Tag Archives: Royal Court Theatre

Macca & Beth, Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Theatre Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Emma Bispham, Gordon Kane, Andrea Miller, Jerome Ngonadi, Danny O’Brien, Jamie Smelt, Karen Young.

“No legacy is so rich as honesty”, as the bard of Stratford noted in All’s Well That End’s Well, or if trust in honour isn’t the bag you entertain when thinking of wills, then to think of theatre as a plaything to be held at arm’s length is a foolish notion that we must discard quickly and efficiently if we are to continue thinking that society is an inheritance that we must preserve at all costs.

Macca & Beth, Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Theatre Review. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision Review Of 2017.

The year has perhaps been one of diverse feelings across the board in Liverpool, one in which reflection, triumphant returns, masterpieces and some sadness has been experienced. The Playhouse Theatre has undergone work for a while and yet held inside its doors one of the most magnificent scenes caught on camera as Annette Bening and Jamie Bell recreated one of the last days of the film star Gloria Graham for the cinematic love letter, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. The much loved Unity Theatre closed its doors for a time and reopened with a flourish as it too underwent a change in its decor and look and yet still retains the welcome that makes it one of the places to visit in the city.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Review Of 2017. full post

(2216 words, estimated 8:52 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Supplement, An Interview With Angela Simms. (2015).

Angela Simms has come so far in what seems such a short space of time. Undoubtedly one of the bright young things of Liverpool theatre comedy, her performances in productions such as in the superb If The Shoe Fits, Ladies Day, Special Measures, The Hitchhikers Guide To Fazakerley and The Rainbow Connection, have had audiences flocking to see more of this talented and approachable Liverpool actor.

From working with the gifted Donna Lesley Price and Richie Grice in the superb If The Shoe Fits, to performing at the Royal Court Theatre, Angela Simms has captivated audiences with a seamless elegance intertwined an a great aptitude to her craft and boundless energy.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Supplement, An Interview With Angela Simms. (2015). full post

(1286 words, estimated 5:09 mins reading time)

Lynne Francis Fills In For Helen Carter At Scouse Of The Antarctic.

The show must always go on…it is not quite law, but to the artist, be it actor, painter or musician, it is a loaded phrase that at some point seems to present itself fully and without warning. It can strike disaster, it can bring the house down with well-deserved applause from a grateful and highly delighted audience.

With one of the stars, the incomparable Helen Carter, having suffered an injury to a rib and with around 90 minutes to curtain, the highly successful and tremendously funny Christmas show, Scouse of the Antarctic, could have suffered a set-back which would have been upsetting for the huge crowd that had made their way to the Royal Court Theatre on a cold January night on one of the final evenings of the top rated Liverpool show.

Lynne Francis Fills In For Helen Carter At Scouse Of The Antarctic. full post

(329 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Jonathan Markwood.

 

Jonathan Markwood is no stranger to the Royal Court Theatre. An actor, an artist of great repute and somebody who just seems to be able to play any role the Royal Court, or indeed any theatre, cares to put his way. Recently he has been part of the cast that bought the superb Lennon back for yet another successful run, and who has to be said had audiences enthralled with his scintillating timing of the Ring Master at the start of the second half, his spot on portrayal of George Martin and John and Cynthia Lennon’s art tutor. He also played alongside Michael Starke and Roy Brandon in the wonderfully entertaining Laurel and Hardy revival piece, The Sons Of The Desert.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Jonathan Markwood. full post

(1577 words, estimated 6:18 mins reading time)

Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2014)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: John Power, Tom Connor, Kirsten Foster, Ross Higginson, Adam Keast, Jonathan Markwood, Daniel McIntyre, Mark Newnham, Nicky Swift.

It is impossible to thank somebody across the ages, to shake their hand and say cheers for bringing a story to life, even when that person is still such a force in Liverpool’s artistic and cultural society, you cannot go back to a day over 30 years ago and tell them thank you for telling the dramatic life of one of the true heroes to have come from a city in which salutes its champions harder than anywhere else in the country. However if you should bump into Bob Eaton then try your absolute best to thank him for taking the chance on a production at the Everyman Theatre just a few short months after the passing of John Lennon.

Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2014) full post

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

Sex And The Suburbs, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Claire Sweeney, Lindzi Germain, Carl Patrick.

Radio has come a long way since its early days. It has seen many advancements, dedicated music channels, digital, analogue being banished to the wasteland of history but still lingering on coughing and spluttering in a superhuman effort to keep a vessel of the past open. Pop stars come and go and in some cases come back again and of course the advent of talk radio, the small bubble in which people can lose their rag at a voice a hundred miles away and confess all to an aural-voyeuristic nation. It seems nothing is off limits and when it comes to Sex and the Suburbs, everybody has a story to tell and an opinion to express.

Sex And The Suburbs, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Special Measures, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Eithne Browne, Paul Broughton, Stephen Fletcher, Jessica Guise, Colin Hoult, Adam Search, Angela Simms, Michael Starke.

St Jude’s Primary School has been placed into Special Measures, the universal, one size fits all term, to denote that somewhere something is not right with the system.

When Tory M.P. Thomas Winters feels the wrath of the P.M.s anger at being hit by a croquet mallet in a particularly painful constituency, he is dispatched to tick the right sort of boxes in a North of England school and make amends. The fall out, the so called oppressed kicking downwards is not new but for the Head Master and staff of St. Jude’s the fall of basic humility and understanding looking them in the eyes is one that is too much to bear.

Special Measures, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Sons Of The Desert, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Roy Brandon, Michael Starke, Lori Haley Fox, Penelope Woodman, Matt Connor, Jonathan Markwood.

The distinctive music, the sight of two comedy greats on stage giving the audience a laugh and great entertainment in two different settings and somehow transported in time from the golden age of Hollywood comedy to the 21st Century comedy central of the Royal Court in Liverpool. Such is how nights of class are made and in the iconic Laurel and Hardy film Sons of The Desert, recently given such status as warranting to be preserved forever in the American National Congress, they don’t come much bigger, then again, it can always be given a new lick of paint and introducing to a newer audience.

Sons Of The Desert, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Ladies Day, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Eithne Browne, Lynne Francis, Roxanne Pallett, Angela Simms, Jack Lord.

The glitter, the finery, the new frocks and strange alien language truly known only by a smattering of people can only mean one thing; that Amanda Whittington’s play Ladies Day is in Liverpool and under starter’s orders to go down as one of the great feel good productions of 2013.

Ladies Day, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)