Author: Donna M Day

Explorations is an evening of music to transport you, from the bustling streets of Paris, to the dark and ominous world that can be created with baroque style harpsichord, and finally to the enchanting scenes of Finland’s view of the aurora borealis. Performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Manze, this was a collection of music which swept you along an epic journey and held a poignancy as the musicians played a memorial tribute to friend of the orchestra, Maurice Henry George. The dramatic powerful opening of Mozart’s Symphony No 31, ‘Paris’ was paired beautifully with the gentle dreamlike woodwind and intricately layered strings. The fantastical elements are heightened in the second movement, with gentle and nostalgic melodies nodding to echoes of th...

Liverpool Wind Collective’s annual March concert featured a repertoire of exclusively female composers, a nice touch for midway through Women’s History Month. The varied programme allowed each member of the quintet to showcase their skills and the intimate setting of Liverpool Philharmonic’s Music Room created a sense of closeness between the audience and ensemble. Opening with the sprightly Quintette (Allegro) by Hedwige Chrétien, the evening began with an immediate sense that we were running towards something lovely. This was followed by the trio performance of Cecilia McDowall’s Century Dances which took us on a journey through both the world and time itself. Performed by Ruth Davies (Oboe), Ausiàs Garrigós Morant (Clarinet) and Gareth Twigg (Bassoon), this interesting and varied pie...

Robert Scott’s The House Amongst the Willows is a psychological thriller which explores the darkness which can hide in seemingly happy families and the inevitable tragic shadow that falls over a relationship with someone whose previous partner has passed away. Directed by Mark Holland and Gabi Castro, this is a tense and dramatic show with plenty of twists and turns around the eponymous copse of willow trees out front. The play opens with Fletcher (Sab Muthusamy) and his fiancée, Sadie (Josie Harrison) arriving at the holiday home of Paul (John Michael Rooke) and Erin (Sarah Howes-Dixon), who are Fletcher’s dead wife’s Laura’s parents. Sadie is understandably nervous over meeting Laura’s parents, but Fletcher is very keen for the weeklong break to go well as he is closer to Paul and Eri...

The Fifth Guest is a horror themed dark comedy, written by Carol Maginn and directed by Zara Marie Brown. Taking place on Halloween night, four strangers arrive at an abandoned, and apparently haunted, house on a small, rocky island somewhere between Great Britain and Ireland. They have been invited to take part in a murder mystery dinner, but soon after arriving, one by one, in the dusty, cobwebbed filled dining room, with gaudy red chairs and cheap hatstand, it quickly becomes clear that everything might not be as it seems, and worst of all, dinner may never be served. Soon after the play opens, we meet the house’s resident ghost, the Lost Girl (Emma Hill) who wears a bedraggled wedding dress and speaks mostly in Macbeth quotes creating a brilliant pastiche of Dickens and Shakespeare,...