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Sunday, January 12

Tag: Shakespeare North Playhouse

North West

Dirty Corset – Shakespeare North Playhouse

They say history has a way of repeating itself. Theatres may have been temporarily closed by covid in our lifetimes but, in 1642, it was the Puritan sensibilities that prompted a 20year ban on public acting. And so tonight, we are immersed into the end of that period, in the company of Bang Tidy Theatre, whose three performers are embracing the new style of Restoration theatre, a much more vulgar and libertine style than audiences were used to. Directed by Helen Tennison, it’s a chaotic, bawdy affair, melding 21st century and Restoration language (reminding all that spectacular swearing isn’t a modern invention). We meet Neil Hasbeen (Laurie Coldwell), Mary Moralless (Chloe Darke) and Isabinda McLovealot (Susannah Scott) seemingly happy to be back on stage with their play “A Lord Nam...
Exciting Line-up at the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden
NEWS

Exciting Line-up at the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden

If, like me, you have never been to Prescot, it’s a sleepy historic town which now has at its heart a crown of glory – Shakespeare North Playhouse: a modern spacious complex that stands in the centre of the town by the church and gardens and it is a welcoming, beautiful space as soon as you enter. With gift shop, large airy coffee shop and three wonderful performance areas. This was well worth the wait! In the 1590s a remarkable theatre stood in Prescot: The Playhouse hosted performances made possible by the Earl of Derby and later the Cockpit Theatre was the inspiration for this contemporary building. Twenty years ago, conversations were had, and plans begun. Last year it opened to audiences, bringing live theatre to the heart of its community.  In less than a year Shakespeare ...
Ladyfriends (A Period Drama) – Shakespeare North Playhouse
North West

Ladyfriends (A Period Drama) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

A charming stripped back, playful metadrama recalling a time when Lesbians were “not yet invented”, and women could only possibly be friends. Using multimedia to deliver a stimulating sensory narrative structure which serves its juxtaposition between modern day storytelling in its depiction of an early 20th century queer love story. Written and directed by Clodagh Chapman the performance is centred on a rumoured, historical love affair between political activist and co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union, Christabel Pankhurst, portrayed by Ellie Mejia and fellow Suffragette Annie Kenney, played by Lucy Mackay. The Victorian era saw developments in modern language around the understanding of sexual behaviour and identity which has become rooted within our societal construct...
The Comedy of Errors (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse
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>
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>
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
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
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
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
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...