Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack is a moving and beautifully crafted retelling of the life of Anne Lister, the 19th-century Yorkshire landowner often described as the ‘first modern lesbian’.
Through the stunning choreography of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, the production captures not only Anne’s extraordinary determination to live authentically, but also the enduring power of queer love.
Gemma Coutts delivers a compelling performance as Anne Lister, embodying her confidence, intelligence and refusal to conform to society’s expectations. From the opening scenes, Anne’s strength of character shines through, setting the tone for a story that feels both deeply historical and strikingly relevant. The choreography from Ochoa allows Anne’s personality to shine through every movement.
Halfway through Act I, Saeka Shirai joins the ensemble as Marianne, Anne’s great love. Their partnership is one of the production’s highlights. The pair beautifully convey the intensity of their passion and devotion, so much so that it moved me to tears.
Surrounding them is a fascinating chorus of words, embodied by the ensemble dancers, who fill the stage and bring Anne’s famous diaries and inner thoughts vividly to life, you truly feel like you’re getting lost with the words as they take over the stage.
ADVERTISEMENT
The romance is tested when Marianne’s husband discovers their affair. Faced with an impossible choice, Marianne chooses the security of her marriage over a life with Anne, leaving Anne heartbroken.
Credit: Tristram KentonCredit: Tristram KentonGentleman Jack is at The Lowry
Following this loss, Anne travels to Paris and returns transformed, once she’s back home in Yorkshire, she forms an immediate connection with the gentle and wealthy Ann Walker, danced beautifully by Rachael Gillespie. Their relationship becomes the emotional centre of Act II.
ADVERTISEMENT
Together they face numerous challenges, including societal pressures and personal insecurities, yet their bond continues to deepen – a true testament to queer love.
Ochoa carefully builds their relationship through movement, creating a partnership that feels authentic and symbolic. The ballet ends in a symbolic wedding and shared flight towards a future together, a powerful affirmation of their love and commitment.
As a queer woman myself, I was completely moved by this portrayal of love. Seeing a same-sex relationship presented with such beauty, dignity and tenderness within the classical language of ballet felt deeply moving.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gentleman Jack reminds us that queer women have always been here, and always will be. It is a powerful, emotional and uplifting production that I would highly recommend.
Gentleman Jack is at The Lowry in Salford until Saturday 6 June
Jersey Boys at Palace Theatre, Manchester – Oh, what a night
Amy Williams
20 years, 65 major awards (including Tonys, a Grammy, and an Olivier), and seen by over 27 million people worldwide – it could only be Jersey Boys, and now it’s back at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.
This is one of those shows where you realise just how many songs you know and love by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, but may not know the story behind the band themselves. How they started, how big they became, how they fell apart, and how they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It follows the four boys from Jersey (who each narrate their parts of the story), how it started as just Tommy and Nick and a range of different guys along the way, until they found the one who has a voice like an angel, Frankie Valli, and this started to change the direction of their success.
But they were missing a key part, a good song writer – enter Bob Gaudio, and the creation of The Four Lovers, who then became The Four Seasons.
Mixed with issues of debt, loan sharks, prison time and more, it wasn’t the smoothest of sailing for them, and as they said themselves, they didn’t create a movement like the Beatles. But The Four Seasons were for the factory workers, the dads, the working class people who could relate to them.
One thing we need to talk about, is just how INCREDIBLE the vocal performances are in this tour of Jersey Boys, staring Luke Baker as Frankie Valli, Carlo Boumouglbay as Tommy Devito, Lewis Kennedy as Nick Massi, and Toby Miles as Bob Gaudio.
Jersey Boys is back in Manchester, for a run at the Palace Theatre
A special mention for Luke Baker, because as iconic as Frankie Valli’s voice is, he very perfectly matched it.
The musical features some of their biggest hits including Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Beggin’, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Walk Like A Man, and of course, December 1963 (Oh, What A Night) which had everyone up on their feet dancing at the end.
This show is incredible from beginning to end, and would recommend everyone go to see this.
Jersey Boys is running at the Palace Theatre in Manchester until Saturday 19 September, and you can grab your tickets HERE.
High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Aimee Woodcock -
5th June 2026 
