The Liverpool Theatre Festival took place for the first time only last year as a reaction to the opening up of public places after lockdown and now looks set to become an annual event. In addition, an imaginative now location looks set to become a regular venue; the ‘bombed out church’ opposite Liverpool’s famous Bold Street. This reviewer was at Liverpool University forty years ago and often walked past the ruin known to everyone as the bombed out church. It is great to see this ruin now as a living theatre venue and especially pleasing to see a bright and lively show being staged there.
‘Electric Dreams’ is in
basic terms a re-working of Shakespeare’s famous comedy, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', but in essence, this is
more a vehicle for pulling together an eclectic mix of the best music from the 1980s and presenting it with a fifteen-strong cast and a five-piece band. The
result is a joyous couple of hours of energetic and vibrant entertaining
showcase of a talented young cast with the addition of a couple of experienced
West End performers.
The set-up is 1980's
Athens, where four young lovers and a group of amateur actors find themselves
entranced and entrapped in an enchanted forest under the lordship and rule of Rock Diva
Fairies. From here, music and acting intersperse as a wide range of songs
find the varied moods and tones as the story develops. The cast all
effortlessly keep switching from neo-Shakespearian characters into '80’s rock
and pop singers, aided by excellent costumes and make-up drawing upon various
inspirations from the era including Goth, spandex trousers and New Romantic. Naturally,
there is also much ‘big hair’ in evidence, with liberal use of coloured sprays
and gels.
There is real attention
in the presentation of each song, right down to the full Slash guitar solo in
‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ and full range of singing octaves required across songs
such as Heart’s, ‘How Do I Get You Alone’, and Dirty Dancing’s, ‘Time Of My Life’. With the possible exception of New Wave, no significant music genre of
the time was excluded, be it disco (with the Jackson’s ‘Can You Feel It’,
rockers like Meatloaf’s ‘Deadringer’ and synth pop such as Heaven 17’s, ‘Tempation’ and Soft Cell’s, ‘Tainted Love’. There are also soulful numbers such
as the Police’s, ‘Every Breath You Take’ and interestingly, snippets of other
popular songs were used as intros; notably ‘Our House' by Madness. There were also
just simple great pop song such as the Eurythmic’s, ‘Sweet Dreams’. If you
weren’t sure what the 1980s was musically about, this show is here to tell you,
or if you happen to know, it’s a great trip down memory lane.
There is a real
enthusiasm across the cast for all the music and it is interesting to note that
virtually none of them would have even been born when any of these hits were in
the charts. Can anyone really imagine a future show, say in the year 2050, with
young people giving attention to the music of the last twenty years?
‘Electric Dreams’ is a pleasure to both watch and experience, leaving enduring images and a general feel-good air. I look forward to seeing future presentations from A Place For Us Theatre Company.
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