Category Archives: Theatre

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Originally published by L.S. Media. July 7th 2011.

Cast: Tate Kearns, Philip Brookes, Jenny Tully, Amy Morris, Joesph Burns, Tom Martin, David Evans, Nicola Guy, Adam Titchmarsh, Josh Henfrey, Amy Lawson.

Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and ¾ was to 1980’s teenagers as the Harry Potter series has been to the current generation of children and young adults. In popular culture it was a book that was loved and adored by all who read it, it spawned a stage show in 1984 and then burst onto television the following year. The book follows the adventures of Adrian Mole, his dysfunctional family and his misinterpretation of the events that happen around him.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Yes, Prime Minister, Theatre Review. Apollo Theatre, London.

Cast: Simon Williams, Richard McCabe, Chris Larkin, Charlotte Lucas, Kevork Malikyan, Jonathon Coote, Michael Chadwick, Mark Extance, Sarah Baxendale.

Some comedies are created great, some achieve greatness and then there was the political satire that set the bar so high it had greatness thrust upon it and the sincerest kind of admiration that Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister deserved.

Yes, Prime Minister, Theatre Review. Apollo Theatre, London. full post

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

Down Our Street, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 2nd 2011.

Cast: Micky Finn, Terry O’Shea, Mark Allen, Ruth Laird, Louise Thomas, Laura McEwan, Clair Griffiths, Dave Crosby, Ami-Lee Price, Charlie Griffiths.

For tears, laughter, a genuine dollop of nostalgia and long buried memories, audiences could not go far wrong to catch Brian McCann’s musical play Down Our Street.

Although only running for three days at the Unity Theatre, the play is sold out with no room to spare as audiences were treated to the birth of a town and an industry that supported the growth and presided over some of the bad times that sometimes inevitably follows it.

Down Our Street, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

We Will Rock You, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 9th 2011.

Cast: Ian Reddington, Earl Carpenter, Noel Sullivan, Amanda Coutts, Ashley J Russell, Leon Lopez, jenny Douglas, Mathew Craig, Nicola Poustie.

It took time, but finally the global smash hit We Will Rock You found its way to Liverpool, ripped up the rule book on entertaining an audience that were already near to giving a standing ovation before they even opened the curtain and gave the kind of performance that the culture capital of the U.K. deserved and gave every other production due to come to Liverpool this year a very big headache and a huge hurdle to overcome.

We Will Rock You, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Tales From Under the Counter, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 11th 2011.

Cast: Alice Bunker-Whitney, Holly Wilson-Guy.  

Tales From Under the Counter is the debut performance from the women behind the Idiotinsync Company. Deeply dark, in places disturbing as the audience realises that there are blind spots that we don’t see what happens in too people struggling in business against the big corporations and yet underneath it all touching and fresh.

Alice Bunker-Whitney and Holly Wilson-Guy took on the mantle of six people in one and half hours, all in their own way struggling with the pressure of the modern world, whether through relationship breakdown, loss of a family member or the recognition that the banks could foreclose on a business that may have stood for generations.

Tales From Under the Counter, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre Liverpool. full post

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

The Daily Times, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 14th 2011.

Cast: Oliver Reynolds,  Mike Idris, Amy Stokes.

The Unity is one of those rare examples of a theatre that is prepared to take chances and offer a wide range of productions that can be fresh, exciting and mind blowing to sit through, the enjoyment is there regardless and even in a play that doesn’t quite hit the mark, the theatre should be congratulated for putting it on and letting audiences decide for themselves.

The Daily Times, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(362 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

It’s Uniformation Day, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Originally published by L.S. Media. October 12th 2011.

Cast: Britt Jurgensen, Ben Philips, Mary Pearson.

One of the fascinating and tremendous things about spending the night in the theatre is that occasionally you get challenged to think outside of the metaphorical box and tackle something that will really get the imagination going and the fingers poised over the top of your head ready to scratch just in case you might not realise what’s going on.

It’s Uniformation Day, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool full post

(348 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Withering Looks, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. October 23rd 2011.

Direction: Noreen Kershaw.

Cast: Sue Ryding, Maggie Fox.

LSMedia Rating: ****

The company’s name may be Lip Service but the two actors who make up this wonderful duo do more than pay the barest glimpse into the lives of two of the leading literary lights of the 19th Century, they bring Charlotte and Emily Bronte to life in a way not thought of but in a style that was highly original and warmly greeted by all those in attendance.

Withering Looks, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Calendar Girls, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. November 22nd 2011.

L.S Media Rating *****

Cast: Ruth Madoc, Jennifer Ellison, Lynda Bellingham, Jan Harvey, Rula Lenska, Debbie Chazen, Joe McGann, Bruno Langley, Jane Lambert, John Labasnowski, Camilla Dallerup.

It takes a play of some magnificence to come back to Liverpool two years running, then again, they don’t come much more magnificent than Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls.  Based on a true story of a Womens’ Institute that took on establishment ideals and went on to become a global phenomenon, Calendar Girls reaches out to the audience’s soul and melts even the stoniest of hearts in its powerful, heart-breaking and supremely funny story.

Calendar Girls, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Little Scouse On The Prairie. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media November 30th 2011.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Cast: Paul Duckworth, Stephen Fletcher,  Lindzi Germain,  Rachel Rae, Andrew Schofield, Alan Stocks, Zeoi Cozens, Niamh  Fitzgerald, Kay Stanton, Sarah Walker.

Every great story deserves a sequel. Every drunk Irish Catholic Father who is best friends with four former gambling mad nuns and who escaped the island of Secosu merits the chance to have his story continued.

Little Scouse On The Prairie. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)