http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ Theatre and dance reviews from ManchesterOnline en-gb http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/img/small_logo.gif http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ webmaster@gmgrd.co.uk STARS from stage, screen and sport flocked to the Manchester premiere of circus adventure Afrika! Afrika! http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059586_afrika_afrika__trafford_centre?rss=yes?rss=yesHIGH-powered lawyer Jacqueline (Harriet Plewis), obviously addled by drugs and grief, is still addicted to absent film-maker boyfriend Ethan (Alan Lane).http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059371_the_colorado_session__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesIAN Townsend’s enormously entertaining comedy opens with Granny (Carla Stokes) selling her soul to the Devil in return for eternal life.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059375_granny_must_die__247_theatre_festival_?rss=yes?rss=yesLIFE and love against the odds are celebrated in Matthew Landers’ engrossing comedy-drama.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059415_a_dog_called_redemption__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesWRITER Mark Whiteley, from Oldham-based touring theatre company Hard Graft, based his hard-hitting but highly entertaining comedy drama on a real-life story he was told by a young offender.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059420_grass__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesLONDON is drowning, most of Cornwall is submerged, the globe is plagued by strange phenomena and the civil authority is in chaos.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059461_lands_end__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesREUNITING the writer (Mark Griffiths) and star (Nicola Harper) of last year’s 24:7 hit, The Lullaby Witch, The Impossibility Club starts off with an intriguing, initially amusing premise but takes it in a much darker direction.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059484_the_impossibility_club__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesWRITER Robert Shore describes this elegantly-contructed, constantly-surprising triptych as an “evolutionary drama” and it’s certainly a tale with a sting in it.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059491_quadruped__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesI SUPPOSE Hyacinth Bucket modelled herself to some degree on Queen Mary. As the last of the royals to stay aloof from the urge to be public property, all we really know of her is that she was dignified and discreet.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059174_crown_matrimonial__the_lowry?rss=yes?rss=yesBORN out of the harsh contemporary world of housing estates  troubled with unemployment, crime, violent behaviour and drugs, this powerful double bill from the Fringe award-winning Northern Gap Theatre makes disturbing and gripping drama.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059173_mercycracked__buxton_festival_fringe?rss=yes?rss=yesTHE eagerly-anticipated new play from M.E.N. Theatre Award-winning Ross Andrews, winner of an M.E.N. Theatre Award for his The Judgement Of Mr. Jenkins and nominated last year for Eating Out, is a surprising and sobering dark comedy.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059248_contrecoup__247_theatre_festival_?rss=yes?rss=yesAS well as the longest title in the festival, Stephen Michael Lowe’s comedy is probably the silliest show in sight.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059250_dave__jeff_versus_the_crazy_corpse_loving_consultant_from_cardiothoracics__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yesYOU can find fun in a funeral parlour, especially when a couple of old pals come apparently to peer at their mate in the coffin before the lid finally goes on.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059108_when_youre_smiling__buxton_festival_fringe?rss=yes?rss=yesTHE ancient walls of Dunham Massey Hall have looked down on many open air productions, but none so rib-ticklingly funny as Brandon Thomas’s farce, Charley’s Aunt.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059115_charleys_aunt__dunham_massey_hall?rss=yes?rss=yesALL the way from Toronto for an energy-sapping one-man show comes the remarkable, if bewildering, James Howell.http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/theatre_and_dance/theatre_and_dance_reviews/s/1059103_lay_down_and_love_me_again__247_theatre_festival?rss=yes?rss=yes