Actor Jason Merrells (pictured left) is currently playing Antipholus of Syracuse, opposite his brother Simon in the RSC tour of The Comedy of Errors, which is currently at the Lowry. But he is no stranger to Manchester as he has starred in Queer As Folk, Cutting It and currently plays the headmaster in the TV hit Waterloo Road. We caught up with him before press night.  

Have you ever worked with your brother, Simon Merrells, before?

Yes.  I’ve directed him twice – most recently in a short film this year, and then in a play in the 1990s. 

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Following their huge success with the Brian Friel classic, Dancing At Lughnasa, (pictured) The Library Theatre bring his Faith Healer to the stage.

Frank Hardy travels round the sleepy backwaters of rural Wales and Scotland dispensing his talents as a faith healer. His wife, Grace, travels with him, as does his manager, the sweet-talking Teddy, who could charm the birds off the trees, and much else besides. Each have a different take on Frank’s skills as a faith healer.

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With The Wedding Singer getting ready to open its UK tour in Manchester, it has got me thinking about how nostalgia seems to be the buzzword in theatre and music at the moment.  

In Manchester alone, we have the Spice Girls and Take That gigs, endless Motown/Elvis tribute shows and revivals of musicals from days gone by. But is this a good thing?

I always argue if the band went out on top and then re-form, the public will probably not feel too ripped off.

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Gary Wilmot (pictured) plays the lead role of Arthur Kipps in Half a Sixpence which opens at the Palace Theatre on Mon 29 October. Wilmot has starred in many musicals, including Me and My Girl, Copacabana, Oliver!, HMS Pinafore and, in 2006, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.

With music and lyrics by David Heneker and a book by Beverley Cross, the rags-to-riches-to-rags story of orphan Kipps, who inherits a vast fortune then has it embezzled away, is based on an HG Wells novel.

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Tim Supple’s acclaimed Indian production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream combines the astonishing skills of actors, dancers, martial arts experts, musicians and street acrobats from across India and Sri Lanka. It arrives at the Lowry at the end of October. We caught up with Tim to find out how the idea for the show came about.

How did the show come about?  Why were you brought on to do the project?

In the autumn of 2004 I was contacted by the British Council and asked if I wanted to come to India and make a show with Indian actors.  They were not specific about what I should do or how I should do it. I was very keen, having visited India in 1997 and, having already felt a kind of naïve affinity with what I understood to be certain aspects of India theatre.  I had a sort of instinct that this would suit me. 

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