Tag Archives: Barrie Rutter

When We Are Married, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kat Rose-Martin, Luke Adamson, Sophia Hatfield, Mark Stratton, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Adrian Hood, Sue Devaney, Steve Huison, Kate Anthony, Lisa Howard, Matthew Booth, Barrie Rutter, Zoe Lambert, John Gully, Andy Hall.

Mr. J. B. Priestley never fails to deliver, even if there are those out in the dark who fail to get the nuance of the times and denounce the clever introspection the playwright had on British Society and making it look back on its own peculiarities and diminishing importance on the future. Whereas the epic An Inspector Calls is very much in the calm outraged camp, the heated tongue of a barracking old outdated ways of thought, his classic drawing room comedy When We Are Married is firmly in the chaotic tranquillity mode and it is one that never loses its heart, especially not in the hands of the superb Northern Broadsides.

When We Are Married, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. (2016). full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Jonathan Miller And Barrie Rutter Unite Once More For Northern Broadsides Take On King Lear

Following the success of Rutherford & Son, Northern Broadsides join forces again with renowned opera and theatre director Jonathan Miller to stage Shakespeare’s King Lear. Broadsides’ Barrie Rutter takes the lead role at the Liverpool Playhouse from Tuesday 28th April to Saturday 2nd May.

King Lear is the story of a family at war with itself. Lear, an ageing and deeply flawed individual, wrecks his relationship with his three daughters and in doing so, loses all he has. What is there left? This question, which is Lear’s predicament and Shakespeare’s genius, invites us all to think upon what we might gain when nothing is all we have.

Jonathan Miller And Barrie Rutter Unite Once More For Northern Broadsides Take On King Lear full post

(318 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

An August Bank Holiday Lark, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Barrie Rutter, Emily Butterfield, Darren Kuppan, Jack Quarton, Ben Burman, Elizabeth Eves, Sophie Hatfield, Lauryn Redding, Brett Lee Roberts, Mark Thomas, Russell Richardson.

An August Bank Holiday Lark, the chance for some men to become heroes, for some to find some meaning or importance in life away from the remote villages they may have been raised in all their lives or even the chance to be looked at differently by those they need validation or even respect from. An August Bank Holiday Lark, the hazy days of summer before Gavro Princip took a gun and assassinated one man and his wife and started the ball rolling on the first mechanised whole sale slaughter of soldiers and civilians that tore through Europe and beyond.

An August Bank Holiday Lark, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(577 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Rutherford & Son, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Barrie Rutter, Nicholas Shaw, Andrew Grose, Sara Poyzer, Kate Anthony, Catherine Kinsella, Richard Standing, Gilly Tompkins.

Not for nothing was Githa Sowerby compared to Henrik Ibsen, the father of theatre realism. Her play Rutherford & Son was a powerful statement in a world where the writing of a female playwright was not expected to be as bold, so groundbreaking in its fury at a world that put male pride and arrogance before the thought of the family. The absolute realism she bought to her characters, especially that of the bombastic and near tyrannical father John Rutherford, the anguish and near heart breaking life of his daughter Janet and that of the stranger to the house, the woman who makes the Faustian-like pact with her father-in-law when all else around her goes awry, the woman whose head for business sees her keep a roof over her head, the young Mary.

Rutherford & Son, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Liverpool Favourites Northern Broadsides Return To The Playhouse With Rutherford & Son.

The incomparable Northern Broadsides return to Liverpool with an adaptation of Githa Sowerby’s powerful domestic drama Rutherford & Son. Under the direction of the esteemed Jonathan Miller, and featuring Barrie Rutter in the lead role, this critically acclaimed production comes to the Playhouse from Tuesday 21st to Saturday 25th May.

After the runaway success of last year’s A Government Inspector, the Liverpool Playhouse plays host to Northern Broadsides once more, this time with Rutherford & Son. This powerful drama written and set in the North of England, 1912, is an unflinching portrayal of an industrial Edwardian family on the brink of collapse.

Liverpool Favourites Northern Broadsides Return To The Playhouse With Rutherford & Son. full post

(395 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Medea, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 24th 2010.

Cast: Cleo Sylvestre, Fine Time Fontayne, Michelle Hardwick, Barbara Hockaday, heather Pheonix, Nina Kristofferson, Barrie Rutter, Andrew Pollard,

One of the most popular touring companies to come to Liverpool in recent years has to be the fantastic ensemble that makes up Northern Broadsides. Led by the indomitable Barrie Rutter, the troupe has thrilled local audiences with their versions of The Man with Two Gaffers and Romeo and Juliet to name but two.

Medea, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(378 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

The Game, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Cast: John Branwell, Liz Carney, Jo Gerard, Catherine Kinsella, Ror North, Wendi Peters, Phil Rowson, Barrie Rutter, Matt Sutton, Jos Vantyler.

Harold Brighouse’s name might ring more bells with drama and literature lovers as the writer of the classic play Hobson’s Choice, however thanks to a dramatic find in a Canadian University, Barrie Rutter and his team of players that make up Northern Broadsides have breathed life into the play The Game.

Northern Broadsides have continued to thrill Liverpool audiences over the last few years, with productions such as The Man with Two Gaffers and their own take on Romeo and Juliet, it seems as though the company can do no wrong in wrong in local eyes.

The Game, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)