520 stories by "Alfred Hickling"
Lowry, SalfordMost performers try to avoid dying a death on stage: performance artist Marina Abramović approached director Robert Wilson with a request that he produce hers.has been maki…
It's not about small woodland creatures, and it's definitely not about Terry Wogan. Alfred Hickling joins in with the Cornish Floral DanceIn May 1911 a young violinist and composer of light…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterNotice is served that this may not be your average As You Like It by the appearance of a busker strumming an electric guitar in what appears to be a cross between a…
Opera House, ManchesterMichael Billington recently lamented in these pages that, whereas musicals used to be inspired by books, movies and real events, now they are frequently adapted from a…
Arts cuts spell curtains for the Dukes theatre's alfresco events in Lancaster, but Chester's new open-air arena ensures the show goes on, rain or shineIt's the height of summer, which can on…
Media City, Salford QuaysThe last Punchdrunk production for the Manchester international festival had terrified audiences fleeing from a chainsaw-wielding maniac. This time it's a lot scarie…
Royal Exchange, ManchesterIn bald summary, Bunny is an intimate monologue by Shameless, Skins and Cast-offs writer Jack Thorne about an anxious teen who takes her knickers off in a stra…
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeThe seed of this JM Barrie upstairs-downstairs drama was planted by Arthur Conan Doyle's observation that "if a king and an able seaman were to be wrecked togeth…
Coliseum, OldhamSince the death of her trawlerman husband, Margaret has developed obsessive rituals, including unplugging all unused electrical items, replacing lids, and closing cupboards i…
Octagon, BoltonStephen Sondheim's musical shocker borrows from the Grand Guignol narrative of Victorian penny dreadfuls and the cathartic arc of Jacobean revenge drama. Elizabeth Newman's pr…
Theatre Royal, YorkGerald Durrell said that growing up in Corfu with his family was "like living in one of the more flamboyant, slapstick comic operas". Witnessing this new stage adaptation,…
Stephen Joseph, ScarboroughThe late Pam Gems wrote to fulfil a specific need: "When I came to the theatre in the 1970s I saw straight away that there were no parts for women, so I had a caus…
Theatre-by-the-Lake, KeswickKeswick's Theatre-by-the-Lake was awarded a 22% increase in the Arts Council's spending review, yet the opening of the summer season was one of those evenings in …
Royal Exchange, ManchesterFew things signify New York quite so succinctly as a cast-iron fire hydrant. And nothing suggests a rough, unkempt outer borough of New York more than a hydrant sta…
Crucible, SheffieldNot much was revealed about the domestic life of Mrs Doyle, the garrulously insistent housekeeper from the comedy series Father Ted. It was rumoured she might have had a s…
Live, NewcastleIt is election-night tradition that Sunderland South is first to declare its result. In 2005, the country's swiftest counters broke their own record, leaving Chris Mullin, the…
Octagon, BoltonThere's a joke that goes like this: two behavioural psychologists are in bed together and one says to the other: "That was good for you, how was it for me?"David Lodge's play …
Everyman, LiverpoolWilly Russell once praised the Everyman theatre in Liverpool as "a place where you could go and see an exciting new musical or a really good Shakespeare while sitting on a…
West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsFirst published in 1633, John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore was the last of the Renaissance revenge dramas, effectively closing the coffin lid on one of the m…
Theatre Royal, YorkYork Theatre Royal has become, temporarily at least, York theatre-in-the-round for a season of plays. It is rare to see Arthur Miller's epic dissection of the Salem witch …
Derby theatreThe 1960s are so firmly associated with sexual liberation that it's easy to forget the generation of unmarried mothers who never had it so bad. Illegitimate children were often …
ARC, StocktonIn his analysis of north-south misunderstanding, Pies and Prejudice, the Wigan-born broadcaster Stuart Maconie recalls how he first moved to London and was puzzled by his produc…
He's familiar as an epic folklorist and the stern moralist of Ghosts and The Wild Duck " but two new productions introduce us to Ibsen's little-known lighter sideIbsen seems to be a playwrig…
Hull TruckIt is said that charity begins at home. For Alan Bennett, it began at the bottom of his drive with a custard yellow van inhabited by an irascible eccentric who refused to budge for…
New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeTwo shows in, and already the New Vic's repertory season is reaping the benefits of a permanent ensemble. Actors with relatively little to do in the Rivals now a…
