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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
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
Review: Tabakova Accordion Concerto at the Liverpool Philharmonic ****1/2
While this Thursday night concert on a chill January evening was officially billed as 'Rachmaninov Symphony No.3', it was really all about the accordion with the UK premiere of a new concerto from the ebullient Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova. And who better to perform it than Ksenija Sidorova, whose artistry with what is essentially a portable organ (albeit a backbreakingly heavy one at 20kg/three-and-a-half stone in old money) is unparalleled. If you’ve ever tr
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
Review: Sleep Can Wait! at the Unity Theatre ****1/2
There’s no more delightful and heart-warming sound than the joyful giggle of a small child. And little voices are given a big platform in the Unity Theatre’s seasonal family offering Sleep Can Wait! which offers lots of gigglesome moments. After being missing in action for several years, it’s great news that a proper Christmas show for young ones has returned to the Hope Place stage. And I’m happy to report it’s as enchanting as you’d expect. It’s Christmas Eve and Steph, Sam
Review: Stocking Fillers at the Royal Court Studio ***1/2
Upstairs, a swearier than usual Mr Scrooge is being taught the error of his ways by three mysterious ‘ghosts’. Downstairs in the Royal Court Studio on the other hand, there are veteran fir tree fairies, megalomaniac elves, secret Santas, disastrous office parties and, above all, a reminder that this is the season of goodwill to all. The annual Royal Court Stocking Fillers is a chance for some who attend the theatre’s writing groups during the year to showcase their work in su
Review: Sleeping Beauty at the Floral Pavilion ***1/2
Deck the halls with boughs of holly – and a thicket of thorns so fiendish it will take a handsome prince to hack through. ‘Tis the season to be jolly. And there’s plenty to be jolly about in the Floral Pavilion’s seasonal offering Sleeping Beauty, which delivers the classic story with a good sprinkling of the songs of the year including Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club and – seemingly unavoidable if you go to any panto anywhere this Christmas – K-Pop earworm Golden. There's als
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