Posted On: 05/02/2016
By: Paul Bannister
If you’re a Scouser (whether born and bred or adopted after years of putting up with us), love to laugh (like belly laugh until your abs hurt) and like having a beer or a wine and a decent scran then seeing Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels at the Royal Court needs to be added to your to-do list immediately.
I’d say I go the theatre more than the average person and it can really be a hit or miss night out. Some performances have had us in stitches and a few (even big, well established plays) have been so bad we’ve left half way through; but none have had us in bulk like this one.
The premise in itself is funny; three Scousers, independently scorned by posh Conservative Wirral types, decide enough is enough and hatch a plan to brick up both the Mersey tunnels and separate the amazing city of Liverpool from the CH peninsula. Add the genius writing of Nicky Alt and Dave Kirby and you’ve got a masterpiece of Liverpool humour, consisting of hilarious one liners, Scouse puns and a lot of “’Kinell Lad, SOFT SHITE!”. It’s no wonder it’s been running for 10 years now! I don’t want to give too much more of the plot away as I could never do it justice in the same way the cast do.
Andrew Schofield really stole the show as your typical workie, Dickie Lewis, who’s done everything and knows everyone, i.e. a compulsive liar. It’s a character we can all say we know well! That doesn’t detract from the rest of the cast’s performances; they were all fantastic and you can expect loads more character name puns such as Anne Twacky, Dee Side and Liz Card.
If you buy an official program (proceeds of which go to the upkeep of the Royal Court) you’ll find a really interesting article detailing how Brick Up came to pass – it all started after the writers read a complaint in the Echo from a lady in Heswall who worked in Liverpool but thought the Liverpool accent was abhorrent. Cheeky cow.
You can enjoy all of this in the beautiful surroundings of the recently done up Royal Court with a lovely meal to start and a dessert in the intermission – all washed down with the bevvy of your choice. I implore you to go and see it, if you don’t you will definitely regret it.
If we could give it 10 out of 5 stars, we would… and I guess we just did. Brick Up runs at The Royal Court from 29th Jan to 5th March 2016 – tickets available online or from the box office.
XOXO
Paul
Hey birds and boys, just leave me your contact details and you won’t miss a single article I post XOXO
