Venue: The Lowry
Date Reviewed: 28th June, 2008

Verbatim style theatre sometimes fails as it it often attracts a target audience who do not need to be convinced by the central arguments. Recently though thought-provoking pieces like What I Heard About Iraq have attempted to redress the balance via the uniqueness of the staging.

DV8’s To Be Straight With You is so viscerally challenging that it leaves you feeling shocked and stirred, as opposed to simply talked at. But there is so much more to this dazzling piece of theatre, than mere facts and figures.

Based around 85 interviews and a series of vox pops, with people living in the UK, DV8 explore some of the myths surrounding homosexuality in 2008. For example, gay Police Officers are told to be “less gay” when speaking to members of the Muslim community. (more…)

Tim Firth’s adaptation of the award-winning Miramax film Calendar Girls, which tells the real-life story of a Yorkshire chapter of the Women’s Institute who decide to pose nude for a charity calendar arrives at the Lowry in October, ahead of a possible West End transfer. Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Penelope Wilton and Celia Imrie starred in the 2003 screen original, also written by Firth.

On stage, Patricia Hodge plays Annie (Walters on screen) who, after losing her husband to leukaemia, teams up with her close friend and fellow WI member Chris, played by Lynda Bellingham (Mirren on screen) to raise money for the local hospital by producing a calendar. They’re joined by Elaine C Smith as Cora/Miss October, Gaynor Faye as Celia/Miss November and Brigit Forsyth as WI president Marie. The ladies will strip off at the Lowry ahead of a possible London transfer. The Right Size’s Hamish McColl will direct.

Tickets are priced £12- £23 and Calendar Girls runs from Mon 20- Sat 25 October.

-Glenn Meads

Venue: The Lowry
Date Reviewed: 25th June, 2008

Writers such as David Storey and Roy Williams have used rugby and football to examine the state of the nation. Richard Bean focuses on cricket in his new play, The English Game.

It works well as the game does attract a wide group of people ranging from a war veteran to a rock star. However, even before the play starts, the audience is made aware that the standards of cricket might not be achieved in the match between the Nightwatchmen and their opponents from a rival team. (more…)

Venue: Opera House
Date Reviewed: 25th June, 2008

Evita has attracted some truly talented leading ladies over the years including Elaine Paige, Marti Webb and the wonderful Elena Roger, the last actress to play Eva Peron in the West End. Instead of resting on his laurels, allowing this classic musical to sell itself, director and producer Bill Kenwright has assembled an excellent cast, including the brilliant Louise Dearman as the Argentine First Lady.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s tale of a poor peasant girl who drags herself out of poverty and into the arms of Argentine dictator Juan Peron (Mark Heenehan), features world-famous songs, including “Another Suitcase, Another Hall” and “A New Argentina” which cleverly mixes epic grandiose in terms of Lloyd Webber’s iconic music and cynicism, via Rice’s superb lyrics. (more…)

Venue: Palace Theatre
Date Reviewed: 24th June, 2008

If you have kids into all things High School Musical, you will know how much of a draw, this Disney cash-cow has become. But, what you might not have realised is how slick and highly addictive the whole concept is, when transferred to the stage. True, it does lack the charisma over-drive that is Zac Effron. But it still remains a catchy, and incredibly watchable Grease-lite musical extravaganza.

Instead of Danny, we have Troy, the football jock (Ashley Day) and we watch as he falls for the new-girl-in-town; the brainiac, Gabriella Montez (Lorna Want). Sure, these characters could be sponsored by Coca-Cola as they are so damn nice and always doing the right thing, but the kids love ‘em even if they lack the rough edges of Danny Zuko and Sandy’s Pink Ladies.

But, if you, like your children surrender to the sheer exuberance on display here, High School Musical really does leave you soaring, as the song “Breaking Free” goes. Most of the credit for this goes to the excellent cast, including one of the hardest working ensembles you will see on tour. (more…)