The Curious Incident is a captivating story about an autistic teenager, a murder and the secret lives of others. Playwright, Simon Stephens adapted this well-known novel by Mark Haddon in 2012 and the show has since won seven Olivier Awards. As it continues its latest nationwide tour, the production is taking over the Lowry Theatre with its imposing multisensory, cube staging. The production magnifies the world of Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old who lives in Swindon and is continually challenged by his daily life. Christopher prefers his own company and takes most sayings literally, but his love of maths and science motivates the majority of his actions. The novel is able to convey Christopher’s calculated quirks through randomly placed facts and tangents which have been adapted onto multiple screens that encompasses the entire live stage. Although Christopher's habits can be fairly distancing to the reader in the novel, Marianne Elliott’s inventive platform allows Christopher to present his outsider perspective through the ensemble cast and illustrations that ensure that his story runs smoothly. The Lowry Theatre exposes far more than the novel as the humbling and heart-warming tale gives a voice to Christopher through his narrator, teacher Mrs. Shears (Clare Perkins) and the ensemble cast. In an imaginative set design, that is essentially Christopher’s brain. This incredibly ambitious production explains the set of rules that surround Christopher’s life and expand on his thoughts like a magic box. Christopher's world is one of many rules, a fact that is reflected directly onto the stage, a clean and clinical box with hidden doors and compartments. With ensemble cast members becoming the scenery in a physically morphing set that mirrors Christopher’s dizzying experiences. The challenge surrounding The Curious Incident production is the characters lack of empathy and his difficulty in interpreting and conveying emotions, but Haddon’s narrative is genuinely funny, offering audiences a sincere storyline that makes a world of difference. The terrific casting fulfils the other half of this shows hypnotic skill as its scenery and lead play a major role of drawing you into Christopher’s intimate tale. Christopher, who is played magnificently by Jenkins is asked to run in practically every scene and is virtually never off stage. The Lowry has Jenkins playing to an assorted audience of students and seniors in a demanding role that he lovingly portrays. With so few props on stage to distract from the eye-watering storytelling, Jenkins performance includes physical ticks, lifts and intense scenes of emotions that the audience will be glued to. Dramatic in its simplicity, The Curious Incident offers one of the best sets ever designed. Elliott’s sensational direction has inspired countless stage shows, who have lifted ideas from this productions enthrallingly minimalist structure and its imaginative transitions. Jenkins has a quality that audiences can read from the back of the theatre, which helps carry this quiet family tale, but The Curious Incident is a story grounded in reality, yet visually fantastical. TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNightTime TheLowry #Manchester

At the Royal Exchange, the Pomona set becomes a rotating room of sin. It allows its director, Ned Bennett to play through the dystopian reality of its deeply shallow characters. Set in Manchester, the audience follow seven characters in Bennett's surreal, video game surroundings. The themes of Pomona are cemented in its opening scene, mixing mythology and facts. The character Zeppo parades around in his underwear connecting the plot to Indiana Jones as an analogy for life. Worlds in which people refuse to let anything surface or unravel. Announcing his affection for McDonald’s nuggets, Zeppo explains how he preserves his love for them. He refuses to ask how they became nuggets. He chooses to remain ignorant. Pomona’s science fiction elements explore a looming awareness of its cast’s apocalyptic reality. The actors are entirely believable in separate scenes that intertwine through time. With sequences appearing out of order, this is an element that seals the fate of its characters long before the audience has a chance to relate to them. At its best, the time-travelling helps entertain the audience with reckless story arcs. The packed auditorium laughs at characters painful narratives and increasingly repellent statements as they appear to be the only light relief between impending scenes of doom. Despite its rough edges, writer Alistair McDowall has created a surprisingly humorous production with a childlike innocence from the beginning. Characters are contained in a state of play using Dungeons and Dragons, the pointless and aimless game that enhances life through its endless choices. Overall, this factually inspired, fictional play battles with the hard realities of life. All roads point to Pomona and the game is simply to survive an increasingly heartless world. #Pomona #TheRoyalExchange #Manchester

Enjoy theatre online from the comfort of your own home. Random, fun and unauthorised, Portal 2: The Musical is available to watch on YouTube. https://youtu.be/QF7g3rCnD-w The National Theatre will be releasing its past performances for audiences to watch a week at a time. The shows are available on YouTube from the 2nd April and will include One Man, Two Guvnors and Jane Eyre. https://www.youtube.com/user/ntdiscovertheatre Eugenius! is readily available to watch on online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTdm1ivNL2s Amsterdam + post-show Q&A will be available on Wednesday 15 April from HOME. https://homemcr.org/event/amsterdam-post-show-qa/ Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are available for weekly viewing from the YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmPjhKMaXNNeCr1FjuMvag BBC Four are showcasing a collection of The National Theatre's performances including Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing for their Culture in Quarantine series focused on Shakespeare. Available on BBC iPlayer. Ballet The Royal Opera House will be releasing shows on YouTube, including Peter and the Wolf and Metamorphosis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF8iuOW7BwA Vienna State Ballet’s Swan Lake is available to watch on online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYR2hd3QDUI Opera Opera North's The Turn of the Screw is available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDHANx0Ue08 OperaVison have a pleather of productions, including Madame Butterfly and Spring Storms, available to watch on online. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBTlXPAfOx300RZfWNw8-qg Stand Up Across three nights, a different stand-up comedian will take over the @PrimeVideoUK Instagram account to deliver a stand-up routine from their living room. #IsolatedLaughs in the UK in aid of #NHSCharitiesTogether. Kids Willows Musical is available to stream online for free. https://www.willowsmusical.com/ Music Live Nation: Live From Home link https://www.livenation.co.uk/livefromhome The One World: Together At Home concert on April 18th includes performances from Alicia Keys, Elton John and Lizzo. The digital special aims to support frontline healthcare workers and the WHO. Available to watch on BBC One, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. #TogetherAtHome Paid theatre Homemakers will soon be available online from HOMEmcr, offering Pay-What-You-Decide commissioned live art. https://homemcr.org/article/homemakers-artists-new-work-coronavirus/ Digital Theatre gives access to its archive of performances including Funny Girl, Into the Woods and Macbeth. https://www.digitaltheatre.com/consumer/productions I suggest holding on to your seven-day free trial of Disney+ as the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton will be available from the online streaming platform from the 3rd of July. Random Finally, if you just want a laugh and don’t mind extremely blurry film footage, Pokemon Live! is a must. Available (for now) to view on YouTube. https://youtu.be/bDLj7hT1bk4

Precarious Carnaval has plunged into the past, present and future to unearth the secrets of the Bridgewater canal. Celebrating its 258th birthday, artists Lowri Evans, Renato Bolelli Rebouças and Rodolfo Amorim are helping audiences embark on a journey through the history of England’s first canal. The award-winning theatre-makers from Brazil and the UK have collaborated in a community event that fuses over thirty local groups and hundreds of volunteers. Creating a crafty collection that captures Salford’s hidden history, the immersive three acts flow through three days of events. Offering a time travelling trip back to 1761 when the canal was first commissioned by Francis Egerton 3rd, the carnaval trail from Boothstown Marina to Worsley’s Humpback Bridge captures how the channel enabled a more efficient production of coal. The carnaval walk-through celebration explores how the process of the industrial revolution moved people out of the field and into factories but exposes how its challenging history was fuelled by the hard labour of miners and funded through slave labour. Haunting us like Marley’s ghost, the spirits of the mine workers roam the tumultuous trail that intertwines the colourful festivities with the forgotten voices sacrificed in the pursuit of progress. Explaining how race, class and gender exploitation energised the industrial revolution, the path positions real and fictional characters to explore where this route will lead us in the future. Atop the Queenie narrowboat, a drunken woman sings about her lost youth and her sealed fate as a poorly paid 7-year-old coal miner. But these scenes are pinned against a life-size ice cream mascot and the entangled Smith’s Knits mermaids washed ashore, covered in the discarded rubbish that has been thrown in the canal by passers-by. It is a uniquely designed, family-friendly affair that ensures that these stories are digestible for its younger audience. Including music, witches and mermaids placed along its route to keep the atmosphere imaginative and entertaining, the installations and characters are all beautifully illustrated against the natural scenic route. The vibrant festival even takes a minute to take cover under a bridge where a masked ball accompanied by a brass band awaits anyone willing to don a disguise and drink with the devil. Comprised of countless local acts including an original poem from the Bridgewater Youth Centre and the Barton Belles performance of The Ship Song (by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), the picturesque walkways are lined with visual and creative collections of public art. Precarious Carnaval allows audiences the opportunity to watch and take part in a candid celebration surrounding the Bridgewater Canal. Flooded with history, it does not offer a nostalgic walk down memory lane, but instead represents the positive and negative impacts of the privately-owned canal and the industrial revolution. Confronting the idealism of a new world, the show explores how the past has encouraged our present use of dirty energy and exploitation whilst also driving modern developments and new scientific discoveries.

Who knew a descent into madness could be leveled with humor? Manchester’s Royal Exchange welcomes Maxine Peake back with open arms. After playing the lead in 2015’s Hamlet, Peake has returned as the equally convincing and beaten down Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche arrives in New Orleans to stay with her younger, pregnant sister Stella and her partner Stanley. Stella’s squalid one-bedroom apartment is a love shack in her eyes but a distressing downgrade to Blanche who is used to her and her sister picking the finer things in life. Fortunately, nowadays Blanche lives mostly in her head, and the lack of space is only an issue for her brother-in-law, whose presence helps bring Blanche back to the reality of her current situation. Stella’s sparse apartment is depicted onstage with two mattresses, a mini fridge fixed with gin and a bathroom separated off by a sheet of two-toned glass. The panel is often used to reflect Stella’s polished persona to the audience as she preens herself and unwinds in the bath. However, the glass also clears to reveal her demons, and fantasies as they walk amongst the audience as unsettling and tangible characters. Director, Sarah Frankcom allows the audience to have a direct connection to Blanche. The events are generally viewed through her eyes, with the cramped, unpolished conditions mirroring the intense visions in her head. The cast mainly feature as props to sustain Blanche's fantasies. However, Blanche’s sister, played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Ben Batt (Stanley) have an intriguing rapport which helps to convince the audience of Brewster’s conflicting love for both her sister husband. Although the dresses are modern, the southern accent remains in this tender retelling of Streetcar. It is visually haunting and delicately cast production that will leave a lasting impression on its audience. #AStreetcarNamedDesire #Manchester #TheRoyalExchange

“I thought everything would change, after the war. And now, no one even mentions it. It is as if we all got together in private and said whatever you do don’t mention that, like it never happened.” The Night Watch is an understated and beautifully performed story that portrays five characters during 1947 to 1941. This WW2 same sex love affair is written by Sarah Waters and adapted for the stage by Hattie Naylor. By revealing its narrative in reverse the story slowly exposes its interlinking characters and their transformations surrounding and during the war. Built on loss, sacrifice and regret, the only nostalgia for the period is in the job opportunities the war established for women. Kay, played by Jodie McNee first appears to be the self-assured heroine of the piece. An emergency operator during the war, she appears dressed in a mannish suit, a cropped hair cut, with a cigarette behind her ear. When Kay speaks you realise that years have passed since the war but she remains exhausted by the horrors she has witnessed. She spends most of her days at the cinema, suddenly visibly restless and dazed. The characters are connected by the part they played in the war and by the suppression of their sexuality. The Royal Exchange is transformed by Rebecca Gatward’s and Georgia Lowe’s direction and design. The rewinding timeline is paired with a revolving circular stage and minimalist props that let the audience focus on the intense restoring of each characters layered connection. The spirit of simple pleasures in their tragic, war-torn lives is carried by the perfectly absorbing cast. Set on the dizzying waltzer which is life and subtly portray at the Exchange. #TheNightWatch #Manchester #TheRoyalExchange

“The woods are just trees; the trees are just wood.” The Royal Exchange sends its audience skipping Into the Woods with a contemporary revival of the Stephen Sondheim 1986 classic. When a wicked witch places a curse on a childless baker and his wife; the couple blend fables to find various fairy-tale characters recognisable items to form the ingredients for their baby. The realistically revamped fairy-tale interweaves characters from Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella for an offbeat musical that deals with themes of loss, betrayal, and death. Olivier and Tony-winning designer Jenny Tiramani create an encroaching forest that surrounds the famously round theatre. With a narrator sitting amongst the audience and an eight-piece band filling in live sound effects, the production takes advantage of the enclosed space. It surprised its audience with characters appearing from all four entrances and levels of the theatre (as well as suspended in mid-air) to keep the play lively and engaging. The story offers the best of both worlds. Act 1 invigorates its audience with well-known characters’ stories. Portrayed by a strong cast of eighteen, including Alex Gaumond as the Baker and Amy Ellen Richardson as his wife. Gillian Bevan as the Witch and Exchange Associate Artist Maxine Peake as the voice of the Giant. Act 2 looks at the reality of what characters have done to achieve their wishes and how they have affected their entire kingdom. Asking, what happens after "happy ever after" in the real world? Into the Woods is far from a preachy children’s story, its subtext is a lascivious and subversive look into classic fairy-tale characters. #IntotheWoods #TheRoyalExchange #Manchester

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Sir John Acton The Emperor is a story filled with disenchantment, offering a glimpse at the descent of power through the eyes of the powerless. The fall of the Ethiopian empire is exposed through ten characters, all played by Kathryn Hunter. Capturing the rituals and extravagance of everyday life for Haile Selassie are the civil servants surrounding him. Kathryn switches between ten male roles including the emperor’s dog cleaner, time-keeper, pillow bearer and Minister of Information. Paired with Ethiopian musician Temesgen Zeleke, who performs live on stage besides Kathryn. Kathryn displays her versatility by transforming through costumes, voices and mannerisms effortlessly. The simple, black set and swift costume changes allow the audience to follow Haile Selassie’s dethronement in a removed, entertaining but ultimately moving performance. Running alongside the loyal cast of characters is Jonathan Dimbleby’s documentary, The Unknown Famine. The TV documentary brought light to Ethopia’s famine in 1973, with its exposure and embarrassment used to fuel the overthrow of Selassie. The deterioration of everyday life plays out slowly for the people of Ethiopia. Distraction techniques are used to motivate people against their own self-interests and many of the authoritarian practices are still prevalent in western culture. Kathryn even brings audience members up onto the stage to party and enjoy the Ethiopian empires new riches. All of Kathryn’s characters eventually serve to highlight the desperate state of the declining Selassie regime with the inevitable corruption of power. Their servitude allows them to watch their country drained of its resources and its people starve whilst its emperor stashes $100 bills under his Persian carpet. #TheEmperor #Manchester #HOMEmcr

When it comes to outstanding theatres and memorable productions, Manchester is spoilt for choice. However, the recent suspension of all performances has left the future of our theatres in peril. Help support Manchester’s theatres and performers through the Coronavirus pandemic by donating or gifting the price of your ticket back to the theatre. The Lowry https://wonderful.org/fundraiser/emergencyappealtosupportthelowry-de4579b3 HOMEmcr https://homemcr.org/about/support/donations/ The Royal Exchange https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/we-need-your-support ATG https://www.atgtickets.com/membership/ #SupportTheArts #noplacelikeHOME

Missy Elliott’s latest music video 'WTF' (Where They From) has been released on YouTube from her upcoming 7th album. It has been 10 years since Missy’s last studio album, 'The Cookbook' was released but the hit maker is back with a vengeance. The Grammy winning rapper turned her attention to producing when she was diagnosed with a disorder known as Graves' disease, which at times left her unable to write. Missy opened up about her diagnosis on Sway In The Morning in 2012 claiming, "For me, when you say you have to take a radiation pill you think you’re really finna be out of here…You have to go through your eyes changing, your hair falling out and skin changing. Everything for me was traumatic." With a career spanning over 20 years, 'WTF' will be Missy’s first new single since 2012. Despite this, Missy has featured on numerous songs since her hiatus, including 'Without Me' with Kelly Rowland and Fantasia in 2013. As well performing a medley of her hits at the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX halftime show with Katy Perry. Fans are now ecstatic to see one of the first ladies of hip-hop get back to her roots and return on full form. 'WTF' features Pharrell Williams, fresh choreography and the unforgettably cinematic scenes Missy is known for. This article was originally written for The Nubian Times

‘When you get to hell, John, tell them Daisy sent you.’ Tarantino continues to re-write history with this self-referential Reservoir Dogs of the West. Taking place some time after the American Civil War, eight strangers comprising of outsiders, bounty hunters, former Confederates and a prisoner are forced to take shelter in a remote cabin as a fierce blizzard runs through. The ultra-wide, 70mm shot scenes capture the vast landscape and hostile environment but chiefly offer an intimate look at the characters within Minnie’s Haberdashery. Tarantino re-evaluates America history in this anti-western as he refuses to romanticise whiteness or its failed depictions of American masculinity. Bruce Dern and Samuel L. Jackson both play veterans with conflicting and sometimes mythological notions of what part they played in the war. There are no boundaries to the misogyny, racism and callous disregard for his characters and despite the three main stars all being in their 50’s, Tarantino doesn’t pull any punches. The Hateful Eight includes the first original score for a Tarantino film, composed by Ennio Morricone who went on to win the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The film is also teamed with an experienced cast who offer great performances. Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern all boost the character driven film. Tarantino’s universe continues to merge his love of history with contemporary themes of racism and violence that is not without its monologues and shock value scenarios. The Hateful Eight, however, has a wider dialogue in regards to issues of class, ethnicity and gender. They are not elaborate, judgmental or resolved, but they are genuine concerns. The six-part western revival reads like a play. It underpins racial politics and contemporises the issues that will resonate with its intended audience. Despite the film being 3 hours 7 minutes long, during the AMC’s first screening of the film, the room shows no signs of popcorn or phone lit faces. The filmmaker's self-proclaimed 8th film is very much representative of his style and yet still relevant and suspenseful.

Since 1999 artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige have collected over 4,000 scam emails. In their new exhibit, I Must First Apologise… the artists explore why scam emails are still effective and what they say about the state of the world today. The fraud, known as the Nigerian scam (due to the bulk of the cons originating from the country) predates email. While the tricks have been extremely effectively in manipulating thousands of people into giving up their savings, it has at worst resulted in bankruptcy, murder and suicide. Ordinarily, both the victims and perpetrators of these deceptions remain anonymous. Hadjithomas and Joreige make the scams concrete, using sculptures and video installations. Setting out to challenge our naivety in The Rumour of the world, (a darkened space that includes 17 screens, 100 loudspeakers and 38 digital videos) the installation allows you to weave in and out of various talking heads. As you are drawn in to listen to personal monologues, the credible stories are revealed as readings of junk emails. Hadjithomas and Joreige not only offer a face to the ambiguous stories but ask the question “can we regard them not just as scams but as works of fiction in their own right?” In The Trophy Room, the exhibition highlights extreme responses to these hoaxes. Displaying the results of the Scam beaters (a group based in the United States), who have responded to scammers in an effort to waste their time and money. The group asks scammers to perform sometimes punishing tasks, including getting their arm tattooed and painting multiple portraits of their dog. Their final display of “trophies” often blur the line of abuse and power between the scammer and victim.