Soccer Mommy, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Ration * * * *

It was arguably one of those nights in which it didn’t matter who the support act was, who broke the ice at the debut performance of Kacey Musgrave in Liverpool, the audience, understandably, could be seen to feel the rising tension of the long-awaited appearance of the Country superstar in their midst.

Nick Ellis, Speaker’s Corner. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is arguably no greater modern-day aphorism than what the idea of free-speech represents. To some it’s meaning is clear, it is the delivery of justice in the tone of their choosing, the demand to be able to denounce, criticise and condemn anything they don’t understand or which makes them feel anger. It is not enough to openly engage their mind and spout hateful rhetoric, their opinion used as a weapon, each plosive in the mouth a tiny shell of blame, they carry it into the land of social media, their ignorance basking in bliss as they accuse and censure anybody else who tries to calmly rationalise their own point of view.

Peterloo. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Maxine Peake, Rory Kinnear, Pearce Quigley, Sam Troughton, Alistair Mackenzie, David Moorst, John Paul Hurley, Philip Jackson, Ian Mercer, Lizzie McInnerny, Victor McGuire, Tim McInnerny, Jeff Rawle, David Bamber, Dorothy Duff, Julie Hesmondhaigh, Lee Boardman, Steve Huison, Rachel Finnigan, Robert Wilfort, Karl Johnson, Neil Bell, Fine Time Fontayne, Paul Brown.

Slaughterhouse Rulez. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Michael Sheen, Hermione Corfield, Simon Pegg, Asa Butterfield, Finn Cole, Nick Frost, Jo Hartley, Hanko Footman, Isabella Laughland, Jamie Blackley, Jassa Ahluwalia, Tom Rhys Harries, Kit Connor, Jane Staness, Sophie Rutter, Alex MacQueen, Margot Robbie.

We are playing dangerous games with the Devil, not the fabled creature who fell foul of a Celestial’s wrath, not the inhabitant of that Church and Bible inspired cess pit of flames and torture but instead our very own devil, our naked ambition, our rape of the land and the unquenchable thirst to dominate our will upon the throne of greed and violation. Our willingness to fracture the land in the pursuit of gas is one that will be an undoing, one in which will unleash a poison unless stopped, and one that audiences will find perfectly ripe for exploiting in a comedy-horror.

The Nutcracker And The Four Realms. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, Keira Knightly, Helen Mirren, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Tom Sweet, Meera Syal, Ellie Bamber, Morgan Freeman, Omid Djalili, Jack Whitehall, Eugenio Derbez, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, Anna Madeley.

Any form of art should be there to inspire, to look upon something that has been created with disdain is not a natural state of mind, regardless say of the genre, the alluded too message, the perhaps dressed up vanity, or even the down at heel scrawled attempt, it is our soul that we are attempting to save, to express, to live with, and in that event of hoped for salvation and appreciation, we feel hope, we touch promise and dare to dream.

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Cole, Brett Goldstein, Lois Chimimba, Suzanne Packer, Ben Bailey-Smith, David Shields, Jack Shalloo.

For the vast majority of British television watchers, there is nothing like a riddle wrapped inside a mystery and surrounded by the hard-boiled charm of the perpetual challenge, it is arguably why so many fans and audiences around the world have embraced the enigma of Doctor Who in all its glory.

Time’s Wake.

.

..As you recount the image

of a thousand cinematic battles

and deep in water trench wait,

behind you

high above unknown gardens

rockets explode in the bold still sky,

the whizz bangs, whoops promoted

through the ranks

as other former angels die

with a bang, and dirty faces

from the powder that took their lives,

no time to scream, yell

out a warning, just a whispered

time’s up blink as they say good

bye to their mother, and all the while

behind first floor glass

Drops Of Light CIC Return To Hope Street Theatre With Immersive, Community-Led Production Of Family-Favourite Aladdin.

This Christmas, Liverpool’s stunning new venue Hope Street Theatre will play host to the family-favourite Aladdin. Produced by Drops of Light CIC, the show will run from 1st – 30th December.

Drop of Light CIC’s Aladdin offers winter theatre goers an all immersive Christmas experience. Involving one-hundred and thirty children from the local community, fifty amateur actors and an array of specially trained local volunteers, Aladdin lets the community lead the way this Christmas. Writer Jessica Lea (Hollyoaks, Eastenders) breathes fresh life into the script by adding a new and contemporary voice to the play’s narrative.

A New Twist On Beauty And The Beast At The Unity Theatre This Christmas.

Unity Theatre, Action Transport Theatre and DaDaFest look at an age-old fairy tale classic with new eyes this Christmas, from 30th November to 5th January at Unity Theatre. If you think you know Beauty and the Beast – think again! Friendship – not just love – is in the air, as our two central characters take the form of two unlikely friends who put their differences aside in this heart-warming festive production.

Lauren Ray, Be A Man. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Be A Man, they say, and the world is your oyster, others have claimed the role of the gender as being an excuse to run roughshod over the population, as if wearing the skin of a man gives you the reason, the right to determine sexual politics in the 21st Century. They also say that behind every great man is a great woman, however, as other enlightened members of the female brigade have shown, perhaps that should be inside the heart of a man, beats the perfect xx chromosome wanting to get out.