Review: GIRLS DON'T PLAY GUITARS, Liverpool's Royal Court

Following a critically acclaimed run in 2019, Girls Don’t Play Guitars is back at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Since watching the show, I haven’t been able to stop singing songs like "Peanut Butter" - and I haven’t been able to stop talking about the show either. If you see one show this autumn, make it this one.

Written by Ian Salmon and directed by Bob Eaton, Girls Don’t Play Guitars is based on the true story of the world’s first all-girl rock ‘n’ roll group The Liver Birds. The production combines musical numbers with a well-written biopic narrative and outstanding performances to take you on The Liver Bird’s journey from their early days performing at venues like The Cavern, to The Star Club in Hamburg and more.

Returning are the original cast of the 2019 production - Alice McKenna (Mary), Molly-Grace Cutler (Val), Lisa Wright (Pam) and Sarah Workman (Sylvia) - whose performances are flawless. Each harmony is pitch-perfect, each chord and guitar solo showcases the cast’s stunning musicianship and their energetic musical numbers are a masterclass in performance.

Not only are they talented musicians, but they deliver the story of The Liver Birds with humour, honesty and heartwarming emotion. The cast constantly break the fourth wall to share the narrative of the story with the audience, making you feel that you are experiencing The Liver Bird’s career journey at the same time as the group.

The narrative is played out on Mark Walters’ jaw-dropping set, centred around a large guitar, that is surrounded by TV screens. While the same set is used throughout, it is cleverly designed so that items including amps are used as seats and stairs, to quickly take you from locations such as The Cavern to Mary’s home. The TV screens are also used effectively to display various locations around Europe while The Liver Birds are touring, or to recreate The Liver Bird’s performances on TV shows such as The Beat Club, seamlessly moving the story along.

And speaking of the story, The Liver Bird’s career also saw them meet musicians including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, played once more by Mark Newnham and Tom Connor, who have reprised the roles they played in Liverpool’s Royal Court productions such as Come Together. Not only do they play Lennon and McCartney, but they multi-role as musicians such as Ray and Dave Davies, while Tom Connor’s performance as Father Bradley left the audience chuckling throughout the evening.

The cast was completed by Guy Freeman, Max Guest, Jonathan Markwood and Charlie West, who accompanied the cast with their excellent musical and vocal performances and also superbly multi-rolled throughout too - from Mick Jagger, to Brian Epstein and many more.

As Girls Don’t Play Guitars finished, I was left cheering for more as two of the original Liver Birds joined the cast onstage to perform ‘Peanut Butter’, in one of the most memorable and breathtaking finales I have seen in a show.

Get ready for a five-star, unforgettable show with Girls Don’t Play Guitars. It is a hit.

Girls Don't Play Guitars is at Liverpool's Royal Court until 26 October.

Photo credit: Atanas Paskalev

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