Theatre Review Grayson Perry Are You Good? Philharmonic Hall Liverpool

This one man show by Sir Grayson Perry, Turner Prize winner and one of Britain's most powerful cultural icons, known for his ceramic vases, tapestries and cross dressing, was an evening spent satirically and interrogatively dissecting our views on what we, the audience perceive as being good or evil with society today, and comparing it with other parts of the country. The Philharmonic Hall was packed; excitement and anticipation filled the air.

Perry graced the stage in a lilac curly wig, a silver oversized sparkly dress and huge pink shoes wearing his iconic dramatic make up, almost a clown-like appearance, and proceeded to cover complex delicate subjects from politics, identity, gender, class, social media, the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins through humorous audience participation throughout the show. He starts off his show by saying “I always start out with the assumption that people are born good and then life happens, are you as virtuous as you think?”

The audience are asked to be his focus group and to scan the QR code to join the event, whereby questions were asked throughout the show with the replies displayed in either percentages or words on the screen, there was even a competition with a prize given to the winner thrown in for good measure.

He even managed to sing three songs, all poking fun at political correctness. His outfit change for the second half of the show was into a black and white patent leather-look dress and shoes, which indicated that he was going to playfully pursue all that is bad and evil in the world.

He questions our views on the difference between being good and being right in a clever non-judgemental way, occasionally adding some of his own views with a smattering of loud swearing to indicate his distaste. We are taken on a fantasy journey through the power of AI imagery from heaven to hell projected onto the stage. Grayson at one point playfully and hilariously depicted as Gandolph, and Donald Trump. His love of his wife and his cats are also referenced to during the show with beautiful pictures displayed on the screen. He indicates how long he and his wife have been together and questions how has she put up with him for all these years, in a loving display of affection and appreciation.

This witty, artistic and thought-provoking entertaining show had the audience spellbound under his expertise, through comedy, knowledge and his understanding of human nature. A very enjoyable show.

Grayson Perry Are You Good? Tour Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, runs until 7th December 2025.

Reviewer - Jill Ollerton 

On - 11.11.25