A Cosy Murder, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Becky Illsley, Alice Ellerby, Natasia Hodge.

Think back to all the great detective shows and heroes, Poirot, Marple, Barnaby, Frost, Cagney and Lacey, Morse, all known for their cunning wit, dogged determination in the face of evil and murder and not quite the knack of spinning out a yarn with humour and unbelievable, almost  astonishing, acts of feat. It is highly unlikely that Jean Marple would throw herself around with the same amount of gusto that Becky Illsley and Alice Ellerby managed in their performance of A Cosy Murder.

A Cosy Murder, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(344 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Evita, Theatre Review. Liverpool Empire Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Marti Pellow, Madalena Alberto, Mark Heenehan, Sarah McNicholas, Nic Gibney, Verity Burgess, David Burilin, Joseph Connor, Natalie Day, Joel Elferink, Laura Emmitt, Emily Goodenough, Antony Hewitt, Stuart Maciver, Joe Maxwell, Perry O’Dea, Lizzie Ottley, Ryan Pidgen, Anthony Ray.

Evita should be considered as one of the ultimate musicals to be penned in the last 40 years, it is a production that has everything, arguably the single most important role for a woman to perform in musical theatre, the craving of success and just enough controversy weaved and hidden away within its score to make theatre goers come back for more time and time again.

Evita, Theatre Review. Liverpool Empire Theatre. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Assemble, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jackie Jones, Nuala Maguire, Marie Westcott, Sarah Keating, Becky Brooks, Sophie Smith, Josie Sedgewick Davies, Maggie Quinlan.

Four plays written, edited, practised and performed inside 24 hour whilst all the while at the back of the minds of all involved with Lady Parts Theatre the small nagging doubt that this perhaps can be a jump too far for all participating in the project. Assemble was the rallying call and assemble with flying colours they did, all present and correct, suitably attired and as a bonus were just magnificent.

Assemble, Theatre Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool. full post

(477 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Kerry Ellis And Brian May, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are some people that just can hold an audience’s appreciation of their craft so well that it is a privilege to watch their response to their heroes on stage.  Even keeping yourself at a respectful distance so that you can take in the message of the evening, watch both the reaction of performer and crowd, somehow observing one of the greats of rock Brian May and the sensational singer Kerry Ellis draws in the most impassive of spectators.

Kerry Ellis And Brian May, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. full post

(414 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

The Serpent’s Defence For Eve.

The Serpent swallowed hard and looked Eve squarely in the eye,

“Do not worry oh first woman of many,

I may be tempting you with forbidden fruit

But they will soon forget your lust and realise

That Adam’s sin was greater

And how they shall talk and will not defend his honour

You will be blameless, they shall all whisper

Of how I corrupted him.

 

Ian D. Hall 2013

 

Permanent link to this post (73 words, estimated 18 secs reading time)

When The Albatross And Norfolk Met.

Castle Cornet stood proud in the afternoon Channel Island sun. The centuries old

And worn facade that had withstood civil hostilities in the household

The Emperor, the writing of Hugo as he gazed down enquiringly from his exile and to

Those whose heinous crimes and morally tattered flag that still live in the minds of Guernsey folk.

The walls shook and trembled at our first meeting where I asked you the time

As you walked, wandered past me, youthful hips wiggled and laughed.

A sly scenic smile upon your lips that were three months older than mine

When The Albatross And Norfolk Met. full post

(366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Noises Off, Theatre Review. The Lowry, Salford.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Maureen Beattie, Neil Pearson, David Bark-Jones, Thomasin Rand, Danielle Flett, Chris Larkin, Sasha Waddell, Simon Bubb, Geoffrey Freshwater.

What Noises Off brings to the stage, is the sense of what regional theatre really is like, fly by the seats mayhem, utter confusion and misunderstanding and above all just the most amazing and side splittingly funny couple of hours you can ever hope to have in a theatre.

The Lowry in Salford is the latest venue to host Michael Frayn’s incredible farce and with a cast that you just want to carry on forever, causing mayhem and theatrical anarchy as they go.

Noises Off, Theatre Review. The Lowry, Salford. full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

From A French Lover To The Cold And Aloof.

I tucked Kerouac into my back pocket, a set of pouches stitched together in jeans that already

Held thirty dollars in loose change, a bus ticket that was never checked

By the young black driver who just gave me a smile as he wished

Me a good evening and was amused when I answered back with an English accent.

A chocolate bar, half eaten, evidence of the journey I had taken to find you.

Kerouac groaned as he span in his grave to see his work becoming

Lost in the back of my trousers.

From A French Lover To The Cold And Aloof. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound and Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Rising Comedian Alastair Clark.

Alastair Clark sits back in the seats on the first floor of FACT on Wood Street and grins. The man who hails from Grantham in Lincolnshire is intensely likeable as a person, as many of University colleagues have threatened to attest to, he is one of the many University graduates that find themselves at the bitter end of the current recession/depression, depending on who you talk to, saddled with debt for wanting to learn and trying to make a difference.

Liverpool Sound and Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Rising Comedian Alastair Clark. full post

(1654 words, estimated 6:37 mins reading time)

Ian McNabb, Eclectic Warrior. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If you come across Ian McNabb at a gig or sitting in a pub somewhere in Liverpool over the next few months, politely shake him by the hand and tell him what a fantastic and expansive recording Eclectic Warrior is. You would be doing one of Liverpool’s finest sons a great honour because it is not just fantastic, this is Ian McNabb, the man who can sing Pink Floyd harmonies with random strangers and make the interloper sound polished and professional, at his very, very best. Part belligerent, confrontational, creatively fiery and impassioned in his lyrics, wonderfully passionate in his music and if Great Things in 2010 was a huge stepping stone, this sees Ian leaping gaping chasms in the music cause.

Ian McNabb, Eclectic Warrior. Album Review. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)