Please note this review originally appeared on North West End and can be found here. The Opera House Manchester was plunged into darkness suddenly at the start of press night for famous horror story The Exorcist. Shrieks of surprise rippled across the audience as cast members walked amongst us in the blackout, and strobe lights left us all blinking and apprehensive into the opening scenes. Sadly that was about as much suspense as the two hour performance managed to build, as

Entering The Pankhurst Centre on the hottest day of the year for a one night only preview of Clouds had everyone sweltering, much like most of the ladies of 1913 must’ve been in their layers of finery, all except Winifred Baxter. Freddie Baxter wants to get her pilot license and become the first woman to enter an air race. She even wears trousers. As we sit in a small room at the birthplace of the Suffragette movement, I think we were all willing Freddie on and dreaming of be

Please note that this review was originally written for North West End and can be found here. Delving into the mystery and excitement of the city’s underground cult venue Antwerp Mansion was always going to peak my intrigue and last night at Barred for Greater Manchester Fringe I’m so glad it did! The recently rebranded arts venue is the perfect spot for some deftly delivered immersive theatre, you’re greeted on entry by two bartenders Immy and Cal. They serve you (free!) dri

Please note this review was originally written for North West End and can be found here. The Arden School of Theatre’s third year Theatre and Performance students have finished their degrees and to celebrate they put on the UnTaPped festival this weekend at Impossible Bar in Manchester alongside other students on the course. The sixth festival of its kind was a great coming together of a whole range of medias set over two days around the trendy bar’s theatre space. UnTaPped s

Please note this was originally written for North West End and can be found here. The highly anticipated all female cast and women-lead production of Hamlet opened last night at Manchester’s hidden gem Hope Mill Theatre. Eve Shotton played the sanest Hamlet I’ve seen, still emoting every lyrical word and yet at no point did it feel like she descended into mania, this relatability helped us to be on Hamlet’s side, and for the whole story to be more naturalistic. In these turbu

Please note this was originally written for Girl Gang Manchester and can be found here. Girl Gang Manchester and Unseemly Women present Hamlet at Hope Mill Theatre from 2 May - 11 May 2019 This isn’t any version of Hamlet you’ve seen before, as the entire production is female-lead. Directed by Kayleigh Hawkins and produced by Hannah Ellis Ryan and Evelyn Roberts with a whole team of talented women, this time the classic dive into insanity and honour takes on a long overdue pe

Please note this piece was originally written for North West End and can be found here. Kicking off the night with the Age of Aquarius, a trope that follows troubled lead character Claude through the whole show, Hair the Musical at the Palace Theatre Manchester was a scintillating, smoke filled, sixties soiree celebrating its 50th anniversary on the stage. Attempts to modernise were made on entrance with some Trump recordings woven into the other cultural references made by t

Please note that this review was originally posted on North West End and can be found here. I’m worried that not many regular theatre-goers will ‘get’ American Idiot, based on the concept album of the same name by kings of pop punk and the naughties grunge scene Green Day, and written by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. But it’s the third UK tour, and it’s won two Tony Awards, so we must be safe. There were a lot of Green Day fans in the audience, so there was at least a decent

We follow the rise of Motown stars Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations

What I wasn’t expecting from the absolutely brilliant opening silliness was gut-punch after gut-punch of unadulterated truth; after a few of

This is where Splendid struck brilliance – not only was the show engaging and easily accessible to the audience, they kept incredibly dark t

Argentinian director Lola Arias has brought together six veterans of The Falklands / Las Malvinas war in 1982 to take to the stage as a living breathing documentary. Three veterans are British and three are Argentine. Through Minefield’s eclectic delivery of on-stage projectors, real items of clothing or magazines are showcased, live music and sound effects all delivered by the six performers the audience is immersed for just over an hour and a half of what life is like as a

Having very recently scooped School of the Year 2018 in The Stage Awards, the Royal Exchange Young Company have attracted a lot of attention with their new piece of gig theatre, ‘Mixtape’. Setting out to show the city of Manchester’s B-side as well as it’s A-side, Mixtape follows the lives of three young people from Manchester who are introduced to us as our Irwell, Irk and Medlock – the city’s three rivers. Their lives meander and change direction, just like the rivers and t

Presented by the dynamic Contact Young Company with the People’s History Museum, directed by Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit of Sh!t T

One of the most refreshing things about the piece was the balance of girlish chatter about things like boys and makeup, intertwining seamles

An above average family drama would have ended there as a piece about loneliness, longing and the intricacies of family tensions at Christma

At its heart though Mental is a piece of musical theatre. Kane’s story is brought to life by songs that are designed to invoke different sym

Charting a slice of transgender history via Kate’s own experiences from when she transitioned in 2003, You’ve Changed is informative and gen

The sound and music too are quite stunning additions to this adaptation. A self-playing piano stays onstage throughout and plays pieces insp

It was truly exhilarating to see subculture themes taking to an important theatre and mainstream audience. There was talk in the audience ab