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Review: 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche at the Hope Street Theatre ***1/2
Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood’s atomic satire 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche has become something of a fringe favourite since it was premiered 15 years ago. It picked up two awards at the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival, including best overall production, and this summer made its way across the pond to delight festivalgoers north of the border in Scotland. Meanwhile this coming week another production is due to be staged as part of London’s Lambeth Fringe. Now it can also
Review: Lord of the Dance 30th Anniversary at the Liverpool Empire ****
When Michael Flatley dramatically parted ways with the wildly popular Riverdance in the mid-90s he had two options – go away and lick his wounds or bounce back with something even bigger and better. He chose the latter, and lo, Lord of the Dance was born, with the ambitious Irish-American dancer and choreographer taking the titular role. Since its premiere in Dublin in 1996, Lord of the Dance has traversed the globe, playing to more than 60 million people in 70 countries and
Review: Unsinkable at the Hope Street Theatre ****
An excerpt of Unsinkable reached the final of Tip Tray Theatre’s 2025 What Happens Next? new writing competition. What happened next was a sold-out staged reading of the Titanic-themed drama, and now finally, this week, a much-anticipated, full-length, five performance run at the Hope Street Theatre. There have been several maritime disasters with much greater loss of life – both in war and in peace. And yet more than a century after it had its fateful meeting with an iceberg
Review: Death of a Salesman at Liverpool Everyman ***1/2
Arthur Miller compared it to a Greek tragedy while influential 20th Century American theatre critic John Gassner called its chief protagonist ‘a King Lear in mufti’. Death of a Salesman, the second of Miller’s quartet of major plays penned over the course of eight post-war years, channels both, albeit into the story of an ordinary ('low') man. Miller wove his cautionary tale in naturalistic dialogue juxtaposed with dream-like flashbacks and reminiscences (he initially thought
Review: Annie at the Liverpool Empire ****
Time and tide wait for no man…or girl. And even little orphan Annie is now marking her big 5-0, despite being preserved for all time as a precocious 11-year-old. When the musical was first staged back in the 1970s, the Great Depression was still well within living memory, and the world was going through another troubled time. One might say plus ça change. But while the 1930s setting may not have any resonance for today's children, there’s still plenty to capture the imaginati
Review: Letter to Brezhnev at Liverpool's Royal Court ****1/2
Back in the 1980s, a series of striking screen successes helped plant Liverpool firmly in the national consciousness – the three ‘Bs’ of Blackstuff, Brookside…and Brezhnev. All three were political (albeit without being actually ‘Militant’), but while each was concerned with themes like socio-economic decline, political neglect, class conflict, community solidarity or crushed ambitions, it was the big screen’s Letter to Brezhnev which widened its vista to consider the chilly
Review: Waitress at the Liverpool Empire ****
To lose one leading actor on opening night may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both ‘names’…well, let’s just say it’s not ideal. But as the Reverend Mother tells Maria in The Sound of Music, when God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. And the absence of both Carrie Hope Fletcher AND Les Dennis from the Empire stage, both indisposed for undisclosed reasons, allowed several other members of the Waitress cast a chance to shine. None more so than Ellie Ruiz Rodrigue
Review: Take Me Home County Road at Liverpool's Royal Court ****
Liverpool’s Royal Court has a history of nurturing the talents of its extended theatrical ‘family’ – encouraging staff, and also members of its regular cast, to develop their own ideas and projects. Linzdi Germain and Angela Simms’ knockabout hospital comedy The Royal springs immediately to mind. Actor Adam McCoy made his own Roe Street debut appearing downstairs in the Studio in Masquerade, penned by Laura Lees who was working in the box office at the time. Now in turn, McCo
Review: No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution at the Unity Theatre ****
Liverpool playwright Luke Barnes’ No One Will Tell me How to Start a Revolution is a furious and often intensely funny exploration of working-class identity, social (im)mobility, class prejudice and quashed potential. It started life almost a decade ago in the leafy and decidedly middle-class north London enclave of Hampstead. And while the theatre there has a longstanding reputation as a bastion of new writing, this latest incarnation (one night only - but with the hope of a
Review: Near Miss at the Unity Theatre ****
The Unity is currently celebrating its rich cultural and political heritage. But while looking back, it’s worth noting it’s the ongoing commitment to supporting and nurturing new writing which remains central to its programme in the here and now. This includes Near Miss, the second in the ‘Watching Windows’ trilogy of semi-autobiographical works by Liverpool teacher, actor, director and latterly playwright Helena Rand. The first, Rotten Apple, a story of love, ambition and a
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