Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Nadia Anim, Emma Bispham, Richard Bremmer, Patrick Brennan, George Caple, Paul Duckworth, Marc Elliott, Cerith Flinn, Emily Hughes, Nathan McMullen, Zelina Rebeiro, George Rosheuvel, Keddy Sutton, Liam Tobin.
Band: George Francis, Rosalind Jones, Katie Foster, Matthew Henry, Alex Smith, Nick Anderson.
The year has perhaps been one of diverse feelings across the board in Liverpool, one in which reflection, triumphant returns, masterpieces and some sadness has been experienced. The Playhouse Theatre has undergone work for a while and yet held inside its doors one of the most magnificent scenes caught on camera as Annette Bening and Jamie Bell recreated one of the last days of the film star Gloria Graham for the cinematic love letter, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. The much loved Unity Theatre closed its doors for a time and reopened with a flourish as it too underwent a change in its decor and look and yet still retains the welcome that makes it one of the places to visit in the city.
The Artistic Director for the Everyman & Playhouse has won Best Director at the U.K. Theatre Awards 2017 for reinstating a successful repertory company in spring 2017.
Gemma Bodinetz’s vision to return to a repertory company format at the Everyman was recognised at a prestigious awards ceremony in London’s Guildhall on Sunday 15th October.
The Artistic Director, who has worked at the Everyman & Playhouse for 14 years, joins an impressive list of previous winners including Duncan Macmillan, Robert Icke and Michael Sheen.
Winners are nominated and voted on by industry experts who decide between the best in U.K. theatre in a number of different categories.
Emma Fielding will play the title role of Emma Bovary in The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! this spring. The production which will open at the Everyman from 5th to 27th February will then play at co-producing partners Bristol Old Vic, Nuffield, Southampton and Royal & Derngate, Northampton. Joining Fielding will be John Nicholson and Javier Marzan of Peepolykus and Jonathan Holmes who have the unenviable challenge of playing all the remaining roles in Flaubert’s epic tale.
The Everyman & Playhouse have announced that this year’s legendary rock ‘n’ roll panto at the Everyman will be Rapunzel: Hairway to Heaven at the Hope Street venue from 28th November to 23rd January. Regular writers and Sarah A. Nixon and Mark Chatterton have adapted the Brothers Grimm’s tale. Whilst audiences can expect a heroine with long flowing locks and a gallant Prince, the traditional story may get a little ‘tangled’ along the way. With a live band, plenty of belly laughs and more than a few surprises Rapunzel is sure to be the perfect festive treat.
Educatibg Rita at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Stephen Vaughan.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Leanne Best, Con O’Neill.
The further we move away from a time in history, the more it seems to resonate with us in the present. In 1979 the social climate of the country changed, events and news from around the world started to mould Britain in a way not seen since the start of the Second World War and the pace of life altered, stagnation, alienation and guilt in some quarters, not enough in others, became a new breeding ground to hit people with a terrifying new stick with. Yet somehow, as if in rebellion to this flowering want, great music started to reflect the times once more and the mood of education was to be heard in many a great rock and pop song and into this world Willy Russell’s Educating Rita was born.
To the outsider, to those who either come into Liverpool once every year for a stag or hen night or the chance to lose heavily at Aintree, Liverpool may well seem a city of contrasts, a place in which many have pre-conceived ideas of how its people act, play, work and enjoy life. However to be an outsider who embraces the city and the surrounding areas with every fibre of being, that’s when the city really shows its vibrancy and complete uniqueness.
A major revival of Willy Russell’s Educating Rita will open the Playhouse’s 2015 Spring Season. The production, directed by Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz, will mark the play’s 35th anniversary and will star Leanne Best as Rita and Con O’Neill as Frank. Following a remarkable first year, the Everyman season will begin with Associate Director Nick Bagnall’s fresh take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The second half of the season is marked by two world premières, both screen to stage adaptations; a never-before seen Arthur Miller screenplay The Hook at the Everyman and the first ever stage adaptation of a Coen Brothers’ film will see The Hudsucker Proxy come to life on the Playhouse stage.
Niamh Cusack in June and the Paycock at the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre. Photograph by Stephen Vaughan.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10Cast: Niamh Cusack, Des McAleer, Neil Caple, Jonathan Charles, Louis Dempsey, Donal Gallery, Maggie McCarthy, Aoife McMahon, Robin Morrissey, Maureen O’ Connell, Fionn Walton.
When you have nothing, you can only go one way, unless of course life conspires against you so much that all your efforts, all the trials you have endured come back to haunt you and you end up with less than you could have imagined.
The Everyman has been announced as a winner in the 2014 Royal Institute of British Architects Awards (RIBA) National Award, the most rigorously-judged awards for architectural excellence. The winners go forward for consideration for the Stirling Award shortlist, which will be announced on 17th July.
Since it opened in March, the Everyman has already won the RIBA North West Building of the Year at the regional round in April. RIBA states that the National Award winning buildings ‘set the standard for good architecture; these are projects that go beyond the brief and exceed the client’s expectation’.