Haywire - Altrincham Little Theatre

HARRASSED bookshop owner Alec (Chris Burton) is living proof that you can, if proof were needed, wear cardigans and still be a sexual being.

He's also living proof that you should never judge a book by its cover - no pun intended. For the sly old dog is plotting a few days in the sun with his mistress.

But will his family scupper his plans? The first complication arrives in the shape of his elderly mother, who has absconded from the nursing home se lived in. My contact at ALT told me Janet Reidsma was never going to take to the stage again. Why? As Phoebe, Alec's mum, she delivers a superbly pitched piece of character acting and there are some memorable spats between her and Burton, a comedy natural, to enjoy.

This is, unfortunately, one of those occasions when the cast is actually better than the play. Some of the jokes in the firsttwo acts are as flat as a bowl of yesterday's punch. But the piece, from the pen of Eric "Rising Damp" Chappell, creator of one of the best ever British sitcoms, becomes far funnier and pacier after the interval.

Under the very capable direction of Garth Jones, Alec, Phoebe, Jamie and Mandy look a sound like a real family and there's a real authenticity to their sniping and bickering. Equally convincing is Lisa Barker as "the other woman" Liz.

There are elements of farce here. But without the usual frantic breathlessness you'd usually associate with the genre. While Haywire isn't classic comedy it is good fun and there are flashes of the comic brilliance that were a hallmark of Chppell's greatest work, that timeless sitcom Rising Damp.

* Until October 7. The box office is on 0161 928 1113. Star rating - ***

It Runs In The Family - Altrincham Garrick

THEY say laughter is the best medicine and I received an unexpected dose while watching this hospital based farce from the undisputed king of the genre, Ray Cooney.

I say unexpected because farces usually leave me cold and while some of the jokes are dead on delivery this is a fun, frantic and perfectly paced evening's theatre.

Dr David Mortimore's past catches up with him when an old flame turns up at his hospital with the sort of Christmas present he wasn't expecting in the shape of the son he's never met. Leslie is the archetypal angry young man, desperate to find his real dad. Mortimore, on the other hand, is desperate to keep his true identity a secret and his hapless colleague Dr Robert Bonney ends up covering for him.

Throw a batty old boy into the comedy mix in the shape of Bill (Graham Simmonds) and you have the recipe for laughs. Bill has keen eye for the ladies and a raging libido to boot and Simmonds relishes and shines in the same way Jonathan Black enjoys the incurable schemer Dr David Mortimore. Mike Shaw rises to the many challenges playing Bonney throw up. This is a real test of his verbal and visual comic skills.

Nobody looses their trousers in this play, just their dignity. All in fun of course and you're sure to enjoy the later scenes involving a decidedly "under the weather" Matron, played by an excellent Jill Ratcliffe.

Director Alan Clements certainly gets the best out of cast who give the distinct impression they would happily stay on stage all night. While I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a convert, this entertaining production has made me look at farces in a whole new light. Great escapism - go and wallow in the silliness.

* Until September 30. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - ***

Our Town - Royal Exchange Theatre

THE first time I saw this play I thought of it simply as an endearing and moving portrait of small town America, topped with a moving third act.

But returning to it a couple of decades later, I see it through fresh eyes after this production by the Royal Exchange.

If this play came with a health warning it would be something along the lines of "small towns can seriously damage your dreams." For instance, will the bright and lively Emily Webb escape the confines of her home town or is she set to have her potential stifled by its cosy, never changing daily routine?

The pace of Thornton Wilder's play is forensically slow at times. But I guess this dupes the audience into believing they've entered some kind of American idyll. In terms of the outside world it's over there somewhere and the townsfolk can initially leave their doors open without fear of being robbed. How people of a certain vintage ache for those days.

In the third act designer Fly Davis creates a spectacle so touching it had me, a hardened hack, biting my lip. Emily is at the centre of it, expertly played by Norah Lopez Holden, a pretty young actress who, on the evidence of this performance, is certainly one to watch. Holden brilliantly grows up before our very eyes, from the exuberant adolescent to a moreknowing young woman.

Davis's design is curious to say the least. The first two acts take place in what looked and felt like a school exam room. But I can forgive him for the visual treat he gives us in act three, with "snow" cascading from the theatre roof. That was a moment of true, theatrical beauty.

Unfortunately it took me until act three to really care about the characters, despite the best efforts of the always watchable Graeme Hawley who plays Emily's dad and Patrick Elue as Emily's love interest, George. Youssef Kerkour cuts a powerful presence as the Stage Manager, the narrator of the piece.

* Until October 14. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ***

Letters To Morrissey - HOME Manchester

MORRISSEY is many things to many people. But I've never thought of the enigmatic front man of The Smiths as an agony aunt, someone to spill your personal problems to.

A teenager crippled by adolescent angst pours his heart out to this most unlikely pop star in this engaging and funny 60 minute one hander currently playing at HOME in Manchester.

Gary McNair certainly doesn't act his age in this well written and expertly delivered piece, supremely convincing as a 15-year-old who feels hopelessly insecure both in school and at home.

He's naive of course, believing Moz has all the answers to his problems he sets down in an endless stream of letters and oblivious to the fact that the bespectacled genius from Stretford is just a person, like him. While this play will probably mean more to followers of Morrissey and The Smiths, it will also strike a chord with anyone who remembers their growing pains thanks to a clever and evocative script and the raw energy with which McNair delivers it.

Never having seen The Smiths live - tickets were always snapped up lightning fast - I really liked the way this one hander re-creates the atmosphere of one of the band's gigs. It really felt like I was there. But does our hero finally get to meet his musical Messiah?

You'll have to go to see Letters To Morrissey to find out. But I strongly recommend you do.

*  Until September 16. The box office on 0161 200 1500. Star rating - ***

Ladies in Lavender - Altrincham Garrick

LADIES In Lavender is a story told with the most gentle brush strokes and it really does play on your emotions, without trying to do so.

Two sisters, living together in their dotage, have their lives transformed when a handsome and charismatic young man enters their lives. He''s foreign too, which adds to his appeal.

We also have the widower GP Dr Henry Mead, a respected and well known figure in the Cornish village he so dutifully serves. His affable nature hiding his loneliness. What a pity then, he's drawn to that study in aloofness, Olga Danilof.

I was overcome with excitement when I heard Barry Purves was directing and designing this production for Altrincham Garrick. Not only has he coaxed some memorable and moving performances from his cast, he's also created a set equally deserving of the audience's applause. The Garrick are so lucky to have him and his bottomless pit of creative skills.

Mags Johnston and Margaret Leslie exhibit a natural and convincing chemistry as sisters Janet and Ursula Widdington, trapped in a safe, dull domestic routine. Chris Wagstaff, who is only 20, delivers a performance way beyond his years, yet again, as their mysterious house guest Andrea Marowski. If Chris wants to turn professional he has the talent to do it.

John Keen delivers a beautifully understated performance as the disarmingly decent Dr Henry Mead, not the only lonely heart in this engrossing piece.

The role of Dorcas, the sisters' straight talking housekeeper is a gift for Ruth Metcalfe and Fiona Primrose has quite a presence as Olga Danilof. But you're certain to hate the way she treats the nice Dr Henry.

Once again Altrincham Garrick sets the standard but really, what do you expect with Barry Purves at the helm? Unmissable, a triumph.

* Until September 16. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - *****

The Addams Family - The Lowry

LES Dennis is a revelation in The Addams Family, the musical version of the classic TV show.

Dennis plays Uncle Fester, arguably the craziest of a very crazy clan and is totally unrecognisable, both in appearance, sporting Uncle F's trademark bald head, and in demeanour.

Previously I'd only ever thought of him as that nice, smiley Scouser who presented Family Fortunes. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll look on him in a completely different light after this.

This show is obviously aimed at a family audience and while the family of the title look like they've stepped out of a horror movie, I'd have no bones about bringing children to see this. The spookiness is very much at the "trick or treat" level and a pinch of slightly saucy humour, which the kids won't get, ensures big kids like me didn't feel left out.

Wednesday (Carrie Hope Fletcher) has fallen for Lucas (Oliver Ormson) and there's talk of marriage in the air. The serial sadist invites her unsuspecting beau and his prim and proper parents to a meal at the family's crypt of a home. What could possibly go wrong?

Andrew Lippa's score, by turns inspired and forgettable in places, certainly captures the jet black humour of the original and the cast don't fall into the trap of trying to mimic their TV counterparts. Cameron Blakely is for example a far more camp Gomez, Wednesday's dad whose favourite hobby is collecting instruments of torture and Samantha Womack infuses the role of Morticia.

Most of the laughs come in the first act, with the second spending too much time on the relationships of the characters. Both Gomez and Morticia and Mal and Alice are experiencing marital problems, while Wednesday and Lucas go through the ups and downs of young love.

Great spooky fun, for all the family. It probably helps if you know the original.

* Until September 9. The box office is on 0843 208 6000 or book online at www.thelowry.com.

Fatherland - Royal Exchange Theatre

WHILE I only have the very best of memories of my dad when growing up, many people aren't so lucky and this powerful and thought provoking piece, being performed at Manchester International Festival, reminded me, yet again, just how lucky me and my fellow siblings have been.

Three writers, Scott Graham, Simon Stephens and Underworld's Karl Hyde, returned to their respective home towns to interview various men about their memories of pater and the end result is an evening of theatre that has the same emotional impact as being hit by a juggernaut.

Fatherland's creators have also added their own recollections of their dads.

By far the most distressing episodes involves one of the characters recalling the after effects of a devastating fire in graphic, gut wrenching detail. How apt, of course, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London.

This is a testosterone fuelled drama tinged with tragedy and performed with raw energy and gusto with a cast that includes the writers themselves. I wasn't totally convinced by the decision to set the sometimes plodding dialogue to music. But the music, specially created for the show by Underworld's Karl Hyde, provides a very effective backdrop to a play that tackles everything from the ecstasy of becoming a dad to coping with mental illness.

If you go to see Fatherland, don't expect to spend 90 minutes sitting cosily in your comfort zone. But for me, that's when live theatre is at it's best, when it throws you headlong into a world very, very different from your own.

* Until July 22. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ****

Persuasion - Royal Exchange Theatre

THEATRES up and down the land have been doing it for decades -  transporting the plays of Shakespeare to modern settings.

But, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would work with a Jane Austen novel, believing them to be too deeply rooted in the era in which they are set.

But this wonderful art form has a habit of still springing a few surprises, and so it is with Jeff James's fun filled andhighly entertaining adaptation of Austen's classic text. There isn't a frilly gown or a bonnet or a pair of breeches in sight here and the genteel music the writer grew up around has been replaced by pulsating pop tunes.

If a production was ever made for the summer it's this one and an exceptional and energetic cast make it their mission to ensure you leave the theatre buzzing with delight.

The story - what little there is of it - follows the fortunes of Anne, whose family faces the prospect of facing genteel poverty and who herself faces the prospect of ending up "on the shelf." She attracts plenty of interest from the well travelled Captain Wentworth and another very eligible chap, Mr Elliot, who has a darker side to his seemingly engaging character.

Lara Rossi is excellent as Anne and as well as being a very capable actress she's also a very capable and exciting dancer. I also really liked Samuel Edward-Cook as the seasoned sea dog Wentworth and Arthur Wilson as the wolf in sheep's clothing, Elliot.

While I'm an admirer of Jane Austen and the vivid and engaging way in which she depicts the chattering classes, I was amazed as to how well this worked in a 21st century setting. A tribute to the directing skills of Mr James - yes, the talented so and so eve directed the piece, which had me laughing out loud, on many occasions.

* Until June 24. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ****

Brassed Off - Altrincham Garrick

ITS impossible not to be moved or stirred by this - the coal industry, an industry with a long and proud history, is being torn apart by the Tory government's pit closure programme.

The Grimley colliery also has the axe hanging over it. Families and friends are feeling the strain, a strain that culminates in one of the most harrowing scenes I've ever seen on any stage.

But Danny, who leads the colliery's brass band, insists the band plays on. Despite the encroaching gloom, this dignified and decent man has no intention of relinquishing hiss baton. There's a national competition to win.

When I heard the Garrick were planning to put this on I secretly hoped Martin Oldfield, one of the theatre's finest actors, would play the Danny role. He certainly delivers here, yet again, and Danny's BIG speech brought a tear to my eye in the same way the mighty Pete Postlethwaite did on the big screen.

Paul Allen's script bristles with emotion, passion and some very northern humour. A depression fest it isn't. Although some of the scenes are a difficult watch.

Mark Butt impresses yet again as the miner Phil, whose home life is one huge disaster zone and I also liked Beth Dilworth as Gloria, the returnee to the village who isn't all she's cracked up to be.

Wingates Brass Band, talented to its core, also plays its part in creating a major theatrical spectacle. A spectacle that is sure to live long in the memory of all who see it. Powerful and funny, this is a must see.

* Until April 29. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - *****

Twelfth Night - Royal Exchange Theatre

AT university we read 23 Shakespeare plays in second year and this piece, a romantic comedy with more than its fair share of twists, was one of my least favourites.

While I still think its 15 minutes too long and the drunken antics of Sir Toby Belch and his lily livered chump of a sidekick Sir Andrew Aguecheek are given too much stage time, I now count myself among the converted, after watching this thoroughly entertaining production.

There's a warmth and a magic to this at times idiotic, fun filled tale and the comic timing of the cast, in particular Anthony Calf as Olivia's pedantic and puritanical servant Malvolio is second to none. You may know Calf from his appearances in the TV cop show New Tricks, but this actor proves he has plenty of tricks of his own when it comes to bringing this ridiculous albeit strangely lovable character to life.

You feel for the poor soul when he's pranked into believing a woman of noble breeding - no spoilers here - is in love with him. The elegant and statuesque Kate Kennedy was born to playhis employer, Olivia. Her comic timing is similarly brilliant, especially when her character's affections take an unexpected turn. Budding actors learning comedy take note.

Its a staple of Shakespeare's comedies that all is not always what it seems. Take the character Viola, who disguises herself as a young man in a bid to eventually woo the Duke, Orsino. Actress Faith Omole is a new name to me. However, performances like this makes me think a glittering future awaits her. She also has a fabulously pure singing voice.

My advice is snap up tickets for this as soon as you can - I predict brisk business for the RETbox office over the coming months.

* Until May 20. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ****

The Vicar of Dibley - Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre

WHILE it probably does fall into the "gentle comedy" category, the TV version also descended into playful naughtiness at times, set in a picture postcard village inhabited by colourful characters who deliver priceless lines.

Another reason why I enjoyed it so much was it portrayed a woman of the cloth, in this case the Rev Geraldine Grainger as, shock horror, a real person with a love of chocolate and an eye for eligible men.

Martyn Preston's beautifully paced production certainly captures the warmth of the original, with the cast giving us a flavour of their small screen originals while, at the same time, putting their own stamp on these fabulous roles.

Janice Rendel's Geraldine is a northern lass, who enjoys a great rapport with the entire ensemble, particularly her barking but eminently lovable verger, Alice Tinker, a gift for Rosalind Ford, who revels in the role.

While the SAMT actors do put their own stamp on these parts, Stuart Sephton's Hugo Horton is remarkably like the TV incarnation, even down to his mannerisms. The scenes in which the hapless and hopeless Hugo, an embarrassment at times to his authoritarian dad David, are comedy gold.

Poor Geraldine finds herself attracting the amorous attentions of the disgusting farmer Owen Newitt, an outstanding Adam Garnett. Not only is Owen's personal hygiene poor, he thinks nothing of talking about bodily functions at the parish council meeting.

It probably helps if you know the TV version but, even if you don't, the chances are you'll be buying the DVDs after watching this. For Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre this is a high water mark for a society brave enough to venture into new theatrical territory. Great fun, a triumph.

* At Altrincham Little Theatre until April 8.  For tickets, call 07504 771051. Star rating - ****

Rutherford and Son - Altrincham Garrick

IMAGINE if you can, life as a sloth and that'll give you the idea of the pace of act one.

Thankfully, this old school "right northern" play about a well-off family led by a factory owner splutters into life by act two.

But the only way is up, to quote a line from a certain pop song.

In act two we're treated to some memorable, at times impassioned confrontations between Rutherford, the patriarch from hell, and his two sons. John dreams of bettering himself for the sake of his infant son, while Richard is a man of the cloth, whose career aspirations are met with indifference by his indifferent dad, a man who eats, sleeps and breathes business.

Richard Sails (Rutherford), John Keen (John) and Scott Ransome (Richard) play these scenes with the perfect amount of heat. However, the play's most sympathetic characters are Martin, who has served his master man and boy and Rutherford's feisty daughter Janet, a likeable 30 something terrified of being left on the shelf. David Baxendale and Ali Davenport make sure there's no escaping their anguish when they're so unjustly treated.

I imagine this 100 year old was considered quite daring when it was first performed, as Rutherford's most worthy adversary comes from an unexpected source. But this play feels its age and I left the theatre wondering what a cast and a director as talented as these could have done with a play that has something to say to a 21st century audience.

* Until April 8. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - ***

Witness for the Prosecution - Altrincham Little Theatre

WHEN I was training to be a reporter, I spent a day in Sheffield Crown Court, watching the wheels of justice in motion.

It was a completely absorbing experience and I was transfixed by what was going on before me. So it is with Altrincham Little Theatre's latest production, from the queen of suspense, Agatha Christie.

It certainly keeps you guessing right to the end. Did Leonard Vole (Anthony Morris) murder a wealthy spinster as a stepping stone to the good life? The play also contains a very clever twist at the end which you won't see coming. Ideal theatrical fare for ALT's intimate auditorium which so often feels like an emotional pressure cooker.

What also struck me was how fresh the play feels, which must be a by product of John Chidgey's skill as a director. I never felt like I was watching a group of actors blowing the dust off some sort of theatrical relic.

Performances are exemplary, particularly from Morris as the beleaguered man in the dock. He does a very nice line in desperation and I also really liked Vicky Siddle as Vole's mysterious and enigmatic partner, Romaine. Aside from being an accomplished actress, no mean feat for a relative newcomer to the amateur stage, she also has quite a stage presence. David Reynolds as Vole's barrister Sir Wilfred Robarts, completes the "roll call" of noteworthy performances.

Nobody writes this sort of stuff quite like Christie and it will be a long time before it goes out of fashion. Her influence on writers of today, writers of a similar ilk, is profound. Enjoy.

* Until March 25. The box office is on 0161 928 1113. Star rating - ****

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 - ****

The Secret Garden - Altrincham Garrick

THE Secret Garden is a vocal and visual treat, a production that doesn't tear at the heart strings. It plucks them out completely. Prepare to be moved, deeply moved.

It also reminds us that this theatre is more than capable of matching the artistic output of Manchester's professional venues. You wouldn't expect anything less really, when you look at the creative team behind it. Director Joe Meighan, designer Barry Purves and musical director Mark Goggins. All three are incapable of putting a theatrical foot wrong.

And what about little Alice Cross, a bright, engaging bundle of energy as the orphaned Mary Lennox, sent to live in her uncle's rambling old house after the untimely death of her parents. The house is a monument to decay and her uncle Archie, consumed by grief, has stopped living. He simply exists, and Joshua Lloyd is outstanding in the role. He has a terrific stage presence, a quality shared by Alice who has a professional career ahead of her should she wish to follow that particular path.

While roaming the corridors of her bleak new home Alice meets and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Colin (Theo Hill), seemingly a sickly child too weak to go out and play. There are some memorable verbal spats between the two.

For me the best songs are in act one, some of the numbers so emotionally intense I felt both emotionally drained and yet strangely uplifted by the time the interval came. Brace yourselves for a memorable ending, full of colour and spectacle. Do not miss this.

* Until March 11. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - *****

Death and the Maiden - Lauriston Studio at Altrincham Garrick

DEATH and the Maiden offers us the two sides of humanity, reminding us of the horrific things we do to each other and the resilience of the human spirit.

Then we come to the difficult issue of forgiving our tormentors, as Paulina Escobar comes face to face with the doctor she believes, oversaw her torture while in prison. We're in an unnamed country, a fledgling democracy emerging from the dark days of dictatorship.

Paulina (a suitably vengeful Tracy Burns) is a mess, psychologically scared by what happened to her while in prison at the hands of vividly described but never seen state thugs. Her beleaguered husband Gerardo (John Keen) isfacing an uphill struggle to keep his wife under control. She wants Dr Roberto Miranda, cultured, refined and oh so middle class, to pay forwhat he did. Paul Wilson, who has consistently impressed me on the Garrick stage, delivers once again here.

All three do have a fantastic script to work with, however, thanks to the intelligent and perceptive writing of Ariel Dorfman.

Venues like the Lauriton are vital, providing a welcome alternative to the largely mainstream productions that grace Altrincham Garrick's main stage.  These are important plays that set us thinking, important stories that must be told. Director Steve Williamson ensures his production packs a powerful punch, there are no laughs here. Highly recommended.

* Until March 4. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - ****

The House of Bernarda Alba - Royal Exchange Theatre

I PROFOUNDLY disagree with translator Jo Clifford, who says in the programme notes, Benarda Alba deserves our sympathy an respect.

She rules her daughters, who are full of life and aching for romance, with a ro of iron, imposing an eight year period of mourning on thehousehold after her second husband dies.

Even the most feminine of pursuits, the wearing of lipstick, suddenly becomes a crime and incurs the old woman's merciless wrath. The play was born out of the decade that saw the rise ofFascism in writer Lorca's native Spain and Bernarda'sbrutally repressive behaviour feels like a foretaste of the repression living under a dictatorship brings with it.

That may sound very heavy, but this is an accessible play ad not remotely elitist. And it does enough to make you want Bernarda's downtrodden daughters to break way and defy the old dragon. There are rumblings of rebellion when Adela, the youngest of the brood, breaks her mother's cane.

A joint production between the RET ad Graeae Theatre Company, a company made up of actors with disabilities, this is an invigorating and evocative if at times cheerless evening of theatre. The fact that Graeae - pronounced grey eye - is made up of disabled people is irrelevant. Here we have a company with a formidable artistic reputation that deserves to be judged solely on that.

Jenny Sealey's production has both atmosphere and feeling and there are some fine performances, particularly from Kathryn Hunter as Bernarda.

* Until February 25. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ***

Handbagged - Altrincham Garrick

MARGARET Thatcher, like numerous prime ministers before her, had regular, private audiences with the Queen.

What was said remained a closely guarded secret of course, however, I can recall rumblings in the media at the time, suggesting they didn't always see eye to eye on certain issues.

But what did these two powerful women really talk about? Award-winning writer Moira Buffini takes that idea and runs with it in this classy comedy set inside the corridors of power. This really is clever stuff, without being dry or self indulgent and Buffini certainly doesn't gloss over the fact Mrs T was, politically, something of a "Marmite" figure.

In this production, expertly directed by Carole Carr, you get two actresses playing Maggie and both Caroline Knight and Fiona Primrose sound remarkably like the real thing. Close your eyes and you could be in the presence of the so-called Iron Lady. We also get a double dose of He Majesty, with Dawn Flint and Rachel Horobin sharing the crown.

Now, if you're an actor looking to test your versatility look no further than Handbagged. Mark Edgar and Jamie Sloan take on a variety of roles from Denis Thatcher to Nancy Reagan snd te end result is much hilarity. Sloan's portrayal of the stick like former First Lady is a show stealing performance from a man who was born to be funny.

This is the Garrick's production of the season for me - do not miss it.

* Until February 4. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. 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 - ***

Gaslight - Altrincham Garrick

I'VE seen Patrick Hamilton's Victorian play before and knew what was coming. However, that didn't stop me perching on the edge of my seat more than once, feeling as trapped as poor old Bella Manningham, a woman at her wit's end.

They say you only really know someone when you live with them. But for this tormented individual, her husband Jack, who takes an almost perverted pleasure in humiliating her, has become a closed book. No wonder Bella is going out of her mind, a virtual prisoner in a house which is as cosy as your average crypt. It's not only the house that has a past.

It's always exciting to see newcomers on the Garrick stage and after her performance asBella Parissa Zamanpour should be swamped with offers of future work. Attractive and elegant, hers is as an amateur performance only in name. Supremely convincing, you'll find yourself desperate for her to get one over on the horrendous Jack (Jonathan Black). But this is 1897, when many women still deferred to their husbands.

Mark Butt is a delight as Rough, a character with a very unique outlook on life who is very easy to warm to. His return to this theatre is very welcome, however, I can'treally go into detail about his character's role in the plot. Vicky Siddle impressed me when she appeared in another amateur production and does so again as the flirty maid Nancy, teasing Jack mercilessly.

Director Ros Greenwood ensures the tension bubbles along beautifully and I hope the full house on Monday night is repeated more than once throughout the run. A spooky classic.

* Until January 21. The box office is on 0161 928 1677.  Star rating - ****