Justin Moorhouse, Chorley Little Theatre, 16 March 2013

Justin Moorhouse is fat.  But not fat in a bad way.  He’s more of your affable Hairy Biker kind of fat, the sort of genial fat bloke who’d elbow his way past you in his eagerness to get to the cream cake counter at Greggs and crack a gag in the process such that you wouldn't mind him beating you to the last eclair.

And Moorhouse is comfortable with his size.  It's not glandular or due to big bones.  It is, as he tells a packed house at Chorley Little Theatre, because at home the biscuits are next to the kettle.

Food is a subject close to Justin's heart and at different points in his act the biscuits, a sausage roll and a Ginster's steak slice all feature.  But it isn't just about food, and in a two hour set he also talked about his relationship with his teenage son, his eight year old daughter's obsession with Catholicism and whether, when the rest of the country was facing civil unrest, riots in Euxton and Whittle-le-Woods were ever a realistic proposition.  His conclusion?  They weren’t.

He has a go at teachers in a ‘I’m not having a go but –‘ kind of way which even the teachers in the audience could not help but laugh along at, before - and using an image that will be instantly familiar to everyone who's ever been on a Sunday outing with their family - recounting a childhood visit to Botany Bay that came to an abrupt halt when his father refused to pay the admission.  His own visit to an owl sanctuary as a parent witnessing bored dads trying to get a 3G signal in order to watch the football on Sky on their smartphones also resonated. 

Moorhouse wasn’t afraid to be edgy – his jokes about Paralympian swimmers and the Asian guy running his corner shop had the audience wondering whether they dare laugh or not while he showed that beneath the affable exterior lies an experienced comic when he dealt firmly with a drunken heckler who, having slept through the first hour of his act, started to shout incoherently.

A good comedian draws you into their world, settles you into your seat with an introductory gag or two and then takes you on a journey looking at things you might not have thought you were going to spend your evening contemplating.  So it was with Justin Moorhouse.  Gay sex, teenage masturbation and paedophilia were probably not topics that the audience were expecting to be listening to as they sat eating their pre theatre madras in the curry houses of Chorley, nor where they thought Moorhouse would be taking them when he stepped onto the stage and blinked at them from behind his spectacles.  But that’s where he took them.  And they loved him for it.

Sean Lock, Chorley Little Theatre, 11th March 2013

Sean Lock brought his Purple Van Man tour to Chorley Little Theatre as a work in progress.  The almost full theatre was treated to an hour and three quarters of material, some of which was clearly taking shape on stage as Lock delivered it.

Lock’s laconic delivery will be well known to TV viewers as one of the stars of 8 out of 10 cats.  Voted amongst Britain’s Top 20 comedians by Channel 4 viewers in 2010, and arguably the first comedian to play Wembley Arena (he was the support act to Newman & Baddiel at the time and so preceded them on stage) Lock has sold out three nights at The Lowry in Salford with his current tour so getting him to Chorley Little Theatre was quite a coup.

And since the tour was due to get fully underway less than two weeks after this show, the only real sign that the Chorley audience wasn’t getting the full article was a flip chart on the side of the stage that Lock occasionally referred to as an aide memoire.

His act comprised musings on a number of topics, such as the cost of food at the cinema, the state that most cinemas are left in by the departing audience, and the questions that children ask.  Lock has three young children and questions flow all day at a rate of one a minute, so whether it’s okay to lie to children (it is – better to say that there are monsters under the bed than tell them about the monsters out in the real world) was one subject around which Lock chatted for around ten minutes.

He also spent several minutes expressing his views on Sir Richard Branson (not repeatable in case I get sued!) and considering whether Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones or Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Irons would make a better sleeping bag companion, which gives a flavour of how left field some of Lock’s thoughts are.

Lock has a reflective style, and throws in the odd old fashioned gag every few minutes accompanied by an Eric Morecambe style shuffle to illustrate the showbiz nature of his delivery.  It may have been work in progress, but for the Chorley audience it was job done.

Tull, Octagon Theatre, Bolton, 2 March 2013

Tull, a play by Manchester United scout Phil Vasili about the life of Walter Tull, runs at the Bolton Octagon Theatre until 16 March 2013.

Walter was the first black player from Britain to play professional football (Arthur Wharton, who played in goal for Preston North End and who was the first black professional footballer, was born in the Gold Coast, now Ghana) and served with distinction in the First World War.

The play tells the story of Walter's life from the death of his mother through his football career at Tottenham Hotspur, where he was hounded out by racism from fans and opposing players, to his death in the spring of 1918 in Flanders.  Tull finished his football career at Northampton Town, chose to enlist and, had he survived the war, was ready to sign for Glasgow Rangers on the cessation of hostilities.

The play is performed by a cast of eight people who between them perform over 100 different parts. There is no scenery and no costumes. Despite this, the play works thanks to dramatic lighting effects, an able cast and a tight script.  Nathan Ives-Moiba, who plays Tull from the age of 6 until he dies on the battlefield is the one constant, with the rest of the players taking on the roles of Walter's family, key political and military figures in his life and football people that he encountered.

Tull encountered racism throughout his life, none more so than when he was at Spurs, and his relationships with Northampton's legendary manager Herbert Chapman and Suffragette Annie Williams are at the heart of the play.  This is a gripping tale and a must see for football fans as well as anyone just wanting to see great drama.

The final chapter of the story, as directed by David Thacker, has yet to be concluded.  For being black, Tull was denied the posthumous honour of the Military Cross that a white army officer would have been granted for similar acts of bravery in combat.  Until that wrong is righted (and there is an online petition to government calling for it to happen) this play serves as a fitting tribute.

Richard Thompson, Liverpool Philharmonic, 1st March 2013

Richard Thompson's reputation is built on that of a folk guitarist who, since his days as a founder member of Fairport Convention, has forged a solo career that now spans six decades. But Thompson likes to mix it up a bit and his latest UK tour features him at the heart of a solid three piece band with his new album Electric at the core of the show.

Accompanied by bass player Taras Prodaniuk and a powerful drummer in the shape of Michael Jerome, Thompson presented a set at the Liverpool Philharmonic that was at the rockier end of the folk rock spectrum, verging on heavy rock at times.

Opening with a trio of songs from the new album, most of which is played during the course of the following two hours, Thompson led the band through a thunderous set played mostly on a fetching pink Fender Stratocaster.

Dressed in his customary black clothes and black beret, a two hour performance saw Thompson displaying the virtuoso guitar skills that have led some to place him up there with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. And when the band encore with a cover of Cream's White Room, the comparisons are easy to make.  Thompson was cribbing from a lyric sheet for the song, but whilst he smilingly struggled to remember the words, his fingers never missed a note.  Clapton, take note.

As well as expert musicianship, part of the attraction of Thompson's live act is his witty repartee and he cheerily reminds his audience that no evening's entertainment is complete without both a murder ballad and a sea shanty, the latter finishing in 9/8 time.  When an audience member calls out for a song that the band hasn't rehearsed, he jokes that 'I’m the only one up here that knows that. Not that it's stopped us so far.’  And when fan favourite Beeswing is requested from the front stalls he responds ‘I’ve got the wrong guitar for that - unless you want the punk version,’ and then proceeds to play a couple of bars in just that style.  Beeswing later features in the encore, beautifully played on the acoustic.  Since it wasn’t on the original set list, Thompson presumably decided to accede to the shout from Row D.

Alongside staples such as Wall of Death and Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed, new songs Saving The Good Stuff For You and Salford Sunday stand up well.  Thompson remains one of Britain's foremost singer songwriters and whilst this current tour does not reflect the full range of his songwriting talent and the extent of his impressive back catalogue it does showcase his immense skill as a guitarist.  Rock on, Richard.