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Philip Key

Celebrated dance company, Urban Bush Women

Urban Bush Women make dance debut

ONE of New York’s most celebrated dance companies, Urban Bush Women, makes its Liverpool debut tomorrow, heralding a big year of dance in the city in the months to come. Read

Ellen Kent and Opera & Ballet International performing Bizet's Carmen at the Liverpool Empire Theatre

Opera: Carmen, Liverpool Empire

OPERA promoter Ellen Kent likes her operas staged traditionally, so it comes as no surprise that her first show as producer/ director for her own company is just that. Read

Actor Daniel Casey in The Flint Street Nativity at the Liverpool Playhouse

Theatre: Midsomer Murders’ Daniel Casey is to star in the Flint Street Nativity at the Liverpool Playhouse

FROM TV murders to the Nativity. Philip Key talks to actor Daniel Casey Read

Michael Caine and Jude Law in the film thriller, Sleuth

Film Review: Sleuth


YET another remake! Yes, but this is one well worth it, not so much a remake of the 1972 film as a new interpretation. Read

Actor Sam Bloom appearing in the title role of Aladdin at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

Theatre: Sam Bloom - I wanted to be the centre of attention

PHILIP Key talks to actor and singer Sam Bloom about his role in the Everyman’s pantomime. Read

The Saw Doctors at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Music: The Saw Doctors - We like performing in Liverpool – we like the energy of the place

FANS may regret the paucity of studio recordings from the Irish folk-rock band The Saw Doctors, but there is a reason for it. They never seem to stop travelling. Read

Anima by Momentum at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Theatre Review: Anima, Unity Theatre

ANIMA, the new show at the Unity, is a voyage beyond the imagination. At least, most people’s imagination. Read

Emma Hirons with one of the puppets at rehersals for Pinocchio at the Unity Theatre

Theatre: Dark new twist on a children’s classic

PINOCCHIO is the story we all think we know, mainly thanks to Walt Disney’s 1940 animated feature. It will be getting a rather different treatment when it goes on stage at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre from December 4. Read

Key arts events this week

MUSICAL: The great musical Gypsy was based (slightly ) on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee focussing on the toughest of showbiz mothers pushing her daughter forward. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and presented by Wallasey Operatic Society. Tonight, 7.30pm, Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight. Tickets £10 (concessions £8). Until Saturday. 0151 632 3640. Read

Beowulf (Ray Winstone) from the Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf, also featuring Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson

Film Review: Beowulf


THE Old English poem Beowulf has bored generations of students with its impenetrable language and epic length. Read

Eithne Browne and Neil Caple in the play, Two, at the Royal Court Theatre

From saleswoman to showstopper

IT IS four hours before the curtain is due to rise at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre, and actress Eithne Browne is already in her dressing room. "I like to be prepared," she says, admitting to a certain anxiety before any performance. Read

Tommy’s not planning to Steele the show

Tommy’s not planning to Steele the show

Philip Key talks to one of the greatest troUpers in showbusiness as he prepares to star in Dr Dolittle Read

Pop singer, Paul Young

Paul Young is cooking up a treat

HAVE our rock stars gone soft? Wild man Alice Cooper has emerged as a golf fanatic, punk singer Johnny Rotten turned up playing with emus on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here and now 1980s icon Paul Young is revealed as a secret cook. Read

The Walker Art Gallery

Gallery show turns spotlight on Liverpool career of popular British artist

HE BECAME one of England’s favourite artists, but the 18th- century painter Joseph Wright of Derby was for a while Joseph Wright of Liverpool. Read

Sarah Lee-Dickson and Henry Everett in the stage adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's The Suitcase Kid at the Liverpool Playhouse

Theatre Review: The Suitcase Kid, Liverpool Playhouse

IT SEEMS an impossible task. Can you find a happy ending for a ten-year-old whose parents split, and who finds herself moving between two different homes full of people she does not like? Read

World Champion whistler David Morris recording a piece with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

A little night music led to a new career

BUSINESSMAN and inventor David Jephcott was feeling stressed after negotiating a series of business deals. “I was coming home late and I couldn’t sleep,” he reports. Read

Eithne Browne and Neil Caple in the play, Two, at the Royal Court Theatre

Theatre Review: Two, Royal Court Theatre

PEOPLE-WATCHING can be great entertainment when visiting a pub and it makes for remarkably good entertainment as a play, too. Read

Tam Dean Burn in the play, Venus as a Boy

Theatre: The power of love anyone can enjoy

SCOTTISH actor Tam Dean Burn was desperate to talk to fellow Scot and author Luke Sutherland. Only he had lost his mobile phone with his number on it. Read

Folk music is not just a bunch of bearded guys

ENGLISH folk music has a bit of an image problem. It conjures thoughts of earnest chaps in sandals, geeky girls in floral prints, and possibly a touch of Morris Dancing. Read

Lisa Riley: Making people laugh has always been part of me

LISA RILEY, Emmerdale’s large and effervescent Mandy Dingle, is not the first person who springs to mind when you think of pole-dancing women. But think again. Read

Author Profile

Arts Editor Philip Key spends his week attending and reporting on the numerous live arts events in Liverpool. Plays the banjo ukulele, collects classic true crime books and performs (badly) magic tricks. Tel: 0151 472 2499

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