The Suppliant Women - Royal Exchange Theatre

THIS, I have to say, struck me as a strange choice by the RET, which marketed this ancient play as being very relevant to the world in which we live today.

Surely not? How can a piece, a 2,500 year old piece, have something to say to a 21st century audience living in a super fast, digital world?

But David Greig's vibrant adaptation of a work by one of the giants of ancient Greek drama feels very modern and in the band of exiled women we can so easily see the refugees and migrants, call them what you will, of today.

They experience the suspicion, hostility and vulnerability of the refugees searching for a better life and the play pricks our consciences with a plea for tolerance towards the so-called outsider.

A great deal of the story is told in song and the cast contains a gifted and dynamic group of young women who, vocally, give their all to provide what was forme, an unexpected and stunning theatrical spectacle.

The ladies in question work alongside a small group of actors. I'm not going to single out individual performances as this is a major triumph for the whole ensemble who tore up my preconceptions to create a theatre event that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "in your face." Strongly recommended, as this production is anything but dry and boring.

* Until April 1. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ****

Woman In A Dressing Gown - Altrincham Little Theatr

AMY Preston is a saint, married to a man who acts like a big kid most of the time and has an infuriating and hugely inflated sense of self importance.

She deserves a cupboard full of medals, not jut the one, and yet she chooses to stand by her man. Maybe I'm making the mistake of viewing this protracted play through 21st century eyes. It was first performed in 1963 and we now live in more equal if not exactly utopian times.

But Jim Preston is still a pain.

Ted Willis's piece about marital strife shows its age, you feel, while watching it, like you're in another world. Sympathetic character are at a premium with the exception of the delightfully disorganised Amy (Kathryn Fennell) who escapes domestic purgatory by immersing herself in music and dreaming of a big money win. There's a very funny scene involving Amy, her good pal Hilda (Jane Newman), with both actors seizing with both hands the chance to shine.

Ian Butterfield gives a strong and solid performance as Jim, or Jimbo, as Amy calls him. But his character is never totally believable, the fault of the writing, not his.

Woman In A Dressing Gown is a production by Michael Russell, a director whose work has consistently impressed me. Which left mewondering what he and a cast with talent in abundance could have done with a better play, rather than one that lacks both spark and pace.

* Until January 28. The box office is on 0161 928 1113. Star rating - ***

Snake In The Grass - Altrincham Little Theatre

IT takes a special writer to paint a picture of a character so vivid you feel you know him, you feel he or she is there on stage.

Of course that's impossible in this play, as Anabel and Miriam's father, by all accounts a horrible piece of work, is pushing up the daisies. But both his daughters, now grown up, are still nursing the psychological scars of a difficult upbringing.

Hats off to Alan Ayckbourn then, a writer whose brand of theatre, generally too middle class for me, usually leaves me cold.

Anabel, who managed to escape her despotic dad, returns from Australia to help Miriam, forever the victim, sort out his estate. Things get tricky when they are visited by his former nurse, Alice, who seems to be on a gold digging mission.

I say 'seems' as nothing is quite what it seems in this masterpiece of a play, which has elements of Ayckbourn's trademark and very clever humour and a dash or two of the supernatural. The twists at the end are certain to floor you and, unless you're blessed with ESP, you won't see them coming.

A three strong all female cast gels beautifully under the astute direction of Carla Stokes, with Cheryll Wyche (Anabel), Lisa Barker (Alice) and Victoria Johnson (Miriam) ensuring that you're completely transfixed by the increasingly strange events unfolding on stage. You never really know what's going to happen next and that's as tense as it is exciting.

* Until October 8. The box office is on 0161 928 1113. Star rating - ****