convinced that opera had an elitist audience. I believed that I wouldn't be able to understand the story because it is sung in a foreign language. I also thought... Continue Reading →
Life is constructed from a million small moments of seemingly little significance. However meaningless, these are the moments that define who we are. Adam Barnard's Buckets is a collection of thirty-three interconnected small scenes depicting everyday life, from family matters and blossoming relationships, to depression and confronting mortality. Each scene is unique and captivating, encapsulating... Continue Reading →
"Welcome to the wrong side of the tracks". In Brixton, identical twin showgirls, Dora and Nora Chance celebrate their 75th birthday. On the other side of the Thames, in Chelsea, their father Melchior Hazard, the greatest Shakespearean actor of the age turns 100. An invite to their father's birthday party takes the Chances on a... Continue Reading →
"I had a drink and she had no seatbelt on... Pure drink driving is all it was"..... Or was it? Seven years ago, the wife of Mick Dowd, the local gravedigger, died under mysterious circumstances. Although he pleads innocence, claiming that it was a drink driving accident, it is not enough to stop the villagers... Continue Reading →
"I've got two dads. The only thing the black one gave me was ethnicity". David Judge grew up on the Wythenshawe council estate in Manchester as a mixed race kid with two white parents. SparkPlug is his autobiographical monologue, wherein he moves the narrative up a generation, telling his story from the perspective of his... Continue Reading →
Hailed as one of the greatest anti-war plays, Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and her Children was written in the midst of the Second World War, as the Nazi party controlled the majority of Europe. Anna Jordan's adaptation is set in a dystopian 2080, with Europe being divided into different grid sections, much like The Hunger Games. Warring factions fight... Continue Reading →
