The Acosta Verdict

13/07/07

Kath, a recruitment consultant who lives in Salford and works in Manchester and Kath, a teacher who lives in Manchester and works in Salford, are having a quick drink in the bar of the Lowry after an incendiary debut Manchester International Festival performance by Carlos Acosta and a full supporting cast of Cuban dancers and musicians.

“I was very impressed,” decides Kath the teacher. “I wasn't entirely sure what to expect tonight, but I really liked the mix. I thought the whole package was just lovely really.”

“All of it was pretty fantastic,” adds Kath the recruitment consultant.

“I really liked the bit where the dancers were in that box, where they were in a space and then they broke out of the space, the motifs, the formations that they used. It was simple, but they just brought it alive on that stage.”

The pair “don't see as much of this kind of thing as we should”, but they came tonight because, as a Salford resident, Kath got a subsidised ticket - which is fair enough as her council tax partially funds the theatre - and it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

“And this is such a great venue for dance. We had this discussion at the interval. Before the Lowry was built, you were struggling in Manchester for a good venue for either ballet or modern dance,” says Kath the teacher, slightly contentiously (the Palace, Contact, Greenroom, Dancehouse and Opera House might have something to say about the matter). “We should make more of it, shouldn't we?”

Kath's one and two also managed to get to Monkey - Journey to the West.

“Monkey was just something else,” says Kath the teacher. “It was so clever. I remember the TV show and I was really interested in seeing how they were going to put that together. I thought the way they mixed the acrobats, the five main characters, the cartoons, it all worked brilliantly. I've never seen anything like that before, ever.”

What are your favourite things about Manchester?

“It's just the people in Manchester,” decides Kath the recruitment consultant. “Everyone is willing to do things, there's just a general buzz about the place.”

“I'm actually from Birmingham and I've been in the city 14 years,” says Kath the teacher. “I like the fact that so much goes on here. Whether it's Streets Ahead, Manchester International Festival, Mardi Gras or whatever. I just love it. It's a brilliant place to live.”