Ghost Stories maintained a powerful hold on me throughout. It felt like the product of two people who understood the demands, quirks and rigours of the medium perfectly – and it showed in a brilliantly entertaining, and perfectly terrifying, experience
Terry Pratchett's Nation at FACT
Andrew Beattie reviews Terry Pratchett’s Nation, which was shown at Fact earlier this month.
I am well aware of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Work. At any given moment my Dad is likely to recite lines of conversation from some of Discworld’s finest and not so fine characters chuckling to himself and leaving me with a brief insight [...]
The Best of Liverpool 2009
I’ve asked a group of people well placed in media, music, arts and other general culture vultures to venture their high- and lowlights of Liverpool in 2009.
The 39 Steps at The Playhouse
Every bit of the 39 Steps works wonderfully – it’s an absolute pleasure. The little things – the Hithcock references, the snow falling fro the ceiling at the end, the staff dressed up in period garb. Make sure you catch it before the end of the year.
Dick Whittington the Rock 'n' Roll Panto at the Everyman
Pantomimes and me don’t mix. I’m fundamentally a rather grumpy personality. If there’s no ironic fall-back position I feel a bit lost.
Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler My Part in his Downfall at the Playhouse
A little spot of audience interaction and some inspired ad-libbing add to the general sense of mayhem, which seems appropriate given Milligan’s impression of the second world war as ‘a strange kind of chaos’.
The Best of Liverpool 2008
I’ve asked a few friends and colleagues to tell me what their best bits of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year were.
Rebuilding the Everyman
The Everyman has apparently been declared “unfit for purpose” and faces a “long lingering death” unless it is demolished, according to Arts Council England, because of its poor rehearsal space and bars.