Tell Me On A Sunday is not one of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s most well-known musicals, but there are rewards here for anyone who dares to dig a little deeper into the Lord’s catalogue. Detailing the turbulent love life of Emma, the plot covers her various love affairs from New York to LA. It can get repetitive at times, but the songs prevent this from becoming too annoying.
Jodie Prenger deftly brings out the humour and resilience in the role.
It’s no mean feat to pull off a one-act, one-woman show but Jodie Prenger does it with ease. The character of Emma is a tricky one, with the potential for her to come across as petulant and unlikeable, but Prenger deftly brings out the humour and resilience in the role.
Whilst the themes of the show are timeless, Lloyd-Webber’s music does date it at times. The songs range from sublime to frustrating, but the peaks are surely some of his finest work, complemented by Don Black’s witty and concise lyrics.
An enjoyable night at the theatre.
After the interval, Prenger takes questions from the audience and performs a selection of Lloyd-Webber’s other work alongside her understudy, Jodie Beth Meyer. Both are gifted vocalists and it’s a treat to be able to see the talents of an understudy rather than them being hidden away backstage. Prenger really shines here with her natural charisma and personality shining through in her improvised reactions to the audience.
Whilst you could accuse the musical of being a little superficial at times with its short running time, combined with the post-show Q&A and songs, they make for an enjoyable night at the theatre.
A drag parody of Agatha Christie-style whodunnits, complete with the remote manor setting. On paper, it sounds like a recipe for chaos. In actual fact, it IS a recipe for chaos, chaos of the most satisfying kind.
Chaos of the most satisfying kind.
Taking place on Tuck Island in 1991, the plot revolves around a dinner celebrating the anniversary of Charles and Diana… and it only gets camper from there, with guests beginning to kick the bucket almost as soon as they’ve finished arriving. The script cleverly uses the 1991 setting for knowing winks to the audience, with Charles and Diana’s marriage and newspaper editor Morgan Pierce (say it aloud) providing particularly rich sources of dramatic irony.
The cast boasts huge names in the form of Ru Paul’s Drag Race alumni Ra’Jah O’Hara, Willam, Vinegar Strokes and Karen from Finance. Each of these gets the obligatory cheer as they enter the stage from an audience that is on their side from the get-go, but they all prove themselves as more than just big name casting over the course of the evening, demonstrating their impressive comic talent. Writer Holly Stars also ‘multi-roles’ as the three Bottomley sisters – totally indistinguishable from each other but serving mainly to hike up the body count from tragic to absurd.
My personal favourite member of the cast would have to be Richard Energy, portraying the aging Tory MP Rich Whiteman (perhaps the least subtle name in a strong field of contenders which also includes Lady von Fistenburg). The physicality and energy brought to the role never gets old, and there is something to look forward to every time they take to the stage.
The script is a consistent source of hilarity and the audience have an absolute ball…
Occasionally, gags are built up but never quite pay off – the first act dedicates a fair amount of time to all the guests being under the impression that Diana herself would be coming, only for the attendees to find out that… she wasn’t invited.
Other than that, the script is a consistent source of hilarity and the audience have an absolute ball knowing that the next belly laugh is never more than a few lines away. I can’t wait to see what Stars does next.
-Daniel Shipman
Death Drop runs at The Lowry until Saturday 16 October 2021.
A double bill at The Lowry ‘Then and Now,’ and ‘The Waiting Game,’ is performed by Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black, a professional ballet company founded in 2001 that celebrates performers of black and Asian descent. They have developed diverse audiences across the country and The Lowry hosts the opening night of their 2021 autumn tour.
This show is a work of artistic genius…
Act 1 is entitled ‘Then and Now.’ It commences in a spine-tingling manner as poet and activist Adrienne Rich’s work ‘Dark Fields of the Republic,’ is an accompaniment to the dancers moves. This has been pre-recorded to run alongside.
Fiona L Bennett the Director of Poetry has chosen well. ‘What kind of times are these?’ the opening line is uncannily accurate and fitting for the post covid climate. So begins an exhilarating first act of music, poetry and dance that is holy evocative.
The award-winning choreographer Will Tuckett gives the dancers a stunning and powerful piece to perform. There are so many layers and it makes for a hypnotic, breathtaking watch that resonates.
Emotive and moving, at once joyous, then melancholic, and then playful. The dancers are skilled in bringing this alive; touching the hearts and souls of their audience who are in for a creative awakening during the thought-provoking spectacle. Music is a solo violin composed in 1676 by Heinrich von Biber, which enhances the mood and the energy of the performance – sombre and repetitive.
The second half has a different energy altogether although draws on similar themes, with music by Etta James and Ljova and the Kontraband, this section is choreographed by a second award-winning choreographer, Mthuthuzeli November who also performs. Costumes designed by Peter Todd are a marvellous distressed Pierrot vibe. Again a philosophical piece explores the mundanity of the 9-5 life where the main character is unravelling before us. A moving door is used intriguingly as a prop. Every bit of the space is utilised as the sound of a clock ticks in the background.
Truly awe-inspiring, a ‘hairs on the back of the neck’ dance spectacular…
This show is a work of artistic genius and creative force which spins like a tornado to etch in your psyche. The response and enthusiasm of the performance reached a standing ovation. This was a truly awe-inspiring, a ‘hairs on the back of the neck’ dance spectacular. It will be difficult to top this ambitious offering.
-Rachel Foster
Ballet Black plays at The Lowry, Salford until Wednesday 13 October 2021.
For a theatre so dedicated to amplifying the voices of young people, it feels appropriate that Contact have decided to re-open after their £6 million refurbishment with a show from their young company. After several years away from the building, it would have been easy to return with a gentle ‘welcome home’ piece and ease back into things – but after the past 18 months, CYC are feeling anything but gentle.
A supremely talented group of young people.
Much of the sixty-minute running time is given over to dance, with choreography by Yandass Ndlovu, and there is no doubt that this is a supremely talented group of young people. Taking inspiration from sources like the rigid ‘hands, face, space’ message which has become ubiquitous over the past 18 months and the claustrophobia of being stuck inside for months at a time, the company conjure a retrospective of sorts to the political, health and climate crises that have been vying for our attention.
Image credit: Fotocad.
As you can imagine, the mood is almost uniformly sober, but is punctuated by occasional glimmers of light in the form of short monologues reflecting on the lighter moments of the year. One breathless summary blending timelines of personal and political is particularly entertaining, whilst also making you realise what a saturated period of history we’re living through.
The standard of young performers and theatre-makers in Manchester remains sky-high.
Whilst the individual sections are powerful, the show is, unfortunately, less than the sum of its parts, primarily due to a lack of cohesive direction which could have been provided with a little more central guidance from director Matt Fenton. With shows like this, there is a fine line to tread between allowing the company to explore ideas and express themselves and aiming at an organised final product.
Despite this, it is heartening to see that the standard of young performers and theatre-makers in Manchester remains sky-high despite the limitations that have been placed on the industry – long may it continue.
Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop is what happens when we examine our heroes at their most vulnerable. Taking place the night before Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in the dimly lit room of a Memphis motel, we meet the Reverend at his most fallible – trading cigarettes and witticisms with the maid, Camae. We see MLK as we’ve never seen him before, and as the night wears on, we come to find that perhaps there is also more to Camae than there first appears.
The Mountaintop is emotional, thought-provoking, and honest.
Merlin’s Adetomiwa Edun sparkles as the honourable Dr Martin Luther King Jr, managing to both bring life to the hero known to all of us, as well as adding his own personality and style. It is due to the commitment, intensity, and raw emotion that Edun brings to the role that we begin to dismantle everything we think we know about this untouchable historical figure and consider him for what he was – a man. Edun delivers his words with every ounce of fire and passion that we have come to expect from an MLK portrayal. But what sets apart a good actor from a great one, is the ability to build the character up and place them on their rightful pedestal, before breaking them down just as easily. And Edun does this effortlessly, deconstructing the most well-known civil rights speaker in history in a way that has never been seen before.
Here to help him do so is Manchester School of Theatre graduate, Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, who stars as the captivating Camae. A relative newcomer to the stage, make no mistake, Ndlovu is no more a supporting actress than Dr Martin Luther King Jr was a TedEx guest speaker. She commands the stage with every second that she occupies it, and switches naturally between making our eyes water with laughter to filling them with tears. Her words are every bit as powerful as her counterpart’s, and the audience is drawn to her from the moment she steps inside the motel room. For not only is Ndlovu charming and exceptionally funny in this role, but she is also refreshingly cutting.
Camae is the perfect match for Dr Martin Luther King Jr, because she treats him like a person – and openly criticises everything that comes with that. The chemistry between Ndlovu and Edun is electric, and the atmosphere that they create on stage is unmatched. They put the audience at ease with their brilliant one-liners, excellent comedic timing and flirtatious banter only moments before they generate exhilarating tension. They play off of one another superbly, and are natural, believable – and most importantly real in their roles. It is a testament to both their skill, and the masterful writing of Katori Hall, who mimics real life so effortlessly and powerfully in her dialogue.
Because the performances are so real, everything around them becomes real too. For despite the minimal set design, we begin to visualise the room around them. It is as though you can feel the night chill outside, and the faded wallpaper of the motel room. The voices of Edun and Ndlovu transport us to another time, their accents perfectly capturing that 1960s Southern drawl. Though it is the creative team that have truly outdone themselves. They blend stunning visuals seamlessly with electrifying sound, creating some truly intense, beautiful sequences.
Two spectacular talents that undoubtedly have shining careers ahead of them.
Admittedly, at times the piece feels rather disjointed. The beginning of the piece takes a while to get to the point, though once it does it is an exceptional twist, and one well worth waiting for. The pace does pick up from here onwards, though later on there are parts of the dialogue that feel repetitive and verging on redundant. It begins to feel as though we are going in circles, though perhaps this is the desired effect as everything that the Reverend knew to be true crumbles around him. Whatever the reason, it runs the risk of taking us out of the piece and losing our interest, though Edun and Ndlovu always manage to draw us back. Perhaps overall, the script could have benefitted from losing 10 minutes or so to keep the pace, though altogether it holds our attention skillfully for a two-person piece. Katori Hall’s masterpiece is no easy feat to tackle onstage – a two-person piece, told in real-time, that jumps from hilariously funny to hard-hitting and powerful in a matter of seconds. Not to mention that it is played in the round and features one of the most significant voices in American history. All of this, however, the cast and director, Roy Alexander Wise, handle with grace and expertise. The Mountaintop is emotional, thought-provoking, and honest, and it showcases two spectacular talents that undoubtedly have shining careers ahead of them.
-Megan Hyland
The Mountaintop plays at the Royal Exchange until 27 October 2021.
Just as the Bruntwood Prize announce details of the competition for 2022, the Royal Exchange receives the world première of the Judges Award-prize winner 2019. Written by Stuart Slade, Glee & Me is a one-woman show about 16-year-old Lola, a bright and brave teenager, who is diagnosed with glioma multiforme, an aggressive and incurable brain tumour.
Slade’s play is all about living, not the inevitability of death.
For those of you who retreat from watching plays about cancer, Glee & Me is anything but maudlin and self-indulgent. Witty and sharp, Lola’s teenage existence filled with ‘a million tiny anxieties’ has now been quashed for ‘one giant, crushingly existential’ problem. Glee & Me asks, if you were given a limited time to live, what would you do? Refreshing and humorously dark, Slade’s play is all about living, not the inevitability of death.
Liv Hill gives a brilliant, beautifully honest and disciplined performance.
Liv Hill gives a brilliant, beautifully honest and disciplined performance as Lola. Under Nimmo Ismail’s masterful direction, she is sassy and intelligent; talking directly to the audience, full of sparkling smiles and wise-cracks; socially awkward though highly perceptive. Jess Bernberg’s clever lighting design flickers and crackles while a large yellow parachute hangs over the stage – a symbol of Lola’s progressing condition. Dancing around Anna Yates’ yellow carpeted stage, reaching into concealed compartments for props, Hill’s performance is well-paced, punchy and completely absorbing.
Despite an hour and a half of classy performance and witty optimism, there’s only one way the story can go…Some members of the audience have reached for tissues. And on leaving the theatre, I feel surprisingly hopeful. Uplifted. No-one really knows the meaning of life – but I reckon Glee & Me gets pretty close.
-Kristy Stott
Glee & Me runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre until 30 October 2021.
If there was any show to break my 18-month theatre hiatus – it had to be this one. Explosive. Emotional. Empowering. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is one of the biggest productions to head to Manchester since the pandemic.
Explosive. Emotional. Empowering.
The show first wowed audiences at Sheffield Crucible in 2017 before transferring to the West End later that year. Since then, the musical has taken the entertainment world by storm with a big-screen adaptation, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: The Movie, hitting Amazon Prime later this month and a North American premiere planned for next year. And once you’ve seen the show…you’ll realise…that it’s no wonder everybody’s STILL talking about Jamie.
Inspired by a 2011 BBC real-life documentary, ‘Jamie: Drag Queen at 16’, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie charts the story of Sheffield teenager Jamie New and his journey ‘out of the darkness’ to become a drag queen.
With an explosive ensemble opening – ‘And You Don’t Even Know It’ – it’s clear that the show is going to be fabulous and feel good. Magnetic, sparkling and consuming, I felt invested in Jamie’s story from the get-go. Tom MacRae’s snappy and witty script is kept bang up-to-date with a good dose of Covid-related humour. Anna Fleischle’s set and costume design complement the high-energy production – transitions between scenes are smooth and aided by clever video projections. Dan Gillespie Sells’ musical score is a real highlight too – catchy pop-perfection – you’ll be humming it for days afterwards.
Image credit: Matt Crockett
From the moment Layton Williams steps on stage as Jamie, he shines bright. Brilliant, sassy, loveable and effervescent. Softly spoken, he plays the role with a delicate vulnerability and loads of charm. There isn’t a weak link in the supporting cast either: Shane Richie as Jamie’s mentor Hugo aka drag queen Loco Chanelle; Shobna Gulati as quick-witted family friend Ray and Sharan Phull as Jamie’s best friend Pritti. Amy Ellen Richardson gives an outstanding performance as Jamie’s mum Margaret – her tear-inducing, goosebump-producing rendition of ‘He’s My Boy’ was so phenomenal, I found myself stifling my sobs.
‘He’s My Boy’ was so phenomenal, I found myself stifling my sobs.
With a live band suspended high on stage, stunning choreography, superb pacing and top-notch direction by Jonathan Butterell, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie received a well-deserved standing ovation on the night I attended. It’s sparkles, sequins and heels but it’s also a wonderful feel-good story about growing up, acceptance and taking care of the people you love.
Winner of the Kenneth Branagh New Drama Writing Award, Waiting for Hamlet is a play set in purgatory. King Hamlet and his fool Yorick find themselves ghoulish spectators waiting for a cause.
King Hamlet has arrived freshly murdered by his brother whilst Yorick has occupied the place for over twenty years, keeping watch. Having failed to open the door to both heaven and hell King Hamlet is insistent on going back to the other side, only Yorick isn’t so sure.
Both Tim Marriott (King Hamlet) and Nicholas Collett (Yorick) give fantastic performances.
Marriott’s King Hamlet is ludicrous and self-centered, likening himself to Christ whilst Collett portrays a wise fool. Throughout the course of the play, you soon wonder whether the jester’s hat is sitting on the wrong head.
Both Tim Marriott (King Hamlet) and Nicholas Collett (Yorick) give fantastic performances.
The duo are immediately in character upon arrival, providing the perfect match to one another, verbally sparring. Quite like how you might imagine limbo, the stage is bare and sparse with just a small amount of boxes the characters sometimes sit on, exasperated with the other.
With well over 4,000 lines and around 30,000 words, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play. However, with a running time of only 50 minutes, this arguable prequel covers a lot of ground.
David Visick’s script is undoubtedly the star of the show – within such a short space of time the duo’s after-life commentary spans and loops around topics such as politics, religion, nature and hierarchy, sometimes stepping into the realm of poetry. However, it is important to note that a good script can only truly shine with an equal performance. Marriott and Collett rise to the challenge with ease.
David Visick’s script is undoubtedly the star of the show.
It made me smile to think that King Hamlet’s famous speech from beyond the grave actually came from his ex-jester’s mind.
This understated play is a love letter to the bard, a masterclass in how to bring a new dimension into a well-known tale and ultimately, a demonstration of how to find the comedy in one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies.
-Elise Gallagher
The Summer Shakespeare Festival runs at GOAT Mcr (Great Open Air Theatre, Manchester) situated in the amphitheatre at the Great Northern Warehouse, 235 Deansgate until 15 August 2021.
One of Shakespeare’s most performed comedies Much Ado About Nothing centres on two very different romantic pairings but rather than told by the bard, The GOAT Manchester have decided to let the city’s watchmen take it upon themselves to tell their tale.
Led by Dogberry (Sean Henry) and followed obediently by Oatcake (Kyle Fisher) and Seacoal (Abey Bradbury) the performance takes on the vein of a village amateur dramatics society where the fashionably late Friar Francis (Gemma Whiteley) takes charge of the session with an unimpressed Verges (Harry Mace) joining them.
The company occupies and makes use of all space around them. There are no structural props in the performance space, just a fancy dress rail and costume box. The giddy characters whip around the venue in between audience rows, and even scare a spectating dog.
The giddy characters whip around the venue in between audience rows, and even scare a spectating dog.
The performance is completely over the top, but brilliantly so. A performance highlight was the ghoulish surprise of Don John complete with a plague mask, black cape and clawed plastic hands. His pantomime villain-esque presence and voice – the work of two of the cast – make his limited on-stage presence larger than life.
The skillful ensemble of 5 actors expertly juggle multiple amounts of physical comedy alongside Shakespearean prose. After a slow start, the performance really gathers pace and sets its own rhythm, complete with acoustic guitar performances and trumpet playing. Bradbury, Henry and Mace demonstrate a masterclass in doubling whilst Fisher punctuates his performances with cartoon-like slapstick.
A deliciously funny retelling of a Shakespeare classic.
This performance is a pay-what-you-can production and is a part of GOAT Mcr’s Summer Shakespeare Festival, which will be taking place at the Great Northern Warehouse’s Amphitheatre. Unless you are like me where our performance was interrupted by torrential rain. GOAT Mcr quickly got everyone inside into a dry indoor space and kicked off the show – the cast took off again seemingly unbothered by the false start.
Although Manchester may have not have blessed the company with good weather, come rain or shine this production delivers a deliciously funny retelling of a Shakespeare classic – just don’t forget your raincoat!
-Elise Gallagher
Much Ado About Nothing runs at GOAT Mcr (Great Open Air Theatre, Manchester) situated in the amphitheatre at the Great Northern Warehouse, 235 Deansgate until 15 August 2021. Tickets are sold on a Pay-What-You-Can basis.
‘If we love, we grieve. That’s the deal. That’s the pact. Grief and love are forever intertwined.’ So says Nick Cave, a man writing about grief more vividly and eloquently than anyone else currently alive (for my money, at least.) A similar sentiment is the ultimate destination and realisation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Notes on Grief, one of the flagship performances as part of the 2021 incarnation of the Manchester International Festival.
The text of the piece is taken verbatim from a New Yorker written by Adichie in the aftermath of her father’s passing in 2020. Whilst the death itself was not covid related, the grieving process for a family spread over several continents was inevitably seriously hampered by the ongoing pandemic.
One of the most timely commissions in the history of the festival.
Whilst a magazine article about grief may not sound like fertile ground for a compelling piece of theatre, Rae McKen’s staging of the text converts the extremely personal events detailed into something more universally recognisable, especially after an 18-month period in which so many of us have lost loved ones and been denied the catharsis of communal grief. In this way, this is one of the most timely commissions in the history of the festival.
Michelle Asante’s central performance representing Adichie is strong, natural, and allows easy empathy from the audience.
Michelle Asante’s central performance representing Adichie is strong, natural, and allows easy empathy from the audience, which is essential to the function of a piece this intimate. However, the frequency of stumbled lines makes it difficult to remain entirely immersed at times. The supporting multi-roling of Uche Abuah and Itoya Osagiede is a great boon to the world building, and their changing dialects (coached by Mary Howland) are remarkably strong.
The sound design (Edward Lewis) is sparse yet emotive and impactful and augments the text beautifully. It blends well with the movement (Yami Löfvenberg), however some sections of movement feel contrived and almost amateurish, especially towards the beginning of the piece.
So Notes on Grief is not without flaws, but its heart shines through – bruised and beaten by the cacophony of grief but not dimmed, and able to outshine any of the imperfections which might have a greater impact on lesser work.
-Daniel Shipman
Notes on Grief plays at Manchester Central until 17 July 2021.
