Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Alan Bower, Alun Parry, Geraldine Moloney-Judge, Mike Leane, Kate Mulvihill, Richard MacDonald, Mikyla Durkan, Sarah Tryer, Adam Byrne, Laura Foulkes.

The Casa might not be the first place that audiences think of plays as being performed in the Hope Street area of the city. However away from the Unity Theatre down the road and the looming cultural giant that is the new look Everyman Theatre, The Casa offers the chance for local productions to shine with actors who may be making their first tempting steps into the profession.  This was no less the case in the entertaining and thought provoking Julian Bond and Burjesta Theatre’s play, The Pied Piper Of Liverpool.

With the city of Liverpool overrun with vermin, from across the Runcorn Bridge comes one man with an alternative way of getting rid of the rats that have infested the roads, shops and lives of the citizens. It seems nobody can stop the problem; so this strangely clothed stranger with his different approach offers to lend a hand, for a price.

Julian Bond’s script is both fascinating and informative to the extreme, something that doesn’t happen too often apart from in local theatre. It not only looks at a corrupt council and its leaders who use funds for their own ill-gotten gains but also the amount of information that one man can hold in his head about the diseases of rats. In this, local musician Alun Parry, one of the incredible characters of the city, came into his own as he recited almost every disease that can kill a person from dealing with rats. It was with a smile on the audience’s faces that Alun revelled in a glee that is rarely seen on stage as he listed everything from Weil’s disease to Black Death, all to the increasing uncomfortable Adam Byrne, who was a gem as the young apprentice Rat Catcher.

Although the sub text is quite right in its scathing of a greater story currently festering away in office, by reducing it down to local level, it gave the play a greater depth and enjoyment which would have got lost had the story gone for the grandiose.

The cast was wonderful, no matter at their experience, each member gave their all to the performance and the little effects such as the imagined super furry animals running round was a great touch.

A very good evening out, filled with pathos and a strong sense of local pride made this a winning formula for the cast, the writer and The Casa.

Ian D. Hall