Category Archives: Theatre

Mark Thomas: Check Up Our NHS @70, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * * *

We never fully appreciate anything until either it has been taken away from us, or we find out the hard way how valued the service is. When the National Health Service was created, people fought hard to create something that would not only be the envy of the world, but which might inspire other countries, other politicians and leaders, to actually care about their citizens’ health, it has been a long struggle, and in Britain it seems that it is always under threat, targeted by groups of people who wish to see it dismantled and torn apart, delivering medicine and care for a price which many cannot simply afford.

Mark Thomas: Check Up Our NHS @70, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Pop, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

Cast: Katie George, Lauren Foster.

If the 1980s was a decade of direct contrasts between social hedonism and the reality of the action taken communities as one by one the life blood of decades old services and the jobs that were dismantled and the people left to rot on the dole, then the mid to late 90s were a period in which lies and deceptions were given public backing as a kind of false hope of a fairer society was raised like a mantra, a chant aired and repeated and one that has joined the 1980s debauchery enjoyed by some as nothing more than an exposing of the personal greed that we all believe is ours to enjoy by right.

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

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Princess & The Hustler, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kudzai Sitima, Donna Berlin, Fode Simbo, Seun Shate, Jade Yourell, Emily Burnett, Romayne Andrews.

We either don’t know enough about our own history, or if we do we selectively tune in to the moments which make us feel a false sense of pride, the stirring of the heart as it clings to a despairing sense of nationalism that is both futile and dishonest; we forget the moments that led to change and only the act itself, and never mind the hardship, the disgrace of our words that went before, hiding behind the celebrations of equality gained as if we somehow played a part.

Princess & The Hustler, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Bottleneck, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Daniel Cassidy.

It is only in recent times that we have urged survivors to talk about the events they have witnessed, whether in terms of clarification so that disasters, tragedies and acts of systematic neglect in terms of  safety and the general public can be assessed and never, hopefully, happen again, or so that those same people who saw the catastrophe take place can ease their burden, have the weight and sense of guilt of history taken from their blameless shoulders, start the long journey back to hopeful recovery; never realising that the nightmares perhaps stay with them at each anniversary, each memory that went before analysed and examined, The Bottleneck of emotions that cannot be contained.

Bottleneck, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre Studio, Liverpool. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Under The Umbrella, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Mei Mac, Laura Tipper, Charlotte Chiew, Minhee Yeo.

It is in the exploration of another’s history that we find that we have more in common than we may believe at first sight. By listening to a story that we might find fantastical, unbelievable, uncompromising in its detail and one that isn’t afraid to show emotion, we might find the empathy and understanding in which to not only accept a different culture, but praise those who bring out the very best of its ideals and philosophy.

Under The Umbrella, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(476 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Stones In His Pockets, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Owen Sharpe, Kevin Trainor.

People don’t just change when they appear in front of the cameras, they alter their own perception of who they are, what their purpose is in life, for some it can be the glare of the lights that brings out the worst in them, for others, it is the removal of the make up that takes the gloss and the shine of what they once thought was glamour and all that could be desired.

Stones In His Pockets, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Kitty: Queen Of The Washhouse, Theatre Review. St George’s Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast Samantha Alton.

We raise the idea of heroism up to the point where we often forget the story that inspired such feelings of gratitude in the first place, we see the plinth with their name attached, the statue put up by a grateful populace, and in time the only ones who pay attention to the image, the figure on the pedestal, is the day tripper and the pigeons who survey humanity with the bird-like contempt we deserve.

Kitty: Queen Of The Washhouse, Theatre Review. St George’s Hall, Liverpool. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Brick Up 2: The Wrath Of Ann Twacky, Theatre Review. Royal Court, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Jake Abraham, Roy Brandon, Eithne Browne, Danny Burns, Suzanne Collins, Paul Duckworth, Andrew Schofield, Francis Tucker.

Band: Howard Gray, Danny Burns, Adam Keast, Francis Tucker.

Revenge is a pudding best served piping hot and with all the flavour, texture and fruit mixed together to be delivered with precision, timing and a smile so wide that once served it is the talk of the town, and with the score settled and the laughter bellowing all around.

Brick Up 2: The Wrath Of Ann Twacky, Theatre Review. Royal Court, Liverpool. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

The Girl On The Train, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Samantha Womack, Oliver Farnworth, John Dougall, Naeem Hayat, Adam Jackson-Smith, Lowenna Melrose, Kirsty Oswald, Matt Concannon, Phillipa Flynn.

Physical human manipulation and ease in which we can find ourselves drowning in a sea of guided abuse never makes for an easy bedfellow in which to immerse yourself in. From the outside looking in you can see all the traits, the subtle digs at the way someone controls another person, influences others to see the worst in that person, and yet when you are the one being expertly handled, all you see is the relief that addiction of any type can bring, that it is no longer your fault.

The Girl On The Train, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(452 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Macbeth, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Sean Jones, Warwick Evans, Kaitlin Howard, Tim Lucas, Tracy Spencer-Jones, Lenny Wood, Gillian Hardie, Mary Fogg, Michael Hawkins, Lisle Des Landes, Ethan Holmes, Gareth Llewelyn, Harvey Jameson, Elinor Jones.

There is almost no comparison for many fans and scholars of Shakespeare’s volume of work, aside perhaps the essential Hamlet and arguably the scale of Julius Caesar, nothing can touch the suspense and drama of Macbeth. Perhaps because of its close relationship to the darkness in the soul of the ambitious, the craving of being proclaimed the finest, the best and knowing your fate before it is time, that marks it as a play in which to be immersed within.

Macbeth, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)