Sister act’s bleak Cuddles

Cuddles at the Royal Exchange in Manchester next week, was created in the wake of the London riots and is a damning look at how society teaches us that what we consume dictates our identity.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th May 2015, 18:00 BST
CuddlesCuddles
Cuddles

A sharp and bleakly funny exploration of the relationship between sisters Tabby and Eve it is also a consideration of the ways in which parenting choices directly shape the world of tomorrow.

Following this national tour, Cuddles will be presented for a month in June as part of New York’s Brits off Broadway festival.

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Teenage vampire Eve has never known what sunlight is. Everything the 13-year-old knows about the world is derived from what her sister Tabby has told her. She has never left her darkened room and has just one living, breathing human to cuddle. She lives in a world crammed with story book characters.

Playwright Joseph Wilde explains: “What’s most unusual about the play is stylistic approach.

“There’s not much else on stage that seems to be combining supernatural horror, fairytales, dark comedy, and naturalistic domestic drama. It’s a play about love, sex and control and the only man in it is invisible and silent.”

It runs from Tuesday to Saturday. Box office: 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk

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Manchester-born Danny Boyle, the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony supremo will next week launch a funfair-themed Bank Holiday weekend celebration of Manchester’s new centre for international contemporary art, theatre and film - HOME.

Taking inspiration from various media, the weekend will have a celebratory funfair theme. Interactive film screenings, chatshow-style discussions, live musical performances and events will light up the Bank Holiday weekend, mixing family-friendly activities, musical performances and entertainment with internationally-significant commissions in a Mancunian celebration.

At 5pm on May 21, Boyle will lead a Funfair Fanfare culminating in a volley of pyrotechnics that will ring the building.

Music and performances from carnival troupe Juba do Leao will build the party atmosphere. Details: www.homemcr.org

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The critically-acclaimed Best New Musical of 2014, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, returns to Manchester Opera House from next week.

This production will star Michael Praed as Lawrence, Noel Sullivan as Freddy, Carley Stenson as Christine and Mark Benton as Andre.

Direct from London’s West End, where it ran for a year to rave reviews, it originally premiered in Manchester where it won a Manchester Theatre Award for Katherine Kingsley in the original cast as well as being nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Choreography.

The show is based on the legendary 1988 film which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin.

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The decadent world of sophisticated conman Lawrence Jameson is set to come crashing down with the arrival of larger-than-life Freddy Benson – a conman of an entirely different order.

Soon realising the town is not big enough for the both of them, the two find themselves head to head in the con of their lives, in a bid for the affections of millionaire soap heiress Christine Colgate.

Box office: 0844 8713018 or www.atgtickets.com/manchester

Kill The Beast, The Lowry’s associate artists, return to their home venue for an in-demand encore of He Had Hairy Hands, inspired by Hammer Horror and Scooby-Doo.

The premiere wowed Salford audiences in The Lowry’s Studio last year and saw the Manchester-based company, Kill The Beast, scoop the 2014 Manchester Theatre Award for Best Studio Production.

Catch it tomorrow and Saturday. Box Office: 0843 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com

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