Artslist

Nightmares, dreamscapes, mermaids and a duck.

2008-11-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

Via a gluhwein pitstop at the Christmas Markets in Albert Square, the Roberts one and I headed to 'Anima' at the Royal Exchange Studio last night. Exploring 'the distorted world of the dreamer through an innovative combination of movement, dance and theatre', the main draw was the collaboration between Momentum Physical Theatre company and Pina Bausch Tanztheater. The latter is spoken of as one of the premier names in modern dance and we know that our duty as AAM's current 'dance people' is not to be undertaken lightly.

Exhilirating and exhausting, it didn't disapoint. A ramshackle set of scattered cardboard and distorted lighting offset the two dancers as we were whirled from tender duets and playful mock fights to screaming nightmares straight from the imagination of Francis Bacon, including a truly horrible burlesque. Perhaps a touch long but an absorbing, witty delight. Not to mention a sure contender for 'Most Original Use of a Poloneck On Stage.'

(Also managed to catch 'To Sophia' downstairs in The Nook on my way home - yes, it was a busy night. Gutsy vocals, a drum-in-a-box, and the intimate joys of what may well be Manchester's smallest venue.)

McC xx

First of The Random thoughts, vaguely connected to Manchester's Arts scene...

2008-11-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

...I knew it wouldn't take long to post something tenuous...

I recently read this article in The Guardian and realised that I would probably never love an author again in the way that I hung on every single word written by Roald Dahl...and the thing that reminded me of the article was that fact that Bolton Octagon have a production of Danny Champion of The World as their Christmas show this year.

I think there's definitely still a place for traditional 'panto' in the world but I do have a soft spot for this kind of production at Christmas...my favourite of recent years was Harvey at the Royal Exchange. There's a really good selection of Christmas shows around Manchester this year, the only problem is perhaps finding a child to go with so you don't look like a 27 year-old who should have grown out of panto by now...I must ring my brother and see what his kids are upto...

Something to write home about...

2008-11-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hello world.

This is the first excursion into the land of blogging from the team here at Artslist...normally you'll find us doing lots of theatre and exhibition listings for Greater Manchester over at the website...but that can sometimes get a little bit repetetive so we've decided to let ourselves free via blog. Please be gentle with us.

On here you can look forward to news and thoughts (and perhaps the odd review) on everything that happens in Manchester's Theatreland,visual arts scene, performance and creative networks and concert calendar. On second thoughts perhaps not everything, we'd probably have to leave our jobs to that, but certainly lots of relevant goings-on.

First thing to tell you is probably that we've got a pretty exciting offer over on the website at the moment - 10% off the shops at 8 great arts venues around Manchester. Think of it as a bit of a Christmas gift. Chinese Arts Centre, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester Museum, MOSI, The Royal Exhange Craft Shop, The Bridgewater Hall, The John Rylands Library and Urbis are all offering discounts via www.artslist.org.uk/voucher.aspx - you don't even have to subscribe to get the newsletters (although your life would be much enriched if you do). Imagine the joys of doing all that Christmas shopping without having to do the Market Street waltz through the madding crowds.

If you don't pick up everything you fancy from those little beauties there's also a 10% discount evening at the Manchester Craft & Design Centre this Thursday 27 November...we're pretty certain to be bobbing along and buying lots of nice things.

Over the coming weeks, months and years there'll be a variety of us posting, musing, discussing, procrastinating and probably rambling incoherently on this blog...feel free to let us know what you think and of course remember to visit http://www.artslist.org.uk/ for a more 'official' overview of what's on in Manchester.