★★

“The play scratches the surface of too many things, and is ultimately frustrating in its lack of resolution or revelation.”

Cameron Corcoran’s play, “Nook”, opens with an emotive monologue. A very loose paraphrase of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ fable, although there are now four of them and the littlest seems to be in as much danger from the other pigs as from the big bad wolf. We are not supposed to know yet who the teller of the tale is, but they are clearly a damaged soul, and we look forward to the ensuing narrative during which, we hope, the deliberately ambiguous prologue will become clear.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Not really. The setting is the family home in which four estranged, adopted siblings congregate following the funeral of their mother. Not for any sort of wake or show of respect, however, but to read the will (but let’s ignore the dubiously erroneous timing of this ritual for now). None of them have much affection for the deceased matriarch, and even less affection for each other. The stage is set for tensions to surface and past traumas to knock on the door threatening to ‘blow the house down’.

First up is Kenny (Daragh Cushen), the eldest son who believes he has escaped his working-class background by marrying Sarah (Zannie Benfield), the queen of snobbish put-downs. Younger brother Tom (played by Corcoran himself) is hot on his brother’s heels with fiancé Maya (Lucy Allen) even hotter on his. Not so fast moving is the socially awkward Phillip (Jack Sunderland). He still lives in the family home, so he hasn’t had as far to come, although he arrives with plenty of emotional baggage and unwarranted apologies. Last but not least is black sheep of the family, Beth (Lara Deering). A sheep in wolf’s clothing? She’s certainly no sacrificial lamb as she holds her own against the ensuing acerbic squabbles.

The dialogue is quite enigmatic. Not just difficult to interpret, but hard to follow and near impossible to swallow. Anguished mini-monologues spring from nowhere while non-sequiturs lead nowhere else. There is little logical flow to the narrative which capsizes any potential tension before it can even cast off.

The piece addresses a hotch-potch of issues: class divide, adoption, sexual and emotional, abuse, false memory, domestic violence and incest are a few of them. But the storms whipped up from the past blow in too many directions. Occasionally even the cast seem a little unsure of the material and too often Pinteresque pauses come across as fumbled lines. The performances are solid, nevertheless, even if the characterisation isn’t always convincing. Except for Deering’s Beth – who drops a delicious bombshell late into the action – actions and reactions don’t ring true and the cyclical verbal fights have been written with inadequate care or connection. Which is a shame as the premise has the potential for intrigue, if only the atmosphere of the opening passage could be maintained.

Moments of humour help drive the action. Kenny’s contemptuous wife, Sarah, has some of the best lines which Benfield delivers with cool exasperation. Her growing incredulity as secrets are revealed is a joy to watch. Pivotal moments, though, are glossed over, and the secrets and traumas shared lose their impact. It is like we are denied access. Reya Muller’s direction mirrors this distancing with some awkward but perversely effective staging, often placing the actors apart as though sections of the space are cordoned off, like some unapproachably dark memory.

It’s all a bit of a mystery. We learn the contents of the mother’s will, but we never understand what led to her decisions. The play scratches the surface of too many things, and is ultimately frustrating in its lack of resolution or revelation. At just an hour long, “Nook” still has the feel of a scratch performance, despite an initial run at the Union Theatre last year. Hopefully, in time, it will dig deeper and gain focus, once it finds its niche.

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him”

If you’re a playwright and your closest friend is an actor, what is the best birthday present you can think of? A few years ago, Nick Dawkins hit upon the idea of writing a play for his bestie – Tom Claxton – who at the time was studying at LAMDA. He filled the script with “the things we loved, the music, dancing, jokes and in jokes” and presented it to him on his birthday. A wonderful gesture. But little did he know that just a few years later it would be an even greater gift for the theatre going public. Dawkins’ sixty-minute one hander is a compellingly written monologue, spectacularly well-crafted and wrapped up in Claxton’s engrossing performance.

“A Manchester Anthem” is a mix of autobiography and biography with oodles of artistic licence thrown in, which makes it instantly relatable, even if you don’t share the background of its protagonist. Claxton plays Tommy (and a dozen other characters, but we’ll come to that), a working-class Mancunian who has been accepted into Oxford. He is the first in his family to go to university. The first in his street in fact. The play charts his final day and night before he heads down south to begin his new life.

It is Tommy’s final shift as a waiter and, just as he is about to clock off for the last time, a couple of posh and privileged school mates wander in for their skinny, soya, lattes. They are a world apart from Tommy and, in his eyes, represent the world he is about to enter. It fills him with feelings of trepidation and imposter syndrome but nevertheless he accepts an invitation to a house party that night (spurred on by encouraging words from his real mates). What follows is a high energy tsunami ride from the coffee shop to the clubs, and through the streets, houses and people at each end of the class spectrum. From the moment we first see Claxton, elastically writhing to N-Joi’s ‘Anthen’ wearing bright orange underpants, we suspect we are in for something different. On the surface, this rite of passage story has more than a shade of familiarity. There are moments when it treads that path, but the observant writing is fresh enough to veer away from its own genre.

Claxton immediately has us in the palm of his hand – and he keeps us there. A finely nuanced performance, he slips easily into the other characters with subtle precision and expert timing. His supercilious boss at the café, the posh boys, the pseudo-socialist girls, his down-to-earth-bordering-on-psychotic mates, his estranged father… and so on. The various locations are seamlessly evoked, too, courtesy of Anna Niamh Gorman’s ingeniously simple cardboard box set that symbolises the packing away of an old life, but later transforms and lights up to evoke Manchester’s clubland. Sam Baxter’s soundtrack and Caelan Oram’s lighting set each time and place in stone, while Izzy Edwards’ masterful and lively direction leaves no time for anything to be set anywhere. It is a fast-paced production, but every moment counts – and some of the best lines hang in the air, frozen for a moment for us to relish, before being swept back into the thrilling momentum of the play.

Without being a social commentary, the show mirrors aspects of society and class divide. Tommy has more chips on his shoulder than the local chippie, but there is no anger. In its place is intelligent analysis, and a fearful empathy. The various characters are soft targets. The real victim of Dawkins’ writing is society at large and the unfairness of its inbuilt hierarchies. Tommy’s greatest fear is that of betraying his origins. The fact that these issues can be dressed up in humour is testament to Claxton’s fine acting and interpretation of the text.

The final moments are quite moving. It doesn’t end with a bang. Nor a whimper. But something in between which touches us with emotional honesty. Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him. Tommy might fear rejection, but “A Manchester Anthem” has no need to share that feeling. A real gift of a show.

Tag Archives: Jonathan Evans

NOOK

★★

Riverside Studios

NOOK

Riverside Studios

★★

“The play scratches the surface of too many things, and is ultimately frustrating in its lack of resolution or revelation.”

NOOK

Riverside Studios

Reviewed on 23rd August 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Reya Muller

Recent reviews from this venue:

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM | ★★★★ | August 2025

HAPPY ENDING | ★★★★ | July 2025

DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU | ★★★★ | May 2025

THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK | ★★★★★ | May 2025

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX  | ★★★ | March 2025

SECOND BEST | ★★★★ | February 2025

NOOK

NOOK

NOOK

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

★★★★

Riverside Studios

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him”