Walking in to the studio at The Lowry to lively Mexican music, letters on our chairs (which we weren’t allowed to open yet) and brightly lit neon cacti seemed to relax everyone straight away. And this was before the shots of Tequila were dished out.
Falling in Love with Frida first previewed at Sick! Festival in Brighton last year. This year the Festival comes to Manchester, aiming to shine a light on urgent issues that are taboo and misunderstood and looking to confront the challenges of life and death.
With a cast of 4 women, Falling in Love with Frida, is a warm, intimate and interactive performance exploring the life, love and legacy of the artist Frida Kahlo. The 50 minute performance is made up of movement, music and spoken word and is led by Australian born Caroline Bowditch, a disabled performance artist and choreographer, who now lives in Glasgow.
Frida Kahlo was severely injured in a road traffic accident as a teenager, recovering from these injuries caused her to become isolated – a feeling which influenced her most famous works, namely self portraits. Caroline Bowditch explores her own experiences, having brittle bone disease and being a performance maker and wonders what mark she will leave on the world. It is apt that the play opens with Bowditch lying on the top of a yellow dining table staring at a reflection of herself in a mirror – the performance is a self portrait of Bowditch.
With seating on 3 sides of the stage, the performance allowed for the audience to really get involved – dancers Welly O’Brien and Nicole Guarino would lock eyes and flash a smile to individuals in the crowd. Bowditch even shared a piece of water melon with one lady as well as passing a small note to another. British Sign Language interpreter, Yvonne Strain was also fully immersed in the movement on stage- skilled choreography made Strain intrinsic to the performance, something that I have never seen before.
As Caroline Bowditch expresses her passion for Frida Kahlo she draws parallels between herself and the painter, using this to reflect on her own life and experiences. Throughout the show I ended up finding out more about Bowditch than I did Kahlo – she gave me a snapshot of her life, her loves, her dreams and explored ideas around legacy and how we might be remembered.
This is the first time Sick! Festival has been launched in Manchester and it has certainly aroused discussion and succeeded in encouraging people to talk and debate subjects which may not have been approached so honestly before.
Our pick of the best Manchester Theatre this month
Rather like the Mancunian weather at the moment – we’ve got an eclectic month of theatre planned for March. It’s a lucky dip of cultural goodness – so feast your eyes on our top picks for this month.
Blood Brothers (Palace Theatre)
Written by Willy Russell, Blood Brothers tells the moving story of twins who were separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with fateful consequences.
This smash hit musical sees multi-platinum selling artist and my favourite crooner, Marti Pellow take the role of narrator and the critically acclaimed Maureen Nolan play Mrs Johnstone.
Featuring a superb musical score, which includes Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged Tell Me It’s Not True, the show has been affectionately named the Standing Ovation Musical.
Blood Brothers runs at the Palace Theatre, Manchester from 2nd March 2015 until 14th March 2015.
Sham Bodie (Kraak, Northern Quarter) – 5th March
Sham Bodie is a monthly night held at Kraak in the NQ. Essentially, it’s like lots of the best nights out rolled into one package. There is stand-up and live comedy sketches, from new and established acts, as well as live music from some really good bands. This month features BBC New Comedy Award finalist Tom Little, Fab Radio’s Nina Gilligan and Michael J Dolan. There is also music from garage blues two-piece, Dirty Heels. Sham Bodie only costs a fiver! And this month, in honour of St Patrick’s Day on the 17th, they have teamed up with their pals at Jameson to bring you free whisky. Yes, I said FREE WHISKY…go on, go on, go on….
SICK! Festival
Launched in 2013, SICK! Festival is the first of its kind in the UK, dedicated to revealing, debating and exploring the physical, mental and social challenges of life and death.
SICK! isn’t for the faint hearted or those who fancy a bit of frivolous escapism- the festival explores a variety of issues such as rape and mental health, amongst others, through a variety of different mediums – art installations, film and performance. The festival runs through most of March and events are taking place all over Manchester and Salford. Please take a look at the program of events.
Anna Karenina (The Royal Exchange)
Ony Uhiara, takes the title role of Anna, a dutiful wife and a loving mother. When she meets Count Vronsky it turns her world on its head, putting everything that she has ever known at risk. In a parallel story, Levin is trying to live justly in a social system built on injustice. Spurned on by the woman he loves, he turns his back on wealthy society and heads for his country estate, determined to refashion it into a vision of a fairer world. Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece, set against the backdrop of imperial Russia, explores what happens when two very different couples grapple with the strongest emotion we humans are capable of feeling – love.
Olivier-nominated director Ellen McDougall makes her Royal Exchange debut in this contemporary version of the Leo Tolstoy classic.
Anna Karenina runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre from 19th March 2015 until 2nd May 2015.
BRINK (The Studio, The Royal Exchange)
This promises to be an interesting world premiere by The Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company and written by Jackie Kay (one of my favourite writers – love Red Dust Road).
The production explores the idea of being on the ‘brink’ – what brings you to the brink? When you are close to the edge – do you push forward or do you step back? Everything is possible when you are so close to the brink.
BRINK is running in The Studio at the Royal Exchange from 26th March 2015 until 29th March 2015.
Maxine Peake as Hamlet (The Cornerhouse)
For those of you, like myself, who didn’t manage to catch Maxine Peake as Hamlet the first time round at The Royal Exchange – this film screening of Hamlet at Manchester’s Cornerhouse may be for you.
Hamlet is possibly Shakespeare’s most iconic work, exploring ideas of love and betrayal and themes of murder and madness.
This groundbreaking version of Hamlet, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange’s fastest selling show of the last decade. It had a complete sell out run in the theatre and Maxine Peake’s Hamlet was described as “delicately ferocious” by The Guardian and “a milestone Hamlet” by the Manchester Evening News.
I’m definitely going to catch it this time round.
Cornerhouse have 3 showings of this unmissable performance.
Mon 23 March: Doors 19:15, Starts at 19:30 Sun 29 March: Doors 14:45, Starts at 15:00 Thu 2 April: Doors 19:15, Starts at 19:30
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Coppélia (The Lowry)
And finally, something for the little ones – Birmingham Royal Ballet are visiting The Lowry with Coppélia, it runs from March 4th until March 7th.
But more importantly, the Birmingham Royal Ballet are also presenting First Steps – A Child’s Coppélia on Friday 6th March at 1pm.
In this hour long version, the delightful story has been specially adapted to suit children aged from 3-7.
The Lowry are also holding a Family Fun Day on Saturday 7th March from 12-1:30pm, which is free to all matinee ticket holders.
