Of Mice and Men - Altrincham Garrick


LENNIE Small, one of modern literature’s most famous misfits, is a grown man with the hopes and fluffy dreams of a small child.

Unfortunately for him though, he’s also trapped in a country in the grip of the Great Depression, surrounded by fellow characters who are, by and large, unable or unwilling to make sense of behaviour they simply dismiss as crazy.

Luckily for Lennie he has George, his unofficially appointed parent and guardian to look after him, a man who frequently indulges his roses around the front door fantasy and his deep seated hopes of a happier future.

By rights, Joseph Meighan’s production should be re-named the Pete Brassington Show for he is perfect as Lennie in this stage version of Steinbeck’s classic novel.

Brassington’s performance makes you care deeply about the plight of him and George, played by Michael Gallagher, and if you’re coming to the story for the first time, you’ll be hoping for a happy ending.

Lennie finds a sort of kindred spirit in Crooks, forced to eat, sleep and fill his spare time in his own living quarters away from his fellow workers because he’s black. Garrick debutant Joseph Jacobs delivers a deeply affecting performance that’s sure to bring a flurry of future roles for a gifted actor.

Both he and Lennie are treated as outsiders.

I also liked Natalie Boyd as Curley’s sort of flirty wife, a woman dreaming of escaping the austere life on a ranch for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

For me, Of Mice and Men works better a novel. But that said, this for an audience, is an absorbing, poignant and tragic watch.

Until May 18. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - 3.5 out of 5.

Photo by Martin Ogden.

Little Gem - Lauriston Studio at Altrincham Garrick


A Little Gem of a play - photo by Martin Ogden.

WHEN the writing and the acting is as good as this, you simply don’t want plays like Little Gem to end.

Elaine Murphy writes from the heart and her script is at times deeply emotional while she doesn’t seem to overtly play on your emotions.

Particularly moving was Kay’s battle with grief as she struggles to come to terms with the death of her husband.

Murphy writes like a painter painting pictures to the extent that you’re there to share her anguish, thanks in no small part to a very fine piece of acting by Tracy Burns.

But Burns is hilarious when as Kay she embarks on a mission to spice up her life in the bedroom.

Watching this play you’re sure to experience the whole gamut of human emotions, like when Amber is forced to grow up fast while still seeking some sort of solace by cuddling the furry toys on her bedspread.

The role is perfect for Chloe Arrowsmith who really made me care about Amber and her uncertain future. Equally empathetic is Kathryn Worthington as Lorraine, struggling to come to terms with an ex husband riddled with problems.

The audience is sure to care deeply about all three women, hoping their strong family ties give them the will to survive.

Director Meg Brassington’s flawless production has left me keen to find more of Murphy’s work and this at times intense and warmly witty play is an ideal choice for the Garrick’s little Lauriston Studio.

As Trafford swelters, the good news is the Lauriston Studio’s air conditioning system is in full working order.

Yet another reason for audiences not to miss this Little Gem of a production.

Until May 4. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - 4.5 out of 5.




OVER the years I’ve endured numerous shows and films dubbed as having a strong family appeal, only to be deeply disappointed by what turns out to be cringeworthy, forgettable dross.

The Worst Witch, the musical inspired by Jill Murphy’s hugely popular characters and a score with a hum along mass appeal, certainly breaks that mould and is sure to leave children in the audience spellbound.

No pun intended.

We’re in a school for wannabe witches and with its sprinkling of gasp inducing special effects and engaging and likeable student characters, The Worst Witch provide a welcome dose of theatrical escapism in our troubled world.

Director and choreographer Kathleen Valentine’s rehearsals must have been sessions of unmitigated and unbridled enjoyment, working as she did with actors as talented as Helen Horridge aka the school’s principal Miss Cackle.

For me though, the most memorable performances come from Megan Sorrel, Paige Cunliffe, Georgina Brame, Sasha Carillo, Izzy Stuart Cole and Jo Myers as her pupils who had so much fun not acting their own age. I had a great deal of fun watching them, especially when they conspire to counter a plot to take over their school.

Sarah Reilly is also a revelation as Miss Bat.

Until April 17. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Rating - 3.5 out of 5.

Photo by Martin Ogden.

Abigail's Party - Royal Exchange Theatre


WHEN I was growing up in the 70’s, dinner parties always had a certain mystique for me and I couldn’t wait to be old enough to be invited to one, oblivious to the fact that adulthood can bring with it a whole new set of pressures.

I often wondered what happened at these child free get togethers, what was said, what was eaten and what was drank.

They were particularly in vogue in the 70s, the era of Harold Wilson, power cuts and the three day week.

When it comes to Mike Leigh’s hilarious comedy Abigail’s Party, they were an excuse to get sozzled, show off and pretend to be some much more sophisticated than they really are. Throw some flirting into the theatrical mix and you have a piece that feels as funny as it did when it was first performed nearly 50 years ago.

The so-called mod cons have changed and people have remained the same.

Kym Marsh is an example of inspired casting as the host, Beverly, quietly forcing her guests to have another drink and brilliantly browbeating her hen pecked husband, Lawrence. The chemistry between Marsh and Lawrence, played to perfection by Graeme Hawley, is convincingly perfect.

Kyle Rowe and Yasmin Taheri are hugely entertaining as guests Tony and Angela, Rowe giving us a hilarious impression of a rabbit caught in headlights as the social situation around him becomes more and more bizzare.

In fact, all the cast give us a masterclass in comic timing and reminds us this beautifully observed play falls into the timeless category.

Make sure you don’t miss the RET’s production of the season so far.

Until May 24. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Johan Persson.

Company - Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre at Altrincham Little Theatre


Company - Sondheim’s masterpiece.

STANDING on Piccadilly tram stop a few weeks ago there was a poster for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which seems to have been touring the country since time immemorial, along with other shows that have an instant box office appeal.

All these musicals have their place of course and they’re a great way of introducing children to the theatre by showing them entertainment doesn’t have to be screen shaped.

But in nearly 40 years as a reviewer I’ve only ever seen one production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, at the old and much loved Library Theatre in Manchester.

Sondheim uses his wit and genius to remind us the course of true love never ran smooth and relationships are built on compromise and accepting your partner, warts and all.

After seeing SAMT’s production, I fell in love with this brilliant show all over again with a talented company largely rising to the vocal challenges posed by an at times vocally taxing score.

It’s Robert’s birthday and apart from their presents his small army of friends have decided to club together to find him a partner and hopefully a future wife.

All of them are involved in a relationship of some kind and they feel Robert, or Bobby as he’s affectionately known, is missing out.

Tim Wood is quietly charismatic and engagingly likeable as the lone bachelor in question and I also really enjoyed Adam Garnett and Victoria Lewis whose good humoured sniping takes an equally harmless physical turn.

Eilidh Pollard is in show stealing form as Amy and I thought her character’s pre wedding nerves were so intense they would lead to spontaneous combustion during one of my favourite songs in the show, Getting Married Today.

Vikki Bullar seizes the opportunity to vocally shine when Joanne sings The Ladies Who Lunch, a number fused with perfectly targeted spite,

This is all a major achievement for director Edward Prophet and a company that has consistently proven there’s no such thing as forbidden musical territory for them.

While Sondheim’s scores are intricate and clever and demand audience’s attention, there’s nothing elitist about them and SAMT’s production is so good you’ll leave the theatre wanting more.

Anyone interested in booking tickets should visit samtheatre.co.uk or visit facebook.com/SAMTheatre.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Derek Stuart Cole.

A Man of No Importance - Lauriston Studio


IT’S not often you meet an Alfie Byrne, a man on a mission to share his deep seated love of culture with the passengers on his bus, allowing him to enjoy a sort of cult status as he takes the ‘r’ out of routine.

Alfie is a conductor on a well used route into 60’s Dublin. I can remember a driver who used to treat my journey as if he was piloting a plane to far flung, sun kissed shores.

But Alfie, the leading character in this moving, life affirming musical is far more than a culture junkie, as he battles draconian church leaders to bring a production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome to the amateur stage.

Our vulnerable hero is living a lie in far less enlightened times and the performance of Conor Collins, one of the best I’ve seen in 30 plus years of reviewing productions at Altrincham Garrick, ensures we the audience warm to him and are desperate he achieves his hopes and dreams.

Collins and his fellow cast members also make full use of a script which is written from the heart and avoids the predictable cliches and the cringeworthy.

I really liked Tom Broughton as Alfie’s ally in chief, Robbie Fay and Madeleine Healey who appears out of nowhere to spur Alfie’s theatrical dream. Will Teller also has quite a presence as Carney.

With no persuasion needed I would willingly watch this again thanks in no small part to director Barry Purves, equally accomplished at directing as he is to design.

In my previous life as a reviewer for the Messenger I was reluctant to give productions five stars too often because it can rener such adulation meaningless, but it would be churlish not to do so here.

I reviewed my first production here in 1987 - for me this is the best season yet.

Until March 30. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - *****

Photo - Martin Ogden.

Company preview - Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre


I STARTED reviewing as a freelance nearly 40 years ago and I have only ever seen one production of Company, at the much loved Library Theatre in Manchester.

That was in the mid 90’s.

It’s a mystery that baffles me to this day. Certain shows do the rounds year after year without fail.

Although my affection is deep seated for the creations of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber et al, Company, for me, has a unique appeal that sets it apart from many other musicals.

The characters feel like real people its easy to engage with, including the show’s central character, Robert, a seemingly incurable bachelor whose friends make it their mission to find him that perfect match. His friends, on the other hand, are all involved in relationships.

Edward Prophet, the production’s director, said:

“SAMT has always been committed to bringing high quality and thought provoking theatre to our audiences and Company is no exception.

“Sondheim’s masterpiece is a witty, poignant and deeply insightful exploration of love, relationships and self-discovery.

“Our cast and our creative team have poured our hearts into this production and we can’t wait to share it with audiences.”

Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre presents Company at Altrincham Little Theatre from March 26-29. Anyone interested in booking tickets should visit samtheatre.co.uk or facebook.com/SAMTheatre.

Oppenheimer - Altrincham Garrick


SOMETIMES its easy forget iconic figures are real people with all the strengths and weaknesses being a member of the human race brings with it.

So it is with the man they call the father of the atomic bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer, who led the project that led to the deaths of more than 200,000 people at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

These momentous events took place in the final throes of the Second World War and changed our world forever.

We are given a sense of what life would have been like for the man dubbed the father of the atom bomb in a play that is frank and yet non judgemental. Oppie, as he was known among his friends and colleagues, isn’t on trial here despite the devastating after effects of the project he ran.

Jonathan Higgs has quite a presence as Oppenheimer and I’m not just referring to his character’s sartorial strengths, with the enormously talented Higgs ensuring we hang on his every word of an outstanding and cleverly crafted script.

Other noteworthy performances Scarlet Newton as the troubled Jean, David Glover as Oppenheimer’s younger brother David and Mark Jephcott sounds every inch the military man as Leslie Groves.

The high standard of the acting is certainly a tribute to the hard work and dedication of director John Cunningham and co-director Carole Carr and I urge the Garrick to bring these two together again on future productions. Such a prospect is a mouth-watering one.

You could easily describe them as a dream team when it comes to the directing as they allow us audiences members to immerse ourselves in a remarkable and ambitious piece of writing without much effort on our part.

It seems wrong to single out individual performances for praise as there aren’t any bad ones here. The Garrick is the place to be at the moment with the theatre continues to re-define theatre which due to its consistent quality makes it impossible and insulting to describe it as amateur.

Oppenheimer is three hours long. But it didn’t feel like it and the time is sure to fly by, thanks to Tom Morton Smith’s script and some fine performances.

One reason why I like plays about important figures from the past is they have a certain mystique about them, living in those pre social media days.

Enjoy.

Until March 1. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating – *****

Photo by Martin Ogden


What If Only.

TWENTY fours on I am still racking my brains as to the reason or reasons behind Mrs Jarrett’s obsession with a dystopian world in Caryl Churchill’s play, Escaped Alone.

Her vision of gloom and hopelessness and inhumanity was, to put it mildly, the stuff of nightmares, and then some.

Maybe Churchill wanted her rantings an antidote to the refined and stereotypically English setting, as a group if friends sit in a sun lit back garden in suburbia somewhere, drinking tea and sharing their views on life and other things.

The setting made me feel like I was watching a sitcom - of sorts. Mrs Jarett, on the other hand, reminded me of the stereotypical mad woman.

But a far more disturbing revelation comes courtesy of one of the play’s other protagonists and the suspicious death of her husband.

Performances under Sarah Frankom’s direction are natural, unforced and authentic, giving the audience the feeling we’re sharing a sun kissed afternoon with Vi, Mrs Jarrett, Lena and Sally, with Annette Badland, Maureen Beattie, Souad Farress and Margot Leicester bringing their respective characters so engagingly and believably to life.

While I’m not the sort of reviewer who likes to be spoon fed information about characters in plays I left the RET feeling I had more questions than answers.

What If Only, which formed part two of the Churchill double bill, is just plain bizarre. A character called Someone struggles to find answers as she tries to live with all consuming grief.

The play gets off to a moving start with Someone, so well acted by Danielle Henry, rants at an empty chair in a bomb site of a living room, seeking answers to reasons behind her loss.

Henry is terrific is terrific and in a strong Manchester accent gives the second best performance of the evening, with Maureen Beattie winning first prize as the menacing Mrs Jarett in Escaped Alone.

Then What If Only becomes obsessed with a recurrent theme, the theme of futures and the futures Someone craves in a life tainted by grief she just can’t escape.

When it comes to the work of Caryl Churchill I count myself as one of the unconverted even if she uses dialogue to paint some deeply arresting images.

But there’s no getting away from the quality of the acting here which is without doubt first rate.

That’s especially so in Escaped Alone the actresses sounding like real friends.

Until March 8. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - 2.5 out of 5.

Photo by Johan Persson

The Shark is Broken - The Lowry


The Shark is Broken

THE theme of this iconic movie still sends a shiver down my spine more than half a century after it was made.

In terms of its central characters they are a perfect blend of different personalities and by far the most interesting is the shark hunter Quint, played by British actor Robert Shaw.

Before seeing this play I had no idea Shaw was in fact a Brit and had appeared on stage at Stratford in plays by one William Shakespeare.

The film may be branded a classic these days, but its making was severely delayed for several months by a host of technical problems, stemming from the fact the fake shark used wouldn’t work properly. Apparently a real one would have been out of the question due to the volatile temperament of these sinister, creepy creatures.

Co-written by Shaw’s son Ian, The Shark is Broken gives us as an illuminating and at times hilarious insight into what have been like for Shaw senior and the flick’s other co-stars, Roy Schneider and Richard Dreyfuss as they struggle to cope with months of relentless boredom as the film crew work tirelessly to make the shark work properly.

Robert Shaw is by far the most interesting character who delights in putting down Dreyfuss who he evidently regards as the irritating itch he would love to scratch. While the conversations that took place on the good ship/prison ship Orca exist only in the imagination of Shaw and co-writer Joseph Nixon, the script also makes references to real events, like Robert Shaw’s battle with alcoholism and his father’s suicide which took place when he was just 12 years old.

Ian Shaw, Dan Fredenburgh and Ashley Margolis bearing an uncanny resemblance to the original three stars and there’s an aura of the big screen which is sure to make you feel like you’re watching a film about people struggling to make a film. In fact I guarantee you’ll be doing a double take when they first appear on stage, at least when Shaw and Fredenburgh, wearing Chief Brody’s sensible specs.

While it helps if you’ve seen Jaws its not essential. One reason why enjoyed The Shark is Broken is it whisks us back to an age when celebrities had a certain mystique about them. Imagine, if you can, a world with social media.

Until February 8. Tickets are available from 0343 208 6000 and you can also book online at www.thelowry.com.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Manuel Harlan.

The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time - Altrincham Garrick


JUST imagine what it must feel like to live in a world that seems scary and confusing, everyday situations are an ordeal, including managing your emotions and understanding the actions of others around you.

So it is with Christopher, the central character in a play that is as moving as it is funny and as heart rending as it is heart warming.

Christopher is autistic and stands accused of killing his neighbour’s pet dog. If this 15 year old doesn’t have enough to contend with, his parents marriage has broken up and he’s being brought up by an ultimately loving dad trying hard to raise a son with a challenging condition.

This production is being staged by the Garrick Ensemble, a group of hugely talented 18-30 year old actors who left me feeling without doubt this theatre’s future is very bright indeed.

Charlie Gallagher as Christopher gives his best performance to date for me, delivering a performance that is of a professional standard.

He ensures we ache for a happy ending for his character without seeming to play on the audience’s emotions and there’s an authentic and engaging bond between him and Loui Quelcutti and Rachel Jacquest as his estranged mum and dad, Ed and Judy.

Christopher also just happens to be a Maths genius and his dream is to sit the A level exam despite his tender teenage years.

I am sure director Joe Meighan - or is it Joseph these days? - never wanted the rehearsals to end because of the rich vein of talent at his disposal which he uses to treat theatregoers to a production that’s far better and far more uplifting than the one I saw a few years ago in Manchester.

The partial standing ovation was richly deserved as was the storm of applause that swept through the auditorium and came seriously close to lifting the theatre’s roof off at the end.

A high water mark this, for Altrincham Garrick and amateur theatre in general.

Until February 9. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - *****

Photo - Martin Ogden,

Jack and the Beanstalk - Altrincham Garrick


WHEN actor Martin Deighton-Brown was suddenly taken ill, director Joe Meighan stepped in at the last minute to give a show stealing performance as the Dame in the Garrick’s always popular panto.

He enjoyed an instant rapport with the audience, with the children needing little coaxing to shout and scream in all the right bits.

Meighan’s rapport was also evident in the rest of the cast, with Daniel Ellis great fun from the start as the daft as a brush Silly Simon and Bev Stuart Cole a suitably heroic Mother Nature.

The one thing I took away from this production is the comforting feeling you don’t need a screen to entertain the kids with all of them, with one or two exceptions, captivated by this larger than life tale.

Or to put it another way, kids can still be kids.

The script combines child friendly jokes about things like breaking wind and a sprinkling of innuendo that is sure to go above the heads of the little ones while keeping the adults entertained..

Personally, as someone with a sense of humour that has an immature streak, I enjoyed both.

Now I’ve going to break with tradition and praise the production’s lighting designer who has created effects of a professional standard. The lighting was spectacular on occasions and of a professional standard on more than one occasion. Take a bow, James Merrington.

If I have a criticism, Jack and the Beanstalk is a few minutes too long. But hey, it’s Christmas and when as a child can you not stay up late once or twice?

The only exception being Christmas Eve, when Father Christmas comes calling.

Until January 5.

Tickets are selling fast and anyone interested in booking them should call 0161 928 1677 or you can book online at www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ***

Photo - Martin Ogden.