Angels with Manky Faces

Historical gangland drama Angels with Manky Faces sold out when it was shown at the Library Theatre over the summer. Featuring cameo performances and recordings from Manchester names including Mike Joyce, Terry Christian, and Clint Boon, it was a hit with fans of Mancunian folk law past and present. If you missed it, there's another chance to see it at the Dancehouse Theatre this weekend.

The play is inspired by Andrew Davies' book, Gangs of Manchester, and tells the story of the Scuttlers, Britain’s first youth cult. Set in the streets and gin shops of Ancoats in 1894, it's big on Mancunian humour and swagger.

The story centres around Jimmy Johnson, the leader of the Bengal Tigers, the most feared of all the scuttling gangs. Leading a life of brawling and whoring, Jimmy thinks he's a lucky lad. But when an Irish beauty arrives at his favourite brothel, trouble breaks out.

The play is produced by North Manchester's MaD Theatre Company, who have set out to attract a wider audience than the standard theatregoing crowd by using a multi-media mixture of specially recorded Manchester music and films, as well as on-stage action.

Look out for Clint Boon's re-recording of his Inspiral Carpets' hit ‘This is How it Feels’ with Kathryn Edwards, and for Smiths drummer Mike Joyce’s appearance as the speedway operator of a Victorian fair, set to ‘Rusholme Ruffians’. Actor Graeme Hawley (Coronation Street’s John Snape) plays an escaped convict being chased through the slums by broadcaster/DJ, Phil Beckett. And musician/producer Martin Coogan has recorded a version of ‘Dirty Old Town’ for one of the film sequences.

There's an appearance from Terry Christian as an unlikely priest, and some of FC United’s players feature as their predecessors from Newton Heath FC. Finally, actor John Henshaw (Looking for Eric, Early Doors, Cops…) provides a voice-over at the start of the production, and later performs a version of Twisted Wheel’s ‘You Stole the Sun’ along with the band themselves.

Angels with Manky Faces, Dancehouse Theatre, Friday 6 November at 8pm, Sunday 8 November at 3pm and 7pm, £10 (£9), 0161 237 9753, www.thedancehouse.co.uk.

See the trailer here.