WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 10 MAY 2025
- STEVE COOKE AATA
- May 10
- 6 min read
previews, reviews, interviews, and recommendations with Steve Cooke
WEEKEND COLUMN SATURDAY 10 MAY 2025
Folk like Us
Preview by Steve Cooke
Folk Like Us, is a special free one-day event, at our stunning Rochdale Town Hall, to celebrate Lancashire and Rochdale.
I urge people to get along to enjoy a cornucopia of local talent including poetry, dialect, music, singing and creative workshops.
The event opens with Seamus Kelly reading “Welcome to Rochdale” his poem that celebrates the borough of Rochdale, originally commissioned by The Royal Exchange Theatre.
There will then be a special “Room, Rambles and Rhymes” tour of the building (11.00 to 11.45) led by Joanne Wood, Town Hall Guide and writer with Riverside Writers.
During the tour members of Riverside Writers and Number One Writers will perform some of their poetry. There is a second chance to catch the tour in the afternoon from 13.00 to 13.45.
The day will feature performances by the U3A choir from 10.30 to 11.00, an organ recital by Barrie Brailsford from 12.00 to 12.30, the Edwin Waugh Society from 12.30 to 13.00 and Littleborough Brass Band from 14.00 to 15.00, all with a rich Lancashire theme.
Ray Stearn will lead a creative writing workshop for children from 12.00 to 12.45, with a fun focus on the ancient art of kennings.
In the afternoon Seamus Kelly will lead a poetry workshop for adults from 14.00 to 15.00, after which there will be poetry performances, from 15.10 to 15.50, to bring “Folk Like Us” to a fitting close.
The event is organised by Riverside Writers who are grateful to the groups and performers bringing it to life, to the Town Hall for the use of this magnificent public space, and to Action Together for funding the filming of the event.
Further details will be available on the Riverside Writers website, www.riversidewriters.org.uk and by emailing Seamus Kelly on info@riversidewriters.org.uk
Free
Saturday 31st May, 10am to 4pm
Rochdale Town Hall, The Esplanade, Rochdale OL16 1AZ
Where We’re From
Preview by Steve Cooke
Where We're From is the first of Manchester Camerata’s new pair of concerts celebrating their roots, heritage, history, and what it means to be a modern-day 21st-century Orchestra.
Featuring a programme of old Italian music and work by Hannah Kendall, they invite us to relax in the beautiful atmosphere of the Monastery and be transported to the city of Florence. This concert will be brought to life by Camerata players and Artistic Partner, Daniel Pioro.
Where We’re From will explore ideas around their namesake, The Florentine Camerata – a society of musicians, intellectuals, artists, philosophers and scientists residing in Florence in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The Camerata constituted not only a forum for theoretical discussions but also a workshop or ‘laboratory’ for the creation and performance of music, sometimes described as an ‘invisible college’.
Artistic Partner Daniel Pioro: “In chapter one we explore the origins of our designation, Camerata. Named after the Florentine Camerata, we weave our way through this programme of old Italian music which has as its beating heart a work by Hannah Kendall.
The music of Matteis, Tartini and Strozzi is seen through a 21st century perspective, via the imagination of Camerata’s members and composer Simon Parkin.
So, who are we? We are musicians who champion necessary music, disguised as entertainers and storytellers. We are community, both performers and audience, and this programme is a fantasy homage to where we came from.”
This concert features music that represents who we are today, ranging from Mozart to some of the contemporary composers they have worked with or played with over the last 10 years.
Tickets £3 Gorton Residents, £5 Students £10 Under 30s – up to £27.50
Sunday 11 May, at The Monastery for this beautiful concert of celebration - get your tickets via https://manchestercamerata.co.uk/performances/where-were-from/
The Monastery, 89 Gorton Ln, Manchester M12 5WF
LIBERATION - Five days in Manchester that changed the political landscape of a continent
Preview by Steve Cooke
LIBERATION at the Royal Exchange Theatre is a gripping new play by Ntombizodwa Nyoni, directed by Monique Touko, inspired by true events in Black British history. Set during the 1945 Fifth Pan-African Congress in Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall, it follows the private lives of activists fighting to liberate Africa.
Kwame Nkrumah is fuelled by an idealistic desire to become the first Black president of the Gold Coast. Jamaican social worker Alma La Badie is grappling with the truth behind who must be sacrificed for the cause, meanwhile Amy Ashwood-Garvey is trying to ensure that the voices of Black women are heard.
This is a story of hope, friendship and the consequences of a long-denied awakening that unravels in the conference halls and bars of Chorlton.
Standard Tickets from £10
How does a revolution begin and who keeps it going?
It’s 15 October 1945, Manchester. Africa’s freedom and future is in the hands of her descendants at the Fifth Pan-African Congress at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall.
With decades of championing change under their belts, emerging African & Caribbean activists and scholars offer new radical ideas of liberation. However, the organiser, Trinidadian activist George Padmore is unsure who to pass the baton to. Kwame Nkrumah is fuelled by an idealistic desire to become the first Black president of the Gold Coast. Young, resourceful Jamaican social worker Alma La Badie is grappling with the truth behind who must be sacrificed for the cause. And what of the revered Amy Ashwood-Garvey how does she ensure the voices of Black women are heard?
A story of hope, friendship and the consequences of a long-denied awakening unravels in the conference halls and bars of Chorlton, but at what cost?
This groundbreaking new play developed 80 years after the Congress introduces the people behind the movement. LIBERATION gets to the heart of how our future is built, how our leaders are made, and how dreams are realised. With generational shifts and gender politics added to a swirling mix of power dynamics, LIBERATION asks timeless questions about revolution, freedom, and what it means to be an activist.
Receiving its World Premiere as part of Manchester International Festival 2025, LIBERATION includes composition by Ife Ogunjobi from the Brit Award-winning Ezra Collective and was commissioned by the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Want to know more? Listen to Ntombizodwa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fZ_Y6rTzQ
From £10
Fri 27 Jun – Sat 26 Jul 2025
Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann’s Square, Manchester, M2 7DH
There is an accompanying exhibition in the Great Hall about the history of the Pan-African Congress in 1945. The exhibition is in partnership with the Race, Roots & Resistance Collective’s Emerging Scholars Programme with support from Dr Kerry Pimblott and the AHRC project, ‘Grassroots Struggles, Global Visions: British Black Power, 1964-1985’.
RECOMMENDED
Sunday 11 May 2025
Wickedly Ariana
The first theatre production to celebrate the contemporary icon Ariana Grande, one of the most influential and loved artists of the generation.
The sensational Hannah Thomas, with her amazing band and dancers, will take you on a magical journey through all the greatest hits, plus songs from the blockbuster movie and musical fantasy Wicked.
Expect to hear One Last Time, 7 Rings, Side to Side, Bang Bang, Break Free, Into You, Thank U, Next, Save Your Tears, Defying Gravity, Popular, and many, many more.
Stunning choreography, elaborate costumes, and immersive storytelling make this a must-see theatrical experience.
From £23.00
18:00
Middleton Arena, Lance Corporal Joel Halliwell VC Way, Middleton, M24 1AG
Wednesday 14 May 2025
Toad Lane Concerts - Rochdale's Weekly Music at Lunchtime
This week we have - The Nightingale Singers (20+choir) conductor Ken Greaves accompanist Brian Milligan
The concert series has been held at St Mary’s since 2001 and was granted the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2020.
Running every Wednesday, Music at Lunchtime is a weekly live classical music concert series that has been going since the 1960s. The sessions were initially run at the old Rochdale Art Gallery by the local authority, but since May 2001 have been run by volunteer-enthusiasts and artistic director, Dr Joe Dawson.
£6
Phone: Dr Joe Dawson 01706 648872
Doors open 12noon, concert starts 12.30pm - 1.30pm
St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane/St Mary's Gate, Rochdale OL16 1DZ
celebrating creative arts and artists - an oasis of positivity supporting individual and community wellbeing.
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