Going to the theatre

[Heather]

Birdsong.
Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool,
Saturday 18th April 2015, 2pm.

Adapted from a novel by Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong is a play which is set in France during and before the first world war. It tells the story of a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, who embarks on a passionate affair with a French housewife, Isabelle Azaire. When war breaks out and Stephen is sent to the front to lead a troup of men, memories of the disasterous affair come back to haunt him. Having to lead his men through the carnage of the war and sprawling through the tunnels that lie deep underground, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle and when he is recovering from an injury sets out to find out what happened to her before heading back to join in with the Battle of The Somme where he loses all his men and is the only survivor at the end of the day. He thinks he is alone in the world, but Isabelle's sister finds him and tells him that when he and Isabelle split up she was pregnant with his child and Isabelle has since died from an injury.

I'm not too sure what happened at the end as someone's mobile phone went off directly behind me, in fact there were at least six times during the show when mobile phones went off which was very distracting. The theatre's do their best when they make the announcements by telling everyone to turn their phones off so as not to disturb other members of the audience and also there are notices everywhere but people will insist on leaving them on. The first one that went off even distracted one of the actors on stage, well mobile phones didn't exist during the first world war after all. Still it was a good play. I am particularly interested in this period of history as when I was 16 I performed in a production of Oh What A Lovely War at college and since then the first world war has always fascinated me.

The cast included Peter Duncan who used to be on the BBC children's show Blue Peter when I was a kid. I didn't realise it was him until I looked at the programme during the interval.

Finishes tonight but is on a UK tour. http://www.birdsongthetour.com/

[Heather]

King Lear,
Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool,
Saturday 2nd May 2015, 2pm

King Lear at the Liverpool Playhouse sees the start of a 4 week run of Saturday matinees for me. This is a marathon for me, especially if you include the show at the Royal Court, Liverpool that I won and see on Wednesday evening.

I am a King Lear virgin. Before today I had never read it or seen it. A shame really as the last time it was showed in Liverpool was at the old Everyman Theatre and one of my favourite actors Pete Postlethwaite was in it. The reason I never went to see that production was I didn't know the play, something I deeply regret because Pete Postlethwaite has since died of cancer.

Times have changed since then and so has my attitude. I will never turn down the chance of seeing a Shakespeare play or any other play because I don't know it, that's part of the fun of going to the theatre, that and the ice cream in the interval.

Today's version was a Northern Broadsides production. I obviously cannot compare it to any other production of King Lear but I thought it was very well done. I managed to find the plot reasonably easy to follow but was a bit confused in parts because of the flowery language. Anyway I definitely got the gist of it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finishes in Liverpool tonight.

[Heather]

Shed.
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool,
Wednesday 6th May 2015, 8pm.

When I last went to the Royal Court Theatre in January they had just embarked on the second phase of refurbishment, the entrances, extension of the foyer and a much needed lift which is going to go where the loading bay is. Not an awful lot looks to be happening from the street or looks to have happened anyway, they have fenced off a large portion of pavement where the extension is going to go, taken down the old canopy, knocked a few holes in the wall and dug a few holes in the pavement but that is it at the moment. Entrance is through a metal gate at the edge of the fenced off section which is only open when there is a performance on. The box office has been moved from the corner next to St John's Shopping Centre to a portacabin in front of the loading bay. Inside not much has changed yet either. The foyer remains the same for the time being. Three or four years back they refurbished the auditorium and gave it a complete overhaul complete with posh new seats, tables and ledges, way different from the 1970's, 80's and 90's when they removed all the original theatre seats and made it a concert venue. The Pogues would not recognise the place if they went back there now.

I won tickets for Shed last Thursday. I hadn't booked for the show because it didn't look of interest to me. I thought from the description and the title that it was a play about two men and their sheds and this was what both me and Jake were expecting, but it turned out not to be what we expected. It is about two men and one shed on an allotment in Liverpool. Donny (Paul Broughton) owns the shed. His school friend, Davey (Michael Starke) visits him in the shed and they end up talking about old times. There is no particular plot to the story, just a lot of banter between the men, a little bit of Scouse humour and the odd reference to Liverpool soap, Brookside (Starke played Sinbad in Brookside). They do leave us with a clincher just before the interval however. Davey reveals that he thinks he is dead leaving us wondering during the interval, is Donny seeing a ghost or what? Turns out Davey is dead and there is a moral to the story. Do what you want to do in life before it's too late. I think someone up there is trying to tell me something because I've seen a few shows lately where the basic moral of the story is just that.

Shed is written by both the actors and the director Bob Eaton, who directs most of the shows I see at the Royal Court, Liverpool. This is the final week of the show. Being a mid week show too there wasn't a big audience, only just over half the stalls were full. I don't think there was anyone in the circle and the balcony is closed at the moment. I did enjoy it but it wasn't one of the best.

[Heather]

Here is a recent article about the present phase of the refurbishment of the Royal Court, Liverpool. I found this today and posted it on my Facebook page and Twitter feed but it seems to have got lost in all my General Election posts.

A few years back I did start a thread on the refurbishment because The Pogues used to play there back in the day when they were on tour but it has long gone. Only me and Philip posted on it from what I can remember. I wonder what he'd make of it all.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on ... st-9195732

[Heather]

Calamity Jane.
Empire Theatre, Liverpool
Saturday 9th May 2015, 2.30pm.

I didn't know Calamity Jane was actually a real person until today. I thought this musical was as made up as most of the rest. She has a Wikipedia page and everything. You do learn something new every day.

It's many years ago that I saw the film and I don't remember anything about it, I'm not sure if I've even watched it all the way through. However I did remember one song from it and that was The Deadwood Stage. I remember at one midweek music session some Irish friends of ours did an alternative version of it using the words 'Whip Doris Day, Whip Doris Day, Whip Doris Day'.

Calamity Jane has been showing in Liverpool for the past 4 days. Tonight is the final show and then it goes on tour. It stars Jodie Prenger as Calamity Jane (who won BBC1's I'd Do Anything to play Nancy in Oliver!) and Tom Lister as Wild Bill Hickok. I hate TV talent shows but from my own observations, the ones to find theatre stars have dished out some amazing performers, I am a big fan of Connie Fisher who was discovered on a different theatre TV talent show and played Maria in The Sound of Music a few years ago. Today I discovered Jodie Prenger and her an amazing voice.

The show was absolutely brilliant. I love the old wild west type tunes and songs. My favourite song out of the whole show was a music hall type number called It's Harry I'm Planning To Marry, probably because I'm a big fan of music hall anyway. The audience loved the show too. This was the livliest matinee audience I have been in for a while. The audience were joining in with the songs and clapping out of time like they tend to do. When Jane and Wild Bill kissed they wolf whistled. Prenger got the loudest cheer that I have ever heard at the end of the show and a certain middle aged lady found herself singing the alternative words to Deadwood Stage.

An excellent show which is well worth going to see if it comes to a theatre near to you while it's on tour.

http://www.calamityjanetheshow.com/

[Heather]

Night Collar.
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.
Saturday 16th May 2015, 2pm.

A week and a half on from my last visit I return to the Royal Court, Liverpool to see Night Collar. This is the first of two reviews I will be doing of the show as I am entering a competition to become a theatre reviewer for The Stage newspaper.

Not much has happened with the refurbishment in a week and a half. The building looks pretty much the same as it did but there are a few more holes in the ground. I collect my ticket from the make shift box office in the portacabin and fall over one of the actors on the way out (this is also the only way into the dressing rooms at the moment).

Night Collar has only just started its 4 week run at the Royal Court. It's not a new play. It started out life at the Liverpool Playhouse Studio during the 1994 Liverpool Festival of Comedy. After a sell out tour at the Liverpool Unity Theatre the following year, it moved on to the Liverpool Everyman Theatre where it smashed all box office records selling over five thousand tickets. The show went back to the Playhouse in 1997 and then on to the Royal Court, Liverpool where it has been shown 4 times.

Set on Christmas Eve, Jimmy Power, a taxi driver (Alan Stocks) is cruising the streets of Liverpool looking for punters. It has no particular plot except really to show the people he picks up or meets on his travels, a couple having an argument, an Elvis impersonator, a blind man, his disabled mother and their friend who is a scallywag, a Big Issue seller, a drunken tramp, a naked stag and a prostitute amongst others. Our taxi driver sees himself as being a bit of a counseller and a social worker, giving them a shoulder to cry on and advice when it is needed. At the same time however, each one of these people is trying his patience and they eventually drive him to the point where he can no longer take it. The final straw is when the taxi breaks down. He leaves it where it is, calls his manager and quits.

I've seen many of these local comedies at the Royal Court, Liverpool. They are all hilariously funny. However I am not sure how they would work outside the city without being adapted to suit. This type of comedy always show stereotypical Liverpudlians, an image that the city has in recent years tried to move away from. Unfortunately they will always be there because there are still people like that and this is the sort of thing that the Royal Court seems to relish in. Despite all this, it is still a great show.

[Heather]

Constellations.
Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.
Saturday 23rd May 2015. 2pm.

Constellations by Nick Payne was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London on the 13th January 2012. It has had sell out tours of the West End and Broadway too.

A one act play about the relationship between two people, Marianne (Louise Breasley) and Roland (Joe Armstrong) which flips backward and forward in time so much that it is really irritating. For example, the beginning was shown three times with different outcomes. This got too much for one couple on the other side of the aisle who left 10 minutes in.

The show, I suppose, was trying to demonstrate how things would turn out for the two characters in different dimensions or parallel universes, but it was really annoying watching three or more versions of the same scene either in a row or flipping on to another scene and flipping back again. Having said that, I didn't totally dislike this play.

[Christine]

Temple
Donmar Warehouse

Play by Steve Waters about the reaction of those in charge at St Paul's Cathedral when the Occupy movement camped around its steps in 2011. Actually I had thought the play would be about Occupy but it was really a satire on the church. A predictably evil city lawyer and a common-sense intern are the opposite poles, in between the church officials act, closing the gates to visitors and considering 'what Jesus would have done'. Simon Russell Beale is excellent as the Dean.

[Christine]

Man and Superman
National Theatre (Lyttleton)

Ralph Fiennes as you would expect is superb as Don Juan, sustaining the very long play almost single-handedly. Tim McMullan as first a brigand and then the devil is also brilliantly suave and cynical. I am not sure the play still works, it has so many Shavian obsessions about women and socialism, but it was very well done and funny too.

Mendoza (with dignity): I am a brigand. i live by robbing the rich.
Tanner (Fiennes): I am a gentleman. I live by robbing the poor. Shake hands.

[Christine]

And in case anyone is interested, that Man and Superman production is also being shown in some cinemas:

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/pr ... d-superman

[Guest]

Man and Superman
National Theatre (Lyttleton)

Ralph Fiennes as you would expect is superb as Don Juan, sustaining the very long play almost single-handedly. Tim McMullan as first a brigand and then the devil is also brilliantly suave and cynical. I am not sure the play still works, it has so many Shavian obsessions about women and socialism, but it was very well done and funny too.

Mendoza (with dignity): I am a brigand. i live by robbing the rich.
Tanner (Fiennes): I am a gentleman. I live by robbing the poor. Shake hands.

I went to see this production recently and although I wondered if it would keep my adult daughter's attention, in fact she very much enjoyed it, as I did. The acting was superb and the National Theatre version is much lighter and funnier than some productions of this very long play. I would thoroughly recommend it.

[Heather]

The Producers.
Empire Theatre, Liverpool.
Saturday 6th June 2015, 2.30pm.

This is a stage production of the classic Mel Brooks film which is currently on tour in the UK. Starring Jason Manford as Leo Bloom, Cory English as Max Bialystock, Ross Noble as Franz Liebkind, David Bedella as Roger De Bris, Tiffany Graves as Ulla and Stephanie Anelli as Carmen Ghia.

Producer Max Bialystock teams up with his accountant Leo Bloom to produce a new play on Broadway that is going to be an absolute flop. Bloom has told Max that he would make more money that way than if he put on a show that was a success. After searching through loads of plays to try and find the worst they come across what they consider to be the perfect flop, Springtime for Hitler written by ex-nazi solider Franz Leibkind. To guarantee that the show is going to be a huge flop they hire Roger De Bris as director as his plays are known to close on the first night of the performance. Roger turns the show into a cheerful upbeat yet tastless musical but, it is not a flop, it is a huge success.

An absolutely hilariously show, easily as good as the film if not better. Ross Noble's portrayal of Liebkind is an absolute hoot. One of the best shows I've seen so far this year. You need to go and see this if it comes to a town near you.

http://theproducersmusical.co.uk/

[Heather]

The Play That Goes Wrong.
Duchess Theatre, London.
Wednesday 10th June 2015, 7.30pm.

My choice for our London trip this time was The Play That Goes Wrong, a comedy performed at the Duchess Theatre by the Mischief Theatre Company. I picked it because I thought it would be a little bit like Noises Off and in a way it was.

When Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to put on a 1920's murder mystery, everything that can go wrong (as the plays title suggests) does. It is a hilarious piece full of missed cues, misplaced props, collapsing sets held up by people dragged up out of the audience and accident prone actors. There is a John Cleese lookalike who acts like him too, another actor who enjoys the audience attention so much that he keeps staring into the audience with a stupid grin on his face and a sound technician who keeps missing sound effect cues and eventually ends up getting dragged into performing himself.

Described as a cross between Monty Python and The Mousetrap, The Play That Goes Wrong left my sides aching and my throat a little sore from all the laughing I did. Well worth going to see, a must if you're in London.

[Frances]

After previously searching up and down California for live theatre to attend today, I found nothing of interest.
NYC is a totally different story, of course.

I'll be celebrating Philip's birthday watching The Emperor Jones and Desire Under the Elms.






Happy birthday Philip. ♡ ♡

[Julieexeter]

The Play That Goes Wrong.
Duchess Theatre, London.
Wednesday 10th June 2015, 7.30pm.

My choice for our London trip this time was The Play That Goes Wrong, a comedy performed at the Duchess Theatre by the Mischief Theatre Company. I picked it because I thought it would be a little bit like Noises Off and in a way it was.

When Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to put on a 1920's murder mystery, everything that can go wrong (as the plays title suggests) does. It is a hilarious piece full of missed cues, misplaced props, collapsing sets held up by people dragged up out of the audience and accident prone actors. There is a John Cleese lookalike who acts like him too, another actor who enjoys the audience attention so much that he keeps staring into the audience with a stupid grin on his face and a sound technician who keeps missing sound effect cues and eventually ends up getting dragged into performing himself.

Described as a cross between Monty Python and The Mousetrap, The Play That Goes Wrong left my sides aching and my throat a little sore from all the laughing I did. Well worth going to see, a must if you're in London.

I have seen this twice (so far) Heather and it was just as funny the second time around. I think it is great that a play without known names can make it so big in the West End, it says so much about the talent of this company. I was at the Olivier Awards in April and was thrilled when they won the Best New Comedy award.