Bev Clark, Author at North West End UK

5Jul

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Whiskey Galore – Chester Little Theatre

The Little Theatre in Chester is a charming community theatre offering two spaces and tonight the Liz Stafford auditorium was full to capacity for this jolly romp of a play. Compton Mackenzie’s Whisky Galore was made into a famous film and remade a few years ago but this reimagining, adapted for the stage by Philip Goulding, gives us an all-female cast of seven playing thirty characters (although I didn’t count them). It has some real rip-roaring comedy moments, and it was what attracted director Lexi Fox-Hutchings to bring it to CLT. The fictitious Pallas Players, a touring theatre troupe in the 1950s, transport us back to 1943 in WWII on the two islands of Little Todday and Great Todday, where a shortage of whisky causes mayhem among the villagers. A shipwreck means 50,000 bo...

20Jun

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

O’Brien’s Dream – Hope Street Theatre

Enthusiastic community theatre present a subject which resonates today. The last play by the late Bill Morrison, one of the giants of theatre in Liverpool, examines the plight of the Irish Émigré after the potato famine of the 1840s. Morrison, an Irishman himself, also had strong links to community drama in the city and a personal link to Keyhole Theatre, who have been running for twenty five years. This play premiered at the Unity Theatre in 2009. The songs by Frankie Connor and Alan Crowley offer some pleasant, musical telling of the tale. Sean O’Brien, desperate to get to America, arrives in Liverpool, falls in love, loses the little he possesses but eventually, settles and finds happiness with the sweet-faced but level-headed Mary. There can’t be many Liverpudlians who don’t have...

20Jun

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Julius Caesar – Royden Park

All Hail Hillbark! Electrifying! It’s the time of year we sit out on a beautiful evening in Royden Park, to be entertained by Hillbark Players’ bi-annual, open-air production. Julius Caesar, performed by the crème de la crème of Wirral actors, opened tonight with sunshine and blue skies: thankfully, no thunder and lightning but it was definitely an electrifying production! If you’re thinking it’s a stuffy play with old men in togas – think again! I’m not one for over doing the superlatives but I just might run out of them tonight. Directors, Ruth Stenhouse and Stuart Rathe skillfully brought this political drama to life with imaginative ensemble work, creative use of sets, eye-catching costumes, although ‘modern’ still had the Romanesque twist, and compelling performances, from...

Towards Zero – The Little Theatre, Birkenhead

14Jun

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Towards Zero – The Little Theatre, Birkenhead

Agatha Christie is ‘marmite’ and for me personally, not something I would spread on my toast, but it is the case that audiences love them, and many amateur theatres will always include one in their catalogue in their season as they know its bums on seats. Carlton Players being no exception, regularly produce her plays and this week its Towards Zero, a complicated mix of the usual group of suspects: house guests gathered in a large house. No surprise there’s a murder, everyone has a motive and finally, by some clever deduction, the police uncover the truth. The script, like all Christie, is pretty static and all exposition and one way a director might approach it is to find the comedy and irony: play it over the top with lots of movement and action. This director didn’t q...

8Jun

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

The Crucible – Gladstone Theatre

A bold, original attempt at this classic, which ascends to a powerful ending. The Crucible is one of the seminal and most popular plays of the mid 20thcentury. Miller’s chilling parable of mass hysteria parallels the Salem witch-hunt of 1692 against The McCarthyism of 1950s America, and it is still examined in school rooms, as well as being performed by amateurs and professionals. It is a play which should feverishly bubble and burn, as it builds from what was a girlish prank, to a community that destroys itself from within with its frantic frenzy of accusations. It is a claustrophobic, intense ‘wailing’ of a play that can fall victim to overflowing and reaching boiling point too soon. The alchemy is in getting the temperature and consistency right as the plot thickens. It is a bo...

Nobody’s Perfect – Little Theatre, Birkenhead

27May

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Nobody’s Perfect – Little Theatre, Birkenhead

‘Capable cast entertain with a gentle comedy.’ The Woolgathers of Heswall return to the Little Theatre Birkenhead with their second production, after their very successful Agatha Christie’s The Hollow earlier this year. Nobody’s Perfect by Simon Williams is a lesser known romantic comedy, which boarders on farce in places. Williams was a TV actor and voice-over artist but he has some writing credits from the 1990s, which might seem to some a little dated now. It’s a rather cliched but whimsical plot and does offer some funny lines and four characters that give actors some comic opportunities. Being the first night we were treated to an added surprise to open the show – The Bunker Boys Choir formed ten years ago with members of the Heswall Golf Club. The chaps gave us twen...

Exciting Line-up at the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden

26Apr

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

NEWS

Exciting Line-up at the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden

If, like me, you have never been to Prescot, it’s a sleepy historic town which now has at its heart a crown of glory – Shakespeare North Playhouse: a modern spacious complex that stands in the centre of the town by the church and gardens and it is a welcoming, beautiful space as soon as you enter. With gift shop, large airy coffee shop and three wonderful performance areas. This was well worth the wait! In the 1590s a remarkable theatre stood in Prescot: The Playhouse hosted performances made possible by the Earl of Derby and later the Cockpit Theatre was the inspiration for this contemporary building. Twenty years ago, conversations were had, and plans begun. Last year it opened to audiences, bringing live theatre to the heart of its community. In less than a year Shakespeare ...

September In The Rain – Little Theatre, Birkenhead

3Feb

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North West

September In The Rain – Little Theatre, Birkenhead

A charming, funny piece of nostalgia. The Carlton Players continue their season with Godber’s nostalgic and gentle comedy, loosely based on the writer’s own grandparents. Liz and Jack have holidayed in Blackpool from newlyweds in the 1950s until old age in the 1990s. Never missing a year, they’d make their way from Yorkshire across the A59 to the seaside resort with its boarding houses, fun fair, deckchairs and donkeys. Originally written as a radio play, this has been a popular choice for theatre groups over the past forty years. A two-hander, where both characters speak to the audience and take on the roles of other characters to recall their stories: some sentimental or amusing, others laugh-out-loud funny. Liz and Jack certainly have their spats and shouting matches b...

<strong>A Double Helping of Talent – Melrose Hall</strong>

27Nov

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North West

A Double Helping of Talent – Melrose Hall

Both drama and music were on the bill at Melrose Hall, Hoylake tonight, Friday 25th November. Presented by the multi-talented Calli Hughes, this was a showcase of first, her directing talent and then her well-known talent as a local singer. The first half of the evening gave us an award-winning drama and in the second half Calli was joined by her equally talented husband Mark for a ‘Songbirds’ session – the music of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie. Melrose Hall is a bijou venue seating around 80-100 in the heart of the Hoylake community. On this occasion it was set cabaret style and the audience could bring their own drinks. The first Act, a three-hander ‘Effie’s Burning’ originally directed by Calli for the Leverhulme Drama Festival last year. This powerful drama was written as a ...

<strong>The Day After The Fair – Birkenhead Little Theatre</strong>

14Nov

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

The Day After The Fair – Birkenhead Little Theatre

These days, theatre gives us so much choice from minimalist to technical wizardry, contemporary themes and hard-hitting issues but every so often its pleasant to spend an evening watching a well written, old-fashioned play, that tells a story with rounded characters and strong production values. The Carlton players presented The Day After the Fair at the Little Theatre, Birkenhead this week. Based on Thomas Hardy’s short story, with a slight similarity to the plot of Cyrano de Bergerac in that there is a deception: a lover gains the assistance of another to write letters on their behalf. Originally set in the 1890s and adapted by Frank Harvey, Carlton players set their production in an Edwardian Salisbury, in the drawing room of the Harnham family. Arthur is the chairman of their fam...