Once in a while something comes along to just blow your minds. Something that is so seamlessly in tune with every facet of the production, harmoniously joyful, that it stops becoming theatrical and turns into something quite magical. The Animals and Children took to the Streets is such a production. A conjuring cornucopia of captivating concoctions that leaves the viewer completely spellbound.
Hafsah Aneela Bashir. You don’t normally see many people like Hafsah on stage. A bold Muslim woman of colour with a head scarf. That’s exactly what you get though, Hafsah on stage, just her, being all Islamic and political and being utterly blooming brilliant in the latest offering from Push 2019 at Home Manchester.
Thank the lord for HOME’s annual jamboree, the PUSH festival. PUSH 2019 celebrates the region’s creative talents from screenings to exhibitions – they have even commissioned brand new pieces for the festival. For me, however, it is a welcome distraction to the miserable, moribund month that January often ends up becoming, providing this writer with a little bit of colour and sunshine. Fat Girl Singing is exactly the kind of antidote one needs to get over the month before with a trip to see an act that showcases exactly what PUSH 2019 is all about, a sassy talented individual that looks like us, talks like us, with razor sharp wit and a bit of a song and dance!
If there is one show you watch this Christmas then let that show be Släpstick. Currently playing to rapturous audiences at HOME Manchester, allow me a few minutes of your time to convince you why I think this is Manchester’s hidden gem among the pantomimes, the traditional festive ballets, the big theatre musical productions and what have you and why you should go along to be regaled by some down right clever musical comedy at its finest!!!
For the first time in HOME history they’ve gone and ripped out seats in their main theatre space and built a brand-new, in-the-round auditorium. That’s the kind of brass neck, I don’t give a monkey’s, I’m gonna just tear up the textbook and raise a rebellious fist in the air behaviour that suggests that The Maids should be something extra special.