North West Reviews

Writer: Simon Beaufoy Director: Rupert Hill Reviewer: Helen Jones There can't be many people above a certain age who haven't seen the film The Full Monty, released in 1997 to great acclaim.  The story of unemployed Sheffield steelworkers resonated in the post-Thatcher era yet gave a feel-good factor to a dark time in modern history. Writer Simon Beaufoy has skillfully ...

Reviewer: Matt Forrest In 2018 Mark took his latest stand-up, The Infinite Show to the Edinburgh Fringe. The show was a huge commercial and critical success, with four and five star reviews across the board. The subject of the show is empathy. Following a much-discussed messy divorce, Watson is on a quest to gain a greater understanding of the people in ...

Writer: Bertolt Brecht  Composer: Jim Fortune Adptor/Director: Amy Hodge Reviewer: Dave Cunningham Many people argue Mother Courage and Her Children is the best play of the 20thCentury but that doesn’t mean it is easy to watch. Author Bertolt Brecht regarded theatre as a means by which he could communicate his political views and treated niceties like set design, characterisation and even ...

Writer: David Judge Director: Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder Reviewer: Dave Cunningham You have to pay attention during the opening monologue in David Judge’s autobiographical single-person play SparkPlug. Mishear and it may take some time to appreciate that, although Judge is describing his childhood, he is doing so by performing in the role of his adoptive father ; confusingly also named David Judge. ...

Reviewer: Matt Forrest Comedy is littered with numerous comedy duos from Laurel and Hardy, to Morecambe and Wise, French and Saunders to Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, all with unique acts, but all with one key element in common: chemistry. The chemistry between each pair is what made them so beloved.  With this in mind then The Delightful Sausage have this ...

Writer: Katie Mitchell Director: Suba Das Reviewer: Jamie Gaskin The Cat in the Hat is Dr Seuss’s tonic for keeping kids amused on wet days. Indeed, it is a wet day when the magnificent creature comes calling on a Boy and his older sister Sally. The bored squabbling siblings let the purring pussy in – much to the annoyance of their ...

Music: Lillian Henley Writer/Director: Suzanne Andrade Reviewer: Sam Lowe “Granny’s Gum Drop?” a mysterious woman asks walking around the auditorium handing out sweets to the audience. People are compelled to take them, even if they don’t end up eating them. This is no innocent gesture in kind as the sweets are for a political purpose. The performers tonight are: Felicity ...

Writer: Gerry Linford Director: Bob Eaton Reviewer: John Roberts Following on from his critically acclaimed debut play The Miracle of Great Homer Street last summer, writer Gerry Linford returns to the Court with his follow up play of love, loss and family relationships that remind us that there really is no place like home. Loosely based on The Wizard of Oz, ...