Alcina exposes the Lowry audience to the endlessly empty and haunting reality behind its unloved antihero.

The Bridgewater Hall’s yuletide festivities are kicking off with the classic holiday fable, A Christmas Carol, seen through the prism of puppets.

Taking the journey farther than it has ever been before, the live orchestra are ready to refresh the Star Wars universe, expanding out to a new audience with their fleet of orchestral talent. The blockbuster is reborn with a live backing of the classic soundtrack, performed alongside a cinema screen projection of the film.

The times, they are a-changin’ and the latest instalment to the DC universe is far from the spectacle we have come to expect from the standard superhero movie. Bringing more nuance than deserved to a comic book character whose origins began with a pow, bang and wallop, 2019’s Joker has stripped sentimentality for the Wayne’s, reworking the off-kilter criminals roots to form a budding rivalry assigned by status.