theatre – Manchester Historian

Victorian leisure and crime historian, Andrew Davies recently spoke about his book, Gangs of Manchester at a late night lecture at the Manchester Art Gallery. Charlotte Johnson interviews him about his past and current work on the working classes in Manchester and other British cities.

It is hard for us to imagine how crowds could be drawn to events in the ages before the popular press. However, Shakespeare’s Globe was notorious for pulling the punters. Xan Atkins looks at the innovative ways he and the queen’s company promoted themselves and their plays.

Charlotte Johnson reviews All My Sons, playing at the Royal Exchange until October 2013.

When launching the annual Bruntwood Playwriting Prize at the Royal Exchange in Manchester earlier this year, Dame Jenni Murray stated the importance of strong roles for women. She was, however, preaching to the converted. The Exchange’s Autumn/Winter season has had many such roles (not least among them was Lady in Orpheus Descending) and it ends Continue Reading

This rather relatively underperformed Tennessee Williams’ play is set in the Deep South in the 40s. Claustrophobia and prejudice smothers the small town, where the parochial poison of vicious and sadistic hatred of wops, blacks and those that just don’t conform steadily intensifies. This is a deeply unsettling play that discomforts the audience, who can Continue Reading