Category Archives: Theatre

The Absence Of War, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Reece Dinsdale, James Harkness, Cyril Nri, Maggie McCarthy, Amiera Darwish, Charlotte Lucas, Gyuri Sarossy, Theo Cowan, Barry McCarthy, Helen Ryan, Don Gallagher, Ekow Quartey.

History could have been so different but it is the joy of speculation that only makes the subject interesting, for the time the events take place, the winner and the loser are only remembered for being in the same race. It is up to the historians, the journalists and the playwrights to put flesh on the bones and the gloss of pallor of imagination on the cheeks of the long since departed. History though is not quite viewed in the same way when there is The Absence of War dictating the proceedings.

The Absence Of War, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(673 words, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

Cast: Lewis Bray, Garry Cooper, Emma Curtis, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Cynthia Erivo, Michael Hawkins, Charlotte Hope, Dean Nolan, Andrew Schofield, Alan Stocks, Tom Vary, Matt Whitchurch, Ozzie Yue.

One year on from the Everyman Theatre opening its bright, brand new interior to the people of Liverpool once more, throwing the wrapping of the impressive exterior and the doors being opened wide with a huge Merseyside smile, William Shakespeare returns to liven up the world and let the magic in the Everyman stage run over.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(556 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

The Three Lions, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, Antonia Kinlay, Ravi Aujula, Séan Browne, Tom Davey, Lewis Collier.

The performance on the field of play is what sells newspapers and lights up the hope in a nation. It is though the commotion, the sometimes arrogant fuss and nail chewing excitement that goes on behind the scenes that captures the imagination and provides the truth behind the success and failure, the unbelievable high and the very desperate low which makes drama so fulfilling.

The Three Lions, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(538 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Anything Goes, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Debbie Kurup, Matt Rawle, Simon Rouse, Hugh Sachs, Jayne Wymark, Zoe Rainey, Alex Young, Adam Dutton, Bob Harms, Nick Len, Andy Yau, Michelle Andrews, Anouska Eaton, Jack Evans, Victoria Hinde, Lauren Jade, Rebecca Jayne-Davies, Michael Lin, Dylan Mason, Joanne Lee Marrtin, Ryan Pidgen, Adam Rhys-Charles, Rohan Richards, Tom Partridge, Alexandra Waite-Roberts.

Anything Goes, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(565 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Eithne Browne, Roy Carruthers, Daniel Davies, Emma Dears, Brian Dodd, Christopher Jordan, Maria Lovelady.

There is a horrible sense of deja vu as one looks around closely in hidden doors and hears the sounds of families at war with themselves that the period known as the Great Depression, the 1930s stumbling block to world peace has been making itself at home for the last few years and nobody has truly noticed. Thankfully the true depths that the world groped around in the dark with during that time has not materialised again but only perhaps good fortune, rather than political reckoning has saved the type of scenes witnessed by the writer Helen Forrester as she grew up impoverished in a city that was fighting for grim survival and without even Twopence To Cross The Mersey.

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(517 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

The Diver, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Helen Foster

To explore, it is a fundamental part of humanity, that need to stretch out and find new lands, to discover fresh ways of achieving, to be the first to see something or experience new depths is what drives us. However with each passing moment the limits that we can go to are not just tested, they are slimmed down as more and more rules are imposed and limitations are set down, it takes sheer bloody mindedness to go beyond what is expected and those that do should be congratulated for doing so.

The Diver, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool. full post

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

Krapp’s Last Tape, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Nick Birkinshaw.

It is the shadow of what can happen to us all when we obsess over what has been and allow the memory room to breathe, take shape and distort what has been. The alienation of the future self as it withers into frosted, disgraced old-age as it rages against the impetuousness of youth and the exuberance of hope that resides in middle-age, all set down for posterity as mould settles on the floor and in the mind, these are the qualities that make Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape such an outstanding and rewarding play to see at the Unity Theatre.

Krapp’s Last Tape, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Jodie Prenger Returns To The Liverpool Empire Theatre In Calamity Jane.

Following a sell-out run at The Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Calamity Jane embarked on a national U.K. tour which opened at the Plymouth Theatre Royal on Wednesday 17th September 2014.  The Watermill Theatre production of Calamity Janeis produced by Jamie Wilson, Paul Elliott and Duncan C. Weldon and will play at the Liverpool Empire Theatre from Tuesday 5th May for one week only.

Jodie Prenger Returns To The Liverpool Empire Theatre In Calamity Jane. full post

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

Laura Gregory Cast In The Role of Sleeping Beauty For The Upcoming Production At The Theatre Royal.

Regal Entertainments are proud to announce the casting of Laura Gregory in the role of Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, in their upcoming production of Sleeping Beauty at St Helen’s Theatre Royal.

Running this spring half term from Friday 3rd to Sunday 12th April at St Helens Theatre Royal, audiences can expect magic, glitz, glamour, suspense and humour- all the ingredients that have helped to keep the Theatre Royal’s past seasonal shows so successful.

Laura Gregory Cast In The Role of Sleeping Beauty For The Upcoming Production At The Theatre Royal. full post

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

Until They Kick Us Out, (YEP), Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nadia Anim Mohammed Noor, Aaron Barker, Rachel Berry, Natalie Bedowska, Jacob Lee, James Bibby, Tiegan Byrne, William Catterall, Isobel Catterall, John Collins, Nick Crosbie, Daniel Fitzgerald, Lucy Harris, Heidi Henders, Poppy Hughes, Sean Hyland, Aaron Kehoe, Charlotte Larkin, Nina Levy, Scott Lewis, George Lomax-Ford, Niamh McCarthy, Hannah McGowan, Kathryn McGurk, Keeley Ray, Elliot Reeves-Giblin, Kaila Sharples, Janes O’Neil, Mark Powell, Jamie Pye, Nathan Russell, Harry Sargent, Curtis Wilson.

Until They Kick Us Out, (YEP), Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(676 words, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)