Category Archives: Theatre

The Mousetrap, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Steven France, Karl Howman, Bruno Langley, Elizabeth Power, Bob Saul, Graham Seed, Jemma Walker, Clare Wilkie.

It all starts with a radio announcement in which a murder has been announced…The Mousetrap is perhaps the most eagerly awaited plays to come to Liverpool for a long time. Unless people have been able to see down in the heart of London’s theatre land at any point in the last 60 years and with a waiting list longer than it took to write it for the then Queen Mary’s 80th Birthday that means the vast majority of the population in the country still have not had the pleasure, then the Agatha Christie play remains a huge pull of the theatre goers heart strings as it celebrates its diamond jubilee going round the country.

The Mousetrap, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

A Strange Wild Song, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Christopher Harrisson, Julian Spooner, Matthew Wells, Daniel Wilcox, Laila Woozeer.

There is a moment in A Strange Wild Song, a well written piece by Rhum and Clay, where the audience feels part of the action, the bombs being dropped from overhead planes that are falling around the near destroyed French village resonate and echo through 70 years and a couple of hundred miles and bring those in the auditorium face to face with one of the most inhuman parts of human history…and with one of the most interesting tales from World War Two.

A Strange Wild Song, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(343 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Les Enfants Terribles To Bring Award Winning Show To The Unity Theatre.

For over 10 years, Les Enfants Terribles have been dedicated to creating innovative, inspirational and exciting theatre that continually challenges and transports audiences to weird and wonderful worlds. On Wednesday 10th April the company comes to the Unity Theatre, Liverpool with their award-winning Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show The Trench.

The Trench, which is written and stars award-winning Oliver Lansley (Kenny Everett in B.B.C.4’s The Best Possible Taste) blends live music, puppetry and physical performance as not everything in the darkness of the trench is what it seems when a strange world is discovered beneath the mud and death. Inspired by the true story of a miner who became entombed in a tunnel during World War One, this is an epic journey of salvation as the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur, as he questions what’s real, what’s not and whether it even matters?

Les Enfants Terribles To Bring Award Winning Show To The Unity Theatre. full post

(181 words, estimated 43 secs reading time)

Borges And I, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Grace Chapman, Sophie Cullen, Nicholas Pitt, Ellie Simpson, Joel Gatehouse, Kate Stanley.

Who controls the words you see? Who do the words that each and every human on the planet fortunate enough to read and enjoy, belong to each and every day? For those that lose the ability to see the words that have meant so much to them, the psychological damage can be devastating.

Borges And I, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(355 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

The History Boys, Theatre Review. Stanley Theatre, University of Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Alex Pardey, James Boys, James Telfer, Martin Poile, Harry Parker, Jonny Campbell, Jack Conway, Liam Middleton, Akthar, Gertaint Williams, Barney Elliot, Alun Simpson, Georgina Rose.

There are moments in a young actor’s life, whether or not they take it any further in years to come or are content with having been a part of just one show, where they will look back and relish in the memory of what they achieved in two hours on stage.

The History Boys, Theatre Review. Stanley Theatre, University of Liverpool. full post

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

Cafe Chaos, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Joanna Croll, Jamie Matthewman, Sam Parks, Sian Williams.

The humble cafe is the place where you get to meet the finest array of characters, all with their own peculiar stories of loves and their lives. It is the place where people meet and confess their deepest thoughts and fears and those that really run the establishments, the waiters and the chefs act as father or mother confessors to anyone who may pop in for a routine cup of tea and to tell someone their news. Such is Cafe Chaos; such is the scale of life.

Cafe Chaos, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Mark Womack, Rene Zagger, Scot Williams, Samantha Womack.

Hope should never be denied to anyone, take it away and you deny that person the only thing they may have keeping them sane. Hope also can be secretive and a hard but forgiving mistress and to base a production around this idea takes the slight touch of genius and adds it to a script by Scot Williams which is utterly absorbing, playful but also captures the very essence of writing

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(338 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Georgina Panteli, Lucy Swain, Madeline Smart, Polly Couslon, Mark Raynor, Benedict Spence, Mary Jayne Cooper, Charlie Wilson, Alex Webber-Date, George Dorran, Graham Cain, Jacob Lowman, Pallav Ratra.

There is something about Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex that speaks down through the ages in such a way that its brutality, jealousy, pride and ignorance are more akin to 21st century human nature than people probably care to admit. It is a play that can divide opinion and cause many a troubled thought to enter the audiences’ minds due to the graphic nature that can be readily employed by the company performing it.

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

My Perfect Mind, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Hunter, Edward Petherbridge.

To have a giant of stage appear in Liverpool is not uncommon, it is almost taken for granted that at some point during the year the audiences will flock to one of the city’s great theatres and be bowled over by what they witness. Only London, for logical reasons, can surely make the same claim. Yet it still is very special when it happens and when it is in a production that wouldn’t have been dreamed or even conceived without the giant becoming very ill then the play takes on a special resonance, it becomes something greater than words. Such is My Perfect Mind and such was Edward Petherbridge’s performance.

My Perfect Mind, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre. Liverpool. full post

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

Is There Anybody There?, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Francis Williamson, Marry Hyam, Kathy Upfold, Steven Hill, Michelle Potts.

There are some things that should not be messed around with, mixing the grape and the grain, the electricity meter, the dark and mystifying occult and four women whose lives are more entangled than they have ever believed. So all human life and a little bit more is all on show for John Evans’ play Is There Anybody There? and the answers are there for all to see like a man’s ashes on a otherwise clean carpet.

Is There Anybody There?, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(353 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)