Shakespeare North Playhouse

Alice In Wonderland

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Reviewed by Matthew Forrest

Opening Night verdict ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shakespeare North Playhouse is at it again this Christmas, tackling another literary juggernaut for their festive offering. Their debut year saw A Christmas Carol, the year after it was, The Wind in the Willows. This holiday season they have upped the ante, bringing Alice In Wonderland to the stage.

Writer Nick Lane has taken elements of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and sequel Through the Looking-Glass and crafted an original, modern adaptation of Alice’s adventure with its roots firmly in Prescot.

We are introduced to a grown up Alice (Helen Carter), out shopping in Prescot on Christmas Eve with her two children. The stresses of the time off year are taking their toll:  the kids are bored and wanting to go home, whilst Alice is having difficulties with her sister, whom she no longer sees as often as she should. As the family walks over to a fun fair. Alice becomes distracted by the appearance of a familiar visitor: The White Rabbit, who she remembers from her last visit to Wonderland, as a young girl.

Alice once again follows the rabbit down the rabbit-hole and so begins another adventure. On her journey Alice encounters some old friends, The Cheshire Cat  (Kelise Gordon Harrison), Caterpillar (Tia Larsen), and of course The Mad Hatter (Milton Lopes). However, a new threat has emerged in the form of The Duchess(Martha Godber). The Duchess has not only captured Alice’s smile, but also feeds the residents of Wonderland jam tarts to make them forget about the joyous things in life, such as Christmas, while keeping them under control. Alice must defeat The Duchess in order to free the people of Wonderland as well find a way back home to her family.

Nick Lane and director Nathan Powell have created a fun, family friendly production, which isn’t perfect, but will certainly bring a sprinkling of magic over the festive period. It’s a slow start, but once Alice arrives in Wonderland you become invested in the story. The script as you would expect is bonkers packed full of great gags and superb visual jokes. The Bill Shankly-esque introduction of the Caterpillar and the joyous stupidity of the Dodo is superb. There are some scenes, such as the Christmas dinner scene which could do with a bit of a trim but these are minor quibbles for what on the whole is an enjoyable tale.

Always within Shakespeare North Playhouse productions is a sense of pride about its home in Prescot and the community, so there plenty of jokes about in-jokes and harmless potshots at local surrounding towns which I always find endearing and really shows just what the theatre means to the community and what the community mean to the theatre: which is something special and should be cherished.

The small cast of five put in a shift, with all except Carter, playing multiple characters. Helen Carter is in good form as an older world weary yet sassy Alice. Martha Godber is equally impressive as the villain of the piece, somewhere between Liz Truss, Donald Trump, and a spot of Boris Johnson thrown in for good measure, complete with a  great singing voice she absolutely nails it.

Milton Lopes brings the absurdity as both The Dodo, and The Mad Hatter, it’s two very different roles that provide a platform for Lopes to showcase a gift for physical comedy and his circus skills. Kelise Gordon-Harrison is a great value as the kung-fu loving, game show host Cheshire Cat, complete with backflips and a catchphrase. Whilst Tia Larsen very nearly steals the show as the over enthusiastic, Card Two, and her turn as the Caterpillar (along with Lopes’ Dodo) were my personal highlights.

Sascha Gilmour’s beautiful, vibrant costumes are an absolute treat with the pick of the bunch being the glorious JubJub Bird, Caterpillar and Dodo. Whilst the fairground setting adds a sense of unpredictability to proceedings.

Alice in Wonderland has everything you want from a Christmas show: big laughs, silly set pieces, a spot of panto style audience participation and a heartwarming message to send you on your way. A treat for all the family and well worth a peek into the looking glass for.

Alice in Wonderland is at the Shakespeare North Playhouse until 11th January. Tickets available here.

Images by Patch Dolan and Kristian Lawrence

Twelfth Night

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Reviewed by Nikki Cotter

Opening Night verdict ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Having brought audiences a boundary breaking version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2022, Not Too Tame return to Shakespeare North Playhouse this month with their inspired interpretation of Twelfth Night, with the aim to rock your socks off!

This modernised version centres the action within the music industry, there’s raunch, romance and a whole lot of riffing as this Shakespeare classic is given the rock star treatment. Utterly irreverent and a whole lot of fun this is Shakespeare for today. There’s a glorious mix of modern language which marries perfectly with Shakespeare’s script, it’s extremely funny, a little bit naughty and as far from stuffy as you can possibly get.

This is the second co-production between Warrington based Not Too Tame and Shakespeare North Playhouse and it’s clear both know this stage and setting well. Director Jimmy Fairhurst ensures his cast use every inch of the stunning Cockpit Theatre, making this production all the more exhilarating as you wait in anticipation of who will appear next, from where and when. The theatre becomes the cast’s playground and it’s clear for all to see just how much fun they’re having with it.

Twelfth Night is often described as one of Shakespear’s greatest comedies and Not Too Tame have gone full throttle with this, the production is bursting with top quality comedic moments, well-timed delivery and wisecracks galore. There is of course the classic Shakespeare tropes of unrequited love, mistaken identities, and subterfuge as separated twins Viola (Georgina Frost) and Sebastian (Tom Sturgess) arrive in Illyria each thinking the other is dead. This is Illyria as you’ve never seen it before, no longer is it a shipwreck that separates the siblings but a euphoric night on the nose candy.

Frost and Sturgess are both excellent in their roles, the addition of multiple genres of music to this innovative production allows them to show their talent as singers while Dean Fairhurt’s musical composition gifts them with great opportunities to lyrically progress the story.

Jack Brown as Sir Toby Belch and Reuben Johnson as Sir Andrew Aguecheek are hilarious, Brown nails it as the odious Sir Toby, the hard-drinking, hard-partying, high-spirited (or is that just high?) uncle of Olivia (Purvi Parmar). His pairing with Reuben Johnson is perfection, as Jonson gives us a hilarious Tim, Nice-But-Dim-esque interpretation of Sir Andrew, the two together are a joy.

Purvi Parmar as Olivia is excellent, while Louise Haggerty as Feste gets the party started right from the off. Returning to Shakespeare North Kate James takes on the roles of both Maria and Antonia and delivers both brilliantly.

Then of course we come to Les Dennis who shines as Malvolio, there is little Les hasn’t done in his incredible career and now he can well and truly say he’s not only ticked performing Shakespeare off his list but he’s well and truly knocked it out the park. His Malvolio is multifaceted, starting off as a confident, sharp suited tour manager and transforming entirely in Act 2 in a scene I don’t think anyone will forget in a long time – iconic! A gifted actor he has the ability to draw you in and break your heart a little as he shifts impressively from victimiser to victim.

This is Shakespeare with sass, spunk and seriously bangin’ beats. The relocating of the action does at times in Act 1 make the story a little more complex to follow but once you’re on board the anthemic beats and knock-out cast will whip you up and carry you along for this feelgood ride. If music be the food of love, play on, and on and on!

Twelfth Night is on at Shakespeare North Playhouse until Saturday 29th June tickets available here.

The Comedy of Errors (More or Less)

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Reviewed by Nikki Cotter

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Anyone who has ever read a Shakespeare or two will be aware of his love of mistaken identity, whopping errors of judgement and questionable life choices: A Comedy of Errors (More or Less) will absolutely confirm all these things and bring them kicking and screaming into the 1980’s. Think sensational shell suits, stunning shoulder pads, a beltin’ blast of Fergal Sharkey and you’re halfway there.

This new co-production between Prescot’s Shakespeare North Playhouse and Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre, creatively adapted by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane takes the Bard’s much-loved comedy and sprinkles it with lashings of Northern humour, some top quality 80’s bangers while relocating it to the sunny climes of Scarborough.

The original plot has never been the easiest to follow but this clever adaptation gifts us with additional narration along the way as well as some brilliant modernisation allowing the comedy of the piece to really shine.

We’ve got two sets of mismatched twins, a Lancastrian named Antipholus who arrives in Scarborough to deliver his hard-grafted one-man fringe show, trouble is, the twin he doesn’t know he has, is already there, owes money to half of Yorkshire and has plans to star in a packed-out talent show on the very same night. His pal/long suffering assistant Dromio also has a missing twin who, you guessed it, is also in Scarborough. Cue a fantastic farce that will have you laughing out loud from the very start.

This talented cast work incredibly hard delivering this reimagined classic, they are superb. Set in the round in the stunning cockpit theatre, Director Paul Robinson has ensured every inch of the space is used with every seat in the house getting a cracking view of the on-stage action. They literally don’t stop, several taking on multiple roles making proceedings all the funnier for it. The whole premise of the piece may be chaotic as each twin is continually mistaken for the other, but the storytelling is clear, hugely entertaining, and incredibly impressive. As the action becomes more farcical so does the comedy, there were many occasions I was crying with laughter as the exasperated twins get more and more confused.

David Kirkbride as Anitpholous of Scarborough/Prescot is hilarious, his loyal defining of what it is to be a Prescotarian has the audience in stiches while his performance as the chaos ramps up is a joy. Oliver Mawdsley who plays alongside Kirkbride as Dromio of Scarborough/Prescot is perfectly cast. The two make for a genius pairing, playing off each other with ease as the banter and laughter flows.

The changing up of Luciana’s (Ida Regan) character is a stroke of genius, she’s not the meek and mild version we know from Shakespeare’s pen but strong, assertive and gives as good as she gets leading to some fantastic scenes between her and Adriana, (Alyce Liburd). Both are excellent in their roles and clearly having a lot of fun with them.

Andy Cryer absolutely shines in his multiple roles, drawing your attention whenever he hits the stage. Valerie Antwi and Claire Eden bring brilliantly unexpected elements to the story while both ramping up the laughter levels even more.

This is a true ensemble piece, with each cast member bringing their absolute A game to the stage. The local referencing, playful narration and inventive reimagining have made this production both accessible and immensely enjoyable. The placing of several 80’s favourites adds to the fun with Alyce Liburd and Ida Regan’s Act II opener, a rendition of Cher’s Jesse James being a real highlight while I’ll now never hear Nick Kershaw’s Wouldn’t It Be Good without it raising a smile.

Shakespeare North Playhouse and Stephen Joseph Theatre have delivered an absolute cracker with this production, ensuring this modern-day Shakespeare is a must-see. The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) is an absolute riot, pure joy from start to finish.

The Comedy of Errors (More or Less) is on at Shakespeare North Playhouse until Saturday 25th March tickets available here.