Tuesday, October 8

North West

The Signalman – Metal Culture, Liverpool
North West

The Signalman – Metal Culture, Liverpool

From ArtsGroupie, the producers of Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse and A Portrait of William Roscoe, comes a slice of winter terror with a new adaptation from David Griffiths, who also directs, of the much-loved Charles Dickens supernatural classic, The Signalman. Following the arrival of a somewhat lost and larger than life visitor (John Maguire) at a remote signal box on a dark winter night, the solitary railway signalman (Zoran Blackie) tells him of a spectre that has been haunting him with each appearance preceding a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works, a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line where he controls the movement of the passing trains and is alerted to danger by his fellow signalmen via the telegraph and alarms. T...
Betty Blue Eyes – Gladstone Theatre
North West

Betty Blue Eyes – Gladstone Theatre

A pig, a chiropodist and a lot of SPAM might seem unusual ingredients for a musical but WKMTC’s Betty Blue Eyes is a charming, funny and heart-warming show that delighted the packed house at the Gladstone Theatre last night. Adapted from the Alan Bennett play and film A Private Function, this was another great choice for the Wirral musical society. Like last year’s Christmas Carol, these character musicals suit them so well, not only showcasing their superb singing but also some gems of character acting. Set in 1947, the town are celebrating the Royal wedding but only the well-connected folk of the town council are invited to the private function like the doctor, the lawyer and the accountant. Poor chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers and his aspiring wife Joyce are not included. There’s lit...
Beautiful Thing – HOME Mcr
North West

Beautiful Thing – HOME Mcr

As part of its 30th Anniversary tour, Jonathan Harvey’s Iconic, coming-out and coming of age story comes to HOME Manchester. Set in the 90s, we delve into what it’s like to be 16 and in love in a time when the subject was not talked about, where the British Government brought in a legislation banning homosexuality being promoted in schools and educators were silenced. Following struggles of three teenagers, Jamie, a young boy who is bullies at school for being gay. Ste, a football fanatic who is always at the brunt of his brother and Father’s temper. And Leah, a misunderstood Mama Cass fan who has been excluded from school and struggling to find her way through life, seemingly alone. When things become too much at home, Ste takes refuge at Jamie’s flat, and this is where the boys str...
9 to 5 – The Grange Theatre, Hartford
North West

9 to 5 – The Grange Theatre, Hartford

I had not seen a Salt & Pepper Production before tonight, however I can assure you this will not be my last visit, as this theatre company is most definitely a first-class polished group of exceptionally talented individuals. I was honoured enough to meet Sue Chatt the mother of the Artistic Director and Choreographer Joanna Milborne-Chatt, who passionately informed me of the creation of Salt & Pepper, which was born out of a personal tragedy and became Milborne-Chatt’s focus to produce on stage magic and support Headway’s charity. This is Salt & Pepper’s third stage production, the first being ‘Rock of Ages’ which was an award-winning success and the second being ‘Calendar Girls’ in 2021, both generating funds for Milborne-Chatt’s chosen charities Headway and Blood Cance...
2:22 A Ghost Story – The Lowry
North West

2:22 A Ghost Story – The Lowry

Written by Danny Robins and directed by Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr, ‘2:22 A Ghost Story’ is an Olivier Award nominated thriller that first premiered in the West End in 2021. Having already captivated the West End, this gripping story is now on the move to impress more audiences across the country. Appropriately opening at the Lowry on the evening of Halloween only added to the audience’s anticipation. The story is essentially about the potential haunting of a new home. New mum ‘Jenny’ (Louisa Lytton) argues that the house is haunted and her husband, science obsessed ‘Sam’ (Nathaniel Curtis), vehemently disagrees. Over the night Jenny becomes more and more desperate to quash all of Sams ‘scientific theories’ as she is convinced there are strange ‘ghostly’ occurrences in the house. &...
The Woman Who Crossed the Road – Theatre Porto
North West

The Woman Who Crossed the Road – Theatre Porto

The uprising in Iran is just over a year old. Women are still demonstrating, refusing to wear their headscarves and shouting ‘Woman. Life. Freedom’. At the same time, the government is hitting back, often literally: in the past week, a sixteen-year-old girl died suffering from brain damage after an alleged altercation with morality police who had assaulted her for not wearing a hijab. Performed by Najmeh Shoara, born in Iran but forced to leave to keep herself safe and sane, she is in the UK for the first time to tell this story which, written and directed by Kevin Dyer, is based on the true stories of the many women forced to leave places and start over again. Whilst pre-dating the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in Iran in September 2022, it was updated to reflect its Iranian origins and ...
Brendan Son of Dublin – The Tung Auditorium
North West

Brendan Son of Dublin – The Tung Auditorium

In the 100th anniversary year of the birth of the infamous Brendan Behan, Fatdan Productions present the second of their musical dramas focusing on the ‘outsider’, following their 2021 play on Oscar Wilde, as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival. Written by John Merrigan and with music and lyrics by Danielle Morgan, director and visual artist Professor Pamela Howard OBE presents a semi-staged production to explore the enigma that is Behan. With the simplest of staging that includes three stools, three chairs, and a clothes rack, Behan (Pádraig Lynch) steps through the key phases of his life from impassioned young Republican through to literary lush, with supporting characters portrayed by an ensemble (Gillian McCafferty; John Newcombe; Jack Klaff; Ann Marcuson; Ross Scarfield) and the s...
Spam Valley – 53two
North West

Spam Valley – 53two

There is something intensely personal about Spam Valley. Perhaps unsurprising given it is described as an ‘autobiographical monologue’ of Kevin P. Gilday’s journey from working-class Glasgow to a middle-class career on the stage. But what makes the show extra special is how universal and relevant it is. Blending poetry and spoken word this is part stand up, part sermon. A hilarious, heartbreaking and extraordinary analysis of class. Under the 53two arches sits a solitary plastic chair, a microphone on a stand and a clothes rail of jackets: from the classic Umbro zip up to the badged blazer beloved by the arterati. One person monologues like this rely on the audience feeling secure in the hands of the performer. Gilday emerges and delivers his brilliant poem The Old Men In Weth...
The House Amongst the Willows – Formby Little Theatre
North West

The House Amongst the Willows – Formby Little Theatre

Fletcher (Peter Harris) is taking his fiancée Sadie (Hannah Johnson) away for a week, but they will be staying with the parents, Paul (Michael Leathley) and Erin (Vicky Birrell), of his previous wife, Laura (Donna M Day). Although engaged, they haven’t been together that long and Sadie is about to discover more than she had bargained for when his friend Josh (Simon James), a former policeman, reveals some hidden truths about Fletcher’s previous relationship, and when his Parisian ex, Kelly (Samantha Jones), turns up, things are about to get really complicated. If that’s not enough to get you started, then director Day’s unravelling of the subtext of the story definitely will as all is most certainly not what it seems in this tranquil part of middle England. Without giving too much away,...
Close Up Concert – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
North West

Close Up Concert – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

This concert in the intimate surroundings of the fantastic Music Room at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall features the outstanding UK clarinettist Julian Bliss accompanied by the excellent  pianist James Baillieu. The concert included five superb pieces of music written for clarinet and piano. Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet and piano  (1962) is a short, energetic, and quite dazzling piece. In three movements, Poulenc’s sonata simply soars and brings a whole new meaning to the word melodic – the second slow movement is absolutely  beautiful, and Bliss really shows us why he is  one of the UK’s first and foremost exponents of the clarinet. Claude Debussy’s Premiere Rapsodie (First Rhapsody) (1910) is a sublime and exhilarating piece of music and altho...