Tag Archives: unity theatre

The Girl I Left Behind Me, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There was a time when to see a woman in trousers was to court scandal and above all intrigue, the ridiculous thought that the masculine clothes they chose made them any different to anyone else would be laughed at today and quite rightly so. Jessica Walker takes her audience down on a well creased and ironed road to when the music halls were abuzz with the fascination of the women who dressed as men in the well researched and brilliantly put together, The Girl I left Behind Me.  

The Girl I Left Behind Me, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(403 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Inspector Norse, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Maggie Fox, Sue Ryding.

For anyone who remembers the excellent and surreal comedy that The Goons, provided radio listeners in the 1950’s, the two women that makes up the strangely compelling and brilliant Lip Service Theatre Company are very much in a similar and genuinely thrilling mould.

The Unity Theatre last had Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding in the outstanding production of Withering Looks and this latest sideways look at Nordic Noir drama, the very funny Inspector Norse (Or the Girl With Two Screws Left Over) is yet another reason to catch these two intelligent women who seem to be able to delight audiences with ease and with one raised eyebrow.

Inspector Norse, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(359 words, 1 image, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Suppement. An Interview With Eddie John Fortune.

Eddie John Fortune is one of the new wave of Liverpool actors whose voice is being heard and his reputation enhanced by productions such as Elastic Bridge and Love Me Do (in which he portrayed the city’s legendry Brian Epstein.) He is in rehearsals for the new Keifer Williams play Tongues, directed by his dear friend Joe Shipman, and which will be coming to the theatre next year and in which he will act alongside one of his co-stars from Love Me Do, the impressive Charlie Griffiths. If that wasn’t enough for one man to be getting on with, he is developing his own stand-up comedy character Gwillam Dorey which is about a gay Welshman with a fatal attraction towards Glenn Close.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Suppement. An Interview With Eddie John Fortune. full post

(1209 words, 1 image, estimated 4:50 mins reading time)

Cold Call, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ross McCall, Holly Wilson-Guy, Matt Austin, Tom Hosker.

After wowing critics and audiences alike in September with her one-woman spectacular Wolf Red, Elinor Randle has turned her hand once more back to directing and in the biting satirical play Cold Call; she again strikes the perfect balance between brilliant absurd humour and worrying 21st century behaviour.

Cold Call, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(363 words, 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Wolf Red, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 7th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Elinor Randle.

Not all wolves wear fur, some are guised as men and it seems that sometimes a very exceptional woman can be unmasked as the wolf in woman’s clothing.

Wolf Red has to be considered as one of the most remarkable one woman shows to ever grace The Unity Theatre. From the moment the audience walks in and the mist swirls and descends around them, the thought of decomposing leaves and frayed sanity mingle together to reveal on a rotted stump Elinor Randle, hunched over and in the grip of perceived madness from there she delivers one of the most perfect opening monologues possible. It was eerie, certainly creepy and just on this side of exuding brilliance.

Wolf Red, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Yarn, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 20th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Peter Bromilow, Sharon Clarke, Steve Dalgeish, Chris Douglas, Vera Farrell, Carl Fowler, Patricia Palombella Hart, Gaynor La Rocca, Francesco La Rocca, Mike MacKenzie, Rachael Reason, Carmel Skelly, Kirsty Taylor, Edwina Walsh, Jim Welsh.

Rob Brannen’s play The Yarn is as homely as you can ask for but it also hides the darkness, very cleverly, of what happens to a village when the heart is ripped out of it.

The Yarn, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Living With Macbeth, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 8th 2012

L.S. Media rating ****

Cast: Kevin Brannagan, Paul Braithwaite.

How do you live with yourself if you can’t live with one of the greats? Kevin Brannagan and Paul Braithwaite explore this premise in the first play of the new season at the Unity Theatre, the enticing Living With Macbeth. 

Living With Macbeth, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(430 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Gold Mountain, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Cast: David Yip, Eugene Salleh.

What is never in doubt about Liverpool is how the city has survived and thrived as a hotch-potch of different cultures and ideals. From the Irish who disembarked at Liverpool docks during the potato famine and who arrived with not the slightest idea of what was going to happen to their lives or culture, to the Chinese who had to cross oceans and the thoughts of internal tyranny to arrive in Liverpool to face prejudice and suspicion at every corner.

Gold Mountain, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(325 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

The Red Shoes, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Picture from hopestreet.co.uk

Originally published by L.S. Media. December 4th 2010.

Cast: Holly Wilson-Guy, Julie Langford, Harriet Leah Preston, Aiden Lee Brooks, Graham Geoffrey Hicks, Mike Idris.

The Unity Theatre may be one of the smaller theatres in Liverpool but the productions it puts on are as big as the heart at its core. Groundbreaking and enthusiastic, its successes are numerous and with The Red Shoes it looks as though they can chalk up another much loved production to their expanding list of theatre accomplishments.

The Red Shoes, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(314 words, 1 image, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

The Friendship Experiment, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 15th 2011.

Cast:  Matt Rutter, Tim Lynskey.

It takes two brave men to create the genuinely superb insanity that is portrayed on stage in the form of The Friendship Experiment. From the moment Matt Rutter and Tim Lynskey bound on stage, the audience is in for over an hour of mayhem which will lead them down several rabbit holes and coming out the other side asking “what the hell just happened”.

The Friendship Experiment, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(297 words, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)