28 stories by "Ben East"
It's 30 years since Alan Bennett first wrote the wry monologues that would become Talking Heads. They remain captivating in their depictions
It looks like a weird experiment. In the foyer of Home in Manchester, four people sit at booths, virtual reality headsets covering
Royal Exchange, Manchester: Any revival of Howard Ashman's enjoyable mix of Rocky Horror musical schlock and Shakespearean tragedy will inevitably be compared to the cult 80s film. Tryi…
Victoria Baths, Manchester: When Manchester's Library Theatre merged with art-house cinema Cornerhouse to form Home - which opens in an impressive £25 million building next sp…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: Spilling from the old sideboard where Billy has hidden the piles of unsent calendars, which typify his deceptions, is an old children's annual. It�…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: The most recognisably modern of Shakespeare's comedies, Much Ado About Nothing's warring would-be couples who turn out to love each other really…
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds: In a quite fabulous opening scene, musical director and composer Heather Christian slowly walks barefoot through a swamp, intoning the harsh sounds of dustbo…
Octagon Theatre, Bolton: Carving something of a reputation for an accessible approach to the Bard, David Thacker transposes Illyria to a Downton Abbey-style country house in Lancashire, with…
The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester: Anton Chekhov used his 1896 tragicomedy to ponder the future of theatre. So there's something pleasingly apt about The Seagull being Library Theatr…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: There is a moment in the second half of Simon Stephens' disquieting new play that just about sums up the atmosphere his perplexing characters have co…
The Lowry Studio, Salford Quays: One of the 1914 anniversaries that might get overlooked this year is the centenary of the British government's decision to release all the suffragette p…
Opera House, Manchester: Jonathan Church's crowd-pleasing revival of Singin' In The Rain was a massive hit in the West End and this tour, with a different cast, sets out to ensure …
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: Any revival of Arthur Miller's excursion into a flawed post-war US society at the Royal Exchange has the weight of history to overcome. It was in thi…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: Alexander Ostrovsky is often hailed as one of Russian drama's leading 19th century playwrights, a clear influence on Chekhov. But his satires on Russ…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: It's always fascinating to witness a promising director take on Pinter's famously ambiguous 'comedy', as the playwright once called it…
Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester: Theatre doesn't often deal in thrilling, cinematic twists, provoking genuine revelatory murmurs from an audience finally understanding how a plot ties…
Waterside Arts Centre, Sale: Adapting Jane Eyre is difficult. Too melodramatic and it becomes ridiculous, too tricksy and the heart of the narrative is lost.
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The Lowry, Salford Quays: Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo - New York's famous all-male pastiche ballet company - has gone from being an acquired taste to much-loved in nearly 40 y…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: With preparations well under way for next year's First World War centenary, it would be easy to cast Peter Whelan's 1981 play as a timely tribut…
The Plaza, Stockport: In The Guardian this week, John Altman revealed that it was liberating to play an "out-and-out villain". He was talking about his famous role as 'nasty&#…
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: With 2004's Beasts And Beauties, Carol Ann Duffy and director Melly Still dramatised fables and fairytales in great style. The formula is similar for…
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: There is a telling exchange in this first major revival since her death last year of Shelagh Delaney's 1950s drama A Taste Of Honey. "Will you stop sho…
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Without doubt, 2012 has been the year of Macbeth. There have been Tunisian adaptations, blockbusting Polish versions set in the Middle East, a one-man show starr…
Octagon Theatre, Bolton: If there's one place to catch Jim Cartwright's 1992 tale of an achingly shy Northern girl with an incredible voice, it's surely Bolton. Growing up in …
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: There is a fantastic moment in Nick Bagnall's thoughtful production where Colin Tierney, as Robert, stands at the front of the stage, casting an immense, fo…
