Tag Archives: Jonathan Markwood

Bingo Star. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Paige Fenlon, Jonathan Markwood, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton, Les Dennis, Tom Connor.

The internet made having a flutter on the internet something of a secret, the ability to stay at home whilst playing a game of bingo offered a sense of obscurity and privacy, a seclusion from reality. Rather than being a social experience, gaming, having fun, became a solitary pursuit, unedifying, a sense of the in complete; and one exacerbated by recent effects and situations to which many have yet to grasp the full implications.

Girls Don’t Play Guitars, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Molly Grace Cutler, Alice McKenna, Sarah Workman, Lisa Wright, Jack Alexander, Tom Connor, Tom Dunlea, Guy Freeman, Jonathan Markwood, Mark Newnham.

A throwaway line caught in the ether, a story that deep down nobody seems to remember and yet it did happen and it is one that rivals any of the stories held up to the legend of Liverpool’s music scene, and one so brilliantly captured and focused upon by playwright Ian Salmon.

Jonathan Markwood, Black Against The Sun. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Winter is a time in which the lands of the North feel the cold winds more and the thoughts of the bleak and mistrusting frost is ever present in their minds and the image of the sun is but that of a shining glimmering bauble in the sky, neither use nor ornament in the fabric of the lives of those in desperate need of warmth on their backs and in their hearts. Warmth therefore is searched for in other directions and if the heat of a blazing fire cannot be found then the soul of a musician is the closest possible alternative and in Jonathan Markwood’s new album Black Against The Sun, that alternative is more than complimentary, it is a guiding inevitability.

Jonathan Markwood, Welcome To Planet Earth. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Sometimes you just have to sit back and listen to understand a person’s hopes, dreams, desires and fears. The casual conversation in a pub or coffee shop is fraught with dangers of misplaced cues, of half heard personal confessions and the fighting for the best story of the day, to get the true picture one needs look at the person in the face and listen. Whether it is in the form of spoken word or set to music, listening can get straight to the heart of the matter and perhaps makes for better reasoning.

Noises Off, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jennifer Bea, Tupele Dorgu, Jessica Dyas, Stephen Fletcher, Kim Hartman, Phil Hearne, Chris Jordan, Jonathan Markwood, Danny O Brien.

The show must go on…even if there are sardines cluttering up the stage, the leading ladies hate each other, one of the leading men wants to kill the other with a fire axe and the Director is left a gibbering wreck, even with his enormous ego, in the wake of being on stage amongst the carnage and destruction that an acting troupe can bring to a theatre. Think you know theatre, then the magical mayhem of arguably the finest British comedy of the 20th Century, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, is one to behold.

Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2014)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: John Power, Tom Connor, Kirsten Foster, Ross Higginson, Adam Keast, Jonathan Markwood, Daniel McIntyre, Mark Newnham, Nicky Swift.

It is impossible to thank somebody across the ages, to shake their hand and say cheers for bringing a story to life, even when that person is still such a force in Liverpool’s artistic and cultural society, you cannot go back to a day over 30 years ago and tell them thank you for telling the dramatic life of one of the true heroes to have come from a city in which salutes its champions harder than anywhere else in the country. However if you should bump into Bob Eaton then try your absolute best to thank him for taking the chance on a production at the Everyman Theatre just a few short months after the passing of John Lennon.

Sons Of The Desert, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Roy Brandon, Michael Starke, Lori Haley Fox, Penelope Woodman, Matt Connor, Jonathan Markwood.

The distinctive music, the sight of two comedy greats on stage giving the audience a laugh and great entertainment in two different settings and somehow transported in time from the golden age of Hollywood comedy to the 21st Century comedy central of the Royal Court in Liverpool. Such is how nights of class are made and in the iconic Laurel and Hardy film Sons of The Desert, recently given such status as warranting to be preserved forever in the American National Congress, they don’t come much bigger, then again, it can always be given a new lick of paint and introducing to a newer audience.

Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: John Power, Matt Breen, Tom Connor, Jessica Dyas, Kirsten Foster, Ross Higginson, Adam Keast, Jonathan Markwood, Mark Newnham.

Even almost 33 years after John Lennon was cruelly and untimely taken from his fans and from the city of Liverpool and the world, his iconic memory still has the power, the absolute authority of spirit, in which to inspire and encourage rousing feelings of love and joy and ultimately the sadness of a life cut short well before his time.

The Royal Court Theatre Announce Cast For Groundbreaking Show.

The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, has announced the cast for their groundbreaking new Laurel And Hardy show – Sons Of The Desert!

Oliver Hardy will be played by Michael Starke (Bouncers, A Nightmare On Lime Street, Our Day Out) and Stan Laurel will be played by Roy Brandon (Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, The Salon, Council Depot Blues). The two are looking forward to bringing the world’s most famous double act to life.