Review

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical

★★★★★

Most musical theatre writers spend years perfecting their work, testing out with audiences, and undoubtedly scrapping a fair few drafts along the way. Showstopper The Improvised Musical does away with all that, and instead produces a brand new musical at every performance using suggestions from the audience. They’re not just good at this, they’re Olivier award-winning good, so when we saw that they were performing at The Lowry there was no question that we had to go.

Douze Points

★★★★★

As huge Eurovision fans, we could have easily written an entire website of reviews covering all the different Eurovision events we have been to over the previous week (turquoise carpet, two semi final rehearsals, two live shows including the final, copious amounts of concerts within the Eurovision village and around the city). Eurovision has undoubtedly been one of the best weeks of our lives, but rather than review every single thing we have done, we’ve decided to focus on the one that best fits in with this website’s content; Douze Points at the Liverpool Philharmonic.

Icelandic Symphony Orchestra

★★★★★

Making their Manchester debut as part of The Bridgewater Hall’s International Concert Series, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra brought a mesmerising performance to the stage. Conducted by Eva Ollikainen, the orchestra combined the spectacular Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos with the works of Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

The evening started with Metacosmos. Composed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, the piece is a symphonic poem meant to take you on a journey through a black hole and out the other side. Without a doubt this was one of the most beautiful, powerful, and at times harrowing, pieces of music we have ever seen performed. Lasting roughly 13 minutes, the vacuum of space seemed to be laid bare as a magnificent living tapestry. Sound may not travel in the vacuum of space, but it certainly travelled throughout The Bridgewater Hall and left us with goosebumps.

Lights On Lights Off

★★★★★

As part of their programme to celebrate The Bard’s birthday, Shakespeare North Playhouse’s production of Lights On / Lights Off is a remarkable exploration of The First Folio. Utilising Elizabethan style rehearsals, local actors, and improvisation, Lights On / Lights Off is a production made up of a scene from each of the 36 plays that make up The First Folio; 18 of them with the theatre lights on, and 18 of them by candlelight with the theatre lights off.

Macbeth

★★★★☆

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.

Transporting the play to Estuary City, a gritty neon world that invokes images of London and Tokyo, this version of Macbeth incorporates video technology, modern language and a violent noir backdrop to stunning effect. Throughout the production, two cameras capture Macbeth and Lady Macbeth on the stage. These images appear on screens above the stage, and in combination with the sectional staging give individual perspectives of the action on stage. With background films projected onto the staging, Imitating The Dog have created a cinematic masterpiece within a live theatre environment. Our favourite example of this was Lady Macbeth riding a subway train to meet Macbeth. The camera focussed on each of them individually to set them apart on stage whilst being only metres away from each other, whilst also delivering the feeling of motion through the subway train; incredibly creative and effective.

Musicals Rock

★★★★☆

Since the late 60’s, rock musicals have been a mainstay of musical theatre. Shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent and The Rocky Horror Show have contributed to a rock revolution that continues today with shows like Dear Evan Hanson and Waitress.

As part of the Halle Orchestra’s 2002/2003 concert season, conductor Alfonso Casado Trigo has selected some of his favourite rock musicals for the Halle orchestra to perform alongside seasoned singers Emma Kingston, Debbie Kurup, David Thaxton and Ricardo Afonso.

Richard III

★★★★☆

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. Within the first scene, we knew that wasn’t going to be the case and we were about to watch something special.

Bingo Star

★★★☆☆

What do you get if you cross a Henry hoover, an ageing hippie and three games of bingo during a musical theatre show? A classic night out at Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre for their latest Scouse comedy Bingo Star!

For 50 years, Arthur (Alan Stocks) has ran the local bingo hall, but spiralling debts mean the hall is facing closure. Supported by his daughter Lesley (Keddy Sutton), granddaughter Bella (Paige Fenton), and bingo hall employees Debbie (Helen Carter) and Keith (Jonathan Markwood), Arthur thinks his prayers have been answered when Tony (Paul Duckworth) from the council claims a redevelopment of the area will provide an influx of new members to the bingo hall. But can Tony be trusted? With the bingo hall doubling as the local food bank, there’s more at stake than just a few games of bingo.

Comedy of Errors

★★★★★

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and features an almost Parent Trap style mix up of identical twins. In the original play, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse visit Ephesus and end up confused with the Antipholus and Dromio that live there, leading to a lot of slapstick, declarations of love and a commotion around a necklace.

A new, modernised version produced by Shakespeare North Playhouse and Stephen Joseph Theatre transports the action to the 1980’s and the towns of Prescot and Scarborough where each theatre is located. This self-described “more or less” version by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane has, by their own admission, been “messed about with”, and now features classic 80’s songs, shell suits, and a return of the War of the Roses.