Tag Archives: Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre

Night Of The Living Dead Remix, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Laura Atherton, Morgan Bailey, Luke Bigg, Will Holstead, Morven Macbeth, Matt Prendergast, Adela Rajnovic.

To combine the precision of a cinematic lens and the immediacy and freedom that the theatre provides is to perhaps immerse an audience into a noirish cascade of emotional uncertainty, one that leaves them breathless, suitably claustrophobic in their minds and one that gives the senses free reign to relish, to take absolute pleasure in the psychological fear that out there in the world is a disease that has the potential to place humanity in danger.

Night Of The Living Dead Remix, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

An Inspector Calls, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Liam Brennan, Christine Kavanagh, Jeffrey Harmer, Alasdair Buchan, Chloe Orrock, Ryan Saunders, Emma Cater, Michael Ross, Portia Booroff, Elissa Churchill, Jonathan Davenport, Nathanial Cagliarini, Ella-Grace Hanson, Daniel Dean.

Time never changes, it just alters the angle in which you stare at it, until finally you realise that what has already gone, has returned, and normally with even greater ferocity and fire than before.

An Inspector Calls, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Eilidh Loan, Ben Castle-Gibb, Michael Moreland, Thierry Mabonga, Natali McCleary, Greg Powrie, Sarah MacGillivray.

The unrelenting fascination with arguably two of 19th Century’s literature finest, and most disturbing of creations, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster is one that perhaps asks the most salient, complex and frightening questions to nag at the mind and heart of all who have read Mary Shelley’s intense novel.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(496 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Amélie: The Musical, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Audrey Brisson, Sophie Crawford, Faoileann Cunningham, Rachel Dawson, Oliver Grant, Nuwan Hugh Perera, Chris Jared, Charley Magalit, Caolan McCarthy, Samuel Morgan-Grahame, Emma Jane Morton, Kate Robson-Stuart, Josh Sneesby, Jez Unwin, Johnson Willis.

To live in a world which is delightful is perhaps everybody’s secret dream, one where kindness truly is its own reward and not a payback from the mealy mouthed who see it as recompense for their actions and who take advantage of the compassionate and gentle for their own amusement.

Amélie: The Musical, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Toast, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Giles Cooper, Katy Federman, Blair Plant, Samantha Hopkins, Stefan Edwards, Nicholas McBride, Alice Keedwell.

When we think of the autobiography, we tend to find ourselves in the realm of the adventurer, the sports personality, the political fixer, the musical star and the celebrity gossip; we are looking for a hero, for the individual to whom we might glean the clink of inspiration from in which our lives might not only improve, but in some we can bask in the glow of a reflected glory. However, the guide and influence does not always appear in such profound ways, sometimes it can be as simple as one who found their passion in another sphere, that the life they have led is just as pressured, they just found another way to rise to the top.

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

(467 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

American Idiot, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Tom Milner, Luke Friend, Sam Lavery, Alexandra Robinson, Christian Tyler Wood, Daniel Law, Glen Adamson, Jennifer Caldwell, Joshua Dowen, Laura Marie Benson, Lucas Rush, Raquel Jones, Rory McGuire, Ross William Wild, Samuel Pope, Shekinah McFarlane, Siobhan O’ Driscoll, Amy Anzel, David Brooks.

Band: Robert Wicks, Chris George, Nick Kent, Charlie Maguire.

American Idiot, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(590 words, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Cooped, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Aitor Basauri, Stephen Kreiss, Petra Massey, Toby Park.

Twenty glorious years in the making, and still the riotous laughter keeps coming, for Brighton-based theatre company Spymonkey; there is no sitting delicately on laurels, resting in the plumped up leather chair beside the roaring fire and passion of the audience, even returning to one of the foursome’s early successes means being match fit, confining themselves to the bird house until the pen sparks life once more.

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

(411 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Heart Of Darkness, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Keicha Greenidge, Matt Prendergast, Morgan Bailey, Laura Atherton, Morven Macbeth.

Heart Of Darkness holds a distinction in literature, arguably one that was perhaps unintended by Joseph Conrad as he delved into his own life and created, what would eventually become, one of the most iconic characters to dominate early 20th Century literature and further on, a representation of symbolism in cinema. There are few books that have been as dissected and scrutinised as Heart Of Darkness and there are few that are seen in the right climate that we exist in today that are now considered un-filmable.

Heart Of Darkness, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Around The World In 80 Days, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 9/10

Cast: Pushpinder Chani, Kirsten Foster, Matthew Ganley, Dennis Herdman, Michael Hugo, Nyron Levy, Joey Parsad, Andrew Pollard, Stefan Ruiz.

Time was when travelling meant more than just getting on a plane and complaining that the seats weren’t wide enough, the chance to leave a half-baked witticism on a website that gives you free reign to vent steam or to take the obligatory picture of your legs as they start to resemble sausages left in the frying pan for longer than is safe to do. Time was when it meant adventure, and whilst some still lovingly cling to that idea, now the over-riding thought is that it a holiday deserved, not a moment to be taught a lesson or to have your mind expanded.

Around The World In 80 Days, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Mark Thomas: Check Up Our NHS @70, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * * *

We never fully appreciate anything until either it has been taken away from us, or we find out the hard way how valued the service is. When the National Health Service was created, people fought hard to create something that would not only be the envy of the world, but which might inspire other countries, other politicians and leaders, to actually care about their citizens’ health, it has been a long struggle, and in Britain it seems that it is always under threat, targeted by groups of people who wish to see it dismantled and torn apart, delivering medicine and care for a price which many cannot simply afford.

Mark Thomas: Check Up Our NHS @70, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)