This is a copy of the original review - the link takes you through to the reviews hub website - The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare - Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot - The Reviews Hub


The audience are greeted by the actors and live music as they enter the Sir Ken Dodd Garden a fabulous outdoor performance space set within the grounds of Shakespeare North. This pre-show is but a taster of what is to come. The space is simply set up with various costumes, musical instruments, props, wigs and weapons.
The company of fours actors all members of Shakespeare’s acting troop ‘The Kings Men’ (The reality is a combination of the teams behind The Rubbish Shakespeare Company and Wing It Impro & Stories) take to the stage ready to perform William Shakespeare’s latest play, but William fails to show, reportedly delayed in Leicester as he has a taste for the cheese. Without a script what are they to do?
The company decide to proceed – they tell us ‘We are going to wing it and hope we don’t create rubbish Shakespeare’ (a nod to each company name). And this is where the audience help as they provide the suggestions from which a new play will be made. With these bare bones, our play is set.

What emerges over the next 70 minutes is quite brilliant and delightfully bonkers. We watch scenes of arranged marriage, death, evil, feuding families, murder, revenge and unrequited love. All themes which have been used in various ways by the bard himself. It is quite clear these actors understand the tropes and structure of Shakespeare and as such you feel safe in their hands as they improvise a brand-new play in this instance ‘The Beautiful, Lovely Woman of Verona’ or ‘As you Will’ titled by a member of the audience.
The lovely woman of Verona is played by Robert Rhys Bond – she is hosting a masked ball, masked because there is a plague. The mad and evil mayor of Verona played by Lee Hithersay plans to scupper the event because, as he reminds us, he is Evil. The subplot is that young Patricio played by Ryan Byrne is having doubts about his arranged marriage to Susan a plan to unite their warring families. And finally, we have the Russian princess played by Mark Smith who having seen the portrait of the mad mayor has ridden thousands of miles to seek his hand and fall in love. This is a tragedy and of course, love never runs smoothly in this case it ends with death and the rats of Verona feasting upon the corpses of the dead.

Each member of the hilarious ensemble is comfortable in creating prose and verse spontaneously, this is made to look effortless. The use of live music and sound effects creates an additional layer which is impressive and certainly takes the frivolity to another level when comparing it to other impro groups of this nature.
Although the story being presented may have been a tragedy, tonight’s entertainment was extremely funny – the audience at various points roaring with laughter. The subtle and playful interactions with the audience were nicely judged and ensured we felt included throughout.  Imagine, mixing Monty Python, Blackadder and The Mighty Boosh together and then getting them to perform Shakespeare, this would be the result.
The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare is a brilliant, bold, and very funny evening’s entertainment. It may be aimed at a family audience – but trust me, you don’t need a child to enjoy this!
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This is copied from the website this link takes you through to the original - The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare - Shakespeare North Playhouse - North West End UK

I was very excited to visit the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, being from Liverpool and usually having to travel down to Stratford – upon- Avon or London to see these fine performances. It is such a joy to have this on my doorstep. The building is on the original site of the Shakespearean theatre that was originally built by Richard Harrington from 1597-1603.  This rebuild was under the Prescot 1597 Project and was funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund.  A great opportunity to have a modern building on the grounds of such a prestigious site.

Today the theatre was presenting the “incomplete works” in the small outdoor theatre known as the Sir Ken Dodd Memorial Gardens and again this felt very fitting, as I was a great fan of this wonderful Liverpudlian comedian. The garden was an arena of stone steps that portrayed an embedded photo of Ken and his lovey sayings, and these steps lay bare to an open area that was prepared with wigs and costumes as the audience entered the area.

The play was performed by four very talented cast members Mark Smith, Ran Byrne, Lee Hithersay and Rob Bond, who equally demonstrated their awesome skills and creativity to ad-lib and improvise with ease and myth. 

Although the bright summer afternoon some became cold and windy, the change in temperature did not dampen the spirits of the cast or the audience who filled the small outdoor area. The cast intermingled with the audience and playing drums and a mandolin, soon welcomed us to their unique show.
Although cold, the audience were soon clapping, laughing and cheering along with the cast and when the cast announced that William Shakespeare “Bill” was stuck in Leicester and could not join them the four members turned to the audience for ideas on what their uncompleted works were to be based upon. 

Given the challenging tasks that were offered by the tantalising audience – “midnight”, “2,000 years B.C”. and “who has taken by tangerines?”, the four were unperturbed at the task that lay before them and rightly so, as the four were “on it”- constantly changing accents, costumes and guises in a non-stop turmoil of myth, laughter and tomfoolery that had the audience ‘in stiches’ laughing. 
Their references to St Helens, The Wirral and Rock ferry made this a very local play, and this enamoured them to all who were there. Amazingly, the plot did cover all suggestions requested and after an hour of mayhem the uncompleted works of Shakespeare was completed.
The audience loved it and interacted enthusiastically and so did the four men- experts of improvisation, who I could imagine were very proud of their comical achievement.

The play is on again on Sunday 18th September at 1pm and at 3pm.

It’s a real family fun-filled afternoon for families of all ages.

​Reviewer Jan Mellor
Reviewed: 17th September 2022
North West End UK Rating: ★★★★

I met online (via zoom) with journalist Vicky Anderson. Vicky has been a long time supporter of improv within Liverpool. We discussed numerous things improv, past, present and future. The long read also interviews numerous other improvisors who are based in the city. It is a great read - LONG READ: The story of Liverpool improv — Made Up: (onstageinliverpool.com)

From today (29th of January) till the 5th of February is National Storytelling Week, organised and run by The Society for Storytelling The Society for Storytelling | The Society for Storytelling (sfs.org.uk). As part of this week we ran our first Story Pot (thank you for those that attended). The next one is coming soon, but more of that later.


To mark this week, Eavan, Mark and Munro are setting a 24-hour challenge – we would like you to suggest a word or an image to create a new story from. We will then write, record and perform them for you. This is a bit of fun, and we hope you will get involved. Can you send your suggestions to [email protected] by Sunday (tomorrow) no later than 6pm. These will then become the source of inspiration from which we will respond. We will then post the results on Monday evening.


As mentioned earlier, Story Pot 2 is now on sale – tickets are free – this link take you through to booking Story pot 2 - Wing it - Impro & stories (wingimpro.com)


A big thank you to all our subscribers, your support means a lot.


All the best
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Eavan, Mark and Munro
AKA – Wing Stories

Wing It Impro and Stories, The Bunker (Halloween Edition), is an intimate evening of storytelling inspired by the autumn season. The first of planned quarterly events, this cosy and charming evening of spooky tales is supported by Mark Smith providing live sound effects and enhancing the comfortable atmosphere with a warm and friendly presentation of the evening.

The evening opens with Munro, telling a story of a family heirloom which, Alexandra, the lead character clings to for dear life, but in doing so unleashes the wrath of a terrifying beast which is determined to reclaim what belongs to them. Munro’s vocalisation of the beast’s voice is particularly good and creates a genuine sense of fear. His body language and gesturing is also very good. Munro’s second story is brighter, looking at what happens to people as they prepare for the arrival of their first child. Exploring the topical theme of vaping and its relationship to quitting smoking, this is a fun tale which explores how early parenthood affects your relationships and behaviour.
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Emma’s story begins with her performing as the lead character before morphing seamlessly into third person narration, clearly using the skills she has picked up previously as an actor. Her wide eyed fear is very good and creates a frightening atmosphere around her visceral and graphic story.

​Eavan uses props in her stories, which are taken from her wide personal collection of curios and antiques. Her first story is that of Pogo, a man who was exhibited in the circus as a “freak” and lost his place in the world when these type of exhibitions fade out of fashion. Gradually abandoned by everyone he cares about, the story culminates in a dark parody of tales of wishes and magical intervention. Eavan’s style is very confident, and she owns the stage while she is on it telling her mesmerising tales. Her second story looks at a boy whose mother died during childbirth and how this affects his relationship with his impatient and busy father. Another prop, an antique teddy bear, adds a layer of tenderness to this one which is a sweet and affectionate tale of love and family.

The evening closes with Gav Cross, who immediately declares himself a fraud as he retells old tales to children, rather than writing his own as the other storytellers have. His rendition of Rock-a-Bye-Baby however, is very funny and involves the audience in an engaging and fun way which ends the evening on a high.

It is apparent that some of the storytellers are less experienced than others and nerves did affect the vocalisation of the stories on occasion, meaning that some elements were said too quickly or slightly mumbled which meant that not everything could always be heard clearly. This is however a minor issue which will likely be ironed out with further performances.

Many of the stories use local geography, enhancing their identifiability for the audience. After anchoring the action in reality, many of the stories then shift into the weird and wonderful, creating a feeling of disorientation and making the twists and turns of the stories very enjoyable. The lighting used in the evening is very effective creating a creepy atmosphere which emphasises the theme of the stories well. The sound effects are also very good, adding an extra level to the stories being told, and increasing the creepiness of atmosphere of many of them.

The Bunker (Halloween Edition) is a fun and seasonal evening of storytelling which begins Halloween in a lovely way, with some local creatives and original pieces of art which each of the storytellers can be very proud of. The additional touches of sound effects and prompts give the evening a unique twist and make this an original piece of theatre which is a lovely tribute to the autumn season as the nights grow colder and darker with the approach of winter.

Taken into the basement of the Liverpool Masonic Hall and escorted through numerous corridors all lined with Masonic images it’s hard not to feel the immense atmosphere and history of the building. So much is seldom seen, and this most definitely added to the overall experience of the evening. Arriving at a blue door where we were greeted and seated in what can only be described as an Egyptian temple. The layout in the space is interestingly intimate and beautifully lit by the company. Simple but effectively highlighting the architecture of the space and ensuring that everyone could see the very small stage.
There were seven original stories told across the hour, from the scary to the personal all thematically linked by the season of Autumn. The evening was hosted by the effervescent Mark Smith who, like, all good hosts made us feel welcome and immediately at ease, seamlessly incorporating those who were late. He linked the evening together whilst also supporting the stories using live sound effects. This is not something that I have seen before and gave an added edge to the work.

Opening was Angie Waller who delivered a wholly improvised story underscored by her ukulele whilst competing against her five-minute sand timer. The conceit was that she would spontaneously combust if she didn’t deliver in time. The story was derived from the two suggestions taken from the audience. It was delightful hearing the audience’s ideas being woven so skillfully into what became a ballad about the doctor and the ghost. This takes real skill and Waller is clearly very comfortable working in this manner.
Next up was Emma Reilly and her story of a ghost who finds itself in a loop until the call from the place beyond the grave informs her that she is indeed dead. The story was beautifully written and delicately delivered, however, it was slightly too breathy to always hear clearly what was being said.
Up next was Eavan Seasman who utilised the strangest of child’s toys, to tell the story of ‘Pogo’ the once-famous circus performer whose fame had dissipated as the audiences taste for the ‘Freakshow’ changed. Set 
on the Medway this American story was a familiar story of fame, loss and the desire to fit in. The twist in the story would have made Stephen King very proud. A very charismatic performer who incorporates her taste for the objet d’art as stimulus for her work. Her later story was a born from a similar trope, equally impressive but perhaps a change of style in the evening might have been useful.
Trev Fleming’s story was perhaps the most moving of the evening, drawing on his personal memory of his own father’s wake and the tales that emerge at the cusp between sleep and consciousness. Fleming is a voice actor, and he uses this masterfully in switching between himself and the various other characters we hear from.
Finally, we have the larger-than-life Munro Scott, a likeable performer who created two very distinctive stories. The stronger of the two was about the ghost who lives within a vape machine and helpfully assists with the care of his young baby. The second was well delivered but the writing was not quite as sharp as his first piece, he clearly has a talent for storytelling, and I suspect his journey is only just beginning.

It was the night before Halloween, and on the surface at The Arts Bar, Liverpool looked like any other haunted party, with devils, angels, the scary and strange gathering to celebrate the spooky season. However, deep below the surface, as we pulled back the mask on the historical masonic building, a feeling of anticipation swept across faces of spectators. This small audience were led down hallways, passing photos of previous worshipful masters and into a room fit for a king. The room was covered in Egyptian style scrolls and rich golds and reds, making it the perfect backdrop for some ghostly tails. This was all brought to us by the new and exciting ‘Wing it’ impro and storytelling Theatre Company. ‘Wing it’ was founded by multi award winning actor and director, Mark Smith, who will be producing a quarterly event across the year, each with an individual theme to match the season.
Smith welcomed the audience to ‘The Bunker’ (Halloween edition) with a warm and elegant charm, introducing the structure of what was to be a fast-paced and well-crafted selection of seven stories, performed by five different storytellers. The original compilation was opened by Angie Waller, as Smith took his seat in a live foley station (live sound effects) adding to the unfolding drama with a range of additional effects, from spitting fires to slamming doors.
Waller, a seasoned performer for over 25 years, began with an interaction to the audience, asking for a job and an animal which were to be blended into this improvised but loosely arranged story. This was all whilst fighting against the sand timer, accompanied by her ukulele, and expertly weaving together the lyrical with the visual. The story culminated just in time, as the sand stopped and the show burst into life. The front row were simply amazed by Wallers’s commitment and timing.
Next up, we had a new storyteller who had taken part in Smiths storytelling course last year – Emma Reilly. Reilly did not wait around, jumping straight into a chilling tail that made you question her characters existence, as a repetitive cycle played out and the audiences were led to daunting realisation – that she was in fact, dead. Reilly managed to skilfully blend the theatrical with intricate moments, which were a credit to her writing.
Next up we had Eavan Seasman, who portrayed fantastic stage presence, as she drew the audience in with her impeccably timed delivery. The first of her two stories explored themes of acceptance, fear and otherness. Set within the fairground backdrop, the action unfolded as a former star of the circus, released into the world, as the world turned its back on the now undesirable. Much like the dying out of the famous mirages, freak-shows, and boxing booths in the 21st century. It presented the harsh reality of former glory, lost in the liminal space between old and new attractions. The rollercoaster ending had the audience gasping with a great plot shift and use of props, as we witnessed the once glorified performer indefinitely stuck in the sideshow of horrors.
Seasman’s second story, once again, had an amazing use of props, and the audience became aware of her impressive collection of Victorian dolls, and the power they held within a story. The tale followed a father and sons’ relationship, with resentment, frustration and realisation the themes throughout. Seasaman is an impressive storyteller, who is honing her craft through a specific style, and it will be interesting to watch the development of this hypnotising artist.
Next up we had Trev Flemming, who is a voice actor, improviser and writer. Flemming instantly captivated the audience, with his deep melodic tone and resonating story of his father’s wake. The story followed a dialogue between Flemming and he’s father in a lucid but touching exchange, delivering real moments of love, humour and acceptance. The audience bestowed a captivated silence, which is credit alone for Flemming’s expertly multi rolled piece. The story was beautifully written, and definitely could lend itself in a book of short stories.
Last up, we had a natural born storyteller, Munro Scott, performing two stories that were carefully structured, and used the traditional but useful power of three, hammering home comedic and terrifying moments.
This was perfectly displayed in his first story of a ghost who lived within his secret vape. The contraption had to be hidden from his wife, in fear of her judgement of his habit, especially with the new baby on the way. The ghost first appeared when he had left the room, knocking down his glass, although blame fell upon his cat. This pattern repeated, as he went on to blame it on the wind, until finally Munro decided to stick around long enough to catch the crafty ghost in the act. This playful exchange culminated in an agreement that allowed the ghost to stick around, with the promise to help with the new arrival.
Munro’s second and final story of the night centred around a mystical ring he had been given by his grandfather that was wanted by a large and gruesome beast. Once again, using the power of three to deliver the story was incredibly effective. Munro is a performer who felt at home when delivering his tales, with wide vocal range, using his large stature to portray a range of characters.
Throughout the years, I have been to a lot of storytelling evenings, and it was great to see such a difficult art form thematically structured and developed with such professionalism. The overall experience of the night left me wanting more. Wing IT theatre company and smith have produced the start of a hopeful new movement for storytellers in the city to get behind, and I very much look forward to the next edition.

Who we are and why we tell stories?

So, we all met three years ago in Liverpool and have been working independently on stories be this via creating theatre, improvising or storytelling. We finally managed to work together during the lock down period of 2021, developing and working on stories for performance. We enjoyed this experience and so I suggested that we put on a gig. Hence, in late October we put together The Bunker (Halloween edition) our first live storytelling gig held in the Egyptian room in the bowels of the Masonic Hall on Hope Street in Liverpool.

The shows went well, and we received three very positive reviews all of which were four stars or above.  We had planned to run another gig but for obvious reasons this has not been possible. This Story Pot was conceived an online storytelling night open to tellers from across the UK. Details of which are here Story Pot - Wing it - Impro & stories (wingimpro.com) this is a free event, but we are asking folk that they ‘Tip the teller’.  We are trying this out, build it and hopefully they will come!!
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The work we create is all original, that doesn’t mean that we don’t respect the stories of the past, but we all want to create and tell the stories of the future. Much of our work is rooted in child / folk lore, mythology or is biographical. We are all fans of the macabre and the darker side of life, but that doesn’t mean we don’t use humour. We will be posting up new work on the third, the thirteenth and twenty third of each month, why? Because three is the magic number, the ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, postulated that the meaning behind numbers was deeply significant. In their eyes the number 3 was considered as the perfect number, the number of harmony, wisdom and understanding. It was also the number of time – past, present, future; birth, life, death;– it was the number of the divine.
So, we are three tellers, telling three stories. We are at the beginning, developing the middle, and let’s see where it ends.

I am a theatre maker… Well, I was up until 2014 when I closed my company Spike Theatre. Based in Liverpool and formed in 1997 I started out as an actor devisor and was fortunate to travel across the UK and beyond, performing our brand of physical comedy on multiple tours.
As my family grew, I moved into directing and workshop facilitation; eventually taking over the reins fully in 2010 as Artistic Director. Spike at the time were the second-lowest funded touring company supported by Arts Council England. Between 2010-2014,  I created three touring shows, three Christmas shows and continued to tour as performer in our long-form improvisation show, HOOF!
Post the financial crash in 2008 and the subsequent change of government led to numerous policy changes and cuts all under the guise of ‘Austerity’.  We applied and were unsuccessful in our application to become a national portfolio organisation with ACE, which meant no funding! “Blimey” were not the words I used when I opened that email in March 2011. We kept going but without regular funding, it became clear that we could not continue as we had previously.
In late 2012 I secured a part-time position at the university I had trained at. Working a new job and trying to keep Spike afloat was becoming untenable – something had to give. So, in April 2014 we closed Spike, we said goodbye with a sell-out show of HOOF! at The Unity Theatre in Liverpool. But that wasn’t the end, it takes a huge amount of energy to shut down even a small company like ours. There were accounts, bills (lots of those), archiving, donations of equipment (nothing went to landfill) and then I stopped…
In the stillness post-closure, I realised that I had been grieving – mourning the loss of my job but also my identity. I was angry, embarrassed but the overriding emotion was fear. When would I create again? Could I? Spike had been my life since the age of 21. It took time and thankfully I had some good people around me who helped immeasurably. In the time after closing, I have found new passions outside of theatre and this balance is now far healthier for me.
I am passionate about theatre, but it is not all-consuming now. I have space and differences which is great. If you follow companies or producers on Twitter as I do, you will have seen a huge rise in anxiety caused by cancellations due to Covid. To those who are experiencing this all I can say is take some time for yourself, speak to someone, and don’t do as I did and hideaway. Sometimes you can’t control everything, sometimes all you can do is just your best. This may sound glib, as I know you are in crisis management mode at the moment, but when this passes it will catch up with you. How you respond if something isn’t right is the key.
A big emphasis of my time at Spike was the support of new and emerging artists, many of whom have gone onto forge careers such as Amanda Stoodley who two years after having first worked for Spike won the TMA award for best design or Chris Tomlinson who is currently associate director (YEP) at The Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse.  I threw myself into my teaching job with a similar ethos supporting and training the artists of tomorrow. I take great satisfaction and joy in seeing how those I have worked with are making waves in the theatrical world such as Gitika Butto (Director) who most recently opened The Jungle Book at The Storyhouse in Chester or Grace Gallagher and Rachel Smart founders of Ugly Bucket a theatre company that mash-up verbatim and clown or Liz Barker (lighting designer and community activist) who co-founded March for the Arts and is currently working for Homotopia or the Tik Tok stars Courtney Reynolds and Sammy Gray aka @Grayskitz’s. I still have the privilege of working with some fantastic theatre-makers in training and love this part of my life. We have collectively pushed the envelope of what is possible theatrically, learning together in adapting, devising, reimaging classic texts, and making stuff up (improvisation).
I continue to be creative in my current employment, but something has been gnawing away at me.  In this time, I reflected on what was important to me, what I enjoyed most about theatre. Perversely the pandemic has forced companies and venues to think differently, to take risks. Those venues that did like The Unity Theatre in Liverpool became beacons for local artists, launching numerous new initiatives including the sharing of digital content. I have really valued companies who shared their back catalogue of work often for free like Spymonkey, Told by an Idiot as well as the National Theatre. I have started to watch more online content, taking chances on work I would not have been attracted to ordinarily.
What excites me most is the creativity generated through restriction, those who have really thought about the relationship between themselves, and their audience have really captured me. Long may this access continue, it was great to see the seed change brought about by the Art Council England’s strategy document, proudly emphasising the value and the importance of a genuine relationship between the venues, companies and their local audience. The drawbridges have subsequently come down, but for how long? Who knows? but it does feel far more collaborative, and venues are talking to and working with their communities. This is the honeymoon phase, and I hope this will blossom into a long-term relationship.
Running a small-scale theatre company is all-consuming, every day I would write a list of things to complete, and I would never seem to tick them off.  It has taken me nearly seven years, well six, but the pandemic threw a major spanner in the works to get to the point where I felt the confidence and drive to go again, to put my work out into the public sphere. It is exciting and scary in equal measure.
I want that buzz of working with a group of people in a space with an idea that might work or not. I love sharing new work with audiences, the dearth of new work in the past decade has been detrimental to theatre in my opinion. Finn Kennedy’s report In Battalions released in 2012 described the response from industry and the risk of producing new work – unfortunately, this has been borne out in my experience. There are always, of course,  those that buck the trend but these are few and far between. New stories from voices we are unfamiliar with is how theatre evolves, we are starting to see a change and long may this continue. I would never have described myself as a risk-taker but setting up a new venture in a time in which theatre is in such a perilous state is precarious. In taking risks I also acknowledge that I am also happy to fail and in doing so I leave myself open to learning, to fail better.
I’m sure if you are still reading you are asking what are you going to do then? I have created a company called Wing it – Impro and Stories. Firstly, I want to pass on some of the things I have learnt over my 25 years of theatre making. I have two classes running from October through to early December (10 weeks) and these will extend on through into 2022. These are in Long-form improvisation (taught face to face in Liverpool) and in solo storytelling (online) – these are my two great passions. Secondly, I will be creating some shows. Each show should be similar but never the same, it should respond to an audience and vice versa – a two-way process in which both are open to the moment in essence we are ‘Winging it’ together.
I am working with some amazing collaborators who when I talked through my ideas they said, Yes. When is it happening? And so, we have our first storytelling show The Bunker (Halloween edition) which will premier across the Halloween weekend (29-31st of October). This is storytelling for adults and will be told using live music, shadow play and foley (live sound effects) – this will not take place in a theatre but in ‘The Bunker’ of The Liverpool Arts Bar. Why? Because the other thing I really love to do is transform a space and turn it into a world which people have not experienced before. I am fortunate to have the support of Alex Medlicott, Tom Wilson and Jordan Bucknall founders of The Arts Bar who have bought into this vision.
As for 2022 there are further plans afoot, the development of an Improvisation festival for Liverpool, a new spontaneous theatre show called Honesty?  live streaming of work and further storytelling collaborations. It may work, it may not, what matters to me is that my passion is back to take the risk.
For further information on classes, shows and ticket information please visit www.wingimpro.com or follow @wingimpro