Tag Archives: Matthew Spencer

The Woman In Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Acton, Matthew Spencer.

A good ghost story never flinches in the face of modern day scepticism, if anything it can grow with stature, it can take on almost a life of its own, of becoming a haunting reminder of the world in between realities that shape and bend our perceptions of what is clear and unsullied and what is blurred, distorted and afraid to step out of the shadows. A good ghost story is one which you can feel the person next to you wanting to jump out of their skin, their creeping flesh tingle with nervousness and anticipation; there are many that have this effect but few capture the pure sense of emotion that is inherent as The Woman In Black.

The Woman In Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

1984, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Mark Arends, Tim Dutton, Stephen Fewell, Christopher Patrick Nolan, Matthew Spencer, Gavin Spokes, Mandi Symonds, Hara Yannas, Richard Bremmer, Joshua Higgott.

To do justice to arguably one of the finest pieces of English Literature of the 20th Century on stage takes a team so immersed into what they are trying to achieve, that all else is secondary. To bring to life the horror that awaits Winston Smith from the spectre of Big Brother that is stamped like an impregnable tattoo all over the face of decency in 1984 takes a fantastic director, an adaptor of work who can make the simmering tension boil over again and again and two men you can believe in from start to finish to capture the spirit of a nation, of a world that has become the stuff of nightmares.

1984, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(480 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

1984 Turns The Spotlight On Big Brother And Mass Surveillance In An Exciting New Staging At The Liverpool Playhouse.

April, 1984. 13:00. Comrade 6079, Winston Smith, thinks a thought, starts a diary, and falls in love. But Big Brother is watching him – and the door to Room 101 can swing open in the blink of an eye.

Headlong bring George Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future to life, as 1984 comes to the Liverpool Playhouse. This provocative new staging is created by director Robert Icke and writer Duncan Macmillan, and comes to Liverpool from Tuesday 29th October to Saturday 2nd November. 

1984 Turns The Spotlight On Big Brother And Mass Surveillance In An Exciting New Staging At The Liverpool Playhouse. full post

(368 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)