Home Authors Philip Key

Philip Key

Times change but quality doesn’t

"DON’T put your money in the music business if you want to make cash,” suggests Alan Wills. He should know – he runs Liverpool’s most successful record label, Deltasonic. Read

Amy Adams in the Disney film, Enchanted

Film Review: Enchanted


I DID not enjoy this movie. So why, you may ask, have I given it four stars? The simple answer is that it was not made for a cynical, old critic like myself. Read

Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix in the film thriller, We Own The Night

Film Review: We Own The Night


“WE OWN the night” was apparently a New York cops slogan in the 1980s as they battled drug barons. Read

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

Theatre Review: Pinocchio, Unity Theatre

LIKE many stories from children’s literature, Carlo Collodi’s original Pinocchio was pretty grim at times. Then the Walt Disney studio lightened it up no end in its 1940 animated cartoon. Read

Syd Little in costume for Panto in Southport

Theatre Review: Aladdin, Southport Theatre

YOU can’t get much more traditional than this Aladdin with its principal boy, a man playing dame, dancing girls and a villain bathed in green light. It is also one of the classiest-looking productions around. Read

Arts and Entertainment

Key Events

PANTOMIME: Lots of rock and pop songs played and sung by the actor/ musician cast in this now traditional rock and roll pantomime. The setting is a surreal Old Fazakerley looking like China. To- night, 7.30pm, Liverpool Everyman. Tickets £13.50 and £16.50. Until January 12. 0151 709 4776. Read

Comedian Terry Titter (Terry Kilkerry) with the mural at the Society Club, Duke Street, Liverpool which features one of his characters 'Renee Titter'. PICTURE: HOWARD DAVIES

Don’t titter, Renee is going to the wall

RENEE TITTER, the self-confessed desperate nymphomaniac, has finally made it big. She is appearing at Liverpool’s award-winning nightclub, Society, in Duke Street. Read

Actor Pete Postlethwaite at the Liverpool Playhouse

Postlethwaite’s performance looks set to be one of the cultural highlights of the year

WHAT should an actor look like? Square-jawed and handsome, smooth and oily with a pencil moustache, round-faced and jolly? Whatever your precon-ceptions of an actor’s looks, Pete Postlethwaite will disappoint. Read

Tommy Steele in the new production of Dr Dolittle at the Liverpool Empire

Theatre Review: Dr Dolittle, Liverpool Empire Theatre

PANTOMIME Dr Dolittle/ Liverpool EmpireDr Dolittle/ Liverpool Empire Read

Syd Little in costume for Panto in Southport

Syd's getting there, Little by Little

SYD Little talks to Philip Key about forging a solo career after years with Eddie Large. Read

Actor Pete Postlethwaite at the Liverpool Playhouse

Pete Postlethwaite comes back home for ‘terrifying’ role of Lear

HOLLYWOOD actor Pete Postlethwaite will be returning to his beloved Everyman Theatre next year to play King Lear as part of the Everyman and Playhouse theatres’ 2008 celebrations. Read

The cast of The Flint Street Nativity, Liverpool Playhouse 2007

Theatre Review: The Flint Street Nativity, Liverpool Playhouse

IT BEGAN as a one- hour television play, was premiered as a stage show with music at the Playhouse last year, and returns in a new and much-improved version. Read

Lego figures depict scenes of torture in Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, part of the The alTURNERtive Prize 07

Not Turner - but it’s far more disturbing

WHILE the art world prepares for the Turner Prize award tonight at the Tate Liverpool, Merseyside has already staged its own alternative event. Read

The Philharmonic Hall, home to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Comedy Review: Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns, Philharmonic Hall

IF YOU want to watch a silent comedy today, you will probably have to do so with a DVD or video on a television set. Read

Arts and Entertainment

Key Events

THEATRE: Tim Firth’s comedy The Flint Street Nativity – in which adult actors play kids involved in a Nativity play – gets a welcome return following its stage premiere here last year. Firth has done a handful of rewrites to tighten it up but it remains much the same, complete with its poignant moments. Tonight, 7.30pm, Liverpool Playhouse. Tickets tonight, £8. Until January 12. 0151 709 4776. Read

Film director Andrew Piddington at the FACT centre during a visit to Liverpool to promote his film, The Killing of John Lennon

New film delves into the mind of Beatle John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman

AFTER four years, director Andrew Piddington has finally brought the tragic story of John Lennon’s murder to the big screen. Philip Key reports Read

Jennifer John of Liverpool's Sense of Sound choir

Singing out by Royal command

Philip Key talks to Jennifer John about Sense of Sound and their upcoming Royal Variety debut Read

Vince Vaughn in the film comedy, Fred Claus

Film Review: Fred Claus


CALL ME an old cynic, but I always feel Christmas films with strong moral messages are created just to make money and lots of it. Make a successful one, you see, and you can be assured of an annual income as the movie is shown over and over again. Read

Aladdin, at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre

Theatre Review: Aladdin, Liverpool Everyman

IT BEGAN with a rendition of Crazy Horses which seemed apt in the circumstances. Read

Celebrated dance company, Urban Bush Women

Dance: Variety and passion of women dancers

THERE is nothing if not variety in the work of the African American dance company Urban Bush Women. 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

E-Newsletter Sign Up

E-Newsletter Sign Up

FREE news by email

Receive the latest Liverpool Daily Post news and sport direct to your inbox. Sign up for our free E-Newsletters. Read

Your Post

Help us make the news - contact us with your stories, pictures and videos ...