August - 2019

Archive

Allotments exhibition aims to cultivate conversation

Allotments are the subject of an exhibition running at the Victoria Gallery & Museum until the end of September. The Allotments, part of the LOOK Photo Biennial 2019, features work by photographer David Lockwood, poet Pauline Rowe, and painter Arthur Lockwood who passed away while he was working on the project. He was 85. The three consider and celebrate Dingle Vale allotments in Aigburth, collaborating with the allotment holders - one of 25 working allotment communities in t

Smithdown LitFest books top literary line-up for 2019

Smithdown LitFest returns for 2019 with a series of free literary events taking place over seven days in September. Best-selling crime novelist Ann Cleeves and Liverpool actor John McArdle are among the line-up for the annual festival which runs from September 13-19. Cleeves, who has sold more than five million books, will open the festival with an In Conversation at Ullet Road Unitarian Church with fellow crime writer Ashley Dyer, LitFest patron. She will talk about her new

Bringing sunshine to Liverpool Playhouse

It was the story that charmed the cinema going public back in 2006. And now Little Miss Sunshine, a road movie with a difference, is coming to the Liverpool stage this week at the end of its inaugural UK tour. Selladoor, founded by two LIPA graduates a decade ago, presents the stage musical version of the Oscar-winning story which has been adapted by Tony Award winners James Lapine and William Finn. Little Miss Sunshine follows the Hoover family on their bumpy journey through

BlackFest celebrates city talent this September

A week-long festival celebrating the work of Black and minority ethnic artists returns to Liverpool venues in September. BlackFest runs from September 23-29. The grassroots festival was founded in 2018 by director/theatre maker Jubeda Khatun and artist/producer Blue Saint. It aims to showcase an eclectic mix of work from Black and ethnic creatives across community spaces and established city venues. This year’s festival programme features dance, visual arts, music, film, spo

Playwright Luke Barnes talks Lost Boys ahead of Unity Theatre premiere

Luke Barnes started with a question. That question sparked a conversation, which prompted a workshop which in turn led to a performance. And now the award-winning Formby playwright’s Lost Boys – the result of that process of creation – is coming to the Unity Theatre for a week-long run ahead of a Merseyside community tour. The National Youth Theatre show, directed by Zoe Lafferty and with original music by Dom Coyote, will be staged from September 4-11. Actor-turned-writer Ba

LEAP Dance Festival 2019 programme revealed

LEAP dance festival returns to the city this autumn promising 10 days of top class local, national and international dance. The 2019 festival, which runs from October 3-12, will feature seven dance companies and 15 performances at venues across the city. And new for this year is a LEAP Fringe Festival which will involve two days of pop up dance in unexpected locations along Hope Street. LEAP is organised by Hope Street-based charity and dance development organisation MDI (for

Death and the Maiden comes to Hope Street

Ariel Dorfman’s powerful Olivier Award-winning drama Death and the Maiden is set to be staged at Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre. Emma Bird directs the new production of the work. One night a stranger knocks on the door of Paulina, a survivor of torture, and her human rights lawyer husband. Recognising the stranger's voice and convinced he is the sadistic doctor who led the captors who raped her, she proceeds to take him captive instead and force a confession. Argentinian-Chi

Christian Furr retrospective at Williamson Art Gallery

A retrospective of the work of Heswall-born, internationally renowned artist Christian Furr will be staged at the Williamson Art Gallery this autumn. The show, which forms part of the Wirral Borough of Culture programme, will feature a selection of pieces from across the career of the 52-year-old. It will be the first time his works have been brought together in one exhibition. Colin Simpson (above left with Furr), Principal Museums Officer for the Williamson, says: “We’re pl

Menlove Avenue Murder Mystery unfolds at Liverpool Royal Court

It’s been quite a journey for writer Gerry Linford since he was highly commended in the Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize two years ago. That play – A Prayer for St Cajetan – became hit comedy The Miracle of Great Homer Street, starring Les Dennis and running for a month on the main stage at the Royal Court. Linford followed up his debut with this spring’s Yellow Breck Road which proved to be another audience pleaser at the Roe Street theatre. Read a previous interview with Ge

Don McCullin retrospective heading for Tate Liverpool

A major retrospective of work by celebrated British war photographer Sir Don McCullin is finally coming to Tate Liverpool this month. What was due to be The Royal Albert Dock gallery’s 2020 summer blockbuster exhibition - until the Coronavirus pandemic struck - will feature more than 250 fascinating photographs by the 83-year-old Londoner. It follows the success of the show when it was staged at Tate Britain in spring 2019. Tate Liverpool bosses say the show will include addi