The Unity Theatre has three home-grown shows coming to the Hope Street venue during the next month. Opening with a new production, Virtually Reality examines how advancements in bio-technology and artificial intelligence will shape the future of the world we live in. The Bells is a reinvigorated adaptation of the classic and rarely performed Victorian melodrama set in a mountain village with a terrible secret… The Judgement Of Hakim examines security and privacy in this new play directed by Spike Theatre’s Mark Smith – how far are we willing to find the truth?
Virtual Reality is on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd and tickets are priced at £8 with concessions available at £7. Virtually Reality” is a brand new show from Liverpool based performance duo Popular Demand, who explore these themes through a combination of movement, soundscapes and visual images. The show is produced in conjunction with Unity Theatre’s ‘Making Art’ Scheme.
Imagine if no matter how old you got, you never looked a day over 22; if you never got ill and always had the perfect physique without making any effort. For centuries, developments in science and technology seem to have been promising us a better life, with possibilities limited only by what we can imagine. From robot warriors and teleportation devices to human androids and telekinetic communications, Science and Technology strive increasingly to change and advance the world in which we live. As more and more of these developments are realised, we are faced with a whole new set of questions and challenges. There will be changes for the better and, no doubt, some with terrible, unforeseen consequences. What’s more there is no way of knowing which will be which; we are living the experiment…
Henry Irving became a household name in Victorian England after the popularity of The Bells made him a star. He gave over 800 performances right up to two days before his death in 1905! One hundred years later, Deborah McAndrew’s fresh re-working of the piece was commissioned by the Northern Broadsides Company and toured to critical acclaim. Mike McCormack now takes on the lead role with new music by Sarah Llewellyn and performed live by the company. Mike trained at Central School and has acted and directed professionally in theatre for over 30 years. He is also an award-winning radio actor and has been a Senior Lecturer in Drama at LJMU since 2001. Sarah is one of the U.K.’s leading young composers whose work has been heard in film, theatre and circus. She works throughout the U.K. and abroad, and now returns to Liverpool, the city of her youth.
Mike McCormack said, “I’ve wanted to do The Bells for years but couldn’t see how the Victorian script would work today. Then I came across Deborah’s brilliant adaptation and that was it. There’s comedy, music, drama and the script rattles along. When I approached Graeme Phillips at the Unity, he said ‘It’ll make a great mid-winter chiller’ and he’s absolutely right. We’ve got a terrific company of actors and musicians, Sarah’s exciting music and the play is as fresh as ever.” The Bells is on at The Unity Theatre between Thursday 23rd and Saturday 25th and tickets are priced at £10 with concessions available at £8.
Finally one of Liverpool’s adopted greats, Mark Smith of Spike Theatre brings Andrew Sherlock’s The Judgement of Hakim to The Unity on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th. The truth. It’s what we all want to know, but how far are we willing to go to find it? What’s the difference between an interrogator and a torturer? Is moral repugnance and objection to actions undertaken by agencies of the state to secure our safety merely the bleating of idealistic liberals?
Tickets for The Judgement of Hakim are priced at £8 with concessions available at £7.
Tickets for all shows are available from the Box office on Hope Street, by telephone on 0844 873 2888 or online at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk.