North West Archives - Page 37 of 178

7Mar

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Shirley Valentine – Everyman Theatre

An absolute treasure of a play – a joy to behold!! I adore the Everyman theatre in Liverpool. Maybe because I was born and raised in Liverpool, or that the design of the theatre is so encompassing, almost like we the audience are part of the stage or because it’ a charitable theatre that always hosts astonishing shows. Added to that, the opportunity to watch a Willy Russell (Liverpudlian playwright also born and bred in the city) masterpiece, being performed back on the floorboards of this fabulous theatre, reviving the one-woman play to the stage where it premiered in 1986, a great homecoming as the final show in the theatre’s 60th year celebrations. This was not something me or my 92-year-old mother were going to miss! Willy Russell, who’s famous and fabulous shows includ...

6Mar

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Glorious! – Hope Mill Theatre

The fascinating story of Florence Foster Jenkins was brought back to mainstream attention by Hollywood in 2016. Hope Mill Theatre’s production of Glorious! covers much of the same ground but does so in a way that feels a lot more focused and a lot less condescending about the ‘worst singer in the world’. The ever-versatile Ancoats stage is, once again, utterly transformed. Clam shell footlights, a dusky velvet curtain and a vintage gramophone player set the scene. Charlie Hiscock’s Cosmé McMoon emerges to assure the audience he is not a pseudonym and that what we are about to see is all true. He also plants the core message: that maybe Jenkins was living in a cocoon, but that perhaps that’s a lesson for us all. The curtains open, McMoon and Jenkins meet, and we are away. Swift sto...

Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

5Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Shakespeare North Playhouse’s latest co-production with Stephen Joseph Theatre promises much, but sadly, as the title hints at, delivers little in this 1990’s-based adaptation. Ferdy (Timothy Adam Lucas) and his stags Berowne (Thomas Cotran) and Long-Dumain (Linford Johnson) have tipped up at a resort in Ibiza run by Armado (David Kirkbride) for their lads’ weekend but are under a promise to not talk to any girls, let alone think about them. Meanwhile, Yvette (Annie Kirkham) and her hens Mary-Kate (Alice Imelda), Rosie (Alyce Liburd), and Boyet (Jo Patmore) are heading to Malaga until the resort says they’ve had to relocate them to a hotel in Ibiza. Cue shoddy disguises, mislaid love letters, and theatrical chaos as we wait to see whether the boys get the girls or indeed something el...

Now That’s What I Call a Musical – Liverpool Empire

5Mar

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Now That’s What I Call a Musical – Liverpool Empire

NOW That’s What I Call a Musical promises a nostalgic trip back to the 80s, but what it delivers is more like a chaotic tribute night with a flimsy story tacked on. Following best friends Gemma and April, the show jumps between their teenage years in 1989 and their reunion in 2009, exploring how life — and friendship — doesn’t always turn out the way we expect. It’s a familiar premise, but the story itself never really finds its feet. The biggest issue is the script, which feels like an afterthought, existing purely to glue together as many 80s hits as possible. Jukebox musicals often lean on their soundtrack, but this one takes it to extremes. Songs like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves” feel clumsily wedged into scenes, rarely adding anything to the...

2Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Dead Mom Play – Unity Theatre

The funny thing about grief is that it’s no laughing matter, yet conversely laughter is generally considered the best medicine. That’s the conundrum for this semi-autobiographical production from writer, director, and producer Ben Blais which it doesn’t entirely overcome. A young man, Charlie (Griffyn Bellah) faces his critically ill mother (Hannah Harquart) and Death (Joe Bellis), a scythe-wielding Scouser in a hood, as he struggles to accept the harsh reality of the grieving process whilst stuck in a play of his own creation. This is the second play I have seen on grief in as many weeks and whilst I wasn’t reviewing the first, both pieces suffer from the need for some independent creative check which is absent because, in this instance, the writer has opted to direct and produc...

27Feb

By Carole BaldockNo Comments

North West

Rita, Sue & Bob too! – Floral Pavilion

Yes of course, this play comes with a trigger warning, pointing out that it’s the original 1981 script. No surprises there - except that it is still as shocking today as it was over 40 years ago, although the emphasis is more on the bawdy humour than the disturbing issues it addresses. Even more shocking, for all the audience gasped at the arrant sexism, things haven’t changed that much. Improved seems far too much to hope for. You still get dodgy blokes cruising around secondary schools in their flashy cars, tho Bob’s looks like a second hand Trabant, and bright orange to boot. You still get stubborn, self-obsessed, giggly teenage girls interested in little else but sex: there’s nowt else to do here, as one student proclaimed years ago. Blame their parents? The usual suspects are here as ...

27Feb

By Paddy Darnell-WalshNo Comments

North West

Bat Out of Hell – Palace Theatre

Bat Out of Hell is back in Manchester… and it’s back with a bang! The rip-roaring, high-octane Meat Loaf musical returns to its roots, the home of the show’s premiere, for a limited run. Showcasing the iconic anthems from Meat Loaf’s thumping debut album, with music and lyrics by the wonderful Jim Steinman, this production is a real crowd pleaser from start to finish. Set in the post-apocalyptic, fictional city of Osidian, Bat Out of Hell is loosely based on Peter Pan, following Strat, leader of ‘The Lost’, a group of misfits frozen in time as 18-year-olds. Strat has fallen in love with Raven, daughter of Falco, Osidian’s tyrannical ruler. With a Romeo and Juliet-esque narrative, crossed with an epic rock concert, the show is brilliantly bonkers and unapologetically over the top. Gle...

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – Liverpool Empire

26Feb

By Grace AnnabelNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – Liverpool Empire

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company returns to revive the timeless classic ‘Swan Lake’ on the 30th Anniversary Tour. Bourne names the production ‘next generation’ for a distinct reason. This production brought Swan Lake into the new age, which included amending characters to reflect a truthful modern-day production (such as the prominent character of the Swan/The Stranger being played by a male performer rather than female, executed seamlessly by Jackson Fisch). If you attend the show expecting to see an exact replica of the original Swan Lake, this show might not be for you, however it may just be even better. As the house lights dimmed and the show began, I was thrilled to hear the addition of a live orchestra for this production, which was a treat. There is something so specia...

26Feb

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

The Merchant of Venice 1936 – The Lowry

The timing of this production could not be better, setting as it does one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays amid the rise and fall of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in mid-thirties England. With certain tech giants performing “Roman salutes” and the frightening rise of fascist political parties taking place across Europe, we seem to be returning to the dark days of the 1930s. This adaptation of Shakespeare’s play powerfully brings to life the vicious remorselessness of bigotry and how it can be fought and defeated. Projected onto the back wall were the sensationalist antisemitic headlines of the day, newsreel clips of fascist marches and Mosley’s call for “Britain First.” The frightening echoes of what is happening now were stark but the play also reminded us that th...

26Feb

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Ghost Stories – The Lowry

It was with a definite buzz in the air that I settled into my seat at Salford’s Lowry Theatre for the opening night of Ghost Stories. The packed theatre hummed with excitement and anticipation and a slightly nervous edge could be felt in the air enhanced by gentle, quietly eerie music With the Safety Curtain still lowered, all that could be seen was a trim, modern lectern holding small glass of water and a light awaiting a lecturer to come along a breathe life into it. As the opening moment screeched into the auditorium the audience screamed their response and 90 minutes of captivating theatre began. Photo: Hugo Glendinning Entering the stage as leading parapsychologist we meet Professor Goodman who immediately took control of the space and the narrative. Clad in the corduroy armo...