March - 2019

Archive

Liam Tobin talks Sweeney Todd at the Everyman

Some children dream of being an astronaut, a train driver, a spy or a film star when they grow up. For a young Liam Tobin, it was to be a butcher. And with this latest role one might suggest he’s finally achieved that ambition. Well, sort of. “Ha! I didn’t think of that!” laughs the actor on a break from rehearsals for Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at the Liverpool Everyman. “A butcher of a different nature perhaps. “There used to be a mobile butcher’s who delivered meat around the

Double vision as Walker Art Gallery reunites two 17th century paintings

No, you’re not seeing double. The Walker Art Gallery has unveiled a new temporary acquisition which looks very much like one of its the paintings from its own collection. But there are, apparently, subtle differences between Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist – on loan from the National Gallery – and the William Brown Street’s own The Executioner with the Head of John the Baptist. The former was painted by Matthias Stom between 1630-32, while the Walker’s painting,

Review: Bottleneck at Royal Court Studio ****

Luke Barnes’ sharply funny yet pin-droppingly poignant coming-of-age story was a hit when Hiding Place Theatre staged it at Hope Street last summer. Now it’s getting a welcome second outing on a mini-North West tour, with an all-too-brief stop in the intimate surroundings of the Royal Court Studio. Set on a bare stage, a montage of Liverpool FC flags and photos on the black backcloth the only set dressing, this is storytelling at its most simple and yet also its most vivid an

Tate Liverpool stages Arthur Jafa film installation

Arthur Jafa’s acclaimed Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death is on show at Tate Liverpool. The Royal Albert Dock venue is the first gallery in the north of England to present the arwork, a seven-minute video montage of historic and contemporary film footage that traces African American history and experience. Presented in almost total darkness, visitors will be immersed in the video installation which is accompanied by Kanye West’s gospel-inspired hip-hop track Ultralig

Review: Kinky Boots at Liverpool Empire ****

On paper it seems like a writer’s colourful fantasy. And yet Kinky Boots is based (albeit loosely) on actual events in the capital of British shoe-making. Because before the hit musical, indeed before the hit British film that preceded the musical, came the improbable real-life story of the Northamptonshire shoe factory on its uppers which reinvented itself by vamping up its production line with ladies’ footwear – for men. While that may still be a comparatively niche market,

NML most visited museum outside London in 2018

Blockbuster shows including China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors and Double Fantasy helped make NML the most visited museum outside London in 2018. Figures released today reveal there were more than 4.1 million visits made to National Museums Liverpool’s eight sites last year. And the statistics, published by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), also show that Liverpool had three of the four top museums outside the capital. The 610,000 visitors

Astronaut Helen Sharman to visit Earth in Liverpool

Astronaut Helen Sharman will take part in two events under the giant Earth in Liverpool Cathedral as part of this year’s River Festival. The 55-year-old, who became the first Briton in space when she joined the Soyuz mission to the Mir station in 1991, will appear in a public event at the cathedral on Sunday, June 2. In Out of This World she will talk about her experience of space travel and the intense preparation that went into her launching into the history books 28 years

Review: Abigail's Party at Liverpool Playhouse ****

We’ll all have had awkward encounters and been in hellish situations – but I’ll wager none so protractedly, toe-curlingly, cringeworthy as Mike Leigh’s Seventies suburban soiree. I say Mike Leigh, but Abigail’s Party was really a collaboration between the writer/director and his original cast who improvised situations that he then turned in to brilliant wincing dialogue. One of those cast members was Liverpool’s Alison Steadman who inhabited the monstrous – but at the same ti

UK tour for By the Waters of Liverpool

By the Waters of Liverpool is heading off on a UK tour next year. The stage play, which follows the fortunes of a grown-up Helen Forrester, was premiered at the Liverpool Empire last autumn. Now it will head off across the country in spring 2020 with the tour starting at the Floral Pavilion from March 3-8. It will also visit Parr Hall in Warrington on March 14-15, St Helens Theatre Royal from March 17-21, and Southport Theatre on March 27-28. Other confirmed dates include Sto

Mersey Beatles present Abbey Road at Liverpool arena

The 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album will be celebrated in a special concert at Liverpool’s arena this autumn. The Mersey Beatles will play the home gig in the Auditorium at the M&S Bank Arena on November 29 as the finale of a 2019 world tour. They show will feature Abbey Road played in its entirety, followed by a set of Fab Four classics. Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 29 at 10am. Abbey Road was released on September 29 1969, and is regarded by many B

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