Tag Archives: theatre review

Soul Sister, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jenny Fitzpatrick, Chris Tummings, Msimisi Dlamini, Helena Dowling, Katy Lye, Maria Omakinwa, Tamara McKoy-Patterson, Rob Eckland, Amaziah Davis, Michael Paver, Kenton Noel, Tony Qunta, Justin Shaw, Adam Nash.

When it comes to the life of global superstar Tina Turner, the truth is so much more interesting than fiction could ever be. In the latest production to come to the Liverpool Empire Theatre, that life comes to full sparkling fruition in the stunning and outrageously brilliant and musically divine Soul Sister.

Soul Sister, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Eddie and Jackie, Jackie and Eddie, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Eddie John Fortune, Becky Brooks.

Does art imitate life or does life take a big huge dollop of inspiration from the art that goes on around it? In the case of two fellow struggling actors who live in Dingle, the hastily drawn chalk mark between these lines have become blurred and in the end the fractious nature of their relationship, the acerbic co-dependency that has been formed can only lead to one conclusion that both Eddie and Jackie need each other, despite the fact that they drive each other up the wall.

Eddie and Jackie, Jackie and Eddie, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

I Blame A Culture Of Crisis, Theatre Review. Kazimier, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Lucinda France-Hayhurst, Daniel Baird, Jennifer Moule.

Language is perhaps the most important thing a human can have in its fight to remain individual but what happens when the boundaries become blurred and tainted when one particular person starts to try and sound as if they appealing to all, the loss of voice, the mark of individuality becomes lost and in that danger and even evil can be seen to take root.

I Blame A Culture Of Crisis, Theatre Review. Kazimier, Liverpool. full post

(435 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Theatre Review. Kazimier Gardens, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlotte Wilson, Bethany Slinn, Iona Campbell, Bryony Holloway, Geraint Williams, Darren Begley, Jack Conway, Alex Cottrell, Sarah Peverley.

 

There is always a new way to look at anything in life, it just takes courage, conviction and imagination and as the weather was making its mind on whether to add a little extra spice and atmosphere to the occasion, The University Of Liverpool Drama Society’s interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market was weaving its dark, peculiar spell around a fascinated audience at the Kazimier Gardens ahead of it transferring to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Theatre Review. Kazimier Gardens, Liverpool. full post

(507 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

9 To 5, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jackie Clune, Amy Lennox, Natalie Casey, Ben Richards, Anita Louise Combe, Mark Willshire, Marlon Moore, Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Philip Bertioli, Lori Haley Fox, Gemma Maclean, Lisa Bridge, Andrew Waldron, Lauren Stroud.

 

It seems strange that after 30 years, some of the issues raised in 9 To 5 have yet to be tackled head on and the change in attitude promised by so many has yet to actually come to fruition. However, quite rightly, the musical has become a national favourite, with audiences joining in the fun in a similar way to when The Rocky Horror Show or The Sound of Music is in town and dressing up as their favourite characters from this amazing production.

9 To 5, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ceri Wyn, Alyson Marks, Callum Roberts, John Risley, Joel Clarke, Robert Williamson, Hannah Thompson, Eden Kane, Olivia Coleman, Rhiannon Davies-McCabe, Grace Boundy, Toni Swords.

For the United Kingdom, the social upheaval that various cities faced with steely and grim determination as its children were taken away from the danger of daily bombardment and  death from Hitler’s onslaught during World War Two thankfully, has never had to be repeated again. For every city, its children were sent to the country to keep them safe and in Lyn Wakefield’s touchingly beautiful 80 Miles From Home the audience meets a selection of children from the most bombarded city outside of the capital and how they dealt with homesickness and being in a strange land.

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Bouncers, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Broughton, Danny O’ Brien, Michael Starke, Mark Womack.

In the night time, in the sometimes unforgiving dark which is briefly punctuated by loud thumping music and neon lights enticing the weary, the foolhardy and the desperate, the bouncer is king of his domain. What he says, happens, if he tells you to sling your hook, you go, tail between your legs; if he orders you to laugh, cry and feel as though the night has been an almighty success, then you have probably seen John Godber’s acclaimed play, Bouncers at the Royal Court Theatre.

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

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

When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Danielle Rude, James Ledsham, Barbara Wallis, Gillian Hardie.

Sharman Macdonald’s When I was a Girl I Used To Scream and Shout is a production that lifts a very large lid on a relationship between mother and daughter that is far from cordial and in which both are searching for something that the other is unable or somehow unwilling to give. The need for validation and acceptance is not forthcoming and over a small break in which the pair head back to the small Scottish seaside village somehow start to show where their relationship went wrong.

When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

A Thousand Murdered Girls, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Maria Hutchison, Rachael Boothroyd, Katy Brown, Kitty Spathia, Valerio Lusito, Arancha Herreruelo-Alonso, Emma Segar, Keelin Sweeney, Alun Parry, Alan Bower, Adam Byrne, Tony Davies, Louise Garcia, Gillian Peterson-Fox.

Every so often the sound of three gunshots echoes around the Unity Theatre. The effect it has on the audience is one that is just as chilling on the soul as the realisation that what the writer Darren Guy and Director Mikyla Jane Durkan have put together is so rooted in Greek history that as an audience member it’s possible to feel shame for the lack of knowledge you have as the true story of the many women arrested and tortured in Greece after World War Two for the crime of fighting Fascism and Nazism.

A Thousand Murdered Girls, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Bouncers, Theatre Review. St. Helens Theatre Royal.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simon O’Brien, Neville Cann, Benjamin Engelen, John F. Doull.

There are many sides to a city or town but the main difference is between its day time appearance, perhaps full of shoppers, workers and casual visitors and then its late time manifestation, its night life where the rules of the day go out the window and out comes the darker side of drink, drugs and wild abandonment in which we all try to forget the menace of the day.  Voiced by some of the inhabitants of the night, John Godber’s Bouncers is not only a knock out look at some of the funnier aspects of this time of day but perhaps the best kind of social comment that gets too often neglected.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. St. Helens Theatre Royal. full post

(372 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)