Fun Home - Royal Exchange Theatre


IT goes without saying certain plays and shows are overdone, largely for the reason they’re hugely popular and box office friendly.

But I hope Fun Home, a musical that was totally new to me after nearly 40 years reviewing, gets the packed houses it deserves.

Manchester may be baking as a result of yet another heatwave. But Fun Home is the hottest ticket in town for me. Every pun intended.

The musical is totally devoid of vomit inducing cliches and is based on the frank and uncompromisingly honest memoir of the American lesbian cartoonist Alison Becdel.

As a literary name it was totally new to me. But after watching this I feel an overwhelming urge to buy the book and read, among other things, about Bechdel coming to terms with her sexuality and her struggle to initially make sense of her sexuality and her father Bruce, who is as devoted as he is difficult.

Jodie McNee and Nigel Harman shine in these respective roles and I was equally impressed by Alice Audrey O’Hanlon as Alison in her college days. We meet Bechdel at various stages in her life and I was particularly impressed by Harriet O’Shea as the small Alison who delivers a performance way beyond here years in a role she shares. As her siblings John and Christian, Reuben Shepherd and Theo Wake are equally talented. Like her, they share these roles with kids from other groups.

Bechdel’s first serious fling was as hilarious as it was touching, thanks to O’Hanlon and Natasha Cottriall as the engaging and confident Joan.

This particular scene had the aura of a child on Christmas morning. Quite brilliant.

While the score is something of a musical mixed bag it conveys the humour and heartache that are hallmarks of this piece in equal measure.

The RET’s 50th anniversary season continues with a number of future attractions, including King Lear, with one David Threlfall in the title role.

Until August 1. Tickets are available from www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Johan Persson.


The Good Life - Altrincham Garrick


I WAS still a kid when the original sitcom was on our TV screens, and it always struck me as a comedy for the grown ups, set in suburbia where people went to dinner parties and husbands made frequent visits to the golf course.

But at school many of us had a crush on Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara Good, who, urged by her fed up husband Tom, decide to leave the rat race and chose a life of self sufficiency instead.

This was pretty ground breaking for the mid 70’s.

I’m an adult now and can appreciate just how good The Good Life is, even if a certain amount of the humour in this stage version doesn’t appeal to me.

Director Daniel Ellis must have thought all his birthdays had come at once when the first rehearsal took place and I am sure needed little convincing the likes of Robert Crumpton and Helen Swain, who played Tom and Barbara, and Laura Aremia and Adam Green, as their next door neighbours Margot and Jerry, wouldn’t have to ttry at all to tickle the audience’s funny bone.

Aremia in particular made a huge impression on me as the bossy snob Margot, making sure her hen packed hubby Jerry is kept well and truly under the thumb. Not that I should have been too surprised, bearing in mind she’s the daughter of the late Terry Chandler, whose work at the Garrick gave me so much pleasure over the years.

A classic caase of talent in the genes for me.

The appearance of Geraldine the Goat very nearly brought the house down when she appeared for the first time on stage and made an equally large comedic impression when she appears later in the play.

All this begs the question as to why a production of this quality didn’t play to a packed house on Monday night, especially when you consider how dire the TV is.

You’re sure to enjoy this slice of suburban silliness.

Until June 7. Tickets are available on 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star raring - ***

Photo by Martin Ogden.

The Crucible - Altrincham Garrick


BEFORE every production at the Garrick the audience is subject to a brief recorded message via the venue’s speakers, which ends with theatregoers being told the venue’s bar is open before and after the show.

You may well be in need of a calm down drink after watching this truly memorable production of a play that has lost none of its shock value more than 70 years after it was first performed.

But what do you expect, as this piece came from the pen of one of the greatest playwrights of all time?

The Crucible is inspired by the notorious witch trials in Salem which began in 1692 after a group of hysterical young girls started exhibiting bizarre behaviours which were then regarded as signs of witchcraft.

Betty Parris, lying flat out on a bed when we first see her, is the catalyst for a string of tragic events in a town ruled with an iron fist by its Puritan leaders.

Joe Meighan’s production succeeds in making the audience feel trapped in a place where rationality and reason has totally disappeared.

Then again, Meighan has an exceptional cast to work with and he must have thought all his birthdays had come at once when his actors initially auditioned for the parts. What is even more remarkable is the way they make you care about the fate of a community caught up in a deeply disturbing and unsettling situations.

In terms of the best performances they come from Loui Quelcutti as a very northern John Proctor, Antonia Whitehead as his wife Elizabeth and Chloe Arrowsmith as Abigail Williams. Even when ensconced on the back row of the theatre I felt genuinely spooked by Charlie Tomlinson as Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth.

Then there’s the script of course, peppered as it is with literary gems from a playwright whose works never fail in the deeply affecting department.

As for the girls’ bizarre behaviours that could have been the result of food poisoning, according to my research on the Internet.

All this begs the question - why wasn’t the play performed to a full house on Monday night?

This is Altrincham Garrick’s production of the season for me. Three compelling hours in the presence of a cast dripping with talent.

Totally unmissable.

Star rating - *****

Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Photo by Martin Ogden.

Bank of Dave The Musical - The Lowry


Uplifting and inspirational entertainment - Bank of Dave at The Lowry.

ITS impossible to resist the inspirational northern charm of this classic David v Goliath story, brought to the stage for a show that’s sure to leave audiences at The Lowry smiling from ear to ear as they leave the theatre.

The score, written by Rob Madge and Pippa Cleary, offers audiences a positive musical treat, even if the best songs are to be heard in the second act of a show that’s sure to sell out fast when theatregoers hear just how watchable and uplifting it is.

Dave Fishwick, a gregarious, self made businessman from Burnley left school without a qualification to his name and worked to become a multi millionaire with a profound social conscience.

This prompted him to defy the banking industry’s powers that be to set up Burnley Savings and Loans Ltd, which had a specific remit to provide financial support to people in his beloved home town, people who had been refused such help by banks on the high street.

Any profits made are re-invested and the organisation has helped numerous good causes.

Like many, many legions of others, I’ve always loved such stories like this one. They’re grist to the mill for me and I think Dave would make a great Prime Minister, while accepting that particular dream is destined to remain always unfulfilled.

As for the scote, the best songs can be heard in the second half.

Sam Lupton’s Dave is ultra engaging and highly watchable and without little effort on his part any effort to warm to this character is an effortless task.

Hayley Tamadon’s as Nicky and Lucia Chadwick-Patel as Hugh run Lupton a very close second with performances that are equally appealing.

Lauryn Redding’s Alex, a dedicated doctor at a local hospital struggling in a working environment in which resources are stretched to the limit is equally impressive and its impossible not to be impressed by the character’s unwavering dedication to duty.

Its fair to say The Lowry has a very palpable hit on its hands, the script is totally devoid of cliches and the score is totally devoid of cliches. There’s a realism about all the characters regardless of their status in a plot that’s sure to capture the imagination of anyone who sees it.

While there’s been a good natured toying with the facts around Dave Fishwick’s remarkable story, this show gives us more than the essence of a man who had the courage and determination to stand up to the financial powers that be and turn his dream into reality.

Enjoy.

Until May 16. Tickets are available from 0343 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com.

Star rating - ****

Hobson's Choice - Altrincham Garrick


Still a right good laugh - Hobson’s Choice.

SPENDING a large part of the play looking like the proverbial rabbit caught in headlights, Tim Cooper as the downtrodden Willie Mossop is a natural when it comes to playing comedy roles.

A character who is scared of life in general, he’s particularly hilarious after marrying the heroine of the piece, Maggie Hobson, and faces what for him is the daunting prospect of a night of passion on his wedding night.

Casanova he most definitely is not.

But Ros Greenwood’s perfectly pitched production is not just the Tim Cooper Show. Laura Crow makes a formidable but likeable Maggie, a woman who dares to stand up to her father, Henry Hobson.

As the grumpy old boozer Hobson, Richard Sails gives what is for me, his best performance as the skinflint of a boot maker, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’s about to be dethroned as the family’s patriarch.

The Garrick’s intimate studio theatre turns out to be the perfect setting for a play that still sounds remarkably fresh when you consider it was first performed more than 100 years ago, even though its setting, the Salford of the 1880s, is very, very firmly consigned to the history books.

Not a word of the dialogue is lost and all the cast deserve plaudits for the way they bring their respective roles to life and it seems so unfair to single out individual actors for the simple reason there aren’t any poor ones.

I hope I see some of this cast working together again. A much needed, feel good antidote to these very serious times. Have a right good laugh and enjoy.

Until May 3. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Martin Ogden.

The Railway Children - Altrincham Garrick


IMAGINE, if you can, a world in which railway stations were always staffed by a stationmaster, beef extract and brandy could be given as part of a treatment for flu and to be called a ‘brick’ is a real compliment.

Just in case, you’re wondering, the word ‘brick’ was also once used to describe a ‘generous, helpful and reliable person.’

While The Railway Children, first published as a book in 1906, has a distinctly old fashioned feel to it, like you would expect, this production left all the youngsters in the audience totally transfixed and devoid of any form of restlessness.

The story centres around three siblings and their mother who start a new life in a remote Yorkshire village after the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the father and husband they idolise.

We have Roberta, better known as Bobbie, the eldest and most sensible of the three, Phyllis, driven by endearing doses of impulsiveness and Peter, a stereotypical Edwardian boy often perplexed by the behaviour of the two girls,

Georgia Maddock, Portia Dodds and Jamie King prove you don’t always have to act your age and there’s an engaging and believable camaraderie between them even though they have their own very different personalities.

Jonathan Black and Jane Holdship play the parents perfectly and I challenge anyone not to warm to John Dudley as Albert Perks, who helps the children make their transition from living in the lap of luxury to a more simpler, albeit more exciting life.

Director Jonathan Barker’s production is a feel good triumph for all concerned and sound man James Merrington should \also take a bow when it comes to re-creating the awe inspiring appeal of the steam trains, a mode of transport that still enjoys a certain mystique to this day.

Until April 19. Performance dates and times vary and tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Martin Ogden.

House of Ghosts - The Lowry


THEY’RE big shoes to fill, I heard a man in the audience say to his companion as I headed for an interval drink.

While it was very much the tail end of the conversation, he was referring to John Thaw, no doubt, the iconic actor who played Inspector Morse on our TV screens.

While, unlike many millions of fans, I never watched the series on the small screen. But Tom Chambers makes a hugely credible Morse, bringing out a more vulnerable side to the much loved character in a very watchable performance.

Accompanied as ever by his sidekick Lewis, played by an excellent Tachia Newall, the classical music and real ale loving cop finds himself investigating a mysterious death that takes place during a production of Hamlet.

While there’s no doubting the quality of Alma Cullen’s script, its essential the audience enters the Lowry prepared to listen and concentrate as this is a story with many twists and turns, giving theatregoers a flavour of how difficult a detective’s job must be.

The central character also provides a refreshing alternative to the way policemen are portrayed on the small and the big screen.

Inspector Morse, let’s face it, far more refined than Jack Regan, the cop role that made Thaw famous in The Sweeney.

The twists and turns aren’t the only surprises though. with Chambers and Newall retreatng us to a spectacular party piece post curtain call.

Lasting just a few seconds, it felt like the briefest of nods to Chambers’ Strictly Come Dancing days.

Until April 11, Tickets are available from 0343 208 6000 or www.thelowry,com.

Star rating - 3.5 out of 5.

Private Lives - Royal Exchange Theatre


Steve John Shepherd and Jill Halfpenny as Elyot and Amanda.

IMAGINE your horror when you go on your honeymoon only to discover your ex-partner, who you enjoyed a classic love/hate relationship with, has booked exactly the same romantic getaway.

So it is with Elyot and Amanda in Noel Coward’s still brilliant Private Lives, a Michelin star comedy that provides the perfect antidote to the gloomy times in which we currently live.

Both have made spectacularly wrong choices when it come to their partners, with Elyot having chosen to marry the incurably irritating Sibyl while Amanda has chosen Victor, a doting husband who also seems t have had some sort of charisma bypass.

Elyot and Amanda’s chance meeting is the catalyst for passionate rows and the most memorable physical fracas, which I have no intention of divulging here.

Steve John Shepherd and Jill Halfpenny make for the most appealing of double acts as Elyot and Amanda, displaying an exemplary comic timing matched by Daniel Millar and Shazia Nicholls as Victor and Sibyl.

From start to finish Blanche McIntyre’s production is a perfectly paced and pitched absolute hoot and its remarkable how fresh Private Lives still sounds.

This is shaping up to be the most memorable season for a very long time at a theatre that’s been entertaining us for the past half century.

Productions of this calibre deserve sell out runs. I for one, could quite willingly, watch it again.

Star rating - 4.5 out of 5. Tickets are available from www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Photo - Johan Persson.

Allo Allo - Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre


Wayne Holt as Rene by Derek Stuart Cole.

WHEN Allo Allo was on our TV screens it passed me by just how good the BBC sitcom actually was, with a script full of quick wit and the perfect amount of sauciness.

To me at a time when I was hooked on new comedy it struck me as old school and something you’re parents or even grandparents would enjoy.

After sitting through this flawless production by SAMT I’m more than happy to count myself as a convert.

Director Ed Prophet must have thought all his birthdays had come at once as the first rehearsal got under way with every cast member displaying a sense of comic timing that would certainly not be out of place on a professional stage.

It feels wrong to single out individual performances for critical praise for there simply aren’t any bad ones from a cast determined to make us laugh in these troubled timmes.

Wayne Holt is a natural Rene, the hen pecked cafe owner who dreams of a romantic getaway with his pouting and sexy waitress Yvette, played to perfection by Emma Rostaig. Together they make for the perfect double act.

The setting for the stage version revolves around an establishment run by Rene in France in Second World War and this establishment is equally as popular with German officers as it is with the locals and everyone gets into a right state when it appears Hitler himself is due to visit the area.

But the plot isn’t primarily why you should primarily by tickets for this perfectly paced comedy. Its to enjoy the exploits of the buttoned up Gestapo oficer Herr Flick played by Joe Farina and Private Helga Greenhart as they try to forge a romantic relationship with one another. The scene in which Helga tries to seduce him in some sexy underwear is particularly hilarious.

One of the characters who I do remember from the original TV show - apart from Rene and Yvette and Rene’s dragon of a wife - was Officer. Crabtree was an English spy undercover pretending he could speak French. It was a role tailor made for the very tall Joe Vincent.

The intimate auditorium of Altrincham Little Theatre is the ideal setting for Allo Allo and I was certainly struck by how I felt a part of the ensuing chaos unfolding on stage.

I do hope this production sells out its run. Make ‘em laugh, the old saying goes. This is definitely a case of mission accomplished by a company dripping with talent.

Top quality theatre on your doorstep. You lucky people.

Until March 29. Tickets are available from samtheatre.co.uk.

Star rating - 5 out of 5.

Pomona - Altrincham Garrick Studio


THE front page of the programme depicts the unsettling image of a figure of some sort who’s half alien, half human.

However, if you were shocked or disturbed by this grotesque image, just wait until you take the journey through dystopian Manchester, a world far away from the sleek modern image of a city with a skyline full of towering buildings and all encompassing trendiness.

The story follows Ollie, desperate to track down a twin sister who has gone missing. All the answers seem to lead to Pomona, a real life piece of derelict land near Cornbrook.

Ollie’s mission is dangerously horrendous and includes a harrowing spell in the sex industry, so well played by Natalie Leaper. She really makes the audience care about her and her experience making a blue movie that hits whole new depths of depravity.

I also really enjoyed Jay Wise-Martin as Charlie, aka the world’s world security guard if such a title existed. Wise-Martin’s sense of comic timing was exemplary as he brings to life a character who you could only describe as having a very unique view of the world around him.

Charlie is by far far the most interesting character for me.

I’ve seen numerous musicals directed by Mark Goggins and productions of this quality remind me of just how multi-talented he is. Pomona is so darkly affecting its sure to spark a conversation or two either on your drive home or in the theatre bar enjoying a post performance drink.

Strong language doesn’t really bother me in plays or TV dramas. However, the references to bodily functions is irritating and unecessary.

If you’re looking for a night out Pomona is definitely for you even if its not a night of cosy, flowery entertainment.

Until March 29. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - 3.5 out of 5.

Photo - Martin Ogden.