Category Archives: Theatre

The Crucible, Theatre Review. Static Gallery, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Tony Irwin, Christine Heaney, Sally Fildes-Moss, Kevin Foott, Jack Spencer, Sophie O’Shea, Donna Ray Coleman, Dan Pendleton, Lee Burnitt, Shaun Roberts, Leanne Jones, Paula Stewart, Meera Bala, Alex Clark, Bradley Thompson, Sophie Kirby.

Within 12 months Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, arguably one of the towering stage works of the 20th Century, has been performed in Liverpool by two amateur dramatic companies. In both cases the play that has been seen by audiences has left them spellbound and lost for words. This particular version by Tell-Tale Theatre at the Static Gallery and Directed by Emma Whitley and produced by Leanne Jones is without doubt the finest production possibly seen on either side of the Atlantic in decades and something that the playwright would have salivated over and found disturbingly majestic.

The Crucible, Theatre Review. Static Gallery, Liverpool. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

The Victorian in the Wall, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Will Adamsdale, Lyndsey Turner, Jason Barnett, Chris Branch, Matthew Steer, Melanie Wilson.

The thinkers guide to writing procrastination, or rather how to give an audience that one special night where everything comes together, comedy, drama, talking fridges and builders who belittle your confidence with their knowledge of art. Everything that can ever go right and wrong in the course of a week whilst your girlfriend is away is explored to its absolute best by Will Adamsdale in the superb and captivating comedy, The Victorian in the Wall.   

The Victorian in the Wall, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Tongues, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Helen Kerr, Paul Culshaw, Eddie Fortune, Dale Grant.

There are two sets of horror, the one that sets out to shock from the start, blood and guts everywhere, sometimes instruments of terror are involved and in the end it becomes a gore fest, certainly a jolt to the system but doesn’t leave much to the imagination. There is nowhere for the audience member to go to. The other type is explored by Grin Productions and Wes Williams’ dramatic, sometimes bestial, totally compulsive and mind wrenching production of Tongues.

Tongues, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street. full post

(372 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

A Strange Wild Song, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Christopher Harrisson, Julian Spooner, Matthew Wells, Daniel Wilcox, Laila Woozeer.

There is a moment in A Strange Wild Song, a well written piece by Rhum and Clay, where the audience feels part of the action, the bombs being dropped from overhead planes that are falling around the near destroyed French village resonate and echo through 70 years and a couple of hundred miles and bring those in the auditorium face to face with one of the most inhuman parts of human history…and with one of the most interesting tales from World War Two.

A Strange Wild Song, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(343 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Borges And I, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Grace Chapman, Sophie Cullen, Nicholas Pitt, Ellie Simpson, Joel Gatehouse, Kate Stanley.

Who controls the words you see? Who do the words that each and every human on the planet fortunate enough to read and enjoy, belong to each and every day? For those that lose the ability to see the words that have meant so much to them, the psychological damage can be devastating.

Borges And I, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(355 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

The History Boys, Theatre Review. Stanley Theatre, University of Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Alex Pardey, James Boys, James Telfer, Martin Poile, Harry Parker, Jonny Campbell, Jack Conway, Liam Middleton, Akthar, Gertaint Williams, Barney Elliot, Alun Simpson, Georgina Rose.

There are moments in a young actor’s life, whether or not they take it any further in years to come or are content with having been a part of just one show, where they will look back and relish in the memory of what they achieved in two hours on stage.

The History Boys, Theatre Review. Stanley Theatre, University of Liverpool. full post

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

Cafe Chaos, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Joanna Croll, Jamie Matthewman, Sam Parks, Sian Williams.

The humble cafe is the place where you get to meet the finest array of characters, all with their own peculiar stories of loves and their lives. It is the place where people meet and confess their deepest thoughts and fears and those that really run the establishments, the waiters and the chefs act as father or mother confessors to anyone who may pop in for a routine cup of tea and to tell someone their news. Such is Cafe Chaos; such is the scale of life.

Cafe Chaos, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Mark Womack, Rene Zagger, Scot Williams, Samantha Womack.

Hope should never be denied to anyone, take it away and you deny that person the only thing they may have keeping them sane. Hope also can be secretive and a hard but forgiving mistress and to base a production around this idea takes the slight touch of genius and adds it to a script by Scot Williams which is utterly absorbing, playful but also captures the very essence of writing

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Georgina Panteli, Lucy Swain, Madeline Smart, Polly Couslon, Mark Raynor, Benedict Spence, Mary Jayne Cooper, Charlie Wilson, Alex Webber-Date, George Dorran, Graham Cain, Jacob Lowman, Pallav Ratra.

There is something about Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex that speaks down through the ages in such a way that its brutality, jealousy, pride and ignorance are more akin to 21st century human nature than people probably care to admit. It is a play that can divide opinion and cause many a troubled thought to enter the audiences’ minds due to the graphic nature that can be readily employed by the company performing it.

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Is There Anybody There?, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Francis Williamson, Marry Hyam, Kathy Upfold, Steven Hill, Michelle Potts.

There are some things that should not be messed around with, mixing the grape and the grain, the electricity meter, the dark and mystifying occult and four women whose lives are more entangled than they have ever believed. So all human life and a little bit more is all on show for John Evans’ play Is There Anybody There? and the answers are there for all to see like a man’s ashes on a otherwise clean carpet.

Is There Anybody There?, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(353 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)