Liverpool Playhouse

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Frankenstein

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★☆☆

Imitating The Dog are known for combining innovative digital media with traditional theatre to create exceptional works. Their production of Macbeth last year was one of our favourite stage productions of the year (you can read our review here), so when we saw that they were continuing their Gothic production theme with an interpretation of Frankenstein we knew that we had to go. The production combines the classic Marry Shelley Frankenstein with that of a story of a nameless couple who are navigating an unplanned pregnancy.

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My Beautiful Laundrette

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★☆

Adapted from the 1985 film of the same name, My Beautiful Laundrette is a sophisticated, heartfelt and painful reminder that the world is still full of inequality. The show is set around Omar (Lucca Chadwick-Patel), a young British Pakistani who is struggling to find work during the height of Thatcher’s Britain. In a bid to give Omar more than just a life on “The Dole”, his Papa (Gordon Warnecke) decides Omar will work for his Uncle, and then go to college.

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Unfortunate

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★☆

So you think Ursula is the villain of The Little Mermaid? How unfortunate, you’re about to discover you have been lied to your entire life! Written by Robyn Grant and Daniel Foxx, Unfortunate is part origin story, part redemption arc and a whole lot of chaotic, camp brilliance. In a similar way to how Wicked re-wrote the tale of the Wicked Witch, Unfortunate takes audiences through Ursula’s life to show that she isn’t all bad.

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TONY! The Tony Blair Rock Opera

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★★

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you crossed The Book of Mormon with Spitting Image, and then added a smidge of Harry Hill’s TV Burp insanity, then Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera has the answer! Telling the story of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s rise to power, and his transformation from pop-rock hippy front man of Ugly Rumours to a warmongering multimillionaire, this hilarious musical comedy is written by Harry Hill and Steve Brown.

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I,Daniel Blake

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★★

If you have never been in a theatre where the end of the show is met by massive amounts of tears by the audience and a standing ovation for a phenomenal cast, then you probably haven’t been to watch I, Daniel Blake. Based on the Ken Loach directed film, this stage production has been adapted by Dave Johns who starred in the original film as the titular character, and is a co-production between tiny dragon Productions andEnglish Touring Theatre, in association with Northern Stage.

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Alice in Wonderland

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★☆

Based on Lewis Carroll’s classic novel, this modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland is a fantastic musical romp across different genres to produce a heartfelt, family-friendly musical, with just a hint of panto. In this production, Wonderland is a broken stereo. A mix tape produced by Alice’s (Paislie Reid) recently deceased Father has become stuck in the stereo, but luckily Alice is able to fix anything, so she quickly gets to work repairing the stereo.

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Macbeth

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★☆

Double, Double, toil and….yakuza? The Scottish play is possibly one of Shakespeare’s best known tragedies, telling the tale of Macbeth’s rise to power and his attempts to retain that power against a backdrop of murder. This production of Macbeth by Imitating The Dog was unlike any other production we have ever seen, and completely modernises the play in a way that Baz Luhrmann did for Romeo and Juliet in the 90’s.

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Richard III

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★★☆

Set against a backdrop of Morris dancing, and following her critically acclaimed production of Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe, Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh brings a powerful performance of Richard III to the Liverpool Playhouse for a limited time run. Given that Richard III is the second longest of Shakespeare’s plays, and that this was the first time we’d been to watch a performance of any of The Bard’s historical plays, there was a slight apprehension that we wouldn’t enjoy the performance.

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Six

Liverpool Playhouse

★★★☆☆

Starting life as a student show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss have created a cultural phenomenon that does for Tudor history what Hamilton has done for American history. Detailing - in a loose sense - how history has reduced the six wives of Henry VIII to a rhyme, Six delves into the life of each wife in a Horrible Histories meets The X Factor sassy pop-rock concert.