Tag Archives: Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre

Father O’ Flaherty Saves Our Souls, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Clare Bowles, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton.

An outpouring of respect should be shown to an actor who puts their life in the hands of an audience to the extent that their own inner thoughts, their own passionate affair with the boards and with language become so consuming that they write a play off their own back and present it to a crowd, ever hungry, ever in need of a new production to hold close to their hearts, and feel the sweat and possible damnation coming off the rehearsal floor for.

Father O’ Flaherty Saves Our Souls, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Maria Lovelady, Eithne Browne, Christopher Jordan, Emma Dears, Jake Abraham, Tom Cawte, Roy Carruthers, Phil Hearne.

The taste of 1930s Britain so elegantly captured in Helen Forrester’s Twopence To Cross The Mersey is arguably more palpable, more authentic than any text book that might go on at length to describe the after effects of the Great Depression on those caught in its wake and the sacrifice many individuals had to face just to survive; it is genuine, touching, brutal and one that still pervades the modern era and the way its shapes politics today.

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The Dream Team Search For The Sandman, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Aaliyah Garrett, Abigail Whiteside, Adam Gannon, Amber Williams, Anna Tremarco, Ashley Kaufman, Charlie Healy, Clara Mbirimi, Elle McEvely, Ellie Hale, Ellie Muscat, Grace Hillier, Harry Hughes, Holly Haines, Isabelle Simpson, Jake Warner, James Douglas, Jennifer Lowe, Joe Fay, John Readle, Jude Stephenson, Katie Kaufman, Kayleigh Lindon, Leah Whiteside, Lewis Jones-Davies, Lillie Jo Irons, Matty McCartney, Michael Ellison, Mikey Hall, Molly Madigan, Morgan Hughes, Natasha Riley, Niamh Fay, Olivia Gore, Passy Douglas, Poppy Cowell, Ryan Broadhead, Shannon Smart, Susan Segar, Tom Douglas.

The Dream Team Search For The Sandman, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(518 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

A Fistful Of Collars, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Eithne Browne, Suzanne Collins, Lindzi Germain, Angela Simms, Alan Stocks, Lenny Wood.

The world is a harsh place at times, not everybody plays by the same rules and those who are fair, honest and upright in their morals are the ones forever being treated like dirt, that they have the very will to continue offering the service they do is a measure of their honour, that they refuse to be stitched up by those kicking against them a sign of their trustworthy and good nature.

A Fistful Of Collars, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Golden Oldies, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ruth Alexander Rubin, Eithne Browne, Dennis Conlon, Annie Edwards, Greg Fossard, Hayley Hampson, Phil Hearne, Paul Kissaun, Olwen Rees.

It is a question of definition, of how your generation will be remembered, not by the politics it suffered or the times they live through, but by the music that they send up the charts and the beat they constructed in alleyways, clubs and bars. Music is the beat of the heart and if the heart keeps pumping then the music stays alive and in Dave Simpson’s gentle but absorbing musical comedy, The Golden Oldies, music is not just the food of love, it is the art that keeps all staying alive.

The Golden Oldies, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Down The Dock Road, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Derek Barr, Les Dennis, Paul Duckworth, James Duke, Oliver Farnworth, Michael Ledwich, Nathan McMullen, Conrad Nelson, Andrew Schofield, Daniel Taylor.

If there is an occupation that typifies the city of Liverpool, which the British public think of first when asked what job symbolises the city that gave The Beatles to the world, then surely without doubt the job of the Stevedore or the Dock worker would come out on top.

Down The Dock Road, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Roy Brandon, Eithne Browne, Carl Chase, Suzanne Collins, Paul Duckworth, Adam Keast, Andrew Schofield, Francis Tucker.

It is undoubtedly one of the finest productions to come out of Merseyside in the last ten years, a difficult birth it may have been, a show that found itself with an audience but being put on due to commitments and other factors somehow making the play seem an impossibility and yet a decade on, over 200,000 members of the public later, Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels is a show of insurmountable honest and terrifically funny appeal; so much so that it is only right and proper for it to come back to the Royal Court Theatre and give the jolt of marvellous humour needed after a January of gloom and false starts.

Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Michael Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Hayley Hampson, Danny O’ Brien, Andrew Schofield, Michael Starke, Leah Whiteside, Amera Bjorkhaug, Ashlyn Baker, Natasha Riley.

Band: Elliot Chapman, Jack Hymers, Emily Linden, Alex Smith.

Boris and Daisy, a Russian submarine crew member and a student from Liverpool, having found love in a cold climate and an odd pair of talking bears with a passion for ballet in Scouse of The Antarctic continue their romance in the hot desert of Egypt and in amongst the camels, the fezs and flies and in Fred Lawless’ latest comedy smash, Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, the spirit of the Liver Bird lives on in wonderful Merseyside fashion.

Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Bouncers, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2015).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Broughton, Danny O’ Brien, Andrew Schofield, Michael Starke.

The night is young, the perfume is sprayed with liberal application, the smell of the aftershave overpowers the testosterone emanating from the raw majesty that is the Friday night club and disco and the D.J., who might not save your life on the night but who will certainly play a few good numbers to get the girls up and dancing, is full of ready innuendo. If your names are not down though and you’re not ready to party with the best doormen around then the Bouncers, on behalf of the management, reserve the right to make you laugh long into the night.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2015). full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Mam! I’m ‘Ere!, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Eithne Browne, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Michael Fletcher, Rachael Rae, Andrew Schofield, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton, Jamie Hampson, Hayley Hampson.

Musicians: Emily Linden, Simeon Scheuber, Alex Smith, Lauren Williams.

 

One of the great musical comedies to have come out of Liverpool in the last few years has to be the outstanding Mam! I’m ‘Ere! Making its debut in the grand space of The Dome, it took audiences to a place where imagination and riotous laughter met, shook hands, frolicked in the winter cold and sent them home happier than a free weeks pass at a holiday camp with drink supplied.

Mam! I’m ‘Ere!, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)