Monday, December 2

Tag: Grace Gallagher

Good Grief – Unity Theatre
North West

Good Grief – Unity Theatre

A leg protrudes from a jagged gravestone adorned with neon pink ‘RIP’ lettering; a sort of Tracey Emin meets Anthony Gormley start to a frenetic, pumped-up and kinetic sixty minutes of clowning, slapstick, techno & recorded interview excerpts from Liverpool-based company Ugly Bucket, Using minimal props and costume accoutrements, the best gift this youthful and award winning physical theatre company possess is a seeming electric current running through them; five bodies juddering, jumping, gyrating & jerking into life, but each with their own style and skill set – as they perform their terminally ill friend & mentor’s wish, a play about death for his memorial. The show could have been macabre, intrusive and even offensive, but in Ugly Bucket’s hands, the show is energised...
A Greasy Spoon – Unity Theatre
North West

A Greasy Spoon – Unity Theatre

Part of Unity’s Open Call The joy of a double bill is the opportunity to see two very different works and A Greasy Spoon definitely delivered a change in tone from The Weight of Repopulating a Nation earlier. This rehearsed reading marked the first public outing for Alice Bunker-Whitney’s dark comedy.  Given that this is a work in the early stages of its development, and still very much a work-in-progress it would be unfair to give it a star rating. Bunker-Whitney’s show opens with promise; Mandy and Shannon appear covered in blood and Mandy matter-of-factly observes that “this is gonna stain isn’t it?”.   The show delivers laughs, but the absurd heightened reality promised by the blurb is never fully achieved, and there is a heavy reliance on dated comic conven...