It’s a lesser-seen sort of stage adaptation – but occasionally, playwrights take inspiration from great works of art. Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree drew on Michael Craig-Martin’s artwork. Sondheim riffed on Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George. And in Shed: Exploded View, Phoebe Eclair-Powell was inspired by Cornelia Parker’s installation of a blown-up garden shed to explode her own theatrical form.
Continue reading “Review: Shed: Exploded View, Royal Exchange”Tag: Manchester Royal Exchange
Miss Saigon is back on stage – and people are angry
The heat is on Miss Saigon: Sheffield Crucible is mounting the first all-new production of the mega-hit musical since its premiere in 1989 – and in doing so, has made many people angry.
Continue reading “Miss Saigon is back on stage – and people are angry”Review: Betty!, Manchester Royal Exchange
Consider this a spectacular finale to a trilogy about Yorkshire women, from the pen of Maxine Peake: first she immortalised cyclist Beryl Burton, then Hull fishwife Lillian Bilocca, and now Dewsbury’s Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker in the House of Commons.
Continue reading “Review: Betty!, Manchester Royal Exchange”Review: The Glass Menagerie, Manchester Royal Exchange
At last, Atri Banerjee’s production of Tennessee Williams’s play sees the light: it was due to be staged in spring 2020. While the cast and team have re-assembled, Banerjee and designer Rosanna Vize completely reworked their plans, to take into account what we’ve all been through since then.
Continue reading “Review: The Glass Menagerie, Manchester Royal Exchange”Review: The Skriker, Manchester International Festival
Theatrically, The Skriker has got the bloody lot. This play reminds us what an astonishing writer – a manipulator of words – Caryl Churchill is, and what a fascinating collaborator: the script demands abstract movement, music, song, visual spectacle. Sarah Frankcom’s revival delivers them all up on big silver platters (sometimes literally). Continue reading “Review: The Skriker, Manchester International Festival”