Your favourite Mancunian soap opera gets the comedic parody treatment over five cliff-hanging episodes in Coro, thanks to local improv maestros Nina Hogg and Austin Harrison. Whether you’re a three-times-a-week Coronation Street devotee or an inexperienced newbie to Manchester’s best-known cobbled street, you’re bound to laugh your knitted socks off in this 50-minute show.

Be prepared to be part of the action too. The whole audience is encouraged to join in with the theme tune at the start of each episode, accompanied by Hogg and Harrison on kazoo, squeaky recorder, or barely grade one clarinet. The front couple of rows of audience are also co-opted to be wardrobe minders, tossing ties, woolly jumpers, cardis, leopard-print jackets, flat caps, and bald heads to the two actors as needed.

Playing several characters each, often two at the same time (or even three in one hilarious scene from Hogg), both actors are a non-stop whirl of energy, embodying each famous identity beautifully. Despite concerns expressed pre-show, their Manchester accents are on point and their vocal delivery varied and expressive.

Several plots roll through the five episodes and are neatly tied together by the end, starting with a fatal train crash and ending with the birth of a baby – also tossed from the audience in a moment of comic genius – to teen parents. All your favourite soap tropes are here, including confusion over a non-existent extra-marital affair, mixed-up medical prescriptions, inter-generational strife, and superannuitant dating apps.

The sort of show that could be performed anywhere, Coro needs only simple lighting changes between scenes and a few props to facilitate its superlative performers and clever writing. Hogg and Harrison are taking the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival later this year and I’m sure it’ll go down like a two-storey terraced house on fire.

Britain’s longest-running TV soap is ripe for parody and Coro manages to strike the balance between entertainment and upholding the relatable, working-class core that has made the show so successful. Best of luck in Edinburgh, team!

If a goofy, funny, heartfelt, heroic adventure is what your little one enjoys, then KidzStuff Theatre for Children’s Badjelly the Witch is the show to check out these school holidays!

Meet the lovely brother-and-sister duo of Rose (Adriana Calabrese) and Tim (Haydn Carter) as they look for their beloved cow Lucy (Calabrese and Carter), who was stolen by Badjelly (wonderfully portrayed by creative director Amalia Calder) and her giant Dulboot (Dryw McArthur).

Joining in on their adventure, the set and props (creatively designed by Andrew and Laura Loach) transport you between the different locations of the story and introduce you to all the cute characters that help Rose and Tim find their beloved cow. Alongside these friends that we meet along the way, the enthusiastic audience ventures through forests and mountains to bring Lucy home. Technical manager Deb McGuire creates magic by changing the vibrant lighting, music (Geoff Davidson, with lyrics by John Cairney), and sound effects on cue with the scenes. And from a little person’s perspective, when the theatre illuminates red, we all know what that means!

The costumes and puppets are colourful and bring the characters to life with talented voice acting from Calder and McArthur. Davidson’s music brings the show together so well and Cairney’s fun lyrics have everyone dancing and chiming in. The audience is on edge to see what happens next, and the cast improvises beautifully to interact with us during the show, which keeps us all on our toes – and not just the kids amongst us!

Of course, after every show, I always love to ask Mister Six what his favourite part was. “My favourite was the cricket, the witch, and the giant!” Full of surprises, Badjelly the Witch has the audience pitching in with the rescue, belly laughing all the way.

We love chaos, mess, magic, and a good belly laugh! Kitchen Chaos ticks all the boxes and so much more.

In Kitchen Chaos, Spray (Lizzie Tollemache), Wipe (Darlene Mohekey), and the whole audience are invited to a surprise birthday party. Everyone is so excited and we all help prepare for the surprise. Wipe is so goofy, with a weakness for chippies and cake, and often comes up with brilliant ideas that Spray goes along with. While goofing around, there is an accident and the duo needs to fix the situation pronto. They enlist the help of the audience, a very helpful cookbook named Edmonds (voiced by original production director Greg Cooper), and some magic!

The colourful set and props (production design by Rollicking Entertainment) enhance the magical experience. The magic itself is mind-blowing – just some of the reactions I overhear are “wow,” “that’s unbelievable,” and “how did they do that?” The sound effects and lights are on cue and create hilarious scenes.

The playful and mischievous vibe is so contagious that Mister Six could not stop laughing, dancing, and just wanted to join in the fun. The magic intrigued him so much that when we got to meet Spray and Wipe after the show, he had to know how they did it. He also showed them his dancing skills and we all danced together in the foyer. They were happy to indulge their newfound fans with photo opportunities and high fives!

He was still dancing as we left, and we were having a good giggle when we discussed the show afterwards. His favourite parts were the magic, Spray and Wipe being stuck together when they high fived, and the sneaker juice! Guess what, though? Kitchen Chaos had me laughing even harder than my son at some stages. Bringing out the excited kid in all of us, we had the best fun and laughs at this must-see show.

Are you one of the Fish People? Even if you’re not and have no idea what that means, there’s still much to enjoy in this Kate Bush tribute show cum comedy cabaret. If you are one of the Fish People (i.e. Bush’s die-hard fans), you’ll be hoarse by the end, so frequent are the opportunities to sing along with Sarah-Louise Young’s impressive vocals in An Evening Without Kate Bush.

Bush’s fans are nothing if not supportive and the spirit of collective celebration is strongly encouraged through Young’s frequent audience engagement. Don’t sit in the first couple of rows if you’re shy about being lured to the stage. One brave couple slow danced to Don’t Give Up while Young sang Bush’s part beautifully.

While not trying to do a straight impression of one of pop’s quirkiest divas, Young pulls off a spirited and highly entertaining homage. Her powerful voice doesn’t quite have Bush’s freakishly huge range, but who other than Kent’s favourite daughter could sing the opening notes of Wuthering Heights? Young, to her credit, doesn’t try. Her renditions of Bush’s biggest hits and some lesser-known B sides are stunning and her ability to pull off Bush’s signature dance moves is astonishing and hilarious by turns. The comedy highlight is a rendition of Babooshka in Russian, including its correct pronunciation of BAH-booshka.

Stage manager Will Spartalis becomes an unintended star when Young’s head mic battery fails not once but twice. Young’s stellar ability to improvise song lyrics about buying more double As at the supermarket makes this technical glitch even funnier.

With just a red leotard plus various add-on costume pieces and wigs, a few props, and some fantastically creative lighting effects (all by Young), the performer’s segues between songs are a joy to watch and keep the show flowing.

If you want to howl with the Hounds of Love, go Running Up That Hill with the other Fish People, or snigger knowingly at the Stranger Things reference, you can’t go wrong with An Evening Without Kate Bush.

2025 marks 50 years since the death of Soviet composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich, considered by many to be the most significant composer of the 20^th century. Orchestra Wellington is marking the occasion with an entire season – The Dictator’s Shadow – dedicated to his life, from his early success as an internationally celebrated teenage prodigy to his censured adult career beset with threats of imprisonment and death during Stalin’s purges. Celebrating Shostakovich’s teenage years, this opening concert also features the work of his fellow prodigies Georges Bizet and Felix Mendelssohn.

Prodigy opens with Bizet’s Symphony No.1 in C Major, written as an exercise while Mendelssohn was a student at the Paris Conservatoire. The orchestra launches into the neat and cheerful first movement with precision and clarity. The horns are maple-syrup toned and perfect. The orchestra draws out the romanticism and contrasting moods of the symphony, but we can still taste the slightly pedantic quality of this schoolboy piece.

This is followed by Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin op. 64 in E minor, a surprising choice, since this is not one of his early works. Concertmaster Amalia Hall takes the stage as our soloist and delivers the kind of performance we have come to expect from her: dynamic, engaging, and technically masterful.

Finally, Shostakovich’s first symphony, which he wrote as a graduation piece from the Leningrad Conservatory at only 18. Symphony No. 1 op. 10 in F minor is famous for its melding of modernist style and classical structure, with a satirical quality that became Shostakovich’s signature. The orchestra accentuates the dynamics of the piece, opening with intensity and almost harsh phrasing. Brass, percussion, and woodwinds spark against each other in the first movement, progressing through moods and colour. The sultry, mournful oboe and stochastic trumpets of the second movement are disturbingly delicious, before we are plunged into the turmoil of the glorious finale. Conductor and music director Marc Taddei leads the orchestra in a dexterous and evocative performance of this masterpiece, which bodes extremely well for the rest of our Shostakovich season.

In a programme of two parts, we were transported from the delights of a Roman holiday to an epic, Romantic masterpiece of Russian longing, magnificently played by Russian virtuoso pianist Daniil Trifonov.

A perfectly crisp start, followed by the smoothest woodwind and then rich, deep, balanced strings built excitedly to the party that is Berlioz’s Roman Carnival. Conductor Umberto Clerici, animated and energetic, perhaps caught up in the mood, brought the orchestra to the final flourish, a piece of precision percussion on two tambourines.

Respighi’s Fountains of Rome was a slightly more sedate but still majestic tour around the city. From the early morning start, past majestic sights, Clerici skilfully led the audience and orchestra on a joyous and delightful excursion.

The Times described Trifonov as “the most astounding pianist of our age” and after hearing him play Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, an almost full house of more than 2000 people wholeheartedly agreed.

A lyrical start, briefly overwhelmed by the lower strings, picked up as the complexity this concerto is famous for grew into something intense, rich, and gorgeous. Trifonov brought a tangible sensitivity to the movement and flow. He took full control in the ferocious, intricate passages and incredible cadenza.

The second movement started with strong, quiet intensity before the piano came rumbling in, then the melody came forward, clear but still intense and especially light over the lower register. The confluence of strings and piano in the third movement created a huge sense of freedom and richness.

There is more to this concerto than a showpiece of a pianist’s technique. At times it almost seemed as if Trifonov was listening to his piano breathe, reflecting on the relationship between them. This piece demands the right musical interpretation and balance between the piano and the orchestra. The NZSO, Clerici, and Trifonov absolutely nailed it on the night.

Leni Riefenstahl was Hitler’s beautiful and brilliant filmmaker, creating the Third Reich propaganda-fest Triumph of the Will for him. She also documented the 1936 Berlin Olympics, her last film to achieve a theatrical release in the wake of her post-war fall from grace in Europe and Hollywood. Throughout her life, she clung to the belief that she was innocent and knew nothing about the Nazi atrocities and that she, like millions of others, had fallen under the spell of a charismatic dictator.

Jan Bolwell’s new one-woman play delves into Riefenstahl’s mindset with a first-person commentary on her rise and fall and fervent self-defence of her role in the Holocaust. She was a strong and self-possessed young woman who, through her drive and lack of qualms about manipulating men through sex, rose to artistic heights in dance, theatre, and film before meeting Hitler and reading Mein Kampf.

Helen Todd’s production design is simple yet beautiful. A long oblong of white light defines the area in which Bolwell moves. On the back wall is a projected sequence of black and white photos in front of which are two tall, clear Perspex panels that divert slanted images onto the stage floor. This is a brilliant creative touch that lends a wonderfully cinematic quality to the whole. Bolwell’s simple black dress adds to the monochrome effect. Music composed by Jan Bolton and sound effects (Neal Barber) provide a soundscape that effectively supports the narrative.

Bolwell owns the stage, resisting the urge to descend into hyperbole and passion to deliver Riefenstahl’s deeply vain view of herself. By the end, my friend and I agreed we didn’t buy her version of the truth, which was clearly the point. As Bolwell states in the programme, we’re veering again towards fascist autocracies and the excuse of being blinded by charisma is one that’s far too easy to hide behind. Supping with the Devil makes the past real and relevant through one woman’s self-delusion.

Solarise is an original musical from Wellingtonian Ruby Kemp that explores the impact of impending apocalypse on relationships, passion projects, and power structures. This musical feels like the love child of Don’t Look Up and Rent, both projects that contend with existential threats, and asks us to consider the fragility of human connections and the resilience of hope amid looming catastrophe.

The musicality and vocal styles, overseen by musical director Michael Stebbings and assistant musical director Stephen Clothier, and the selective use of movement and dance from choreographer Celia Macdonald, are in service of the storytelling and support narrative clarity. There are some off-key phrases, but the ensemble pieces are strong, especially the rock number We’re Gonna Riot. The offstage five-piece band are excellent.

Several actors are double cast or alternate between ensemble and character roles. Wardrobe (Emily K Brown) is used consistently to identify characters, allowing for quick transitions. The set, designed by Anne-Lisa Noordover, and props by Deb Maguire, are aesthetically consistent and ground the production in a gritty, believably untidy world. However, the cardboard radio feels out of place amid the other realistic set pieces. The use of a multi-set, with the workshop and home sets permanently in view and the central unlocalised acting area or plateau in the middle, is a smart choice that facilitates the frequent scene changes.

Lighting (Ruby Kemp) and sound design (Victoria Norgrove) are used unobtrusively and effectively support the narrative, with some lovely projections from Scott Maxim. Nonetheless, I feel these effects could be pushed further, especially since the characters frequently refer to auroras, and sequences featuring rocket launches and rioting could benefit from enhanced visual and auditory elements. Projections also help locate the action in time, an essential feature given that the narrative makes many time jumps back and forth within a five-year period.

The Wellington Footlights Society’s Solarise is an ambitious and heartfelt production. Ruby Kemp must be commended for conceiving of and creating a work of this scale.

Any musical that promises “adult themes/coarse language” on its programme cover is off to a great start and The Toxic Avenger: The Musical – with book by Joe DiPietro, music by David Bryan, and lyrics by both – delivers in green-tainted shovelfuls. Based on Lloyd Kaufman’s comedy splatter films, this is a devilishly funny, filthy, and fantastical deep dive into superhero comic tropes.

Our protagonist is nerdy Melvin Ferd III (Corey Moir) who, with the assistance of his love interest, the blind librarian Sarah (Millie Fuller), uncovers the dodgy dealings of the randy Mayor (Kirsty Huszka) of Tromaville, New Jersey. An unceremonious dunking in a vat of industrial waste by the town bullies (Carys Tidy and Richie Rewa) transforms him into Toxie, a “mutant with superhuman strength” who can rip people’s heads off without blinking his eviscerated eye. Will he save Tromaville? Will the Mayor discover his kryptonite? Will he get the girl? Will he ever fit that dangling eyeball back inside its socket?

The cast is fantastic, delivering every song and role with high energy and gusto. They clearly love the show and passion oozes out of every performance. Huszka doubles as Toxie’s gutsy mum. The song Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore, in which she rapidly alternates between Ma Ferd and the Mayor, is a stunning highlight in an exceptional show. Tidy and Rewa as the Dudette and Dude pull off a mind-boggling collection of characters with absolute commitment and versatility. Moir is electric, expertly balancing the soft heart of Melvin with the outsized strength of Toxie. Fuller is charming and hilarious as Sarah. Her song My Big French Boyfriend is another standout.

A huge shoutout to transformation specialists Polly Crone and Stephen Edwards for the spectacular change of Melvin into Toxie. Rewa’s set and scenic design also deserve special mention for their clever versatility and comic-book vibe, excellently supported by Tom Smith’s lighting.

With a top-notch band and musical direction by Sue Windsor smoothly integrated with Sandy Brewer’s smart direction and Melanie Heaphy’s fun choreography, this is a superbly slick production.