North West Archives - Page 122 of 173

15Oct

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Fiddler On The Roof – Gladstone Theatre

Young performers show great potential. This well-loved musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick offers many memorable songs. Even if the story is dark in places, it does have plenty of ‘Yiddish’ humour and opportunities for a large cast of mixed ages. After a three-year break from a main production, St Paul’s performed to good houses this week at The Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight. Set at the turn of the 20th century, Fiddler opens in Anatevka in the western region of Imperial Russia. It is a hard, bleak life for the families, held together by their religion and tradition, when an edict from the Tsar evicts the Jewish settlers from their village. Who would have thought that just over a hundred later we would see people from that same region, modern day Ukraine, fleeing from ...

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

15Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

Rainhill Garrick Society start their 80th birthday celebrations with a bang with this startling and surreal comedy whose improbable events become all too believable through the magic of the theatre. Written in 1979 by Joao Bethencourt, a celebrated Hungarian actor, playwright and director, it was well received throughout Europe including a rave review when presented in Rome. On a visit to New York, the Pope (Rick Young) mistakenly gets into a taxi and is immediately kidnapped by its driver, Samuel Leibowitz (George Lowe) who takes him to his Brooklyn home much to the surprise of his wife Sara (Tracey Duffy) and daughters Esther (Sophie Brogan) and Miriam (Lucy Whitfield). As events outside unfold through TV media (Angela Vose; Tom Nevitt), the demands of the ransom become clear: a day o...

House Guest – Allerton United Reformed Church

14Oct

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

House Guest – Allerton United Reformed Church

Originally written in 1976, Francis Durbridge’s House Guest can be best described as a quintessential “cosy crime” thriller. Spanning just over 50 years, Durbridge was a prolific writer of crime novels and plays and his most famous creation was Paul Temple, the debonair and exclusive private investigator. House Guest is one of his least known standalone plays that centres around the kidnapping of a child and suspicious goings on with the so-called police! Unfortunately, no Mr Temple is in sight here to sort things out! The play by today’s standards is quite dated and some of the dialogue is gruesomely wooden but having said that its clear to see that the RADS have tremendous fun in performing Durbridge’s creaky script and I must say, their enthusiasm was infectious. ...

13Oct

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

JB Shorts – 53Two

There are very few certainties in life. Hardly any in theatre. One constant, however, is that JB Shorts always delivers interesting ideas, great writing and talented acting. For anyone unfamiliar, the showcase of short plays was born in the Joshua Brooks pub more than a decade ago as a way of giving TV writers the space to try out new work. The show has gone from strength to strength in its new home at 53Two and this selection of shorts is no different. Energy bills, the political response to the pandemic, ableism, so-called cancel culture and discrimination. The issues being tackled are overwhelmingly influenced by the extraordinary times we are living through. However, at the heart of each play, are surprisingly well-drawn characters given the brevity of the texts. Zoe Iqbal &am...

13Oct

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Vincent River – Hope Mill Theatre

The dark space between grief and prejudice is at the heart of this play. Indeed, this piece is replete with dimly lit spaces, the dingy, drab, bedraggled places that are falling apart. Those secret areas of the soul where people hide their true lives and loves. Existing in these shadows can be dangerous and also fatal. Set in the East-End of London this two-hander centres on Anita, whose gay son was murdered, and Davey, the young lad who found her son’s body. She suspects he had something to do with it and they start to talk. As a grief-stricken, angry mother she wants answers. It could be said the start of the play is almost too intense and dramatic as she is full of antagonism from the very first line. Davey has his own family issues to deal with and as they start to interact the i...

12Oct

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Sister Act – Pendle Hippodrome

North West End UK reviews both professional and amateur shows, but when reviewing Basics Junior Theatre School production’s, it is hard to distinguish which one it is as the talent and delivery is that of a professional performance year after year. Sally Murtaugh and her late husband Dennis founded Basics 35 years ago and the theatre group has delivered an annual performance since 1987 to present day, this is the first time Basics have produced Sister Act. Andy Cooke has been the principle at Basics for ten years and I have had the honour of reviewing several of his shows, one of the most striking themes throughout the years of watching the performances is the sense of pride and belonging to a family which ripples from the students to each and every member of the production team. And...

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Palace Theatre

12Oct

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Palace Theatre

Behind every record-breaking, chart-topping hit is a songwriter with poetical flair to spare. This jukebox musical pays homage to 60s icon Carole King, the multi-talented musician and composer of timeless classics from ‘The Loco-Motion’ to ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. ‘Beautiful’ follows the musically-rich career of King (Molly-Grace Cutler) as she pursues a dream to enrich people’s lives with her original songs. As an autobiographical piece, Douglas McGrath’s book reveals how King’s life experiences are reflected in her far-reaching creations. The story itself may be thin, but the versatile cast proves that there is no need to overembellish a straightforward narrative when it’s the soundtrack that takes centre stage. Carole’s pop tunes are interspersed with soul and so...

The Importance of Being Earnest – Liverpool Playhouse

12Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

The Importance of Being Earnest – Liverpool Playhouse

Avant-garde, adventurous, audacious – and yes, artificial, but brilliantly witty, Oscar Wilde lives on in this hugely entertaining production. The cast introduce themselves by waltzing on, immediately conveying the merry-go-round of their lives with ever changing tableaux of laughter and posturing, voguing almost, and dance, like a visual representation of those many scintillating one liners which accurately skewer so much of Society - then and now. Its trivialities and shallowness are wonderfully exposed. This takes place chez Algernon, walls garnished with portraits, as well as frames which serve as portals and hatches, although strangely sparse when it comes to furniture, but for one elegant chaise longue (of course). We then move outside, into the garden of Ernest's country pile, an...

The Proclaimers – Liverpool Philharmonic

11Oct

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

The Proclaimers – Liverpool Philharmonic

Identical twin brothers, Craig and Charlie Reid are strikingly individual in the flesh. Born in Leith in 1962, they list their influences as being early rock ‘n’ roll and country artists. After playing in punk bands they formed The Proclaimers in 1983; their first big break came in 1986 when they were invited to tour with The Housemartins. In January 1987 they appeared on Channel 4’s The Tube, singing in regional accents about Scotland, its emigration and its politics, they became a phenomenon almost overnight and the rest is history. They walked onto the stage without fuss or ceremony, both dressed similarly in black tops and jeans with the audience giving them a welcome cheer and launch into their first song, ‘Dentures Out’. Immediately that unmistakable, instantly recogni...

Daniel Sloss: Can’t – Liverpool Philharmonic

11Oct

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Daniel Sloss: Can’t – Liverpool Philharmonic

Daniel Sloss is a man on a mission. Dubbing himself the ‘Steve Irwin of comedy’ he’s on the lookout for the ‘Stingray’ joke that is going to end his career. It won’t be the one we’d expect he says, it will be something innocuous, that starts off about wallpaper. Nevertheless, he’s clearly relishes the opportunity in front of him to test the audience’s limit. In Sloss’ firing line are the death of the Queen, progressive liberals, magicians, and people who get travel sick. He loves the idea of us discovering that our fellow audience members absolutely hate him; that their discomfort will only serve to make the experience even funnier. Two Netflix specials have help Sloss hone his act, but he remains a man of two sides; one minute perching on a bar stool like he’s about to break into a ...