Reading Time: 3 minutesJoe Ward Munrow’s ‘The Legend of Ned Ludd’ looks at our reality - how capitalism has shaped our lives and our relationship to work, with the constant push-and-pull of innovation and adaptation undulating beneath it all.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn Black Swans, Christina Kettering and director Ria Samartzi, bring forth a narrative featuring two female protagonists, a rarity in theatre, tackling the weighty responsibilities of daughters and mothers.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt was a privilege to listen to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) on Thursday evening. Domingo Hindoyan conducted the already well-loved classical pieces Bacchus and Ariadne, Op. 43: Suite No.2 by Albert Roussel, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 in D minor, Op. 47 as well as the exciting world premiere of Eleanor Alberga’s first piano concerto, performed by Leeds International Piano Competition 2021 winner Alim Baisembayev and the RLPO.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhilst the conversations that happened the night before Lady Jane Grey’s death will always be lost to history, Rosamund Gravelle manages to capture a totally realistic retelling of what occurred that night.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe yellow brick road winds its way into Manchester with the new London Palladium production of "The Wizard of Oz" arriving at the Palace Theatre. While the timeless charm of the 1939 fantasy film remains cherished in our hearts, this new production promises to honour its legacy while seamlessly integrating modern effects, ensuring a stellar theatrical experience.
Reading Time: 2 minutesSamantha Gray's latest comedy at The Space, "Sacred and Profane," invites audiences into the tangled web of online dating, where love and deception collide in hilarious fashion. Set against the backdrop of modern romance, Gray deftly navigates the complexities of finding love in a digital world, delivering a witty and insightful commentary on the traps of online relationships.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA Spectacle of Herself is a solo show written and performed by Laura Murphy and directed by Ursula Martinez.
Reading Time: 3 minutesWithout spoiling anything, the 3 BAFTA award-winning TV show of the same name takes the audience back to the pre-Thatcher era of Liverpool. We join a group of 5 men who once worked as tarmac layers, hence the name blackstuff. They, along with various family members, try to find work and dodge the ‘sniffers’ from the office of employment who are trying to catch fraudulent contracts. Even before the performance started you could feel the atmosphere in the Royal, this was only increased by a glance at the program. By his admission, the Royal Court’s executive producer Kevin Fearon has been desperate to see this adaptation come to life. Even as a person in my 20’s I felt by the close that I better understood one of the darkest periods in Liverpool’s history. From a brief glance at the history of the original show, this adaption seems to weave all the stories together, gliding from moments of comedy to deep profound reflections about hopeless situations.
Reading Time: 3 minutesTwo Strangers aims to portray another rom-com that, according to one of its writers, Kit Buchan, happens between real, normal people: "people who don't have any particular talent, burning ambition, remarkable backstories, high-powered jobs, or stacks of excess cash." Therefore in this story, we meet our hero and heroine: Dougal (Sam Tutty), a British boy coming to New York for the first time who has never come to NYC before, and now heading for his estranged father's wedding; and Robin (Dujonna Gift), a New Yorker whose older sister is about to marry Dougal’s father in just one day.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA little before kick-off at the Euros 2020 final between England and Italy, a young man stuck a flare up his butt. It sounds fake, like something out of a movie, but it genuinely did occur. This man went viral, was tracked down by the Sun, and stated that he regretted nothing. The man was a talked-about spectacle for a brief period, following which the world moved on to the next sensational news event. Alex Hill, however, took this event and ran with it. Thus, Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England was born.