‘If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution!’ It could be the cry of a rebellious daughter, but here it’s the embattled mother who utters anarchist-activist Emma Goldman’s famous words. Her daughter is more inclined towards quoting extreme body artist Orlan… Everything I See I Swallow is one of a number […]

Fringe favourites Ockham’s Razor (winners of a Total Theatre Award with Tipping Point) are back at the beautiful St Stephen’s Church with new show This Time. And what a joy it is! It’s a very different piece to their earlier work. For a start, there’s a fair amount of text – spoken live, and pre-recorded […]

As we wait for the show to start we’re treated to the sound of Dean Martin singing ‘That’s Amore’. Knot is a love story – but one whose Facebook relationship status might read ‘it’s complicated’. Nikki (Rummer) and JD (Broussé) arrive on stage and announce themselves. They’re dressed in baggy, neutral coloured rehearsal wear. They […]

We take our seats in Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and the lights go down, only for a spotlight to pick out one of the audience seated in the front row. It’s Improbable’s Phelim McDermott (writer/director), and he starts the show in a very informal manner, chatting to his neighbour in the next seat and telling […]

Contemporary circus, like dance before it, was once perched precariously on the outer edges of the performing arts scene – insiders headed to Circus Space or Circomedia to get their fix; outsiders thought themselves daring for going to see Cirque du Soleil whenever they visited (and every time that company was reviewed in its early […]