REVIEWS Archives - Page 296 of 417

The Rocky Horror Show – Liverpool Empire

17May

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

The Rocky Horror Show – Liverpool Empire

Well, what a hoot! From start to finish this show was an absolute rollercoaster of mayhem, laughter and double-entendres! The Rocky Horror Show – more of a phenomenon now since it first braced the theatres nearly 50 years ago (since 1973)- has become the biggest cult musical of all time. Richard 0’Brien’s wacky story of how two squeaky clean college kids – Brad and his fiancée Janet, when by a twist of fate, find their way into a creepy mansion whilst on their way to visit their former college professor, meet the charismatic Dr Frank ’n’ Furter and change their lives forever, has taken on a new life of its own. I have seen the show a couple of times and thought it’s time I educated my 17-year-old son into the world of “The Mind Warp” and to the craziness that is the Rocky Horror Show. A...

17May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

The Actress – Players Theatre, Cheadle

Lydia Martin is an actress of a certain age… her words not mine! She has decided that she no longer wishes to wait around for the decreasing number of roles that could come her way, and so she is set to retire to Geneva with her new fiancé, Charles, where life will be calm and quiet and clean. Set primarily in Lydia’s dressing room, this 2014 play by Peter Quilter takes us through the night of her final performance. We meet the key people in her life and try and get to the bottom of her monumental decision. First, a word about the design. Peter Thorburn, who also directed the piece, has created a very authentic space for this grande dame of theatre to hold court on her closing night. However, this set holds a secret – which I will not spoil here – to enable the audience to be transpo...

17May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Maggie May – Leeds Playhouse

There’s nearly a million people and their families in this country living with one of the 200 variants of dementia who have been mostly ignored by theatre makers. There would an outcry if a similarly sized group of people were being marginalised in that way, but Frances Poet’s bittersweet work tracing one woman’s dementia journey goes someway to addressing that in an unflinching, yet hopeful, new work that never sugar-coats what is happening to Maggie, but not for one second loses sight of her as a person. Maggie has been married to Gordon for over forty years and they have always retained their love of cheesy singalongs to their favourite hit songs that have been curtailed by his recent stroke, but as this feisty woman nurses him back to health, she is trying to hide something big f...

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice – Liverpool Playhouse

17May

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice – Liverpool Playhouse

A Cinderella story where Cinders never wanted to go to the ball in the first place, and is much happier at home, listening to music in her PJs with a cup of tea thank-you-very-much, sounds like a very modern take for a fairy tale. Yet ‘The Rise and Fall of Little Voice’ has solidly morphed into period theatre. Penned by Jim Cartwright, this regularly revived tale introduces us Laura ‘LV’ Hoff, a reclusive young girl who retreats from the world dominated by her brash and bawdy mother, Mari, preferring the company of her late father’s record collection of ‘diva’ songstresses – Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey and more. Her hidden talent for mimicking the singers soon catches the ear of wannabe empresario Ray Say, who pushes LV to perform publicly. The show’s success lives...

The Barricade Boys – Opera House, Manchester

16May

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

The Barricade Boys – Opera House, Manchester

Believe it or not it’s the Barricade Boys 7th Anniversary tour of ‘Bring him Home’, originally the brainchild of Scott Garnham and Simon Schofield who wanted to create an audience experience that was much more than just songs from the shows. Having first performed at the Charing Cross Theatre in 2015, the group have successfully progressed providing entertainment on cruise ships, various well known UK television shows, Broadway and numerous other venues. The 2022 cast consists of the original founders Scott Graham and Simon Schofield joined by Craig Mather and Kieran Brown; all male vocals have a huge accolade of west end successes. Liam Steel choreographed the tour bring it nicely in line with the Les Miserable theme as it was Liam who was the choreographer for the Les Misérables movie...

14May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Snatched – The Lowry

Melissa Johns is extraordinary. Although, not necessarily for the reasons you might think, and certainly not just because she was born with a disability… She is extraordinary because she is uncompromising in her honesty, and she has learned to be unapologetically herself. In SNATCHED, she tells her story precisely because it is a story that everyone can identify with, whether they are disabled or not. Theatre has value as entertainment, of course; and Johns is funny. The anecdotes she tells about her life are funny, and she has exceptional timing when telling them. But theatre can do so much more than just entertain, and I challenge anyone to go and see this production and not come away changed. We all have things that we can learn about ourselves and about society’s relationship to dis...

14May

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Julius Caesar – Shakespeare’s Globe

On the 25th Anniversary of The Shakespeare’s Globe, this strong season shows an incredible round of talent taking us through Henry VIII, Much Ado about Nothing and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar directed by Diane Page, highlights the passionate love between Brutus and Cassius played by Anna Crichlow and Charlotte Bate who start this journey to overthrow Caesar played by Dickon Tyrrell. Crichlow and Bate portrayed their relationship with such a vulnerability of sisterhood defeating and elevating Brutus to their true position on the pedestal. I thought Charlotte Bate playing Cassius was fantastic, the character was so entrancing with their ability to fall into Cassius’ beliefs and passions that with their inevitable end I was so moved and quite devastated by not seeing them again. Saying th...

14May

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Mothers Ruin – Hope Street Theatre

Steve Bird’s worthy and sensitive biographical play about Gary Skyner who was one of the first British born people to be affected by the Thalidomide medical scandal, comes to the stage in Skyner’s hometown. The play documents the struggles that faced Skyner and his family in the early years and moves at a fairly good pace as we reach the present day. The use of a likable narrator (Tommy Tyler) is a clever idea in moving the story forward and the play almost has a feel of a documentary with the use of various multimedia which adds context and depth to this inspiring story. For me, the central and most powerful character of this piece is Gary’s strong and resilient mum Frances (Mary Savage) and how she deals, with amongst other things the breakup of her marriage to Gary’s father...

Hey Bunny Get Loose – Liverpool’s Royal Court

13May

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Hey Bunny Get Loose – Liverpool’s Royal Court

A new play from the royal court theatre in the studio took place last night. Written by Wendy Dickinson, the play sees 30 something Gemma trying to write a blog. Her life has taken a bit of a downward turn. Her marriage is on ice and has unexpectedly been thrown in to caring for 3 rabbits Trent (Alexander Arnold), Mo (Salah) and Firmino. The show has occasional flashbacks in Gemma’s life that led her to this point in the present day. Her blog begins to take off and reaches the national press including the one show as people online want to know everything about her and her buns (bunnies) as well as Trent. Gemma was never one for children at least until Firmino (Robert Firmino) had a litter of bunnies. The show was full of comedy lines and indeed perfect comedy timing. But it also had a d...

Foo Foo’s Follies – Rainhill Garrick Society

13May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Foo Foo’s Follies – Rainhill Garrick Society

Fun, frolics, and farce abound in this delightful and original comedy from writer and director Linda Saavedra with its larger-than-life characters, musical numbers, and an unexpected twist you definitely wouldn’t see coming… The curtains draw back to reveal the Midland, a 1935 art deco hotel, that like most of its guests has seen better days and where waitress Foo Foo (Gerald Walker) exists in a blurred reality. Diana (Lynn Aconley) and Dolly (Rosetta Parker) are on their annual autumn reminisce whilst owner Lord Algernon (Rick Young) and his current belle, Ophelia (Angela Vose), have an eye for restoring the place to its former glory. Throw in a musical chorus of some more unusual guests (Ruth Pollitt, Edi Tinsley, Jo Webster, and Alison Mawdsley) to the accompaniment of a Grand Pianis...