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.
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.
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.
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.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 9th 2011.
L.S. Media Rating * * * * *
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.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Micky Finn, Crissy Rock, Suzanne Collins, Lesley Butler, Lenny Wood, Lynne Fitzgerald, Roy Brandon, Lindzi Germain, Ruth Laird.
There may be a very wide river that runs between Liverpool and Birkenhead, perhaps at times it may seem like a gulf or a yawning chasm but the actual differences between the two sides of the Mersey are in truth very small. Birkenhead and Liverpool are communities, communities built upon tradition, hard work and friendship and in Brain McCann’s outstanding musical play, Down Our Street, the history of Birkenhead is explored to its fullest, from the founding stones of John Laird and the thoughts of a model town and the shipyard that still bares the family name.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
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.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 7th 2011.
L.S. Media Rating * * * *
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.
Originally published by L.S.Media. June 16th 2011.
Cast: Eddie Fortune, Rosie MacPherson, John James Tomlinson.
One of the final plays of the current season on offer by the Unity Theatre is the hard hitting and emotional drama, Elastic Bridge. Unusually for a play, as the audience took their seats to enjoy the show, one of the actors was already on stage pacing the small set in a scene of absolute desperation etched all over his face. This unique beginning drew the audience in straight from the start and provided a new take on how to stage a performance.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 28th 2011.
Mikhail Bulgakov is not a name that runs easily off the lips and there will be many who will not have had the pleasure of reading anything by possibly one of the greats of Ukrainian literature which is a shame for his adaptation of Black Snow by Keith Dewhurst is one of the most perfect satirical take on the life within theatre and its allusions to nationhood.