Theatre

Heathers The Musical

★★★☆☆

Heathers is not your standard high school musical. Based on the 1989 film which was intended to be an anti-John Hughes portrayal of teen life, the musical version of Heathers retains all the dark comedy that makes the original film a cult classic, whilst mixing in catchy group numbers and hard hitting solo pieces.

The plot of Heathers is in someways what you would expect from a high school based musical; there’s a clique of girls all named Heather who rule the school, and the nerdy Veronica Sawyer wants to fit in with the popular girls. She ultimately gets her wish, but realises true friendship is more important than popularity. Along the way, Veronica falls for the mysterious bad boy JD who also happens to be a sociopathic vigilante, hell bent on blowing up the school. With Veronica’s involuntary support (a shift away from the source material), JD even manages to murder three students and gets away with it.

Saving Shakespeare: Murder, Magic & Mayhem

★★★★☆

Developed by A Place For Us CIC in 2022, Saving Shakespeare is an energetic frolic through some of Shakespeare’s most iconic works.

The premise of the show is William Shakespeare, or Will I Am as he refers to himself, has arrived at court to perform his latest production. Unfortunately, Will has forgotten the script, and none of the actors have turned up. His only hope are two women who aren’t even legally allowed to act. Over the course of an hour, the trio cobble together a show to perform for Elizabeth I using the scenes they can remember from other works. Covering Macbeth, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night the production is a joy from start to finish.

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.

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.

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.

Six

★★★☆☆

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.

During the 75 minute musical, the wives tell their individual story in a bid to work out who suffered the most at the hands of Henry VIII, and should therefore become the leader of the girl band that they have created. The topics of the wives songs range from childbirth, unwanted sexual advances, forced marriages, and of course death. Almost every musical genre is covered, from R&B, big power ballads, and pop.