Friday, April 26

Tag: Unity Theatre

Derek’s Mojo: Questionable Behaviour – Unity Theatre
22Apr By Andrew LeeNo Comments
North West

Derek’s Mojo: Questionable Behaviour – Unity Theatre

A much more adult addition to Liverpool Improv festival than the shows that had come earlier in the day, Questionable Behaviour was performed by the comedy duo Derek’s Mojo, made up of Monica Gaga, and Jodyanne Richardson. If I’m honest, I didn’t really understand what was going on, but the story did not seem to matter too much when there were two such likeable, funny performers on the stage. The improv work here was outstanding, the ability to take dialogue in one direction, and then another, and another, but do it with such synchronicity is a skill that only two people who have worked together for a long time can achieve. Gaga and Richardson have a chemistry that is simply unmatched, they clearly have so much respect and love for each other. They maintained a sense of realism even in...
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The Oickers: Fruit Smoothie – Unity Theatre
22Apr By Andrew LeeNo Comments
North West

The Oickers: Fruit Smoothie – Unity Theatre

The Oickers performed a ‘Who’s line is it anyway?’ style game show as part of Liverpool Improv Festival. There is something truly remarkable about this kind of improv. You are not a character, you are yourself, and you are exposed. Hats off to The Oickers, who were brave and bold, and put it all on the line whenever they go out and do this. The performance was a resounding success. The audience spent 40 minutes in stitches, and such a huge percentage of the jokes were well received. Even the ones that fell flat were followed through, and the ability to laugh at yourself is absolutely crucial in this scenario. If anybody gets the opportunity to watch The Oickers at a future event, I would strongly recommend it. There is something extremely recognisable and likeable about them. We...
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The Story Forge: Make your own myths – Unity Theatre
22Apr By Andrew LeeNo Comments
North West

The Story Forge: Make your own myths – Unity Theatre

Performed by a frightening pedigree of silliness, from Silly History Boys, Rubbish Shakespeare company, and Wing It Impro, The Story Forge is a family show, where myths and legends are improvised based on topics given to the actors by the audience. Historical experts (though I suspect not) Dr Professor Lee Hithersay, and Professor Doctor Robert Bond led us on adventures through time and space, educating us on the definitely accurate history of things like dog poo bags, and ointment. The performance was great fun, perfectly pitched, and exactly what one would expect from an improvised piece of theatre. The clown work is fantastic, and whilst the show was a family one, the focus was where it ought to have been, which was on the kids. There was a great understanding of the audience and...
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Rubbish Improvised Shakespeare: The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare – Unity Theatre
22Apr By Miranda GreenNo Comments
North West

Rubbish Improvised Shakespeare: The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare – Unity Theatre

If it were done, when ‘tis done, then t’were well it were done wittily. Alack, ‘twas not. For prating merely “thee” and “thou” dost not the bard emulate. I could probably do this whole review in cod Shakespeare, but it’d soon become tedious, would’st not? Which pretty much describes last night’s performance of the allegedly improvised Rubbish Shakespeare: The Incomplete Works at the Unity Theatre. The audience were given the illusion of directing the action here but in fact were instructed to pick a year within Shakespeare’s lifetime (1550.) We had wider remit over location (Venice) and plot-hurdle (woodworm in the gondolas.) A chap near the front was awarded a circlet and crowned King James (anachronistically but lapses in history I can forgive) before being swiftly decoronated ...
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Hardy and Webb: Mystery at the Museum – Unity Theatre
20Apr By Miranda GreenNo Comments
North West

Hardy and Webb: Mystery at the Museum – Unity Theatre

There were a couple of mysteries surrounding this production for children. Part of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, hosted at the excellent Unity Theatre, the first poser was: where was Becky Webb? The second: where were the children? No matter, the audience of adults thoroughly enjoyed this detective romp played with enthusiastic elasticity by Jen Hardy and Mike Burton, in place of Becky Webb. Improv for a beginner audience, the interaction was light but nonetheless introductory to the genre. An audience stooge was asked to play the role of the Chief who informed the detective duo that they were due a day off, whether they wanted it or not, and that they were to visit a museum. Mavis (possibly her real name) came up with the concept of a postal museum; my mate Jane came up wit...
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Your Flaws: The Musical – Unity Theatre
20Apr By Eleanor HallNo Comments
North West

Your Flaws: The Musical – Unity Theatre

This fifty-minute whirlwind came as part of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, which might look to become an annual event for the Unity theatre, following its launch last year. Alongside Patrick Clopon on the piano, Lee Apsey and Emma Wessleus explained their ‘flaws’, distastes and aversions, and invited us to share our own. As we admitted to being afraid of a range of kitchen devices (i.e. potato peelers, sieves, blenders) and taking umbrage with food combinations (i.e. mint and chocolate), the piano began to twinkle… Engaging with the audience’s culinary offers, the trio embarked on a journey through a haunted restaurant with all characters gifted with strange fears and desires which echoed our flaws back to us. We watch the tortured head chef fight for his Michelin star, a chef l...
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Crab Tragedy: A Greek Myth told Sideways – Capstone Theatre
7Mar By Mark DavorenNo Comments
North West

Crab Tragedy: A Greek Myth told Sideways – Capstone Theatre

A special adaptation for families of their previous ‘Sirens, Men and Crabs’, Teatro Pomodoro’s Crab Tragedy is an hour-long surreal comedy that turns Ancient Greece upside down with this performance pre-empting a soon to follow national tour. A cast of three take on the fishy tale of Ulysses (Simone Tani) and the Siren (Carmen Arquelladas) but it’s all about the Crab (Miwa Nagai) thrown in for good measure with the cast taking on other characters to keep the story sailing on to its inevitable albeit unexpected conclusion. There’s a low-budget atmosphere reminiscent of The Play That Goes Wrong but here the money has been spent wisely with thoughtful and considered staging and expertly adapted props that aid and support strong performances: don’t be fooled, the creative skill and arti...
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Choosh – Unity Theatre, Liverpool
4Jul By Donna M DayNo Comments
North West

Choosh – Unity Theatre, Liverpool

People often say they’re scared of clowns. What they usually mean is they’re scared of a thick layer of white greasepaint covering a face with a red nose and overexaggerated red mouth sitting beneath a green wig. Julia Masli is not that type of clown and Choosh, part of Physical Fest 2023, is like nothing you’ve seen before, either in or out of a big top. Masli has worked with dramaturg, Annie Siddons, to create a surreal and unique homage to migration, hunger, desperation felt during a job search, and love at first sight, whether that is for another human or a hot dog. The set is simple: an orange suitcase sits on a floral platform, but of course the simplicity is not what it seems as the suitcase is crammed with Masli’s props and tricks. She bursts onto the stage with an inside ou...
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Maria – Unity Theatre
10May By Mark DavorenNo Comments
North West

Maria – Unity Theatre

Commissioned by Unity Theatre and Culture Liverpool as part of the Eurovision Cultural Festival 2023, and supported by The Lowry in Salford, Yurii Radionov and Shorena Shoniia’s world-premiere production of Ulas Samchuk’s 1934 novel, follows the life of a young woman through the history of Ukrainian upheaval from the 1861 emancipation of serfs in the Russian Empire under the Tsars through to Holodomor: the communist-regime’s induced mass starvation in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930’s. As well as marking the 90th anniversary of this horrific and unimaginable event, it is a timely parallel to the events that continue in Ukraine following the attempted invasion by Russia in 2022, echoed by its performance from a cast of seven Ukrainian refugee actors currently living in the UK as a resu...
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UKRLAND – Unity, Liverpool
5May By Gill LewisNo Comments
North West

UKRLAND – Unity, Liverpool

An aesthetically outstanding performance sharing the untold stories of survival, strength and determination of ordinary women living in Ukraine.  Their endurance in maintaining the idea of hope and love in the face of fear, death and hate is powerful and poignant in this mesmerising and incredible show.    Following its acclaimed UK tour, this breath taking one woman show arrives in Liverpool as part of ‘A Place of Hope’, a two-week long free programme celebrating Ukraine with an incredible schedule of music, dance, movement and poetry.  UKRLAND, a combination of ‘Ukraine’ and ‘land’, documents 8 stories written by Ukrainian playwrights and the unique perspectives from women experiencing the horrors of war first hand. Created by theatre makers Yurii Radionov and Sho...
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