Looking Back: Best of 2008
Well, 2008 is almost over. So, what better time to see look back at the highlights of a really busy year, theatrically speaking.
With the likes of Mary Poppins, Brenda Blethyn and West Side Story all gracing Manchester’s stage, we asked our reviewers to choose any productions which left them shaken and stirred during 2008.
Here’s what they chose:
Glenn Meads’ top productions of 2008
Mary Poppins
Excellent family production which is as magical in Manchester as it was in the West End. Lisa O’Hare is the definitive super nanny!
The Glass Menagerie
Brenda Blethyn leads a brilliant cast in The Royal Exchange’s triumphant production.
Black Watch
If only all theatre was as good as this, no-one would watch telly or go to the cinema!
Blackbird
A simple set up with a stunning denouement and skin deep performances. Dark, funny and realistically grim.
West Side Story
The best revivial of the year is back in July. See it, as it makes you realise why West Side Story is simply the best stage musical of all time.
Calum Kerr’s top productions of 2008
Les Puddings Noir
This might have been an amateur company with an amateur script, but they produced professional-sized laughter and a great night out at the theatre.
The Glee Club
The mixture of music, laughter and pathos in this Library Theatre production made this an excellent way to spend an evening. Moving and funny with songs to sing as you leave the theatre. Brilliant!
A Song For The Lovers
A small cast in a small theatre but still with excellent writing and acting which shone out.
Great Expectations
The Library’s Christmas show has all the magic you could want from the theatre, with 7 actors producing a cast of thousands, and a flexible set which can be any one of a hundred locations at a moment’s notice. Truly
enthralling.
See How They Run
The Royal Exchange’s alternative to pantomime is an absolute riot. Simply very, very funny.
Malcolm Wallace’s top productions of 2008
Our House
It’s a travesty that a show as well written and enjoyable as this one fails to find an audience and closes after such a short tour. Best musical I have seen this year.
The Glass Menagerie
The Royal Exchange nearly always score success with their productions but this one was a cut above the rest. Fantastically performed and directed piece of theatre.
Hay Fever
Funniest thing I have seen all year.
Swan Lake
Australian Ballet show that they are equally as good, if not better, that their British counterparts and what a joy it was to hear the BBC Philharmonic make the most of Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score.
The Boy In The Photograph
And over in Liverpool the students of LIPA must be congratulated for their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s reworked musical The Boys in the Photograph. If this is the standard of performance students at LIPA produce then watch out world! There’s some true talent about to burst out onto the profesisonal stage.
Matthew Nichols’ top productions of 2008
Black Watch
A real theatrical event, with a sense of occasion about it. Seeing people trooping across the tram lines to the converted pie factory was marvellous, as so many folk desperately wanted to see it. A virtually faultless production, in every respect. One of those where, in a few years time, I’ll be able to say, “Oh yes, I saw Black Watch the first time round.” Stunningly good.
Bolton Octagon Theatre - in general
A series of superb productions that have marked their 40th anniversary season, and this, Mark Babych’s last as Artistic Director. Great programming, strong productions, and risk-taking all seem to have paid off dividends. Pound for pound, I think this is the region’s strongest theatre. And if Julie Riley had given the performance she gave in Road on a London stage, she’d win every award going.
The Ladyboys of Bangkok
So unexpectedly good. Brilliant fun, great frocks, fab routines, and one of the best nights out I’ve had in ages.
Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision
The best fun you could have in a theatre within two hours, and a peerless Mel Giedroyc stealing every scene she was in.
Dave Cunningham’s top productions of 2008
Metamorphosis
So imaginatively staged that I didn’t even mind the switch from a personal to political tragedy.
The Glass Menagerie
Well duh , you put good actors in a classic play under a decent director and you’re going to get a good show.
Black Watch
This could have been a mess with so many disparate elements creating confusion but instead everything about it worked. Very strong story, imaginative direction, superb acting and tremendously moving.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Manon
This is probably too subjective to make a best of list but 2008 was the first time I’ve given ballet a chance to impress me
(God bless What’s on Stage for that by the way) and these productions would make me go back for more.
Blackbird
Powerful acting in a dark story story of mutual obsession.
Afrika! Afrika!
Proof that spectacular need not mean empty.
You Can See the Hills
Certainly the best new play of the year very well acted.
The Venetian Twins
One of those plays that, if you try to describe it, sounds awful but so well directed and acted that it was a total pleasure.
What were your favourites? Please leave a comment at the foot of this page with your highs and lows.