Doctor Who, The Shadow Heart. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 167.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, James Wilby, Kirsty Besterman, Chase Masterton, Eve Karpf, Alex Mallinson, John Banks, Jaimi Barbakoff.

“God, I live a complicated life.” muses the seventh Doctor as the effect of time travel and his position within a story that has criss-crossed a hundred years and three of the classic doctors comes under the scrutiny of a 100 year vengance . The Shadow Heart sees the culmination of a story that started in The Burning Prince with Peter Davison, continued with the superb The Acheron Pulse with Colin Baker and now sees the weirdest but ultimately intriguing part with Sylvester McCoy.

Doctor Who, The Shadow Heart. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 167. full post

(599 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Radiate, Liverpool Bandstand, Williamson Square.

Marcella Rick at the Liverpool Bandstand. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Perhaps one of the hardest jobs in the entertainment field is to amuse and tickle the fancy of those who have no time for what you are doing. This is especially hard when the task before the actor or musician takes place on a raw, rain filled afternoon just a few short weeks before the festive season arrives.

Radiate, Liverpool Bandstand, Williamson Square. full post

(289 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

The Hairy Bikers Larger Than Life Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Hairy Bikers, David Myers and Simon King, have become television cooking icons with their easy banter, superb knowledge of their craft and their towering personalities. These two men have made a contribution to the idea of combining cooking with the noble idea of the original B.B.C. mantra of Inform, educate and entertain.

In their case by travelling round the country and to far flung corners and blending the food of those places with a soft approach to laddish humour. It appeals to both genders and provides relief from the cooking shows that in some quarters can look down on their audience.

The Hairy Bikers Larger Than Life Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Time…

The Time

 

Is not yet passed where beer and talk are of the past,

 

To drink

 

And

 

Savour the last drop, of the chat

 

And conversations drunken blast, to hear the thoughts of

 

Men, of women and their bairn, is to hear and there

 

Belong again.

  

Ian D. Hall

The Cambridge, Liverpool. 2011

Permanent link to this post (62 words, estimated 15 secs reading time)

Roger McGough, As Far As I Know. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Roger McGough’s reputation goes before him. A man whose poetry touches all who read, take interest and enjoy the fascinating and humour filled poems. One of the Liverpool beat poets, along with Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, who has inspired generation after generation of the city’s inhabitants and bought the distinctive voice of those people to the wider world.

Roger McGough, As Far As I Know. Book Review. full post

(437 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

An Apology To Sidney.

To our dear friend Sydney, an apology!

I once forgot the secrets and the magic you hold.

A million words on sociology,

A million words on history wanting to be re-told.

As first years you are a novelty…new,

Shining, fabled, to be only whispered in hallowed voice.

As second years, we think your time is through.

It is in third year, I regret we left you, a bad choice.

Now let the voice of a million books ring out

And throw off the dust jacket and let us dive in

An Apology To Sidney. full post

(135 words, estimated 32 secs reading time)

Oh Hear, You Mighty Young Warriors…

Oh hear, you mighty young warriors and cry

For a freedom locked within the bowels

Of the library. Do not listen to the dissenters lie.

For through each student a voice unheard prowls,

Inspired by Lanyer, Lowell, Pound and Steven,

Not forgetting brawling Browning, faithful Poe, or go

In search of Hannah’s Craft where even

A lady of Tudor’s thoughts can inspire and grow.

I have sat here and there many times, and no doubt

Will again. I have read and insanely devoured

The words between the words between the space.

Oh Hear, You Mighty Young Warriors… full post

(130 words, estimated 31 secs reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Igor Memic.

Igor Memic. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

For anyone who was fortunate enough to catch Igor Memic’s production of Happy at the Lantern Theatre this year, not only was it a first rate play designed to make audiences think but it was one of the finest moments in surreal escapism that crowd would have been privy to see during 2012.

Igor Memic is an enigma, driven and destined it seems to go on and make the theatre a place where his name will be seen for many years. Igor was born in Mostar, Bosnia to a Bosnian mother and Croatian father. It is this exotic mix, combined with a love of London and Liverpool that makes him an impressive figure to talk to.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Igor Memic. full post

(2012 words, 1 image, estimated 8:03 mins reading time)

C.J. Sansom, Dominion. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

C. J. Sansom’s literary prowess is quite undiminished as he steps away from his famous creation of the lawyer Shardlake and the court of King Henry VIII and instead turns his thoughts to what the world and Britain would have been like had a moment in history fallen on the shoulders of Lord Halifax instead of Winston Churchill. Dominion is that toss of a coin moment in history in which Churchill doesn’t take the pivotal decisive step and take the office of Prime Minister and instead a new history is made and the whole of Europe, 12 years after the fateful Norway occupation, is under the jackboot of Nazism and Britain is suffering for her appeasement.

C.J. Sansom, Dominion. Book Review. full post

(529 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Fanny And Faggot, Theatre Review. University Of Liverpool.

Jessica Beare and Abi Carter in Fanny and Faggot. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jessica Beare, Abi Carter, Heather Madden, Harry Parker, Alex Webber-Date.

As director of the production, Rio Matchett should receive a lot of commendation for having the incredible fortitude and sheer will in putting herself and the superb cast through their paces for the play Fanny and Faggot. Not only is Jack Thorne’s play a minefield of emotions that the theatre goer may feel in parts uncomfortable with, it also forces that same theatre goer to understand the social depravity that Mary Bell was put through and what perhaps turned her head and her reasoning into one of unremitting violence.

Fanny And Faggot, Theatre Review. University Of Liverpool. full post

(450 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)