Previous Productions

The Tempest

 

THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare – as imagined by the Company of Friends

An old washed-up magician plots revenge.

With his assistant, he performs a number of tricks to ensnare the folk who betrayed him years ago. He also wants to marry off his daughter to a deserving young man and get her off his hands. Meanwhile a disgruntled employee has other plans…

Magic tricks, conjuring, vanishing, reappearing, strange music, songs, an angry island inhabitant, a drunken sailor, love-struck youngsters, an assistant who can fly and change sex in an instant- all under the spell of an old magician.

These are the dramatic ingredients of Shakespeare’s classic tale of shipwreck, slavery, revenge, forgiveness- and marriage: The Tempest.

This is Company of Friends’ third foray into the many worlds created by William Shakespeare. They have crossed swords in the Scottish play and also with the prince of Denmark. Now it is the turn of Prospero, Caliban, Aerial, Miranda, Ferdinand and assorted aristocrats and seafolk to get the full Company of Friends treatment!

Friday 15th July 7.30pm, Saturday 16th July 2.00pm The Black-E Great George St Liverpool L1 5EW

The Tempest

THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare – as imagined by the Company of Friends

An old washed-up magician plots revenge.

With his assistant, he performs a number of tricks to ensnare the folk who betrayed him years ago. He also wants to marry off his daughter to a deserving young man and get her off his hands. Meanwhile a disgruntled employee has other plans…

Magic tricks, conjuring, vanishing, reappearing, strange music, songs, an angry island inhabitant, a drunken sailor, love-struck youngsters, an assistant who can fly and change sex in an instant- all under the spell of an old magician.

These are the dramatic ingredients of Shakespeare’s classic tale of shipwreck, slavery, revenge, forgiveness- and marriage: The Tempest.

This is Company of Friends’ third foray into the many worlds created by William Shakespeare. They have crossed swords in the Scottish play and also with the prince of Denmark. Now it is the turn of Prospero, Caliban, Aerial, Miranda, Ferdinand and assorted aristocrats and seafolk to get the full Company of Friends treatment!

Friday 15th July 7.30pm, Saturday 16th July 2.00pm The Black-E Great George St L1 5EW


Tam O' Shanter & LIPA Project

 

Company of Friends, in conjunction with LIPA will be looking at the time when Tam O’Shanter became an Urban Farm.

The performance is based on real stories, oral testimonies and anecdotes of each the time frame. Theatre, poetry, music, song, art and much more will be used to tell the stories of the people surrounding the farm on the Wirral; from the top of Bidston Hill and down again to Tam O’Shanter Farm.

Performances Promenade, Begins 4.30pm. Ends 7.30pm on 14th May 2021

The Tam O'Shanter Community Farm, Boundary Road, Bidston Hill, Wirral, CH43 7PD

Tam O' Shanter & LIPA Project

Company of Friends, in conjunction with LIPA will be looking at the time when Tam O’Shanter became an Urban Farm.

The performance is based on real stories, oral testimonies and anecdotes of each the time frame. Theatre, poetry, music, song, art and much more will be used to tell the stories of the people surrounding the farm on the Wirral; from the top of Bidston Hill and down again to Tam O’Shanter Farm.

Promenade Performances, Begins 4.30pm. Ends 7.30pm on 14th May 2021

The Tam O'Shanter Community Farm, Boundary Road, Bidston Hill, Wirral, CH43 7PD

Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman (The Return)

Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman

Company of Friends has been joined by some talented actors from MENCAP Liverpool, to perform a souped-up 'Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman'. Enter Inspector Lestrade, with constables, Baskerville and Hound together with a pair of professional Cockneys to increase the confusion, mix up the mayhem and generally fire up the fun.

Friday December 18th 2020, 1.00pm THE LARK LANE COMMUNITY CENTRE

Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman (The Return)

Company of Friends has been joined by some talented actors from MENCAP Liverpool, to perform a souped-up 'Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman'. Enter Inspector Lestrade, with constables, Baskerville and Hound together with a pair of professional Cockneys to increase the confusion, mix up the mayhem and generally fire up the fun.

Friday December 18th 2020, 1.00pm THE LARK LANE COMMUNITY CENTRE

Sherlock Holmes and the Wolfman

Nothing to be Done

Nothing to be Done

For one night only Company of Friends will be presenting their show NOTHING TO BE DONE? Inspired by Samuel Beckett's work a group of people living in a fog that doesn't clear, meet and fall in love and dream of a sunnier place. The company has been joined by some members of Liverpool MENCAP so we have expanded the piece to include them. They have worked for just under 20 weeks, learning lines, perfecting moves and juggling with bowler hats!

Incorporating live music from Irish fiddler Peter Morgan and a Beckettian narration from Sean Halligan (who also photographed and designed the poster), NOTHING TO BE DONE? is a poetic, truthful and often humorous look at living with an intellectual disability. Through 2019, genererously supported by the National Lottery.

THURSDAY JUNE 27th 7.30pm THE BLACK-E ARTS CENTRE L1 5EW


Nothing to be Done

For one night only Company of Friends will be presenting their show NOTHING TO BE DONE? Inspired by Samuel Beckett's work a group of people living in a fog that doesn't clear, meet and fall in love and dream of a sunnier place. The company has been joined by some members of Liverpool MENCAP so we have expanded the piece to include them. They have worked for just under 20 weeks, learning lines, perfecting moves and juggling with bowler hats!

Incorporating live music from Irish fiddler Peter Morgan and a Beckettian narration from Sean Halligan (who also photographed and designed the poster), NOTHING TO BE DONE? is a poetic, truthful and often humorous look at living with an intellectual disability. Through 2019, genererously supported by the National Lottery.

THURSDAY JUNE 27th 7.30pm THE BLACK-E ARTS CENTRE L1 5EW

Nothing to be Done

Sherlock Holmes and The Wolfman

Sherlock Holmes is sitting in 221b Baker St bored with life. Watson is driven to distraction by his friend's restlessness. But the arrival of a strange Vieled Lady and her sinister man-servant Pringle with a story about werewolves presents Holmes with his strangest case yet. Wild animals invade his Baker St rooms, drinks are spiked with strange substances. Mycroft goes into a coma and Mrs Hudson offers her resignation, amongst other things. All hell breaks loose and only the great detective, and possibly his long-suffering sidekick, will save the day.

Company of Friends production of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WOLFMAN promises to be, if not their best, then certainly their silliest theatrical production yet.

Performance Dates, Thursday December 6th 7.30 pm & Friday December 7th 7.30pm

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and The Wolfman

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is sitting in 221b Baker St bored with life. Watson is driven to distraction by his friend's restlessness. But the arrival of a strange Vieled Lady and her sinister man-servant Pringle with a story about werewolves presents Holmes with his strangest case yet. Wild animals invade his Baker St rooms, drinks are spiked with strange substances. Mycroft goes into a coma and Mrs Hudson offers her resignation, amongst other things. All hell breaks loose and only the great detective, and possibly his long-suffering sidekick, will save the day.

Company of Friends production of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WOLFMAN promises to be, if not their best, then certainly their silliest theatrical production yet.

Performance Dates, Thursday December 6th 7.30 pm & Friday December 7th 7.30pm

The Red and Black

Over the Spring 2018, Company of Friends have been working with students from LIPA on 'Red and Black'; an immersive performance taking place at LIPA and the City of Liverpool.

Produced in collaboration with Slung Low, the performance will be one if the biggest performances to take place at LIPA. It will take the audience out onto the streets to tell this moving account of Liverpool’s history during the Spanish Civil War.

The performance dates are 21/05-26/05, and CofF will be performing on Wednesday 23rd and Saturday 26th, in the canteen of LIPA which will be decorated as a 1930’s pub. There are two performances each day at 7pm and 9pm, resulting in a finale in the Cathedral Gardens (St James’)

Company of Friends with LIPA Video

Red and Black

The Red and Black

Red and Black

Over the Spring 2018, Company of Friends have been working with students from LIPA on 'Red and Black'; an immersive performance taking place at LIPA and the City of Liverpool.

Produced in collaboration with Slung Low, the performance will be one if the biggest performances to take place at LIPA. It will take the audience out onto the streets to tell this moving account of Liverpool’s history during the Spanish Civil War.

The performance dates are 21/05-26/05, and CofF will be performing on Wednesday 23rd and Saturday 26th, in the canteen of LIPA which will be decorated as a 1930’s pub. There are two performances each day at 7pm and 9pm, resulting in a finale in the Cathedral Gardens (St James’)

Company of Friends with LIPA Video

Hamlet

Something's rotten in the state of Denmark. The ruling family is up to its neck in murder, intrigue and mental health issues. Claudius has murdered Hamlet Senior. Hamlet Junior has murdered his girlfriend Ophelia's father Polonius. Her brother Laertes wants to kill Hamlet. Hamlet's mother Gertrude, now wife of Claudius, is frightened Hamlet will murder her. Swords are drawn and cups are filled with poison. Good work for gravediggers but not alas for poor Yorick.

You couldn't write it.

Company of Friends are in the middle of rehearsals for the Bard's seminal play of botched revenge and timless navel-gazing, HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK.

Taking a ScandiNoir perspective, they are wrestling with iambic pentameters, glove puppets and woolly reindeer hats and coming up with something completely their own.

November 30th, December 1st 2017

Hamlet


Something's rotten in the state of Denmark. The ruling family is up to its neck in murder, intrigue and mental health issues. Claudius has murdered Hamlet Senior. Hamlet Junior has murdered his girlfriend Ophelia's father Polonius. Her brother Laertes wants to kill Hamlet. Hamlet's mother Gertrude, now wife of Claudius, is frightened Hamlet will murder her. Swords are drawn and cups are filled with poison. Good work for gravediggers but not alas for poor Yorick.

You couldn't write it.

Company of Friends are in the middle of rehearsals for the Bard's seminal play of botched revenge and timless navel-gazing, HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK.

Taking a ScandiNoir perspective, they are wrestling with iambic pentameters, glove puppets and woolly reindeer hats and coming up with something completely their own.

November 30th, December 1st 2017

Dr Who & The Missing Dimension

This time they take on the 23rd dimension in a brand new Dr Who adventure involving a Clown Doctor, an evil Time Lord, an exfoliating Dalek and a young woman called Dot Matrix who just wants to get back to Kansas-9 in the Rainbow Galaxy...

Performed by John Rand, Ben Small, George Goetzee, Dawn Geary and the Company of Friends. Poster by Sean Halligan, who also narrates. Music by the sound effects program on a cheap keyboard

Written & directed by Paul Goetzee    15th - 16th December 2016

Dr Who & The Missing Dimension


This time they take on the 23rd dimension in a brand new Dr Who adventure involving a Clown Doctor, an evil Time Lord, an exfoliating Dalek and a young woman called Dot Matrix who just wants to get back to Kansas-9 in the Rainbow Galaxy...

Performed by John Rand, Ben Small, George Goetzee, Dawn Geary and the Company of Friends. Poster by Sean Halligan, who also narrates. Music by the sound effects program on a cheap keyboard

Written & directed by Paul Goetzee    15th - 16th December 2016

Our Will

A forum theatre piece using techniques of the The Theatre of the Oppressed pioneered by Austusto Boal.

It tells the story of Will, an everyman with learning disabilities, who transcends time. We first see him in the nineteenth century abandoned in an institution - then we leap forward to the present where institutionalisation isn't an issue but independance is. A family drama unfolds in which the audience are incited to interact and influence the way the story is going.

A fascinating exploration of the ways people with learning disabilities are viewed by society across the last century and into the future.

Directed by Helena Kane    18th - 22nd October 2016

The Production and Development of Our Will by Company of Friends Video

Our Will


A forum theatre piece using techniques of the The Theatre of the Oppressed pioneered by Austusto Boal.

It tells the story of Will, an everyman with learning disabilities, who transcends time. We first see him in the nineteenth century abandoned in an institution - then we leap forward to the present where institutionalisation isn't an issue but independance is. A family drama unfolds in which the audience are incited to interact and influence the way the story is going.

A fascinating exploration of the ways people with learning disabilities are viewed by society across the last century and into the future.

Directed by Helena Kane    18th - 22nd October 2016

The Production and Development of Our Will by Company of Friends Video

MACBETH

Directed by Paul Goetzee, Shakepeare’s drama of vaulting ambition, murder, guilt and madness is given a Sopranos style make-over as the first play of two Company of Friends theatre projects in 2016.

The challenge of Shakespeare for any actor is the intricate, archaic and profound beauty of the language. The challenge for an actor with a learning disability is doubly so. The company will face this with its usual blend of panache, commitment – and blind optimism! The result is often magical, often genuinely comical, but never boring.

At the end of the run, Company of Friends will be hosting a lively one-day conference to discuss the text and language problems for them ‘doing Shakespeare’.

28th June – 1st July 2016 7.30pm The BLACK-E Great George St L1 5EW

The Production and Development of Macbeth by Company of Friends Video

MACBETH

Directed by Paul Goetzee, Shakepeare’s drama of vaulting ambition, murder, guilt and madness is given a Sopranos style make-over as the first play of two Company of Friends theatre projects in 2016.

The challenge of Shakespeare for any actor is the intricate, archaic and profound beauty of the language. The challenge for an actor with a learning disability is doubly so. The company will face this with its usual blend of panache, commitment – and blind optimism! The result is often magical, often genuinely comical, but never boring.

At the end of the run, Company of Friends will be hosting a lively one-day conference to discuss the text and language problems for them ‘doing Shakespeare’.

28th June – 1st July 2016 7.30pm The BLACK-E Great George St L1 5EW

The Production and Development of Macbeth by Company of Friends Video

Nothing to be Done?

Hot from the International Beckett festival in Enniskillen (one of the top five shows to see!) and possibly the last outing for a while of Company of Friends’ successful seriously comic take on life with learning disability, inspired by the great Samuel Beckett.

Oct 16th The Lantern Theatre Blundell St L1 0AJ. 7pm

Nothing to be Done?


Hot from the International Beckett festival in Enniskillen (one of the top five shows to see!) and possibly the last outing for a while of Company of Friends’ successful seriously comic take on life with learning disability, inspired by the great Samuel Beckett.

Oct 16th The Lantern Theatre Blundell St L1 0AJ. 7pm