June - 2021

Archive

Review: The Greatest Play in the History of the World at Liverpool Playhouse ****1/2

According to Douglas Adams, the answer to life, the universe, and everything is…42. In this captivating and magical jewel from the live storytelling box, a similar answer is to be found at 04:40 – and at number 30. Number 30 Preston Road that is. Here, in an ordinary house on an ordinary city street - described in a series of small but finely observed details that combine to create a big picture - something out-of-the-ordinary unfolds during a hiccup in the space-time continu

Ellen and Rigby launches Liverpool Royal Court season of shows

Lindzi Germain and her Royal Court Liverpool co-star Drew Schofield are about to celebrate their 13th anniversary as a couple – on stage that is. And while a ‘baker’s dozen’ may be unlucky for some, they’re hoping Ellen & Rigby – the first show in front of an audience at the Roe Street theatre since Christmas – will be a happy return to live performance. “The first show we did together was Lost Soul 13 years ago, when we played married couple Donna and Smigger,” Germain recal

Liverpool Theatre Festival announces first shows for 2021 event

Liverpool Theatre Festival has revealed the initial line-up for its second annual event which takes place this September. The inaugural festival – created and staged by city producer Bill Elms - took place at the Bombed Out Church last year. Now it is set to return, from September 1-12, and the first shows have been announced, with more to come. On Friday, September 3 there will be two performances of the award-winning musical The Last Five Years, presented by Tread Productio

Review: Woke at Liverpool Playhouse ****

It’s become a label delivered with often derisive dismissal. But here, Apphia Campbell reclaims the word ‘woke’ and revisits its original meaning as an awareness of social and racial justice. The one-woman play expertly winds together two seemingly separate stories of African American women and their experiences four decades apart to create one single potent testimony. In 2014 we meet Ambrosia, a middle-class, law abiding innocent abroad who is introduced to activism the hard

Liverpool museums reveal new autumn exhibitions and gallery reopening

An exhibition dedicated to Walter Sickert, a display of William De Morgan ceramics and the reopening of a major gallery space are among the autumn programme unveiled by National Museums Liverpool. Meanwhile the organisation’s award-winning House of Memories is going out on the road with a mobile immersive experience, and World Museum will host this year’s Vogue Ball run by House of Suarez. With restrictions still in place due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the autumn and winter

Tate Liverpool stages Lucy McKenzie retrospective this autumn

Tate Liverpool is to stage the first UK retrospective of the work of Brussels-based British artist Lucy McKenzie. This autumn’s show, which opens on October 20, will feature around 80 works from the past quarter of a century of the Glasgow-born artist’s practice. It will include large scale architectural paintings and tromp l’oeil works, as well as fashion and design. Tickets are £10/£9. McKenzie studied at Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, graduating in

Without Walls offers £100,000 Liverpool outdoor events boost

New outdoor festivals and events in Liverpool could receive up to £20,000 in grants through the city’s Without Walls Fund. Organisations can bid for the grants to help them put on events which encourage people to come back into the city, as well as showcase new talent. The first phase of Liverpool Without Walls, launched in June 2020, saw £450,000 invested in the hospitality sector to enable trade to continue outside. That was followed last July when £200,000 was distributed

Dream Team reunited for Vasily Petrenko's final RLPO concerts

Pianist Simon Trpceski will be reunited with Vasily Petrenko for the Liverpool conductor’s final concerts at the Philharmonic Hall. The pair, who together have been dubbed ‘the Dream Team’, will appear in concert over three nights next month. Petrenko was due to conduct two farewell evenings at Hope Street, but demand for tickets has seen a third date added. He will now be on stage on July 8, 9 and 10. Macedonian virtuoso Trpceski will play Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2

Wirral Food and Drink Festival postponed again

The Wirral Food, Drink and Music Festival has been postponed for a second year running because of continued uncertainty over the Coronavirus pandemic. The event was due to go ahead in Birkenhead Park last September, headlined by OMD, The Coral and Echo & The Bunnymen. It was rearranged for this September but now organisers Wirral Council have announced that the popular attraction has been put off for a further 12 months – with the three famous Merseyside bands still slated to

Joe Lycett brings new UK tour to Liverpool auditorium

Joe Lycett brings his major new UK tour to Liverpool next spring for two live shows. The comedian and Great British Sewing Bee presenter will be at the Auditorium at the M&S Bank Arena on May 28-29. Tickets for Joe Lycett: More, More, More! How do you Lycett? How do you Lycett? go on presale for priority booking on Thursday, June 17 at 10am. They cost £32.50. The 32-year-old artist formerly known as Hugo Boss is set to do what he does best: talk at a room of people in a queer