Concert Review Revolver is 60 The Mersey Beatles The Atkinson Southport

The Mersey Beatles celebrate 60 years of Revolver with a hit-packed journey through the Fab Four’s extraordinary career. In a world where literally thousands of Beatles tribute bands exist, you have to do something special to stand out. Being from Liverpool is probably a good place to start.

Mark Bloor (John Lennon), Steven Howard (Paul McCartney) and Brian Ambrose (Ringo Starr) were high school friends in Liverpool, while Craig McGown (George Harrison) is Glaswegian. After forming a band, they quickly realised that it was their Beatles covers that got the biggest reaction and, in 1999, The Mersey Beatles were born. Success wasn’t far behind. They took up a residency at the legendary Cavern Club and, some 600 appearances later, left to tour the world. Tonight, that journey brought them to Southport. The theme of the show was the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ landmark 1966 album Revolver, but before reaching that particular milestone we were treated to a whistle-stop tour through some of the band’s earliest hits. 

The house lights went down and, projected onto a screen behind the stage, was an excerpt from a short film showing mid-60s Liverpool in all its Technicolor glory. Then, suited, booted and be-wigged, The Mersey Beatles took to the stage and launched into ‘She Loves You’. From those first ‘yeah, yeah, yeahs’, the audience knew it was in safe hands. ‘Please Please Me’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ followed in quick succession. With their authentic Gretsch and Rickenbacker guitars, matching suits and well-practised mannerisms, the band really did take on the air of the original Fab Four without ever allowing the impersonation to overwhelm the music.

The pace was unrelenting as hit followed hit. ‘This Boy’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Eight Days a Week’ and ‘Help!’ had the audience on their feet. The banter between the band was witty but never intrusive and, importantly, came across as natural rather than over-rehearsed.

All bar John then left the stage, allowing him to perform the Dylan-esque ‘You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away’, with the audience enthusiastically supplying the ‘heys’. A brief interlude followed, accompanied by colour footage of Swinging London, before the band returned dressed as the mid-60s Beatles. ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Day Tripper’, ‘In My Life’, ‘If I Needed Someone’ and ‘Ticket to Ride’ were delivered expertly before the psychedelic influence began to emerge with ‘Rain’ and ‘Paperback Writer’. It was back to the early Beatles, though, for the final song of the first half: a suitably raucous ‘Twist and Shout’.

The second half was all about Revolver and the Beatles’ later years. Starting with ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, we were treated to nine of the album’s 14 tracks, demonstrating just how extraordinary a creative leap Revolver represented. The highlight was undoubtedly Ringo taking centre stage for ‘Yellow Submarine’, which the audience absolutely loved.

With Revolver duly celebrated, we moved into the final part of the set, drawing on The White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be. George stepped forward for a solo version of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, while Paul performed ‘Let It Be’ alone at the piano, providing two quieter moments amid an evening otherwise packed with hits.

The main set finished with ‘Get Back’ before the band returned for the inevitable encore of ‘Hey Jude’. By then, any remaining distinction between performers and audience had disappeared as the familiar ‘na-na-na’ refrain filled the venue. 

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable evening during which The Mersey Beatles rattled through an impressive 38 songs. But longevity in the crowded world of Beatles tribute acts takes more than wigs, suits and the right guitars. You don’t last as long as The Mersey Beatles have without talent, musicianship and a genuine affection for the music.

They announced that they’ll be back in Southport next year with a Sgt. Pepper show.

After tonight, that’s one I’ll not miss.

The Mersey Beatles tour continues and details can be found in the link below,

https://www.themerseybeatles.com/tour-dates

Reviewer: Adrian Cork 

On: 21/07/2026

Theatre Review The Sex Party Hope Street Theatre Liverpool

 

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this play, but I did expect to have a good laugh, but unfortunately this was not the case. It is billed as a comedy but I was hardly able to raise a smile; there were some titters from the audience but no big belly laugh-out-loud guffaws.

Written by Terry Johnson, one could be forgiven for thinking it looks like a 1970’s TV sitcom about swingers, although that word is not allowed for this sex-themed get-together.

The action takes place in the kitchen in the home of a middle class couple in an affluent part of London where four couples group for an evening of cheese and wine and more intimate experiences. The arrival of one guest in particular causes full scale curiosity and the plot develops.

There are naked male torsos and scantily-clad ladies in various lacey lingerie sets and much discussion of sexual themes, male and female anatomy, drugs and sexual freedom; gender politics and liberation are the order of the day resulting in a bold, sometimes erotic piece of narrative which has adult themes and language.

The set is constant recreating a modern kitchen in affluent London with a door stage left and a door stage right with many comings and goings in true stage farce style.

The cast work well together and portray their characters convincingly although I didn’t really warm to any of them and was not really interested in how they fared after the party.

I would describe this play as a somewhat serious comedy with lots of discussion about sexual liberation which maybe rather out of date by todays standards, and much of the narrative maybe considered offensive in today’s liberal world where same sex couples, transgender men and women are the norm. Some of the narrative and language may also make those viewing feel uncomfortable, bearing in mind the sensitive subject matter.

Cast:

Suzy Bloom

Jamie Ballard

Lisa Gorgin

Jack Loy

James Lavender

Pearl Schomerg

Jackie Green

Jamie Treacher

Zoe Teverson 

The play is suitable for adults 18+ and runs until 11^th September 2026

https://hopestreettheatre.com/whats-on/

Reviewer: Anne Pritchard

On: 3^rd September 2026

Theatre Review Krapp’s Last Tape Cockpit Theatre

Some pieces of theatre entertain you for an evening. Others stay with you long after you have left the theatre. Krapp’s Last Tape is very much the latter.

Performed at The Cockpit Theatre and directed by its own Artistic Director, Dave Wybrow, this is a beautifully intimate and deeply moving production. At its heart is Krapp, an ageing man confronting recordings of his younger self, and through them, fragments of a life that increasingly feels both familiar and unreachable.

There is something profoundly poignant about hearing the voice of a younger man while watching his older self grapple with memory, identity and the passage of time. The tapes become far more than recordings, they are a tangible connection to another version of Krapp a man with different ambitions, desires, disappointments and certainties.

Peter Marinker gives a remarkable performance. He brings humour, frustration, vulnerability and humanity to Krapp, never allowing him to become simply a figure of sadness. There is an almost uncomfortable honesty to the character, he can be irritable, self-absorbed and at times wonderfully funny, yet beneath all of that is a profound sense of loss. Perhaps that sense of loss has greater personal meaning for Marinker who received an Alzheimers diagnosis two years ago. In Krapp’s Last Tape, Beckett’s one-act monologue written in 1958. We meet a man marking his birthday alone, while listening to and reflecting on recordings he made each year on that day, as he makes what we are told his last tape. 

It is the contrast between the man we hear on the tapes and the man we see before us that makes the performance so affecting. The younger Krapp seems so certain of himself, while the older man is increasingly disconnected from the memories that once formed his identity. That raises one of the most powerful questions at the centre of the production, how much of who we are is held within our memories?

Dave Wybrow’s direction understands the extraordinary restraint required by a piece such as this. There is no need for theatrical excess. Instead, the production allows silence, pauses, movement and the smallest details of performance to carry the emotional weight. The intimacy of The Cockpit feels particularly suited to the piece, creating a sense that we are witnessing something intensely private rather than simply watching a character on a stage.

There is also a real sense of collaboration behind the performance. A particular mention must go to stage manager Marta Fossati, who worked incredibly closely with Marinker. In a production so dependent upon precise timing, cues, repetition and an almost instinctive relationship between actor and stage, that collaboration is fundamental. I was memorised at times by the delicacy of when needed, the live in-ear prompts where it felt Marinker and Fossati worked as a perfect team, a merry dance between the two. Actor and stage manager. 

Much of a stage manager’s work is deliberately invisible to an audience. When it is done exceptionally well, we simply experience the performance as seamless. But in a piece as technically and emotionally precise as Krapp’s Last Tape, the trust and closeness between Fossati and Marinker become an important part of what makes the production work.

What I found particularly moving was that this is not simply a piece about Alzheimer’s, ageing or memory. It is about the relationship we all have with the people we once were. We carry so many versions of ourselves  the person we were, the person we imagined becoming, and the person we eventually find ourselves to be. Krapp is forced to confront those versions almost literally, through his own recorded voice. The past is right there in the room, but increasingly beyond his ability to fully access it.

There is sadness here, certainly, but also warmth and humour. That balance is important. Krapp is not reduced to his condition, he remains a complicated, flawed and recognisably human character. And perhaps that is what makes the moments of vulnerability so much more powerful.

I left Krapp’s Last Tape feeling genuinely moved, but also strangely reflective. It made me think about memory, regret, ageing and the stories we tell ourselves about our own lives. More than anything, it reminded me how fragile our sense of identity can be, and how much of a life can exist in the smallest fragments of memory.

A quiet, intimate and haunting piece of theatre, beautifully held by Marinker’s performance and the careful collaboration of the whole creative team. 

A production that doesn’t shout for your attention it simply stays with you.

Krapp’s Last Tape is running until 5th September 

For more information and tickets https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/KrappsLastTape 

Reviewer: Mary Fogg  

On: 2nd September 

Concert Review Michael Ball Philharmonic Hall Liverpool

 

Michael Ball fans gathered in Liverpool to enjoy him entertain as he promoted his new album called, Glow, which is his 23rd album.

Ball, hailed as the king of musical theatre, is an accomplished entertainer having performed on stage forty one years ago in 1981, for the first time, in the hit show Les Miserables. He is a double Olivier Award winner, a Grammy nominee, and a multi-platinum-selling artist who has also become a familiar voice and face on radio and TV.

Ball was accompanied on stage by his 8 piece orchestra which includes his Musical Director, plus his two female backing singers.

From the minute he came on stage his fans were up and dancing in their seats and many made their way to the front of the stage and danced in the aisles. Ball has an endearing way with his audience and his personality shines through.  He has a genuine rapport with his fans who adore him and he uses personal disclosures and anecdotes throughout his show along with humour and charm.

Ball opened the show with the lead track from his Glow album, ‘Best Night Of Your Life ‘ and followed with a number of Glow’s album tracks including, ‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, ‘Glow ‘, ‘A Million Lights’,  ‘Little Wins, ‘Holding On Letting Go’,  ‘Vintage’, ‘Remember To Remember’ and ‘On With The Show’. He also made reference to the recent passing of Dolly Parton, reminiscing on meeting her and made mention to his mother’s passing last year, sharing a song he wrote for her.

Ball’s rendition of ‘The Rose’ demonstrated the beautiful quality of his voice and although his new songs were enjoyed by his fans, they were elated when he performed many of his hit musical show songs including ‘Empty Chairs, Empty Tables’ and ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’. His self-penned song, ‘Let’s Just Dance’ got everyone in the mood for dancing and the audience were on their feet whilst Ball shook hands with many at the front of the stage.

His encore numbers included, ‘Love Changes Everything’ and ‘The Wonder of You’. The audience didn’t want him to go home and he was visibly moved.  It was a wonderful evening of entertainment, Ball’s voice is magnificent especially whilst singing songs from Les Miserables and he announced he will be starring in the West End in Jesus Christ Superstar and as Willy Wonka in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory in the near future and delighted the audience by singing 'Pure Imagination' from the film.

Ball’s guest for the tour is Liss Jones who opened the show with Cher’s ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ followed by ‘Man I Need’ accompanied by her husband, Zak Lloyd on keyboards. She also dueted with Ball singing ‘How Do We Get Back There’ penned by them both, during his set.

For future tour dates and tickets see https://musicalsontour.co.uk/michael-ball-tour/

Reviewer: Anne Pritchard

On: 3^rd September 2026