The Importance of Being Earnest - Royal Exchange Theatre


THE Importance of Being Earnest is as light as one of Lady Bracknell’s cucumber sandwiches.

While the RET’s decision to transport Wilde’s comedy to a modern setting doesn’t entirely work because of changes in social etiquette, spending an evening in the company in friends Jack and Algernon is still by and large, great fun even if the majority of the laugh out loud moments come in act two.

Robin Morrissey and Parth Thakerar are perfect for the roles with both displaying an expert comic timing as they pursue their romantic dreams.

Thakerar’s character is by far the most appealing, an incurable upper class layabout with a seemingly unquenchable appetite for food and the good things in life. If there was such a thing as a degree in sitting on your backside and doing nothing, Algy is sure to get a first.

While the social background inhabited by Algy is alien to most of us, we men would secretly like to be him I’m sure, even if we’re scared to admit it.

James Quinn, who seems to have been performing forever, is similarly gifted in the comic timing department as servants Lane and Merriman respectively and I also really enjoyed Rumi Sutton as Cecily.

It’s inevitable that a play that premiered in 1895 is showing its wrinkles. But there are some witty gems to enjoy from the master playwright, renowned for his immaculate turn of phrase.

Anyone looking for an evening in the theatre that will suit those steamy summer nights we will surely get at some point, are sure to enjoy a play that, to coin a phrase made famous by a TV ad from yesteryear, does exactly what it says on the tin.

Until July 20. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - 3.5 out of 5.

Photo by Johan Persson.

Merrily We Roll Along - Altrincham Garrick


Unmissable - Merrily We Roll Along.

IT was as a fresh faced freelance that I reviewed my first Garrick production, more years ago than I care to remember.

But Merrily We Roll Along, featuring a sumptuous score by the American genius who is Stephen Sondheim, is among the very best.

Sondheim is without doubt, a guilty pleasure of mine and I admire him for the way he doesn’t coax emotion out of audiences even though his songs have their desired emotional impact.

His talent is definitely a unique one and the entire Garrick cast, under the expert direction of Joseph Meighan and musical director Mark Goggins, certainly do it justice. And then some.

Spanning three decades, Merrily is the story in reverse of composer Franklin Shepard who abandons his musical roots and his friends to become a movie producer in Hollywood.

There’s a touching camaraderie between Tom Broughton, in show stealing form as Shephard, and his musical collaborator Charley Kringas, a disarmingly decent character struggling to make sense of Shephard’s change in direction and Meg Brassington as the writer Mary Flynn.

It feels fundamentally wrong to single out individual performances, with the exception of the afore mentioned trio because there simply aren’t any bad ones and the choreography, under the direction of Louise Petit, is just as memorable and full of spectacle.

Had Sondheim himself been in the audience he is sure to have applauded and I would willingly watch this twice.

The show’s rooftop climax is also quite something, a real dose of stage magic, much needed in our miserable times.

Fabulous, flawless and a must see.

Until June 22. The box office is on 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - *****

Photo by Martin Ogden.

2:22 A Ghost Story - The Lowry


2:22 A Ghost Story at The Lowry - spooky stuff.

I CAN’T for the life of me - no pun intended - remember the last time I was so genuinely shocked and scared by a play.

But everyone at The Lowry absolutely loved being spooked, with their shrieks turning into bursts of collective laughter.

Danny Robins ingeniously crafted play also contains one of the cleverest twists I’ve ever seen on a stage. But us critics have been urged by our contacts not to spill the beans.

Jenny and Sam are coming to terms with the pressures of new parenthood and Jenny’s stress levels are boosted by her belief that her house is haunted, a belief Sam rubbishes at ever given opportunity.

The couple invite Lauren and her new boyfriend Ben for drinks and food. Ben is irritating beyond belief at times, overly familiar to Sam who hates the way he calls him “mate.”

As Sam and Jenny, George Rainsford and Fiona Wade exude a very potent chemistry and really sound like a real husband and wife, especially when rowing after initial differences of opinion.

Jay McGuiness is at times hilarious as Ben, especially during his bouts of inflated self worth and I also really liked Vera Chok’s Lauren.

The special effects have maximum impact in the Lowry audience by increasing the emotional ante without warning.

When it comes to spooks I’m probably a member of sceptics anonymous. Hopefully though, nothing will happen to make me change my theory.

Prepare to be shocked, scared and entertained. A must see.

Star rating - 4.5 out of 5.

Until June 8. Tickets are available from 0343 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com.

The Audience - Altrincham Garrick


Stunning - The Audience.

MIKE Shaw take a bow - and your hugely dedicated and gifted team of costume designers.

Between them they’ve recreated a stunning replica of The Queen’s coronation dress and the end result is a visually stunning spectacle that’s sure to live long in the memory of those who see it.

But Mike is a multi talented man whose equally adept in the director’s chair and the end result is a hugely enjoyable evening’s theatre.

The Audience comes from the pen of Peter Morgan who re-imagines what was said during Her Majesty’s weekly meetings with her Prime Ministers.

It’s a work of pure fiction of course. But there’s an air of engaging authenticity in Morgan’s dialogue that made me secretly hope there was a modicum of truth in at least something that was said behind closed doors.

You don’t have to be an admirer of the Royals to enjoy this. But there’s no getting away from the fact HRH came through a host of challenges despite her vast array of privilegrs.

We also meet a younger version of The Queen as she struggles to come to terms with her status and her destiny.

Ros Greenwood gives the performance of her Garrick career as the older version of our late monarch and I really enjoyed her natural rapport with Mark Jephcott who played quite brilliantly our former pipe smoking PM, Harold Wilson.

Equally enjoyable is Nick Sample as Churchill and Steven Finney who gives a show stealing performance as the much maligned John Major. I still laugh when I think of the way Major was so mercilessly lampooned on the brilliant Spitting Image.

The Audience definitely gets my vote. Enjoy.

Until May 25. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Martin Ogden.

The Father - Altrincham Garrick


I CAN’T remember the last time I was so moved by a production of a play.

The Father gives us a heartbreakingly honest account of what living with dementia must be like for victims of this cruel and incurable condition as well as their families and friends struggling to care for them.

Director Charlie Tomlinson must have thought all his birthdays had come at once when the cast assembled for its first rehearsal and the end result is another Tomlinson triumph as all the actors give performances of a truly professional standard.

Nick Sample is perfect as the piece’s lead character, Andre, a study in vulnerability. Then we have Beverley Stuart Cole as Andre’s dedicated and loving daughter Anne and at the other end of the moral spectrum there’s a deeply affecting Steven Finney as Pierre, a truly hateful character with no empathy for Andre’s heart breaking, dementia driven plight.

So much so he subjects Andre to the snidest episodes of bullying and you’re sure to find yourself willing for him to be caught and reprimanded for his vile actions.

The Father comes from the pen of the French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller and translator Sir Christopher Hampton ensures none of the emotional impact of original has been lost.

While there aren’t many laughs in this frank, honest and uncompromising play it had a profound effect on me.

It’s richly deserving of bigger houses than the sparse audience it attracted on opening night, even if some members greeted the end of this powerful production with a richly deserved standing ovation.

A must see.

Until May 11. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - *****

Photo by Martin Ogden.

Sweat - Royal Exchange Theatre


Sweat - photo by Helen Murray.

IT was the seminal 80s TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff that shaped my politics by humanising the way our economic system can wreck the lives of those who turn to it for their livelihoods.

So it is with Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer prize winning stage play Sweat, a powerful reminder about how the afore mentioned system is still wrecking lives and putting pay to long term friendships while allowing others thrive and prosper.

If people only go to the theatre to be entertained that’s fine. But when this emotional art form gives a voice to the voiceless as effectively as it does here the experience can be just as rewarding.

If unsettling at the same time.

The action takes place in your archetypal American bar in which a large number of its clients hail from a local steel factory facing an uncertain future. The bartender is a former factory employee, Stan, played by a very convincing Jonathan Kerrigan.

Good Teeth has designed a sparse, albeit authentic looking set, the sort of bar that’s a real antidote to cosiness much loved by say, American sitcoms. Let’s just say jokes are at a premium anyway.

Cynthia, a factory employee, has been promoted to a management role which sparks a certain resentment among her former colleagues and the always watchable Carla Henry is perfect in the role.

They say football is a game of two halves and it’s probably fair to say Jade Lewis’s production has more of an emotional impact in act two.

While Sweat is probably 10-15 minutes too long the play left me angry about the way in which people’s lives can be devastated once they’re viewed as “expendable” by the system even though Nottage’s writing resists the temptation to be preaching or political.

Until May 26. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - 3.5 out of 5.

A Taste of Honey - Royal Exchange Theatre


A Taste of Honey - photo by Johan Persson.

EVEN the weather seemed to be entering into the spirit of things, as grey clouds loomed overhead as I made my way to the theatre.

It seemed very fitting that this northern masterpiece, set against the backdrop of Salford’s long gone terraced streets, was about to be performed in a setting all too familiar to people in this area.

The world of A Taste of Honey is one of unrelenting gloom, a world in which every day is a battle for survival in which only the strong survive.

A world in which the sun never shines. Or so it seems.

It’s hard to believe Shelagh Delaney was just a teenager when she wrote this wonderful piece because she displays a wisdom and a foresight and a maturity way, way beyond her years. The play premiered in 1958 and Delaney also had the courage of her convictions to place what were then controversial issues, centre stage.

The afore mentioned issues include homosexuality, nearly 10 years before it was made legal in this country.

But I never feel lectured to or preached at. Delaney just makes you think as she tackles issues that wouldn’t raise many eyebrows today, and rightly so. Delaney just tackles them with an entertaining and intelligent manner that’s also distinctly matter of fact.

We follow the misfortunes of Jo and her promiscuous, alcoholic mother Helen. Playing these iconic roles are Rowan Robinson and Jill Halfpenny and the chemistry between them is so strong and so convincing it felt like I was watching a real life mother and daughter as they fought and argued with each other, Jo dipping into her well stocked arsenal of home truths as she puts Helen, as she calls her, in her place.

The role of Jo’s gay roommate Geoffrey is a gift for David Moorst, with poor Jeffrey fussing around the pregnant Jo with a devotion verging on the masochistic. He’s like the proverbial mother hen or as Jo put it with her characteristic lack of tact, “like an old woman.”

Director Emma Baggott has obviously nurtured her production with tender loving care and the cast do full justice to a script that is for me one of the best ever written. Some of the lines are just so good, so perfect any budding writers watching could well turn green with envy.

I enjoyed A Taste of Honey so much sitting through it again, on the same night, wouldn’t have been an ordeal. Fabulous.

Until April 13. Tickets are available from 0161 933 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - *****