Tag Archives: Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre

Gabriel, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Belinda Lang, Jules Melvin, Robin Morrissey, Sarah Schoenbeck, Venice Van Someren.

It is Human nature to forget, to wipe out the memory, collective or individual, of some of the evils, the deeds carried out in the name of occupation and survival; it is those actions that were in use every day during World War Two on the continent and were mercifully missing from Britain’s streets as the sheer evil of the Nazi war machine dragged its way from the Atlantic edge to the forests and surrounding areas of Stalingrad.

Gabriel, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Cyrano, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Christian Edwards, Sharon Singh, Adam Barlow, Andrew Whitehead, Andy Cryer, Paul Barnhill, Angela Bain, Jessica Dyas, Francesca Mills, Anthony Hunt, Robert Wade, Perry Moore, Michael Hugo.

It is always a match made in heaven, a sense of theatrical gold in which Liverpool audiences always receive so much in terms of gratification, of charm and a story in which you leave the building knowing you have seen theatre at its most complete, personable and down to Earth; no matter the subject, Northern Broadsides and Liverpool theatres are blessed with each other’s company and it is one in which people instinctively know is going to make their week.

Cyrano, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(434 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Pygmalion, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Alex Beckett, Ian Burfield, Gavi Singh Chera, Flaminia Cinque, Natalie Gavin, Racheal Ofori, Liza Sadovy, Raphael Sowole.

Refreshing, radical and engaging….whilst the sweet saccharine taste of My Fair Lady sits in the theatrical playground like some street urchin outside of sweet shop, eyes aglow at the treats inside, deep in the interior of George Bernard Shaw sits the happiness of a man content at the thought of his tremendous play Pygmalion getting the sincerity of the performance that it fully and rightfully deserves.

Pygmalion, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Pride And Prejudice, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Daniel Abbott, Francesca Barley, Anna Crichlow, Doña Croll, Benjamin Dilloway, Holly Edwin, Mari Izzard, Matthew Kelly, Steven Meo, Jordan Mifsud, Felicity Montagu, Charlotte Palmer, Leigh Quinn, Mark Rawlings, Kirsty Rider, Tafline Steen, Geoff Arnold, Jessica D’Arcy, Rose Daulbey, Ally Manson.

It used to be said that manners maketh man, that to be seen as genteel, saying all the right things in polite company, was the way that lead to Britain being seen for its conduct in society, that the revolving doors of etiquette depended its life on how people were judged and measured.

Pride And Prejudice, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Star, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Eithne Browne in The Star. Photograph by Robert Day.

Eithne Browne in The Star. Photograph by Robert Day.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Eithne Browne, Michelle Butterly, Helen Carter, Kevin Harvey, Danny O’Brien, Jack Rigby, Michael Starke.

Musicians: James Breckon, Elliot Chapman, Danny Miller.

Looking up into the Heavens, one can see the gallery of happy faces, the stars are there to perform, and they find no reason to ever stop beaming their light on the world below. For audiences making their way to the Playhouse this festive season, The Star is shining brightly and it is one that captures all that is good about modern theatre and the remarkable memory it invokes of hearing about the good old days of the music hall experience.

The Star, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(418 words, 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

When We Are Married, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kat Rose-Martin, Luke Adamson, Sophia Hatfield, Mark Stratton, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Adrian Hood, Sue Devaney, Steve Huison, Kate Anthony, Lisa Howard, Matthew Booth, Barrie Rutter, Zoe Lambert, John Gully, Andy Hall.

Mr. J. B. Priestley never fails to deliver, even if there are those out in the dark who fail to get the nuance of the times and denounce the clever introspection the playwright had on British Society and making it look back on its own peculiarities and diminishing importance on the future. Whereas the epic An Inspector Calls is very much in the calm outraged camp, the heated tongue of a barracking old outdated ways of thought, his classic drawing room comedy When We Are Married is firmly in the chaotic tranquillity mode and it is one that never loses its heart, especially not in the hands of the superb Northern Broadsides.

When We Are Married, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. (2016). full post

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

The Woman In Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Acton, Matthew Spencer.

A good ghost story never flinches in the face of modern day scepticism, if anything it can grow with stature, it can take on almost a life of its own, of becoming a haunting reminder of the world in between realities that shape and bend our perceptions of what is clear and unsullied and what is blurred, distorted and afraid to step out of the shadows. A good ghost story is one which you can feel the person next to you wanting to jump out of their skin, their creeping flesh tingle with nervousness and anticipation; there are many that have this effect but few capture the pure sense of emotion that is inherent as The Woman In Black.

The Woman In Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Rivals, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Desmond Barrit, Nicholas Bishop, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Lily Donovan, Keith Dunphy, Henry Everett, Jessica Hardwick, Julia Legrand, Lee Mango, Shaun Miller, Rhys Rusbatch.

One of 18th Centuries Europe’s finest wits and tamer of words never truly gets the praise he deserves in modern society, it is to be enemy of Time when figures such as Richard Sheridan are venerated and applauded by 21st Century audiences and readers of his work but to whom never seem to see the plays due to the length of the production and the fear of producers to take them beyond the boundaries of London.

The Rivals, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sean McGinley, Donal Gallery, Ryan Donaldson, Iara McGowan, Chris McCurry, Marcus Lamb, Jonny Holden, Andy Kellegher, Paul Kennedy.

The lies and propaganda that was used to call up millions of men during World War One never seems to be anything but staggering, almost contemptible and yet those millions took the call to arms against people they had never met in a battle to preserve the status quo; as each county in the United Kingdom offered up more and more men to the front line, so too did the sense of belonging and camaraderie take hold in the trenches.

Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kirsty Findlay, Karen Fishwick, Joanne McGuinness, Kirsty MacLaren, Francis Mayli McCann, Dawn Sievewright.

The potent mix of having too much time on your hands and not enough to do in the area is more than the headlong crash into certain temptation. For those whose young hormones rule absolutely it can cause the body and mind to depart and separate in ways that might seem unfathomable to many who have never experienced the deprivation of what a city life can offer.

Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)