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Review: The Memory of Water at the Liverpool Everyman ****
It’s been 30 years since Shelagh Stephenson’s darkly comic play premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, going on to transfer to the West End and Broadway and winning an Olivier to boot. And while the creamy tones of Nat King Cole might punctuate scene changes in this sparky revival at the Liverpool Everyman, it’s the sound of the Spice Girls which drags us back aurally to 1996, the year of genetically modified crops, royal divorces, Dunblane, Dolly the sheep and Trainspotting. In
Review: The Woman in Black at the Liverpool Playhouse ****1/2
Sometimes you simply have to pause and marvel at our desire to be scared witless – surely humankind being a strange outlier among the rest of the animal kingdom. True, the experience is accompanied by the knowledge the films, TV shows, plays, stories or ghost hunts which provoke that thrilling adrenaline spike are a safe kind of scare. We remain physically, if not psychologically, unscathed – who hasn't had the urge to check over their shoulders or under their beds at some ti
Review: The Peaceful Hour 2 at Liverpool's Royal Court ***1/2
Back in the day, many a Merseysider would make a late-night date with Radio City’s The Peaceful Hour – tuning in to drop off to its soothing musical vibes and the dulcet tones of one Pete Price Esq. It means before anyone even reaches for the radio dial on stage, there’s an immediate layer of nostalgia which underpins The Peaceful Hour 2, playwright Gerry Linford’s amiable, knockabout late night-set sequel to the titular comedy which was premiered at the Royal Court 12 months
Cast revealed for Little Shop of Horrors at Liverpool Playhouse
Liverpool favourite Michael Starke will return to the Playhouse this Christmas to appear in a new production of Little Shop of Horrors. He will play flower shop owner Mr Mushnik in the cult comedy-sci fi musical which comes to the Williamson Square theatre from December 3 to January 9, 2027. Starke previously appeared at the Playhouse for Christmas in 2016 when he played the Chairman in Michael Wynne’s music hall show The Star to mark the 150 th anniversary of the theatre. T
Review: The Ghost of Graves End at the Unity Theatre ****1/2
Two months after his one-woman tragi-comedy Stella roared on to the Unity stage, busy Liverpool playwright Robert Farquhar is back with another whirlwind of a show. And if you are a fan of Farquhar, and particularly his work with - the now sadly defunct – Big Wow, a sucker for a chilling theatrical experience or a lover of off-the-wall comedy, you won’t want to miss it. Ostensibly an affectionate homage to, and send-up of, ghost stories like Susan Hill’s ever popular The Wom
Review: KITTEL at the Unity Theatre ****
Everyone is aware of the phrase – all it takes for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing. Good and evil is, in theory at least, binary and stark. Black and white. Right and wrong. But reality, that place where good intentions and moral certainties come up against human frailty – greed, ambition, cowardice, self-interest, indifference - is much more grey and muddy than that. Catherine Harrison’s quietly powerful and thought-provoking new play, brought to the Unity Theat
Follow the Dream at Shakespeare North this February
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at Shakespeare North Playhouse this week, direct from the Globe in London. Shakespeare’s much-loved sprite-ly comedy is being staged at the Prescot venue’s Cockpit Theatre until tomorrow at the start of a national tour. The show, which explores the darker side of the Bard's seemingly mischievous tale, is a co-production between Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong (with Bristol Old Vic and Leeds Playhouse). To escape a society ruled by tyrannical law,
Five shows to see at the Floral Pavilion in 2026
Theatre audiences and fans of live performance are in for a treat all over Merseyside during 2026 – including at the Floral Pavilion. The New Brighton venue has lined up a programme of music, comedy, cabaret, children’s shows and drama for audiences to enjoy, including a return for acclaimed new Country musical Under the Mersey Moon and the unmissable Something About George which pays homage to the late, great George Harrison. Meanwhile there are plenty of other touring treat
Review: Mary Poppins at the Liverpool Empire *****
Author PL Travers actively disliked Disney’s Oscar-winning screen version of Mary Poppins with its dancing penguins, (in her view) overly sugary heroine and twee sentimentality and, perhaps more incomprehensibly, the Sherman Brothers’ soundtrack of songs. Apparently, she took a lot of persuading before agreeing to let Cameron Mackintosh create a stage version and only then with a whole raft of provisos – although she didn’t live to see the subsequent show premiere in the West
Review: Inspector Morse at the Liverpool Playhouse ***1/2
Inspector Morse was a TV staple in the 1980s and 90s, regularly pulling in audiences of up to 18 million and spawning not one but two successful spin off series – the latter, Endeavour, starring Liverpool’s own Shaun Evans. Morse's star John Thaw was just 45 when the first series was screened, albeit he wore middle age in worn-in fashion, which suited Colin Dexter's curmudgeonly character. Tom Chambers, who takes on detective duties in this first stage outing, is currently 48
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