Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Francis Williamson, Marry Hyam, Kathy Upfold, Steven Hill, Michelle Potts.

There are some things that should not be messed around with, mixing the grape and the grain, the electricity meter, the dark and mystifying occult and four women whose lives are more entangled than they have ever believed. So all human life and a little bit more is all on show for John Evans’ play Is There Anybody There? and the answers are there for all to see like a man’s ashes on a otherwise clean carpet.

The strains of Elton John’s Funeral For a Friend greets the grieving widow as she talks to the remains of her recently deceased husband and she wants answers like anybody else who loses someone they love quickly, in Bridie’s case, portrayed with brisk and wonderful sniping humour by the superb Kathy Upfold, it’s where he now dead partner has hidden her jewellery. It is comic touches such as this, the small turns of the wheel that make life so complicated and the after-life sometimes an enjoyable place to get a glimpse of.

The five strong cast showed the biting, gently sarcastic humour that is entwined within the soul of Merseyside people and especially when confronted by the unknown quantity of what is beyond very well. In all four women on the stage, there was a certain acknowledgement of understanding between them that made the comedy even more beautifully captured and interesting to watch. If a play can hold your attention, even when it deals with a subject that could be so readily dismissed then those that have worked on it deserve a great round of applause for making the audience believe.

An enjoyable night out at the Lantern Theatre, full of revealing secrets from the four women’s lives and what goes on around them and how they all came to be. It is also a dark insight into the world of psychics and those that feel vulnerable and searching for answers. With Apollo Ray-Fay at the helm, the spooky night becomes that much clearer.

Ian D. Hall