On Monday the boys and I were lucky enough to get some last minute tickets to watch Pinocchio: The boy within, at The Epstein Theatre Liverpool. As a family we love a good show and try and go as often as we can but we had never been to the Epstein Theatre before and as Billy was working it was just me and the kids, so we decided to make a day of it and explore Liverpool whilst we had the chance.
Now true to form I thought I knew where I was going but in fact I didn’t have a clue and had managed to get two theatres mixed up which lead to a bit of a panic and us using google maps whilst walking round in circles in the city centre. After we had walked past it for the third time I actually noticed the sign and can’t tell you how relieved I was. So my first top tip is to keep your eyes peeled, The Epstein Theatre Liverpool is smaller than a usual theatre and is situated on the corner of a street and can be easily missed, if you are anything like me that is.
The theatre itself is small and has an old theatre type feel to it, although that could be because it was built in 1903 and only has a capacity of 380, which I think is a really plus as it makes the show feel more intimate and I doubt there is a bad seat in the house as all the seats are close to the stage.
We had seats on the fourth row from the front pretty much smack bang in the middle, we couldn’t have asked for better seats. We were also offered a booster seat for the tiddler for no additional cost which he used for half of the production but decided he could see just fine without it for the second half.
We watched Pinocchio and we really enjoyed it. There was a mixture of what appeared to be very talented and experienced actors along side some less experienced younger ones with a few adorable children who must have been as young as 4, that made your heart melt every time they came on stage. I was a little unsure what to expect from an amateur performance as we are used to watching the pantos at St.Helens with a whole host of professionals and a celebrity or two thrown in for good measure but we really weren’t disappointed. They all performed so well, the script was funny and entertaining for all ages, the costumes were fab and you could tell they had worked really hard on the set and the props too.
Pinocchio was only on for Monday and Tuesday this week however the Epstein Theatre Liverpool have a number of other performances lined up for the summer, so if you are looking for things to keep the family entertained then why not check out one of the following performances
The Snail and the Whale
Date: Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 July
Time: 25th at 4pm, 26th & 27th at 11am & 2pm
Tickets: Standard: £14, Concession: £12, Family: £48
Alice in Wonderland
Date: Thursday 2 and Friday 3 August
Time: 2nd at 2:30pm, 3rd at 1pm & 5:30pm
Tickets: Standard: £15, Concessions: £13, Family: £52
Milkshake! Live “The Magic Storybook”
Date: Sunday 5 August
Time: 12pm and 3.30pm
Tickets: Standard: £15.50, Children: £14, Family Ticket: £56
If you do decide to go and catch a show and are looking for somewhere in Liverpool for food after then I can highly recommend Sapporo Teppanyaki.
(We were gifted the tickets in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.)