Receiving theatres
Palace Theatre and Opera House
Manchester’s two ATG theatres, the Palace and the Opera House, remained closed after the world première of Back the the Future The Musical—the last show I saw in 2020—was forced to cut short its run for the first lockdown until they were able to fully open in the latter part of this year.
Since then, both theatres have been pretty busy with musicals old and new, including the return of Bat out of Hell and Waitress at the Opera House and Heathers, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the new Bedknobs and Broomsticks show based on the Disney film and White Christmas at the Palace.
But they had some highlights saved up for the festive season, by which time they had started to require proof of vaccination on top of their usual invasive bag searches before being allowed entry. Aladdin at the Opera House was easily the most entertaining panto I saw this year, and David Cunningham said that Book of Mormon at the Palace, “is so good it will renew your faith, if not in religion, certainly in theatre.”
The Lowry
The Lowry announced its ‘Roadmap out of Lockdown’ back in March, beginning with outdoor performances of C-O-N-T-A-C-T at Salford Quays in May, when the galleries would also open at weekends and comedian Michael Spicer would take audiences indoors for The Room Next Door. A much fuller programme of more than 100 different performances and events was announced in September.
The theatres featured opera from Opera North, dance from Rambert, Ballet Black and Matthew Bourne, musicals Anna X and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and a wide range of other theatre, from Mischief Theatre’s Groan Ups to the classic Frederick Knott thriller Dial M For Murder; from imitating the dog’s Dracula: The Untold Story to drag murder mystery Death Drop.
The Lowry’s association with Paines Plough saw The Roundabout mobile theatre erected in Victoria Park, Swinton in September with a programme of plays including Black Love by Chinonyerem Odimba and Hungry by Chris Bush.
I only visited The Lowry a couple of times this year, the first for a rather disappointing transfer to stage of classic sitcom The Good Life, the second for my theatrical highlight of the festive season and probably of the whole year, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
The Lowry has managed its course through the pandemic with a great deal of care and efficiency, but I’ve been disappointed to see a venue that used to be open and friendly, where anyone could pop into the galleries, coffee shop, gift shop or restaurant as well as the theatres, become in a fairly short time a fortress that channels everyone through one door past aggressive security guards who don’t just go through bags but conduct full body searches with wands. It doesn’t feel like a very welcoming way to reintroduce people to theatre when venues desperately need audiences to feel comfortable about returning.
HOME Manchester
HOME has been impressively quick at reacting to the ever-changing requirements and regulations ever since the first lockdown last year, when it announced its first commissions for online work a week later, and again at Christmas, when all of its festive shows went online as soon as another lockdown was imposed.
This year, a whole new temporary outdoor venue was created a short walk away from HOME called Homeground featuring a large open-air theatre with social distancing built in, as well as a covered space for evening performances and bars and food stalls. The main theatre hosted Filter Theatre’s riotous Midsummer Night’s Dream, which worked perfectly out in the Manchester sunshine (I was lucky when I saw it), as well as an updated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
An autumn and winter season was announced in July for when the theatre could once again welcome audiences, which included an intriguing take on The War of the Worlds—H G Wells via Orson Welles—from Rhum and Clay Theatre Company and the great Ian McDiarmid in an adaptation of two Julian Barnes stories under the title The Lemon Table.
There were some changes to the board of HOME when Kathryn Jacob OBE replaced Jonty Claypole as chair and trustees Karl Jackson and Stephen Sorrell were replaced by Dr Ruth Bromley and Sita McIntosh. In December, it was announced that Executive Director Jon Gilchrist would leave to take up the post of Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome.