Caroline Worswick

Who Else Did Sam Hill Kill? – The Courtyard Theatre

22Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Who Else Did Sam Hill Kill? – The Courtyard Theatre

Who is Sam Hill? He is the guy that everyone puts upon, feeds his Aunt’s cat, covers other work-mate’s shifts at work without being asked if he minds – he is single, and he is invisible! How easy would it be to blame a murder on him when he never raises his voice in protest, a perfect scapegoat! This farce dreamed up by Christian McKeon, is a mad-cap hour of fast paced theatre, which is fun, silly, and cleverly conceived. The plot has Sam Hill (Raphael Kris) working at Costello’s, when his Aunt Sal (Bylli Gomez) requires him to visit her flat to feed her cat, but when Sam arrives Sal is dead, allegedly by a self-imposed shot to the head, but how easy is it to shoot yourself from behind? As further people in Sam’s life are killed, all eyes turn to Sam, b...

22Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Provocateur – The Hope Theatre

Welcome to the world of Letitia Delish (Tish Weinman), a mistress who will certainly put you in your place, and you will love it! But, under the veil of the dominatrix, lies a person who is exploring their gender identity, using the whip as a tool of the trade, and the persona of Letitia Delish to earn money. Written and performed by Tish Weinman, this play aims to strip back the layers of the character Letitia, to find out why she was needed, not just by the men who visit her, but why was she needed by her creator? Supported by her co-performer Alex Chorley, we follow Letitia on her journey of how she became involved in the sex industry. Letitia’s first experience is with a man whose sex-life with his girlfriend is boring, and he wished to explore a part of himself th...

Run At It Laughing – Wilton’s Music Hall

13May

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

NEWS

Run At It Laughing – Wilton’s Music Hall

Produced by Run At It Shouting and Flying Colours Productions, playwright Mark Ravenhill is behind a fund-raising event, raising money for the Hackney based NIA Project, who help women and children who have suffered abuse. Ten plays have been developed and directed by Ravenhill using Italian stage actor Flamingo Scala’s collection of scenarios first published in 1611. These fifty scenarios of commedia dell’arte plays pre-date Shakespeare and his Renaissance theatre contemporaries and were published under title ‘Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative’, in which one was a tragedy, nine were fantasy, and the remaining forty were comedies, and the shows that we have seen over the weekend came from the latter category. Scala, provided Ravenhill with the framework to work with,...

Liverpool Improvisation Festival 2025 – Unity Theatre

4May

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

Liverpool Improvisation Festival 2025 – Unity Theatre

As the dust settles, and the individual show reviews have now been written, it seems like a good time to take a step back and reflect on last weekend’s improvisation festival. The four-day event consisted of three days of improvised shows, and the final day was workshops aimed at fellow improvisers. The Unity Theatre offered two good sized spaces, so it was easy to move between the two theatres whilst the organisers set up the next act. The vibe of the event was one of community, and inclusivity, and a warm welcome was given to all who came to the event. I attended one whole day on the Saturday, which offered a varied schedule, beginning with a charming family show, ‘Jungle of Emotions’ which encouraged children to join in, by making their own suggestions, and th...

The School Of Night – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

4May

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

The School Of Night – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

Twenty years ago, under the stewardship of Ken Campbell, ‘The School of Night’ was formed and made its first appearance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It is interesting to note that the original members of the Elizabethan version of The School of Night, were such luminaries as Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Harriot, Christopher Marlowe et al, who may very well have frequented the original Globe Theatre, which was built in 1599, which makes The School’s anniversary feel significant. It is thought that the name ‘The School of Night’ came from a line in Shakespeare’s play ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost,’ but there were other possibilities for the original name of this group of radical freethinkers. These include ‘The School of Atheism,’ and the ‘Durham House Set’ named after Sir Walter Raleig...

Allegory of the Cave – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

30Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

Allegory of the Cave – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

Mythical tales re-telling the story of people’s lives is enchanting, and Allegory of the Cave excel at making the tradition of storytelling delightful in their presentation with an improvised show which also incorporates puppetry. Grandma is always good to have on hand to read these mythical tales, and in this instance, she is a G&T drinking Granny. She asks her grandchild to ask her imaginary friend what fear she had when she was a child, and of course the imaginary friend is us, the audience. Brave audience member Mark recounted his recurring bad dream of being chased by bees, and so the troupe would weave Mark’s fear of bees into the story. Photo: Andrew AB The story centres around the battle between nature and the destructive force that are humans. ...

Box of Frogs – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

30Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

Box of Frogs – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

This show is a fast-paced style of improvisation, for those of us who are old enough to remember ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, you will get the idea of how this works. No Clive Anderson, but they do short-form gymnastics in the same way as the ‘Whose Line…’ crew. They begin by asking for suggestions from the audience, and poor Robert Wilson whoever you are, you were the choice of child that someone didn’t like at school, and they played a game of ‘Story, Story, Die!’, where three of the company must keep a story going or die, a bit like it’s a knockout improv. This is a good game to warm up the audience, as it shows off the skills of the improvisers and the speed of their reflexes. To show off their improvised music, the ensemble pulled together a song about scabies c...

Taxi Tales – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

30Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

Taxi Tales – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

Wing It Impro and their ensemble team improvise ‘Taxi Tales’, conceived and directed by Mark Smith, inspired by Raymond Carver’s short stories, and Robert Altman’s movie ‘Short Cuts’. We have all been in the back of a taxi on a night out and discussed all manner of things, or even forgotten where we are staying, and the driver drives around until you can remember (that is one of my memories from back in the day!). The team at Wing It Impro have this improvised show off to a fine art, as they examine the premise that anyone can climb into your cab, at any point of their life with their own tale to tell – ‘One Night On The Town’. Photo: Andrew AB Simple staging of chairs with the improvisers facing towards the back of the stage waiting for their turn to either drive the cab...

From Dawn To Dusk – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

30Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

From Dawn To Dusk – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

As we waited for the show to begin, the haunting strumming of a guitar playing ‘The Sound of Silence’ sets the mood for this American mid-West show. ImprompTwo, or Kathy and Joe Rinaldi have a passion for narrative improv, which brings another dimension to the festival. Set at a time when Word War II is over, brother and sister Bobbie (Kathy Rinaldi) and Jack (Joe Rinaldi) are trying to keep the family farm running. Jack sits outside a daybreak, it is his favourite time as the sun starts to rise, and he dreams of a day when everything will come together. Photo: Andrew AB This brother and sister team manage the farm together, but they are under the threat of the Government taking their farm from them, and after their father fought two World Wars, and Jack fought in W...

Neil Curran’s ‘Café Amour’ – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

29Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

Neil Curran’s ‘Café Amour’ – Liverpool Improvisation Festival – Unity Theatre

Do you date? Do you use dating websites? A look into online dating on the modern world of love and romance. Neil Curran has set the show in a French café so that it doesn’t sound so seedy, searching the audience for someone who is not an improviser to make it feel more authentic. Well done Lucy for volunteering, you are about to be grilled about your dating life. Lucy who is half Manc and half Liverpudlian, has been with James for twelve years, and they met on a dating website, although James prefers to say that they met through friends. The thing that stood out for Lucy on his profile was that he found it funny when old people fall over - ok Lucy, we won’t judge you! Asked about what her opinion on the secret to longevity in a relationship, her...