Category Archives: Theatre

The Last Five Years, Theatre Review. The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Helen Carter, Stephen Fletcher.

There are times when a production can simply not be bettered, it has the most fantastic response to it and lingers on well in the memory as one of the absolute highlights of the theatre year. That production is The Last Five Years, it was considered by all who saw it at the Actor’s Studio, a rip roaring accomplished piece of art from start to finish. That is where the two productions stop being comparable, as Stephen Fletcher, one of the finest young actors in Liverpool and the exceptional Helen Carter bought Jason Robert Brown’s play back to the stage for the second time and in one fell swoop made it a gleaming example of artistic beauty, of tremendous fortitude and belief and overall simple elegance.

The Last Five Years, Theatre Review. The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Lionboy, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Adetomiwa Edun, Femi Elufowoju Jr., Robert Gilbert, Victoria Gould, Lisa Kerr, Clive Mendus, Dan Milne, Stephen Hiscock.

There are many plays and productions that can make an audience sit up just that little bit higher in their seats and marvel at the spectacle, wonder with joy at the sheer leap in the imagination and be amazed at what the theatre company has managed to achieve in the time on stage. Complicite are no exceptions to this rule as they bring their superb adapted version of Zizou Corder’s acclaimed Lionboy to the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre.

Lionboy, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Failure (And other opportunities for non-linear success), Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

How many dreams or unfulfilled desires do you still have left in your life? One? A few? Maybe there is whole list of wishes, a whole grasping of seeds in which you hope will all germinate and take root. Every success then will be yours…life though doesn’t work that way and in amongst all those seeds you might miss the one that will flower as you chase them all. Mary Pearson explores how not to succeed, in other words how to grasp Failure.

Failure (And other opportunities for non-linear success), Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Floating, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a reason why the foundation of the country since the end of the Second World War is built upon the cornerstone, the epitome of decency that is the N.H.S. and it is down to doctors and nurses that put up with, laugh alongside, shed tears of agony, frustration and remorse in the midst of insurmountable daily pressure from the sick and the dying and from those trusted with its care who seem to want to destroy what makes the U.K. civilised.

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

(378 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Rutherford & Son, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Barrie Rutter, Nicholas Shaw, Andrew Grose, Sara Poyzer, Kate Anthony, Catherine Kinsella, Richard Standing, Gilly Tompkins.

Not for nothing was Githa Sowerby compared to Henrik Ibsen, the father of theatre realism. Her play Rutherford & Son was a powerful statement in a world where the writing of a female playwright was not expected to be as bold, so groundbreaking in its fury at a world that put male pride and arrogance before the thought of the family. The absolute realism she bought to her characters, especially that of the bombastic and near tyrannical father John Rutherford, the anguish and near heart breaking life of his daughter Janet and that of the stranger to the house, the woman who makes the Faustian-like pact with her father-in-law when all else around her goes awry, the woman whose head for business sees her keep a roof over her head, the young Mary.

Rutherford & Son, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

A Wondrous Place, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Kathryn Beaumont, Joshua Hayes, Sally Hodgkiss, Adam Search.

From 18^th century novels through to turn of the last century and the black and white kitchen sink dramas produced after the war and on to stereotyped and cliché ridden mass produced television, the idea of the north is one that can be hard to dispel, to make some of those that live in alleged splendour somewhere past the Watford Gap. Not all is grim up north and the harshness that is fostered upon the area is usually one that is made by those who are jealous of the rich tapestry of life that the northern half of England holds dear.

A Wondrous Place, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: James Bolt, Phil Cheadle, Tilly Gaunt, Adrian Grove, Joanna Holden, David Nellist, Christopher Price.

It may not be considered as the pinnacle of Dennis Potter’s career as a playwright, that surely goes to the plays Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective but Blue Remembered Hills is certainly a Potter classic and one that shows that cruelty is not just confined to the adult world in which the backdrop of the Second World War rages but resides within us all from birth.

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Pam And Ann On The Pisste, Theatre Review. The Liverpool Actors Studio Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Lesley Hughes, Veronica Kelly, Richard Helm.

There is no better way to spend bingo winnings than by taking a small holiday abroad and trying something new such as skiing and enjoying breakdancing with a close friend. The long expectant journey filled with word play and the fragrant smells that emanate and waft from all the fellow passengers that share the travelling with you. Or in the case of Pam and Ann, abroad is Aviemore, breakdancing is of the Scottish variety and the toilet and shower are out of order and as for the smell from the passengers…All in evening’s work by comedy duo Undercover Blondde and their play Pam and Ann On the Pisste.

Pam And Ann On The Pisste, Theatre Review. The Liverpool Actors Studio Theatre. full post

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

Eddie Izzard, Comedy Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Eddie Izzard is one of Britain’s most loved comedians. He is also one of those exceptional people on the circuit that is loved just as much for his endeavours away from the stage as he is on it. From running marathons, to sending out a better image of the U.K. with his tolerance and acceptance of different cultures and his brave decision to come out as an action transvestite has only endeared him more to the public.

Eddie Izzard, Comedy Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rachel Worsley, Rik Melling, Errol Smith, Jag Sanghera.

The London Underground is an architectural wonder, an amazing structure that is complex, sometimes overcrowded, dirty and yet a thing of beauty. Poets have written many an ode in their love for it, millions use it every single day and during World War Two it was home to those escaping the nightly bombing raids over England’s capital city. Yet somewhere along the line, the reason to talk to someone on the tube, to make contact with a fellow human being, someone sharing that journey with you was lost. No more reason to find out about someone and their life, now it is papers up, stare straight ahead and do not converse with anyone less it causes trouble.

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)