Manchester Theatre News & Reviews

REVIEW - A Manchester Anthem is bursting with joy, heart, and that unstoppable Manchester spirit

BOOK TICKETS FOR A MANCHESTER ANTHEM HERE

On Thursday, we were invited to Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester to see A Manchester Anthem. Read what our reviewer Karen Ryder had to say about this brilliant show...

Manchester! Home of music, culture, a thriving arts and theatre scene, proper good people, proper dodgy people full of fascinating stories, alleyways, ginnels, cobbles, Boddingtons, football, gravy on chips, gravy on everything, students, the curry mile, family, home. I mean, I’ve always loved my city, but after watching tonights incredible production of A Manchester Anthem, I feel connected, proud, in tune with who I am and where I’m from.

From the moment we meet Tommy in his boxers, scratching his bum and having a cheeky sniff, you can’t help but like him. As he gives himself over to the absolute pleasure of dancing like no one is watching to his all-time favourite song Anthem by N-Joi, the audience are hooked by his cheeky charm, and immediately on his side, giggling when he eventually realises that he’s in fact dancing like everyone is watching! As he sets out the outline of his life, we learn that his family is complicated but it’s just him and his mum living at home, he has just got into Uni – first one in his family – and Oxford no less! He takes us along to his final day at work in the coffee shop where we meet some of the well to do students he went to school with who have also got into Oxford, and he is invited out to celebrate – on the same night his lifelong friends have invited him out for a send off.

We see Tommy start to grapple with what to do. Does he move forward into a life with a group of people who live in a different stratosphere to him, where money is no object, Oxford is a given, and overpriced coffees and your parents status helps define who you are? Does he embrace this as his new beginning? Or does he stick with the status quo, what he knows and who he knows, even if deep down he desires more than what this currently offers him? Can he admit that he has grown apart from the friends he made at primary school whose idea of ambition is to get wasted and start a fight? And if he does, what does it say about him? Is he turning his back on who he is? Basically, Tommy is young, confused, and in a tug of war with his social identity. Does wanting more make you a snob or simply ambitious? As we go out with Tommy and the rich kids on a night in Manchester, his two worlds collide and he is left more confused than ever about who he is, who he wants to be, and who he thinks he is expected to be.

We meet a multitude of characters throughout the evening from all walks of life, each pushing Tommy closer and closer to the questions he’s been trying to avoid. With a stunningly beautiful ending, Tommy is reminded exactly who he is and where he belongs.

This one-person show is performed with astonishing wit, warmth, and welly by the exuberant Tom Claxton. Immersing us into his world from the off, his storytelling and connection with the audience is so genuine, palpable, and full of fizz that I fully admit I felt exhausted by the end of this adrenaline fuelled one hour show, truly convinced I had just relived my youth on a crazed Mancunian night out in the clubs! He has such a natural rapport with the audience, often talking directly to us, looking us in the eye as he challenges, questions, or seeks reassurance. His vocal delivery is so natural that some of the most humorous and well received moments were those of faltered speech, hesitations, or pauses filled with a meaningful eye roll or look, and sentences that only manage to utter the opening sound before being halted with incredulous shock or utter despair! This Mancunian way of speaking whole stories without saying a complete sentence or sometimes word, resonated with warm recognition and further solidified the rapport between audience and performer.

Tom Claxon plays a multitude of characters within the show, each as diverse and unique as the varying boroughs of Manchester itself. He clearly defines them through adapted voice, body language, stance, facial expressions, and mannerisms, making the audience giggle yet again as we recognised the groups of people he portrays. And whilst this multi rolling style of performance is impressive, what puts the secret ingredient in your hot pot is when he extends it to dancing! A brilliantly memorable scene is in the Manchester club as we see him create characters through their dance style – the mad for it one, the one who barely moves, the one who preens and poses, the free spirit one, and the one who simply can’t hold back when the tune of all tunes is played! It’s brilliant! And as the story develops around this to examine how music becomes intrinsically linked to moments in time, to memories, to our very souls, it plants the seeds for an emotionally charged ending that quite literally had people gasping in unfiltered demonstrative responses.

A Manchester Anthem was written by Nick Dawkins as a birthday gift for his best friend, and tonights performer Tom Claxon. In doing so, unknowingly at the time, Nick Dawkins also wrote a gift to himself by creating such an authentic piece of theatre that is bursting with joy, heart, and that unstoppable Manchester spirit. In fact, he wrote a gift for all of us because it’s just brilliant. There is true Northern humour scattered throughout and an undeniable comradery that makes you feel this was written and performed just for you. With a set designed by Anna Niamh Gorman that uses the stacked cardboard boxes of one ready to leave home, only to have them flip round, light up, and create Manchester’s skyline, the essence of love for this City is forever present. Subtle yet superb lighting is designed by Caelan Orlam and navigates us with ease from Tommys kitchen to a coffee shop, a taxi waiting at traffic lights to a nightclub, and the stark illuminous lighting of a Daft O’ Clock visit to ‘someones’ house (no spoilers here). And the music! It captures the 90’s dance scene with passion. Interspersed with incidental sounds designed by Sam Baxter that complete the vibe, the whole team succeed in making the audience suspend their disbelief and transport ourselves into every location made available to us. A Manchester Anthem runs at an hour long with no interval at the glorious Hope Mill Theatre, where you can make a night of it in their fabulous bar over drinks as you chat about the play. And believe me, you’ll want to chat about the play because A Manchester Anthem will sing to you, and you’ll want to digest every word.