North West Archives - Page 94 of 128

10May

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

Waitress – Liverpool Empire

I’ll be honest, they had me at “all-female creative team”. I’d heard such a buzz about Waitress, but aside from some passionate warblings of “She Used to Be Mine” on many an am-dram stage, it wasn’t one I had quite gotten around to learning about, and so I was going in blind. Adapted from the film by Adrienne Shelly, the show features a heart-manipulating score by Sara Bareilles that takes the audience through a full spectrum of emotions across both acts. I will say that at times some lyrics got a little lost in the mix, which is a shame as there were some amazing laugh-out-loud moments, and real gut punches in the words that I could make out. The live band were set at the back of the stage, with members occasionally popping up elsewhere to build the story - such as a sultry cello narra...

Bigger Than Broadway – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

9May

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Bigger Than Broadway – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

Premiering as part of the Little Theatre Festival (LTF), Bigger Than Broadway promises song and dance from the most popular musicals. Performing numbers from Les Misérables, West Side Story, Wicked, Phantom Of The Opera, We Will Rock You, The Greatest Showman and many more, it will appeal to anyone who is a fan of musicals. The content is suitable for ages 10+. Set within the ambience of St Luke’s Bombed Out Church and shared as one of the twelve new works for LTF, Bigger Than Broadway opens with a harmonising score and brief intros to each of the company. Rebecca Casey, Andrew Geater, Jake Holroyd and Michelle Terri then take the audience through a series of some of the most well-known songs from musical theatre. A performance of contrasts, there were high notes and low notes. Some ...

Just Aretha – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

9May

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Just Aretha – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

Just Aretha, directed by Victoria Evaristo, is a semi-autobiographical one woman show about life as a Black disabled person in today’s Britain. Aretha Nortey gives an energetic and enthusiastic performance in the title role, highlighting the individuality of disability and the effect that it has on her life. Emphasising that she is not her disability, but just Aretha, this is a unique take on the disabled experience which looks at both the highs and lows of life with disability. The set is very colourful with both Ghanian and British flags and a range of other brightly printed fabrics. The play opens with Nortey entering the stage and engaging in a mock photo shoot during which she lists key facts about herself and hobbies. This soon moves onto an account of the stereotypes people assoc...

Around the World in 72 Days: The Story of Nellie Bly – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

8May

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Around the World in 72 Days: The Story of Nellie Bly – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

Around the World in 72 Days: The Story of Nellie Bly, created and performed by Rebekah McLoughlin, is a one woman show about Nellie Bly’s infamous 72 day journey around the world, while she inadvertently “raced” with Cosmopolitan reporter, Elizabeth Bisland. The play opens with a voiceover reading Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days while McLoughlin holds the book. She can hear the voiceover reading, and obviously disturbed, begins to tell the story, and Bly’s own tale, herself. Voiceovers play a key role throughout the piece, sometimes used to portray invisible characters, including Mr Bailey (Jack Bolton), with most of the voices being performed by McLoughlin herself. Mr Bailey forbids her to go on her around the world trip, because she is a woman with few language skills and, a...

Samuel Beckett in Confinement – University of Liverpool

7May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Samuel Beckett in Confinement – University of Liverpool

Beckett is a little bit like the proverbial buses: there’s never any when you’d just like one then suddenly they all come along at once. In the case of Beckett: Confined, a three day-festival of Samuel Beckett’s plays, associated musical performances, and lectures exploring the politics of closed space as a reading of our times, you couldn’t really want for much more. The programme – brought together by Unreal Cities in association with the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs, and Culture Ireland– presents an exciting blend of Beckett’s work, including multiple performances of some of his most rarely performed plays alongside a musical series, all pre...

6May

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Dog/Actor – Hope Street Theatre

Steven Berkoff’s eloquent and evocative double bill performance of Dog / Actor is brought to the stage by Threedumb Theatre, and I have to say it is truly a masterclass in both physical and comedic theatre. Stephen Smith, who is also the artistic director for Threedumb, is the solo performer of this back-to-back double bill and he really excels in this challenging piece. In Dog, Smith portrays a racist foul-mouthed football hooligan with his companion pit bull Roy. Smith uses every part of the studio space to significant effect and provides the audience with a strong and ever-increasing sense of rage. It is without question an uncompromising and difficult piece for any actor to perform but Smith finds the right tempo throughout. Excellent lighting also adds texture to Dog. ...

6May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Don Giovanni –Liverpool Empire

Welsh National Opera return to Liverpool Empire with this revival by Caroline Chaney of John Caird’s 2011 production of one of Mozart’s most complete operas, and incorporating John Napier’s original brutalist staging, inspired apparently by Rodin’s The Gates of Hell. Don Giovanni (Aaron O’Hare – a last-minute replacement due to cast indisposition) has seduced over 2,000 women, all catalogued by servant Leporello (Joshua Bloom), and our story starts with him looking to add another name with his attempted rape of Donna Anna (Linda Richardson) that results in him killing her father, the Commendatore (James Platt), and which her fiancé Don Ottavio (Trystan Llŷr Griffiths) swears to revenge. Donna Elvira (Meeta Raval), an earlier conquest who believes Giovanni to be her husband, has come ...

5May

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Macca & Beth – Liverpool’s Royal Court

The Liverpool Royal Court Theatre took us on a trip to bonnie Scotland last night as Macca took his partner Beth to an old house up in the highlands full of secret passageways and mystery. Beth couldn’t believe her luck. Why on earth would Macca bring her to such a place, a place that had no Signal, running water or a toilet. But there was a valid reason. Macca had just been told that he was the last of the McMaccamac’s due to his Uncle McMaccamac’s death. He had to keep it a secret and pass a series of tests before he was to know what was left to him within his late uncles last will in testament. One of the tests being spending a night in the house. There were lots of weird and wonderful creatures within this house and I don’t just mean the taxidermy. Trouble was afoot in the Scottish ...

5May

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Madam Butterfly – Liverpool Empire

If captivating story arcs of love, deception and tragedy are your thing, you don’t want to miss this. The timeless plot of Madam Butterfly takes your heart on an emotional rollercoaster and showcases the human voice in a way that must be heard to be fully appreciated. How are The Welsh National Opera delivering a production that brings this to the fore as well as evolving the interpretation of Puccini’s masterpiece? Directed by Lindy Hume, the new tour provides an altogether more gritty – more realistically raw – interpretation of an opera that has stood the test of time. Some people may feel the traditional expectations of opera shouldn’t be tampered with or be apprehensive about how such a work could be adjusted effectively; this is the mindset I held upon first seeing this revised ve...

Grandmother – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

5May

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Grandmother – Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

Grandmother, written and directed by Asa Murphy, is a sweet musical comedy about how family life is impacted when a new generation begins. Full of fun and emotional songs, with live guitar accompaniment from Asa Murphy, this is an entertaining piece of theatre which will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. The play opens with Becky’s mother (Pauline Donovan) enthusiastically dusting while singing along to the radio. But a phone call from Becky (Clare Alexander Campbell) to announce that she’s pregnant soon changes everything. Tearfully realising her daughter has grown up far too quickly, Donovan delivers a beautiful nostalgic song regarding how soon yesterday has gone. The show constantly pushes against the fourth wall to discuss with the audience the points of view of Becky and...