Rewind fifteen years and you’d find David Gray enjoying something of a heyday. White Ladder was well into platinum sales and, after three previous albums that had performed disappointingly, this small singer from Sale was suddenly something of a superstar. He was at every festival. On every television show. The album was one of those […]
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Billy Liar, The Royal Exchange, reviewed by Peter Wild
Billy Liar, Royal Exchange, Manchester, directed by Sam Yates (13 June-12 July 2014). It’s probably fair to say that – if you think of anything when you think of Billy Liar – you think of the 1963 John Schlesinger film starring Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie and Wilfred Pickles. Keith Waterhouse’s original novel, and its sequel […]
Thomas A. Clark, Yellow & Blue (Carcanet Press) £9.95, reviewed by Charlotte Rowland
Thomas A. Clark’s Yellow & Blue, placing two distinct primary colours side by side, might, by its title, suggest the need to synthesise and equate is the most pronounced focus of his newest collection. The poems themselves are unpunctuated, and versed in lower-case small blocks, without titles, in order, it seems, to play with this […]
The Two Faces of January (2014), dir. Hossein Amini, reviewed by Fran Slater
The Two Faces of January is the latest feature film from director Hossein Amini, whose previous works include 2011 hit Drive and 2012 blockbuster Snow White and the Huntsman. The success of both these films has led to increased levels of interest in his latest work. Set in the early 1960s, the film gets off […]
EDA Collective, Why Are Animals Funny? (Zero Books) £9.99, reviewed by Allison Norris
I’ll be one of the first to admit, I love “Grumpy Cat” (fun aside though, the 2-year old American shorthair cat is actually named Tardar Sauce, and looks the way she does thanks to feline dwarfism and an under bite . . . and is apparently quite the loving little animal). I love pop-cultural tropes […]
Orlando, The Royal Exchange, reviewed by Sarah-Clare Conlon
Orlando, Royal Exchange, reviewed by Sarah-Clare Conlon Subheaded “a magical comedy about love and time travel” and featuring former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones (who trod the boards very persuasively for the first time here in 2009’s Blithe Spirit), Orlando is likely to get plenty of bums on seats whether this and other reviews […]
The Seagull, The Lowry, reviewed by Emma Rhys
The Seagull – a play for writers, actors and lovers; and the Manchester Library Theatre Company’s final production before becoming part of the exciting new arthouse venue HOME, opening in spring this year and located at First Street North. The purpose-built venue will include a 500-seat theatre and five cinema screens, and promises to continue […]
Anne Compton, Alongside (Fitzhenry and Whiteside) $14.95
When I first saw this book, with the ghost-like figures on its cover, and that slightly nervy title, I was inevitably reminded of Eliot’s lines from The Waste Land ‘Who is the third who walks always beside you?/ When I count, there are only you and I together./ But when I look ahead up the […]
1984, Liverpool Playhouse, reviewed by Simon Haworth
1984, Liverpool Playhouse (Headlong Theatre), tour continues Sherman Theatre, Cymru 5th – 9th November 2013, West Yorkshire Playhouse 12th – 16th November 2013 and Almeida Theatre, Islington 8th Feb – 29th Mar 2014 by Simon Haworth If rats in a trap ultimately await Winston Smith in the white walled, clinically lit personal hell […]
Catherine O’Flynn, reviewed by Caitrin O’Sullivan
Catherine O’Flynn at the Manchester Literature Festival Saturday 19th October Waterstones Deansgate Drenched from the Manchester rain, I stumbled into Waterstones, Deansgate, to hear Libby Tempest warmly introduce the novelist Catherine O’Flynn. I seemed to be the only one in the room lucky enough to be caught in the sudden thunder and lightning, but I […]
Deborah Levy & Sarah Hall, reviewed by Sarah-Clare Conlon
Deborah Levy & Sarah Hall Thursday 17 October, 7.30pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation While live Tweeting from Thursday evening’s celebration of the short story, it struck me that both quotes I picked out to share with the ether involved the word “great”. How fitting, I mused: more compact doesn’t have to mean less impact; […]
Clare Shaw and Conor O’Callaghan, reviewed by Chloe Heard
Clare Shaw and Conor O’Callaghan, Manchester Literature Festival at Deansgate, reviewed by Chloe Heard The intimate surroundings of Waterstones was the chosen setting for a reading by contemporary poets Clare Shaw and Conor O’ Callaghan. With a rich northern twang Clare Shaw warmed up a gloomy Mancunian Friday with captivating wit and an insightful explanation […]
A Passion for Sport: Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers, reviewed by Sara Allen
A Passion for Sport : Ian McMillan and Owen Sheers. Manchester Literature Festival at The Green, Oct 16th. Reviewed by Sara Allen As I walk through the heavy doors of Manchester’s premier sports bar ‘The Green’ with its leather sofas, virtual golf machine and snooker tables, I can’t help but think it the most […]
Elaine Feinstein in conversation with Michael Schmidt, Manchester, reviewed by Joe Carrick-Varty
Elaine Feinstein in conversation with Michael Schmidt, Manchester Literature Festival, 13.10.13. Reviewed by Joe Carrick-Varty Elaine Feinstein wrote her first poem when she was eight years old, ‘banging a ball against the garage door to create rhythm’. Who would have known that this Jewish child would flourish into one of the most influential poets […]
I am I am I am: Jackie Kay and Ali Smith discuss Sylvia Plath, reviewed by Eve Foster
Literature Live – I am I am I am: Jackie Kay and Ali Smith discuss Sylvia Plath, Manchester Literature Festival at the Martin Harris Centre, Oct 13th, reviewed by Eve Foster Study windows bellied in Like bubbles about to break These were the opening images of Ali Smith and Jackie Kay’s thoroughly engaging discussion and […]
Jeanette Winterson in conversation with Audrey Niffenegger, reviewed by Lauren Hill
Jeanette Winterson in conversation with Audrey Niffenegger: Manchester Literature Festival at Martin Harris Centre, October 13th, reviewed by Lauren Hill Tonight’s event, held at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, was a discussion between acclaimed novelist Jeanette Winterson (author of such works as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – 1985 – and […]
Sarah Dunant, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Danielle Page
Sarah Dunant, Friends Meeting House, Manchester Literature Festival, Friday 11th October, reviewed by Danielle Page Blood and Beauty is the latest masterpiece from the award winning and hugely renowned historical author Sarah Dunant, who graced the hall of the impressive and yet beautifully simply Friends Meeting House on Friday 11th October. Whilst her last 3 […]
Jordi Punti, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Theodora Gardouni
The Manchester Literature Festival: Jordi Punti Instituto Cervantes on Thursday, October 10th Theodora Gardouni “Maletes Perdudes” (“Lost Luggage”) is the latest award-winning novel of Jordi Punti, who is considered as one of the most important “voices” of Catalan Literature. While Punti is renowned for his short stories, he chose to pleasantly surprise his readership, with […]
Louise Doughty, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Amy Carrington
Louise Doughty at the Manchester Literature Festival: 7pm, October 10th Amy Carrington Louise Doughty, an accomplished author, radio broadcaster and literary judge, walked confidently onto the stage at The International Anthony Burgess Foundation, offering a warm practiced smile at the neatly arranged, mostly female, audience. The intimate event was part of the Manchester Literature Festival, […]
Moniza Alvi & Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn
Lola Albarn Literature Live-Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam, Oct 7th 2013 Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam each read a selection of their work at the Martin Harris Centre on the 7th of October 2013; despite both being incredible writers, who have drawn upon their Pakistani heritage to inspire and shape their work, for me, Nadeem […]
New collections from Anne Fitzgerald and David Troupes, reviewed by John North
David Troupes, The Simple Men (Two Ravens Press) £7.99 Anne Fitzgerald, Beyond the Sea (Salmon Poetry) £10.00 The Simple Men. ‘The Simple Man […]’, a sequence interspersed throughout, forms a backbone. One does not feel it to be heaved up from the Everyman, or Wordsworth’s ballads. Do we still ‘choose incidents and situations from common […]
New collections from John Whale and Tara Bergin, reviewed by John North
John Whale, Frieze (Carcanet Press) £9.95 Tara Bergin, This is Yarrow (Carcanet Press) £9.95 I don’t know what to say about poetry any more. Lives and deaths. ‘Fallen warriors, a conquistador, a cat […]’ in John Whale’s superb Frieze. Yes, I’d noticed that cat. I loved it. I don’t know why. “Not my thing”. I […]
LS Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life Tate Britain, London, reviewed by Ian Pople
When my companion suggested that we go to the Lowry exhibition at Tate Britain, my reaction was lukewarm at best. Surrounded by Lowry as we are in Manchester, one feels as though Lowry’s ‘matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs’ are too well known as it is. And the exhibition has also divided the critics; […]
Dore Kiesselbach, Salt Pier, (Pittsburgh UP) $15.95 reviewed by James Reith.
With a title that simultaneously evokes the seaside, industry and a condiment, Salt Pier isn’t a volume trying to launch fireworks on its title page; something which its beige and seemingly rusting cover doesn’t help to dispel. A quick search of the title on Google, however, almost solely returns a popular diving spot on the […]
New Pamphlets from Rosalind Hudis and Susan Grindley
Rosalind Hudis Terra Ignota (Rack Press) £5.00 Susan Grindley New Reader (Rack Press) £5.00 It is a cliché of contemporary criticism to say that art treats the liminal, that which sits on the edge. Often the liminal is treated as just that; a thing which simply sits at the edge, representing a kind of boundary, […]
Love Supreme Jazz Festival: July 5 – 7, Glynde Place, Sussex, reviewed by Ian Pople
Well… Jazz with a lot of RnB/Soul thrown in. Especially on the Main Stage on the first ‘real’ day, Saturday, where performances started with the wonderful a capella Naturally 7 and, via Michael Kiwanuka, finished with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra! So calling it a ‘Jazz’ Festival was stretching it a bit, and other punters seemed […]
Caleb Klaces, Bottled Air (Eyewear Publishing) £12.99, reviewed by Janet Rogerson
At the core of this collection there is a preoccupation with the elements, of air, water and fire as both unreliable and constant. The scattered arrangement of the first poem ‘Parachute’ belies its opening line, ‘… So now we are in charge’. There is a breathless quality to this poem which works extremely well. Formal […]
The Hat-Stand Union, Caroline Bird, (Carcanet, 2013, £9.95), reviewed by Janet Rogerson
The poems in this collection are clever and funny, but I’m often suspicious of clever and funny: Funny how? I’ve been programmed to ask, and the word ‘clever’ is all too often just criticism in disguise. A lot of poems are funny and clever but there has to be more, and happily there is. This […]
CNW /SALC micropoem competition
The CNW / SALC micropoem competition drew 94 entries: the judges met yesterday with the unenviable task of picking just 3 poems for prizes and here is their verdict: ‘We thought Andrew McMillan‘s ‘train, backwards’, the winning micropoem, made every syllable count and created an amazingly rich visual world in such a small space. Its […]
Django Unchained (2012), dir. Quentin Tarantino, reviewed by Janet Rogerson
Two years before the American Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx), a freed slave turned bounty hunter makes his way to Mississippi to free his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), a slave at the Candieland plantation owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). We have come to expect a highly stylised, postmodern extravaganza whenever Tarantino directs, and we […]
The Impossible (2012), dir. Juan Antonio Bayona, reviewed by Janet Rogerson
The Impossible tells the story of a middle-class British family holidaying in Thailand at Christmastime. Unluckily for them (and many others) their trip coincides with the 26th December 2004 tsunami. The build-up is short: they are a typical family, three boys, one a disgruntled adolescent, played impressively by Tom Holland, (who is destined to learn […]