North West Archives - Page 166 of 172

9Aug

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

RENT – Hope Mill Theatre

After almost three years in the making, a short run in 2020 which became a casualty of COVID-19 and a very successful online run, RENT at Hope Mill is back and it is explosive, imaginative and full of character. The stage is open with a very minimal set, but it needs no more as the storytelling fills the space and makes the room feel full. As the cast enter and take their seats around the edge of the stage area, you can feel the buzz and excitement in the room, a full capacity audience ready to soak in the story, the music, the love. As soon as the song ‘Rent’ began, you could feel the electricity in the room as the whole stage came to life and we were taken on a journey of friendship, love, life and loss. The cast were visible the whole time, whether on the stage or not and th...

8Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Love, Liverpool – Liverpool Playhouse

Love, Liverpool, created by Chloë Moss and directed by Nathan Powell, is a tender and varied homage to Merseyside and its people. Combining video, stage performance and a vibrant soundscape, this is a love letter to a city and its surrounding areas, which exposes the high points and the low points, the good days and the bad, and focuses in on the core of love and hope which is left when all is said and done. Before the show opens, snippets of recordings of people’s memories of Liverpool, curated by Sound Designer, Xenia Bayer, play as a map is projected on the stage with the words “I love Liverpool” is various languages alternate over it. The play opens with a projected image of a Merseyrail train, and simple setting creating the journey from New Brighton to Liverpool. The first of a...

31Jul

By Tracy RyanNo Comments

North West

Sleepover – Unity Theatre

This is my first sleepover. I am 54 and sitting on a bed in Kelly house, reading Just Seventeen and drinking Malibu, while four teenage female friends laugh, gossip, talk crushes & nipple hair, improvise dance routines & do a bit of karaoke – as well as snog some of their posters. This is All Things Considered’s delightful, nostalgia-fest, a 90-minute interactive celebration of friendship, sisterhood & all things teenage girl in the 1990s – a heady time where New Kids on the Block, White Musk perfume & Regal ciggies reigned. The audience (13 women & one privileged young bloke) are escorted to beds encircling the action on arrival by the cast; we’re immediately engaged in conversation & faced with a torrent of excitable questions - and from there things become eve...

28Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Magic Goes Wrong – The Lowry

Forget your David Blaines and Copperfields. As the late Tommy Cooper knew in his variety shows of old, there’s big laughs to be had in watching a stage magician flounder and fluster when a much-practiced trick goes spectacularly wrong. It’s a ripe opportunity for the kings and queens of all things Wrong, Mischief Theatre, the team behind the massive smash hit of The Play that Goes Wrong. Almost like the adult movie industry, just name any play or subject and there’s a strong likelihood there’ll be a ‘Goes Wrong’ version of it from this prolific gang. And so, to tonight’s fare, co-written with anarchic magic duo Penn and Teller. In terms of a synopsis, it’s right there in the title. There’s magic, and it goes wrong. Very, very wrong. Under the guise of a fundraiser for ‘Disasters i...

25Jul

By Harriet AndrewsNo Comments

North West

We’re Queer For It – Unity Theatre

Young Homotopia are here to ask the questions that the LGBTQ+ community have been asking themselves for the longest time. The show began with the question of ‘should I go to pride?’ which has been a question many of us have asked ourselves and I thought this was really thoughtfully developed. The idea of ‘am I too gay, am I not gay enough, am I the right kind of gay, would I fit in?’ Is still a very real train of thought for people of all ages wondering whether to go to pride. Many of the methods of addressing stereotypes and the irony of playing out straight stereotypes was a really interesting idea and really entertaining. The game show idea in particular landed very strongly, I just wish the people delivering it could have stood still. The topic of the piece is really...

12 – The Rainbow Monologues – Bombed Out Church

21Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

12 – The Rainbow Monologues – Bombed Out Church

Grin Theatre Company presented this unique and varied showcase of new LGBTQ writing at the closing night of the very successful little Liverpool Theatre Festival produced by Bill Elms. This was a beautiful evening of twelve new monologues that covered many areas of what it means to be LGBTQ and the superb cast (Holly Murphy, Alan Harbottle, Taylor Illingworth, Pam Ashton and Terence Conchie) invested lots of imagination, sensitivity and energy throughout. The show which was directed with great flair and detail by Dan Scott provided the audience with 12 characters in 70 minutes and there wasn’t a dull moment. I would love to see this come back to the stage because more people should definitely see this lovely piece of live theatre. I was particularly moved by the monologue St P...

20Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Chatroom – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

What would you imagine to be on the agenda for teenagers chatting online? Rating current romantic crushes? How mean mum and dad are for not letting them out past 10? Whether the fat German kid would be more likely to win Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory over Charlie Bucket might not feature on your list, but it is the first vignette of conversation we’re presented with as we join our six teen stars of Enda Walsh’s one-act play Chatroom. Described as a chilling, blackly comic tale, Chatroom looks at themes of online manipulation, cyberbullying and teenage depression, as relatively innocent conversations dissecting children’s literature and pop music are punctured by the arrival of Jim, a young man struggling with suicidal thoughts. This show marks the first production by the Garric...

18Jul

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Tea Time – Bombed Out Church

G&J Productions’ Tea Time, written by Graham Edgington and directed by James Edgington, is a surreal dramatic comedy about three northern women on an apparently normal day, where the most important thing is getting tea cooked on time. The play takes place in Joan’s cluttered kitchen and opens with Joan (Denice Hope) reading a very upsetting letter from the courts. Her daughter April (Elise Carman) is having serious problems at work and when Joan’s friend Sharon (Samantha Power) comes around for a chat, Joan reluctantly tells her everything, with the repeated refrain that she really cannot say anything more. Sharon listens enraptured by April’s story, while steadily eating grapes as though they were popcorn, and drinking mug after mug of water which smells suspiciously like wine. ...

16Jul

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

This Skin of Mine – Bombed Out Church

As part of the little LTF (Liverpool Theatre Festival) season of new works for the stage Kai Jolley’s This Skin of Mine is a charming two hander that deals with a variety of issues including transgender equality, race, domestic abuse and care within a family unit. The subjects covered in this short play can be quite overwhelming and deep in context, but Jolley’s script has a light, intelligent and highly likable touch, veering as it does between outright high drama and dark comic camp. The two actors (Eden Jodie and Janelle Thompson) convey a deep understanding of their characters throughout and instantly connect with the audience. They both give clear and concise performances as the estranged siblings attending to an ailing mother in the family home. It is revealed during the...

15Jul

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Twice Nightly – Bombed Out Church

Twice Nightly, written, directed by and starring Maria Lovelady and Michael Alan Bailey, is a fun comedy which explores the world of variety entertainment in 1931 and the impact of film on the theatre industry. Don (Bailey) and Madge (Lovelady) are down on their luck cabaret performers who are frustrated with their underappreciative employer and not being hailed as the superstars they deserve to be. Opening with a synchronised song and dance number, both Bailey and Lovelady demonstrate excellent musical theatre skills throughout the piece. Live music is provided by musical director, Jessica Dives, with fun accordion melodies giving the piece a feeling of the 1930s music hall. A mischievous song about being criminal masterminds is surprisingly followed by the arrival of a policeman (R...