First published in 1914, the production of Tressell’s work provides a picture of social, political, economic and cultural life in Britain prior to the First World War and advocates a socialist society through scenes depicting social injustice and the failures of capitalism.

Howard Brenton’s adaptation premiered at the Liverpool Everyman in 2010 and returns to the stage as part of the Pandora’s Box Festival. Aspects Theatre Company, the group behind the production, is part of The School of Media, Music and Performance at the University of Salford, which gives a staggering 300 public performances each year at venues locally and across the country.

The company is using Brechtian techniques, including mask work and song, for this performance, which relates closely to the themes of the original novel. Brecht was a committed Marxist who explored the idea of theatre as a forum for political ideas. Rather than cause audiences to experience emotional connection or identification with characters, Brecht wanted his audiences to view works of theatre with a critical mind, open to recognising social injustice and be persuaded to leave the performance space and affect political change in the world outside.

By using unfamiliar or surreal elements – such as bare lighting, masks or speech directed at the audience, Brecht aimed to communicate the idea that the audience’s reality outside the theatre was equally constructed and therefore just as open to change.

These techniques relate interestingly to a novel which, at points, heavily criticises the working classes for being unable to perceive the possibility of change, and should make for an insightful piece of theatre.

Lucy Allan

The performances are at 7.30pm on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th January, with a matinee at 2.30pm on Friday at The University of Salford, Allerton Building, Frederick Road Campus, Salford, M6 6PU.

Tickets: £4 (£3 concessions). Tel 0161 295 6120 for ticket reservations.

How did you get into stand-up comedy in the first place?

I started by hosting my own small club north London, introducing people who were later to become household names like Ben Elton, Jo Brand and Eddie Izzard. Decided I enjoyed the performing as much as the organising and wrote a club act of my own. It wasn’t very good!

In what way was your material influenced by your experiences in the West Bank?

By the time I visited Israel and the West Bank I’d moved on from club comedy to doing solo shows. I was much more successful in the solo arena and discovered that most of my best comedy was connected to being Jewish. I’m immensely proud of that heritage, but I’ve always had deep seated political interests too. Hence my interest in the Middle East conflict and I wanted to express my reaction to express my feelings to Israel’s diabolical behaviour in the region in the best way I could, through being funny.

Tell us a little about the new show you’re doing here, what should people expect and what you hope people will take away from it?

In Manchester I’ll be performing an adaptation of the show I performed in Edinburgh 2011. Its a compilation of my favourite Jewish material that I’ve come up with over the years including not just issue stuff like Israel and anti-Semitism, but personal stuff too on subjects like family and relationships. What I do is use the traditional flavour of great Jewish humour to talk about anything that concerns me and I think will interest whoever comes along to see me. Everyone is welcome and everyone will get it.

Obviously bits of your comedy cover some very sensitive issues, what sort of reactions have you had from it during your career, positive and negative?

Some Jewish people say they don’t like my comedy because they find it too critical of Israel.  But it’s difficult to laugh at jokes when your hands are over your ears. Others love it. They sidle up to you afterwards and quietly tell you in hushed tones that its exactly what they think, but they can’t speak out because they’re afraid of ‘upsetting the community’.

You did a show in the House of Commons once, how did that come about?

I was invited by an MP who’d been to Gaza and seen the carnage on the ground to bring the show in. It was an opportunity for his fellow Parliamentarians to see that not all Jewish people slavishly follow the propaganda they’re fed by their own community’s establishment.

What role do you think stand-up comedy can play in such huge and polarising issues as the Israel-Palestine conflict, and why do you think it’s effective?

People laugh when they hear true things, and the best stand-up comedy deals in truth and little else. Its as simple as that. I understand the people who dislike my comedy, because when I was young I used to think exactly the same as them, but as I got older I got a bit naughty, and started to think for myself.

Ivor Dembina’s show, Stand-Up Jewish Comedy, is on at Apotheca Restaurant and Cocktail Bar in the Northern Quarter on Sunday 30 October. There will be two performances, one starting at 5pm and the other at 8.15pm. Tickets are £7 and can be purchased through the Manchester Comedy Festival website.

For nearly sixty years Holocaust survivors, such as the writer Elie Wiesel, have grappled with the impossibility of representing the Holocaust. The horrors of Nazi atrocities, most agree, cannot be comprehended by those who did not experience them. With this in mind, Jo Gewirtz, Kitty Critchley and Nathan Shreeve, the play’s directors, do not seek to make sense of the Holocaust. Instead, The Greatest Sin of All evokes the strength, suffering, and resilience, of people subjected to unimaginable cruelties.

The site-specific promenade piece takes the audience on a journey from the ghettos of Krakow through the homes of political dissenters, the horrors of the Nazi death marches, and, finally, to the infamous Nazi gas chambers. Yet the play is not simply a sequence of unrelated episodes. Several characters reappear in later scenes, giving it a sense of narrative continuity. Rather than simply attempting to portray the physical horror of Nazi persecution, the highly versatile cast combine physical theatre, singing, and even music to represent the emotional turmoil of those persecuted by the Nazis.

The baths themselves provide a suitably grim setting for the performance. As the audience descend into the basement at the beginning of the performance, the sudden cold air evokes a sharp sense of foreboding. Once downstairs, the spectators crowd into a small grubby room to hear the story of Joseph and Sara, two characters who attempt to maintain some semblance of normality despite their persecution. Scenes such as these provide a stark contrast to the horrific brutality of later episodes, in which prisoners are brutally murdered by their guards.

Upstairs, the baths’ white, tiled walls provide an evocative and troubling backdrop to scenes about genetic experimentation on concentration camp detainees and the ‘shower blocks’ or gas chambers in which many met their deaths.

Despite the undoubted discomfort caused by long periods spent in the unheated baths, the actors give impressive performances. At times, the audience feels as though they are looking in on the intimate lives of characters, who are unaware they are being watched. At others, the performers address the spectators directly, prompting them to confront the reality of the victims’ suffering. Samantha Vaughan’s portrayal of Agathe, a woman who has survived humiliation, torture, and rape in a Nazi death camp, is unfalteringly intense. ‘We didn’t cry out’, she tells the audience, ‘because we knew no one would help us’. The message is clear: humanity must never allow such atrocities to re-occur.

Leaving the baths, I felt emotionally drained. Whilst acknowledging the impossibility of representing the Holocaust, Schmucks have created an evocative piece which nonetheless provokes shock, anger, and horror. This is certainly not a performance I’ll forget in a hurry.

A seemingly simple yet sinister play, Spinach is a tale of embarrassing emotional realisations. The two protagonists, Kate and Tom, awake at the beginning of the play to find themselves tied to each other with no recollection of recent events. Kate is a timid character who centres her life on helping the less fortunate, while the hapless Tom works in the pharmaceutical industry and has no luck with the opposite sex. As the pair piece together their memories they become closer to their captors and to each other, leading to an unexpected romantic sub-plot.

Spinach has an impressive cast of both new and more experienced actors. Former Coronation Street actor Jenny Platt stars as Kate while classically-trained actor and performer David Hunter takes on the role of Tom. Most of the actors’ dialogue is sung and set to music composed by Simon Waters, one of the founders of Waters Edge. Platt performs well in her first professional singing role and Hunter takes on the role of Tom with vigour. His timing and delivery are flawless throughout and his on-stage chemistry with Platt is difficult to fault.

Liz Singleton and Craig Whittaker take on the roles of Maureen and Darren, Tom’s work colleagues. The pair emerge at various points in the play as Tom tries to remember why he is tied to a woman he has never met before. Singleton, who graduated last year from the Guildford School of Acting, gives an impressive performance as Maureen, performing a jazzy tune on the saxophone in the play’s latter stages. Although at times Whittaker does seem to be over-reaching himself with his singing, his quiet voice and demeanor is a superb artifice before he reveals his true colours as an unhinged individual with a grudge against society.

While Spinach’s plot is surprisingly simple, the play’s execution and vivid detail make it thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

Mohsin Iqbal.

For more information about Waters Edge Arts see www.watersedgearts.com

Opening the festival was Short Cuts: Women & Gender Theory, a work-in progress double bill. Women, Chris Hoyle’s darkly-humorous comedy drama, examines the relationships between David, a gay man, and three important women in his life: his mother, his first girlfriend, and his ‘fag hag’. Set on the day of David’s wedding to his partner, the piece is composed of a series of monologues in which each woman speaks frankly to the audience about her relationship with David. The women themselves are parodies of easily recognisable stereotypes: Sarah, David’s first girlfriend is still hopelessly in love with him, while Kate, his fag hag, tells the audience that she always shares his bed.

Of particular note is Ruth Evans’s subtle performance as Sandra, David’s unintentionally homophobic mother. Combining just the right amount of humour and gravity, Evans does not fall into the trap of overplaying her character while David’s absence throughout prevents the audience from making their own judgements about him. Yet, behind the women’s tongue-in-cheek performances lies a serious message: unfair and restrictive prejudices imposed by society are not easy to escape.

Gender Theory, Judith Butler and Other Bedtime Stories is a thought-provoking piece by J. Fergus Evans, Gemma Bradley, and Jackie Hagan. Focusing on the experiences of Fergus and Gemma, two radical queers who are shocked to find themselves with mortgages and in monogamous relationships, the performance examines life after queer theory. Combining video interviews, songs, poetry, and spoken word, the performance asks questions such as ‘what is queer?’, and ‘what’s the queerest haircut you’ve ever had?’ Yet ultimately the performance does not provide definitive answers to these questions. Rather its beauty lies in the fact that, like the term queer, these answers are elusive, highly personal, and ever-changing. Refreshing in its honest rejection of fixed definition, this show is definitely one to watch out for.

Peter Grist and Company

Also part of Queer Contact, Peter Grist and Company presents three dance pieces exploring the ‘gritty underworld of Manchester life’. The first piece, Protect Me, combines audio clips and dance in a political exploration of gender and identity. A clip of a young man’s coming-out story is followed by a dance challenging notions of identity and belonging.

Choreographed by Robert Clement-Evans, the second piece, Real Man examines the relationship between the public and private self. Yet the most impressive and physically demanding of these pieces is Let Go, a collaborative work choreographed and performed by Peter Grist and Laura Vanhulle. Through the intimate and almost brutal interaction between dancers, the piece explores the pain felt when relationships break down. Overall, the company’s ability to explore notions of identity, gender, and sexuality though the medium of dance is truly impressive.

As Queer Contact demonstrates, queer arts are thriving in Manchester. Bringing together a variety of local artists, poets, and performers, the festival is a true celebration of the richness and diversity of queer culture from across the rainy city.

Robin Macdonald

Queer Contact was running at Contact from in early February. For more details about performances at the Contact, go to: http://www.contact-theatre.org/

The re:play Festival this year is a coming together of the Contact Theatre and The Library Theatre Company in order to bring the best of new theatre of the past 12 months.

One Night There, written by Bhean Ali and directed by Borhan Mohammadi, is a play that is heavily influenced by the writer’s background and ethnicity as a Kurd and centres on a unnamed country where women are subjugated and are forced to live as secondary citizens with little or no rights. The play opens with a woman, the protagonist played by Rachel Horley, who finds herself alone and in the dark, wailing aloud as to where she is before another unnamed woman reveals herself and attempts to calm her. Finding herself immersed in this world, she struggles to retain her sense of individuality while keeping herself sane amongst a world dominated by men and living amongst other women who have capitulated to society.

Originally a Kurdish play that has been translated by Crystal Stewart, there are a few interspersed monologues and songs in Kurdish. One Night There does not reveal much in terms of location or names, which some might argue adds to the intended pathos of the theme of identity and individuality and its near-loss by the protagonist. As the play goes on however, there is a sense of underwhelming realism. The dialogue becomes littered with a few vague references of a religion that many might interpret as Islam, which is no surprise as Bhean Ali hails from a part of the world where it is the dominant religion and where women are still facing an uphill battle for equality and rights.

A particular scene where men mock the donning of bracelets, high-heels and other associated paraphernalia along with the need for the women in this world to constantly wear the ‘hijab’ or headscarf lends credibility to this particular view.

While there is a danger that the play might relies too heavily on literary works such as Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, throughout the play it becomes apparent that the work is more influenced by the writer’s background. The play itself is not particularly forceful, and at forty-five minutes may do itself no favours as many scenes seem hurried and the dialogue fails to grip – possibly due to translation problems.

Despite this, there were still one or two scenes were good where the energy of the cast brought some emotiveness to the fore and so One Night There stands as a play with an interesting plot that has potential.

Mohsin Iqbal

The Re:play festival took place at the Contact Theatre towards the end of January. For more details about the Contact’s listings, click here: http://www.contact-theatre.org/

Tayo Aluko as Paul Robeson

At one point in the 1940s Paul Robeson was regarded as America’s most popular singer. With the ability to fill theatre halls and command crowds of tens of thousands desperate to hear his soulful bass-baritone voice he appealed to both black and white audiences at a time when racial segregation divided the country and ‘coloured folk’ were considered sub-citizens.

In the eponymous role Tayo Aluko charts the life of this great man, explaining how a central figure in black American history could fade into such relative obscurity today. For the dazzling heights of Robeson’s international popularity and stardom would be equalled only by the extent of his eventual decline – a descent triggered in part by his steadfast refusal to abandon his principles and political beliefs. Aluko’s mastery of mannerism and ability to make it seem as if he is addressing you personally combines with an impressive musical score in a captivating feat of storytelling.

Son of a former escaped slave turned preacher, Robeson showed precocious talent in sports and academia but despite his intellectual talents would choose to pursue a career as an entertainer.

Having inherited a strong sense of social justice from his father it was on a visit to Britain in 1928 that he first became acquainted with ideas of socialism. This came through a chance encounter with a group of Welsh miners, a people with whom he would always feel a great affinity both on a human and musical level. At the end of a march from their home in South Wales to London in protest at their poverty and awful working conditions, their approach was heralded by beautiful and mournful singing. In their tones Robeson heard echoes of the melancholy spirituals that had been passed down by his own people from times of slavery.

It was at this moment that Robeson first recognised that the treatment of black people in America had its counterpart elsewhere in the world. This lead him to diagnose such oppression as a symptom of the class domination inherent within capitalism, or as he put it “the fight of my Negro people in America and the fight of oppressed workers everywhere was the same struggle”. Thus began Paul Robeson’s journey as a political militant, and he would go on to visit Welsh mining communities on numerous occasions as well as pledging his support for the International Bridge during the Spanish Civil War through a series of benefit concerts.

The crystallisation of Robeson’s socialist convictions came on a visit to Soviet Russia, where he says “I was treated like a full human being for the first time in my life”. And the play reveals how his endless travels informed not only his political internationalism but also his appreciation of the shared musical heritage of all peoples: through his studies of traditional folk singing, be it in China, Wales, Russia or Africa, Robeson identified a recurring tonal theme of five notes – known in Western music as the pentatonic scale.

The script of the play is commendable in that it does not erase the unsavoury episodes of Robeson’s life, but portrays them with a pathos and humility that lends to an image of a real human being. Thus we see Robeson as a virtuous and admirable figure who nevertheless had his flaws which would ultimately lead to his downfall. On a political level, his almost blind support for communism reveals a streak of naivety which ran through many left-wing public figures and intellectuals of the time who, knowingly or not, turned a blind eye to the gross abuses of human rights under the Stalinist system in their support for ‘socialism’. And his increasingly vocal interventions and controversial political stance would eventually disenchant the public, as well as lead to his blacklisting from the country’s largest venues.

Perhaps Robeson’s finest hour – and indeed, the dramatic climax of the play – comes shortly after a failed suicide attempt which is conveyed brilliantly through an attack of cacophonous piano.

J'accuse!

At the height of the anti-communist frenzy of early Cold War years, he is summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee – a kind of de facto court which conducted public show trials in order to disgrace and blacklist suspected left-wing public figures. Responding to accusations of being unpatriotic, Robeson comports himself with an irrepressible passion and dignity, while his wit and oratorical finesse ensure that he emerges the moral victor. When asked why he does not simply emigrate to Russia, he replies: “Because my father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you and no fascist minded people will drive me from it! Is that clear?”

For figures of popular culture today who rarely, if ever, pronounce themselves on matters of politics and principle beyond flaccid liberal entreaties, Paul Robeson’s belief that the artist “must elect to fight for freedom or slavery” is a timeless lesson.

Michael Pooler

Call Mr Robeson was on for one night only at The Lowry. For more dates of the tour across the country, visit: http://cmr.tayoalukoandfriends.com/

Marie Stopes, one of the ten heroines selected for the project

The project – which is being run by Manchester Modernist Society, urban explorers and psychogeographers the Loiterers’ Resistance Movement and the Shrieking Violet fanzine – will coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8.

The aim is to produce a publication and organise a range of activities in early March focused on or inspired by the lives and careers of ten local heroines strongly associated with the North West. The ten figures chosen span the fields of invention, aviation, media, science and design and architecture in the twentieth century and were selected due to their outstanding contributions in their respective disciplines.

The organisers are now calling on the creative responses of anybody who is interested. Contributions can take the form of an event, performance, piece of creative writing, interview or journalistic feature – the only rule being that the work be about one of the ten local heroines.

The deadline for expression of interest is this Friday 28 January, while the date for final submission of work is Friday 18 February in order to allow time for print and publicity before the week starting March 6. Please email info@manchestermodernistsociety.org in the first instance with your choice of Fabulous Female and a short summary of the idea you might wish to pursue.

A cover of an edition of The Shrieking Violet fanzine

Below is a full list of the ten local heroines chosen to be represented in the project:

1. Mitzi Solomon Cunliffe (January 1 1918 – December 30 2006) was an American sculptor who was a long resident in Didsbury. She was most famous for designing the golden trophy in the shape of a theatrical mask that would go on to represent the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and be presented as the BAFTA award. She also designed the mural on the Heaton Park Pumping Station.

2. Winifred Brown, Salfordian Flyer and, in her early 20s, winner of the Kings Cup (air race) in 1930.

3. Rachel Haugh co-established the architectural practice Ian Simpson Associates. She was born and brought up in Manchester and studied at Bath University School of Architecture. She is a founding partner and co-director of Ian Simpson Architects, a design-led architectural practice which was established in 1987 and employs around 50 people in offices in Manchester and London.

4. Susan Sutherland Isaacs (1885–1948) was a Bolton born educational psychologist and psychoanalyst. Educated at Manchester and Cambridge Universities, she published pioneer studies on the intellectual and social development of children and promoted the nursery school movement. For Isaacs developing a child’s independence, which is best achieved through play, was the best way for children to learn and the role of adults and early educators was to guide children’s play. She was awarded a CBE in 1948.

5. Marie Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a noted palaeobotanist, campaigner for women’s rights and pioneer in the field of family planning. She was the first woman member of faculty at Manchester University.

6. Professor Rosalie David is the world’s leading expert on Egyptian mummies. She is Director of the Centre for Biomedical and Forensic Egyptology at the University of Manchester and has directed the Manchester Egyptian Mummy Research Project since 1973. This project has pioneered the ‘Manchester Method’ — the use of medical and scientific techniques to investigate ancient Egyptian mummies to detect evidence of disease and information about everyday life in ancient Egypt. She was the first woman professor in Egyptology in Britain, and the first to receive an OBE in recognition of her services in Egyptology.

7. Olive Shapley, British radio producer and broadcaster (10 April 1910– 13 March 1999) was a British radio producer and broadcaster. In 1934 she began her career with the BBC as Children’s Hour organiser with the responsibility of producing five hour-long programmes every week. These included at least two full-length live plays a week. After the war she became the third presenter of ‘Woman’s Hour’, a programme with which she was associated for over twenty years, producing the programme between 1949 and 1953. Meanwhile, she began to develop a career as a presenter in the new television medium. In the mid-1960s her Manchester home became a refuge (as a charitable trust) for single mothers and later, in the late 1970s, for Vietnamese boat people.

8. Professor Doreen Massey is a Manchester born contemporary British social scientist and geographer. She has devoted her life to the subject, speaking passionately about the significance of geography and the ‘politics of place’ in a globalised world. Her work has had a profound influence on theorising around space and place and has taken the study of geography into new inter-disciplinary directions.

9. Mary Stott (18 July 1907 – 16 September 2002) was a British feminist and journalist, the first — and longest-serving — editor of the Guardian women’s page. One of the great campaigning journalists of the 20th century, in her 15-year tenure from 1957 to 1972 she invented a platform for women’s voices and concerns and used it to further such causes.

10. Linder Sterling studied Art at the Manchester School of Art from 1974-77 and played a vital part in the 1970s punk scene in Manchester, designing graphics for the Buzzcocks, Magazine and Factory Records. She remains a pivotal visual artist, performance artist and musician, whose work has been selected for the Tate Triennial.

David Beames as Ebeneezer Scrooge

The tale is a well-known one. This is the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the quintessential misanthrope who despises all source of human warmth – especially Christmas. On Christmas Eve he is visited by three spirits – the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future – who make him repent his wicked ways and open his soul to his fellow creatures.

Whereas we are used to depictions of a frail and elderly Scrooge, David Beames projects in the lead role an embittered and cantankerous old man who still has some vitality to him. With a convincing pathos he shows how the ice of Scrooge’s heart melts as the spirits take him to the sad and joyful scenes of his own past which moulded him into the gnarled creature we now see.

Beames brings out the latent comedy of the text as Scrooge visits his own former years of jollity and the current ones of his nephew. However the one disappointment of his performance is that he fails to deliver Scrooge’s refrain of ‘bah, humbug!’ with much panache or gusto. While this stops the play from falling into panto, it leaves it without the force of one of its funniest lines.

It is following the intermission that the show really takes off, as the players warm to the stage. Driving the narrative is the marvellous Kath Burlinson as The Ghost of Christmas Present. A mixture of enticing pixie and ethereal witch, she leads Scrooge through the painful reality in which many live without offering any easy answers.

Claude Close as Jacob Marley

The entrance of the Ghost of Christmas Future, the final apparition, provides us with a visual spectacle in the form of a ten foot moving skeleton that marches with a frightening and shivering gait. The most sinister of all the apparitions, its wordless vision of the bleak future provides a glimpse to Scrooge of the possible fate on which he is on the cusp of – and which ultimately leads him to repent.

At times there is an over-reliance on background music in order to set the emotional tone; this can make the performance somewhat sentimental, even annoyingly trite, while detracting from the acting as the main source of energy. However this is completely overshadowed by the brilliant choral singing of traditional Christmas hymns which are peppered throughout the play. Through the simplistic and plaintive melodies, backed up by dazzling harmonies, the players convey a timeless sense of the solemnity of the season. The inventive musical aspect of the play, coupled with dance sequences,  brilliantly harnesses the stage to give a new interpretation of an old classic.

Perhaps unwittingly the play revives many Victorian moral ideals which bear resemblance to the undertones of the political discourse of the coalition government – certainly with regards to social welfare. Thus we have Bob Cratchet, the embodiment of the ‘deserving poor’: a hard-working family man who, despite his crushing poverty and low wages, never bemoans his lot in life and shows unfailing deference to his social superiors. Similarly, Scrooge’s eventual transformation carries with it the message that individual philanthropy can be the cure of society’s ills, rather than system change.

Lisa Kerr as Belle and Paul Barnhill as Charlie

Dickens’ note of protest is heard clearly through the words which come back to haunt Scrooge: ‘are there no prisons [for the poor]? Are there no workhouses? … If they would rather die then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population’; words which echo the disguised sentiment of those in power today who seek to end incapacity benefits, EMA and housing allowance for the least well-off in society. While his protest at terrible living conditions and plea to a collective social conscience are laudable we should be wary of its application today.

The irony of this moral tale is that it mimics the basic mechanism of Christian ethics, in that virtues such as generosity and sympathy are not seen as inherent goods in themselves, but rather forms of behaviour which should be followed on pain of eternal suffering. So does its moral remain relevant today? We only have to wait to see whether Messrs Cameron and Clegg awake on Christmas Day this year to a sudden change of heart…

Michael Pooler

Schmucks Theatre is an ensemble that was conceived in late 2009 with the express intention of showcasing new talent and providing an outlet for those involved to demonstrate their abilities. Schmuck off follows on from their earlier success of The Carroll Myth. The first play, Fuzzy Old Dial TV by Jo Gewirtz, is an insight into the dynamics of a mother-son relationship that sours as the mother’s love for her child is tested by his unfathomable and odious actions. Richard Edwards is excellent as the boisterous son James, while Miek Gracer is touchingly competent after a shaky start as Susie, the frail mother. Both performances combine to create a work that questions the boundaries of a mother’s love for their child.

Hasn’t Met the Right Man Yet is a play that will divide audiences with its crude yet funny dialogue from two ‘desperate dyke’ lesbians who, initially, crave a child. Written by Frances Anderson and directed by Sarah Eastaff, it is a raging delight that drew laughs from the audience, especially from the rambunctious Jane, played by Emma Jones. Culminating in a hilarious show of shallow reasoning as to why adopt above all else, Hasn’t Met the Right Man Yet is an excellently written play.

The Mourning Party is an ambiguous affair that has the air of an unfinished play about it; a disappointment which does however show some promise with moments of excellent interspersed dialogue. On the whole it left a lot to be desired by its writer. Artist Unknown meanwhile was conspicuously the best received and superior to all other competition on the night. A perspicacious and spectacularly written dialogue from Nathan Shreeve, Artist Unknown is a play of insight, drunkenness and procrastination from Nicola Jeanne as the eponymous ‘Artist’. Performing brilliantly Jeanne revels in her own flaws all the while imparting advice on her proficient grasp of snaring men.

The Complex Man, written by Matt Chase and directed by Kitty Critchley is deserving of praise, though only for the Wayne Allsop’s superb portrayal. Although at times the philosophical story-telling may leave the audience baffled as it seems little more than the ranting of a man too deeply indulged in his own arrogance, Allsop’s energetic performance proved a saving grace.

Bereft, written by Katrina Ives and directed by Frances Anderson was a competent play about a woman who throws away everything that is coveted greatly by another. Again, Richard Edwards excels as Mr Cotton however brief his part may have been, whilst Nia Coleman is tremendous as the delicate and weak Rosie, who on the inside seems to have a destroyed soul after choosing to undergo an abortion.

Schmucks Theatre succeed in bringing an array of entertaining theatrical work to the public at several venues in Manchester and Buxton, even if the quality of two of the plays was questionable. Overall Schmuck off shows great potential; and the talent that Schmucks Theatre has at its disposal – highlighted by the performance of Richard Edwards and in Artist Unknown – came to the fore.