Why is Tag Team Writing like Tag Team Wrestling? Because they both have to keep a grip on things.
This was the fighting challenge for nine writers in a Make it Write drama workshop who baton-changed their words to give an uplifting look at a park through the seasons and the people who go there.
The result is a sideways view of life, love, loss and longing which you can see as a play at The Casa Theatre Bar, Hope Street, Liverpool, on October 4 and 5. It is part of the Liverpool Fringe Festival.
As well as the plants growing in all their glory we see the vandals who have blossomed into responsible parents.
What stories of romance and dreams could that battered old park bench tell if it could talk?
Make it Write Productions is a Liverpool-based group dedicated to fostering new writing throughout the North West. As well as stage shows and workshops Make it Write produces sound and video recordings.
“The show was originally staged in May and featured some of our best writers and we have brought everyone back as they are such a great team,” said producer Sharon Colpman.
Tickets from £5 can be bought online at: https://www.openingnights.co.uk/tickets/backend/parklife
The piece is told by Kitty’s statue, come to life as a friendly ghost. It is a highly animated portrayal and physical performance, as Kitty relays her fascinating ‘against all odds’ story of how she has become the only female statue in St George’s Hall.
The audiences will leave with Kitty’s “I can” philosophy. They might also accept her challenge to help get more female statues in St George’s Hall and gardens!
History lovers, local, national and international, feminists, those from Irish backgrounds and Liverpudlians will all have a natural connection with this theatre piece.
Three actors were cooped up together during lockdown. Fuelled by cabin fever and with a bookshelf full of Shakespeare, they did what they do best and created an unhinged and bonkers, laugh-out-loud version of Romeo and Juliet.
With music, mayhem and more costume changes than you can shake a spear at, expect the HandleBards usual charming, hilarious bicycle-powered style to come bursting into Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Performance Garden.
Forget the tears and tragedy, and get ready for some live and wired Shakespeare as you’ve never seen it before.
It’s all kicking off in the woods!
Two warring fairies are willing to destroy the world after a barney over a little lad, and four chaotic kids are off on a drug induced love mission – Welcome to the party!
Join Not Too Tame for a riotous ride through the forest at night, for a tale of wild weddings, mistaken identity and a staging of Shakespeare’s best known comedy where not everything is as rosy as it seems. When dreams merge with reality it’s not always clear who’s who and what’s what – so keep your wits about you!
With more merriment than you can shake your ruff at, a big dose of bewilderment and a dash of disaster, this is a Midsummer Night’s Dream not to be watched, but experienced. Pick up your petticoat and fasten your corsets, there’s a donkey on the loose.
William Shakespeare is “unwell” – and he hasn’t finished his new play for King James!
Now, it’s up to his trusty scribe, Benjamin, to save the day. With the help of the audience, Ben and his makeshift troupe must finish the show – or it’s off with their heads!
This is a completely improvised Shakespeare play with your chance to take part. Interactive, family-friendly, and suitable for all ages.
Photo Credit -Mark Lycett
As You Write It is a collaboration between Shakespeare North Playhouse and BBC’s The One Show. A national writing competition for 7 – 16 year olds, found three young winners who’s short stories are now brought to life on the Shakespeare North Playhouse Stage.
Working with professional writers and actors including Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the plays were selected from thousands of entries and developed with the brilliant young people that wrote them.
This show puts young female writers and their characters centre stage and gives us a refreshing take on identity and being who you want to be.
Act 1: All the World’s a Stage by Ruby, aged 15, from Lancashire – a comedy set in modern-day Liverpool. It’s a story about the relationship between a schoolgirl and her imaginary friend – William Shakespeare! Act 2: Nectarine by Ana, 17, from Brighton – a powerful story of friendships, family and finding yourself. A warm hug of a story that stands up for LGBTQ+ people; a party and a protest that you’re all invited to. Act 3: Telling Tales by Rosie, aged 11 from Ayrshire – Who pushed Jack down the hill? Our best loved nursery rhymes have been turned on their head to create a mystery that needs to be solved, and fast!
As You Write It is unashamedly theatrical, like opening a toy box full of joy. These are bold, generous and confident plays that we think you’ll love.
Thanks to Mr N Yanniv for his support.
Grab a drink, and let Unseemly Women transport you on a wild journey of whispers, banter, plots and schemes.
The war is over. Pedro Prince of Aragon visits Leonato, Duke of Messina, with his followers Benedick and Claudio. Claudio falls in love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero, and their marriage is agreed. But Don John has other, malicious plans.
Beatrice and Benedick despise love and they’re not sure they even like each other. But the others plot to make them fall in love… will they succeed?
Following their highly successful All Female ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in 2021, Unseemly Shakespeare bring their fourth annual production here to Shakespeare North Playhouse. This is Shakespeare’s Much Ado, but with an Unseemly twist.
Slapstick Picnic invite you to its summer tea party in Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, where marvellous feats of performance and culinary capers await.
Over tea and cucumber sandwiches, prepare to witness the impossible – the entirety of Oscar Wilde’s classic play of manners, affairs and handbags being performed by just two, rather dashing, entertainers.
From the creators of The HandleBards comes a fantastically wild(e) new production, ripping up the recipe book and celebrating silliness.
With Slapstick Picnic, you can have your cake and eat it!
A new play documenting the fascinating time in post-war history when Government changed in power from Conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Labour’s Clement Attlee comes to Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre this Autumn.
The play arrives in the city to coincide with the Labour Party Conference, being held in Liverpool the same week – a deliberate and clever move by playwright and author Francis Beckett.
Clement Attlee runs for two shows at The Epstein Theatre on Monday 26 September and Tuesday 27 September, at 8pm each evening. Tickets are on sale now.
The Epstein Theatre is Grade II Listed and located in the heart of Liverpool city centre, it was named after the legendary gay Beatles’ manager and ‘Fifth Beatle’ Brian Epstein.
Playwright Francis Beckett brings the new play to the city asking some pertinent questions – Clement Attlee was Labour’s greatest PM, is Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer a Clem Attlee figure; how does he match up; is he another Attlee?
Francis Beckett is an author, journalist, playwright, and contemporary historian. He was the 2009 winner of the Ted Wragg Award for lifetime achievement in education journalism. He has a degree in History and Philosophy from Keele University and has written 17 books mostly on contemporary history, including a much praised biography of Clement Attlee – Clem Attlee, Labour’s Great Reformer by Haus Publishing.
The first UK national tour of Helen Forrester’s Twopence To Cross The Mersey opens in four weeks in Wirral – a place which features heavily in Helen’s million-selling books and where the celebrated author spent some of her childhood.
The new touring production of Twopence To Cross The Mersey is produced by Rob Fennah and Lynn McDermott for Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms and directed by Gareth Tudor Price.
The 9-strong cast will play more than 40 characters – they are Mark Moraghan, Daniel Taylor, Parry Glasspool, Jenny Murphy, Lynn Francis, Lynne Fitzgerald, Robert Hudson, Roy Carruthers, and Chloe McDonald.
Five of the cast members – Mark, Parry, Lynn, Roy and Chloe – have appeared in its sister show By The Waters Of Liverpool.
Millions of people around the world know Helen Forrester’s life story told through her best-selling volumes of autobiography, Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Liverpool Miss, By The Waters Of Liverpool, and Lime Street At Two.
