Category Archives: Theatre

My Afternoon With Bruce Lee, Theatre Review. World Museum, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joanna Moran, Andrew Di Tian, Rebecca Riley, John Purcell, Rachel Mckeown, Luke Sanders, Sheddie Broddle, Laura Jump.

It doesn’t matter what form it takes, physical, mental, sexual, domestic or nationalistic and governmental, bullying has to be one of the most reprehensible acts that one human can do to another. To usurp your alleged control over another person because you don’t like the way they dress, the way they speak, their mannerisms, their beliefs or culture, to belittle someone because they are different to you, because they might not agree with the way the world is and or even your own faults in which they keep quiet about is something that at times boggles the mind. It breeds self-loathing, introversion and can come to the most drastic of conclusions.

My Afternoon With Bruce Lee, Theatre Review. World Museum, Liverpool. full post

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

Hey Girl, Show Us Your Tips. Theatre Review, St. Helens Theatre Royal.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Mickey Finn, Clare Bowles, Charlie Griffiths, Lynne Fitzgerald.

As with many old, but undeniably great, habits and ways, the great British local pub, the bastion of native ways and hopes and drama, has for many years been on the road to serious decline. Cheap alternatives driven by greed and solitude have become the normal pursuit in some respects that the social constraints in which bound a community, a section of the communal population together has been driven headlong into a nearby abyss of soulless apathy.

Hey Girl, Show Us Your Tips. Theatre Review, St. Helens Theatre Royal. full post

(585 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

The Judgement Of Hakim. Theatre Review, Unity Theatre. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Nick Birkinshaw.

Testing Testing productions returns to the Unity with their mind-bending show The Judgement of Hakim. From the pen of Andrew Sherlock, he explores the idea of all of us being guilty of something, and how far we are willing to go to find it. The audience are very much a part of this show, and questions and accusations are made as to why we are here, what we have done and that nobody will get away with it; whatever ‘it’ may be.

The Judgement Of Hakim. Theatre Review, Unity Theatre. Liverpool. full post

(320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. (2014)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rachel Worsley, Rik Grayson, Errol Smith, Harki Bhambra.

There is a tightening feel in the back of the throat. The stomach, once calm in the open air of the London streets has started to behave like a badly serviced washing machine and the dank, dirty, dusty air is causing the lungs and pores to feel as though scrubbing for a month will not get the skin clean as it clings and scrapes away at any vestige left of reason like an urban fox clawing at the remains of a deep fried chicken and chips strewn on the pavements after one last beer was had.

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. (2014) full post

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

Noises Off, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jennifer Bea, Tupele Dorgu, Jessica Dyas, Stephen Fletcher, Kim Hartman, Phil Hearne, Chris Jordan, Jonathan Markwood, Danny O Brien.

The show must go on…even if there are sardines cluttering up the stage, the leading ladies hate each other, one of the leading men wants to kill the other with a fire axe and the Director is left a gibbering wreck, even with his enormous ego, in the wake of being on stage amongst the carnage and destruction that an acting troupe can bring to a theatre. Think you know theatre, then the magical mayhem of arguably the finest British comedy of the 20th Century, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, is one to behold.

Noises Off, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

One Man, Two Guvnors. Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Emma Barton, Derek Elroy, Shaun Williamson, Jasmyn Banks, David Verrey, Edward Hancock, Gavin Spokes, Alicia Davies, Patrick Warner, Elliot Harper, Michael Dylan, Lace Akpojaro, Owen Guerin, Mark Hayden, Katherine Moraz, Catherine Morris, Joseph O’ Malley.

Nobody can serve or be beholden to two people at the same time. Loyalties are not just split but they create a chasm so wide that even Eddie Kidd would have found it impossible to cross. However a single production to cater to the comedy needs of 2,400 people, especially if it is the National Theatre’s gem One Man, Two Guvnors.

One Man, Two Guvnors. Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Juvenalia. The Assembly Mound. Edinburgh. Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Simon Callow.

Satire it seems may be a dying art, no wonder when various governments and politicians have done their damndest to try and, for want of a better word, outlaw it, make it unacceptable, to make it seem offensive where there is no offence to be gleaned. They have succeeded by stealth, by somehow deflecting the real reason for satire, to poke the finger of jolly discontent at the objectionable behaviour of those who are paid handsomely to serve the state and insisting by doing so it is an attack on other sections of society.

Juvenalia. The Assembly Mound. Edinburgh. Edinburgh Fringe Festival. full post

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

Tiff Stevenson, Optimist. The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh. Edinburgh Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are many ways of looking at comedy; what floats one boat is likely to cause offence in another. The only way to look at comedy is just to go with it and enjoy what you see, if it is near the knuckle, if it disturbs you, makes you think too much of what another soul is going through then don’t go again, however should pathos and humour, the intelligent and the forthright honesty with a huge dose of the ultimate psychological feel good emotion of flirting thrown in, then you could no better than spending an evening with London comedian Tiff Stevenson and her take on the world of optimism.

Tiff Stevenson, Optimist. The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh. Edinburgh Festival. full post

(549 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Rory McGrath And Philip Pope: Bridge Over Troubled Lager. Edinburgh Fringe, The Assembly Rooms.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Edinburgh Festival is a potential match made in Heaven for the enjoyable combination of dexterous word play and musical accompaniment that is in the hands of Philip Pope and Rory McGrath in this year’s cool and witty Bridge Over Troubled Lager.   

The two comedians work together goes back so far that their comfortable approach to each other feels as though it pre-dates the time when Cornwall was annexed into the English culture. Such is the command of language at their disposal that the audience inside the Assembly Rooms were treated to a show in which the expected may have been seen coming just before the punch line but were nevertheless enthralled at the spectacle in front of them.

Rory McGrath And Philip Pope: Bridge Over Troubled Lager. Edinburgh Fringe, The Assembly Rooms. full post

(336 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

The Morgue Table, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating: * *

Cast: Mark Jones, John Bradurn, Des Flanagan, Russell Parry, Wendy Jones, Ashleigh Roberts, Tania Power, Wayne Lester, Jade Oxby, Anthony Russell, Liam Lloyd, Franny Conlin, Josie Parkes, Peter Highton, Dominic Pitt.

In Walton prison, inmates Tony and Ike have been summoned to see the Governor Mr. Grime who has a proposition that neither can refuse. The only problem is it involves going down to the haunted tunnels to the morgue to destroy the old morgue table. However, Tony and Ike have heard the stories about the morgue table being haunted and are a little hesitant to comply, but a reduced sentence is at stake.

The Morgue Table, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)