12 – The Rainbow Monologues – Bombed Out Church

Grin Theatre Company presented this unique and varied showcase of new LGBTQ writing at the closing night of the very successful little Liverpool Theatre Festival produced by Bill Elms.

This was a beautiful evening of twelve new monologues that covered many areas of what it means to be LGBTQ and the superb cast (Holly Murphy, Alan Harbottle, Taylor Illingworth, Pam Ashton and Terence Conchie) invested lots of imagination, sensitivity and energy throughout.

The show which was directed with great flair and detail by Dan Scott provided the audience with 12 characters in 70 minutes and there wasn’t a dull moment. I would love to see this come back to the stage because more people should definitely see this lovely piece of live theatre.

I was particularly moved by the monologue St Petersburg performed with passion by Holly Murphy and Love’s Fairest with Pam Ashton playing Shakespeare’s Juliet’s nurse, a beautifully elegant performance.

Other great performances came from Terence Conchie and his well-judged and wonderful portrait of Alexander McQueen in the fabulous monologue Designs, another great performance from Alan Harbottle in the witty and quite dark Loose Arrangements and Taylor Illingworth delivering an absolutely hearting breaking  rendition of the monologue Blocking Out the Sun.

I could not fault any of the five actors; I just wished that the performance was longer. It really was that good!

I felt the set was quite basic but nevertheless effective and sometimes the sound dipped but this did not distract from the overall performances and the beautiful stories that we heard.

This was a hidden gem for sure and I can’t wait to see what Grin Theatre comes up with in the future.

Reviewer: Paul Drake

Reviewed: 18th July 2021