The Library Theatre Company in association with the Lowry

All The Way Home

29th September - 15th October 2011

For Sale

This production has been archived

By Ayub Khan-Din. Directed by Mark Babych
Presented at The Lowry, Quays Theatre
£12 - £19.50

“That’s what I hate about coming back here…your life isn’t your own…”

An exciting collaboration between the Library Theatre Company and The Lowry, this is the world premiere of a much anticipated new drama by Salford’s Ayub Khan-Din, whose hugely successful work as a stage and screen writer includes East is East; West is West and Rafta, Rafta.

Bonfire Night. Salford in 2002. A disparate group of warring siblings gather at the family home under the shadow of impending loss.

Brian, now a successful photographer, returns to find his family both familiar and unfamiliar. Amidst the cut and thrust of spiky Salford banter, long harboured resentments rise to the surface, and loyalties are tested as family bonds unite and divide, unravel and unwind.

All The Way Home is a deeply emotional comedy drama that explores the relationships we have with our roots, and with those that we love but don’t always understand.

All The Way Home Performances
Thu 29 Sep	7:15pm	Preview	All £12
Fri 30 Sep	7:15pm	Press Night	£19.50, £17.50
Sat 1 Oct	7:15pm		£19.50, £17.50
Mon 3 Oct	7:15pm		All £12
Tue 4 Oct	7:15pm		£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Wed 5 Oct	7:15pm		£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Thu 6 Oct	7:15pm		£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Fri 7 Oct	7:15pm	Audio Described	£19.50, £17.50
Sat 8 Oct	2:30pm	Weekend Matinee	£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Sat 8 Oct	7:15pm		£19.50, £17.50
Mon 10 Oct	7:15pm		All £12
Tue 11 Oct	7:15pm		£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Wed 12 Oct	7:15pm	Captioned Performance	£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Thu 13 Oct	2:30pm	Weekday Matinee	£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Thu 13 Oct	7:15pm		£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Fri 14 Oct	7:15pm	Signed Performance	£19.50, £17.50
Sat 15 Oct	2:30pm	Weekend Matinee, Director's Pre-Show Talk	£15, £13 (£13,£11)
Sat 15 Oct	7:15pm		£19.50, £17.50

The Lowry, Quays Theatre

Pier 8, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, M50 3AZ
Box Office: 0843 208 6010

The Lowry is our chosen venue for our main season plays whilst we are on the move. We are performing in the intimate setting of the Quays Theatre.
The Lowry is 10 minutes drive from Manchester City Centre, 20 minutes drive from Manchester Airport, and a quarter of a mile from the motorway network, giving access from all over the North West and beyond. It also has excellent public transport links and is situated in the centre of a vibrant shopping, eating and leisure destination.

Find out more about the getting to The Lowry here

More Info

Truthful, riotously funny and intensely moving, this is the ordinary made luminously lovely; a warts-and-all family portrait that glows with compassion.

— The Times

The cast – ably directed by Mark Babych – gives the writing full value, though, teasing out the family’s funnier foibles and digging deep into its aching resentments.

— The Telegraph

All The Way Home is a poignant tale delivered by hardworking actors and an intelligent script. There really is no excuse not to catch this subtle yet hard-to-forget play.

— thepublicreviews.com

The acting is strong and the interaction between the family members is both very real and very affecting. All The Way Home is braver than East Is East in that it doesn’t leave you with the sense that everything will be all right in this complicated family but both are very funny and equally as engaging.

— City Life

…the cast is uniformly excellent, especially Julie Riley as the unfettered and light-fingered ex-junkie Sonia and Susan Cookson as the nice, sensible, unfulfilled Janet, the dependable ying to Sonia’s feckless firecracker of a yang.

— The Stage

This is a major new play from a well-known playwright premièring in Salford, which in itself makes it worth a look, but it also happens to be well-written, very entertaining and leave the audience with plenty to think about in this excellent production from the Library Theatre.

— British Theatre Guide

There are many layers to this play which switches seamlessly from the painfully sad to the outrageously vulgar and highly comic.

— Morning Star

Go along and see it, it’s a great piece of drama, full of wit and wisdom. Perhaps you will recognise someone, somewhere or something of your own family!

— Manchester Salon

What’s most impressive about the play is how the dynamic of the family slowly emerges, revealing fault lines, unexpected sympathies, long held but still raw resentments. There are morsels of love and lucky dips of anger hidden behind the skirting boards.

— Jildy Sauce blog

The comedy and warmth (even in the insults, even in mourning) draws you in, a combination of script, excellent delivery and a strong director, Mark Babych, who allows the pace to gather and slow when needed (the Sunday lunch scene is fantastic, among others).

— Cultural Shenanigans

There’s much emotion, light and dark, shown in this production, and as an evening’s satisfying entertainment, it cannot be bettered.

— uktheatre.net

All The Way Home touches home in its honest and humorous portrayal of family heartache and reunion.

— Reviewsgate.com

…all the characters are fully rounded and a joy to watch. The play, directed by Mark Babych, is brilliantly written and brilliantly acted and, while focusing on one family’s struggle, brings our own families into sharp focus.

— Oldham Evening Chronicle

The play’s strength is its portrayal of sibling bonds. These have been stretched over the years and Frankie’s fatal illness forces his brothers and sisters to confront long-held but slightly buried animosities and grudges. Their exchanges are played with strength.

— Manchester Confidential

The Cast

Paul Simpson: Philip
Sean Gallagher: Brian
Naomi Radcliffe: Samantha
Julie Riley: Sonia
Judith Barker: Aunty Sheila
Susan Cookson: Janet
Kate Anthony: Carol

Production Crew

Mark Babych: Director
Joshua Azouz: Assistant Director
Haley Grindle: Designer
Ciaran Bagnall: Lighting Designer
Paul Gregory: Sound Designer
Gareth Roberts: Production Manager
Liz Horrigan: Wardrobe Supervisor
Avril Mason: Production Administrator
Daniel Stuart: Lighting Technician
Jamie Byron: Company Stage Manager
Naomi Hill: Deputy Stage Manager
Greg Skipworth: Assistant Stage Manager

Comments on All The Way Home

I saw the show last night. Fabulous play and loved every minute of it. What a script and so strong.

The cast were top class, but I have to say that Julie Riley and Kate Anthony were brilliant.

This play can only go from strength to strength and maybe this will become the next film for Ayub Khan Din - surely Britain's latest great writer.

Said John From Manchester at 09:16am on 30th Sep 2011
I saw this on it's opening night on Thursday. From start to finish I was hooked. It has the perfect blend of humour and poignant drama. Susan Cookson as Janet particularly stood out for me going from making me actually laugh out loud one minute to want to cry with the character the next. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks.

Said Kirsty From Devon at 15:53pm on 1st Oct 2011
Just got in from seeing this fantastic play, so moving and really a brilliant reflection of so many families, in that position, each character is in someones family somewhere!, I wonder how many people sat in the audience it hit a nerve with!, it certainly did with me.

Said janet From salford at 23:00pm on 1st Oct 2011
Yet again, the Library together with the exceptional writing of Ayub Khan-Din, have produced a superb performance of a gritty Northern drama steeped in realism. Mark Babych is a wonderful director who captures the essence of emotions at both ends of the scale without it being obvious and holds your attention from start to finish.

Said Nuala Chapman From Rochdale at 11:04am on 6th Oct 2011
A wonderfully written play, superbly acted by the excellent cast...very emotional and funny ,often at the same time. No lazy stereotyping or resorting to cliche but well-observed characters and situations creating an outstanding theatrical experience. Wel done to all involved, and many thanks!!
David

Said David From Bolton at 23:09pm on 7th Oct 2011
I found the play deeply moving and realistic. What resonated most were the lengthy silences between the characters and that heartbreaking realisation that the siblings genuinely didn't have an awful lot to say to one another after many fractured years apart. Stand-out performance from Auntie Sheila. A little bit too Shameless-esque in parts; the writer rescued Sonia's character from cliche just in time. However a fine performance.

Said Sue Bratley From Warrington at 11:25am on 9th Oct 2011
Great play, entertaining, funny and sad at the same time

Said I Cunningham From Manchester at 13:27pm on 12th Oct 2011