UK Theatre Network

JB Shorts - a showcase of short, sharp new plays by the best writers, actors and directors in the region - is back for its seventh outing, meaning that they’ve now staged an impressive 42 world premieres in the last three years.  Manchester International Festival, eat your heart out.  And in spite of the quality writing and high-profile casting the budget ticket price works out at only £1 per play.

There was a youthful feel to the evening, with the majority of stories reflecting the lives and concerns of  the BBC3 demographic, and familiar faces from Hollyoaks, White Van Man and Lunch Monkeys cropping up beside some old JB Shorts favourites. 

“Pop” by Lindsay Williams is a bitter-sweet vignette about a group of school friends waking in a muddy field after the last music festival of the summer.  Their struggle to pack away the pop-up tent is symbolic of their attitudes towards the adult world, albeit with more slapstick.  “Last Night” by Bill Taylor is like a twenty-first century take on The Browning Version, with a teacher and her young pupil getting to know each other better in somewhat queasy circumstances.  And Chris Thompson’s locker-room set “Match of the Day” shows a football team’s new female physio rubbing her injured client up the wrong way.

All the above are single scenes, but Peter Kerry’s “Quickfire” slips back and forth in time between the stand-up routine of successful arena-touring comic Colin Townsend (Alex Woodhall) and the strange encounter he has at an all-night garage.  A smart and cynical young man in jeans, jacket and t-shirt, with the de rigueur head-mike, Colin banters with the audience before trying out some new, edgier material about how he struggles to connect with the everyday folk who make up his fan base while driving around in a Porsche that they have ultimately paid for.  It’s difficult to fake a comedy club vibe in the midst of a drama, but the flash-backs to the garage are hilarious, with a great twist.

Equally funny is “The Confession” by Diane Whitely and Dave Simpson.  Russell Richardson plays Patrick, a good Catholic family man, who is so enamoured of his ability to procreate with his wife that he decides to spread the love, and becomes a freelance sperm donor. As Patrick confesses to a silent, unseen priest we flash back to scenes from his complicated domestic arrangements.  There is excellent support from Diane Whitely as the assorted women in his life, and clever use of the musical soundtrack.

Pick of the evening for me though was the surreal “Sit. Stay. Roll over.” by Jane McNulty.  John Henshall is Jeff, an ordinary man’s-best-friend type of dog, who finds himself locked in a strange room with leather-and-studs pit bull Tyson and preening lapdog Peaches.  Jean-Paul Sartre must be spinning in his grave for not realising that Huis Clos’ natural setting was an animal shelter: “Dog Centre Plus”.  Director James Blakey pitches the characters as recognisable human types displaying classic canine behaviour, while Jane McNulty’s marvellous script is funny, poignant and thought provoking.

On until Sat 31 March (NOT Sunday 16)
7pm (doors 6.40pm)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 106 Princess Street, MANCHESTER M1 6NG
(The junction of Charles St and Princess St, at the side of the BBC)
All Tickets : £6 (Pay on the Door)

Has Manchester’s fringe theatre scene ever been in finer fettle?  A testament to its vigour is that among the numerous pantomimes, musicals and children’s shows which infest the city’s venues at this time of year there is still an enthusiastic audience for a brand new play, presented in the tiny space at the top of The Lass o’ Gowrie by young company Hazel Tree Productions.

Playwright Chris Dance puts a cynical spin on the season of goodwill by setting his comedy in Britain’s grottiest Santa’s Grotto, where put-upon shop-girl Laura (endearingly played by a starry-eyed Hazel Earle) is contractually obliged to wear the stripy stockings, fluffy red boots and pointy felt hat of one of Santa’s Little Helpers.

Her peaceful lunchtime sandwich among the sacks of presents, stuffed reindeer and fairy lights is interrupted by co-worker Julie (hilariously lairy Emma Laidlaw), who has disguised herself as an elf and fled the lingerie department for a natter with her friend, even though their manager has already tried to separate her from Laura for being a “bad influence”.

Chris Dance explores the girls’ fundamentally different natures with tart characterisation and plenty of wit - Julie is the party-loving singleton who stashes gin, brandy and half-eaten kebabs in her handbag, while romantically-thwarted Laura is the kind of person who revises for a game of Trivial Pursuit after the Queen‘s Speech.  Their tête-à-tête is interspersed with fleeting appearances from Father Christmas himself - David Slack’s downbeat northern Santa is straight out of The Last of the Summer Wine, and his white curly wig wouldn’t disgrace Lady GaGa.  And Mike Seal as Clive, the unworldly Elvis-obsessed busker, tops and tails the story beautifully, ending with a rousing sing-along.

Director Jake Murray - late of The Royal Exchange, where he was responsible for the excellent Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Conversation - makes a welcome return to Manchester with this sweet and funny production.

Early booking is recommended, as tonight was sold out.  May I also advise bringing a shoe-horn and a plunger - one for squeezing into your seat with at the beginning, and the other to extricate yourself at the end.

Grotto is on at The Lass o’ Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB until Saturday 17 December 2011
Tickets:  £6 from www.ibookedit.com
Performances: Thurs & Fri @ 7pm & 9pm; Sat @ 4pm & 7pm
www.hazeltreeproductions.co.uk
www.thelass.co.uk

Usually these things don’t touch us. But there is this dark side to certain people, certain communities. And it’s a reminder to the rest of us, of how vulnerable we all are

Through the Night is an intelligent psychological thriller exploring the question how far people will go to protect the ones they love. Set over a single evening, the play discusses issues of class and violence, and how they have the potential to affect and even destroy the comfort of our sheltered homes.

Sal (Terri Dwyer) arrives at her friend Jessica’s home, shaken. There was a fight involving a gang of boys. One boy was down, an ambulance was called, police were present. Sal’s daughter Debbie (Nadia Giscir) will be coming over to talk to the police at Jessica’s and Michael’s home – she is a witness. The crucial point is that Debbie believes she saw Jessica’s son Joe (Jack Johns) in the fight. Jessica (Jan Shepherd) thinks this is completely ridiculous and that Sal is getting worked up over nothing. She is almost too cheerful and overconfident in her denial whereas Sal is painfully self-conscious and insecure. Jessica’s husband Michael (Steven Elder) is a lawyer dealing with people’s problems every day. His reaction to Sal’s story is different as he is trying to rationalize it. By and by the two old friends are getting more and more irritated with each other. Jessica accuses Sal of being hysterical whilst Sal tells her daughter Debbie: “Make them suffer just for once.” When Michael leaves to fetch Joe, who is staying at Colin’s place – a friend of Michael’s -  the situation escalates.

Aptly directed by the talented Matt Grinder, who was also responsible for the intriguing production Orphans at the Trafalgar Studios, this play is perfectly cast and brilliantly unsettling.

 

For information and tickets, see:

http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2011/production-papatango.php

Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London, SW10 9ED

Carolin Kopplin

 

Steve Wood’s new play is a poignant portrayal of two lonely people trying to find some meaning for their existence.

The scene  opens with an elderly woman, Ada, sitting on a park bench eating a takeaway: “One pound twenty for a penn’orth of chips – they want locking up”.  A formidable handbag is gripped tightly across her chest as both shield and weapon, and we can tell her emotions are buttoned up as tightly as her coat. 

The entrance of a whiskery tramp, Tommy, shouting and swearing as he swigs from a bottle, does nothing to improve Ada’s mood.  Despite her rebuffs Tommy seems determined to strike up a conversation, and as the two mismatched pensioners tentatively swap details about their empty lives a fragile bond forms between them. 

The ebullient and energetic David Milne makes Tommy – initially an aggressive and unappealing old wino – into a funny, charming and sympathetic figure.  His uninvited overtures of friendship hide a desperate craving for companionship; he even chats to the local stray dogs.  It’s a shame that his character is underused, lapsing into a sounding board for Ada’s monologue.

Pat Brocklehurst’s authentic local accent and deadpan delivery are perfect for Steve Wood’s warm and amusing northern dialogue, although Ada’s attitudes to decimalisation, cappuccinos and public phone boxes are so out of date I thought she must have been in prison for the last forty years.

Director Laura Vorwerg does an excellent job of making an everyday conversation into a moving drama, and designer Victoria Vernon has magically transformed the basement of Taurus Bar on Canal Street into an autumnal park.  As well as the typical wooden bench and green slatted rubbish bin, there’s a thick carpet of leaves which covers the entire floor.  As the musty smell of leaf-mould perfumes the room and the leaves crackle underfoot you really feel as if you’re in that park with Ada and Tommy.  It’s indicative of the company’s attention to detail that they go beyond mere set decoration to create a sensually immersive experience for their audience.

You’re Never Too Old
Presented by Organised Chaos Productions
Touring to Levenshulme Festival (31 October) and
Smiths Restaurant, Eccles (30 Nov & 1 Dec)
Tickets: £7.50/£5.50 (conc)
Further details from:
www.organisedchaosproductions.co.uk

Sherica – Sachas Hotel

The word for several days has been that Sherica is well worth catching.  It’s written by Studio Salford regular Ian Winterton, so we kind of know what to expect: gritty, contemporary, near-the-knuckle and northern.  Studio Salford is establishing a reputation for itself as the brand name for a certain type of theatre in the way that Annie Horniman’s Manchester School of Playwrights did a hundred years ago. 

The story is set in a former fee-paying grammar school that has recently become an Academy.  So now rich, posh boys like Douglas (William Hutchby) are being educated alongside troubled students from deprived backgrounds like Natalie (Nicola Stebbings).  And a dinosaur like Mr Pope (David Slack), who wants to run the school the way he runs the Officers’ Training Corps, has to work with touchy-feely modern teachers like Mr and Mrs Feather (Oliver Devoti and Katy Slater).

So far, so Punk Rock - or Mogadishu, or Monster, or all those other issue-led right-on plays about Young People that the Royal Exchange insists on programming.  And sure, we get all the usual bad language and challenges to authority and home/school conflicts and bullying and so on.  But we also get a fruity parallel plot about a prostitute (Katie/Sherica – played by Ruth Middleton) and her unusual clientele.

Ian Winterton’s three teachers embody different educational approaches, beautifully demonstrated in a scene where they have to disarm a knife-wielding pupil.  (Alan Bennett tries the same thing in The History Boys, but it takes him an entire play to do it.)  Then in the second half he cleverly subverts our preconceptions about several of the characters with a sequence of very funny and dramatic twists where the stakes are high for all concerned. 

Katy Slater makes sensible art teacher Mrs Feather into a warm and vulnerable human being, and 24:7’s very own David Slack clearly enjoys the transformation from straight-as-a-die regimental sergeant major Mr Pope into a sneaky black ops expert.  William Hutchby also gives a fine account of the horrible snobby Douglas, a single-handed argument for the revival of corporal punishment in schools, if not capital punishment.

This is a fast-moving play with funky scene changes, though I was less keen on the shortness of the scenes themselves.  However Ian Winterton has mastered the technique of leaving gaps in the dialogue where the silence tells the story and the actors can really stretch themselves (good direction by Trevor MacFarlane).

Sherica is going to be at the Edinburgh Fringe next month if you can’t get to Manchester this week.

The Rainbow Connection - New Century House

Joanne Sherryden’s modern comedy of manners is a two-hander featuring TV favourites Anthony Crank and Danielle Henry.

Joe hasn’t been out of his luxurious penthouse flat for months because of the physical and mental damage caused by a bad car crash.  Shelly, who recently moved into the flat below, is trapped in a relationship that is never going to go anywhere.

As the mismatched pair share their problems and give each other confidence a contemporary kind of love springs up between them.

Joanne Sherryden knows how to craft, pace and develop a scene, and her play is very satisfying to watch, as well as being poignant and funny with some killer one-liners.

Anthony Crank and Danielle Henry’s characters constantly spar, bicker, fight and make up, with the audience always rooting for the happy ending.

Adam Zane’s production is slick and truthful.  A real audience-pleaser.

www.247theatrefestival.co.uk  has all the show information including video trailers

Tickets
£8/£6 (conc): book online from the 247 website (or turn up at the venues)

Venues
New Century House, Mayes Street entrance M60 4ES (200 metres from The Printworks, a stone’s throw from Victoria Station and Shudehill interchange)
Midland Hotel, Peter Street, M60 2DS (opposite St Peter’s Square tram stop)
Sachas Hotel, Tib Street, M4 1SH (just off Piccadilly Gardens)

24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester
21-29 July 2011




The International Festival has barely finished debuting an eclectic assortment of artistic commissions around the city, when Manchester’s original festival of new writing returns for its eighth consecutive year. 

The 24:7 Theatre Festival has selected 13 pieces from several hundred submissions for its annual showcase of freshly minted plays performed in unconventional spaces.  The 2011 season, extended to nine days this year, also encompasses rehearsed readings, skills workshops, 24 hour plays, after-hours music sessions, a comedy film night and a sketch show (all details on the website).

Activities have expanded over three venues.  As well as the extensive facilities of New Century House, and a welcome return to the plush surroundings of the Midland Hotel, there’s a new outpost at quirky Sachas Hotel on the fringes of Manchester’s Trendy Northern Quarter™.


Friday 22 July

The Crimson Retribution - New Century House

This is writer Steve Pearce’s third outing at 24:7, and also his most ambitious.  The Crimson Retribution is a mixture of live theatre and animated graphic novel that appears to be the bastard love-child of Sin City and Coronation Street. 

The arresting opening scene of a young woman being assaulted on the mean streets of Manchester plays against a projection of the city as imagined by artist and illustrator Hammo, and the dance-like fight sequence is choreographed by Laura Asbury in the same cartoony style.

In that context it seems only natural that our heroine (Amy – Emily Fleeshman) should be saved by a super-hero in a red face mask – though it’s slightly more unusual for said masked hero to take up residence in the flat she shares with her boyfriend Sean.

In fairness, Amy’s domestic arrangements are already pretty dysfunctional – the rent on the flat is being paid for by petty gangster Kyle, Sean’s half-brother, who in the best Pinter tradition is muscling in on Sean’s territory, namely, Amy. 

Steve Pearce’s script exploits all the comic possibilities of this wacky scenario, in addition to ramping up the drama with the sado-masochistic sibling relationship and the constantly shifting sexual tension.

Paul Sockett’s hilarious turn as the Crimson Retribution is absolutely in keeping with the classic square-jawed, all-American action hero, albeit one who makes a nice cup of tea.

David Degiorgio is delightfully creepy as the cruel and manipulative Kyle, and Alex Rogerson makes Sean both weak and sympathetic. 

Director Clare Howdon has clearly worked hard with her creative team to fashion a technically impressive and highly imaginative production.  It’s only budgetary and spatial considerations that stop this show from being as slick and flash as something staged by the National Theatre.

www.247theatrefestival.co.uk has all the show information including video trailers

Tickets
£8/£6 (conc): book online from the 247 website (or turn up at the venues)

Venues

New Century House, Mayes Street entrance M60 4ES (200 metres from The Printworks, a stone’s throw from Victoria Station and Shudehill interchange)

Midland Hotel, Peter Street, M60 2DS (opposite St Peter’s Square tram stop)

Sachas Hotel, Tib Street, M4 1SH (just off Piccadilly Gardens)

by Clare Brotherwood

The Akingbola brothers are a force to be reckoned with.

The eldest, Sola, is head percussionist of the British jazz funk band Jamiroquai, writes songs and is lead vocalist of the funky roots band Critical Mass.

Then comes Jimmy, an award-winning actor whose electrifying performances as one of Holby City’s latest major characters is rapidly making him a household name.

And now there’s young Segun, who recently graduated from The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts and is already making a name for himself as a playwright and actor.

Segun’s first ever play, The Patient, premiered at London’s Soho Theatre, thanks to brother Jimmy who, with fellow thespian Fraser Ayres and Jason Angol, run Triforce Promotions which, with the motto ‘We Exist to Serve’, showcases both established and burgeoning actors and writers, gives people in the business the chance to network through social events - and is now into producing plays.

But those who packed out the theatre for its one-off performance, will verify that The Patient did not have anything to do with nepotism, just sheer talent.

OK, Jimmy directed the mostly solo show, starring Segun himself in the title role, so he was in good hands, even though it was Jimmy’s directorial debut. But from the moment we walked into the auditorium to find The Patient standing alone, slouched, drooling and eyes rolling in an almost vegetative state, we knew we were in at the start of something special.

And what was to follow was to chill us to the bone and break our hearts in equal measure as the story of the psychiatric patient unravelled a harrowing history, which I won’t divulge here so as not to spoil it for those who of you who have yet to see it.

The only other person on stage was Luke Burton though, as the doctor, only his silhouette was seen. This was enough to add to the chill factor, however, especially when we saw him breaking down because of The Patient’s shocking tale.

This play does not consist of gratuitous horror as in films we love to scare us. It delves into a sick man’s mind and its maturity from one so young makes it worthy of our continued attention.

Fiona Peek’s new play Salt was co-winner of the Royal Exchange’s Bruntwood Playwriting Competition in November 2008, and the premiere of this sophisticated social comedy has been eagerly anticipated.  

The action takes place between July 2007 and March 2008 during the course of five dinner parties in Simon and Amy’s beautiful basement kitchen.  Simon’s stable law firm salary and Amy’s chic little gallery job provide them and their children with a lifestyle straight out of a weekend colour supplement.  However their two child-free friends Rachel and Nick (Amy’s old flame from college days) are struggling with debt now that his freelance journalism commissions are drying up and RSI has ended her orchestral career.

Fiona Peek’s debut play, with its skilfully interwoven themes of debt, fertility, work/life balance and food porn, thoroughly nails the late-noughties zeitgeist.  The other unacknowledged but ever-present problem plaguing the middle-classes is excessive recreational drinking - a vice which does more than its fair share to inflame the situation here.

Even if external circumstances didn’t play a part, the chemistry between Amy and Nick and their uninhibited flirting has “slow-motion car crash” written all over it.  Beth Cordingly’s smug Amy is still proprietorial of her ex, constantly reminding Rachel (and Simon) of how long they’ve known each other and therefore how much better she understands him than his wife does.

Simon Chadwick plays her husband as an uptight conformist pretending to be a laid back peacemaker.  He tries to remain aloof from the emotional maelstrom but this diplomacy only masks his diffidence towards the other couple.  You form the impression that if he and Amy were to divorce, she would get Rachel and Nick in the settlement.

Kevin Harvey’s slightly-scouse and immature Nick, one of those nightmare guests who can’t distinguish between a dinner party debate and a stand-up row, is stuck in the laddish culture of the 1990s, and Esther Hall’s brittle Rachel is as highly strung as her own violin when confronted with the dilemma of treating her immature husband as a child or making him face up to his responsibilities.

Ben Stones’ sleek set is like watching the window display in a designer furniture shop coming alive, and Jo Coombs’ fluid and fast-paced production captures the authentic tone of entitlement of the (apparently) affluent professional classes.

My only quibble is that the bombshell dropped in the dying moments is treated with such brevity and underplaying as to be almost subliminal - if this was on DVD you’d frantically rewind it trying to work out exactly what happened.  But even without a freeze-frame facility the first-night audience was highly appreciative of this witty and clever new play.

 

Salt is on until Saturday 20 February 2010

Prices: £4 (conc)-£9.50

Evenings: Mon-Sat @ 7.30

Matinees: Wed & Sat @ 2.30

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester

Friday 24 July 2009

 

As We Forgive Them - Pure/Blue

 

Writer/performer Richard Vergette returns to 24:7 after his acclaimed one-man show An Englishman’s Home in 2007.  This year he is joined by powerful young actor Joe Sims in an intense three-act drama which is perfectly suited to the claustrophobic space in Blue.

 

Congressman John Daniels (Richard Vergette) is paying a personal visit to the high-security wing of the state penitentiary, where Lee Fenton (Joe Sims) is serving life for the murder of the congressman’s daughter. 

 

Daniels is the epitome of the bleeding heart liberal, still firmly opposed to the death penalty in spite of his own tragic loss, and apparently on an evangelical mission to save Fenton’s soul.  Initially, however, there seems to be no possibility of communication between the two: the prisoner, slumped in his chair and unable to concentrate, merely grunts profanities; while Daniels is verbose to the n-th degree, apparently in love with the sound of his own voice.

 

The skill of the writing manages to make something out of this seemingly intractable situation, while Andrew Pearson’s excellent direction creates moments of edge-of-the-seat tension.

 

As we come to care about Fenton’s reform the play springs a nifty surprise.  As We Forgive Them is an involving and sometimes moving story which is enhanced by a pair of marvellous performances.

 

www.247theatrefestival.co.uk has all the show information including video trailers

 

Tickets: £8/£6 (conc): book online from the 247 website or ring 0870 428 0785 (or turn up at the venues)

 

Venues: Pure at the Printworks, off Withy Grove/Corporation Street; New Century House, Corporation Street (200 metres from The Printworks)

Both venues are a stone’s throw from Manchester Victoria Station

Freshers - New Century 1

Blinded by the Light - Pure/Funktion

Dancing to the Sound of Crunch of Snails - Pure/Funktion

 

Only into Day 2 of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, and the craik is great.  The Hub at New Century House is the perfect place to meet up for pre- and post-show drinks, and tomorrow (Wednesday) there’s a free short film night from 10pm. 

 

This evening I kicked off at New Century 1 with Freshers by Steve Pearce, author of 2007’s popular Rose Cottage.  The premise promises comedy mayhem: Scarlett arrives in halls on her first day at university, only to find that her dad Miles has also enrolled as a student and is living on the floor below - with hilarious consequences! (I assumed).  In fact my expectations were thoroughly subverted because the encounters between dad and daughter are dark and emotionally charged due to heavy family stuff from a few years before.  The funny, sexy, studenty bits are flashbacks to the same room 20 years earlier, when earnest ecologist Hephzibah unwittingly bursts in on the sleeping Miles. 

 

Steve Pearce has created a brilliant role in Hephzibah, a very funny and extremely confident young woman who is superbly played by Christine Clare.  And while Miles may be slobbish, irresponsible and emotionally immature, Richard Hand manages to make him utterly charming and lovable.  They spark off each other like a contemporary Beatrice and Benedick - I definitely want to see these two actors working together again.

 

Over at Pure/Funktion the seating plan which served perfectly well for Working Title had been rotated by 90^o, to the detriment of both sound and lighting.  Fortunately Blinded by the Light by Karl Voden is such a strong piece that it manages to survive these hostile conditions.  This is a character-led drama which focuses on three press photographers-cum-paparazzi who are camped outside the home of a disgraced celebrity, hoping to capture the first pictures of him following his downfall.  Weasely Ray (Reg Edwards) is on the staff of an unsavoury tabloid, while Gobbi (Tom Tunstall) has set up his own agency and drives around in a Jag.  Then brash young freelance Mitch (Adam Diggle), son of an old pal, joins them for the stake-out, and while they’re waiting and reminiscing and philosophising their careers gradually come into conflict with their private lives. 

 

This is one of the strongest scripts I’ve seen this year: the characterisations are spot on, the dialogue rings true, the story unfolds in a very satisfying way, and on top of that the three main actors are absolutely excellent.  Blinded by the Light has been produced by Liverpool-based LAX Theatre Company, which on the evidence of this show is a seriously talented outfit.

 

When I walked into Joe Graham’s Dancing to the Sound of Crunching Snails I was delighted to see that Pure/Funktion had been reconfigured yet again, this time into a three-sided thrust-type staging - definitely the most audience-friendly set-up I’ve seen this year.  However, my next thought was: they’re going to have to find more chairs by the weekend if it’s already full on a Tuesday night. 

 

Dancing to the Sound of Crunching Snails is about one of those fraught family Christmases that make atheism such an appealing lifestyle choice.  Divorced father Howard (Michael Starke) is trying to rebuild long-burnt bridges with his adult daughters Sara (Gemma Wardle) and Katie (Catherine Kinsella), while son-in-law Sam (Andrew Grose) thinks that everything can be solved by sitting around the table and playing board games.  The highlight of this show is the chaotic game of Monopoly, skilfully choreographed by director Joyce Branagh, where Sam attempts to make them all play nicely together while the other three have an enormous row without saying anything to the purpose.

 

Although I had been expecting more of an out-and-out comedy rather than a family drama, this is the kind of feelgood show which has you coming out with a soppy smile all over your face, and the acting is top notch.

 

 

www.247theatrefestival.co.uk has all the show information including video trailers

 

Tickets: £8/£6 (conc): book online from the 247 website or ring 0870 428 0785 (or turn up at the venues)

 

Venues: Pure at the Printworks, off Withy Grove/Corporation Street; New Century House, Corporation Street (200 metres from The Printworks)

Both venues are a stone’s throw from Manchester Victoria Station