520 stories by "Alfred Hickling"
Bradford is about to host a live version of Carmen with full Bollywood trimmings. Alfred Hickling hears how the organisers plan to get 3,000 audience members dancing in fountainsA team of bu…
Crucible, SheffieldWhen Christopher Eccleston was regenerated as the ninth Doctor Who, his assistant couldn't understand why a time lord should have a northern accent. "Lots of planets have …
Crucible, SheffieldAlan Bennett's almost 10-year-old play about a group of bright, northern grammar-school lads preparing for Oxbridge has not wanted for quality revivals. But it has been cr…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterThe Royal Exchange has hit a seam of remarkable young writing talent, having recently presented Rory Mullarkey's disquieting debut Cannibals, and now this Bruntwood…
Theatr Clwyd, MoldThere was a time when a set of French windows on stage, and Terence Rattigan on the poster, would signify the most placid and predictable entertainment. Not any longer: the…
Northern Stage, NewcastleIt's curious that Dennis Potter is primarily honoured " in the theatre at least " for one of the slightest pieces he wrote. Originally conceived for the small screen…
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeContrary to popular misconception, Phileas Fogg did not complete any part of his three-month circumnavigation of the globe by balloon " which leaves Theresa Hesk…
New artistic director Mark Babych is determined to leave the experimental theatre company's troubles behind and reclaim its original sense of identityForty years ago, Mike Bradwell wrote to …
New artistic director Mark Babych is determined to leave the experimental theatre company's troubles behind and reclaim its original sense of identity Continue reading...
Hull TruckMike Bradwell says he founded Hull Truck "to make dirty and dangerous theatre". Now he's back to direct on Hull Truck's main stage for the first time in more than 30 years, and alt…
Playhouse, LiverpoolAt the age of 85, Peter Nichols finally seems to be back in fashion. Michael Grandage's revival of Privates on Parade was garlanded with praise; a new production of Nicho…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterRory Mullarkey's first full-length play delivers a swift dramatic response to the horse-meat scandal. Set in a remote, post-Soviet region plagued by war and starvat…
Octagon, BoltonDavid Thacker has unfinished business with The Glass Menagerie. In 1981, he was due to direct the play with the Hollywood star Gloria Grahame playing the role of Ama…
Theatre by the Lake, KeswickJohn Buchan believed Hugh Walpole's Rogue Herries " the first of an epic tetralogy charting the fortunes of a down-at-heel Cumberland dynasty " to be "the greates…
Hull Truck TheatreConor McKee's drama, in which six characters endure a bad night out in Manchester, is advertised as "a white-knuckle ride of betrayal, debt and lost innocence". But though …
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsFor the poet and playwright Lemn Sissay, adapting Benjamin Zephaniah's 2001 novel about a 14-year-old Ethiopian-Eritrean boy's turbulent passage through the Br…
Harrogate theatreAlan Ayckbourn is not the first to suggest there's something a bit sinister about Santa Claus. Even so, this cautionary tale about a young woman's friendship with an apparen…
Lawrence Batley, HuddersfieldIf one were to define a vision of hell, it might be a perpetual Sunday afternoon listening to Cliff Adams's vocal ensemble singing something simple on Radio 2. W…
Carriageworks, LeedsNoel is a new boy in an intimidating financial institution: "a geeky IT nerd with his packed lunch and new pencil case" as one of the more established traders, Ray, puts …
Crucible, Sheffield"How is a woman to have a husband when all the men belong to their mothers?" It's a question that preoccupied DH Lawrence throughout the writing of Sons and Lovers, as wel…
Lowry, SalfordWherever the dirty, the oppressed and the battle-weary gather, there will always be an opportunist on hand to sell them some tat. Bertolt Brecht's epic may be about a bafflingl…
Gimp masks, CIA agents and sexy underwear are not the half of it in a Jurassic Park-influenced production of Doctor FaustusIn a rehearsal studio at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, preparations…
Liverpool PlayhouseIn its simplest form, Sink or Swim presents three men in a boat with one oar between them and nowhere to go but insane. Spike theatre's director Mark Smith took inspiratio…
Liverpool PlayhouseThink of Liverpool and you think of the Beatles, Bill Shankly " and Molière. Roger McGough's mission to re-establish the Frenchman as a Mersey wit has entered its third (…
Viaduct, HalifaxWhen Barrie Rutter put together a scratch ensemble of plain-speaking theatrical nonconformists in 1992, who would have predicted that Northern Broadsides would become one of …
