Entertainment

Spider-like and wretched, Tom Mothersdale’s Richard III practically crawls across the stage. Every body movement signals his grotesque nature.

When a gobby hairdresser, Rita, enrols on an open university course and is assigned to an initially less than willing tutor, Frank, the pair are clueless as to the lessons they are destined to teach each other.

Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage opened at Manchester’s Palace Theatre – delivering on its promise of ‘sensationally sexy dancing’, with the rest of the show offering an entertaining mix of theatre, dance and comedy.

Petticoats, pastel-coloured kitchens and Mr Sandman on the radio; from the opening scene, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Laura Wade’s newest play was set in America’s swinging 1950s. You would, however, be wrong.

Could the next Funny Women icon be from Manchester?

As an avid fan of the 1990 Academy Award-winning film starring Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze, the bar of expectation was set pretty high for Ghost the Musical at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.

It brings me great pleasure to put on my truly awful attempt at a New York accent and say, “gee buddy boy, this production really knocked it outa the park”.

Multiple award-winning musical Blood Brothers has made its way to The Lowry in Salford – and boy how it made an impression.

The stars aligned for Barcelona last night as they were victorious on both the stage and the football field: Lionel Messi and co defeating Man Utd 1-0 while the city’s leading theatre company tore up the rulebook, captivating the audience at HOME with their ambitious live spectacle Kingdom.

Last night, we were given a wild, free and colourful welcoming into ‘The Age of Aquarius’ as Hair the Musical transported its audience to 1967 New York.

With an audience full of young teenage girls, as an adult it is easy to feel out of place at a Shawn Mendes concert at the Manchester Arena.