The Liver Birds

The Liver Birds a play performed by Southport Dramatic Club, on Thursday, 16th February, 2023 at Southport Little Theatre, Hoghton Street, Southport.

‘The Liver Birds’ is a play written by Carla Lane and John Chapman and adapted for stage following the huge success of the television series of the same name.  The story centres around Sandra and Beryl two young single girls who share an apartment together on Merseyside in the 1970’s!  The girls try and pursue their romantic interests whilst attempting to keep their interfering mothers at bay.  We are introduced to a constant stream of colourful and eccentric people, neighbours, ex-lovers, want to-be lovers, fathers and a Vicar, who pass through the apartment on a frequent basis… all of which adds to the confusion, the hilarity of this funny and nostalgic play!

The Production Team…  Kate Miles-Roberts (Director) was the lady tasked to bring this play to stage. Kate had gathered a strong cast, who were well-rehearsed and who had created some ‘believable’ characters. In Kate’s programme notes (and I paraphrase) … ‘There are so many things to love about this play, its warmth, its humour and its wonderful range of characters some of whom you may recognise, a friend, a work colleague or a neighbour or you might even recognise yourself just a pinch’.  The results; a funny, yet heart-warming play.  Congratulation Kate good job, be proud!

The Cast… a cast of nine… four ladies and five men all added their own individual contributions to this play. As is the ‘norm’, in most of my reviews, this is where I stick my neck out and start selecting favourites, MY FAVOURTIES …. ask anyone else present that night and they’d probably select someone else, but these are mine, although it was a tough decision between three for ‘show stealer … but, in the end, I went for Ronnie Orr and his portrayal of ‘Duval’ the caretaker of the block of flats. Not the biggest part in theworld, but Ronnie took it and made it his own!  Great stage presence, great characterisation… used his voice and body language to give his character more depth and feeling… worked really well with the other cast members… be very proud Ronnie… great job sir!  Jen Corcoran and Natasha Athey, playing our two female leads ‘Beryl’ and ‘Sandra’ respectively both pushed Ronnie for ‘show stealer’. They worked ever so well together, which was essential if this play was to work!  Beryl and Sandra are ‘polar opposites’, who live together in a block of flats!  Jen provided us with a great characterisation of ‘Beryl’ the loud, outspoken, common one!  Confident, great stage presence, never out of character… Jen looked totally comfortable throughout in this role which she made her own… well done, be ever so proud Jen.  Natasha gave us another great interpretation of the soft spoken, more refined ‘Sandra’ who’s ‘snobbish’ approach to life is influenced very much by her mother.  Natasha was confident throughout, great stage presence and great characterisation, another who worked ever so well with all the cast… well done, Natasha, good job, be proud!   PJ Green… took on the role of the ‘Vicar’ which he made his own creating another believable character.  Loved the ‘curls’, loved the character, the intimate scenes with Sandra were believable… be very proud PJ!  Karen Parkinson took on the role of Mrs Hutchinson, the very ‘posh’ mother of Sandra. Karen was able to create a very posh, totally believable character!  Well done Karen great job!  Sam Roberts, took on the role of ‘Mrs Hennessey’, mother to Jen and played it really well.  Good characterisation, be proud Sam good job!   Richard Michell took on the role of ‘Paul’ who totally fancied ‘Sandra’ which resulted in many frequent visits to the flat. Richard looked completely at home in this role, good stage presence and another who provided us with a believable character…  be proud Richard, good job!  Rikki Spofforth took on the role of ‘Robert’ and Ed Davies the role of ‘Mr. Hutchinson’.  Rikki and Ed were perfect fits for these two cameo roles.  Both created believable characters and worked well with the other cast members. Robert was ‘involved’ with Beryl…. whilst Mr Hutchinson was going through a ‘rocky period’ in his marriage to Mrs Hutchinson, but in the end that looked totally resolved.  Well done you two!

Set / Staging and Tech… as always here at the Little Theatre, the set provided the actors with a ‘perfect platform’ for them to perform… congrats to Radley Haynes (Set Design), Bob Jessamine (Scenic Artist) and to the SDC Construction Team on their efforts.  Debbie Moss (Stage Manager) and Graeme Hunt (Assistant SM) were in charge back stage and should also be congratulated on their efforts.

Lighting + Sound again, as always here at the Little Theatre… lighting was great… designed by Team LX and operated by Neil Yates (Lighting Operator).  The sound under the control of Dave Cox (Sound), was good.

Props… were apt, used well and enhanced the production… keeping an eye on these were Fi Billington and Rosalie Sephton.

If I may, in summing up, say that as soon as those curtains opened every member of the cast worked their socks off, they worked ever so well together and provided us with some really wonderful colourful characters even though I felt the script and the storyline was a little dated and without a great deal of substance, which therefore makes the direction and the performance of the cast even more special!  Well done one and all…

Thank you so much for again inviting my wife and I to your production which we really did enjoy.  Hope to see you all again very soon for ‘The Wolves of Willoughby Close' Looking forward to it already!

Stay safe and keep well…
‘STRONGER TOGETHER’

Jim Briscoe
NODA North West
District 6 Rep

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