Category Archives: Theatre

The Nether, Theatre Review. Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, Ontario

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Mary-Maria Bourdeau, Tim Funnell, Randy Hughson, Andrea Runge, Nigel Shawn Williams.

It is the reveal of who we are in cyberspace, the change we make to be someone we cannot or should not be, that perhaps defines us; it is one thing to create a persona that others would not recognise if they were to bump into us in the unconscious sphere, it is quite another to let that simulated version of us to do damage, to harm sexually or mentally, another human being with our base and destructive desires.

The Nether, Theatre Review. Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, Ontario full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Nina: A Story About Me And Nina Simone, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Josette Bushall-Mingo, Shapor Bastansiar, Shaney Forbes, Jair–Rohm Parker Wells.

Political thought requires The Arts to remind it of just what it is fighting for on occasion, the rest of the time Art is there to take on the degraded and the foolish who seek power without representation, who make those who seek to undermine a person by the colour of their skin, their age, race, gender, sexuality or their perceived ability to do a job, Art must strive to admonish, rebuke and sternly warn by any means possible but it also must hold the hand, caress the soul and give comfort that whilst the holders of such ideas are wrong, they at least can be changed.

Nina: A Story About Me And Nina Simone, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Our Will, Theatre Review. The Black-E, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Adam Mohoney, Kerry Wells, Emily Darley, John Rand, Ben Small, Dawn Geary, George Goetzee, Sue Fawkes, Glyn Edwards.

It is not always about what is perceived to go on within the confines of a stage that makes a particular stand out memory for those honoured enough to see it or take time out of their lives to watch it, it is the knowledge of how deeply personal it is to the cast and how incredibly hard they have worked in overwhelming circumstances to make it happen, the sheer will, the graft and the pleasure, it can only be a case of Our Will against those who fight against such positivity.

Our Will, Theatre Review. The Black-E, Liverpool. full post

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

Father O’ Flaherty Saves Our Souls, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Clare Bowles, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton.

An outpouring of respect should be shown to an actor who puts their life in the hands of an audience to the extent that their own inner thoughts, their own passionate affair with the boards and with language become so consuming that they write a play off their own back and present it to a crowd, ever hungry, ever in need of a new production to hold close to their hearts, and feel the sweat and possible damnation coming off the rehearsal floor for.

Father O’ Flaherty Saves Our Souls, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Spine, Theatre Review. Playhouse Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Rosie Wyatt.

It is the mantra of the age, everything has its price and everything is for sale. This diabolical hymn somehow has managed to include the voice of the angry teenager and the most ingenious of weapons, the written word, it somehow had diminished both to the same level of inconsequence, of being nothing more than the leftover in the three for a fiver bin or the silenced dream of the less than irritated willing to put on a tie and a suit and become a nodding dog filled with false outrage.

Spine, Theatre Review. Playhouse Studio, Liverpool. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Leah Brotherhead, Garry Cooper, Aruham Galieva, Guy Hughes, Amber James, Charlotte Mills, Dharmesh Patel, Fred Thomas.

William Shakespeare is arguably the pinnacle of the English language, the most brilliant observer of human behaviour and the writer of some of the world’s finest plays; from Hamlet to Richard III, from Macbeth to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and onto Henry V and Love’s Labour’s Lost, all are instantly recognisable and charged with experience. Yet even the Bard had to start somewhere, even Shakespeare had to grind out an initial play that even in modern times is under produced, labelled problematic and one that even the B.B.C. in its infinite wisdom has shied away from repeating more than once.

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

The Rivals, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Desmond Barrit, Nicholas Bishop, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Lily Donovan, Keith Dunphy, Henry Everett, Jessica Hardwick, Julia Legrand, Lee Mango, Shaun Miller, Rhys Rusbatch.

One of 18th Centuries Europe’s finest wits and tamer of words never truly gets the praise he deserves in modern society, it is to be enemy of Time when figures such as Richard Sheridan are venerated and applauded by 21st Century audiences and readers of his work but to whom never seem to see the plays due to the length of the production and the fear of producers to take them beyond the boundaries of London.

The Rivals, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Happy Hour, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ian Cook, Adam Davies, Eleni Edupidi, Jennifer Essex.

Like convenience food, happiness is pre-packaged, put on a shelf and marketed, it is what everybody desires, everybody grasps for, fights over and goes out of their way to show to the world that they have seen a fleeting glimpse of it as the show an endless parade of pictures of their life on social media; happiness is no longer a cigar, it is an emotion that becomes more flawed and cracked the higher life takes you, for like money, the more you have, the more you need to keep the thrill going.

Happy Hour, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Life, Theatre Review. Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Suzanne Collins, Lenny Wood, Roy Brandon, Lynne Fitzgerald, Lesley Butler, Sam Hellier, Edwina Lea.

Life is in many respects all about the small victories, if you can wake each day and not fear the dawn, if you have a roof over your head, find that you are loved in even the smallest way and have food to eat. It represents the battle being won and perhaps the next day might constitute a smile worthy of being human; life is what happens every day, to all of us, each one capable of spreading a singular point of joy in the world, life is, as the song goes, what you make it.

Life, Theatre Review. Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight. full post

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

Tiffany Stevenson, Seven. Comedy Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It doesn’t seem five minutes since Tiffany Stevenson was wowing the crowds at this year’s Edinburgh Festival and yet in the month since she has been to America to discuss a film, reaffirmed her belief that Donald Trump is bad for women as well as others who may share the land of the free but somehow great for comedians and that somewhere along the line Giant Hogs are as dangerous a prospect in Louisiana as the possibility of Isis striking a direct hit in the swamps and that the great state relies heavily upon guns, lots of guns, weapons carried in full view and more than likely allowed in the disturbing scenes associated with a particular porn empire.

Tiffany Stevenson, Seven. Comedy Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)