Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Sunday, March 16

Venus Rising – Liverpool Theatre Festival

Pulsing with energy and sprinkled with laughs, Venus Rising takes you on a trolley ride of emotion through the life of an accidental erotic writer. Performed as a monologue, it has you perched with anticipation.

Meet James Wilkinson. All he had ever wanted to do was write, but not like this. Having made a drunken bet with a friend, James finds success carving out his own greasy niche in the market. Life should be brilliant, shouldn’t it?

It is clear from the staging – a messy room with several wine bottles – that life is perhaps not as brilliant as you’d expect for a writer supposedly living the dream everyone else has. But that’s the problem; he’s not the one living the dream.

He’s the most successful person you’ll ever meet, and you’d never know it. He hates his job, hates his life, he’s drinking too much, and his wife’s left him. This is a very modern Love Story about loss, regret, the decisions we make and finding out what we actually need.

Oscillating between self-absorbed and self-pitying to witty and humorous, Venus Rising traps the audience between experiencing a character’s life story and holding them within a snapshot of time – from the beginning of the performance it’s clear James is experiencing something, but it is only at the end that this is revealed more clearly. As you watch, you realise you’re accompanying James Wilkinson on his journey. You begin to root for him to change.

Written by Ian Salmon (Girls Don’t Play Guitars, The Comeback Special and Those Two Weeks) and directed by Julia Kettle, Venus Rising offers an identifiable character who contains a part of all of us. Who hasn’t been frustrated at their job? Who hasn’t felt themselves hurtling in the wrong direction now and again?

Salmon’s character is not only relatable in terms of job dissatisfaction but also in the weaknesses of the human spirit, in how people cope with the things it can be challenging to acknowledge such as loneliness, depression and in how we choose whether to own our vulnerabilities or let them own us.

There is the implicit suggestion of alcoholism early on which is confirmed later in the performance. However, there is a parallel addiction running throughout this performance of the addiction to writing itself and the ideas we carry of the type of success we should be. For James Wilkinson, writing is his Moby Dick.

Although the performance has a pace, it is slightly challenging at times to remain engaged with the character. There are moments when you want things to move on quicker. This are fleeting moments though and do not diminish the overall performance experience.

Nick Sheedy is gives an excellent one-man-show, exuding energy and establishing expert rapport with the audience very early on. His performance, which captures all the nuance of human personality, makes bringing James Wilkinson to life look effortless.

As the performance reached its climactic turning point and the lights dimmed, many of the audience were on their feet. Venus Rising offers a fly-on-the-wall look at one man’s life which, in many ways, is an insight into everyone’s lives.

Info: Strong Language, appropriate for age 14+.

Reviewer: Ezzy LaBelle

Reviewed: 5th September 2022

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★

0Shares