Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Eithne Browne, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Michael Fletcher, Rachael Rae, Andrew Schofield, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton, Jamie Hampson, Hayley Hampson.
Musicians: Emily Linden, Simeon Scheuber, Alex Smith, Lauren Williams.
One of the great musical comedies to have come out of Liverpool in the last few years has to be the outstanding Mam! I’m ‘Ere! Making its debut in the grand space of The Dome, it took audiences to a place where imagination and riotous laughter met, shook hands, frolicked in the winter cold and sent them home happier than a free weeks pass at a holiday camp with drink supplied.
Something was missing though from a show many called a Royal Court show that wasn’t taking place within the theatre, a production that was so good it good only go to one place if it was to come back with the same fantastic ingredients strewn through it and the sense of true togetherness such plays bring, to the welcoming arms of the Royal Court Theatre.
Stephen Fletcher has done so much in what seems a relatively short time since he graduated from L.I.P.A., a true local success story who is defined by what he has bought to the people of Liverpool through the company Life in Theatre Productions and the brilliant troupe he has surrounded himself once more in this particular feel good and musically cool musical.
Once more the high-octane energy produced by the cast ripped through the evening like a disco diva on roller skates at a night in Studio 54 and who knows morning is but a state of mind. With the addition of Michael Fletcher to the cast as Si, taking over from Stephen Fletcher, allowing him to commit full time to the role of Director, and the marvellous Jamie and Hayley Hampson as the Diva Girls, a pair whose timing, motion and radiance in the parts was a genuine thrill for all in the Royal Court. The play, which was already a hit, somehow become so cool that it was possible to feel whimsical that the rain that finally fallen on the Liverpool streets after a day’s relentless sunshine, was all down to the production being so hot.
As with other shows that rely on the whole ensemble converging together like a well timed hustle, Mam! I’m ‘Ere! benefits from the story, the music and absolute dedication being the major star, with the entire cast being spot on in their joy and outrageously funny at the drop of a hat. There is no finer sight in theatre that an audience laughing and cheering at every turn and a cast who are obviously enjoying every second of the crowd’s reaction.
All Liverpool needs for a perfect time this summer is sun, sea and Stephen Fletcher’s Mam! I’m ‘Ere! So good, even your mam will love it!
Ian D. Hall