Monthly Archives: August 2022
Theatre Review: The Osmonds – A New Musical, Palace Theatre, Manchester
Back when The Osmonds were in their ascendancy, I was in thrall to the considerably more credible likes of Led Zeppelin, The Byrds and, ahem, Quicksilver Messenger Service (come on, two out of three ain’t bad and in retrospect QMS actually had their moments).
Read the full story..The Man Who Captured Sunlight: actor Freddie Fox talks about his great, great grandfather
He’s the son of Edward, the nephew of James, and brother to Emilia. It’s no wonder that Freddie Fox was born to play Hamlet.
Read the full story..Theatre Review: Don’t Turn My Life Into A Musical, Oldham Coliseum
The irony in calling a musical Don’t Turn My Life Into A Musical is evident, but it perfectly captures the solipsistic agony of the five adolescents on the cusp of adulthood whose stories are being told here.
Read the full story..Rachel Goodyear: Salford Museum & Art Gallery
“I always consider that my practice is almost one ongoing artwork, but then the techniques and the exploration of drawing and the way that I use drawing can change and evolve over time as well.”
Read the full story..Manc Noir: Author David Nolan explains how anger inspired his latest book
Back in 2018, David Nolan took an unscheduled detour from his successful career as a journalist and music biographer to write his first novel, Black Moss. A dark crime tale set around Manchester and Oldham in 1990 during the Strangeways riots, it channelled many of Nolan’s fears and preoccupations into a new sub-genre he himself dubbed ‘Manc Noir’.
Read the full story..Björk’s a bit bland but Bluedot Festival hasn’t lost its mojo
Book Review: Waiting For The Gift, Edited by Richard V. Hirst
For the bookish, the similarities are self-evident. If the short story is the literary equivalent of a pop song, crafted for brevity and immediacy, then the themed anthology is like an LP record, affording the space for both the instantly captivating and more experimental work.
Read the full story..Women’s football and the mighty Lionesses: ‘We need this to be a watershed moment’
A few months ago, I took my two boys (three and four) to the park with a ball for a kickabout.
Read the full story..Fleetneedles Forage: Searching the sensory garden
A few weeks ago I discovered a sensory garden in Southport’s Hesketh Park. It was largely overgrown but, through the mass of unruly vegetation, I could see there was a wealth of foraging delights. I decided to return at peak flowering season knowing it would make identification easier.
Read the full story..Editor's Picks
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