Tag Archives: theatre review

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Theatre Review. Kazimier Gardens, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlotte Wilson, Bethany Slinn, Iona Campbell, Bryony Holloway, Geraint Williams, Darren Begley, Jack Conway, Alex Cottrell, Sarah Peverley.

 

There is always a new way to look at anything in life, it just takes courage, conviction and imagination and as the weather was making its mind on whether to add a little extra spice and atmosphere to the occasion, The University Of Liverpool Drama Society’s interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market was weaving its dark, peculiar spell around a fascinated audience at the Kazimier Gardens ahead of it transferring to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Theatre Review. Kazimier Gardens, Liverpool. full post

(507 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

9 To 5, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jackie Clune, Amy Lennox, Natalie Casey, Ben Richards, Anita Louise Combe, Mark Willshire, Marlon Moore, Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Philip Bertioli, Lori Haley Fox, Gemma Maclean, Lisa Bridge, Andrew Waldron, Lauren Stroud.

 

It seems strange that after 30 years, some of the issues raised in 9 To 5 have yet to be tackled head on and the change in attitude promised by so many has yet to actually come to fruition. However, quite rightly, the musical has become a national favourite, with audiences joining in the fun in a similar way to when The Rocky Horror Show or The Sound of Music is in town and dressing up as their favourite characters from this amazing production.

9 To 5, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ceri Wyn, Alyson Marks, Callum Roberts, John Risley, Joel Clarke, Robert Williamson, Hannah Thompson, Eden Kane, Olivia Coleman, Rhiannon Davies-McCabe, Grace Boundy, Toni Swords.

For the United Kingdom, the social upheaval that various cities faced with steely and grim determination as its children were taken away from the danger of daily bombardment and  death from Hitler’s onslaught during World War Two thankfully, has never had to be repeated again. For every city, its children were sent to the country to keep them safe and in Lyn Wakefield’s touchingly beautiful 80 Miles From Home the audience meets a selection of children from the most bombarded city outside of the capital and how they dealt with homesickness and being in a strange land.

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Bouncers, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Broughton, Danny O’ Brien, Michael Starke, Mark Womack.

In the night time, in the sometimes unforgiving dark which is briefly punctuated by loud thumping music and neon lights enticing the weary, the foolhardy and the desperate, the bouncer is king of his domain. What he says, happens, if he tells you to sling your hook, you go, tail between your legs; if he orders you to laugh, cry and feel as though the night has been an almighty success, then you have probably seen John Godber’s acclaimed play, Bouncers at the Royal Court Theatre.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre. Liverpool. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Danielle Rude, James Ledsham, Barbara Wallis, Gillian Hardie.

Sharman Macdonald’s When I was a Girl I Used To Scream and Shout is a production that lifts a very large lid on a relationship between mother and daughter that is far from cordial and in which both are searching for something that the other is unable or somehow unwilling to give. The need for validation and acceptance is not forthcoming and over a small break in which the pair head back to the small Scottish seaside village somehow start to show where their relationship went wrong.

When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

A Thousand Murdered Girls, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Maria Hutchison, Rachael Boothroyd, Katy Brown, Kitty Spathia, Valerio Lusito, Arancha Herreruelo-Alonso, Emma Segar, Keelin Sweeney, Alun Parry, Alan Bower, Adam Byrne, Tony Davies, Louise Garcia, Gillian Peterson-Fox.

Every so often the sound of three gunshots echoes around the Unity Theatre. The effect it has on the audience is one that is just as chilling on the soul as the realisation that what the writer Darren Guy and Director Mikyla Jane Durkan have put together is so rooted in Greek history that as an audience member it’s possible to feel shame for the lack of knowledge you have as the true story of the many women arrested and tortured in Greece after World War Two for the crime of fighting Fascism and Nazism.

A Thousand Murdered Girls, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Bouncers, Theatre Review. St. Helens Theatre Royal.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simon O’Brien, Neville Cann, Benjamin Engelen, John F. Doull.

There are many sides to a city or town but the main difference is between its day time appearance, perhaps full of shoppers, workers and casual visitors and then its late time manifestation, its night life where the rules of the day go out the window and out comes the darker side of drink, drugs and wild abandonment in which we all try to forget the menace of the day.  Voiced by some of the inhabitants of the night, John Godber’s Bouncers is not only a knock out look at some of the funnier aspects of this time of day but perhaps the best kind of social comment that gets too often neglected.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. St. Helens Theatre Royal. full post

(372 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Judy & Liza, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lucy Williamson, Emma Dears.

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, perhaps two of the biggest names in American show business ever and surely impossible to ever replicate on stage what they have each achieved and the adoration in which they are still held to this day. Whilst Judy Garland’s life was heartbreakingly cut short due to near obscene levels of pressure, Ms Minnelli has been a born survivor despite the huge ruby slippers she had to fill and yet in Judy & Liza it was if the two women had come back together just one more time.

Judy & Liza, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(390 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

A Cosy Murder, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Becky Illsley, Alice Ellerby, Natasia Hodge.

Think back to all the great detective shows and heroes, Poirot, Marple, Barnaby, Frost, Cagney and Lacey, Morse, all known for their cunning wit, dogged determination in the face of evil and murder and not quite the knack of spinning out a yarn with humour and unbelievable, almost  astonishing, acts of feat. It is highly unlikely that Jean Marple would throw herself around with the same amount of gusto that Becky Illsley and Alice Ellerby managed in their performance of A Cosy Murder.

A Cosy Murder, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(344 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Evita, Theatre Review. Liverpool Empire Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Marti Pellow, Madalena Alberto, Mark Heenehan, Sarah McNicholas, Nic Gibney, Verity Burgess, David Burilin, Joseph Connor, Natalie Day, Joel Elferink, Laura Emmitt, Emily Goodenough, Antony Hewitt, Stuart Maciver, Joe Maxwell, Perry O’Dea, Lizzie Ottley, Ryan Pidgen, Anthony Ray.

Evita should be considered as one of the ultimate musicals to be penned in the last 40 years, it is a production that has everything, arguably the single most important role for a woman to perform in musical theatre, the craving of success and just enough controversy weaved and hidden away within its score to make theatre goers come back for more time and time again.

Evita, Theatre Review. Liverpool Empire Theatre. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)