Liverpool After Dark - Issue 6

Issue 6. May 2013 Free

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Entertainment

Culture

Nightlife

Contents Issue 6. May 2013

Events 4. Light Night Liverpool’s big night of art & culture 6. Who Do You Think You Are? Look /13 International Photography Festival

Music 8. Cast & The Twang A fine old time 9. Lucy Rose But not from the dead 9. Brian McFadden Ooh, he’s lost weight 10. The Fall On the up 10. Edith Piaf We don’t regret this preview

12. The Specials Rude middle aged boys 13. Dodgy Good enough for me

Nightlife 14. The Man Behind The Masque East Village Arts Club 16. Sound & Vision Ste Parry on 2 decades of dance 18. Lee Butler 20 year charity night

Theatre 22. Physical Fest Dance yourself silly 23. Whats On Theatre land’s best offerings for May

Cinema 28. Reviews DiCaprio, McConaughey, Spock 30. Want to help fund a film?

Local filmmaker feature

Eating Out 20. Sapporo Teppanyaki Sushi great place to eat 21. Il Forno Putting the eat in eatalian

Magazine Team Editor Anthony Bennett 0151 214 3233 tony@liverpoolafterdark.com Art Director Roy McCarthy roy@liverpoolafterdark.com Designer Lisa Robson lisa@liverpoolafterdark.com Photography & Video Production Jonathan Dawe 0787 0257 942 jonathan@liverpoolafterdark.com Social Media Sean Weaver Advertising Advertising Manager Mike Clarke 0151 214 3232 mike@liverpoolafterdark.com Advertising Executive Paul Bennett 0151 214 3235 paul@liverpoolafterdark.com Telesales Manager David Eaton 0151 214 3232 dave@liverpoolafterdark.com Digital Sponsorship Jon Saunders 0151 214 3231 jon@liverpoolafterdark.com Contributors Zoë Byrne, Joe-Ann Randles, Larissa Wignall, Matt Gall, Josh Ray, Lee Butler, Ben Johnson

Thanks to Mike Cockburn, Adam Lewis, Joanne Evans, Rajesh Sharma, Joel Jelen, Craig Lawrenson, Alan McCarthy, Emma McHarrie, Kerry Quinn, Emma Allison, Clive Knowles, Eden Showers, Lisa Southern, Bill Elms, Mike Doran

Publishing Published by Survival Media Limited 4th Floor Elevator Studios 25-31 Parliament Street Liverpool L8 5RN Telephone 0151 214 3230 Website www.liverpoolafterdark.com Facebook facebook.com/liverpoolafterdark Twitter @LpoolAfterDark In partnership with

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Events

Beginning to see the

Light Night 50 venues across Liverpool city centre Friday 17th May 4pm – late Most events FREE

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May 2013

Main photo: Kurt Tong from ‘The Queen, the Chairman and I Clockwise from top left: Rankin, Wilder Mann-Charles Frege, Central Library, Eva Stenram, Tom Wood, Keith Medley.

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housands of visitors will descend on Liverpool this May to experience Light Night – Liverpool’s one-night arts and culture festival.

On Friday 17th May over 50 of Liverpool’s acclaimed arts & heritage venues will throw open their doors until late for funseekers of all ages.

Visitors can expect spectacular light projections, interactive street theatre, a candle-lit labyrinth, architecture tours, open studios, live music, hands-on art workshops and so much more, for free.

In addition LOOK/13, Liverpool’s biennial International Photography Festival, will launch across the city on Light Night (see page 6) A special highlight of Light Night this year will be the celebratory public re-opening

of Central Library, which has been undergoing restoration for more than two years. To mark the completion of the work on the Grade II listed building, the city will host In Other Words – a festival which will celebrate all things connected with the written and spoken word.

The Queen Mary 2 will be visiting the city on Light Night; described as ‘the most magnificent ocean liner ever built’ visitors can see her all day until she leaves at 5pm when they can start their own Light Night trail around the city from Liverpool’s famous waterfront.

Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for culture and tourism, Councillor Wendy Simon, said: “Light Night has become a popular event in the city’s events calendar and each year more and more people take advantage of the fact

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they can celebrate Liverpool’s phenomenal cultural offer late into the night.

“This year is particularly special as the 17 May marks the re-opening of the much loved Central Library.

After more than two years of intricate redevelopment, this city gem will open its doors for the first time, giving everyone the chance to see its dramatic and beautiful transformation.

“It’s a landmark date for the library and it’s wonderful that being part of Light Night means that visitors will have until midnight to enjoy spending time in one of the most modern and impressive libraries in the country.”

For the full Light Night programme and to find out more visit www.lightnightliverpool. co.uk

Events

Look/13 Liverpool International Photography Festival

Who Do You Think You Are?

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May 2013

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OOK/13, one of the UK’s leading international photography festivals, is excited to announce the core programme for its second edition, launching on Liverpool’s Light Night, 17 May 2013.

Bringing together influential and established photographers, presented alongside international emerging talent, LOOK/13 will invite its dynamic line-up of artists to explore the idea of subjectivity and selfhood, summing up its central theme in the question, ‘who do you think you are?’

The festival begins with an event-packed launch weekend.

Highlights include Redeye’s sixth National Photography Symposium (16-17 May), and PULSE (18 May), an afternoon of presentations by some of the UK’s most influential photographers, produced in collaboration with Miniclick.

LOOK/13 is proud to be collaborating with Liverpool’s most prestigious museums and galleries to exhibit a diverse programme of exhibitions and events. The Bluecoat will present work by two of the founding fathers of photography, August Sander (1876-1964) and Arthur Fellig aka Weegee (1899-1968), whose varying styles of realism and portraiture will set the scene for the entire festival and its theme. Elsewhere in the gallery, I exist (in some way), will feature work by eleven artists who explore identity in the contemporary Arab world, while Adam Lee’s Identity Documents will look at what is revealed and concealed in people’s bookshelves.

The Walker Art Gallery will host three exhibitions including a major new project by the internationally renowned photographer Rankin. Produced in collaboration with the BBC, ALIVE: In the Face of Death, will be devoted in part to newly commissioned images of people who know they are running out of time. Complementing this muchanticipated show is a body of work from the Keith Medley Archive, Double Take, featuring high-street

studio portraits of Merseysiders in the 1960s. Each sitter was shot twice using the same glassplate negative, resulting in a compellingly eerie series of duos.

The final Walker Art Gallery exhibition presents early and largely unseen work by two of Britain’s best-known and much loved photographers, Tom Wood and Martin Parr. This selection, much of it shot in Merseyside in the late 1970s and early 1980s, displays early explorations, showing the photographers’ signature styles in formation.

Open Eye Gallery presents the first UK solo exhibition by the French photographer Charles Fréger. A selection of Fréger’s portrait projects will examine the performance of group identity through a carnivalesque array of costume and ritual. The exhibition will include works from Fréger’s hugely successful Wilder Mann photo book, which explores the mythological figure of the “Wild Man”. Open Eye will also present the first full solo presentation of Eva Stenram’s Drape project, featuring found erotic photos from the 1960s that Stenram has subtly manipulated and transformed into unsettling, disarming, sometimes comedic images.

The Exhibition Research Centre at the Art & Design Academy (Liverpool John Moores University) will present BLACKOUT, an international group show co-curated with artist Imogen Stidworthy, exploring the boundaries of subjectivity through video and installation works

by Danica Dakic, Aya Ben Ron, Willem Oorebeek, and Dominique Hurth.

In the Victoria Gallery & Museum, Hong Kong-based photographer Kurt Tong explores the relationship between self and family in The Queen, The Chairman and I, a project that brings together objects from the photographers’ multi-faceted family history with his own photographs and writings in an installation featuring Super-8 films and a working Chinese tearoom. This will be the first full

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realisation of this major project.

Wolstenholme Creative Space presents Liverpool, Unfinished an evocative series of colour portraits and landscapes by Rob Bremner, shot while he was studying in Wales in the 1980s and shown here for the first time.

The Caravan Gallery will be setting up camp for the duration of the festival, with exhibitions in Liverpool One and the Museum of Liverpool, reflecting the reality and surreality of everyday life on Merseyside.

In various sites around the city Redeye, the Photography Network will present group projects by participants in Lightbox 2, an intensive professional development programme which aims to launch the careers of some of the UK’s most promising photographers.

Featuring August Sander, Rankin, Weegee, Martin Parr, Tom Wood, Charles Fréger, Eva Stenram, Kurt Tong + much more 17th May – 15th June 2013 LOOK/13 is also working with numerous partners to promote a Parallel Programme of exhibitions and events that coincide with and complement the festival. As well as a host of independent projects that respond directly to the festival, this programme includes some of the city’s leading spaces.

Moyra Davey at Tate Liverpool (8 June – 6 October) will present new works conceived in Liverpool alongside existing work by the Canadian-born, New York-based photographer and filmmaker. Tate Liverpool will also be presenting, for the first time since acquisition, Barbara Kruger’s 1991/2012 work Who Owns What (Part of DLA Piper Series: Constellations, opening 3 May). The programme also includes FACT’s exhibition, The Art of Pop Video. www.lookphotofestival.com Facebook: Look: Liverpool International Photography Festival Image: Eva Stenram; from the series Drape

Music

Co-Headline Tour O2 Academy Saturday 25th May Tickets £16.00 - £18.50 adv

Cast and The Twang Cast and The Twang are completing an exciting coheadline UK tour in May. The Twang follow their return to form and a UK tour that celebrated the release of their third studio album 10:20 last October “Nights like this just don’t come along that often” says Phil Etheridge. “Being able to watch Cast every night for a few weeks would do me let alone grace the same stage!”

The band spent most of last year in their studio in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, with the creative hub of Phil Etheridge and Jon Watkin joined by new drummer, Ash Sheehan.

“We can’t wait for the tour to start,

the fans are in for a great night.

It’s a privilege to tour with a band as good as Cast” adds Jon Watkin.

Fellow headliners, Cast, are well and truly back. Last year welcomed a sell-out hometown show at O2 Academy Liverpool in December and the release of the band’s first album in over a decade.

The original line-up of Cast played shows to celebrate the 15th anniversary reissue of their classic All Change debut, followed by the release of Troubled Times in March 2012, the band’s first album in over a decade. Worked up with original producer John Leckie, Troubled Times is an album of consciousness-rousing, acutely melodic and rhythmic

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rock’n’roll.

John Power’s presence among luminaries such as Ian Brown, John Squire and Mick Jones on the Hillsborough Justice Tour was a welcome reminder of where the man belongs, and of Cast, the band Power formed in 1993 that played its part in the seismic Britpop boom of the mid ‘90s.

“It’s gonna be a great tour, cos when you have two headlining acts there’s bound to be that little bit more bravado to each performance. I mean if the band before whoever is on first whichever night plays a blinding set, then the bar has already been raised, and you better be ready to match it.” John Power www.casttour.com

Brian McFadden O2 Academy Liverpool 29th May

Lucy Rose O2 Academy Liverpool 12th May After months hidden away in her parents’ basement recording debut album Like I Used To (released last year), Lucy Rose is happy to announce an extensive UK headline tour.

Having gained a status and fanbase most new artists can only dream of long before her recent signing to Columbia Records, the young Lucy Rose is now able to sell out 1000-capacity venues with ease, and indeed, her first instore at Rough Trade East was so oversubscribed that 50 latecomers were stuck outside.

Lucy’s journey began when she

hopped on a train to London, leaving behind the house she would return to years later to record Like I Used To. Striking out for the big city and the big time, armed with an acoustic guitar and an unstoppable dedication, Lucy played every open-mic night imaginable. She met people on the way who are still with her now and with their support and her graft she learned the ropes.

As her songs and sentiments spread their warmth through the iciest of hearts, her debut album is a confessional of disarming intimacy and candid truth. www.lucyrosemusic.com

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Brian McFadden is embarking on his first headline UK tour in over eight years, and he’ll be saving the best for last by wrapping up his string of gigs in Liverpool.

On the tour Brian said: “I’m really excited to get back out on the road again after a great tour with Ronan at the start of this year. It feels amazing to be back in the UK after so many years in Australia and it will be great to see some old faces again and hopefully some new ones too!”

Brian recently released his new album The Irish Connection, full of his own interpretations of some of the very best in Irish songwriting, including Snow Patrol’s Chocolate and The Cranberries’ Dreams. Sinead O’Connor joined Brian for the Irish classic Black Is The Colour to create their own hauntingly beautiful version. Ronan Keating featured on U2’s epic All I Want Is You before inviting Brian on his UK arena tour last February. www.brianmcfadden.com

Music

The Fall The East Village Arts Club (Formerly the Masque), Seel Street Friday 10th May 7.00pm £20

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emented, disjointed and abrasive; The Fall have managed to evade popular recognition over the years whilst racking up no less than 29 studio albums, instead finding a devoted cult following amongst the world’s social misfits.

Self-described as “Northern white crap that talks back”, The Fall were shaped by their bleak postindustrial surroundings when they emerged in the late 1970s.

Drawing on punk’s bellicosity and post-punk’s dejected outlook The Fall transcended both genres, coming out sounding more like Captain Beefheart reimagined through the mind of a Salford docker. This avant-garde sound went on to inspire musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, from the grungy sounds of Seattle to the Mancunian hooliganism of 1990s propounded by the likes of The Happy Mondays.

In the band’s 37 years of existence they have churned through more

than 40 different members but one man has always remained a permanent fixture, the warped Mancunian wordsmith, Mark E. Smith. Singing with a strong northern accent, Smith’s voice is far from melodic but fits his surrealist demeanour and perfectly complements the band’s raspy, repetitive basslines and screeching melodies.

The idiosyncratic frontman’s abstract, misanthropic lyrics, brimming with wounding social observations and witty wordplay struck a chord with the late-great John Peel causing him to invite the band to record in his hallowed studio on 24 separate occasions.

Famously proclaiming “they are always different, they are always the same” the legendary disk jockey arguably captured The Fall at their best in his studio; raw, experimental and un-mastered the “Peel Sessions” embodied everything the band was about.

Josh Ray

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Edith Piaf A Celebration of a Legend.

With Tina May St Georges Hall Thursday 25th April Award winning vocalist Tina May brings to life the music of Edith Piaf, France’s national icon and musical legend. Tina May’s astonishing vocal ability and hypnotic stage presence has won her worldwide acclaim. See her masterfully capture the magic of Piaf with classics including La Vie En Rose, Hymne à L’amour, Milord and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

Music

Wednesday, May 1

JAKOBINS, THE FLAMENCO THIEF + TBC Thursday, May 2

CUP OF TEA - Open Mic Friday, May 3

CRAWFORD JONES, BIGGER THAN SEATTLE, THE SNEAKY RUSSIANS

Calling All Rude Boys!

The Specials

Saturday, May 4

DEATHWAVE Presents TRIAXIS, HANGING DOLL, NO LOVE LOST, DAMAGESCAPE Sunday, May 5

ACOUSTIC RECOVERY Monday, May 6

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME + GUESTS Liverpool Olympia Saturday 18th May £35+Booking Fee 6:00pm

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t’s time to blow the dust off your mohair suits and don your pork pie hats for one last time because Coventry’s original ska revivalists, The Specials are once again touring the UK and will be gracing Liverpool’s Olympia theatre later this month.

Emerging out of the cultural melting pot of the West Midlands in 1977, The Specials combined the rocksteady sensibilities of Jamaica’s ska sound with the raw energy of the UK’s punk scene to create a highly danceable style of music drenched in conversant political and social commentary.

The band, then known as the Coventry Automatics, were propelled into mainstream recognition when Joe Strummer, after attending one of their gigs, invited them to open for The Clash in their On Parole tour. Feeding off their new found success the band’s talisman Jerry Dammers founded 2 Tone Records and created the cartoon character Walt Jabsco, who immediately became synonymous with all things 2-tone in the UK. By side-lining their aggressive punk origins and bringing their upbeat ska influences to the forefront, The Specials were able to convey significant political messages whilst remaining palatable to a mainstream audience. This meant that their lyrics, highlighting issues like unemployment, alienation and racism were able to filter into the UK charts at a time when they were dominated by inconsequential drivel.

Despite having seven consecutive UK Top 10 Singles in their first two years, the band’s message was never diluted. Their 1984 single Free Nelson Mandela did much to re-popularise the anti-apartheid movements and their 1981 chart topping tale of urban decay and inner city violence, Ghost Town was still reverberating around the airwaves as rioters took to the streets of Brixton and Toxteth.

So, considering the harsh austerity measures undertaken by the Coalition government it would appear that The Specials’ messages are as relevant today as they were back in the days of the Iron Lady.

Info @ 0151 263 6633 www.liverpoololympia.com Josh Ray

Wednesday, May 8

GAG REFLEX, ME ME ME’S + GUESTS Thursday, May 9

PATH UNKNOWN, BILL ORRICK + TBC Thursday, May 9

CUP OF TEA - Open Mic Friday, May 10

SEN LOTUS + GUESTS Saturday, May 11

THE GOD COMPLEX, HELLBOUND HEARTS, SCENICLIFE Sunday, May 12

ACOUSTIC RECOVERY Tuesday, May 14

BRAVE YESTERDAY + GUESTS Wednesday, May 15

BEAT THE POET + GUESTS Thursday, May 16

LAST RUSH + GUESTS Thursday, May 16

CUP OF TEA - Open Mic Friday, May 17

PARLOUR FLAMES + TAO OF STEVE, SENSORITES Saturday, May 18

CROOKED EMPIRE, SOMETHING PERSONAL + TBC Sunday, May 19

ACOUSTIC RECOVERY Sunday, May 19

THE KAAMS + GUESTS Tuesday, May 21

WRITERS BLOCK WITH GARRY MAGINNIS Thursday, May 23

Lomax presents DODGY. BACK TO BACK TOUR 2013 Thursday, May 23

CUP OF TEA - Open Mic Saturday, May 25

KITCHEN ROADSHOW FEAT’ QUATERMASTER + GUESTS Sunday, May 26

BANK HOLIDAY ALL DAYER FEAT GEORGE BOROWSKI Sunday, May 26

ACOUSTIC RECOVERY Monday, May 27

TIL SUNRISE + GUESTS Tuesday, May 28

ESCAPE DECEMBER, THE INDEGENERATES + TBC Thursday, May 30

PSYCHEDELIC WARLORD + GUESTS Thursday, May 30

CUP OF TEA - Open Mic 34 Cumberland St Liverpool L1 6BU 0151 2360329 www.lomaxliverpool.com

May 2013

Dodgy I

t was 20 years since Dodgy’s debut album was produced at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios

by Ian Broudie and it was during this time that they met and made life-long friends in the city. In fact they have so many Liverpool connections (including a plaque at The Cavern) that they have made the Lomax date the main date on the tour. They are not having a London show as they want to make the Liverpool show their “hometown” show. Liverpool has always meant a great deal to the band as they’ve had strong connections to the place with the early support of the Dockers and playing at the Hillsborough Concert in 1997.

In the early days, when Dodgy set out on their first UK tour they sent the list of towns and consecutive dates to the NME and invited any venues in those places to contact them. Liverpool was one of those cities and the band ended up

Back To Back Tour 2013 The Lomax 23rd May

playing a mod-themed night at The Picket where others present and playing in other bands that night included future members of Cast and Space.

In 1996 where the band took a circus tent on tour, the night at Sefton Park was one of the highlights when people were climbing over the fence in their dozens to try and get in. There is also a special place in the Dodgy story for the Liverpool Dockers who Dodgy supported, visiting picket lines whenever they could and playing benefit concerts. In 1997 Dodgy played the Hillsborough Justice concert at Anfield, along with The Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics and drummer Mathew also played drums with The Lightning Seeds at the time who closed the show.

For the Back To Back tour the band are taking two albums - The Dodgy Album (1993) and Stand

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Upright In A Cool Place (2012) and performing them in their entirety. The 20th (Platinum) anniversary of the release of The Dodgy Album, coupled with the success of their recent comeback album Stand Upright In A Cool Place has prompted this series of live dates through May and June, highlighting the now and then of Dodgy performing both albums live. The Dodgy Album set includes tracks such as the singles Lovebirds and Water Under The Bridge, the track acknowledged by the likes of Oasis as defining aspects of the Britpop sound before the term was even invented. In 2012 the original lineup of Dodgy released a new album Stand Upright In A Cool Place, receiving universal acclaim, 4 and 5 star reviews and prompting The Word magazine to say “They’ve just made the record of their career by a country mile”. www.dodgyology.com

Nightlife

The man behind the Masque East Village Arts Club’s new owner on his bold vision for the iconic venue The Masque, one of Liverpool’s most iconic venues, has been brought into the 21st century with a £1.5 million renovation. Now re-invigorated and re-invented as the East Village Arts Club, which opened on Friday 19th April, the venue will host a wide range of arts and cultural programming, live shows and club nights within its hallowed walls. The Arts Club will be based around a brand new bar space open late every night and a kitchen serving handcrafted food.

With bookings confirmed in the coming months for artists of the calibre of Kate Nash, Ghostpoet, The Fall, CSS and Little Comets with many more to be announced, not to mention iconic mainstays such as Chibuku and Circus, the East Village Arts Club is already guaranteed to be an exciting major addition to Liverpool’s night time landscape.

The new owners are the MAMA Group whose extensive festival and venue portfolio includes Global Gathering, as well as Borderline and Barfly in London and The Ritz in Manchester. After Dark spoke to MAMA Group’s MD David Laing about his vision for the club and why they chose to invest in this particular Liverpool venue.

It was the building that led us to decide to come to Liverpool. I was busy travelling around looking at various places when the guys from Circus and Chibuku suggested we should look at the building. I was just blown away by the vibrancy and eclectic nature of this whole area. Having family here, I knew Liverpool really well and it has a long and proud tradition in music and culture. But this specific area is so vibrant with lots of creative

stuff going on and there’s so many good operators here doing good quality services - the venues, restaurants and tea and coffee bars.

Also, in terms of the building, there was so much of the original architecture that was still there to be brought back and reclaimed, refurbished and restored; and that indefinable special atmosphere that you can’t buy, you can’t build and you can’t design. And if you’re into putting on events you’re looking to be inspired by a venue and we certainly got that from the building; so after seeing it for the first time we went away and thought about how can we make this happen.

What’s the vision for the club?

We want to host as wide a range and breadth of activities as the building can hold. The eclectic nature of the events we want to put on is a product of what the building has told us – looking at its past it traditionally held concerts, talks, lectures etc and Charles Dickens even gave readings there. Going back 120 odd years it was the first Royal Institution outside London set up as a “learned society for the promotion of arts, science and literature”. We’re not saying we can turn it into exactly that, but the idea of having a massive DJ on a Saturday but then everything else such as talks, poetry readings and even science lectures is really exciting. So it’s about building on the great events that the venue’s traditionally housed plus adding a whole range of activities.

We’re not using a template from anywhere else; this whole project has been done from scratch and is bespoke for that building, with this area and Liverpool in mind.

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This will also be our only venue where we’ll have someone in position to curate arts, exhibitions and events. In short, we want to create a safe, secure, well furnished and facilitated building that will be around for 20 or 30 years; where people can come and provide events and build a sustainable arts community.

What can people expect from the newly renovated club?

The Arts Club is a fully modernised venue, with brand new sound, lights, bars and toilets being installed and a complete overhaul of the venue’s safety including fire exits, alarms and soundproofing. The fundamental size and shape is as it was but it’s completely restored. It’s a beautiful listed building so the lovely columns, mouldings and plasterwork, the Georgian windows and the general architecture which appeared knackered has all been restored.

Hopefully people will see that we’ve realised the potential that was already there structurally while protecting the things that were already good. It’s now a clean, fresh and comfortable place where, apart from providing a better club and venue experience, you can also sit and have a great quality coffee or come and dine, which it certainly wasn’t before.

EVAC is currently featuring a ceramic sculpture installation by Annabelle McIntosh and the first exhibition at the club is Will Draw for Money... featuring graphic art by Glaswegian Barry Neeson, running from May 3rd – 19th.

With the intention of hosting everything from relatively small installations from local up and coming artists through to more major exhibitions, the venue is

May 2013

working on individual projects with the Liverpool School of Art and Design as well as consulting with local arts groups.

For a number of reasons the arts aspect is central to our vision for the venue. Liverpool doesn’t really need or want just another nightclub. The venue should be a hive of activity and the only way to do that is to be active in different areas. Also it’s a pet thing of mine that I want to expand it into the types of events I’d like to go to myself. And it’s great to provide a bit of investment and infrastructure to promote the arts locally and position ourselves as offering more than just weekend gigs. Why would someone come down, for instance, on a Tuesday night if we weren’t providing a host of these activities? We feel it’s fundamental to build these kinds of opportunities if we’re going to be around for the long term.

May’s Live Music and Clubs at EVAC: Sat 4th May - Chibuku - SBTRKT (DJ set), Modeselektor (DJ set), Tensnake – Live Sun 5th May - Circus - Art Department, Damian Lazarus, Yousef, Eats Everything, Infinity Ink Fri 10th May - The Fall Tue 14th May - CSS Tue 21st May - Ghostpoet Fri 24th May - Widowspeak Fri 24th May - Stephen Langstaff Sun 26th May - Circus - Marco Carola, Yousef, Deetron, Butch, Gorgon City Tue 28th May - Jackie D Williams http://mamacolive.com/ evartsclub/ http://www.facebook.com/ evArtsClub https://twitter.com/ evArtsClub_mama Photo by Ben Johnson

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Nightlife

Sound and Vision DJ Steve Parry

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J Steve Parry began his career as a mobile disc jockey playing at weddings and birthday parties before progressing to DJing at worldwide clubbing events and working as buyer, sales assistant and manager to Liverpool’s finest dance record store, 3Beat. He has ran a successful record label, SMP3 Music Management from 2009 and has now launched his Selador label with friend and business partner, Dave Seaman.

Steve has hosted The Red Zone on Juice FM and has worked with some immense artists and producers in the industry throughout his long standing music career. After Dark’s Larissa Wignall caught up with local guy Parry at the Bestival Benefit evening at Nation, where numerous DJs and bands took to the stage for a truly memorable night to celebrate the lives of Michael Molloy, Kerry Ogden and Colin Daulby who were tragically lost in the coach crash on the way to the festival last year.

“It was a group of clubbers travelling to Bestival for a great weekend which ended horrifically.

I used to go clubbing around the country a lot and so it struck a real chord with me. It could have been anybody on that coach and it turned out that I knew people who were travelling on it. It was an awful situation that happened

By Larissa Wignall and so if by some way I could help out by playing records, then it’s the least that I could do.

Bestival are a brilliant team and organised everything in their own quirky way. They had DJs, live bands, superstar recording artists (Ian Mculloch & Ian Broudie), surprise superstar guest DJs (Justin Robertson), local boys and Howard Marks too.”

You have been DJing in nightclubs since age 18, playing at such places as Creamfields, Shindig, Renaissance, WHP and Circus.

How do you think it has changed and evolved over the years?

When I first started DJing I used my spare money from playing at weddings and 18th birthdays to buy house, hip-hop and soul records that I could never really play anywhere else.

The underground club scene, especially house music, was pretty small and only a select few liked that type of music. As the music grew so did the crowds, although there were still many clubs that wouldn’t play house or “rave” music, as the club managers called it.

I used to be resident on a Monday night in Fallows, Aintree. The night was called Bliss and Dave Ralph was the main man there.

It was common that we would have 1000 people in on a Monday night! We had Sasha and Laurent Garnier come and play there and

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that just wouldn’t happen now.

Things have changed a lot since 1991 and this was just before Britain went in to a recession, then people stopped going out clubbing as much.

Moving on a few years, the criminal justice bill basically just moved everybody from raving in fields to dancing inside clubs and in Liverpool clubs like Cream really pushed the Superclub and I loved it! Clubs became more popular and it was still good but it had changed. Clubland always changes and people always say “it’s not as good as it used to be” but you can’t look at it like that.

It’s still great and it’s about the whole experience, who you are with, who is DJing, how your mood is and these all play a part of how good your night is.

Nowadays, especially over the last few years, I think clubbing is back on a real high. The current music is amazing, the clubs are brilliant, the DJ’s have to be on form and play great music. It’s all very healthy and exciting for the underground music scene.

As well as showcasing your talents at numerous venues, you were also the manager at 3Beat Record Store. How did that help you in progressing your career?

It was my dream job! I knew I’d end up working there one day. It was dealing with records and I was a vinyl junkie… big time. I was

May 2013 addicted and now getting paid to be in the thick of it. I worked there as a buyer and sales assistant and then I made my way through to managing the store.

The music industry is very fast and you have to keep moving, trying to find those tracks that nobody else has; and as much as it was amazing fun, it was also very stressful but I loved every day there. There was great music and speaking to people who are also passionate about music all day every day, meeting producers, record labels and watching DJs rise through the ranks was remarkable to see. As I was in the thick of it, it was brilliant for me, sorting DJ gigs around the world, as people bought their music from us from literally everywhere. I ended up DJing from places like Mexico and Moscow to Taiwan and Costa Rica, plus all over Europe and UK; it was brilliant.

You hosted The Red Zone on Liverpool’s popular radio station Juice FM, as well as broadcasting mixes on Transitions, which is Bedrock label owner John Digweed’s radio show. How does it differ playing on the radio to a live crowd?

Radio is about song choice, which is also of course true with club DJing. With radio you can play your tracks in a varied order, rather than building your set.

Radio doesn’t have a captive audience standing in front of you, so they could switch off at any time; you have to keep them entertained. I would have features like my Red Zone Rocker and play a classic in the Red Zone Rewind, plus chat to DJs (usually huge names or cool music producers)

and have some incredible guest DJs in the mix too. Radio is great, I just found out that the Red Zone has come to an end though but I had an amazing decade of fun.

I’m missing it already, so maybe I need to dabble with an all new radio show.

In 2009 you launched your SMP3 Music Management project, where you regularly sourced Timo Maas and Dave Seaman the best tracks around. Where do you find songs for the artists?

This is an ongoing project and I work with Sasha, Dave Seaman and Behrouz, amongst others. I use my years of working in record shops and being a train spotter for this. I filter through promos (my own, plus the DJs send me theirs too) and I buy vinyl for the DJs so they have exclusives. I buy stuff at digital stores like Beatport and Traxsource etc. I check Soundcloud for cheeky remixes and I also pester labels and producers for tracks that aren’t around yet. Basically everything that I did for myself to find those “special” tracks for my DJ sets, I now do it for other DJs too.

You have now launched your Selador record label with Dave Seaman. What’s your vision for the label?

We want to release a track hopefully every month or so, which will include remixes and hoping to have tracks with a slightly different edge to the original sound; so we will build a musical fan base of not just one genre. Dave and I like all kinds of underground musical goodness, from deep and sleazy songs through to house, deep house, tech house, techno and nu-disco.

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We’re hoping to show our musical tastes are rather wider than people may tend to expect from us.

We are also launching a kickstarter campaign to fund our first mix CD. As far as we know we are the first label to do this, and it’s much like the pledge music schemes which have been at the centre of everything from Radiohead albums to Beach Boys 50 year anniversary tours.

Kick-starter invites fan funding at differing levels to increase the participation of each person for the music they can partake in.

Each pledge will come with a reward based upon the level of contribution towards the project, with copies of the album on memory disk starting the ball rolling at £5. There will then be the opportunity to receive signed copies of the final CD, names in the credits, VIP nights out and even a Dave Seaman helmed house party.

After the successful event at Nation, where else will you be playing this year and what’s next for you?

Luna’s 1st birthday happened on April 13th (Luna is a party that myself and a few good friends put on), so hopefully more Lunas to come this year. A few gigs around the UK, Manchester with Umek & Christian Varela (UMPMCR), gigs in Scotland and Bristol and I am lining up some more Ministry / Gallery gigs too.

Plus I have a few things lined up with Selador, hopefully a mini tour with Dave Seaman and I’m working on being back in Mexico and Costa Rica soon. My diary is starting to fill up again, which is nice!

Nightlife

Lee Butler’s 20 Year Charity Event

At Privilege Bank Holiday Sunday 26th May 4pm - 4am £20

20 years of the best memories in 12 hours Raising £10,000 for Rose Farley Alder Hey appeal / Liverpool Women’s Premature Babies Unit / Cancer Research UK / Cash for Kids “It’s 20 years since I started DJing in Liverpool’s clubland and I wanted to do a night that brought together as many memories as I could. I have played all of the city’s main clubs and thought what a better way of raising money for charityies that are important to me. The Rose Farley Appeal is directly linked to Alder Hey Hospital and I’m a friend of Chris Farley. The Premature Babies Unit is where my three youngest were born, each three months premature and I’ll never be able to thank them enough. Cancer Research UK is a really important

cause as wellas cancer is something that has affected us all in one way or another, including my own Mum; and Radio City’s Cash for kids is an amazing charity too. The night is gonna be about having a party with some of the finest DJs and PAs that I have played alongside during my 20 years on the decks.”

Confirmed Acts so far:

· Eve Gallagher - You Can Have It All · The Bassheads - Is there Anybody Out There · Cahill Ft Nikki Bell - Trippin On You / Sex Shooter / Teardrops · 2 Funky 2 - Brothers n Sisters · Toni Di Bart - The Real Thing · Rezonance Q - Someday · Mancini ft Jen Jewel - Round and Around · Talizman / Casino - Only you · K Klass - Rhythm is a Mystery / Let Me Show You Love

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· Rudedog - Feel the Power of Bass / Walk Into The Sun · Click 22 – You’re a Superstar · Oceanic - Take Me Into Insanity

Djs confirmed so far in 2 rooms:

Lee Butler / Jon Cotton / Mark Simon / Anton Powers / John Kelly / Steve Cocky / Christian Davies / Rudedog / Bingo Staar / Paul Bleasdale / Si Edwards / Ste Mcgee / Dave Pethard / Paul Mcgee / Mike Knowler / Rob Cain / Pez Tellet / Col Roberts / Robbie Edwards / Mike Lewis / Alan Hartley / Dave Seed / john ross jnr / Joe Walsh / Steve Timmins/ Paul Smith Jnr / Colin Airey / Tom Quinn / Sam Walker / Lee Morrison / Liam Hinks / Denny Dowd / Ian Woods / Ian Redman / Ste Parry / Liam Irwin / Ian Longo /

May 2013

Top Ten: May

Lee Butler DJ Profile:

Garlands DJ Mr X 1. Oh Ssshh Chris Lake 2. Do It To The Music Raw Silk 3. Where’s Your Head At Alex Guesta 4. This Is What It Feels Like - D Guetta Armin Van Buuren 5. Coming Back Rudedog 6. Precious love Bingo Staar 7. Jump Neils Van Gogh 8. What’s Up Heaven TJR V Bruno Mars

8. Back To The Old Skool Tremelos 10. Ode to Oi TJR Join Lee Butler every Friday night from 10pm and Saturday night 9pm until midnight for his double award winning show Plastic Surgery on Radio City 96.7 www.leebutler.co.uk twitter @djleebutler facebook https://www. facebook.com/pages/LeeButlers-Plastic-SurgeryRadio-City-967

Mr X... Tell us about you?

A created DJ act from another planet.

Your most memorable DJing moment?

Either Gay Pride last year or Nari and Milani at Bedlam’s birthday.

If you could be any DJ in the world, who would you be and why?

Anyone in Horse Meat Disco Favourite track of all times?

Hard one but maybe Nobody’s Business by The Chosen Few What do your opinion on receiving requests whilst DJing?

Happy to do it as long as it’s not stupid.

Last but not least - Mr X......... Who is he?

Can’t tell you, sorry!

Text: Joe Ann Randles Photo: Lee Morrison

Eating Out

134 Duke Street, East Village, Liverpool, L1 5AG

Sapporo Teppanyaki Restaurant, Sushi & Noodle Bar

S

apporo Teppanyaki Restaurant is Liverpool’s famous flagship Japanese restaurant offering teppanyaki cuisine with a contemporary twist and sushi known for being at its culinary best. Sapporo Teppanyaki prides itself in offering a unique and at times highly dramatic dining experience through the established Teppanyaki chefs and their combined culinary skills.

Emphasis is focused on excellent service, great food and first class hospitality, all served against a background of stylish Japanese decor.

Whether in for lunch, a big night out or drinks with friends, Sapporo Teppanyaki has wide appeal and is perfect for groups, large parties, couples and families.

Sapporo Teppanyaki is a culinary destination for those looking to enjoy delicious Japanese food and a sensational cooking experience.

The restaurant has a contemporary feel, cleverly divided into two separate areas; The Sushi Noodle Bar and The Teppanyaki Grill.

The Bar has forged its positioning as a popular sushi & noodle lunch destination with an extensive new Japanese cocktail, Sake, and Japanese whiskey list, including

the 18 year-old Yamazki Whiskey.

Menu favourites include sushi platters and noodles, everything from Nigiri – a finger of rice topped with fish - to Tempura and Chilli Beef Soup Noodles.

The adjacent specialist teppanyaki grill area allows guests to participate in the full “Teppanyaki Experience”; to get up close with their own personal chef and enjoy the drama of Teppanyaki food preparation. Groups of guests seated around their own teppanyaki table can sit back and enjoy the show and cuisine.

The chefs prepare each individual dish to order with dexterity and showmanship; Sapporo Teppanyaki’s talented chefs delight in displaying their incredible skills as they cook each dish with utensil tossing, aerial chopping, heat and fire – the skilful chefs set alight to the Teppanyaki hot plate which is thrilling yet safe. Delicious food is prepared alongside this entertainment with a huge sense of occasion and gives each guest his or her very own breathtaking and memorable Teppanyaki Experience.

As each dish is prepared to order, only the freshest and best quality ingredients are used to create them. The Teppanyaki area

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includes a Teppanyaki Grill which is heated to seal in the flavour quickly therefore allowing for a far healthier finished dish.

Given its unique dining experience Sapporo Teppanyaki is a popular location with a wide appeal for all types of guest: The restaurant’s vibrant atmosphere is ideal for a get-together with groups of friends, for unforgettable special occasions and also for families where the entertainment will never fail to impress. Sapporo Teppanyaki is also a great place to settle with colleagues after meetings or for adding a little pizzazz to a Romantic meal.

Since opening in 2003 Sapporo Teppanyaki restaurant, has provided Liverpool with a unique and popular restaurant. The growing popularity of Teppanyaki and the healthier benefits have all helped forge a loyal fan-base establishing Sapporo Teppanyaki as the original and best in Liverpool.

Sapporo Teppanyaki opening hours are Monday to Saturday, 12p.m. – 11 p.m. and On Sundays from 12 p.m. – 10.30 p.m.

For reservations at Sapporo Teppanyaki Liverpool please call 0151 705 3005 or visit www.sapporo.co.uk

May 2013

I

l Forno opened in 2005 and quickly established itself as one of Liverpool’s leading authentic Italian dining experiences located in the heart of the city. Managed by Italians, using produce from their homeland’s bountiful regions and staying true to original recipes and renowned Italian custom has ensured Il Forno has been one of the city’s most successful restaurants for the last 8 years.

Il Forno Italian Restaurant 132 Duke Street,, Liverpool, L1 5AG 0151 709 4002

Each of Il forno’s talented Italian chefs is dedicated to creating authentic italian recipes resulting in deliciously traditional Italian dishes; authentic pizza, pasta, meat and fish dishes and the favourite of many locals, the array of homemade Italian ice cream.

Il Forno is a family affair with the Head Chef Paolo Cillo from Basilicata, first generation, born, raised and trained in Italy. He brings the family’s detailed technical knowledge married with an Italian passion for food and desire to continuously produce fabulous dining experiences for all guests to the restaurant.

His brother Donato Cillo is Restaurant Manager and Donato’s wife is a pastry chef in the restaurant.

All the dishes served in the restaurant are made on site. The dishes served at Il Forno are a “mix of the best regions”, made with only the freshest ingredients imported directly from Italy including olive oil, flour and Italian meats and cheeses. The cured meats and cheeses are sourced directly from the producers in Parma and Salerno while the extra virgin olive oil used at the restaurant is produced exclusively for the restaurant in a remote mountain village in Basilicata.

Il forno Italian Restaurant serves lunch Monday – Thursday, 12 p.m – 2.30 dinner 5.30 -10.30 p.m., Friday – Sunday 12 p.m. – 11 p.m.

For information and booking: info@ilforno.co.uk or telephone 0151 709 4002

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Theatre

Physical Fest Unity Theatre, The Bluecoat, The Black-E and Liverpool City Centre.

24th May - 1stJune 2013

P

hysical Fest is an international annual physical theatre festival in Liverpool. Now celebrating its 9th year, the festival hosts 8 days of exciting workshops from internationally renowned practitioners, performances, events, classes and an improvised jam.

Physical Fest is the only festival of its kind in Europe that specialises solely in physical theatre, attracting participants and artists locally, nationally and internationally. The festival creates a very warm, welcoming and creative atmosphere and offers unique opportunities for

networking and exchanging information.

This is the biggest year for the festival yet, hosting more performances, including Physical Fest’s first street theatre in collaboration with the Surge Festival, Glasgow, and a UK premiere of long time collaborator of Pina Bausch, Daphnis Kokkinos.

Launching this year’s Physical Fest is Fest Live at The Unity Theatre, the annual showcase for the most exciting new physical and visual work from both emerging and established artists internationally, all carefully selected by a panel of UK

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practitioners. With styles ranging from clown to dance theatre, a special appearance from the Zambian Barefeet Acrobats (who will be taking part in the whole Fest), and hosted by very special comic guest compares, Fest Live is an entertaining evening not to be missed!

Physical Fest is hosted by Liverpool’s Tmesis Theatre company, an internationally renowned physical theatre company. www.tmesistheatre.com www.physicalfest.com info@physicalfest.com 0781 330 1517

May 2013

What’s On? Capstone Theatre

George Orwell’s 1984

7.30pm £12 (£10 concessions) Adapted by Matthew Dunster “War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength” Winston Smith rewrites history for the Ministry of Truth, but when he’s handed a note that says simply ‘I love you’ by a woman he hardly knows, he decides to risk everything in a search for the real truth.

In a world where cheap entertainment keeps the proles ignorant but content, where war without end is always fought and the government is always watching, can Winston possibly hold onto what he feels inside? Or will he renounce everything, accept the Party’s reality and learn to love Big Brother?

Sell a Door Theatre Company continue their 2013 season with Matthew Dunster’s faithful adaptation of George Orwell’s Dystopian Science Fiction novel. Following Sell Out Productions of Spring Awakening and Lord of the Flies

Cubana Bop plays West Side Story

Friday 10th May 7.30pm £15 A unique Latin jazz-take on the songs of one of the greatest 20th century musicals, West Side Story. The Bernstein–Sondheim originals are given a new twist with arrangements performed by one

of the UK’s top Latin jazz bands, Cubana Bop, featuring special guest singers Paul Roberts and Jo Riley. Roberts’ was lead singer of British band The Stranglers for 16 years and Riley spent seven years working with top vocal group The Swingle Singers.

The songs have been arranged by band leader and pianist Terry Seabrook. They include: Prologue, Maria, Tonight, I feel Pretty, Somewhere, America, Officer Krupke, Something’s Coming. The songs are performed as featured pieces and this show is not performed as a musical.

Empire Theatre Birds of a Feather

Tue 07th - Sat 11th May 7.30pm £10.00 - £32.50 The girls are back! One of BBC TV’s most popular and fondly-remembered sitcoms comes to the stage with all three of its original leading cast members, Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph. Birds of a Feather ran on BBC for nearly ten years throughout the 1990s becoming a massive hit right from the word go and remains not only a classic comedy but also, as a female-centred long-running series, a truly rare gem. And now the three stars of the TV series are re-united on stage to re-create their adored characters, sisters Sharon Theodopolopoudos and Tracy Stubbs and their sex-mad neighbour, Dorien Green, in a brand-new show created especially for the theatre

by The Comedy Theatre

Company, producers of the highly-successful tour of Victoria Wood’s dinnerladies.

Ricky Tomlinson’s Royle Variety Show

Thu 16th May 7.30 £25.00 Following his highly successful 2012 Theatre Tour Ricky Tomlinson brings his Royle Variety Show back to the Liverpool Empire Theatre for another Royle Night Out! Join Ricky and his star studded line up, which includes: Tom O’Connor TV Star and Comedy Legend Bobby Davro TV Star and all round Funny Man The Platters Asa Murphy One of the finest vocal talents in the UK Stavros Flatley As seen on Britain’s Got Talent Steve Hewlett ‘Simply amazing’ Bruce Forsyth Steve Charles Soul & Motown Sensation With live band, dancers and much more…

This show should not be missed! In support of the ‘Grand Water Rats’ Charity

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Epstein Theatre The Soldier’s Tale

Wednesday 8th May 7:30 pm £10 Returning from war, a soldier meets a sinister stranger. He offers him a bargain: the soldier’s violin in return for a book of untold riches. It seems like an easy choice – but this, after all, is a world in which the devil really does have all the best tunes. In troubled times, Stravinsky’s musical folk-tale remains as fresh, entertaining and unsettling as ever. Sitting comfortably? You won’t be.

First, though, enter a very different world: Liverpool-born Emily Howard has emerged as one of the UK’s most compelling musical voices, and in Settle – written for Ensemble 10/10 in 2010 – she evokes a deeply-felt landscape of outer beauty and inward sorrow. If you haven’t yet heard her music, there’s no more moving introduction.

Theatre

Caz & Britney Presents

Scottie Road The Musical A

fter their recent sell out run, Caz and Britney are back!

Scottie Road The Musical (A musical misadventure), tells the story of pyjama wearing, Greggs scoffing, inimitable ‘Caz n Britney’, and their life changing journey from Primark to Prison.

Written by and featuring

Epstein Theatre Saturday 11th May £15.00 / £12.50 consc

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Keddy Sutton (Stags and Hens, Good Cop, Ken Campbell’s Improvisational School of Night, Peppa Pig ) and Gillian Hardie (Stags and Hens, Blood Brothers, Our Day Out, Bad Girls The Musical) A heartfelt tale and homage to the wonderful world of Musical Theatre.

May 2013

Lantern Theatre

uncompromising and immediately rewarding as this.

Northern Broadsides, directed for the first time by the renowned director Jonathan Miller, bring its trademark gritty, no nonsense performance style to this astonishing play that sees Artistic Director, Barrie Rutter, taking the role of the imperious John Rutherford.

Transatlantic Fury

16th & 17th May £10 Adult £8 Conc 7.30pm An exciting doubleheader bill of political comedy.

Rising star of American comedy Lee Camp (“Like Jon Stewart from the Daily Show but with sharper teeth.” –The Herald) and veteran British stand-up Nick Revell (”fiercely funny… insightful, incandescent.”

The Herald) present Transatlantic Fury.

Camp and Revell have performed live and on TV and radio all over the world, including four visits to the Just for Laughs in Montreal between them. Expect an evening of topical and political comedy of the highest quality. www.leecamp.net http:// www.nickrevell.com

Playhouse Theatre

Blue Remembered Hills

Tue 14th to Sat 18th May 7.30pm (except Wed 15th May, 5.30pm) £12 - £23 The story of seven children one wartime summer, whose hilarious games, complex

Beautiful Thing

friendships and moral dilemmas lead them headlong into sudden and unexpected tragedy.

Dennis Potter’s charming and profound play captures his expansive humanity, his wicked humour and his fierce intolerance of ordinary cruelty.

Almost twenty years after his early death, Dennis Potter speaks to our fractious, changing world with a simple but powerful rhetoric about personal responsibility.

He takes us to a world of dappled sunshine and long, playful afternoons to remind us that no-one is ever truly innocent.

Moving, funny and unforgettable.

Rutherford & Son

Tue 21st to Sat 25th May 7.30pm (except Wed 22nd May) £12 - £23 This powerful drama written and set in the North of England, 1912, is an unflinching

portrayal of an industrial Edwardian family on the brink of collapse. John Rutherford is a tyrannical patriarch, blind to the hopes and feelings of his family. The success of the family-owned glassworks, Rutherford and Son, takes precedence over everything … even happiness.

In a household run on fear cracks begin to appear. The emotional pitch builds up like a pressure cooker. The dramatic voltage intensifies as Rutherford’s absolute authority is challenged and a catastrophic family mutiny begins to unfold, threatening to destroy his world and his factory.

This powerful drama is an unflinching portrayal of an Edwardian family on the brink of collapse.

Ranked by the National Theatre as one of the Top One Hundred Plays of the Century, there are few dramas as deeply human,

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Tue 28th May to Sat 1st Jun 7.30pm £12 - £23 Twenty years ago Liverpool’s Jonathan Harvey wrote Beautiful Thing, aged just 24. It premièred at the Bush Theatre in London and went on to become a West End hit and a cult film.

Celebrating its anniversary year, and direct from the West End, this awardwinning play comes to the Liverpool Playhouse for one week only.

Beautiful Thing is a glorious urban love story between two young men coming to grips with their sexuality and the effect it has on the people in their lives. This uplifting and heart-warming new production is directed by Nikolai Foster (Kes) and stars Suranne Jones as Sandra. Jonathan Harvey is a regular writer on Coronation Street, and wrote the hit TV series Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.

His plays include Canary, Corrie! and Closer to Heaven, as well as the bestselling 2012 novel All She Wants. Suranne Jones is most recognised for her role as Karen McDonald in Coronation Street and DC Rachel Bailey in Scott & Bailey, as well as a memorable appearance as the Tardis in Dr Who.

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Unity Theatre

Alison Carr (Can Cause Death, National Theatre & Latitude Festival) Matt Hartley (Sixty Five Miles, Hull Truck) Sarah McDonald Hughes (Once In A House On Fire, The Lowry)

The Boy with Tape On His face

Trolley-Shaped Bruise

The Cell

7th May - 9th May “...this is a powerful piece of theatre.”

British Theatre Guide The prisoner next door has hung himself. Another has been beaten by an officer.

Kelly is barricaded inside a cell with the officer. Both are guilty of something and both want answers.

Officer Scully plays a dangerous game to predict Kelly’s future, but his own hangs in the balance.

Written by prison writer in residence Michael Crowley and developed with staff and inmates at a young offender’s institution.

A Wondrous Place

15th May - 18th May Four extraordinary adventures in a re-imagined North.

“We’re pioneers, up here, chucking sense out of the window. We’re an experiment.”

Four outstanding writers challenge the ‘it’s grim up North’ clichés and offer a fresh, surprising and vibrant perspective on four amazing Northern cities: Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester.

Stories written by Luke Barnes (Bottleneck, Soho Theatre)

21st May - 22nd May ‘See, if it left bruises, it definitely happened.’

Danielle is painting her world grey. Kate sees rainbows in oil slicks. The police found Kate in a shopping trolley singing to the statue of Eleanor Rigby, they caught Danielle trying her keys in one of the identical houses that make up her street.

This chance encounter in the police waiting room sparks a tale of friendship, rebellion and running from the marks of the past.

Trolley-Shaped Bruise is the dark and comic debut play from Everyman and Playhouse Young Writer Laura Kate Barrow.

Addio Addio Amore

25th May Pina Bausch was the leading influence in modern dance from the 1970s until her death in 2009.

Her unique style blending movement, sound and set design won her plaudits around the globe.

In a passionate and moving dance theatre performance, Daphnis Kokkinos reveals the stories, experiences, anecdotes, exchanges and dreams that he shared with Pina in this tribute to her work and life.

Daphnis has spent the last twenty years dancing, collaborating, and most recently fulfilling the role of rehearsal assistant, for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Floating

28th May - 30th May Everyone has a story to tell about the NHS - terrible food, waiting lists, infections and complaints.

But what are the unheard stories of compassion and kindness from the caring face of our national health service?

Meet a high-dependency nurse, overworked and undervalued. The beating heart of your NHS Written & directed by Sam Freeman Performed by Susannah Freeman

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Wed 29th May Mime with noise. Standup with no talking.

Drama with no acting.

As seen on: BBC2’s Comedy Prom, ITV’s Comedy Rocks and BBC3’s Live at the Fringe.

But if you must know, he will have a gunfight, battle Darth Vader and bring John Lennon back to life.

Winner Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards Panel Prize 2012

Failure (and other opportunities for non-linear success)

Fri 31st May Left standing at the disco. Caught naked on the red carpet. Fashion victim, aspiring pop diva, and chronic underachiever Mary Pearson is consumed by delusional fantasies of commercial success. A one woman show combining visual absurdity with contemporary dance, comedy and social commentary.

“Mary Pearson’s warmth and incredible sense of comic timing was breathtaking” Total Theatre.

Cinema

Mud Released: 10th May Director: Jeff Nichols Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan, Sam Sheppard

Star Trek Into Darkness Released: 9th May Director: J.J. Abrams Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve

W

hen the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

JJ Abrams returns with the sequel to his re-booted franchise and, as with 2009’s film, injects a fierce pace leaping from set-piece

to set-piece barely pausing to admire the monumental sets and breath-taking CGI. This is science fiction for the 18 – 25 age group, necessarily sacrificing a bit of brains for a bit more brawn, but the addition of the always watchable Cumberbatch as arch villain John Harrison adds gravity (impressive for a space based film) and surely will see him beaming up into the Hollywood big league.

Lavish, thrill packed, loud and spectacular, Into Darkness is a rip roaring space yarn that probably won’t challenge your perception of the universe but might make you eat your popcorn with more vigour. Incidentally, further proof that wherever you (boldly) go you’ll find a scouser, Kirk’s love interest Alice Eve’s mum is from Kirkby.

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Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. He says he is planning to meet and escape with the love of his life, Juniper, who is waiting for him in town. Sceptical but intrigued, Ellis and Neckbone agree to help him.

It isn’t long until Mud’s visions come true and their small town is besieged by a beautiful girl with a line of bounty hunters in tow.

Feeling like an adaptation of a novel but actually written for the screen, Mud has obvious literary influences, most notably Huckleberry Fin, Stand By Me and Badlands, but isn’t unduly over-awed by such comparisons.

This is an involving coming of age tale that manages to stay just the right side of the melodramatic riverbank, beautifully shot and featuring a brilliant turn by the young Sheridan and a resurgent McConaughey at his best after a deservedly acclaimed recent appearance in Killer Joe. An enjoyable fable that managed to buck my initial disappointment at realising it wasn’t a biopic about 70s glam rockers who sing about the lower appendages of maneating stripy cats.

The Great Gatsby Released: 16th May Director: Baz Lurhmann Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher

T

he Great Gatsby follows Fitzgerald-like, wouldbe writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded

husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles. Lurhmann helms Fitzgerald’s classic with his trademark rhythmic panache and lavishly adorned sets. The ever excellent and charismatic

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DiCaprio is perfectly cast as the enigmatic Gatsby as is the soulfully vulnerable Mulligan in the much lauded role of Daisy.

After ditching the spidey spandex Maguire finally lands a role deserving of his talents providing a convincingly empathic, everyman and (Mrs Baron Cohen) Blair impresses, oozing irresistible decadence. Luhrmann’s brave re-imagining of Fitzgerald’s classic novel and the renowned 70s feature is opulent, gorgeous, involving and thoroughly entertaining. In fact, it’s great.

Cinema

Want To Help Fund A Film?

H

aphazard Productions Ltd launches a new IndieGoGo campaign to complete their Liverpool Based Feature I Have a Bad Feeling About This.

Last year the filmmakers raised £10,000 to make their first ever feature film, I Have a Bad Feeling About This. Shot last summer the film features a great ensemble cast including some local names such as Neil Fitzmaurice (Phoenix Nights/ Peep Show), Paul Duckworth (Brookside/Backbeat) and Lynn Francis (Charlie Nodes R.I.P).

I Have a Bad Feeling About This is a quirky, upbeat, buddycomedy/Sci-Fi adventure. The story follows the exploits of Andy and Sam, two Star Wars obsessed slackers in their early twenties, living in the suburbs of Liverpool.

Sam is soon to be leaving Andy to go to university, but before they part ways for good, they must embark on a journey to the furthest reaches of town to try and find a pair of tickets to a one-off showing of the original Star Wars

trilogy. Along the way they meet dodgy ticket touts, angry yoga instructors, deranged thieves, clueless police, the suburban mafia and a dangerous hooded madman.

In the tradition of Spaced and Clerks and with a dollop of The Inbetweeners for good measure, I Have a Bad Feeling About This is a feel-good tale about friends, not wanting to grow up and realising that sometimes… you don’t really have to.

Producer Laura Purcell said, “it’s a film that hasn’t been attempted in this part of the world before.

Spoken with an unheard voice and taken from a fresh perspective.

Currently, we’re editing the movie and are really pleased with the result so far. Now we are looking to raise some post production funds to get the film ready for release. There are a couple of extra shots we need to get that we didn’t get a chance to shoot last time, and we’d like to try and get the rights to a few bits of music too. Once we’ve done that, it’s off to the festival circuit to try

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and find a distributor! We also want to exhibit the film in local venues, but most importantly, we want to try and get the film off to Sundance in 2014.”

Director/Writer/Actor Alan Donohoe added, “we are really trying to do something different here, we want to break the traditional mold for funding a film, whilst still finding an audience, it’s fixing to be a really cool little indie flick, we just need that extra push to get it out there so people can see it. It’s about a bunch of nerdy underdogs, made by a bunch of nerdy underdogs, for all of the nerdy underdogs out there!”

“The community spirit that we’ve had on this film is unlike anything possible on another film,” says writer Jamie Williamson. “The way we were funded, by excited fans of movies, and because everyone in the cast and crew has given up their own free time to make this film, that’s heavily influenced it. You can tell this film was made with love”.

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