Top 3: Re:play Festival ft. Ransack Theatre, Jenny Jay Morgan + more

The Re:play Festival is a celebration of all the best theatre from around Manchester. The festival takes celebrated plays that were performed locally in the last 12 months and puts them all in one place: Number One, First Street. A total of seven full-length plays and four shorts will be staged during mid to late January, and below are three of the best.

The Dumb Waiter
Ransack Theatre are staging a revival of The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter. The play features two hit-men who are waiting in a basement room to be given an assignment. As the pair are harassed orders for food that come to them via the eponymous device, tempers flare and an unseen force propels them to a dramatic confrontation. This one-act, two-person play is considered to be one of the best of Pinter’s early works, and Ransack’s production closed the 2014 Manchester Fringe, playing to sell-out crowds and winning the ‘Best Revival’ award.
Thu 15 Jan – Fri 16 Jan 2015, Number One, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN, show times vary, £10 (£8 conc.), www.homemcr.org

War Stories
War Stories was commissioned by the 24:7 Theatre Festival to commemorate the start of World War One. The play tells the story of Elsie, an Australian nurse who wants to do her part for the war effort. While working in a French hospital she forms a relationship with a Mancunian solider and journalist who is recovering from battle injuries. Writers Emma Gibson, working in Australia, and Rob Johnston in the UK collaborated on the piece by email and Skype. The play offers new perspectives on Australia’s often-forgotten role during the Great War.
Mon 12 Jan – Wed 14 Jan 2015, Number One, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN, show times vary, £10 (£8 conc.), www.homemcr.org

An Evening of Filth and Despair (pictured)
Pamela DeMenthe, the renowned writer of erotic thrillers, invites you to join her as she tells of her journey as an author and gives readings from her latest book: ‘Sticky Digits’. The novel tells the story of Mandy, who thought she would never love again until she meets Rodrigo, an oversexed delivery man for Tesco. A fire ignites between them over the shopping, but is it meant to be? This, of course, is all completely made up. DeMenthe is the creation of Jenny May Morgan, who both writes and performs this one-person comedy which pokes fun at the popularity of novels such as Fifty Shades of Grey.
Thu 22 Jan – Sat 24 Jan 2015, Number One, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN, show times vary, £10 (£8 conc.), www.homemcr.org