acting

Ordinary? Decent? Criminal?

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The Home MCR audience were on the edge of their seats from the outset. No curtain pulled back. A wide stage with simple metal crowd-control barriers, lighting, and a large swathe of material alongside a step was all that could be seen. Varied lighting followed throughout. However, barging onto stage with full-blown presence was political comedian, Mark Thomas. Except it wasn’t. Mark played everyone within the play, centred around Frankie.

“Full of heart and power.” – British theatre Guide


Frankie has been busted for importing narcotics. Banged up inside the character narrates a dead gripping story, through various characters and moments shadowing the 1990s. The content involves the Berlin Wall downfall, Strangeways riots, Britain under Thatcher, and the IRA. Light materials. The properly bare Mancunian Home theatre stage was filled with energy. Thomas delivers. The pace flips, sensitivity grinds, and characters fly out of the solo lead. Ex-squaddie Bron and De Niro enforce and run the wing and similarly the audience.


“A fundamental belief in the power of rebellion.”- The QR

The exploration of freedom, power, and injustice is full of wit but is heavy in its themes. The toxicity of colonialism and is effects on modern day are rife. Just like real life there’s elements of toxic masculinity and how the current prison system is a duality of both luxury and hell. Thomas does not preach. He owns it. It feels like you’re down The Railway pub on Dean Lane, supping on Crystal lager and the chat is fresh from his belly. Ed Edwards has written a mint and pacey script weaving politics with graft.


“Gripping and subtle.” – The Guardian

Not Too Tame

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Once more into the breach we stepped. Mam and I popped to Salford. This time the mercy of the Gods waited. You know the Greek Gods. In Salford. Paul and Mam had introduced me to Not Too Tame before, and I had a hunger for more. Gods of Salford presented that opportunity.

Through the talented helm of Not Too Tame theatre, the audience plunged into a building site, engaged in some friendly participation, before being whipped into a frenzy. The usual midweek night in The Lowry this was not! Jimmy Fairhurst’s directions gave working-class heart and strength to a blend of modernity coupled with mythology. Cultural references slammed together with moetal defiance and resilience.

In a make-believe-believable world, overlords looked to determine the fate of a young cast of underlings. Much like modern life. Olympians, of the ancient kind, may have seemed up against it. Streetwise sense and a touch of “fuck off”-ery gave rise to a battle against all odds. This was theatre, with a hint or ten, of reality. Anthony Quinlan starred as Zeus, Laura Harrison and her incredible voice as Hera, and Jimmy Fairhurst as Hermes. Arguably, the stars of the show were the wide and broad troupe of young actors and actresses. Created and written by Not Too Tame, Jimmy Fairhurst, Andrew Butler & Louise Haggerty, featured a stunning set, seamless scene changes, a snappy soundtrack, and giggles galore. The aim of Not Too Tame is to make sure all audiences know “theatre IS for them.” True inclusiveness.

In 2025, The Lowry celebrated 25 years of presence at Manchester Port, renamed Salford Quays. Under the shadow of BBC and ITV studios, L.S. Lowry’s artwork equally sits by future potential and tried and tested acts. Opportunity’s hand glows on stage and Gods of Salford was no exceptional. Featuring a catchy soundtrack, poignant moments, and sharp dialogue, each moment flew by leaving the audience wanting more. After just 65 minutes, it was all over. So, what’s the next Not Too Tame production? Hurry up! Until then, other theatres and other groups will have to do.

“Remember, remember my name…” lyrics from a song featured in the show, God of Salford.

Escaped Alone / What If If Only

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Recently director Sarah Frankcom delivered two incredible plays at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The radiant light of the domed roofing cascading light over an internal structure resembling The Crystal Maze’s finale.

First up was Escaped Alone cloaked in a tremendous intensity. For 50 minutes, a quartet of acting stars deliver performances worthy of awards. Award-winning 74-year-old Annette Badland (Ted Lasso, Bergerac, and many, many more) has appeared on the silver screen, radio, theatre, and other media. Escaped Alone and What If If Only, Annette Badland played two different roles. The dramatic Glaswegian voice of Maureen Beattie OBE (Casualty, The Bill, and a whole host of other appearances) filled the stage through a succession of apocalyptic articulations and enunciations with her stage peers. Margot Leicester has strolled many stages, film sets, and studios. Her credits include Coronation Street and Casualty (the go to show for acting). Souad Faress has featured in The Archers, Casualty, and The Spy starred throughout the effusion, delivering the outpouring histrionic excellently.

What If If Only brutally strikes at the heart – even though it only lasts 25 minutes. The dialogue is sharp, enticing, and enhances the talented cast within a tale familiar to memory. The depths of loss, grief, and anguish mask fond memories and occasions. Here the lost future, present, and more visit upon a hapless mourner. Game of Throne’s 18-year-old co-starlet Bea Glancy featured in a haunting segment of What If If Only. The main star of this gripping grief-stricken play is Time and Beaker Girls actress Danielle Henry. Across from the main character, Someone, is Waterloo Road star Lamin Touray, fresh from All Creatures Great and Small and other such roles. The Royal Exchange Elders add further dimension to Caryl Churchill’s play.

All in all, two great plays, watched at a time of rightfully-heightened emotion. A pleasure to accompany my Mam to each performance. And if you haven’t booked a ticket for the theatre, “Go to”.

Small Axe fall Big Tree

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BBC and Amazon Co-produced Small Axe, a series by hard-hitting director Steve McQueen, fresh from a hiatus from his ensemble movie Widows. Having tackled slavery in 12 Years a Slave and sexual addiction in Shame, McQueen doesn’t shy away from tough topics and periods of time. He’d already taken on the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) in Hunger and his debut directorial role.

Looking at the series of miniature movies, it feels shameful that racial divide and people from the West Indian immigrant community suffered. It’s even worse to know and hear that the struggle of racial inequality and discrimination goes on in Britain. I refuse to call it Great Britain for that reason.

“If colonialism is good for anything, it brought us together on this table” – dialogue from the episode ‘Mangrove’.

Shaun Parkes commands the screen with theatrical appearance alongside Malachi Kirby in episode one, ‘Mangrove’. Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in Black Panther and other Marvel movies, stars as Altheia Jones-LeCointe, a leader of the British Black Panthers in an intense episode. Sam Spruell who seems typecast as someone crooked and wrong features. Trinidadian Frank Crichlow is portrayed as a strong and warm-hearted character deeply committed to activism. A great story of hope and discipline to change a tainted culture unfolds.

“If you are the big tree, we are the small axe” – Small Axe, Bob Marley

After the Mangrove Nine featured in one episode, the next feature film focuses on romance. ‘Lover’s Rock’ stars Michael Ward and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn in a moment of time slotted into primetime viewing and delivered with warmth and a carefully constructed dialogue. Then we reach ‘Red, White & Blue’ featuring John Boyega, of Star Wars fame as Leroy Logan. It’s a tough one to watch with grim moments but also plenty of fine acting.

Sheyi Cole ‘Alex Wheatle‘ walks the line of the title’s novelist in creation. Finding your niche in life is a challenge, and this empathic story charts a brief period of time. It’s a biopic that builds towards the 1981 Brixton riots. That’s Thatcher’s era. A disgrace that didn’t resolve fully after the Scarman report. Steve McQueen focuses on young Alex Wheatle MBE and his development to become known as the Brixton Bard and go on to have books translated to Japanese, Urdu and Welsh, amongst other languages. Actor Robbie Gee also stars, a while after his role in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. This short film is an important story for modern times. Identity is complex.

“Unlearn what you’ve learned.” – the character Dread in the episode ‘Alex Wheatle‘

Bringing ‘Education’ to the fold, director Steve McQueen tells a story how London councils moved a largely disproportionate amount of black children from regular schools into more behaviour-specialised schools. It was set in the 1970s. It could easily be 2020 too. Institutions are for all. This story does not show this was the way.

Sir Steve McQueen delivers social realism in his catalogue of movies and at aged 52, it’s entirely possible there’s much more to come. He’s spliced injustice up and served it in cinematic and small screen form. Small Axe is a worthy collective of his award-winning means. In an era where the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and a host of champions of racial equality need a voice of understanding, Steve McQueen delivers a parcel to unwrap for all.