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Mind Mangler @ Liverpool Empire

On the Afternoon of the 8th June 2024 I attended a matinee performance of a show called ‘Mind Mangler’. This show was a preview show of a new piece of work by the creative and frankly hilarious minds at Mischief. These are the people who brought us ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ and ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’, as well as the TV Shows (that go wrong) series. Mind Mangler is about a magician/illusionist…

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Amargosa @ Lipa

On the evening of the 8th June 2024 I attended a Dance Show event at Lipa’s Paul McCartney Auditorium to see a show titled Amargosa, Directed by Emma Annetts and Kristine Berget. This was the name given to the Second Year Dance Students Summer performance. A bit of context at this point.. Amargosa has been inspired by the life of Marta Becket and the legacy of The Amargosa Opera House. The…

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LIPA Christmas Concert @ Philharmonic Hall

Well for one last time in 2023 as Christmas approaches and the year starts to draw itself to an end, we don the review cap once more. This evening I attended the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to see an evening of Live entertainment from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) as they presented their ‘Christmas Concert’. – Me.. at a Christmas event I hear you cry… Well yes.. The…

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Most Haunted Live @ Floral PAVILION

We arrived at the venue for tonight’s performance with some time to spare so we sat in a very non-descript cafe that didn’t seem to have any connection to the venue, yet was inside it. We killed some time there before heading upstairs to the house. Entering at first glance it’s quite a large venue with a fair sized stage too. On the stage was a lamp (prop), four stools, a camera on a tripod and…

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Adam Kay: Undoctored @ The Lowry

They can’t all be winners, all positive all the time. This show.. disappointed me. Adam Kay wrote the hugely successful ‘This is Going to Hurt’ back in 2017, which has been claimed a “literary sensation”, selling well over 3 million copies and later becoming a BBC Bafta Award-Winning series… Undoctored is the follow-up to that book, this time featuring more about Adam’s life after medicine, once…

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Peter Pan Goes Wrong @ Liverpool Empire

After previously seeing the fantastic work of Mischief in their ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ (https://x40.co.uk/the-play-that-goes-wrong-duchess-theatre/), I had an idea of what to expect from Peter Pan Goes Wrong. But yet somehow it still enabled me to be surprised and highly entertained by the on stage. But let’s stay in the moment with this one. Peter Pan Goes Wrong is NOT a pantomime (oh yes…

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Chase n Status @ Trentham Gardens

Chase n Status @ Trentham Gardens

On Friday 18th August 2023 I made my way via train to Stoke-On-Trent Station where I was picked up by Pott3r and Joe. From there I was transported to Trentham Gardens which was to be the venue for seeing Chase n Status, the DJ Duo would be performing later on in the evening. We got ourselves some food and a couple of cocktails down us first before we headed over to the field were the venue was to…

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Oppenheimer @ Printworks Manchester

Oppenheimer @ Printworks Manchester

Oppenheimer is going to be a future cinema cult classic. The film IS long and in places is slow to progress. The first thirty minutes or so for example, but this is used excellently by Christopher Nolan (Director) to set the scene. Thankfully this film goes deeper than the creation of the atomic bomb and instead presents a fantastic biopic of Oppenheimer’s life before during and after his best..…

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Romeo & Juliet @ Sadlers Wells

Romeo & Juliet @ Sadlers Wells

You remember what I said last time about Dance Theatre.. about not liking it and it not being ‘Dance’ to me.. Yeh.. I take it all back, I was wrong. Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet at Sadlers Wells turned me around completely. This is Dance theatre done right. I was expecting this show to impress and it did not disappoint. Superb. – Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet did not disappoint. Billed as…

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Calamity @ LIPA

Friday 9th June 2023 saw my return to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts or LIPA to see another of their student’s Dance Shows. This time out it was the second year students performing something called ‘Calamity’. Going in to this I knew nothing about Calamity or what it’s storyline would be. Dance is by it’s very nature a freeform artform. I think it’s very much up to the individual to…

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Russell Maliphant’s Vortex @ Sadlers Wells

With elements of nature pouring to the floor, and a large steel structure, Maliphant paints his own interpretation with movement, light, and shadow to create a visually rich journey, with the exceptional dancers of Russell Maliphant Dance Company (RMDC). I was looking forward to this one. I was looking forward to seeing a Russel Maliphant Production and I haven’t been to an event at Sadlers…

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Postmodern Jukebox @ Liverpool Philharmonic

I have known about Postmodern Jukebox for many a year now after seeing many many of their covers on YouTube. Covers you say? They don’t make original music? Well you see that’s the thing.. I mean that IS their.. thing. Modern Music, played as if it had come during the heyday of the 1920’s Jazz Clubs and found at home in New Orleans or similar. The New York based PMJ is a massive collective of…

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Sub:Version & Surge @ The Place

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What Is Left? - The Overhead Project @ The Lowry

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Illegal Dance @ The Lowry

What the hell did I just see? Is not how I thought I would be starting this review of tonight’s activities. But let’s rewind to the beginning… Illegal Dance is a unique multi-sensory dance theatre experience in which every audience member must decide where they stand, pick a token, rebel or conform and the six dancers on stage become 60 through the magic of real-time kaleidoscopic video…

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Turn It Out @ Sadlers Wells

Thursday 9th March was the date of my latest event, this one once more at Sadlers Wells in London. The home of Dance, a fitting venue to see one of the most famous international stars perform. The show was ‘Turn it Out’ featuring Tiler Peck & Friends. Peck – ‘The Great American Ballerina’ was to make her London debut on the stage at Sadlers Wells. It was a premier to be a part of that is for…

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When Darkness Falls @ The Lowry

On Saturday 4th March 2023 a long-awaited trip out to Manchester, well to Salford Quays was taken. I was coming up from being in London for a show at Sadlers Wells on the Friday night and I was meeting family in Manchester to take them to the Theatre as part of a Birthday Present. This one has been booked since October 2022 so quite a while to wait. The Play in question was called “When Darkness…