Tag Archives: Janie Phillips

Good Kids: On Tap, Theatre Review. Underbelly Med Quad, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2016.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Tom Dowling, Kieran Ahern.

With over 3,000 shows to choose from at the Edinburgh Festival, it is easy to feel daunted by such variety. Not only does the festival include comedy and theatre it also showcases some of the most varied performers from around the world, from circus acts to physical theatre to opera and the spoken word. Comedy sketch shows are also in abundance and there is one duo who are back for a second year to try their luck at the one of the largest art festivals in the world.

The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Ambreen Razia.

The Diary of A Hounslow Girl is the tale of a 16-year-old British Muslim girl in West London. From traditional Pakistani weddings to fights on the night bus, this play shows the challenges of being brought up as a young woman in a traditional Muslim family alongside the temptations and influences growing up in and around London.

Written and performed by Ambreen Razia the show is currently on tour around the country, with a one night stop at the Unity. This is Razia’s debut play and her performance is flawless, considering it is a monologue that lasts 85 minutes.

Going Viral, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Daniel Bye

The premise behind Daniel Bye’s latest show is a simple one; an aeroplane flies from India to England, everyone onboard is weeping. Everyone except you. There is a disease sweeping the world, it is incredibly infectious and it passes from person to person. Bye explores the issues of viruses and how they spread in his latest show Going Viral currently running at the Unity.

The Lamellar Project, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * * *

Cast: Emma Gibson, Gideon Turner.

The Unity Theatre is attracting more and more exciting new projects and bringing incredible talent into the city. It has showcased not only art installations, but hip-hop, performance poetry and multi media. It has produced such a variety of different approaches to theatre that its latest arrival in Unity One fits in perfectly with the ethos of the theatre.

The Herbal Bed, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Philip Correia, Patrick Driver, Jonathon Guy Lewis, Emma Lowndes, Michael Mears, Charlotte Wakefield, Matt Whitchurch, Heidi Morgan.

William Shakespeare will always be remembered for being Britain’s finest ever writer, however not many of us will know much about his life and family. In this revival of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, Royal & Derngate, Rose Theatre Kingston and English Touring Theatre have collaborated to bring this drama back to the stage.

Who’s Afraid Of The Working Class?, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Connor Lee Dye, Matilda Weaver, Michael Bryan, Sophie Cottle, Chris Mohan, Fia Harrington, Emily Kingston, Joseph Wood, Maisie Young, James Botterill, Anna Brochmann, Hailey Mashburn.

Performed by third-year L.I.P.A. acting students, Luke Barnes’ epic new play, Who’s Afraid Of The Working Class?, looks at the brief history of one fictional community, whose people are trying to keep their heads above water whilst all around them their jobs are being removed alongside the industry and the unions. Unity one is completely opened up for this production and all actors remain on stage throughout, completing costume changes and constructing the set for scene changes themselves.

A Raisin In The Sun, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: * * *

Cast: Alisha Bailey, Mike Burnside, Solomon Gordon, Angela Wynter, Aron Julius, Everal A Walsh, Susan Wokoma, Ashley Zhangazha.

Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright and activist wrote A Raisin in the Sun in 1959 and was the first black woman to write a play that was performed on Broadway. The play highlights the struggles of black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago and follows the story of the Youngers; a lower middle class family who struggle to gain middle class acceptance.

More Light, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Billy Czajkowska, Isobel Balchin, Abigail McKenzie, Nuala Maguire, Alice Corrigan, Ian Cook.

Bryony Lavery’s play More Light tells the story of the recently deceased Chinese Emperor who, in order to keep the location of his tomb a secret had not only himself encased within the tomb but his entire army of craftsmen, builders and his finest courtiers. Also immured are his five young infertile wives. These women have had the best food and lived secure and luxurious lives, but now they are faced with making the most horrendous decisions in order to stay alive. Human behaviour pushed to the very limits are explored in this dramatic hour long performance directed and performed by YEP (Young Everyman Playhouse.)

The Broke ‘N’ Beat Collective, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * * *

Cast: Jack Hobbs aka Hobbit, Ryan Harston aka LoGisTics, Elisha Howe aka Elektric, Mohsen Nouri.

What do you get when you get a beat-boxer, poet, dancer and puppeteer in the same room? Certainly nothing that has been seen before as, 20 Stories High and Theatre-Rites collaborate to produce a spectacular show.

Blake Remixed By Testament, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Testament, DJ Woody

Blake Remixed is beatboxer and rapper Testament’s first theatre show and looks at how relevant the poetry and art of William Blake still is today. An early influence in Testaments life, this show explores the relevance that Blake’s work and themes can still have on our culture. He compares today’s society to the time of Blake’s and asks if social justice, religious and racial tolerance is any different. Testament takes on Blake’s poetry and puts his own unique stamp on 18th century themes.