Category Theatre Reviews

The Lowry played host to its final HUSH HUSH performance of the autumn season as a packed house of curious cats took their seats in the Aldridge Studio.

Billed as a “secret performance”, HUSH HUSH forms part of The Lowry’s Pay What You Decide (PWYD) season. Instead of paying for a ticket in advance, audiences are asked to pay what they think the show is worth at the end of the performance...

Toyah Wilcox stars in Chris Goode’s 40th anniversary production of JUBILEE

When Derek Jarman’s iconic film JUBILEE was released 1978, it captured punk at its dizzy height. Almost forty years later, Chris Goode remixes the wild and artistic piece for a new stage adaptation at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.

JUBILEE takes us to a contemporary London squat where a time-travelling Elizabeth I (Toyah Willcox) observes the misadventures of a group of outcasts who make love and war in a lawl...

Evocative, warm and deeply personal, DECLINING SOLO is a complex and tender piece about the relationship between father and daughter

When The Lowry launched their PAY WHAT YOU DECIDE (PWYD) programme earlier this year, they promised a series of ‘cutting-edge, contemporary shows to appeal to the creatively curious’...

                                                       Photo Credit: Pamela Raith Photography

Elaborate and enthralling, CABARET stands the test of time in Bill Kenwright’s touring production

When it comes to musicals, CABARET is one of the all-time greats. Since its Broadway premiere in 1966 and the famous 1972 film starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, CABARET has won a staggering number of stage and screen awards including 8 Oscars, 7 BAFTAs and 13 Tonys...

Lizzy Watts as Hedda in HEDDA GABLER. Photo Credit: BrinkhoffMögenburg

Dark, gripping and strikingly staged, HEDDA GABLER is a reinvigorated classic with plenty of style and substance

When HEDDA GABLER was first performed in 1891, it was considered shocking and provocative play ahead of its time. Nearly 130 years later, Henry Ibsen’s masterpiece has been given a new lease of life in a bold new contemporary production by National Theatre.

Adapted and reworked by Olivier award winning playwr...

WHAT I FELT WHILST UNDER YOU is a tender examination of what it means to be masculine in the 21st century

Following their five-star, sell out run of smash hit CONSTELLATIONS, Wonderhouse Theatre Company return to Hope Mill Theatre with WHAT I FELT WHILST UNDER YOU, a new play by award-winning, Manchester based, writer David Gregan-Jones.

WHAT I FELT WHILST UNDER YOU tells the story of Marie, a thirty-something mother of two who returns home unexpectedly one evening to discover her husband’s s...

Shocking, gripping and thought-provoking, PARLIAMENT SQUARE is a powerful play about the fallout of political protest

It’s fair to say that playwright James Fritz is riding on a high. His debut play FOUR MINUTES TWELVE SECONDS was nominated for an Olivier Award before transferring to London’s West End and his follow-up play ROSS & RACHEL opened to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015...

AUSTENTATIOUS is a Regency treat is guaranteed to delight Austen novices and die-hard fans alike

Fresh from six sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a monthly residency in London’s Leicester Square, AUSTENTATIOUS heads out once again with a brand new UK tour. 

Performed by some of the country’s quickest comic actors, AUSTENTATIOUS is an improvised comedy play spun in the inimitable style of Jane Austen...

EDWARD GANT’S AMAZING FEATS OF LONELINESS by People Zoo Productions. Photo: Tom Barker

Bold, bizarre and a little bonkers, EDWARD GANT’S AMAZING FEATS OF LONELINESS! captures the peculiar atmosphere of the Victorian freak show

In 1881, the famed and enigmatic impresario Mr Edward Gant presented his renowned travelling show for the final time: a bizarre evening of grotesquery, black comedy and mystery...

When you visit the theatre to see a show you have booked it can still be a bit daunting. Perhaps you’ve seen the play performed by a different troupe. What if it doesn’t live up to that performance? What if it’s no good and you’ve paid a lot of money for your ticket? And that’s a show you know your going to watch. You know roughly what the performance is going to be about.

Now attend the theatre and not have a clue about what you will see…but this time you haven’t paid for the ticket...