Category Archives: Theatre

Ball Of Fire, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Michael Hawkins, Ronny Goodlass, Michael Cullen, John Purcell, Sally Tryer, Adam Byrne, Katie King, James Ledsham, Danny Noble, Lisa Symonds.

At best Alan Ball was a world beater, a man to whom Pele described at the finest player in an England shirt, arguably the best player on the pitch on the day the country won the World Cup in July 1966, tenacious, a spirited player to whom Alf Ramsey made a hero of and to whom Don Revie discarded cruelly and without pomp and ceremony, at worst…well there was no worst, just dogged by ill fortune and personal disasters that would go hand in hand with the Lancashire’s lad’s demeanour and psyche for his entire life.

Ball Of Fire, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

A Fistful Of Collars, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Eithne Browne, Suzanne Collins, Lindzi Germain, Angela Simms, Alan Stocks, Lenny Wood.

The world is a harsh place at times, not everybody plays by the same rules and those who are fair, honest and upright in their morals are the ones forever being treated like dirt, that they have the very will to continue offering the service they do is a measure of their honour, that they refuse to be stitched up by those kicking against them a sign of their trustworthy and good nature.

A Fistful Of Collars, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(404 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Adam Rowe, Comedy Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It takes courage to get up on stage and bare your soul at the best of times. It takes the will to be seen as different, to know how to be taken for something novel and distinctive that makes people want to come and watch you perform; everybody has a talent in this world, it is to understand the way in which it is sold that will mark you out as fresh and interesting to watch.

Adam Rowe, Comedy Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

The Royal, Theatre Review. Theatre Royal, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Lynn Francis, Lindzi Germain, Philip Hesteltine, Danny O’Brien, Angela Simms, Alan Stocks.

Some institutions are so engrained into the fabric of society that to be without them is to argue that society is going backwards. The N.H.S., arguably the greatest and proudest contribution to British life in the last 100 years, is always under threat, always on the verge of being lost by those who believe that the health of the nation should be one that is allowed to make profit over care, yet, for now, still offers the best a patient can get and that always boils down to the people inside the hospitals, the doctors, the cleaners, the morticians, the nurses…those that wander in with a clip board one day and decide to stay.

The Royal, Theatre Review. Theatre Royal, Liverpool. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Titus Andronicus, Theatre Review. Liverpool City College, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Vincent Skyner, Emily Hargreaves, Natalie Bedkowska, Sarah Williams, Alishia Killian, Amy Robinson, Henrietta Martins, Ayesha Tarbuck, Christopher Braden, Micahael Emmerson, Alice Williams, Carly O’ Hare, Sammi Jo Christie, Jerome Griffin.

At times there just doesn’t feel like enough gore in the world, especially in theatre, something meaty to get the teeth into, something with anger and bite, and if it must be done then it deserves credit. Titus Andronicus is still after 400 years the one play that feeds off all the negativity and feelings of revenge that can be ravaged in humanity; take one life and you are a murderer, take them all and you become a god, as Stalin once wrote, it is just a matter of statistics.

Titus Andronicus, Theatre Review. Liverpool City College, Liverpool. full post

(424 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

How The Other Half Loves, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Nicholas Le Prevost, Jenny Seagrove, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jason Merrells, Gillian Wright, Matthew Cottle.

The perils of the affair, something that Alan Ayckbourn has spent his entire career getting a laugh out of, of making audiences take a look at themselves in the mirror and seeing just how farcical British morals are at times when confronted with a wrongly worded phrase of seduction and the results of a misunderstood feeling; it might never be how you live your life but it is certainly the impression of How The Other Half Loves.

How The Other Half Loves, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Ambreen Razia.

The Diary of A Hounslow Girl is the tale of a 16-year-old British Muslim girl in West London. From traditional Pakistani weddings to fights on the night bus, this play shows the challenges of being brought up as a young woman in a traditional Muslim family alongside the temptations and influences growing up in and around London.

Written and performed by Ambreen Razia the show is currently on tour around the country, with a one night stop at the Unity. This is Razia’s debut play and her performance is flawless, considering it is a monologue that lasts 85 minutes.

The Diary Of A Hounslow Girl, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(322 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sean McGinley, Donal Gallery, Ryan Donaldson, Iara McGowan, Chris McCurry, Marcus Lamb, Jonny Holden, Andy Kellegher, Paul Kennedy.

The lies and propaganda that was used to call up millions of men during World War One never seems to be anything but staggering, almost contemptible and yet those millions took the call to arms against people they had never met in a battle to preserve the status quo; as each county in the United Kingdom offered up more and more men to the front line, so too did the sense of belonging and camaraderie take hold in the trenches.

Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Raz, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: James Cartwright.

Poetry is not confined to the short poetic burst associated with lovelorn teenagers finding the prospect of double Maths with a wreck of a teacher a dull and boring distraction to writing early sonnets to the person who catches their eye, neither is it the sole preserve of the clever academic reaching the very pinnacle of their career as they accept another title, another seal of recognition. Poetry is in the everyday, it reigns supreme in the smallest of conversations or in the biggest of events and it something that the playwright Jim Cartwright proves with devastating effect in his play Raz.

Raz, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Rouge, Theatre Review. L.I.P.A.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Francesca Connolly, Myles Harper, Mathilde Caeyers, George Cartwright, Eirik Dreyer, Sellevoll, Synne Eriksen, Emily Fox, Jasmine Gough, Ada Holden, Phoebe Hudson.

The musical Rouge, based on the Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor film Moulin Rouge, began intensely, erratic and emotionally charged and which was maintained throughout the show that made the hour it was on for seem fast-paced and full of rapid delivery. From the beginning it was touching seeing the huge effort both physically and mentally the second year dance students of L.I.P.A. put into the production and with the overall result being that it was amazing!

Rouge, Theatre Review. L.I.P.A. full post

(293 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)