Month: July 2023

Although he was astonishingly prolific and very popular a century ago, George Bernard Shaw has now become one of those theatrical prophets neglected in his own land. The playwright’s wordy, proselytising style has gone out of fashion, action and brevity being the qualities preferred by most modern audiences. While performances may be few and far… Continue reading Candida

The Hot Ice Show’s 2023 production, Amore Amor Amour, promises to let audiences in on a ‘world of dreams’. Once again, the team behind its dreams deliver in full, thanks to the athleticism and artistry of a world-class cast. The show’s love theme never falters, reflecting the care that goes into director Amanda Thompson OBE’s… Continue reading Hot Ice: Amore Amor Amour

“This isn’t our kind of thing, you know,” Glyndebourne owner John Christie said rather sniffily when Benjamin Britten’s comedy was first performed there in 1947. It was the composer’s second full-blown opera and after Peter Grimes and The Rape of Lucretia, so perhaps not the high-minded sort of stuff that he and his audience expected.… Continue reading Albert Herring

Meeting the parents of your girlfriend is a nerve-racking experience at the best of times. The situation is exacerbated for forklift driver Jack as he is a trans-male. As he prepares for the encounter, Jack cannot help but reflect on the reaction of his parents, workmates and pretty much anyone else he encounters. A disclaimer… Continue reading Transparency

Julie Hall, sole performer in Sacrament, is also a GP practising in Greater Manchester. One wonders how many of the capacity audience at the Seven Oaks Pub have come along in the hope if they hang about after the show, they might get a free consultation. After all, these days GP appointments are as rare as… Continue reading Sacrament

Berlin-based Rimini Protokoll returns to the Manchester International Festival, but this time with a work—unusual for MIF, which usually only presents new commissions—that has already been performed in Germany last year, where it was crowned ‘Play of the Year’ by the critics of Theater Heute magazine. The roots of this piece are in the true… Continue reading All right. Good night.

By the time she is presented, at the end of a dynamic two-hour-no-interval show, with her 2020 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, undeliverable three years ago for obvious reasons, the queen, if not diva, of flamenco, Sara Baras, has already proved, to a packed auditorium, why she is worthy of it. Baras transcends… Continue reading Alma