1984 - The Royal Exchange Theatre

WORLD PREMIERE of stage adaptation and direction by Matthew Dunster
Designed by Paul Wills

Reviewed by Simon Belt on 01 Mar 2010

The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester launched their new season of 2010 with '1984' - a dramatic but disturbing adaptation of George Orwell's cherished novel of totalitarian state control of thought and behaviour.

'The girl with the dragon tattoo' from the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

Reviewed by Stephen Bowler February 2010

Stieg Larsson’s The girl with the dragon tattoo is a popular book. The publishers say they’ve sold 2.7 million copies in Sweden and over 12 million of the Millennium trilogy (of which this is the first) worldwide. They’re shifting plenty here too: they must be as it only cost me £3.49, including postage. Clearly it’s being read by a lot of people, but why might this be?

Well, for a start, it’s a real page-turner; full of intrigue and action. The hero – Mikael Blomkvist – is a hip and clever journalist with a side-kick – she with the tattoo – even more Zen than he. Together they are sexy Swedish sleuths, dishing the dirt on the nastiest of ne’er do well’s, laying low the corporate fat-cats.

A Library Theatre Company Production of

I Ought To Be In Pictures

By Neil Simon
Directed by Paul Jepson

Reviewed by Temi Ogunye on 12th Feb 2010

The Library Theatre Company’s production of 'I Ought to be in Pictures' faithfully captures the sharp wit and touching emotion of Neil Simon’s 30 year old three character comedy-drama.

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Manchester Question Time organised by Total Politics, 11 February 2010

Event reviewed by Simon Belt

I've been to a wide variety of meetings about politics in my time, and this one at the City Inn Hotel in Manchester appealled because it was being organised by Total Politics as a Question Time event ahead of the forthcoming general election. This was my first Total Politics event, and first ever event at the City Inn - they asked for £400 for a room for 20-30 people for the Manchester Salon last year, and spending money on the room ahead of the travel costs of quality speakers isn't what I do. The format was a traditional three way head to head between Labour (Tony Lloyd MP, Manchester Central), Conservatives (Graham Brady MP, Altrincham & Sale West) and Liberal (Mark Hunter MP, Cheadle) with the fourth panel member being David Ottewell, chief reporter at Manchester Evening News. Shane Greer, executive editor of Total Politics chaired the event.