Originally published by L.S. Media. September 8th 2010.
Cast: Warren Donnelly, Dean Sullivan, Bernadette Foley, Eithne Browne, Kate McEvoy, Kris Mochrie, Marc Hughes, Emma Nowell.
Sequels can either be hit or miss, whether on stage or at the cinema the hard task of the writer is to make the next part of the story just as enjoyable as the previous one. Sometimes this doesn’t work; there is too much affection for the characters in the first story that any derivation from the plot is never forgiven.
Nicky Allt manages to keep to the much loved structure and from the start there are some wonderful comic moments provided by the large screen at the back as we are given a short recap of what had already passed and with the aid of some great images, the audience were able to see the Runcorn Bridge get blown up.
But that’s where the two storylines start to differ as the audience is shown the point of view from the Wirral side and in particular the Laird family; who having seen their finances slide during the recession, see a way to get their fortune restored by taking advantage of the situation and the turmoil that has ensued.
The cast was headed brilliantly by Liverpool favourite Eithne Browne as Margret Laird who gave one of her sterling performances as the deeply scarred housewife. Her rant against all things Liverpool was in stark contrast to her turn as Mrs. Twacky in the first play. In the first production her character was seen as just having a chip on her shoulder but in this new play, which in all honesty was as darkly comic as could be possibly imagined, she seemed to be a woman ground down by her sudden dip in social circles and as the play progressed, the desperation of life, culminating in her husband’s arrest was not for the faint hearted.
As with any Nicky Allt play the twisted lyrics to old favourite’s songs are a joy to hear, in Brick Up the Mersey Tunnels the sight of Davy Edge, Drew Schofield and Carl Chase on stage and giving new lyrics to the Pink Floyd Classic Another Brick in the Wall had the audiences time after time in stitches. I am confident that relative newcomer Kris Mochrie practising his “Liverpool Walk” to the tune of Genesis’s I can’t Dance will have the same desired effect on all those who attend this play in the future.
Whatever your reasons for going, do not expect a laugh a minute play on the scale of Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels , this is more on the side of a serious drama with a few comic moments.
Ian D. Hall