The last words of the girl
as she laid herself down to die,
to drown in water,
lovelorn, love sick, driven mad
by an indecisive soul and one who
dismissed her and urged to attend
to more saintly needs, more virginal attire
and to praise a God that let her down,
these words were unheard
except by anyone who cares to listen
with intention, with thought in their minds
to hear quietly, the silent
mutterings of one driven
to the point of death;
hush now as she lays down
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Buring, Charlene McKenna, Jonas Armstrong, Anna Burnett, Lucy Cohu, Anna Koval, Matthew Lewis, Giacomo Mancini, Benjamin O’ Mahony, Killian Scott, David Threlfall, David Warner.
The streets of the East-End have known pain throughout their existence, the proximity to the docks, the burden of being so close to the capital of a country once steeped in historical value and now one of the mega cities, one that stretches beyond its natural borders and boundaries. At one time full of disease, rancour and malcontent, full of life and the firm grip of humanity sucking on its tender breast, a place of fascination and toil and yet at least for quite a few years, and despite the best attempts of many to introduce metaphorical ones, there are No Wolves in Whitechapel that require taming.
Do not temper my ill-reason
and allow the sharpness of my tongue
to mean anything less or be unequal
to the storm of cramp that binds my legs
in the middle of moonlight favour;
for in those spasms, in those dark pities
and muted screams for fear of stirring
from any dream bestowed by Morpheus,
I feel alive, rage forces me to seek the dawn
and shake my fist in furious attachment.
I must see the dawn, for the dawn brings hope.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Aitor Basauri, Stephen Kreiss, Petra Massey, Toby Park.
Not every death in Shakespeare’s cannon of work was memorable, not every murder grizzly or foretold by the fortunate chance happening of witches and perhaps not as impressionable to the romantic painters as the death of Ophelia, but there were lots of them, there were hundreds and not all of them on stage and not all of them as well affected as suddenly being pursued by a bear across a wild and abandoned coast line.
If only every death,
every murder, every execution
and tight lipped soliloquy
moaned and driven through barbed poisoning
by the players upon the stage,
were as interesting as the company
made them, then Polonius would not have died
in vein, killed by a misty eyed word,
Ophelia would not have drowned
languishing in a painted scene
and slowly dying of hypothermia
and Hamlet, dear Hamlet,
the man whom of first I read
but as a young child in some hand me down
book, tattered but loved, creased and bent
Alison Green at The Cavern, Liverpool. Iternational Pop Overthrow 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cut through the noise, reduce everything around you to a state of near silence, not so much pin dropping but that rare beat in which nobody breathes, nobody exhales or makes the slightest murmur at the exact same time, hack away at everything that detracts the senses and leave the bloodied corpses of indifference laying in their own pool of unreasonable understanding; for when Alison Green travels to the International Pop Overthrow, the event is one to savour for all its worth.
King Mojo at The Cavern in Liverpool. May 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The area around Middlesbrough, the town to which clings to the edge of the North East and its old Yorkshire heritage for all its worth, has had many excuse recently to party in celebration and joy as its sporting heroes place the town back once more in its arguably rightful place. It is one that is deserved but also tempered by the reality of government inaction, of a feeling of bitterness and anger at the way the area has been left to its own devices and face ruination at the hands of the dirty side of politics.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The look may have altered slightly, the line up somewhat different, however, there should be no doubting that the aspiration and kudos attached to the London band The Theme, the sound of a million marching ideas and clean cut lyrics remains the same, remains compelling and clear; this is still The Theme, this is still life as lovers of the International Pop Overthrow would know and understand.
The Theme continue the good work laid down in the recent past and whilst the band have changed some personnel, the commitment to the scene, to the rush of truthful grandeur and roughly inspired life continues unabated and with strength in depth.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Lucas Till, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Hardy, Alexandra Shipp, Lana Condor, Olivia Munn, Ally Sheedy, Tómas Lemarquis, Hugh Jackman, Stan Lee.
Uncanny as it seems but The X-Men are a franchise that keeps giving, not only in their graphic novel form but in the outline and grizzled affair that is cinema. This is certainly true as the first class trilogy comes to its conclusion in the exciting and worthy X-Men: Apocalypse.
From down in the steam covered pulpit,
the area filled with the sweat
of the encroaching night
and heavy breathe of tenderness,
I watch Whisky Ginger wryly
smile and lift up that one eyebrow,
slightly touched and kissed
by the sweeping gestured touch
of eye shadow, brownish tinge
alluring and deep in meaning,
as she combats the noise of indifference
and early weekend discussion, dissecting
through the early on-set liver damage
and creaking prostrate
that sits in a thousand men
who fall to their knees in deference.