Shakespeare North Playhouse Archives - Page 4 of 5

The Comedy of Errors (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

8Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Comedy of Errors (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

A Shakespearean comedy set around two rival states and two sets of mismatched twins is brought back to life with its central theme of mistaken identity compounded by deliberate theatrical chaos and a cacophony of musical numbers from the 1980’s in this co-production from Shakespeare North and Stephen Joseph Theatre. An actor, Antipholus (David Kirkbride) arrives in a Yorkshire coastal town with his sidekick Dromio (Oliver Mawdsley) to perform his one man show, but there’s no audience as everyone has booked for a talent show across town starring the twin brother he’s never met, and whose sidekick is also named Dromio. The twin brother owes money but has promised his wife, Adriana (Alyce Liburd) a gold chain. With the Prescot brother falling for Adriana’s unmarried sister, Luciana (Ida...

<strong>A Christmas Carol – Shakespeare North Playhouse</strong>

2Dec

By Andrew LeeNo Comments

North West

A Christmas Carol – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Shakespeare North Playhouse is one of the most stunning venues in the country, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Home to the only timber-built “cockpit” theatre outside London, it was built throughout lockdown and is an experience unlike anything else you can find in the North West. The play is a mixture of modern and traditional costumes, dialogue, movement and northern references, and is a pantomime musical with original songs delivered by the four actor-musicians. The folk music involved at least 10 instruments, all played by the incredible multi-skilled ensemble and musically directed by Jessica Dives. Even for a pantomime there was a lot of audience involvement, with some exciting things for us to do during the performance. I don’t want to spoil the surprises, but the kids i...

<strong>Strange Tale – Shakespeare North Playhouse</strong>

3Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Strange Tale – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Continuing with the opening season at Shakespeare North Playhouse, this tale explores the link between the 16th century poet and playwright to the Merseyside town of Prescot, in a fun, imaginative and engaging way. The production team “Imaginarium” is aptly named and as an award-winning ensemble, took us effortlessly and with enviable talent, through their “Strange Tale” of worm holes, eccentric lords, brassy landladies, besotted girls and tattooed thugs, to their adored town Prescot were somehow the bard had appeared. The Cockpit Theatre was a very fitting place to share with us the tale of how the bard transported from Stratford upon Avon in Tudor times to this pub in the centre of the Liverpudlian town. The links to the original Prescot Playhouse (where now stands a barber shop) w...

A Strange Tale to be told at Shakespeare North Playhouse

27Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

A Strange Tale to be told at Shakespeare North Playhouse

Imaginarium Theatre is thrilled to be staging Strange Tale; the second full length play in the opening season of the Cockpit Stage at Shakespeare North Playhouse this 2nd – 5th November. Drawing on factual historical research, with lashings of artistic license, and an abundance of fun, this zany and fabulously funny new play from Rob Brannen invents an exciting new mythos of Prescot and its historic connection to the Bard. Imaginarium Theatre present this new comic play that explores Shakespeare’s links to Prescot through a time-travelling adventure that blows apart the myths, the man and the missing years. Will Shakespeare is in Prescot, but who knows why or how. His Tudor days seem far away from the here and now. He needs the help of locals, as time is running out – his memo...

Tough Old Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

10Oct

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Tough Old Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

The dulcet tones of Michael Parkinson wouldn’t normally invoke a collective eye roll. But when it’s delivering the familiar lines of a certain advert touting the advantages of buying a pre-payment funeral plan you can perhaps understand why a shudder runs through the audience. It’s a perfect example of the frustrations of how society views aging. And, with ‘Showbusiness and Gin’ running through her veins, Nana Funk (AKA Angie Waller who wrote the show) along with the ever-silent Val (a marvellously restrained Claire Jones, who composed tonight’s songs), is here to hold court on the indignities of it all. Inspired by her own mum’s experience, Tough Old Bird, directed by Margaret Connell, looks at how people can, with the best of intentions, patronise and infantilise our older friends ...

Half Measures – Shakespeare North Playhouse

3Oct

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Half Measures – Shakespeare North Playhouse

War. Corruption and power plays. Women fighting for autonomy. All very Shakespearean themes but all still very much identifiable in today’s society. Tonight, we are asked if “life itself is always worth more than the way it is lived”. One Hour Theatre has re-visited its 2016 debut play, Half Measures, written by Tim Prentki and directed by Victor Merriman. The piece melds together selected scenes from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, with the modern tale of Nadia, an Eastern Ukrainian illegal immigrant, who seeks a better life away from her war-torn country. When Nadia catches the eye of a married hotshot footballer Angelo, she must decide how far she is willing to go to get the happiness and security she craves. By then focusing on the Measure for Measure storyline of Isabella,...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

28Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies was chosen to formally launch the main theatre at Shakespeare North Playhouse although more tragically it was to crash into more than one self-inflicted iceberg on the night. As we meet the Duke (David Nellist), and his newly conquered betrothed, Hippolyta (Yazmin Kayani), Egeus (Tia-Bella Easton) interrupts proceedings to complain about her daughter, Hermia (Rebecca Hesketh Smith), who loves Lysander (William Grint) despite her father’s preferred match of Demetrius (Tyler Dobbs), who in turn is unwelcomingly pursued by Helena (Kate James). Hermia’s choice is clear: follow your father’s wishes or face either death or life as a nun. She steals away with Lysander in the night through the forest, rapidly pursued by Demetrius and Helena. Also pr...

Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare North Playhouse

26Sep

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare North Playhouse

This was my second visit in a week to this newly built theatre in the heart of Prescot near Liverpool - so strong was the lure of having a theatre showing Shakespeare’s works in the Northwest of England. Having this auspicious opportunity to visit such a unique and inspiring building and to have these amazing plays on offer, at only a 20- minute drive away, was for me, as a theatre lover - a dream come true. The building of the Shakespeare North Playhouse was two major projects – firstly to build a theatre on the original site, where Richard Harrington constructed a theatre (1597-1603) to show the bards plays and secondly to build an outdoor arena in memory of Liverpool’s iconic comic genius Ken Dodd. Ken Dodd’s Memorial Gardens is set out with traditional stone steps that a...

The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare – Shakespeare North Playhouse

17Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare – Shakespeare North Playhouse

I was very excited to visit the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, being from Liverpool and usually having to travel down to Stratford – upon- Avon or London to see these fine performances. It is such a joy to have this on my doorstep. The building is on the original site of the Shakespearean theatre that was originally built by Richard Harrington from 1597-1603. This rebuild was under the Prescot 1597 Project and was funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund. A great opportunity to have a modern building on the grounds of such a prestigious site. Today the theatre was presenting the “incomplete works” in the small outdoor theatre known as the Sir Ken Dodd Memorial Gardens and again this felt very fitting, as I was a great fan of this wonderful Liverpudlian comedian. The gard...

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

24Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kitty Wilkinson is the only female statue in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall, and she is brought to life by Samantha Alton to take us back to 1830’s Liverpool in a captivating one-woman show that tells an against all odds story of how a working-class Irish migrant girl, whose life was laden with poverty, loss, and hardship, fought the cholera epidemic and became a community champion. Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden provides the perfect backdrop for this intricate tale from celebrated local writer John Maguire which, told with humour and kindness, brings Kitty’s story centre stage under the direction of Margaret Connell as we are immersed in the world of a true heroine of the North. White sheets draping the open set provide the perfect backdrop for the narra...