Jan Mellor, Author at North West End UK

24Sep

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Fiddler on the Roof – Liverpool Empire

Fiddler on the Roofis a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein and is based on the story of Tevye a poor dairy man in imperial Russia around 1905. Entering the packed Empire theatre, the stage was set in a dark haze with the orchestra pit set at the back of the stage – it looked intriguing and inviting. As a lover of this wonderful story of a man’s fight for tradition in a Jew-hating world, the set was very fitting. I saw this play on stage many years ago when the lead was played by Topol who also played the lead in the film – it was great then and I was hoping that this would compete. The opening scene of the iconic fiddler sat precariously on a roof playing the melodic tune sets the scene wonderfully and below the straw roof canopy, th...

6Jun

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Macbeth – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Dark, scary and foreboding. The three words that summarise the Shakespearean masterpiece. The tale of greed, malice and murder shown in the magnificent theatre at Prescott - it’s very foundations from the times that the original plays were performed. The set was thick with an eerie mist as the audience entered the round theatre, and as the play started, we were put into pitch blackness with only the sound of eerie sighs and moans from ghouls, surrounding us as the play began. It was immediately atmospheric and as the first scene opened – a bare stage with only a tin bath at it’s centre - we were immediately transfixed. A woman is carried to the bath, her gown covered in blood and in this bath, she miscarries her baby. Screams from the woman fill the theatre. This is not for the fain...

23Apr

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Boys from the Black Stuff – The Lowry

I was born in the 60’s, so remember clearly and with fondness, the series by the infamous Liverpudlian writer Alan Bleasdale – “The Boys from the Black Stuff”- the Black Stuff being the tar that a high number of men spent tarmacking the expanding roads of Britain in their days of employment. The first showing of the iconic programme was aired on BB2 – then a channel that had low ratings/viewers- on 10/10/82 but through its immediate popularity with viewers, moved to the main channel of the day – BBC1. The series depicted the stark reality of how working-class families were devastated by the lack of employment opportunities (more than 3 million people through this decade were unemployed – the highest figure for over 50 years) in this difficult decade. Alan Bleasdale told the story ...

7Mar

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Shirley Valentine – Everyman Theatre

An absolute treasure of a play – a joy to behold!! I adore the Everyman theatre in Liverpool. Maybe because I was born and raised in Liverpool, or that the design of the theatre is so encompassing, almost like we the audience are part of the stage or because it’ a charitable theatre that always hosts astonishing shows. Added to that, the opportunity to watch a Willy Russell (Liverpudlian playwright also born and bred in the city) masterpiece, being performed back on the floorboards of this fabulous theatre, reviving the one-woman play to the stage where it premiered in 1986, a great homecoming as the final show in the theatre’s 60th year celebrations. This was not something me or my 92-year-old mother were going to miss! Willy Russell, who’s famous and fabulous shows includ...

20Dec

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

A Christmas Carol – Norton Priory

Theres something so magical about seeing the Dickens masterpiece ‘A Christmas Carol’ played live around Christmas time. We are all drawn to watch a version of the story around the season whether it be the Alistair Sim black and white classic or the Muppet version, it is a tale that we all know and love. So, I have seen several short plays, shown in front of the iconic grand entrance to the priory and the huge double doors of the entrance are a magnificent backdrop – and for this play were used wonderfully being the entrance for each ghost to appear through billows of smoke. For tonight’s short rendition ( 1 hour) of the tale of reflection, anguish and remorse, there were just 5 cast members - the formidable Ebeneezer Scrooge , played superbly by &nb...

Alice in Wonderland – Shakespeare North Playhouse

27Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Alice in Wonderland – Shakespeare North Playhouse

A fabulous theatre, a story of marvel and magic, at a pantomime time of year and excitement in bucket loads, this being the ingredients to the opening night for the journey into fantasy, written with brilliance by Nick Land and directed with creativity by Nathan Powell that greeted the packed theatre this evening. To greet the full house, there were children dancing in the foyer and magical colour-changing potions to add to orange juice with the famous quote from the book itself ‘drink me’ (now pour me), that had us all entwined in the world of Lewis Carroll from the onset. As the play started, the playing cards greeted the crowd, waving excitedly at children dressed as Alice in pale blue dresses or as Mad Hatters who all waved back with beaming smiles. The 4 cards on stage realis...

13Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

The Little Mermaid – The Brindley

Having seen the amazing Centenary Theatre Group deliver a spectacular Phantom of the Opera, I was intrigued and yes - very excited - to see how they would deliver a performance from a 1989 animated Disney film – The Little Mermaid. Diverse, brave and unpredictable – this theatre group were never afraid of risks or challenges – so I knew they would ‘smash it’ and ‘smash it’ – they did! From entering the theatre, a unique backdrop of surging bubbles and waves welcomed us , a spectacular and ‘gob-smacking’ digital backdrop that would mesmerise us all throughout the show – I am not sure how the Director Dan Grimes and the Digital Designer Simon Matthews did this, but it was a stroke of genius and consumed us all in a word of magic and wonder throughout. The story- origi...

Gav Cross Storyteller: After Supper Ghost Stories – Norton Priory

27Oct

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Gav Cross Storyteller: After Supper Ghost Stories – Norton Priory

I love to be read stories – I think a lot of us do, something from our childhood- being read to by our parent or grandparents or those nostalgic back and white films, when a family sit in awe round the fire, listening to grandparents tell exciting tales of mystery and suspense. I adore the fact that at the wonderful Norton Priory , unique events are run that embrace the arts and theatre in a way that nourishes the soul and so, as I joined the full-house seats in front of the ancient atmospheric Victorian Porch of the museum’s Atrium (very fitting) ,I was as a child again waiting in anticipation for the intrigue to commence. Our ‘grandfather’ in this instance was Gav Cross - a true storyteller – the physique, the round end- of- nose spectacles and the roaring voice- inviting...

Divorced, Beheaded, Died: An Audience With King Henry VIII – Shakespeare North Playhouse

9Oct

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Divorced, Beheaded, Died: An Audience With King Henry VIII – Shakespeare North Playhouse

An intimate evening with the most famous monarch that ever lived – who could resist that! I have loved the Tudors and been fascinated particularly by the ‘antics’ of Henry V111 since my history lessons at schools. That as one of my favourite theatres – The Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescott - were holding ‘An evening with’ - I was very excited indeed to see how this legend would be portrayed. The performance was in the smallest of the theatres at the playhouse and as I took my seat – a front row of course – a large regal chair awaited us. Then to wonderful 16th century music, the magnificent monarch entered the room. The audience gasped – as there he was- in all his splendour, the noble tyrant, we all knew so well. Jack Abbot was awesome from the minute he ...

26Sep

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

King Arthur – The Lowry

I had never seen a production by the theatre group “Le Navett Bete” before. The theatre group decided on this name- as it loosely translates to “The Daft Turnip” and that being unusual, unique and fun- mirrors this talented theatre group impeccably. The show was being shown in the more intimate theatre at the Lowry and as we entered, we were met by an impressive backdrop/set of castle turrets, gothic windows, crenelations, scaffolds and towers (great work Fi Russell), and the opening scene of the three squires Edgar, Osbert and Dave in stocks and singing their woes. The audience (first two rows) had been given. latex fruit and vegetables to throw at these men and the audience loved it. As the three released themselves from the stocks – singing “I want to break free” we...