Think of Manchester, and think of a great industrial city famed for its world-class football, cutting-edge music scene and all manner of scientific innovations; however you might equally recall its post-industrial reputation for the kind of poverty and social deprivation that invariably foster youth crime and organised violence.

 Andrew Davies’s sensational book The Gangs of Manchester, which received glowing reviews in the national press last winter, is an investigation into Manchester’s notorious gang-culture.  However instead of being set in contemporary Hulme and Moss Side it features their 1890s equivalents: Ancoats, Angel Meadow, Harpurhey and a maze of inner-city neighbourhoods where local tribes of fashion-conscious hooligans staged prearranged fights (“scuttling”) armed with heavily buckled belts, knives, and even knitting needles.

 Rob Lees and Jill Hughes of MaD Theatre Company have taken this forgotten history and turned it into an astonishing theatrical extravaganza involving a huge cast of talented community actors, with cameos from some of Manchester’s most recognisable faces and exclusive new recordings by veterans of the Madchester music scene.

 The dysfunctional McGregor and Johnson clans, with their extensive broods of battling sons and loose-moralled daughters, seem to have sprung from a Victorian episode of Shameless.  Theirs is a life of non-stop drinking, gambling, whoring and fighting, and most of their leisure-time revolves around the pub-cum-knocking-shop run by the slatternly Flanagan family.

 There are 21 actors and every beautifully realised character is brought to life with Dickensian relish; The Library Theatre stage hasn’t thronged with such a vibrant and lively company since Out of Joint played The Convict’s Opera in February.  Inevitably though the smaller members of the cast pretty much steal the show: Alana Thornton as Mary-Ann McGregor and Lauren Lennon as Mary-Ellen Johnson are an unforgettable double-act, and Charlie Nield brings the house down as the boy with the unreliable sphincter. 

 Director Rob Lees pulls off the difficult trick of making video an integral part of the production, and Paul Cliff’s black-and-white re-enactments of the scuttling are stylised and stark.  We’re also treated to clips of local talent like Terry Christian, John Henshaw, Smug Roberts and Graeme Hawley, to say nothing of the specially recorded soundtrack from Mike Joyce of The Smiths and Clint Boon of the Inspiral Carpets, together with current favourites Twisted Wheel, The Naughtys and Bye Bye Johnny.

 Parallels with modern-day gang culture are highlighted by accessorising the scuttlers’ outfits with twenty-first-century Burberry checks, and the decision to put scally-speak in the characters’ mouths gives the dialogue a freshness and immediacy which prevents the whole experience from seeming like a respectful costume drama or a polite example of theatre-in-education.

 This is a first rate example of community theatre - little wonder that this week’s extended run has sold out.  Keep an eye on MaD Company’s website for the surely inevitable revival of this superb production.

Angels with Manky Faces is on until Saturday 22 August 2009

Prices: £10 (£9.50)

Eves @ Tues-Thurs @ 7.30; Fri & Sat @ 8pm

Matinee Sat @ 3pm

Box Office: 0161 236 7110

www.librarytheatre.com

www.madtheatrecompany.co.uk