Philip Radcliffe

philip radcliffe

Bio: Philip Radcliffe has been a theatre and music critic for many years, writing for a wide range of publications, but especially The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Bolton Evening News (where he began his journalistic career) and the Manchester Evening News. He is a long-serving member of the Manchester (formerly MEN)Theatre Awards panel. He is former Director of Communications at The University of Manchester and Adjunct Professor of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University.

Articles by Philip Radcliffe

A Doll's House, Royal Exchange, Manchester

Wednesday, 08 May 2013

What price a woman’s liberation? And what price a man’s self-defined honour? By pitching one against the other and against the backdrop of wedlock (the emphasis being on the “lock”), Ibsen forges his...

BBC Philharmonic, Gruber, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Thursday, 14 March 2013

What Manchester has today, Vienna will have tomorrow. The BBC Phil’s composer/conductor HK “Nali” Gruber is taking his musicians and singers back home to the Wiener Konzerthaus to reprise this...

Tull, Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football. Show Racism the Red Card. Say No to Racism. Such are today’s campaign messages. And then there’s the headline: “Colour Prejudice Problem” in a London...

Rutherford & Son, Viaduct Theatre, Halifax

Sunday, 17 February 2013

“Work, more work and six foot of earth in the end. That’s life,” says John Rutherford. That single-minded work ethic is what drives him on and drives his family to despair and desertion. As head of...

Die Meistersinger Act Three, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Monday, 11 February 2013

The “Mastersingers of Manchester”, about 350 of them, were gathered together by Sir Mark Elder to celebrate the Wagner bicentenary with this performance of Act Three of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg...

Hardenberger, BBCPO, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Saturday, 02 February 2013

I’ve seen some double acts in my time, such as the Oistrakhs and the Torteliers, but none quite like that of Storgårds and Hardenberger. Best friends, they took it in turns to conduct the BBC...

The Accrington Pals, Royal Exchange, Manchester

Thursday, 24 January 2013

On 1 July 1916, the battalion of Lancashire volunteers recruited from Accrington was all but wiped out in about 20 minutes as they took on the task of attacking the village of Serre on the opening...

Ashkar, Halle Orchestra, de Ridder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Friday, 18 January 2013

Once upon a time, Gyorgy Ligeti heard a rehearsal performance of a piece of music he wrote soon after graduating from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Just once. Then it was banned by...

Rats' Tales, Royal Exchange, Manchester

Tuesday, 04 December 2012

Having 30 “rats” running around hardly seems the stuff of festive fare, but since the begetter of the show is Carol Ann Duffy, known in her children’s writing for dark fairy tales, we might expect...

Orpheus Descending, Royal Exchange, Manchester

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Oh, how it’s raining. Streaming down the windows of the dry goods store, Torrance Mercantile, in the Deep South, where Lady Torrance is marooned in a stiflingly small town and a loveless marriage...

Theorin, Hallé, Stenz, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Friday, 19 October 2012

It is considerate of Manchester’s two professional symphony orchestras to have organised their opening Wagner celebration salvoes so that they dovetail so neatly. The BBC Philharmonic opened their...

Lighthearted Intercourse, Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Sunday, 07 October 2012

Like several of Bill Naughton’s plays, Lighthearted Intercourse started life as a BBC Third Programme drama. When it was broadcast, in 1963, its title was, less provocatively, November Day....

Hahn, BBC Philharmonic, Mena, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Monday, 01 October 2012

Wagner was not averse to highlights being plucked from the mighty Ring, even though it is an all-encompassing drive-through drama. Perhaps it’s as well, since the bicentenary celebrations of his...

The Country Wife, Royal Exchange, Manchester

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

What’s in a name? Pinchwife, Fidget, Horner, Squeamish, Sparkish… William Wycherley labelled his characters blatantly. No one is hornier than Horner, the womaniser who puts it about (sorry) that he...

theartsdesk in Buxton: G&S live on (and on)

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Within hours of the opera buffs leaving town, having had their fill of Buxton Festivalia, the old spa changes gear for operetta. For three weeks, the town becomes the jolly international capital for...

The Turn of the Screw, Buxton Festival

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Appearing at Buxton for the first time, Northern Ireland Opera are ahead of the game in marking next year’s Britten centenary by turning their attention to The Turn of the Screw. It is only their...