Mark Davoren, Author at North West End UK

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

24Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kitty Wilkinson is the only female statue in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall, and she is brought to life by Samantha Alton to take us back to 1830’s Liverpool in a captivating one-woman show that tells an against all odds story of how a working-class Irish migrant girl, whose life was laden with poverty, loss, and hardship, fought the cholera epidemic and became a community champion. Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden provides the perfect backdrop for this intricate tale from celebrated local writer John Maguire which, told with humour and kindness, brings Kitty’s story centre stage under the direction of Margaret Connell as we are immersed in the world of a true heroine of the North. White sheets draping the open set provide the perfect backdrop for the narra...

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

23Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

What if the Liver Bird really did exist? Charlie J (Tom Browning) has heard all about Liverpool’s famous Birds from his Grandma’s (Samantha Alton) stories but are they real? Has anybody seen one fly? When things start to get difficult at school and just when he needs it most, Charlie is visited by a very special creature… Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden is well and truly brought alive by this enchanting modern-day fairy-tale from writer John Maguire, adapted here for stage by Jessica Mae Buxton of The Bookworm Players and directed by Margaret Connell. Using the simplest of sets, our two talented actors bring all of their skills to the fore through mesmerising performances with mime and puppetry added in for good measure. There is a high level of interact...

Angela Griffin to interview Johnny Vegas at Shakespeare North Playhouse

22Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Angela Griffin to interview Johnny Vegas at Shakespeare North Playhouse

Beloved comic and actor Johnny Vegas sits down with actress and TV Presenter Angela Griffin, in the second of Shakespeare North Playhouse’s ‘Evening With’ events on Friday 29th July in the Cockpit Theatre. Before sipping cuppas with a knitted monkey or being a TV panel regular on QI and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Vegas was perhaps one of the most fearlessly honest stand-ups that this country has ever produced. Revered for his comedic rants and use of surreal humor, Johnny is a true Northern legend (and a local one at that!) Leeds-born Angela is a firm favourite with audiences around the world. Her road to success began in 1993 when, as a 16-year-old, she assumed the role of hairdresser Fiona Middleton in ITV’s Coronation Street. Since then, Angela has appeared in a wide variet...

22Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Book of Mormon – Liverpool Empire

The Book of Mormon has been meting out metaphors since it first broke on the stage in 2011 and this latest adaptation continues that rich vein with recent local topical references slipped in for good measure. Two young men, Kevin Price (Robert Colvin) and Arnold Cunningham (Jacob Yarlett) have finished their training to be missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and inspired by the memory of Joseph Smith (Johnathan Tweedie) and with the title Elder inserted in front of their names, the pair are thrust together and sent off on their two-year mission to find, recruit and baptise new members into the Mormon religion. However, it’s not to be the magic of Orlando but Africa when they pitch up in Uganda to help struggling Elder McKinley (Jordan Lee Davies) and team. W...

The Countdown Is On To Deva Fest’s Big Weekend

19Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

The Countdown Is On To Deva Fest’s Big Weekend

With just weeks to go until Deva Fest 2022, excitement is building for what is set to be the unmissable event of the summer. The three-day music, food and lifestyle extravaganza comes to Chester Lakes from 12th-14th August and final preparations are underway to make the annual event the best one yet. Cheshire’s premier family festival includes a host of activities and attractions which are all included within its entrance price - including marvellous mermaids, pirates and parades, funfair rides, fancy dress competitions and a fantastic line-up of household names on the main music stage. They include headliners Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Heather Small, singer-songwriter and pop-rap princess Betty Boo, and brilliant bands Scouting for Girls and Dodgy. Mermaid Cove is a new attractio...

Twelfth Night – Old Fruit Jar Productions at Royal Court Studio, Liverpool

18Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Twelfth Night – Old Fruit Jar Productions at Royal Court Studio, Liverpool

Twelfth Night – Old Fruit Jar Productions at Royal Court Studio, Liverpool Old Fruit Jar Productions have well and truly ripened with their upcoming production of Twelfth Night at Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio this August, and it was a delight to catch up with director Alex Carr and cast members to discover what they have in store. Shakespeare is often perceived as off-putting, mainly because of how poorly it is taught in schools, and something that people look forward to escaping from but in the right hands, one can delight at the continued relevance of work from over four hundred years ago and its ironic examination of the human character: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose… OFJP have embraced the challenge and chosen to reset the play, one of Shakespeare’s more famous co...

Off the Ground Theatre – Love’s Labour’s Lost

16Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Off the Ground Theatre – Love’s Labour’s Lost

It may have been 2 long years coming, having been postponed due to Covid-19, but Off the Ground Theatre are overjoyed to finally be able to bring their production of Love’s Labour’s Lost to audiences across the north west of England and Wales this summer. This summer will also see OTG return to Ireland for the first time since the summer of 2019, making this production all the more exciting. Shakespeare’s most poetic play, this is a comedy all about love in its many forms, and what hapless, beautiful young people will do to find it. Ferdinand, King of the idyllic Navarre region of Spain, has sworn a vow with his three closest friends, and most trusted advisers, to avoid the company of women, too fast and to sleep just three hours a day for three years, so they can devote themselves f...

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Rainhill Village Hall

9Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Rainhill Village Hall

Set up just over a year ago, The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, directed by Samantha Moores with support from Choreographer Amy Balfour, is Individuality Youth’s first full production following last Christmas’ ensemble event at the same venue. Siblings Lucy (Bracken Keyte), Susan (Lexie Haslam), Peter (Grace Spencer-Storey), and Edmund (Laia Morgan) are staying at the Professor’s house when Lucy steps into wardrobe and out again into the magical world of Narnia, a land of Beavers (Ella Davies and Ellen Rose Challinor) and Leopards (Louisa Nelson and Reeve Keyte) amongst other animals and where she meets Mr Tumnus (Elijah Dunne). All is not well though as The White Witch (Helena Hanlon) assisted by Maugrim (Alyssa McCormick) and Dwarf (Holly Spencer-Storey), terrorises all. It soon...

Epstein Premiere For New Staged Production Of Masquerade

28Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Epstein Premiere For New Staged Production Of Masquerade

A brand new production of Masquerade – a play telling a powerful and emotional tale set in an iconic Liverpool gay club in the 1980s – is coming to the city’s Epstein Theatre this Autumn. Masquerade is a poignant tale of love and loss among Liverpool’s LGBT+ community. Following a successful run at the Royal Court Studio in 2019, the acclaimed play written by Laura Lees is back in a new electrifying and reimagined staging, with Liverpool’s queer history at its heart. The creative team has been announced, the full cast will be revealed shortly. Masquerade will run at the Epstein Theatre in Liverpool from Tuesday 22nd November to Saturday 26th November 2022 for just eight performances. Tickets are priced from £20 and are on sale now. Masquerade is produced by Bill Elms (So...

27Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

1984 –Thingwall Community Centre

George Orwell’s dystopian novel, originally published in 1949, is a cautionary tale, drawing on the then recent insights into Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, examining the role of truth and facts within politics and the way in which they are manipulated. This dramatisation is constructed almost entirely from dialogue taken from the original novel. Winston Smith (Zoran Blackie) is in prison, found guilty of Thoughtcrimes against Big Brother. As part of his reconstruction, led by O’Brien (John Maguire), he must re-enact key moments from his past life, with the help of other thought criminals playing key characters including re-enacted versions of himself (John Reynolds) and O’Brien (Kate Mulvihill) as well as Parsons (Michael Silverman) and Charrington (Vicki Griffiths), so that everyo...