So I’ve been to the Lowry this evening, to see the National Theatre’s production of Waves. It’s devised by Katie Mitchell and is based on Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves – but it’s been given a very special treatment by the company. with the eight busy cast members acting, reading, soundtracking… and filming their performance, for simultaneous projection behind them.

It’s bewildering to watch – particularly the first half, when the dialogue is twice the speed of any other play I’ve seen and when you’re still getting used to the multimedia format. By the interval I’d just about caught up with the plot, and during the slower, shorter second half I finally felt on top of things.

Perhaps most impressive is the quality of the film – a combination of both the actors’ talent and discipline and that of the technical team up in the gallery (themselves well worthy of applause). The sound creativeness is also unlike anything I’ve witnessed before as every action’s noise is imitated and amplified by actors out of ’shot’.

I’m no theatre reviewer but I’d recommend catching it while you can – and I’m not the only one, with the flyer boasts five-star reviews in The Times, the Financial Times and Time Out. A Mancubist reader told me yesterday, ‘We weren’t quite sure if it was more clever than good or good than clever… or if one of those options was better than the other. We’re still talking about it.’ Sounds about right.

There are only three more performances of Waves at the Lowry: Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are £18-£22 (it’s worth paying the extra) – click here to book.

UPDATE: Here’s a promo video on YouTube, which gives a little bit more indication of what Waves involves.

Back to the theatre and this time the Library Theatre plays host to Les Puddings Noir, a ’slice of hilarious social satire’ following MaD Theatre’s 2006 sell-out Asbo and last year’s She’s Just Nipped Out For Fags.

The synopsis sounds entertaining:

In a bid to become Europe’s Capital of Cooking, the power-crazed Lady Mayoress has banned all-day breakfasts in Bury and forces black puddings to be re-branded as Les Puddings Noir. Revolt is in the air…

And the big-budget trailer is cryptic if nothing else:

Les Puddings Noir is only on for three days – from Thursday through to Saturday (including a Saturday matinée performance). Tickets are just £10 (£8 concessions) plus a 50p booking fee and I hear that some are available for each performance, though the opening night may sell out on the day.

A few interesting things are building up again so here’s a quick link dump…

One for you literary types first: Ar’ Back Yard is a triology of books by Anwar Dharma, giving a fictional account of 1980s Manchester. Or at least it will be when it’s published in the next few months. For now, however, you can read extracts – uploaded monthly – on the book’s very stylish website.

And here’s one for you history buffs: Ciara Leeming wrote an article for the MEN about this book by Keith Warrender. It’s fascinating stuff – a theme I’ve touched on before here, here and here – and the book already has plenty of fans here. Definitely one for the Amazon wishlist…

Finally, The Rehearsal, which I saw and actively participated in at the Temple of Convenience during Manchester International Festival, is showing at the Library Theatre tomorrow, Wedneday, at 7pm. Highly recommended if you’re looking for something to do.