Concert Review: Across The Universe The Beatles 66-70 Camp and Furnace Liverpool

There is no shortage of Beatles tribute acts across the UK and beyond, with groups such as The Bootleg Beatles, The Cavern Beatles, The Fab Four, and Rain continuing to draw audiences worldwide. Yet what distinguishes Across The Universe is their focus on the band’s studio years, 1966–1970, performed with the full force of a live band and orchestra. Just as notably, they forgo costumes, wigs, and scripted ‘Beatle banter,’presenting instead a purist tribute to the music itself. Their performances aim to capture the essence of the original recordings with a precision rarely matched elsewhere.

This evening marked Across The Universe’s first performance in Liverpool, the city that gave birth to The Beatles.

The concert opened with the 1967 double A-side ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane,’ a pair of songs that serve as an ideal introduction to the era the group celebrates. What followed was effectively a tour through the band’s greatest hits: ‘Lady Madonna,’ ‘Let It Be,’ ‘Dear Prudence,’ ‘A Day in the Life,’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ ‘Oh! Darling,’ ‘All You Need Is Love,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘The Long and Winding Road,’and many more. There are simply no deep-cuts when it comes to The Beatles’ songbook.

It is worth remembering that The Beatles themselves never performed this material live, having retired from touring after their final concert in August 1966. In this sense, full credit is due to Across The Universe and their 20-piece orchestra for reimagining how these intricate studio creations might have sounded on stage.

The ensemble consisted of:

• Paul Adams — bass

• David Calder — drums

• Fraser Cooper — keyboard

• Paul Crawford — vocals/guitar/percussion

• Paul Devlin — keyboard/percussion/brass

• John Hallam — guitar

Graeme Quinn — vocals/guitar

• Anthony Smith — guitar/percussion

Lead vocal duties were shared impressively between Graeme Quinn and Paul Crawford, both of whom captured the spirit of Lennon and McCartney without resorting to imitation.

Ultimately, Across The Universe demonstrated that a tribute does not require mimicry to succeed. Their faithfulness to the music, performed with skill and attention to detail, offered the audience an experience that was as authentic as it was exhilarating. It was a performance that both honoured The Beatles’ legacy and stood firmly on its own merits.

Across the Universe tour continues and tickets are available here;

https://linktr.ee/acrosstheuniverse6670?fbclid=PAZnRzaAM1O_dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp4zH5YUJ3S9DtvCWcgqCaURFDm6IvCY5F8wOq0PEjuI8dTWQj_bMoxqr7LoX_aem_rM_tVZ4wxS29_0ReTm8UcA

 

Reviewer – Adrian Cork On – 28.09.2025

Theatre Review Night Collar Theatre Royal St Helens

This ‘larger than life’ comedy play, produced by Chantelle and Jane Joseph and directed by Chantelle Joseph was originally written in the late 80’s by Tony Furlong and Jimmy Power, two former cabbies and boy did they capture the hilarious antics that go on in the back of a cab to a tee.

Regal Entertainments who have previously staged this comedy play in 2010 and 2011 at Theatre Royal have brought it back to life again due to its popularity with the town.

The stage is set with a backdrop of streets in Liverpool with row upon row of houses, and the bottom half of a real black hackney cab positioned right in centre stage. ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ by Slade is playing from the cab radio, and many other tracks accompany the show this way.

Credit must be given to the sound effects (Conrad Kempsound technician) as throughout the show the sounds of the cab’s engine starting, pulling up, its radio and the cab intercom, not to mention Santa’s tummy woes were brilliantly depicted.

The scene is set on a typical eventful Christmas Eve, (scenery and costumes by Regal Entertainments Ltd) as cabbie played by the talented Liverpool actor John May who became famous during lockdown for his internet sensational character creations (‘Turkey Teeth and Kenny and Karen Corona who went on to appear in ‘Doctor Who, Tin Star, Coronation Street, and Casualty’) to name but a few of his vast work, is setting off on his evenings work to bring home the bacon to pay the ‘lecky meter’ and support his spendthrift girlfriend.

During his shift in his mates’ cab, this reliable cabbie encounters some very colourful fares along the way - if you prefer the air not to be blue, then this play is not for you. 

He encounters a naked member of a stag party left in a wheelie bin with nothing on but a ball and chain to hide his shame, a prostitute, a drunk couple in the middle of an argument with Santa Claus with tummy trouble, a wino, a widow, a Big Issue seller, a cancer patient and an Elvis impersonator with domestic woes and a disabled couple, who are not so disabled. Throughout the show, the cabbie displays annoyance, care and compassion and humour with his fares.

With all the shenanigans going on in the back of the cab by the end of the night  the cabbie has a headache, and the final straw ….. the cab finally breaks down and he has to ring for an Uber to get back home, to the sound of ‘Things can only get better’ by D-Ream.

The 4 other actors, Sam Jones-Arthur, John O’Gorman (who portrayed ‘Tommo’ in Brookside), Emma-Grace Arends and Jenna Sian O’Hara all play various roles and must be commended for their talent, but the standout actor for me was Jenna Sian O’Hare who played Flo, Arl Mary and the prostitute, she was brilliant and hilarious.

Credit to Mike Randolph stage manager, and wardrobe mistress Rebecca Quinn for the stars of the show to appear so believable. 

The theatre was full, the atmosphere was a happy one, the audience laughed and applauded all the way through and sang along to the music, it was obvious they’d had a happy evening of entertainment.

So I suggest you pull up too and see this production for yourself which runs until Sunday 6th October. 

Reviewer - Jill Mather

On - 27.09.25

 

Theatre Review – Consumed Playhouse Theatre, Sheffield

Consumed is an award-winning play by Northern Irish playwright Karis Kelly. It tells the tale of a dysfunctional Northern Irish family spread over four female generations gathered together for the 90th Birthday party of the eldest matriarch. 

The intimate layout of the Playhouse was the ideal setting for the cosy stage set dressed as a family kitchen/ dining room. Idiosyncrasies such as mould on the plinth and rust on the washing machine were indicative of a working-class household. The fully functioning cooking facilities were active in real time, with the aroma sucking the audience into the play.

 

The black comedy has a cast of four, representing the great-grandmother, grandmother, daughter and great-granddaughter. They meet in the family home in Northern Ireland to ‘celebrate’ the landmark birthday, with the two youngest having arrived from England. The quartet represents a cross-section of generations and nationalities, which are exploited in the sharply written script.

 

The play touches on a whole range of intergenerational and nationalistic subjects throughout the 70-minute duration. A tense atmosphere is generated as they skip through topics such as the evolution of the female identity, eating disorders, mental health problems and suicide. Being set in Northern Ireland, the underlying and often unresolved problems associated with growing up during the Troubles sit deep in the narrative.

 

The rawness of the script instigates conflict and comedy as each family member stumbles through the dinner as they try to endure the reunion. They struggle to understand each other's point of view and often contradict themselves in the process.

 

The older matriarch, Eileen Gillespie (Julia Dearden), is stoic and stubborn and born of a time during the Troubles where people had to make do with little. Gilly Gillespie (Andrea Irvine) – Is the long-suffering daughter of Eileen and the target of much vitriol from her daughter, Jenny (Caoimhe Farren). Making up the family mismatch is teenager Muireann (Muireann Ni Fhaogain), whose Gen Z sensibilities bring the expected exasperation to the older generations. All four of the characters are expertly portrayed and communicate the differing attitudes and personalities of each generation.

 

The script, acting and Katie Posner’s direction navigate a minefield of emotionally difficult topics with just the right amount of humour to make this a must-see, twisted black comedy.

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting Award 2022 

 

 Production run (Playhouse Sheffield):​

Wednesday 24September – 11 October 2025

 

https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/consumed/dates

 

 Reviewer: Matthew Burgin

On: 25/9/2025

Theatre Review: Stewart Copeland Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood and Other Adventures The Atkinson Southport

As a 16-year-old in 1978, I idolised three bands: Blondie, The Jam, and The Police. I couldn’t wait for them to release a new single or album and avidly collected every coloured vinyl, picture disc, and 12” single they put out. I still have them.

So, it was with that same excitement 16-year-old me felt that I headed to the Atkinson to see Police drummer Stewart Copeland in conversation, but not before attending a ‘meet and greet’ with the great man, for which I paid £85. On arriving at the venue, it turned out there were 93 other people just as excited as me who had also booked a ‘meet and greet’. I got to meet Stewart, have my photograph taken with him, and have him sign a couple of those old records of mine.

So, to the main event. The stage was set with two armchairs and side tables, one each for Stewart and the interviewer (sorry, I didn’t catch her name). Stewart was asked to describe his early life, particularly growing up in Beirut which, at the time, was a rat’s nest of spies, espionage, and counter-espionage. Stewart’s father, Miles, was indeed a spy working for the CIA. His task had been to install Gamal Abdel Nasser as president of Egypt. Stewart was oblivious to his father’s work, attended school and had friends just like any other boy his age. One of his friends was John Philby, son of the notorious double agent Kim Philby.

It was while he attended the American Community School that he picked up drumsticks for the first time after watching his older, cooler brother play with a band called the Black Knights. He listened to his brother rehearse and realised he wasn’t very good, so he decided to slip into his brother’s room and try the drums for himself. It turned out he was a natural, and he was soon recruited to join the Black Knights. He didn’t last long, though, following Kim Philby’s defection to the Soviet Union, his father was posted to London.

He was then asked how his musical career started with the hippie band Curved Air and then how The Police got together, a story he told with great delight. It was here we first heard him call Sting “Stingo,” something that had the audience laughing out loud.

Stewart is a terrific raconteur who could make eating a bowl of Corn Flakes into an entertaining anecdote, so I won’t go into every detail of The Police’s formation. But after seeing Sting’s band, Last Exit, play, he knew he wanted to work with him. He persuaded Sting to leave the band and move down to London, where they could cash in on the burgeoning punk rock movement. The pair met Andy Summers while working as session musicians, and he eventually asked to join Stewart’s band. Thus, The Police were born.

The Police didn’t catch fire immediately, so Stewart made some records of his own under the pseudonym Klark Kent. He even made it onto Top of the Pops with the single “Don’t Care,” with Sting backing him in a gorilla suit and Andy in a Leonid Brezhnev mask. It wasn’t long before The Police went stratospheric, and by 1983 they were the biggest band on the planet.

This was a convenient point for the interval, during which there was a rush to the merchandise stall where signed copies of Stewart’s book were on sale.

The second half of the show was a deep dive into The Police breaking up, Stewart’s post-Police career, their eventual reunion, and some questions from the audience.

It was only after some band therapy ahead of their reunion tour in 2007 that Stewart and Sting came to understand their musical differences, differences that had been the “special sauce” that made The Police great but also drove them apart.

After The Police disbanded, Stewart established a career composing soundtracks for films and television, while also branching out into opera, ballet, and even computer games.

There were many other fascinating and funny anecdotes that I won’t recount here, but if you want to know more, I suggest you buy the book. After all, this is what nights like this are for in the end: selling something.

Stewart Copeland’s Have I Said Too Much tour continues through to November 2025.Tickets can be bought direct from venues or via the link below,

https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/stewart-copeland

 

Reviewer – Adrian Cork 

On – 24.09.2025

Theatre Review – The Midnight Bell Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

The Midnight Bell is the first novel in the trilogy that makes up the collection ‘Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky,’ by the popular English Novelist Patrick Hamilton. This adaptation is produced by Matthew Bourne and features actors and dancers from the New Adventures company. Hamilton’s 20000 Streets trilogy focuses on the overlapping stories of the patrons of the Midnight Bell pub in Soho. Hamilton himself worked in pubs before becoming a writer. He eventually died of liver failure. 

 The staging and costume design by Lez Brotherston are substantial to the experience. The cleverly arranged set is constantly on the move, flipping from smoky bar to seedy bedroom and through the foggy streets of Soho. The costumes reflect the era and the personalities of the characters. The lighting is perfectly timed to focus the eye-line to follow the storyline and distract from the fluid set changes.

 

Paul Groothuis provides the sound and music that transports the audience back to the 1930s.  The combination of sound, set and Paule Constable’s lighting provides the authenticity necessary for the dialogue-free dance extravaganza to work. The only narrative provided is in the form of mimed song dialogue to a cracking gramophone-style music. The dancing is collectively graceful and spectacular from the New Adventures cohort.

 

It is reported that the relationship between Bob the waiter and Jenny the prostitute is based on Hamilton’s own infatuation with a prostitute during his time as a barman. The variousstories of the pubs often intoxicated occupants skirt around homosexuality, infidelity, desperation, unrequited feelings and a whole gamut of emotions which surface in the agonising presence of love. 

 

The protagonists' paths both intertwine and avoid each other until Leslie Hutchinson’s recording of ‘What Is This Thing Called Love,’ pulls the ill-fated characters together for the finale.

 

Although the first half of the show is slow-paced and difficult to fully connect the dots, the second half successfully ties the production together. If the show were a giant jigsaw puzzle, the first half would be collecting the edge and corner pieces, whilst the second half would be the fulfilling task of slotting in the missing pieces.

 

The perfectly paced Midnight Bell is visually spectacular, but be warned. As several different stories are focused upon both individually and omnisciently, if your eyes stray from the stage, you may find yourself frustratedly looking for missing jigsaw pieces at the end.

 

Production run (Lyceum Sheffield):​Tuesday 23 September – 27 September 2025

 

https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/matthew-bournes-the-midnight-bell-2025/dates

 

Production run (Alhambra, Bradford):​Tuesday 30September – Saturday 04 October 2025

 

https://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/whats-on/matthew-bournes-the-midnight-bell

 

 

Reviewer: Matthew Burgin

On :  ​23 September 2025