Exchange will be 2014 MTA venue
Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre is to be the next venue for the theatre awards.
> Independent informed reviews by the region’s most experienced critics
What's on
Manchester gets Dirty all over again
Dirty Dancing is returning to the Palace Theatre in Manchester this week two years after it first wowed the city
Manchester gets Carnaby Street
Several familiar faces front a new musical coming to Manchester Opera House this week
Waterside's summer attractions
Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Greater Manchester, has a variety of events and activities coming up over the summer
How to Succeed for The Company
Award-winning youth theatre, The Company are returning to The Lowry in Salford with their latest production How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, the musical and satirical look at cut-throat corporate life and office politics
Tina Turner musical heads for Salford
The Lowry in Salford stages the life of pop legend Tina Turner in a new musical Soul Sister from June 3-8
Carrying a torch for Piaf
The final show of the Octagon’s 2012-13 season of plays in Bolton is the Pam Gems classic Piaf
Pinter's Birthday Party for Exchange
The classic Harold Pinter play The Birthday Party continues the current season at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from June 5 to July 6
Sue backs Bolton fundraising
The Octagon in Bolton has announced that TV favourite Sue Johnston is lending her support to the Theatre’s 2013 fundraising campaign
Sherwood Foresters sought
The Octagon in Bolton is looking for local young people, aged 10-15, who would like to audition for the upcoming festive production of Robin Hood
Not Another Festival for Manchester
Not Another Festival in partnership with PlatformMCR is a new event bringing together some of Manchester’s key artistic organisations (Contact, Royal Exchange Theatre, Gorse Hill Studio and Z-arts) and young people’s organisations (Old Trafford and ME1 Youth Group) to showcase the creativity of the city’s young people
Happy Birthday to Rocky
Still fabulous at 40 - Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show is set to celebrate its 40th Anniversary at the Palace in Manchester in June
Drama in the charity shop
Oldham’s Hard Graft Theatre Company has come up with a novel way to give one of their town’s empty shops a new use
Ghost comes back to Manchester
Ghost the Musical, based on the Academy Award winning film, is returning to the Opera House Manchester – where it enjoyed its world premiere and a seven-week pre-West End run
Brilliant Adventures for Exchange Studio
The world premiere of Bruntwood Prize-winning play Brilliant Adventures comes to the Studio at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre to May 25
Queen tribute show for Opera House
Bohemian Rhapsody The Hits of Queen comes to Manchester Opera House from June 4-8
Cush Jumbo is in the House
Olivier Award and Manchester Theatre Award nominated actress Cush Jumbo is set to star in a major revival of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from Wednesday to June 1
Octagon aims for a perfect 10
The Octagon Theatre artistic director David Thacker will be celebrating his fifth year in the role with 10 home-produced productions – the first time in its history
More collaborations for Exchange
A co-production of a landmark play by Arthur Miller, a major revival of a Stephen Sondheim classic (in partnership with West Yorkshire Playhouse), a new production of a Victoria Wood play with songs and the world premiere of the latest Simon Stephens play are among the highlights of the newly-announced Manchester Royal Exchange 2013 / 14 Season
Library books out with final four
The next four productions, from Manchester’s Library Theatre Company, will be the final ones under the Library banner prior to the move with Cornerhouse to their new Manchester city venue, Home
Elementary for the Opera House
An original theatrical thriller arrives at the Opera House in Manchester in June when Sherlock Holmes embarks on a gripping new case in Sherlock Holmes – The Best Kept Secret
Pirates heave to at Opera House
Gilbert and Sullivan’s best loved operetta The Pirates of Penzance will play at the Manchester Opera House in June when the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company return to the stage after a 10 year absence with a historic collaboration with Scottish Opera
Ladies Day out in Oldham
Ladies day comes to Oldham Coliseum in May
Enough said in a double bill
The Enough Project: a double-bill of new plays from leading Northern voices seeks answers to the question ‘what is enough?’ It’s the starting point for works directed by Alan Lane (Slung Low Theatre Company) coming to The Lowry in Salford June 20-22
Fringe on Top in July
Greater Manchester Fringe Festival is back in July
Sound and fury for city premiere
A number of Manchester’s most exciting young actors are in the cast for the Library Theatre Company’s third and final site-specific production, Manchester Sound: The Massacre
Not quite so grim up North
In Northern Spirit’s new theatre production A Wondrous Place, four young writers challenge the ‘it’s grim up North’ clichés and offer four fresh perspectives on contemporary Northern cities: Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester
Summer arts project at Octagon
This summer the Octagon in Bolton will be running a creative two-week performing arts project for two groups, aged 10-15 and 16-25 at Bolton College
Buxton Festival
Launching Buxton Festival 2013, Artistic Director Stephen Barlow, just back from an extended stint of conducting in Beijing, unveiled a three-week programme offering 140 events
Kingston in Branagh Macbeth
Alex Kingston is to appear alongside Kenneth Branagh in the Manchester International Festival production of Macbeth, which has already sold out
Jodie set for Manchester panto
Britain’s Got Talent winners Ashleigh & Pudsey team up with Jodie Prenger, Ben Faulks (aka Mr Bloom from CBeebies) regular Manchester panto favourite Tam Ryan and Eric Potts for the city’s Opera House family pantomime Dick Whittington
Dreamcoat for Stockport Plaza
Stockport’s restored Plaza welcomes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as part of its national tour from July 1-6
Alzheimer's through eyes of a child
Belinda Lazenby, artistic director of the newly-formed Az2B Theatre Company based in Penryn in Cornwall has written and produced Grandma Remember Me which looks at the wider impact of Alzheimer's disease on a family and is written through the eyes of a child
More than Everage for 2014
Barry Humphries is to extend his Farewell Tour of the UK into 2014
Rain forecast for Manchester
The award-winning revival of Singin’ In The Rain will tour the UK and Ireland later this year starting at the Opera House in Manchester on November 13
Joey gets a run out at Lowry
The Lowry welcomed Joey, the life-size puppet horse to Salford to celebrate the launch of the North West premiere of War Horse, which comes to the Salford venue in November
Mysterious Skin stage premiere in city
Following a critically-acclaimed sold out extended run of their original play M the award-nominated Vertigo Theatre Productions switch gear to present the controversial drama Mysterious Skin written by Prince Gomolvilas and based on the bestselling novel by Scott Heim
Many happy returns for Dick Whittington
Stockport Plaza has announced the cast for its family pantomime Dick Whittington
Manchester International Festival 2013
With performers ranging from Massive Attack to Kenneth Branagh, from Maxine Peake to pianist Martha Argerich and featuring such novelties as a biospheric mill on the banks of the River Irwell, the programme for this year’s Manchester International Festival is nothing if not diverse
West Side Story for Christmas
West Side Story will be at the Palace in Manchester, from December 10 to January 4, as part of a national tour that follows a season at Sadler’s Wells in London
Ghost comes back to Manchester
Ghost the Musical, based on the award winning film, is to return to the Opera House in Manchester – where it enjoyed its world premiere and a seven-week pre-West End run
Lisa heads home with Strictly spin-off
Manchester’s own Lisa Riley headlines when Strictly Confidential, another spin-off from the hit TV reality contest, comes to the Lowry in Salford from July 8-14
Latest reviews
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The Count of Monte Cristo
Dumas/Loizou/Mann/Tolson
Thunder Road Theatre at
Buxton Studio Theatre
(reviewer: Philip Radcliffe)
Piaf
Pam Gems
Octagon Theatre, Bolton at
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
(reviewer: Carmel Thomason)
Mixed Bill
Various
Birmingham Royal Ballet at
Buxton Opera House
(reviewer: Philip Radcliffe)
I Love Oldham
Mark Whiteley
Hard Graft at
Albion Street (shop unit) Oldham
(reviewer: Paul Genty)
Dirty Dancing
Eleanor Bergstein
Karl Sydow and Joye Entertainment at
Palace Theatre, Manchester
(reviewer: David Upton)
Carnaby Street
Carl Leighton-Pope
Carnaby Street Promotions Ltd in association with Hackney Empire at
Opera House, Manchester
(reviewer: David Upton)
La Traviata
Verdi/McCulloch
Opera UK at
Buxton Opera House
(reviewer: Philip Radcliffe)
Mugabeland!
Justin MacGregor
Come As You Arts Northwest at
The Lowry Studio
(reviewer: Alan Hulme)
Sutra
Sidi Larby Cherkaoui and Antony Gormley
Monks from the Shaolin Temple at
The Lowry
(reviewer: Alan Hulme)
Ladies' Day
Amanda Whittington
Oldham Coliseum company at
Oldham Coliseum
(reviewer: Paul Genty)
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