Entertainment

A theatre production can only dream of a smooth sailing run – but it’s ultimately the public who will decide whether it sinks or swims when on the stage.

Kindertransport has returned to the stage in Manchester 25 years after writer Diane Samuels’ first showing – and it’s now presented to the world in a time where its themes of identity politics, immigration and anti-Semitism are perhaps more topical than ever.

Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Courtney Marie Andrews has been touring her critically-acclaimed new album May Your Kindness Remain.

For lovers of the iconic post-punk group Joy Division and revellers of the Manchester music scene, New Dawn Fades brings to light the perfect combination of history, tragedy and earth-shatteringly dark comedy associated with one of the city’s most influential music acts.

All I See Is You tells a simple love story that takes place in a dystopian world where love can be forbidden.

The classic tale Of Mice and Men has arrived at the Opera House – and it’s brought the novel’s emotion and beautifully-crafted characters with it.

Soap stars Alfie Browne-Sykes and Riley Carter-Millington were born in the 1990s, some 75 years after the end of the First World War.

His name may sit alongside those of dancing dogs in the list of Britain’s Got Talent winners, but dismiss pianist Tokio Myers as yet another novelty act at your peril.

Spring Awakening is an ambitious, sweeping musical about teenagers trying to make sense of the world around them in socially repressive 19th century Germany, but with a very contemporary feel.

Part love story, part tribute to the astonishing bravery of the sappers who tunnelled underneath battlegrounds, Birdsong is as good a commemoration of the immense sacrifices made during the First World War as you will ever see.

It’s no surprise that the Kamaal Williams ensemble has been hailed as the most seismic jazz to come of out Britain in the past two decades.