Coronavirus streets in Manchester - XLIV

 Now, we are talking about Jamie

You could only wonder what would get me out of my hermitage in the centre of Manchester to participate in a new world during this pandemic. A chance viewing of a poster that the coming-of-age musical, Everybody’s talking about Jamie gave me some inspiration.

The star of the cast, Layton Williams as Jamie who I read about over a year ago, had piqued my interest, drop-dead gorgeous as he is though still not a match on my Brian, one can just admire from a distance. What is not revealed anywhere but in the brochure is that Jamie is an adaption of the real-life story of Jamie Campbell from Bishop Auckland in County Durham.

The musical is on a UK tour and now in Manchester for 12 days, that presented an opportunity.

Easy like a Sunday evening

I called my neighbours to determine if they will be interested in attending the show with me and so I booked three tickets for Sunday evening including pre-theatre dinner. That became my debutante outing for the year. Suffice it to say, I was last in a theatre in December 2019 with Brian in Cape Town.

We left at just a few minutes after 5:00 PM for The Lowry in Salford Quays, found a parking space in the Lowry Outlet, that was busier than usual, with cars queued up to exit the garage. Made for the restaurant to settle down to a 3-course meal before finding our seats in the rather expansive The Lyric Hall, up in the circle area to the far right.

To life, we knew and once knew

The music, choreography, and storyline was emotional, uproarious, and entertaining. The theatre was full and face masks were recommended at the seating. There was no social-distancing and the theatre did not appear to be air-conditioned. Whether we are in post-pandemic flight, I cannot tell, we all had a good time and on our exit from the car park, it was not as bad as we thought it would be.

Whether I should review Everybody’s talking about Jamie, I cannot say yet, who knows, I might consider another viewing because I could relate to the story, on a personal and many other levels; and I did enjoy the outing too. Heck! It’s on Amazon Prime – Press play.