North West Archives - Page 6 of 128

Yoga and sex (for Women over 40) – The Peer Hat

31Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Yoga and sex (for Women over 40) – The Peer Hat

There are probably very few circumstances where a woman will sit watching her husband kneeling on a yoga mat with another woman’s bottom thrusting towards his face, whilst discussing the physics of positions in the Kama Sutra, and her reaction be hysterical laughter. But that’s where we find ourselves, in the company of spunky Aussie yoga instructor Kath (aka Kathryn Haywood) who may still be trying to find the perfect ‘Brangelina’ word- combo for the sex lecture (‘Slex-ture?’) that she is here to deliver. Clutching three yoga-based self-help manuals from the 1960s, Kath whooshes us through reflections on dating, staying young and, naturally, mastery of basic yoga. And it’s an absolute riot. Despite the slightly saucy audience participation (which, wonderfully, people are happy to...

29Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Picking – Gullivers Lounge

If you’ve ever suffered a bad date, then you may find either solace in tonight’s show, or confirmation that it’s time to delete a few apps off your phone. Described as a ‘love letter to the over-thinkers, worriers and anxiously attached’, Picking is a one-act, one woman show from the pen of Amelia Slater. We meet Catherine who, left to her own devices for the night whilst her flatmate visits a boyfriend, tipsily sways between near misses with a disastrous would-be booty call, pining for the good guy and considering lesbianism. Catherine’s Fleabag-esque misadventures as she scrapes for a self-esteem boost provide plenty of laughs, some moments of poignancy and a mildly horrifying insight into the perils of young Millennial/Gen-Z dating. Occasionally, like Catherine’s dating ...

Shakespeare: But Just The Deaths – Shakespeare North Playhouse

29Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Shakespeare: But Just The Deaths – Shakespeare North Playhouse

The last time I saw Shakespeare performed by Cream Faced Loons, the company formed by Abey Bradbury in 2016, we sat wearing plastic ponchos as gallons of fake blood was thrown around during ‘Titus Andronicus’; the time before, the audience donned paper crowns and fought with wooden swords for ‘King John’. Now Bradbury brings her one woman show to Shakespeare North Playhouse with the intent of describing all the deaths (and gory bits) throughout the Bard’s canon in just under an hour. Spoiler alert - she succeeds - and does so in an accessible and humorous style that makes this show perfect family entertainment for a Saturday evening spent outdoors in the July sunshine. The Edinburgh Fringe roots of this fast paced production are clearly visible as we are taken on a whirlwind tour throug...

Blackstock Market & Hot Water Comedy Club, Liverpool

27Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Blackstock Market & Hot Water Comedy Club, Liverpool

There’s a new destination for entertainment, culture, and connection in the heart of Liverpool: welcome to Blackstock Market. Many people will be familiar with the story of Hot Water Comedy Club which, following its creation in a nightclub almost fourteen years ago, grew into one of the most followed comedy clubs in the world, and it is from the seeds of that success story that Blackstock Market has evolved as a community-built venture bringing together entertainment, culture, and culinary excellence in one dynamic space. With an emphasis on community and a commitment to local employment, the goal is to nurture and showcase local talent and business through partnership and serve up culinary delights and comedic brilliance whilst celebrating the city’s strong musical heritage in paral...

27Jul

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Macbeth – Shakespeare North Playhouse

The Scottish play is Shakespeare’s shortest and most performed play. A GCSE text, it’s popular with schools and this one hour edited version is just right for those discovering it for the first time. It has all the ‘bloody’ plot and supernatural intrigue but of course less dialogue. Because it’s such a dramatic piece with murders, witchcraft and treachery, it works best if presented in a stylized way and certainly A Place for Us gives us plenty of style and movement. We open with a pounding dramatic soundscape which continues to enhance the production throughout. Chris Bastock's atmospheric and riveting design is perhaps the star of the show enriching the piece with intensity and power. Kate Allerston’s direction is physical, energetic and slick with a mixed company of ad...

My Last Two Brain Cells – King’s Arms, Salford

27Jul

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

My Last Two Brain Cells – King’s Arms, Salford

One of my favourite cartoons in The Beano was a strip called The Numskulls. They were a team of human-like technicians living in the brain of an unnamed man. This energetic, extremely fun, and diverting show takes that concept and introduces us to a couple of brain cells inside the mind of a man called Gary, who unfortunately is dying, and they have to save him. Brain cell 64,928,460,784, who is fortunately known simply as Clive (Joe Pike), is the nerdy, strait-laced brain cell while his counterpart, brain cell number 12 (Tom Hazelden), is the more out-going, ebullient, and entertaining one. This is a common comic setup, think the Odd Couple, Peep Show, and many others but the sheer energy of these two performers and their playfulness help to make this situation extremely entertaining. ...

Marigold Lately: Dirty Old Town – The King’s Arms, Salford

25Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Marigold Lately: Dirty Old Town – The King’s Arms, Salford

In the upstairs studio of the King’s Arms, a small tornado named Marigold is being unleashed onstage. At first glance, Marigold (the brainchild of Mikayla Jane Durkan) looks somewhat unassuming, like a librarian who’s wandered into the wrong pub. Then the first F-bomb drops and we’re launched into a frenzy of Spitfire-like energy as Marigold tears chunks out of the woes of society, politics and misogyny - as if our ‘librarian’ has befriended the local biker gang, downed a bottle of sherry and wrestled the spotlight from an open-mic night folk guitarist that only exists in her head. Tonight is a surreal and slightly disorientating blend of story-telling, singing and stand-up, although Marigold stresses repeatedly that she is very much not funny. Non-sequiturs pile up alongsi...

The Importance of Being Earnest – Speke Hall

25Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Importance of Being Earnest – Speke Hall

The challenge of Oscar Wilde is not in the words but ensuring the performance does them justice. There were no such fears with director and founding member Mark Hayward’s laugh-out loud production which delights from the off. As butler Lane (Hannah Pryal) prepares tea at the London home of dandy Algernon Moncrief (James Alston) there is a hint of the fun and frolics to follow when his friend John Worthing (Harry Drummond) arrives, explaining that when he tires of life in the country looking after his teenage ward, he escapes to enjoy the high life of the city under the guise of seeing his wayward brother, ‘Ernest’. Algernon, in turn, regales him with his exploits of escaping the city in reverse fashion. Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell (Madeline Hatt), arrives with her daughter, Gwendole...

The Things We Think About & All Cops are ________, The Fitzgerald

25Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Things We Think About & All Cops are ________, The Fitzgerald

Deciding the order of your performance by a random spinning wheel or creating part of your costume by mid-show balloon modelling are certainly novel ways of spicing up a theatre show. And in tonight’s double bill that’s exactly what we get, as Break Up Theatre present two intriguing shows. The first is a double act performed and written by Amber Hainge-Cox and Michael Deacon with the premise of exploring everyday thoughts. Each take it in turn to perform the 40 mini-monologues that are selected as the wheel spins and it is at the very least an impressive feat of memory, with the actors delivering each thought with confidence. The monologues are cleverly genderless to work for whichever actor has to deliver them. Some are absurd, some are single lines that trigger laughter at their ab...

25Jul

By Amelia PhillpottsNo Comments

North West

NeuroChatter – The Fitzgerald

Three personalities, one body, one actress, one act. One great performance. Written and performed by Sara Harvey is a one woman show following three personalities all inhabiting one body, all battling for control. Along with the unnamed Host of the body, broken by an undisclosed previous trauma, alters Mike and Elliott constantly bicker. Mike acts as the egotistical intellectual, attempting to use psychological academia to understand the three’s collective situation. Elliott is the complete opposite, as the foul-mouthed artist, who leads with their heart and prioritises emotional freedom. As the show develops, the individual relationships between the three personalities grow, revealing each character’s main motivation to help Host in the best way they know how. Despite the deeply tragic st...