Author Archives: admin

L’Étranger, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Luke Barton, Charlotte Wilson, George Doran, Liam Hale.

Two of life’s undoubted pleasures are seeing a piece of work for the first ever time on stage, played and directed with so much passion you could almost believe someone could be having an affair with the themes and words of Albert Camus and sending them flowers every weekend, and watching someone you first saw on stage many years ago, trusting your gut that their performance was magnificent, then catching them again and knowing that what you thought of their early promise was correct and they are now just sublime and outstanding. Two great pleasures in one play, L’Étranger, at the Everyman Theatre; life really is surrounded by strangers, clowns and shining brilliance.

L’Étranger, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Thea Gilmore, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To be in Liverpool as a music fan you really do have to pinch yourself sometimes just to make sure that what you are feeling is true and not just a karmic evil spirit giving you a good time only to say at the end, “None of it was true, it was all a dream, how’s that for Karma; love the rest of the U.K.”

Thea Gilmore, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(612 words, 1 image, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Nigel Stonier, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Nigel Stonier at The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When you are an accomplished and forthright musician and producer, it must be high level of instinct that drives the musical notes down the veins and out into the public arena; especially when you are opening the evening for a very talented lady who can charm the socks off an audience just by opening her mouth and letting the lush tones fall where they may.

Nigel Stonier, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(424 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

The Blue Touch, Theatre Review. The Gregson Institute, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Daisy Leigh, Shaun Stanley, Claire Kelly, Andrew Walsh.

Writer: Karla Sweet.

Grin Theatre delights in the story in which causes a ripple a shock throughout the audience, whether the well-intended, the deeply fascinating or the type that leaves a seismic tremor waiting to erupt in your stomach, Grin Theatre have it delightfully covered.

Karla Sweet’s contribution to Grin Theatre’s Young Playwrights Showcase certainly fell in to the final category to the point that anybody within a mile radius of the Gregson institute might have felt the lurking beginnings of a judder as the audience realised just exactly what was happening to the family in the play but also the trembling violence and retribution in which to come.

The Blue Touch, Theatre Review. The Gregson Institute, Liverpool. full post

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

Laying Tracks, Theatre Review. The Gregson Institute, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Elaine Stewart, Ben Sherlock, Ann Edwards.

Writer: Jack Stanley.

Grin Theatre and new writing, it goes hand in hand with a newly temperate person finding they adore the taste of Ginger Beer, an England football team being lauded and dismissed in equal measure and the hope that at some point an unpopular Government will fall upon their collective swords.

Laying Tracks, Theatre Review. The Gregson Institute, Liverpool. full post

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

Luke Cusato, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Rarely do you go out to see a musician on stage for the first time and come away feeling as though you have seen the blossoming stages of hybridisation of elegant poetry and the subtleness of keyboards notes wafting through the air as if caught on the wings of a Red Admiral in full flight. However for anybody in the Zanzibar Club in Liverpool ahead of a long steamy night, that is exactly what they would have felt stirring as they watched Luke Cusato perform.

Luke Cusato, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. full post

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

Run Tiger Run, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7^1/2/10

With a world that has so much going on a daily basis, sometimes an act may get overlooked. The fast pace of modern life ensuring that art mournfully suffers as the call on someone’s time eats into what would be a pleasurable experience. Either that or the prevalence to sit in an overcrowded bar with piped music assaulting the ears in much the same way waking up in amongst a flock of hungry seagulls at four in the morning would be inexcusably painful really is how people like to spend their spare time. Either way, to have missed Run Tiger Run give a commanding performance at the Zanzibar Club was one that should eat into the musical soul labelled regret.

Run Tiger Run, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Hillsborough.

In the hat, last four teams.

Hands rub, for successful dreams.

Reds meet Forest, Norwich see Blue.

And will Mersey fill Wembley? True!

Reds against YELLOWs went to play.

On a gorgeous April day.

Semi finalist in the cup.

And winners champers, to sup.

Two armies took over the town.

Spirits raised high, for the crown!

Flags amongst banners in the ground.

And smiles with laughs were compound.

The swarm of red inside.

Who wore the Merseyside pride.

Like animals, they were penned.

Hillsborough. full post

(262 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Last Of The Colophon. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7^1/2/10

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Gareth Thomas, Jane Goddard, John Voce, Jessica Martin, Blake Ritson.

The last of any species is one that surely deserves to be preserved for as long as possible, especially when they are the cause of the extinction of their entire race.

The Doctor and Leela arrive on the planet Colophos, a dead, seemingly barren world which is just dust and sand. The chance to relax is offered but there is something deadly lurking in the background and the Doctor and Leela, along with the crew of the survey ship The Oligarch have to fight for their lives against an enemy who revels in being unseen.

Doctor Who: Last Of The Colophon. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Chris Bevington And Friends. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Blues seems to bring out the very best in musicians, it also seems to the one genre in which many a talented artist seems comfortable in letting themselves go and placing themselves in the multitude of songs from its illustrious past. Jazz constantly re-invents itself, Progressive Rock is so utterly unique, Heavy Metal only really covered by the completely dedicated and pop, at times seems to let anything go, Blues however appeals in its homage to the past.

Chris Bevington And Friends. Album Review. full post

(373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)