Originally published by L.S. Media. December 21st 2011.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Tina Malone, Jamie Rickers, Pete Price, Craig Philips, Mickey Finn, Leanne Campbell, Lizzie Warburton, Chris Crookhall, James Waud.
To have one hit Christmas show over the festive period is good fortune, to have two is nothing short of incredibly superb.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Mickey Finn, Clare Bowles, Charlie Griffiths, Lynne Fitzgerald.
As with many old, but undeniably great, habits and ways, the great British local pub, the bastion of native ways and hopes and drama, has for many years been on the road to serious decline. Cheap alternatives driven by greed and solitude have become the normal pursuit in some respects that the social constraints in which bound a community, a section of the communal population together has been driven headlong into a nearby abyss of soulless apathy.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Jennifer Bea, Lindzi Germain, Michael Swift, Warren Donnelly, Tony James, Richie Grice, Mickey Finn.
The thing with some productions is that they do exactly what they say on the tin, there is no small print suggesting that the production will be akin to some lost Shakespeare play, full of pathos and anger, cunning and revenge. Instead it just happens to be good, in some cases very good at being able to give people exactly what they need, especially in a world that seems to be very bleak and full of unpleasantness, that of laughter and an excuse to crack a smile and laugh till it hurts. For Bon Voyage, presented by Boom Boom Productions, this is that type of play and for that the smile just got a little broader.
Richie Grice cuts a commanding but ultimately loveable figure as he sits before you. His love of comedy radiates outwards from the very time you meet him and he certainly knows his stuff and his ready laugh is easy and a joyous thing to hear whenever you mention something that tickles his own funny bone.
With rehearsals well under way for Bon Voyage at The Epstein Theatre, which stars the superb Lindzi Germain and the legendary Mickey Finn, I was able to catch ten precious minutes with the man who co-wrote the play with Paul Nicholson at The Garden at FACT and ask him his thoughts on the play and on comedy.
Dannielle Malone, Paul Opacic, Nikki Sanderson in Rita, Sue and Bob Too! Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Tina Malone, Nikki Sanderson, Paul Opacic, Dannielle Malone, Mickey Finn, Elyn Kennedy, Paul Malone.
In 2011 Andrea Dunbar’s Rita, Sue and Bob Too! had a sell out run at the St. Helens Theatre Royal, as it comes round again it is easy to see why this portrayal of Margaret Thatcher’s council estate Britain is such a popular and long lasting hit production.