Hope Street Theatre Archives - Page 2 of 4

Plays in the Key of Life – Hope Street Theatre

14Oct

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Plays in the Key of Life – Hope Street Theatre

Plays in the Key of Life is an anthology of four short plays, presented by Writers Inc. Productions, a Liverpool based company founded by the four playwrights whose work is being presented. Each play has a different theme, but they are all united by explorations of loss, particularly loss caused by abandonment. The first piece is The Tramp and The Lady, written by Bob Towers and directed by Brian McCann. The play is presented with a simple set of two fold up chairs, representing the outside of a train station, and Mike Sanders, playing a homeless man, does a good job of creating a sense of a cold wet day. The atmosphere becomes even more unpleasant with the entrance of Abi Tyrer, the ironically named “lady” of the title, who is judgmental, rude and very nasty to both her partner, whom s...

8Oct

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Part Vampire – Hope Street Theatre

Part Vampire, written by Kenny O’Connell and directed by Zara Marie Brown, with music by Matt Shaw and the cast, is a musical comedy which plays with classic and contemporary horror tropes om a fun and exciting story of the cutthroat environment of showbusiness and what people are willing to do to achieve success. The set features an ornate chair, polished coat stand and floral sofa, creating the impression of a well-kept, if slightly old fashioned home for Jack Moody (Phil Jones), a 67-year old former Hammer Horror extra who lives with his mother (Linzy Boden). The show does a good job of exploiting the cringey and camp reputation of Hammer Horror with its darker undertones and genuine scary moments. Jack enters the stage in a threadbare dressing gown and plays an emotional piece on...

5Oct

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Lost in The Beat – Hope Street Theatre

New musical play hits all the right notes with emotional songs and thought -provoking drama. With so many shows being based around well-known hits these days, it’s refreshing to see a new musical play with original well-penned songs. Beat Productions present this multilayered show written by Andrea Orton and composed by Di Healey and Richard Badger. Lost in the Beat examines many issues, but mainly that of early onset dementia against a backdrop of well- constructed melodies and lyrics, performed by a fifteen-strong choir supporting the cast. What a super choir they are! This real community choir threw themselves into this project. A harmonious wall of sound with lovely smiling faces! Behind them, four excellent musicians. Orton’s story is about a 45-year-old woman, a community ch...

23Sep

By Gill LewisNo Comments

North West

New Generations – Hope Street Theatre

A warm and welcoming story of ‘Love, Life & Family’, laced with beautiful original music, plays it safe, in this heartfelt exploration into generational childbirth and parenting. Premiered as a one act play, entitled ‘Grandmother’ at the 2022 Liverpool Theatre Festival, this piece has evolved into a 2-act performance renamed ‘New Generations’. With original songs and writing by Ana Murphy, the development has so much potential but shy’s away from tackling its issues head on. Or perhaps Murphy’s aim is to show that families, despite their best intentions, can tend to brush difficult issues under the carpet. The jovialities of the close-knit O’Brian family fun nights of games, joking and dancing is brought to an abrupt end following the news of Becky’s (Clare Alexandra...

26Jul

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Transistor – Hope Street Theatre

Dark Horse Theatre Chiang Mai’s Transistor is an exploration of gender and sexuality and its effects on family life. Written and directed by Kelly Holliday this is a very funny and dramatic piece of theatre which takes an issue which is currently causing a lot of controversy and arguments, particularly online, and makes it something which can be talked about albeit without minimising the strength of emotions people feel about it. The set is overwhelmed with busyness, with clutter and cardboard boxes littering most of the stage. The chaos contrasts well with a peaceful looking bench on a patch of grass. Empty picture frames hang over the stage and the boxes are labelled to illustrate that their contents are the result of an ongoing clear out. The play opens with Vivian (Judy Mandel) c...

Murder at Cadberry Manor – Hope Street Theatre

12May

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Murder at Cadberry Manor – Hope Street Theatre

A murder has taken place at the Cadberry Manor in Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre. A 4am production directed by Phil Halfpenny. I was excited to see this show as it was completely sold out and of course like most people I do love a bit of true crime. The story consists of Detective Harrie Bo (Rafaela Dias) arrived at the scene to investigate the murder of Toby Le Rone (Phil Halfpenny) who at the time was hosting a dinner party which included guests such as his son Captain Robert Le Rone (Sab Muthusamy), his ex-wife Veronica Viscount (Kristin Jaap), Dr Whispa (Adam Titchmarsh), Friar Tuckshop (Tristan Harper), Felicity Flake (Rosie Bennett) Lord and Lady Thornton (Alan Kenny and Lisa Morgan). They were all enjoying a few social wines when Tony Le Rone announces a change to his last will ...

30Apr

By Hannah EsnoufNo Comments

North West

The Manopause – Hope Street Theatre

As a new piece of writing, it has promising prospects. I will firstly highlight those aspects that I thought went well. The actor who played Pete, was a solid standout. His way of demonstrating the slouched apathy of life post-50 felt the most natural and was therefore the most comedic. Michelle Parker’s set worked well as your typical pub, but I wanted more, especially between Act 1 and Act 2. Having no change of set, or costume, or position of actors was jarring and begs the question why there was an interval in the first place. Having said that, the audience found the performance and some of the dialogue very funny and relatable (from what I heard!), which is always a good start. To get this play to the next level, it needs some editing. Paul Daley’s writing had great...

Little White Feathers – Hope Street Theatre

25Apr

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Little White Feathers – Hope Street Theatre

I’m often excited when I get to see new works especially musicals. Last night’s offering was called ‘Little White Feathers’ a story of love, loss and laughter with 17 original songs. This story is a tale of two ladies, firstly Vivian Edwards (Kate Mulrooney) who sadly lost her daughter as a young girl. A pain that never really goes away for a mother. She believes that when she finds a white feather it’s a sign from her late mother that she (her angel) is with her watching over her. Viv owns a costume shop in Liverpool with her husband Frankie (Tony Prince) and their motto is it’s always a yes, no matter of the request. In to the shop walks in a young American girl called Emmy (Beth McShane) from the Deep South. She’s in Liverpool on the search to find her biological father. Upon enterin...

16Feb

By Hannah EsnoufNo Comments

North West

Dead Funny – Hope Street Theatre

From the multiple awards that this show has previously won, my expectations were relatively high. I was pleasantly surprised when the curtains rose as Chamber’s had transformed the intimate space into a quirky 90s living room. In my opinion, the show is a slow starter but worth the wait. As a young audience member, many of references to comedians went over my head. However, if you’re up to speed with the likes of Benny Hill and Frankie Howard, then the recreations of their sketches in this performance will live-up to their comedic value. That said, the commitment to these personas brought to life by these actors, specifically Steven Arnold and Adam Perrott, still brought a smile to my face. Perrott’s performance was a highlight. His character Brian brought an exuberance to the stage ...

Who’s Afraid of Mikey Garland? – Hope Street Theatre

12Feb

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Who’s Afraid of Mikey Garland? – Hope Street Theatre

Drawing upon his own experiences of homelessness from the age of five, Liverpool-based rapper Mikey Garland narrates the course of his life around his debut album of the same title in this production from ArtsGroupie CIC. The show carries a content warning relating to themes which may be triggering to some people, so audience discretion is advised. Garland employs a simple set with minimal props to support the stages of his journey over the course of the last twenty-eight years and this works well given he is a visually engaging performer with numerous costume changes supporting the performance of each of the twelve songs. The stage descends to darkness between songs with a voice over detailing the background experiences in Garland’s life at each point in time. Whilst this effectivel...