Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Lynn Francis, Julie Glover, Michael Starke.
We deal with grief in our own way, but we must allow humour to part of the therapy in taking us from a place of heartbreak to one where we can look back at the times before the moment and take solace in the joy what came before, the small things that make a smile and a laugh the most beautiful response in the world.
Grief is a leveller of emotions, and yet the other side of this coin is that laughter can give cause to the human heart to find an inner peace that we might not have believed we could ever feel, and if laughter is the best medicine for such ills, then the team behind the latest hit at the Royal Court in Liverpool have surely passed their medical exams with flying colours.
Gerry Linford’s Haunted Scouse is a comedy of two beautiful emotional punches, a sincere rarity in a clinical, almost cynical world, one that isn’t afraid to take the audience to a place where tears will be shed, and the throat catches on a silent sob of recognition, and within a spin of a coin provide with huge entertainment a reason to belly laugh as though the world has seen through the veil and taken heed of the joy that can be gained in spirit.
It is to the spirit of Charlie, played with terrific bounce by Michael Starke, that the bereaved Molly is in turmoil over, the belief she is to blame for her beloved husband’s passing, and yet his presence lingers a year after his untimely death, as does the smell of his farts, and it is a mystery of his inability to move on that leads to the discovery of untold secrets and an unwarranted attention from Charlie’s would be aging, sleazy neighbour.
After life, and the afterlife beckon, and with assistance from the superb Helen Carter as Charlie’s long departed aunt Peggy, and Julie Glover as Molly’s well meaning new age and hippy inspired best friend, Molly played with exquisite flair by Lynn Francis, and the drama of her would be suitor Gordon, the sensational Paul Duckworth in inspired vocal and comic form, Molly and Charlie might just have their time together once more.
It is to the cast, Gerry Linford, and the tremendous direction of Emma Bird, that laughter and tears can live hand in hand with customary ease and fruitful theatre pleasure.
Haunted Scouse is there to banish the winter blues and does so with absolute conviction and passion. A joy of writing from Gerry Linford. Ian D. Hall