Christopher James Archives - North West End UK

The Rainbow Monologues, LIVE! – Arts Bar Studio 3, Liverpool

14Oct

By Gill LewisNo Comments

North West

The Rainbow Monologues, LIVE! – Arts Bar Studio 3, Liverpool

A colourful collection of eight monologues which delve into the lives of people from all walks of life with a LGBTQ+ perspective. Liverpool’s longest running LGBTQ+ fringe company, Grin Theatre, return for one night only with their award-winning LGBTQ+ monologues as part of the Liverpool Fringe Festival. The Arts Bar Studio is the perfect setting for these new offerings from writer Wes Williams. Produced by Francis Brack, we’re treated to a nice range of performances, and under Nathan Dunn’s direction, the variance in pace between the styles of presentation and themes within the monologues, or rather snapshots, avoids the potential monotony that can sometimes be found from a series of monologues. The actors are sat positioned across the back of the stage, focused througho...

The Great Gatsby – Hope Street Theatre

The Great Gatsby is an infamous tale of hedonism, debauchery and some of the most deeply shallow people ever created in American literature. While some people raised eyebrows over this burlesque version at Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre, skilfully directed by Tom Martin, there probably isn’t actually a better story to inject with some sequins, ostrich feathers and the sophisticated glamour that burlesque brings to the stage. The play opens as it means to go on, with lots of dancing. Decadence is apparent from the outset with beautiful period costumes and shining masques concealing the identities of the revellers from each other, their husbands and wives, and the audience. The choreography is excellent, and the entire cast flawlessly come together as one group. Nick Carraway (Jordan Bar...

Boss News Plays (Thursday) – Royal Court Studio

Boss New Play’s is a three night long annual showcase from some of the most fantastic and ambitious artists in Liverpool who are best known as the ‘Lantern Writers’. This group are an eclectic mix of semi-professional and amateur writers, and tonight’s show brings us three new pieces of work at varying stages of development. In the first slice of this showcase, we see ‘Jigsaw’ live on stage, which has been written by Mark Davoren. In this Kafkaesque drama, two couples meet over dinner for what seems to be a fairly normal ‘life catch-up’ event. One couple, made up of Harry (Conor Burns) and Emily (Jennifer Morrow), look like the perfect pair with well-paid jobs and two children, they really seem to have it all. In contrast, Leah (Faye Draper) and Pete (Christopher James) are struggling a...