'Deathly Confessions' is just one of the many professional theatre productions being performed as part of The Liverpool Theatre Festival. Tonight’s show was a sell out, so proving how much popular this new Festival is with theatre goers alike. It’s such a great feeling to see theatre come alive again, since theatres were forced to close their doors for the time being.
'Deathly Confessions' is being performed at St. Luke’s, known locally as The Bombed Out Church in the very heart of Liverpool. The church is the ideal setting for the play, with it’s eerie surroundings and gothic feel of the building added intensity to the show. All the necessary precautions were taken to ensure all the guests felt at ease and safe. Social distance measures were in place and the guest’s temperatures were taken prior to entry.
Produced by Break A Leg Productions, the production values were good and well demonstrated in the show directed by Emma Vaudrey, whose concept and vision were clearly marked. Her direction was beautifully achieved in such a mermising way.There was a fantastic balance of comedy and tragedy in all four stories. The writing was of a very good standard, some funny one-liners and comedy incidents. There was plenty of laughter and humour in equal measure in all of the stories.
The cast included, Crissy Rock (Benidorm, Born To Run), Thomas Galashan (Murder Ballads, Bob The Russian), Sam Alton (Kitty, Queen of the Washroom, Weave) and James Templeton (Blood Brothers, A Midsummer Night's Dream). Having such a small cast for all four of these Deathly Confessions was a fantastic concept as it gave the actors the opportunity to showcase their acting skills, develop their characters and delve into their back stories a lot more.
The first story featured Thomas Galashan as Luke, a very deeply, troubled soldier from the past. He spoke candidly about his difficult childhood and early life. Then explaining how he wanted to make a difference by joining the army. Being in the army and fighting in World War 2 had inevitably taken it’s toll on his mental health. He has witnessed some traumatic events in his short, young life by watching his friends lose their lives and not being able to save them.
Luke spoke about the 6th of May in 1941, a date etched in his memory, when his girlfriend was severely injured in the May Blitz. Ironically, the May Blitz happened in the very place, where the audience were sitting as St. Luke’s was bombed during this time and the roof was completely destroyed. Since the devastating disaster, Luke has become an alcoholic, in an attempt to erase his memories of what he has witnessed in the war. He truly loved his girlfriend with all his heart, but felt really bad he didn’t get to her in time. Galashan’s performance was very powerful and sombre to watch. He managed to play Luke with empathy and compassion. A running theme in this story was lost love.
Sam Alton appeared as Jade in the second story of the night in a heartfelt tale of friendship. The day of her best friend’s funeral had arrived and Jade was still struggling to get through the day. She was clearly upset and is still trying to come to terms with Jamie’s untimely death. There was a box left by Jamie for Jade to open up. As she started ruffling through his possessions, she reminisced about their happier times together. You could they had a mutual respect for each other and a good friendship with each other. Jamie made Jade realise how beautiful they both were inside and out.
Unlike the first study, this one was really uplifting and took on a hunourous approach to the narrative. Alton’s performance was extremely emotional, lively and comical at times too. Alton’s portrayal of Jade reasonated with the audience so much, as we have all lost a dear friend in our lives. The running theme through the story was the significance of friendship.
The third story in 'Deathly Confessions' featured James Templeton as Oscar Johnson, talking to his dear friend, Harvey at his gravestone in the cementery. Oscar and Harvey were really good friends, but their rivalry with each other proved too much for the already fragile friendship. Harvey wrote a bad review on his performance in a show. Oscar has inadvertently played a role in Harvey’s death and was seeking forgiveness. Templeton’s portrayal of Oscar had comedy incidents like the second story. but added many layers to Oscar, which I noted in his performance with elements of anger and frustration. Again, the running theme was friendship, but dealt with the conflict and friction, when the friendship inevitably breaks down.
Finally, by no means least, Crissy Rock plays Eileen, who was busy cleaning her living room, whilst talking to a photograph of her recently deceased sister, Margaret. As sisters, they were incredibly competitive with each other by attempting to outdo themselves. Although, they were rivals, they did share a mutual respect for each other. Eileen reasonated about all the happier times, she shared with her sister and confessing to a few things she had done to her in their earlier years. Rock's perfirnsnce was emotional to watch, but there were some good comedy incidents and one-liners. A running theme was the love, she had for her sister.
All the stories in 'Deathly Confessions' were performed by a very talented cast of versatile actors, who gave their all during their performances. The actors did an incredible job bringing their characters to life and adding more layers and dimensions to them. The acting was a really good standard and they all demonstrated empathy, compassion and likability to their characters. You really felt for all the characters in their tragic circumstances. The comedy timing and the one-liners were delivered with perfection and precision.
The running themes in all four stories were grief, guilt, tragedy and redemption. The narrative of the stories managed to convey a lot of conflict. friction, drama, laughter and emotion. All the characters were dressed in black attire, which really set the mood of all the stories, as they were all still in mourning for their loved ones.
The technical team, Gareth Edwards and Osian Griffiths did brilliantly ensuring everything technically went well. The stage was lit well. Additionally, the sound was excellent as everything could be heard, even from a distance. I particularly liked the air raid noises from the first story as this reinforced the narrative of Luke’s tragic story. There were a few snippets of music played in certain scenes, which was relevant to the characters and the moods they were feeling.
On a final note, if you’re looking for some excellent black comedy, then look no further than 'Deadly Confesssions'. All the stories were told in a good, solid narrative and performed brilliantly by a very talented cast. 'Deathly Confessions' is just one of several shows being performed at The Liverpool Theatre Festival. There is a diverse array of shows, definitely something for everyone.
Reviewer - Mark Cooper
on - 14/9/20
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