Category Archives: Theatre

The Rainbow Connection, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

Cast: Angela Simms, Daniel O’Brien

Can two friends of the opposite sex ever really be friends, especially when one is straight and one is gay? Joanne Sherryden’s play The Rainbow Connection looks at life and friendship between Shelly, a woman who has been scarred early in her time and who is hanging on the end of a line by her married lover and Joe, an agoraphobic and badly bruised by life and whose obsessive behaviour threatens to drive him further into his own self made prison.

The Rainbow Connection, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Sink Or Swim, Theatre Review. The Studio, Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul Duckworth, Graham Geoffrey Hicks, Shaun Mason.

Sink or Swim, a play conceived from falling in love with a postcard and with the care and attention that productions deserve, has grown up to be one of the funniest, enjoyable and thought provoking plays likely to be seen this year.

The Studio upstairs at The Playhouse Theatre added the claustrophobic weight needed to give the three actors, the sublime Paul Duckworth, the charming Graham Geoffrey Hicks and the impressive Shaun Mason, the lack of room on stage to make Sink Or Swim a production that sees into men’s souls and how they deal with the most extreme part of survival.

Sink Or Swim, Theatre Review. The Studio, Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(364 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

The Misanthrope, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast:  Neil Caple, Simon Coates, Leander Deeny, Daniel Goode, Alison Pargeter, George Potts, Zara Tempest-Walters, Colin Tierney, Harvey Virdi.

For the third time, Moliere, Roger McGough and Gemma Bodinetz combined to make an evening at the Playhouse Theatre so anticipated and enjoyable. Heavily surrounded by a cast that adds that final burst of brilliance that makes The Misanthrope a play a distinguished and tremendous addition to the canon of Moliere plays to now have been performed on the stage in the city.  

The Misanthrope, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(402 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

I Love You Because, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

Cast: Lucy Mulvihill, Katie Louise Jones, Zoe Evans, Phil Teles Amaro, Stuart Crowther, Peter Fendall

The faint sounds of New York Jazz filter through the Unity Theatre and from there the audience is taken on a rollercoaster of emotions in which the modern day musical, I Love You Because, is the perfect way to spend time with those you love, even if they don’t know it’s you they are looking for.

I Love You Because, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(361 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

The Rocky Horror Show, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Oliver Thornton, Ben Foster, Roxanne Pallett, Rhydian, Philip Franks, Kristian Lavercombe, Abigail Jaye, Ceris Hyne, Joel Montague, Maria Coyne, Chrsitos Dante, David Gale, Rachel Grundy.

For 40 years Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show has thrilled audiences all over the globe. It’s songs of debauchery, sensational and brilliant depravity such Timewarp, Sweet Transvestite, I Can Make You a Man and The Sword of Damocles get audiences laughing, dancing and enjoying every time they get performed, for all that it is no wonder that crowds flock to watch it in their abundance.

The Rocky Horror Show, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Oliver Reed: Wild Thing, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

To portray a man on stage whose reputation preceded him takes exceptional talent, to portray the wild man of British film in such demanding style deserves the largest plaudits possible and for that Rob Crouch should be taken aside and congratulated by anyone who ever worked with the Hell- raiser Oliver Reed in bringing this man’s essence back to life in the superb Oliver Reed: Wild Thing.

Oliver Reed: Wild Thing, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(345 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Titus Andronicus, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * ½

Cast: Sam Liu, Lauren Fitzpatrick, Karl Falconer, Jason Carragher, Alexander Bollands, Lowell Carragher, Russell Carragher, Matilda Swinney, Alexandra Walker, Siobhan Crinson, Sam Wright, Aimee Marnell, Elena Stephenson, Agata Jarosz, Con O’Neill, Justine Williams, Laura Ryan, Sarah Dwyer.

Titus Andronicus, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(413 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Roger McGough Thrills The Playhouse Theatre With Poetic Licence.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Very few poets can hold an audience’s attention in the same vein as Roger McGough. Even when he comes home to his native Liverpool, the crowds flock to see him in a similar way that you might expect to see pop stars that would find themselves surrounded by an adoring public, desperate just for a song or two. The crowds that make up the Playhouse Theatre are more discerning than the sight of those baying for blood from the latest protégé to come off the musical television conveyor belt and for an hour and a half, Roger McGough had all of them all spellbound in poetic glee.

Roger McGough Thrills The Playhouse Theatre With Poetic Licence. full post

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

Whole, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Annabel Annan-Jonathan, Jacob Beswick, Joseph Adelakun, Grace Willis.

Is anybody truly whole? That is the question bought to the Unity Theatre by the combined efforts of 20 Stories High, Director Julia Samuels and a host of others in what can only be described as distressingly real, wonderfully charged and written and acted with so much passion and brilliance that not only is Whole one of the finest things you are likely to see this year but it will also leave you grasping at thoughts of those you may have wronged at school.

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

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

The Pied Piper Of Liverpool, Theatre Review. The Casa, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Alan Bower, Alun Parry, Geraldine Moloney-Judge, Mike Leane, Kate Mulvihill, Richard MacDonald, Mikyla Durkan, Sarah Tryer, Adam Byrne, Laura Foulkes.

The Casa might not be the first place that audiences think of plays as being performed in the Hope Street area of the city. However away from the Unity Theatre down the road and the looming cultural giant that is the new look Everyman Theatre, The Casa offers the chance for local productions to shine with actors who may be making their first tempting steps into the profession.  This was no less the case in the entertaining and thought provoking Julian Bond and Burjesta Theatre’s play, The Pied Piper Of Liverpool.

The Pied Piper Of Liverpool, Theatre Review. The Casa, Liverpool. full post

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