Uncategorized – Live Art Alive

Breaking The Code

Written by Hugh Whitemore with a new epilogue by Neil Bartlett

Directed by Jesse Jones

A Royal & Derngate, Northampton, Landmark Theatres and Oxford Playhouse co-production in association with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and HOME

HOME MCR

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This timely revival of Breaking the Code offers a moving, finely judged portrayal of genius under siege. Hugh Whitemore’s play about Alan Turing; the mathematician, Enigma Code war hero, and victim of Britain’s criminalisation of homosexuality might be almost four decades old, but in this production it feels achingly relevant and startlingly humane.

At the centre is a beautifully modulated performance by Mark Edel‑Hunt as Turing. He resists the temptation to play Turing as an eccentric caricature and instead finds something wonderfully fragile and real. His speech patterns, social awkwardness, and flashes of impish humour combine to give the role a quiet power. The moments when intellect falters in the face of love or shame are especially affecting as life unravels. This is a truly mesmerising performance as Edel-Hunt gives us a stuttering misfit who visibly soars when describing mathematical theorems and who yearns for love and affection.

Director Jesse Jones keeps the staging spare and fluid, allowing the story’s emotional logic to unfold like a mathematical proof. The use of minimalistic design and subtle lighting anchors the production in its historical moment while underlining Turing’s eerie prescience about the modern digital world. The simplicity allows for a fluid and believable transition through the numerous vignette pieces which weave together this study of Turing the man and the genius.

The rest of the cast are impressive with Susie Trayling as Turing’s mother and Joe Usher as his ill-fated lover bringing moral texture and earthy warmth, ensuring that this is no sterile biopic but a living, breathing human drama. There are some simply beautiful interactions in this production that do justice to the writing but the standout moments are with Peter Hamilton Dyer who plays Turing’s colleague, Billy Knox at Bletchley Park. The two actors play off each other with a precision and wit that is simply theatrical alchemy.

Mark Edel-Hunt and Peter Hamilton Dyer in Breaking The Code at HOME MCR
Image credit: Manuel Harlan

The new epilogue by Neil Bartlett updates the original 1986 play by taking into account Turing’s 2013 pardon and the development of “Turing’s Law”. This may have felt like a necessary update that brings the story into sharp relief for our times. However and perhaps due to watching this production in Manchester where Turing is already celebrated with such pride and fondness, this felt unnecessary. The additional exposition jarred with Turing’s final moments on stage, played with heartbreaking restraint which quietly reminds us all how brilliance can both illuminate and isolate.

HOME MCR 28th Oct – 1st Nov 2025

WAKE

Beatbox, Cabaret, Circus, Dance, Gig Theatre, Large Theatres, Poetry, Uncategorized

Co-Created and Co-Directed by Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon

Warehouse One, HOME MCR

Growing up Protestant in rural Northern Ireland I went to a lot of funerals. There were wakes with copious amounts of tea, cake and sandwiches and the odd drop of whisky or sherry. They were mostly restrained quiet affairs where your loss was acknowledged with a solemn handshake, a box of teabags or a tin of ham. I always had a sense that our Catholic neighbours had nailed the wake more as a celebration for the dead with music and booze usually leading to a good cèilidh. Apparently I was right and THISISPOPBABY are on the mainland showcasing the rites of the WAKE but with a few extra bells and whistles. My lovely Dad was seen to the grave with the lilt of bagpipes…as of last night I’m wishing we could redo his send-off with some accordions, the bodhrán and maybe an Irish dancer in a sequined g-string with buttock tassles and possibly a world champion pole dancer if the budget would stretch.

Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon of Dublin based THISISPOPBABY have blended the traditional mourning rites with a high calibre camp burlesque show that includes aerial work, Irish dance, slam poetry, break dancing and pole dancing. The result is anarchic and playful rousing invitation to mourn our dead by celebrating life. The production has had several sell out run in Dublin before heading to Sadlers Wells and now Manchester. The Warehouse space is a ideal setting with a tiered stage for the musicians and the pole dancer whereas the circular second stage has a circus vibe and is used for the dance routines and the aerial work. The audience are seated to 3 sides of the circular stage so the sight lines are excellent.

Balloon dance from Wake.
Image credit: Ruth Medjber

THIS IS THE WAKE FOR EVERYONE THAT’S NEVER COMING BACK…

Felispeak is the Irish-Nigerian spoken word artist who weaves a story through the very varied performance styles. Her crisp dry drawl has a laconic charm and there is a real lyricism in her words that is reminiscent of some of our great Irish poets. Some performances burst on stage such as Colombian breakdancer Cristian Emmanuel Dirocie or the mind bending balloon dance by American competitive Irish dancer Michael Roberson and THISISPOPBABY stalwart Phillip Connaughton. Others have a gentler intro such as a beautiful aerial routine by Jenny Tuffs or the plaintive voice and accordian of Darren Roche from the band Moxie in the haunting Raglan Road.

The music here is a roller coaster soundtrack that encompasses traditional melodies and modern Irish classics like The Cranberries Ode To My Family delivered in a gorgeous performance by Emer Dineen. Peppered through these are Bronski Beat Small-town Boy used in a phenomenally confident performance by Michael Roberson. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams sees another striking clubland meets Irish dance while the Peggy Lee classic is rendered unforgettable by a hilariously cheeky performance by Phillip Connaughton.

This is a impressive production bringing together fourteen artists from very varied disciplines and showcases some stunning performances including Venezuelan Lisette Krol, who is a world champion pole dancer and a truly breathtaking performer. Most of all, WAKE is a celebration of how we choose to live while acknowledging death is all around us. In this only possible response is to be open to the joy and accepting of the pain of lost lives that were well lived. This life-affirming production feels like everyone has been on the poitín or Irish moonshine and this is a party for the dead that everyone should join.

AVIVA STUDIOS 17th – 21st April 2025

Unhinged

Uncategorized

Written and Directed by Erinn Dhesi

Written and Performed by Stef Reynolds

PUSH FESTIVAL 2025

HOME

This solo production sees Stef Reynolds hold the stage confidently for a full length show without an interval, actively engage with her audience while also shifting props around to bring alive her childhood bedroom, her Grans’ council flat, the office she works in and trendy restaurants in the Northern Quarter. Reynolds may be delivering a show about a woman whose chaotic approach to life is rapidly unravelling at a rate that even surprises her but is clearly in total control throughout this piece. This is an accomplished performance that is memorable and highly engaging. Reynolds has great comic timing and her endearing goofiness blended with sharp observations pitched directly to the audience is a winning combo.

Hazel has grown up on a Manchester council estate and now lives in her Grans’ old flat which is actually owned by her absent brother. Elements of the narrative are confusing as an amusing trip to the council office to demand repairs on the property suggest a rented flat in her brothers name yet later in the production Hazel is losing her home as her brother is selling the flat. It’s a credit to the bouncy script by Reynolds and Erinn Dhesi (who also directs the piece) that these issues remain minor concerns. The central character seems both feisty and incredibly vulnerable. The relationship with her brother is as fractured as the main characters’childhood memories. This exploration of race, identity and burgeoning sexuality is never fully developed and at times is searingly perceptive and at others frustratingly hazy. The overall effect creates an nice snapshot of how childhood memories impact and shape how we view the world and how that impacts our understanding of the here and now.

Director Erinn Dhesi ensures there is lots of movement and action which keeps the pacing of the show feeling fresh and interesting. The pace however drops off towards the end of this 90 minute show. As new work it may benefit from a tighter edit but overall there is a lot to enjoy. As a performer Stef Reynolds really shines in the lighter moments as she has a natural comic timing and a real knack for engaging with her audience.

PUSH 2025 FESTIVAL 30th-31st January 2025

LUCKY TONIGHT!/BAD SCIENCE/What is love to a GODDESS?

Uncategorized

HOME

It’s that time of year again when HOME launches its biennial festival of new work showcasing and supporting local artists. This year kicks off with an interactive quiz show in the Event Space. Afreena Islam-Wright is an established theatre maker and quiz show host whose work includes Daughters of the Curry Revolution and Meet me at the Cemetery Gates. Her latest work takes the novel approach of blending a one woman theatre show with a lively quiz experience.

Tables are set with tablecloths and beer mats and each team has a tablet set up to join a speed quiz with your chosen team name and buzzer choice. The interactive quiz is a bit of a shock to the system to anyone new to the world of speed quizzing but Islam-Wright instills her audience with confidence and enthusiasm. This is a fun evening on many levels and the questions may be quite niche but are all skillfully woven around the narrative of her personal story. Interspersed through the rounds are the threads that weave the performer’s personal story as a young woman who grew up in Old Trafford as part of a very traditional Bangladeshi family and started her own family with someone outside her family’s culture. This is a work in development which shows a lot of potential especially if the intention is to use the medium of quizzing to bring theatre and storytelling into pubs across the country.

SwitchMCR are a Manchester based company comprised of graduates from the Royal Exchange Young Company. This new production BAD SCIENCE is a hi-energy, adrenaline fuelled romp that has its three female performers cast as a group of incompetent politicians scrabbling for survival within their party. Tasked to use psychiatry as a means of squashing public protest they shamelessly use the audience as a Focus Group to create a new psychiatric condition. The result is anarchic and amusing as our production created a new condition called Lemonism and its dodgy premise brought down yet another dodgy politician. The use of loud music and lively choreography certainly ramps up the generally buzzy feel of this piece. There is some nice physical comedy especially from deviser Emily Bold.

What it is love to a GODDESS? takes place on the stage in Theatre 1 and sees Maz Hedgehog retell the story of Medea and her obsessive love of Jason of The Argonauts. This is a perhaps too faithful retelling of the myth in that a sense of dynamic theatre-making risks getting lost in a slightly static monologue. Max Hedgehog is a strong and charismatic performer who leans into a sinuous and terrifying malevolence that is both impressive and commanding. Some tweaking of the movement and sound direction in this piece could ramp up the impact of this piece and enhance some very poetic writing by the performer.

PUSH FESTIVAL 24th Jan – 8th Feb 2025

Tell Me How It Ends

Large Theatres, Uncategorized

Written by Tasha Dowd

Directed by Gitika Buttoo

LIVERPOOL EVERYMAN

It’s the 60th year of Liverpool Everyman and fittingly the theatre is celebrating by looking forward and showcasing new work. Tasha Dowd is a graduate of the theatre’s new writing programme for young people. Her debut play Tell Me How It Ends celebrates and commemorates a particular period of social history that has often gone under the radar in the story of the AIDS crisis. Focusing on the late 80’s and early 90’s the plays looks at the work of the lesbian community who tirelessly volunteered their time; in many instances their blood, sweat and tears to support all the men in Liverpool dying from AIDS and related illnesses.

This is a meticulously researched play that is filled with period appropriate cultural references and references local clubs in Liverpool at that time. The belting soundtrack includes Whitney Houston and The Communards and local Liverpool groups such as Echo And The Bunnymen and The Christians. Books and films are also central to the narrative as volunteer Aster attempts to connect with Marc though sharing books like Misery, The Silence of the Lambs and watching movies such as The Bodyguard together.

This two hander has Emmy Stonelake as Aster who is a lesbian supporting Marc played by Luke Sookdeo who is HIV and on AZT drug cocktails as the hospital struggle to increase his T cell count. Stonelake really shines in this role giving her character an awkward, bumbling charm and a dry, sly wit. Her initially infuriating habit of always giving away the endings of books and films becomes a poignant metaphor for what is to come as Marc’s life is cruelly cut short. Sookdeo struggles a bit in the early hospital scenes which simply require him to be weakened and warily resistant to Aster’s help. As his character gets physically stronger the Sookdeo starts to hit his stride and Marc becomes more fleshed out as the duo become firm friends.

There is a lovely choreography to the scenes as Grace Goulding makes use of every element of the clever set design by Katie Scott. There is energy and flow to scenes that move from the hospital to Aster’s flat, Marc’s B&B to the disco and the really captivating cinema scene. The story moves from the unlikely pairing sparring on a hospital ward to them making a bucket list to make the most of Marc’s remaining life. For such a young writer Tasha Dowd has a light touch and manages to avoid a mawkish drawn death scene. Aster’s big final speech is genuinely heartfelt and impassioned but risks preaching to the converted.

In recent years there has been a lot more writing about this era and it’s impact as we grappled with the horror of HIV and AIDS. This production feels like filling in another part of the story of a particular group of volunteers and the people they supported. I worked on the telephone counselling lines in Manchester and helped organise the fundraising so I remember the tears, the rage, the fear and despair and the laughter. It was an extraordinary time and should never be forgotten. Tell Me How It Ends evokes the era extremely well and is as much about learning how to live on our own terms as it is about preparing for death in a way that gives an individual some autonomy.

Liverpool Everyman 12th – 22nd June 2024

DARK NOON

Immersive Theatre, Large Theatres, Uncategorized

Director and Scriptwriting Tue Biering

Choreographer and Co-Director Nhlanhla Mahlangu

AVIVA STUDIOS

It is great to see AVIVA STUDIOS showing a big explosive production fresh from Edinburgh Fringe 2023. Award winning Danish company Fix+Foxy unite with a cast of South African performers to open the history books that celebrate the birth of the American Dream and gleefully rip it up and rewrite the story. Film and Television endlessly celebrate the first settlers, the brave battles protecting “their” land from the Native American tribes, the thrill of the Gold Rush and the romance of the cowboys riding out on the frontier plain. DARK NOON exposes the mythology and is a darkly funny and brutal reimagining.

The Warehouse plays host to a vast bare stage depicting the rich red soil of the Wild West. The audience sit on three sides of the stage with the fourth dominated by a massive screen on which many of the scenes play out in close up. Somehow the cast of seven seem to fill the space with action from the onset. At times props appear as small vignettes are played out as chapters of history. The first settlers take their perilous journey from Europe starving, sick and often drowning. Its a powerful reminder of what migrants are suffering right now as they seek their own to fulfil their own dream of a better future. Finding and claiming land they protect it fiercely from the indigenous population. At one point the stage becomes a sports stadium where the live commentary is broadcast as the Settlers play the Natives with brutal consequences.

The props on stage grow almost imperceptibly, first a little house on the prairie appears, a railway track is built by Chinese immigrants signalling the arrival of a saloon bar, a church, a gold mine and a barb wire enclosure for the Native Americans. All is deftly done with a fluid , muscular choreography and the pace of the action never falters. Audience members are interacted with and frequently immersed into the performance as slaves in the auction, churchgoers or incarcerated prisoners.

Throughout the frequent costume changes the performers reapply their white-face make up and blonde wigs as they poke fun at the imperious settlers who now seem as misguided and out of touch with reality as the current contenders for the next American presidency. Writer and Director Tue Biering has zeroed in on the terrifying reality that a mass historical psychosis where violence becomes the acceptable norm is not the dream but a living nightmare. DARK NOON lays bare uncomfortable truths and pulls its audience quite literally unto the pages of a terrifying pop-up storybook that is still being written today.

AVIVA STUDIOS 6th-10th March 2023

Mushroom Language: A Fungal Gothic

Uncategorized

Written and Conceived by Ali Matthews

The Aldridge Studio, The Lowry

Dreamy, disquieting and dystopian are some of the words that come to mind watching this striking and playful production. Creator Ali Matthews and her fellow performer Tom Halls open the doors to their playroom and it is a dark and unsettling place. There are moments where they create an uncomfortable voyeurism seemingly a couple with a predilection for quirky game playing…other times it is like watching Hanzel and Gretal going feral in a bleak forest where a fox masquerading as Granny would be a veritable walk in the park!

This darkly funny eco horror blends hypnotic and poetic story telling with B-Movie zombies, plastic baby dolls gleefully spored out like jizz, decaying animals and soothsaying crows. Clever and wonderfully weird Matthews looks at cycles of fertility, birth, death and decay by literally immersing herself in the ground and becoming one with the kingdom of the mushroom. This production is literally oozing concepts and ideas and in many ways feels like a serious of improvised theatre games where Matthews and Hall are egging each other on to new creative extremes. The results are utterly bonkers at times but the two performers are so slyly charming and engaging it is impossible not to be won over by this freakish new world unfolding on stage.

Ali Matthews in Mushroom Language: A Fungal Gothic.
Image credit: Georgiana Ghetiu

This third world of the Fungi is imagined by set designer Ruta Irbite using what seems like acres of crumpled dark brown tarpaulin and stark trees seemingly formed from a merging of bare branches and human and animal bone. There is magic in this set as the performers forage and root in the ground and props keep appearing like rabbits from a magicians hat. Baby dolls, crows, lengths of intestine like gauze, pigs heads all emerge from this primordial earth and even the performers seem swallowed up at times.

Strange and otherworldly yet accessible our world collides with this third kingdom as the intrepid pair explore the forming of lichen, the intoxicating stench of truffles and the slow decay delighting the oyster mushroom while referencing Zombies, Linda Blair and disposable nappies. Both central performances are perfectly pitched with Matthews at times bewitching and enchanting then childishly demanding. Halls is delightfully quirky and clearly relishing this darkly playful role. There is genuine charisma between them which makes the scenes where they are literally as ‘one’ work very effectively.

Mushrooms may indeed hold the key to our future survival as they are so highly adaptable. We are continually learning more about their secret world and this production is certainly a loving homage to the magic of Mushrooms and may possibly have been inspired by the ingestion of a few of the more magic ones!!

The Lowry 25/26th October 2023

Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations

Uncategorized

Presented by The Edge in association with the Booth Centre

THE EDGE THEATRE

It’s that point in summer where there’s just one place to be on a Friday afternoon and that is in The Dressing Room Cafe Bar at The Edge Theatre in Chorlton. Busy and buzzing the crowd spills out into the pretty garden dining area as the audience wait to take their seats. There is an extra buzz today as rumours abound that our very own King of the North and Mayor of Greater Manchester is in attendance. Actor and comedian John Thomson is already here in his role as Patron. This is a beautiful theatre space in South Manchester which embraces a community ethos and provides a creative hub that welcomes those who might not ever usually access the performing arts.

The theatre company performing today were established as part of the theatres’ longstanding work with the Booth Centre which supports homeless and vulnerable people. This vital work focuses on team building as a company and teaches confidence building skills and self autonomy. This project is genuinely inspiring as with each production there is clearly a development of acting skills and confidence in the company. This kind of work establishes evidence that individuals who have experienced chaos and uncertainty in their lives can and do show up on time to rehearsals and productions. The team at The Edge are passionate about what they do and what they do is always well executed to a high standard.

Alan Ayckbourn is much loved and this short play although written for children appeals to all ages. The central character Ernie Fraser ends up in the doctors surgery with his bewildered parents when his “illuminations” get out of hand. Gifted with a peculiar talent to make his imagination come to life, Ernie has his poor parents war with a living room full of enemy soldiers and his Auntie fight a wrestling champion in a fairground. The final straw is having his Dad up a mountain rescuing a famous climber but when his G.P. despairs the ensuing outcome results in a marching band parading through the Surgery! The theatre company tackle these scenes with real comic aplomb and bring energy and enthusiasm to all their scenes. The set is cleverly designed to allow for all the scenarios that Ernie imagines. The live band add to the pacing of the production and it really is a riotous romp through this classic play. Some of the actors are familiar faces while others are on stage for the first time but this is a really supportive company and everyone looks comfortable on stage. This is a little theatrical gem and this production adds an additional sparkle from a small theatre with a big heart.

The Edge Theatre 13 -15 July 2023

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World

Uncategorized

Written by Javaad Alipoor with Chris Thorpe

Directed by Javaad Alipoor

HOME

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World is the final piece of a trilogy that follows on from two Fringe First winners, The Believers Are But Brothers and Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran. Any concerns regarding that tricky “third” album are quickly dissipated as Javaad Alipoor introduces the subject matter for the next 90 minutes. This is a whip-smart journey that delves into the unsolved murder of ’70s Iranian pop icon Fereydoun Farrokhzad via murder mystery podcasts and an exploration of digital culture and post colonial theory. This new production expands on themes from the previous works looking at how technology, resentments and fracturing identities are changing our world.

Alipoor sends his audience down Internet rabbit holes where we ride the hyperlinks and visit the land of Wikipedia where not everything is as it seems and via a live murder mystery podcast we emerge as seasoned supersleuths face to face with a real life Persian musical superstar. An actual flesh and blood man with a Wikipedia page who steps onstage mindfully aware that someone in this audience tonight might actually be there to assassinate him. This is a production that is fast moving and demands the rapt attention of its audience; anything less and you risk being cast adrift in Tehran, Vancouver or the lowlands of Scotland.

The staging is deceptively simple with an all black set and a lecturn but as with the Internet and cross cultural experience nothing is quite as it seems. Screens move from side to side and sets appear to open like in an advent calendar…this is multi cultural, multi layered and multi dimensional experience that invites the audience to look at the big picture in all its elements and shades. Live action as King Raam and Me-Lee Hay make music in a studio, blurred newspaper images, colour TV film footage, Alipoor at his lecturn, Asha Read delivering a podcast, Wikipedia pages floating over screens…like translucent layers of onion being peeled back…its heady stuff that you can’t not breathe in and may leave a tear in your eye.

In the ’70s a beloved Persian music icon, by the ’80s Farrokhzad was a political refugee in Germany working in a grocery store and just 6 months before his brutal and unsolved murder in 1992 he sold out two nights at The Royal Albert Hall. That’s quite a story…imagine if something similar had happened to our national treasure Tom Jones! Shocking, sad and tragic but in the past. Yet it really isn’t when a death remains stubbornly unsolved and theatre makers like British/Iranian Javaad Alipoor make us click those hyperlinks. It really isn’t when Raam Emami speaks of his experience as a Canadian/Iranian musician whose work is both celebrated and castigated in Iran. It really isn’t when he tells you about his father Kavous-Seyed-Emami, a lecturer, tortured and murdered in Tehran…though Wikipedia says he committed suicide while on detention. It really isn’t when Raam Emami or King Raam is on a death list discovered by the FBI.

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World is one of those really great pieces of theatre that makes you think, it provokes and it informs but it does so without being earnest or preachy. This is the kind of theatre we need more off so click on the hyperlink below and book your ticket now!!

HOME until Saturday 5th November 2022

Battersea Arts Centre 9th -26th November 2022

AND HERE I FIND MYSELF

Uncategorized

Preview at The Lowry Studio

Written and Devised and Performed by Wayne Steven Jackson

AND HERE I FIND MYSELF is a natural progression/ companion piece to the digital work FROM ONE TO US devised by Jackson in 2020. This latest work expands on the themes around how heteronormative expectations impact our beliefs around parenting, life goals and how we deal with disappointments. Jackson plays deftly with our perception of typical one man confessional performance by utilising a intermedial approach that blends live and digital media. This is a really vital piece of story telling that opens up conversation around how an individual copes when science and society finally expand to permit single sex surrogacy only for new obstacles to appear.

As a performer Jackson is fascinated by memory and the use of theatrical techniques to explore ways in how to re-experience memories. He also has an uncanny ability to appear utterly in the moment which is perhaps how he forges and crafts nuggets of memory into such vivid capsules. This ability to be so present on stage makes for a great connection with his audience, while also making it impossible to tell just how personal this story is to him and how much is devised. The end result is deeply affecting and at times painful to watch, raising the question of who looks after performers when they leave the stage after delivering work such as this?

This is a show that is playful and engaging as we observe Jackson intent and diligent as he is put through his paces by a series of commands…HIDE..JUMP… as he plays hide and seek and climbs ladders. What becomes apparent is that following the rules and doing the right thing does not always culminate in a satisfactory outcome. This is the central tenet of the show as the onscreen images reveal nuggets of family memories from a good boy who grows up in a world that is gradually changing to allow previously unavailable options to a young gay man. Laws change and Science advances and here is the opportunity as a single man to finally have a child. This piece will resonate with anyone who has experienced the trauma of having had hopes raised only to be repeatedly dashed in the lottery of the reproduction process. What makes this work especially thought provoking is the male perspective; this is a potent reminder that this issue is a source of anguish to anyone wishing to have their own child regardless of gender or sexuality. AND HERE I FIND MYSELF also suggests the loneliness of this journey as a single gay man presented at every turn by a single fucking magpie.

Visually the staging looks polished and stylish. The screens either side of centre stage project images of the boy and the man using old photos and new filmed material. The illusion of magic is added by Jackson appearing to adjust colour and lustre to these memories by a sweep of his hand like a painter. The effect is lovely and engages childish glee while also alluding to a performer who can control technology on stage but who feels bitterly let down by it on a deeply personal level. The final scenes shock and dismay as the images literally shred on stage and fragmented hopes and dreams are tenderly gathered together in a tattered pile. This is a thoughtful and really tender production which has been skillfully conceived and executed.

Wayne Steven Jackson