Tag Archives: Liverpool

Educating Rita, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Educatibg Rita at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Stephen Vaughan.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Leanne Best, Con O’Neill.

The further we move away from a time in history, the more it seems to resonate with us in the present. In 1979 the social climate of the country changed, events and news from around the world started to mould Britain in a way not seen since the start of the Second World War and the pace of life altered, stagnation, alienation and guilt in some quarters, not enough in others, became a new breeding ground to hit people with a terrifying new stick with. Yet somehow, as if in rebellion to this flowering want, great music started to reflect the times once more and the mood of education was to be heard in many a great rock and pop song and into this world Willy Russell’s Educating Rita was born.

Educating Rita, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(656 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Cartoonopolis, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lewis Bray.

Imagination is arguably the greatest gift bestowed upon humanity. It can lead us down many paths that were once closed off for whatever reason and it can be a shelter in any storm, a place in which to escape to when the world is against you, a place in which to explore and create.

Cartoonopolis, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre Studio, Liverpool. full post

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

Jupiter Ascending, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton, Christina Cole, Nicholas A. Newman, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Ramon Tikaram, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tim Pigott-Smith, James D’Arcy, Jeremy Swift, Vanessa Kirby, Samuel Barnett, Terry Gilliam.

There is no doubting the scale of imagination of the Wachowskis. Other, arguably more highly regarded and even phenomenally charged films such as The Matrix trilogy and the exceptional V for Vendetta, will however be remembered with more fondness than the latest film to escape Andy and Lana’s burgeoning net, the visually stunning but poorly delivered Jupiter Ascending.

Jupiter Ascending, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(595 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Selma, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Roth, Clay Chappell, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Andre Holland, Colman Domingo, Omar J. Dorsey, Common, Tessa Thompson, David Dwyer, David Morizot, Dylan Baker, Wendell Pierce, Trai Byers, Keith Stanfield, Stan Houston, Nigel Thatch, Tara Ochs, Cuba Gooding Jr., Michael Shikany, Martin Sheen.

Selma, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(626 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Julian Cope, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Julian Cope at The Epstein Theatre in Liverpool 5th February 2015 photograph David Munn. www.davidmunn.co.uk.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When you come home, or at least the place that loves you like no other, then you are allowed to be yourself and be rewarded with affection, the hearty laugh and the biggest, most heartfelt slap on the back imaginable. For Julian Cope, a son of the Midlands, a musician who just knows instinctively how to write songs that captures essence and stirs emotions, is more welcome in Liverpool than the sight of a European Cup Final Trophy atop of Red Rum and at the Epstein Theatre, that essence came out of the pumped out mists and gave the packed out audience an evening in which no one would have left with anything but gladdened heart.

Julian Cope, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(584 words, 2 images, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Canoeing For Beginners. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Pauline Fleming, Stephen Fletcher, Harry Katsari, Michael Ledwich, John McArdle, Angela Simms, Jack Taylor-Wood.

Everybody has surely dreamed of running away from it all, to hide away from all known responsibilities and start afresh somewhere new, somewhere where they can never be found and where the grass can grow under their feet in perfect isolation. It either takes a lot of money, a lot of guts or the sheer force of will to make it happen…or you can buy a canoe, fake your own death and end up in a force ten hurricane with a picture of former Cuban President Fidel Castro looking at you with accusing stares and your children disowning you. Such is life on the open waves when you start Canoeing for Beginners.

Canoeing For Beginners. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(567 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Over The Garden Fence, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Hayley Riley, Louise Evans.

Life is so much more than what the gossips, those that peddle the rumour mill around you and the idle talk of the garden fence brigade; however when your life starts to go down a certain path, when the fullness of your own memories start to dissipate into thin air, when the edges of the snapshot start to fade and lose definition, are you no more than the sum of the declining anecdote relied with glee by your neighbours?

Over The Garden Fence, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

James Wyatt, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A Sunday night in, the chance to rest, perhaps fall asleep in front of the usual television offering that the last day of the week affords, is a tempting offer. The weekend over, the winding down and wrestling with the thoughts of another seven days firmly implanted into the mind, is perhaps unavoidable and yet somewhere along the line, surely that means missing out on something nice, something tangible and with meaning, a sound that is haunting and beautiful, a set of songs in which the musician opens his heart live on stage and lets the words flow meaningful and with honour.

James Wyatt, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Neal John Oade, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is folk music, then there is the granddaddy of the genre, the music that the immensity of the last 50 years owes as much a debt to the past as we, as listeners, owe the struggles and bravery of musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Ewan MacColl and Hamish Imlach. That granddaddy, the songs of the people in centuries past survive because they have a resonating truth that haunts every generation and stings them into some sort of resistance. The resistance might not take hold or be very strong but they at least leave a tangible fingerprint in which to remind that injustice should not stand.

Neal John Oade, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Kingsman: The Secret Service, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Taron Egerton, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Sophia Boutella, Jack Davenport, Samantha Womack, Sophie Cookson, Tom Prior, Alisha Heng, Corey Johnson, Hanna Alstrom, Edward Holcroft, Geoff Bell, Lily Travers.

Kingsman: The Secret Service, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(560 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)