all change - and a first theatrical highlight of 2009

By Catherine Jones on Jan 30, 09 11:37 AM

Culture chat may be changing very slightly in the next month.
That is firstly because although Liverpool is still brim full of culture, the initial reason for the blog - Capital of Culture - has now passed on to pastures new. Lithuania and Austria to be exact.
And secondly because I am also moving on to new things.....as the Echo's new arts editor.
As some of you may know, Joe Riley is retiring next month and I am lucky enough to have been chosen to step into his very roomy shoes.

So this blog will continue, but with more of an arts feel. I intend to upload my reviews on to the site, and carry on discussing the pertinent topics of the day as well as hopefully bringing a little backstage peek into the wonderful world of Liverpool's arts scene.
In fact, we were backstage - and indeed ON stage - before Dream a week or two ago on a special evening organised by its sponsor Coutts.
The pre-performance tour included a very eloquent talk by Ed Hall who is founder of the Propeller Theatre Company, an all-male Shakespearean band of players.
He led us through the wings inviting us to pick up the props for a look - as long as we put them back exactly where we found them! - and see how the company managed to change staging in a matter of an hour or two for its other production The Merchant of Venice.
Once we'd vacated the set the cast gratefully leapt straight back on to warm up for last night's show.
And what a show! I'm the first to admit there are some of Shakespeare's plays I can happily let pass me by.
But Propeller's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was entrancing and played with such enthusiasm and wit that it could melt the hardest Bard-hating heart.
Afterwards the cast joined us in the bar for a spot of fizz and some pudding, and they were just as enthusiastic off stage as they were on it.
No mean feat when you think that today they were running themselves ragged in the forests near Athens all afternoon, then ditching the faerie costumes and set for the drama of The Merchant of Venice tonight.
And the next day they did it all again, just the other way round.
Someone is certainly getting their theatrical pound of flesh.