THEATRE REVIEW: A Night At The Iron Door Club - The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

This was a one-off night of music, readings and film footage telling the true story of the rock'n'roll club, the Iron Door in Liverpool, co-created by Sarah Hogarth and Andrew Sherlock, Senior Lecturer in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University. It was a performance which started life as a research project, which was part documentary and part performance-based acting, singing and dancing by 18-20 year olds studying at the university. It also included music from four talented musicians on guitars and improvised drums (using a box), called The Grasshoppers.

The show started with an introduction from Andrew Sherlock and Sarah Hogarth who are the Creative Directors of the piece and Hogarth is the daughter of the one-time owner of the Iron Door Club, Geoff Hogarth who related most of the story on the film. The Club was originally named as The Iron Door Club in 1958 by Hogarth and his partner Harry Ormesher. Hogarth confirmed, "After some work the business opened two years later. It got its name from a big iron door, approximately 9 feet high by 4 feet wide, that was in the warehouse. It became the Liverpool Jazz Society sometime later and then the Storeyville Jazz Club”. Geoff and his wife Rosemary were the special guests in the audience and received a resounding welcome when they were introduced by Sarah Hogarth.

As she related, she grew up listening to the stories about the club her father told her about the bands that played there, the crowds of people and the all-night sessions. Creating ‘A Night At The Iron Door’ gave her a glimpse into what it might have been like – the buzz, the rock 'n' roll and the hotdogs. The performance was an opportunity to share the untold story of the Iron Door Club and the contribution it made to Rock and Roll history through the words and memories of those that experienced it first-hand.

For those unfamiliar with the club, the Iron Door Club was a music venue at 13, Temple Street, Liverpool, founded by Geoff Hogarth and Harry Ormesher. It opened in May 1960 and closed in 1964. The club was hidden beneath Liverpool's labyrinth of narrow roadways (today it is a car park); however, during the early and mid 1960s, a steady stream of music lovers poured into the door of the five storey warehouse, scurrying down the ten rickety wooden steps to the basement. Its rival at the time was the renowned Cavern Club in Matthew Street which at the time was a jazz club. The Iron Door set to rival the Cavern by bringing rock and roll to young Liverpool clubbers with acts such as King Size Taylor and the Dominoes, The Mojos, the Del Renas, The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Undertakers. Additionally, The Searchers played there regularly and it was the first venue where The Beatles played prior to performing at The Cavern. They appeared under the name of the Silver Beetles on 15th May 1960 for the first time, having sprayed their black leather jackets with silver paint. Hogarth recounted many conversations he’d had with John Lennon during that time and told how he had suggested they should have a saxophonist in the band. Lennon responded by incorporating a harmonica to the hit Love Me Do and whilst playing it for the first time at the club gave Hogarth a knowing wink.

Acts such as Freddie Starr, Cilla Black, Beryl Marsden and The Detours cut their teeth there as did many more. Hogarth was in fact the first manager for Freddie Starr. The Searchers wanted him to manage them too but he was too busy and turned them down. Sam Leach, Liverpool's promoter extraordinaire, legendary all-night sessions quickly put the venue on the Liverpool map and the "Rock Around the Clock" all-night twelve hour events he created. These began at 8pm Saturday night and continued non-stop until 8am Sunday morning with a new band performing each hour. Some bands would have done three gigs elsewhere in between performing first on at 8pm and then returning to do the 7am slot.

The show took place in the studio downstairs in the theatre which was ideal for the 150-strong audience aged mainly 50 plus. The intimate setting lent itself well to the performance as it replicated almost the same atmosphere as being in a club of the 1960s as I remembered it. It was evident that most of the audience remembered times at the Iron Door club or at The Cavern and of course knew all the band members who recollected happy times there in the film. Loud cheers and clapping interspersed the nostalgia on film as people reminisced and remembered people and events from the decade..

The cast were very talented drama and music students from John Moores University and portrayed youngsters visiting the club at the time reverently and with enthusiasm. I could certainly relate to them with memories of backcombed bee-hive hairstyles, heavily sprayed with lacquer and the dimly-lit club basement with moisture running down the brightly painted walls of red, white and blue which resulted in boys leaning against them having the colours transferred to their shirts.

It was a night of nostalgia and happy memories for anyone having the pleasure of seeing the performance. The Grasshoppers took over for the second half playing well known hits such as Good Golly Miss Molly, Hippy Hippy Shake, That’ll Be the Day, Stand by Me, Tootie Frootie and Tell Me What I Say. The party atmosphere was in full swing as people danced in the aisles and on the stage and we were treated to an encore of Johnny Be Good.

The show was billed as ‘The untold story of the birth of the Merseysound’ and ‘A must for all Merseybeat fans’. It certainly lived up to the hype and a good time was had by all. Ninety minutes flew by and it could easily have been extended by another hour of nostalgic enjoyment.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 23/5/19