Originally published on L.S. Media. June 27th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: John McGrellis, Derek Barr, David Kennedy Jones.
God’s Official, the new production at the Unity Theatre, highlights for every fan the moment in the dead of night when the footballing gods have deserted the team you support, the sheer insanity and depraved lengths you would go to save them from sporting ignominy.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Stephen Arden, Sarah Harlington, Arina II, Richard Lowe, Richard Morse, Jessica Parker, Etisyai Philip, Rhiane Drummond, Gracie Lai, Cameron Sharp, Josh Tevendale.
Life is complicated, life is not always a bed of roses, neither is it a series of petals that cover up a piece of human anatomy at a time; life, like Time, is brutal, funny, sarcastic and sometimes downright terrifying, we have no way to control it, we have no way to subject it to our own whims; when you share a planet with seven billion other souls, getting everything you want is impossible and for that life is so much more interesting than ever.
Originally published by L.S. Media. June 7th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Oliver Birch, Philip Cumbus, Tom Davey, Laura Howard, Emily Pithon, Sarah Tansey.
Liverpool audiences have had to wait for quite a while for an Alan Ayckbourn play to come to the city and then like the proverbial bus, three come along at once.
The special and almost unique thing with The Norman Conquests is that it is not just one show but three specially crafted, incredibly well directed and lovingly bought to life plays that demand more attention for their ample moments of generous laughter that Alan Ayckbourn insists must be within all his plays, even when the subject matter is dour, there is always room for laughter.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 23rd 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
Cast: Paul Duckworth, Carl Cockram, Joe Shipman, Daniel Hayes.
The exceptional applause that rang out within the confines of the Unity Theatre’s studio two space said it all. From the exceptional performances by all the actors on stage, to the direction and the incredible writing of Mike Morris and Steven Higginson, Waiting For Brando was one of the most outstanding productions of our times.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 23rd 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
Cast: Denise Black, Michael Starke, Cynthia Erivo, Julie Atherton, Edward Baruwa, Gavin Cornwall, Gavin Alex, Jacqueline Clarke, Tyrone Huntley, Laurie Scarth, Daniel Stockton.
It is possibly the hardest job in the acting profession, to out act and outperform Whoopi Goldberg in possibly her most iconic role of Deloris Van Cartier from the hit 1992 movie Sister Act. In Cynthia Erivo, that was achieved with room to spare as she took on the role for the stage version of the film at the Liverpool Empire.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 18th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Des Flanagan, John Bradburn, John Mitchell, Josie Parks, Peter Highton, Jane Hill, Wendy Jones, Mark Jones, Dominic Pitt, Lee Gibson, Russell Parry.
There are not many cities within England that reflects on its past nor has much inspired and genuine hope for its future as Liverpool. The history is there for all to see and even on the most cursory of glances by a visitor to the city at any of the walls or historic monuments dotted around will see how the years have shaped the city’s heart.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 9th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
Cast: Kristen Atherton, William Chubb, Ben Lamb, Flora Nicholson, Sadie Shimmin, Shannon Tarbet.
To take the life of one of Britain’s foremost radical and supreme female writers of the last 200 years and present it as a dramatic and inspiring piece of theatre takes incredible fortitude, guile, a cast of infinite quality and a writer whose work is undoubtedly amongst the best in the country right now.
In Helen Edmundson’s Mary Shelley at the Liverpool Playhouse, the audience was treated rather spectacularly to all of the above and then some.
Originally published by L.S. Media. May 8th 2012
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Rachel Priest, Bairbre Ni hAodha, Cellan Scott, Lee Godwin, Sarah Niven.
There are still moments on both sides of Ireland’s border that still haven’t been fully explained. The atrocities on both sides that needs to acknowledged and grieved over before it seems the country can move on finally in the mould of one of the finest in Europe.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Katy-Anne Bellis, Jan Rule, Claire Jones.
For anyone who has contemplated it, the afterlife is pretty much like being here. Full of red tape, forms to fill in, stamped, counter stamped and ruthlessly checked over, strangers to sit next to and while away the hours whilst they wait for the bureaucratic nonsense to subside and the Angel of Death to become a quivering wreck. Such is the premise of Paperwork.
Originally published by L.S. Media. April 26th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
Thanks to Mandy Romero’s insightful look at the Hertfordshire new town of Stevenage, it’s easy to see why it can hold fascination with those that flocked to the area after the war and the hold it has on some people.
Yes, it’s doesn’t have the history or romance of Liverpool, the urbanization of Birmingham or the charm of Edinburgh, but for those that want to escape the villages that make up the U.K. or whereas Mandy would put it, to escape the places that’s more effective than any C.C.T.V. could ever hope to achieve, these new towns that sprang up over Britain after the war offered a safe haven, a chance to start again.