A Place for us Archives - North West End UK

29Aug

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Addams Family – Norton Priory

Supermarkets may already be loading up with Christmas specials, but against the eerie background of a twilight-lit Norton Priory, there’s a spookier vibe in the air. As the famous theme tune of the original 1960s tv show fills the air, the fabulous youth ensemble of community theatre group, A Place for Us, gather in front of us clicking their way into the roles America’s quirkiest family. In this condensed version, Wednesday Addams has fallen in love with a young man she meets in the park (wooing him with her crossbow skills) and the family has to pull together to convince her beau’s parents that they are ‘normal’, with games, misunderstandings, and Grandma’s dodgy potions on the menu of a dinner party no-one will forget. Tonight’s production is a great showcase of local talent an...

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...

The Tempest – Liverpool Theatre Festival

31Jul

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

The Tempest – Liverpool Theatre Festival

For the penultimate performance of the Liverpool Theatre Festival, A Place for Us brought its edited version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The setting is ideal for open air Shakespeare and the weather managed to hold off the raindrops until the last few minutes. A Place For Us are a professional creative team who work with students, in this case members of Cronton Sixth Form College, delivering this project with only five days of rehearsals and then presenting at Norton Priory woodland, before this performance at the Bombed Out Church. Director Kate Allerton has done a wonderful job bringing this all together in such a short time, with an atmospheric soundtrack, some really good movement sequences and some excellent performances from their cast of twelve young people. The...

18Jun

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Electric Dreams – Norton Priory Museum

Imagine this setting, your sat on a garden chair eating a picnic and you pop open the champagne. As you relax the sun sets in front of you and the odd plane flies past above your head. You can’t help but fall in love with the relaxing setting. It was a perfect evening to watch the opening night of Electric Dreams a musical adaption of Midsummer Nights Dream (by William Shakespeare) at Norton Priory Museum and Gardens. In a creative partnership with A Place for us. A short synopsis in case you don’t know, Its Midsummer Night in 1980s Athens, four young lovers and a group of workmen 'wannabe' actors find themselves entranced and entrapped in an enchanted forest where Rock Diva Fairies rule and a mischievous sprite is hell bent on causing havoc…what could possibly go wrong? The show...