Category Archives: Theatre

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)

Annie Get Your Gun, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jason Donovan, Emma Williams, Norman Pace, Dermot Canavan, Ed Currie, Kara Lane, Yiftach Mizrahi, William Oxborrow, Lorna Want, Ste Clough, Matthew Dale, Natalie Day, Floe Fields, Sarah Galbraith, Jonny Godbold, Hannah Grace, Katie Marie-Carter, George Parry.

There is no business like show business…even when sometimes during a performance, for whatever reason, the tension in the actor’s voices, the verve and command of the piece feels a little flat, there is still nothing quite listening to an audiences reaction before the star of the show says a word and the adulation given at the end of the musical.

Annie Get Your Gun, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Bouncers, Theatre Review. The Royal Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Broughton, Danny O’ Brien, Louis Emerick, Michael Starke.

The 1980s nightclub, the big night out, big hair, cheaper beer, even cheaper aftershave and perfume sprayed on as liberally as showering underneath Victoria Falls for five days and then taking a dip in a swimming pool to get that real deep down scent. This was the time, depending on where you were living and your circumstances dictated in which Saturday night was the highlight of the week, the chance to meet the girl of your dreams, the man of your nightmares and all washed down with enough alcohol to drown an angel on a week-long bender on a Spanish holiday, all you had to do was get past the Bouncers on the door.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. The Royal Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

The Art Of Falling Apart, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Tim Lynskey, Matt Rutter.

Monty Python may have sold its last dead parrot, served its last piece of Spam and finally insisted that he is not the Messiah, he is just a naughty boy but that’s not to say what has been bequeathed down the years has been forgotten, especially by the three men that make up Big Wow and arguably one of the finest pieces of comedy theatre that you ever likely to lay your eyes upon in  The Art of Falling Apart.

The Art Of Falling Apart, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)