Lou Steggals, Author at North West End UK

Pat Goldsack: How to Flirt Well into Your Grave – The King’s Arms

13Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Pat Goldsack: How to Flirt Well into Your Grave – The King’s Arms

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if your nan discovered TikTok and decided to audition for Love Island, Pat Goldsack might be your fever dream come true. Created from the mind of award-winning Kiwi actress, Katie Boyle, tonight the octogenarian granny is here to dish out her decades of expertise in the game of flirting and relationships. Greeting her audience as they trickle into the cosy side room of the Kings Arms, Pat’s repartee instantly harks back to the warm and genteel comedy of Dame Edna Everage and Mrs Merton – where even the most stinging observations somehow feel like a warm hug. As we ramble through the highly interactive show, peppered with parodies of modern hits (accompanied on the pub’s piano by Nino Raphael) and regular bursts of ‘Bingo was his Name-O...

Mitch Benn: The Tom Lehrer Effect – The Anthony Burgess Foundation

11Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Mitch Benn: The Tom Lehrer Effect – The Anthony Burgess Foundation

The task of a comedy songwriter is a tough one. There’s deciding whether you want to simply write funny songs were the humour may come from precarious stunt-rhyming or mocking a popular musical style, through to packing lyrics with biting satire and political observations. Before the likes of Weird Al Yankovich, Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin there was Tom Lehrer, a 1950s/60s musician who later turned mathematician, noted amongst other things for singing the periodic table to the tune of ‘Modern Major General’ and writing music for the cast of the US version of That Was The Week That Was (never getting to perform the songs himself much to his annoyance). If he was raised on a diet of Radio 4 classic comedies, British cynicism and been handed a loop pedal, you’d end up with something...

The Highwayman – Shakespeare North Playhouse

27Jun

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Highwayman – Shakespeare North Playhouse

With more swagger than Ronaldo, Mick Jagger, and the cast of Made in Chelsea combined, this lively John Godber production gallops onto stage to introduce us to the most infamous scoundrel you’ve never actually heard of. Meet John Swift, a young man who decides to combine his skills as a butcher and infantryman in the French army to attempt to take Dick Turpin’s crown, robbing a living from the rich who pass through his town. But as he starts to waver in his choice of a life of crime, can he find a way of making an honest wage and afford his darling wife, Molly May the lifestyle she desires? Under Godber’s nimble direction, the show manages to keep one foot in the 18th century and the other firmly in his trademark Yorkshire grit and humour. It’s part restoration love story, part farci...

Vardy vs Rooney: A courtroom drama – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

3Jun

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Vardy vs Rooney: A courtroom drama – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

There have been many moments in society that have reverberated around the country and sent media news desks into a spin, more than ever since the advent of social media. Sporting glory, royal deaths, political scandals. When Coleen Rooney, wife of footballer Wayne, posted the words ‘It’s……….Rebecca Vardy’s account’, on Instagram, accusing her fellow football WAG of leaking personal stories from Rooney’s private account to The Sun newspaper, the fallout was as instant and, bizarrely, as explosive of any other major news story. Vardy was promptly vilified for her apparent betrayal of trust and Rooney gained the nickname ‘Wagatha Christie’ when her entrapment scheme to identify the source of the leaks was revealed, leading to Vardy making a libel claim against her rival. Whilst U...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – The Gladstone Theatre

29May

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – The Gladstone Theatre

Taking on a musical like Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the true story of a young man who dreams of being a drag queen and wearing a dress to prom, can be an ambitious project requiring a strong, triple-threat cast, clever staging and the energy to send the show strutting into the audience’s hearts in glittery heels. Thankfully D&S Productions have achieved this in spades. Under the assured direction of Donna Dale, the company have delivered a sassy and sparkly show that brings all the right notes of humour and humanity to a hugely enjoyable performance. Donna has honed her ensemble into a very high standard, with smart blocking and some lovely directorial touches. Similarly Musical Director Grace Harman leads her band with a solid showcase of Dan Gillespie Sells’ fizzy musical...

Rocky Horror Picture Show – Palace Theatre

20May

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Rocky Horror Picture Show – Palace Theatre

Time Warping its way back into Manchester, with fishnets and flair, The Rocky Horror Picture show has rolled into Manchester ready to make audiences quiver with antici…pation. Under the stead hand of director Christopher Luscombe, Jason Donovan has returned to the role and high heels of theatre’s iconic transexual scientist, Dr. Frank N. Furter, doing so with gusto. He brings a fabulous balance of louche flamboyance and furtiveness to invigorate the show with the unpredictability and playfulness it needs. He clearly enjoys himself teasing his fellow castmates and the audience and delivers chaos (including a misbehaving pair of heels) and a touch of menace to his performance. Jackie Clune brings a witty edge as the narrator, imbuing the usually ‘stuffy accountant’ vibe with somethi...

Little Gem – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

30Apr

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Little Gem – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Given it is the size of a generous living room, the Garrick Studio has proved the perfect venue for Elaine Murphy’s wickedly funny portrayal of three generations of Dublin women navigating the chaos and camaraderie of everyday life. Little Gem, tonight under the steadfast direction of Meg Brassington, is a play that thrives through its raw emotional proximity and conversational style. Through a series of alternating monologues between the three women we are given a whistlestop tour of love, loss and resilience. With a well-planned static set and judicious use of props, the focus is solely on the three actors and the life that they breathe into Murphy’s rich (and raucous) language. And in our actresses tonight we have three uniformly strong performances. Chloe Arrowsmith, as teenag...

Embrace and The Bluetones – Liverpool Olympia 120th Anniversary

29Apr

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

NEWS

Embrace and The Bluetones – Liverpool Olympia 120th Anniversary

The venue may look like it’s been ‘cunningly disguised as a series of newsagents’ (or so says The Bluetones’ frontman Mark Morriss). But those stepping through the Olympia’s inconspicuous doors will find a Grade II listed venue full of old theatrical grandeur that, in its lifetime, has played host to circuses with performing animals, bingo nights, boxing matches and shows from the world’s biggest music acts, including (naturally) The Beatles. Tonight’s celebration is a showcase of homegrown British music. Two local bands have been picked to kick the party off. RATS bring ska-punk tinged songs with raspy vocals and rapping. Next up is The Real People, showcasing the best of a classic, Britrock back catalogue that makes clear why, in the early 90s, they were called upon to men...

26Apr

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Dice House – St Hilda’s Church Hall

What with cast members in their undies, an unorthodox mix of gore-y horror and Carry-On slapstick, and random acts of murder, the good Lord may have wished to avert his heavenly eyes from the on-stage shenanigans arising in the innocent church hall of St Hilda’s. The Dice House, by Paul Lucas, is a very black comedy in which under the conceit of research, psychiatrist Dr Ratner, pursues ‘Dice Therapy’ – where every decision, from the clothes you eat to the people you choose to be intimate with, is based on the roll of the dice. When a rival psychiatrist, Dr Drabble, attempts to infiltrate the centre to rescue (or kidnap, depending on your point of view) his wife, with the aid of the slightly witless Matthew, all hell quickly breaks loose. What is an intriguing premise, inviting a...

23Mar

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Buckled – 53two

It’s Wine O’Clock somewhere. Hic-Hic-Hooray. Eat, sleep, Gin, repeat. How many of us can honestly say we haven’t reached the end of a working week and our mind has turned to relaxing with friends or family and a few drinks via an alcohol-themed pun or two. But where is the line when enjoying a bevy becomes a serious problem? Helen Jeffery’s slick and thought provoking one-act play, Buckled, which she also directs, gives us a glimpse in the consequences of out-of-control drinking. A simple set of a table and two chairs is thoughtfully used and, through a mix of mono- and dialogues and ensemble speeches, delivered by three excellent actors, and a cleverly curated Britpop soundtrack, we have the opportunity to consider our own relationship with the ‘demon drink’ (and possibly feel s...