Frisky and Mannish

A slightly overdue post but last Thursday, I decided to leave the house and do something with my evening instead of the usual lazing around in front of the TV. I'd been browsing the internet - nothing new there - and I stumbled across the Lowry's website and noticed that Frisky and Mannish were playing in a couple of weeks and incredibly, there were still tickets available!

I came across this double act whilst watching the coverage of this years Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I was hooked. Living in Manchester now means that I have easy access to the Lowry and I now live across the road from the Garrick Playhouse so I have no excuse to miss any shows that pass through these venues that I want to see and the change to see Frisky and Mannish was not one to miss.

It was surprisingly easy to get to from the tram stop and I can vouch for Manchester's signs being far more comprehensive than Birmingham and apart from one small error where I followed the signs a little too closely and ended up heading to the car park, I found it. I wasn't expecting something so huge. I now realise that the Lowry isn't just a single theatre but rather a complex made up of several venues. I was expecting something like the Birmingham Hippodrome - which apart from the Old Rep in Birmingham is the only other theatre I've been two.

The evening was brilliant. I was just about as far back as I could have been but still had a perfect view. Being in a stall meant it was much more difficult to join in with some of the more physical aspects of the performance but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and they definitely lived up to the hype. There was a presentation on the screen before the show started and during the interval with a ticker across the top - with amusing quips such as one which suggested that scientists had found a link between the increase in gun crime and gang violence and the retirement of Enya.

If you aren't into pop music and don't know much about the genre then you won't get as much out of it as you would otherwise but there is still plenty in there if you aren't. There are quite a lot of references to TV shows like X Factor and the like and the more you know, the more you will get out of the evening.

For those of you who haven't heard of the duo, here is a clip from one of their performances at the BBC's Potterrow venue from this years Edinburgh Festival which should help explain what the duo are all about.