Octagon, BoltonJessica Baglow is radiant as the gobby but intellectually insatiable hairdresser who spars with her boozy Open University lecturerIf one thing has altered in the 37 years sinc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterAnna Jordan’s prize-winning play about two teenagers living alone in a filthy flat is difficult to watch yet easy to loveAnna Jordan’s Bruntwood prize-winning p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36AMThe Liverpudlian folk-singer has written the drama she always wanted to write, drawing upon her grandfather’s shocking experiences of war at seaOver the past 10 years, Lizzie Nunnery has p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AMOpera House, ManchesterCBeebies’ resident clown shares his origin myth at a Manchester international festival appearance that is seriously sillySo who is the hottest ticket at this year’…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AM41 Monkgate, York F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel comes to life in the Guild of Misrule’s fancy-dress interpretation, though you may be too busy playing spin the bottle to hear the whole stor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMCrucible, Sheffield Powered by Anna-Jane Casey’s explosive central turn, this version of Irving Berlin’s musical wisely tones down the misogyny and racismThe American election result is …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AMCurve, LeicesterDavid Wood sensibly doesn’t try to overextend what is one of Dahl’s most concise works, but he does keep the audience – especially the bearded members – on their toes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMLyceum, SheffieldThere's tragedy at the core of French's roly-poly persona – yet the place she finds herself in appears to be a good oneIt's extraordinary to consider that Dawn French has …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48PMLiverpool PlayhouseThis celebration of the 19th-century Star theatre is neither boring nor educational – just as Ken Dodd advised its writer, Michael Wynne Liverpool’s theatres seem to b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AMTheatre Royal, YorkBerwick Kaler is back for his 38th pantomime, which bursts with traditional surreal humour and features a Suzi Quatro cameoWe all need a bit of light escapism around this …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AMLive theatre, NewcastleFirst-time writer Nina Berry’s deftly original and intelligent two-hander about Christmas wishes and quantum mechanics displays astonishing confidencePantomime seaso…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterA luckless New York dancer takes scraps from a rich man’s table in a terrific-looking and sounding revival of the 60s show written by Neil SimonHas there ever bee…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughIn two Christmas stocking-fillers, Knowing Her and Knowing Him, a couple celebrating 40 years of marriage discover the deep freeze in their relationshipIt�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMBirmingham RepLong John Silver swaggers perilously close to child abuse while his parrot pecks out dissenters’ eyes in this darkened voyage through Stevenson’s taleRobert Louis Stevenson…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMCurve, LeicesterNikolai Foster’s production returns to the musical’s roots, restoring rarely heard tunes and replacing the sanitised film’s California beaches with Chicago’s mean str…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMNottingham PlayhouseKenneth Alan Taylor delivers dancing bunnies, vintage show tunes and 19 kilos of glitter for a perfect balance of old and newYou know you’re in panto land when it sudde…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMNew Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeTheresa Heskins whisks Andersen’s fairytale back to its Danish roots, adding a snow flurry of hygge and revealing its debt to DickensAt the end of a year in wh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AMNorthern Stage, Newcastle Mark Calvert’s charming revival robs Roald Dahl’s story of its dramatic climax but makes up for it with a swinging score and plenty of New York sass If you had …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:31AMHome, ManchesterSeemingly located in the only fjord in range of Weatherfield, Polly Findlay’s powerful revival features some fine performancesWhen Ibsen’s Ghosts was first produced in Lo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMLive theatre, NewcastleThe radical thinker’s appetite for hypnotism leads to a delightful debunking of Victorian pseudoscienceThe radical Victorian thinker Harriet Martineau was a woman ah…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AMNottingham PlayhouseIn an inspired updating, Fiona Buffini relocates Thomas Middleton’s play about the abuse of power to a 1970s celebrity world of tight trousers and chest-wigsThomas Midd…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMRoyal Exchange, ManchesterThis charismatic portrayal of a giant intellect trapped by his inability to lie brings a fresh aspect of tragedy to the Alan Turing biography industryWhen Hugh Whit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AMWild Woods, BradfordThe gloomy basement of an abandoned Marks & Spencer hosts a sci-fi piece that comments on the current immigration crisisFreedom Studios is a Bradford theatre company …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMOctagon, Bolton David Thacker’s third stab at Shakespeare’s late play reveals deep contemplation of its themes, with Leontes’s agony soothed by heart-stopping tendernessThe wildly disp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:57AMHull Truck theatreJanet Plater’s play about the factory vessel that went missing in 1974 breaks like a wave of grief in a perfect stormIn theatrical terms, Hull’s tenure as UK city of cu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:56AMLive theatre, Newcastle Tom Wells’ play about three chronically uncool school-leavers who form a band treads a perfect line between gauche charm and whimsyFrom the unlikely theatrical hots…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:37AMYork Theatre RoyalThe children’s favourite is brought thrillingly up to date with a string of fairy lights, a handful of glitter and a healthy dose of imagination‘I would definitely not …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:03AMEveryman, LiverpoolNick Bagnall relocates Shakespeare’s early comedy to a mind-altering mecca for mods, but the high decibels sometimes overwhelm the poetryNick Bagnall is developing a rep…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AMWest Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsAnthony Shaffer’s meta-thriller is not so much an “ultimate game of cat-and-mouse” as an old mog prodding at its toy before settling down for a snoozeAnt…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:46PMNorthern Stage, NewcastleA pair of belting performances power this energetic tale of two fans’ desperate attempts to get into Newcastle UnitedWhen Jonathan Tulloch’s novel about the effo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AMYork Theatre RoyalNorthern Broadsides offer a surprisingly genial take on the tale of three couples whose silver wedding party descends into confusion When Barrie Rutter launched Northern Br…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:50AM
