Big Update — Likeminded Productions

Alongside our BRAND NEW WEBSITE, we've also got NEW PROJECTS coming your way. If you’d signed-up to our Insider email list, you’d have already known this a week ago. Oh well, it’s your turn now.

Let’s get started!

Likeminded Podcast Season 3

The month of May will see the third series of the Likeminded Podcast which has been our saviour during the long, cold months of lockdown. We are absolutely delighted that so many people have taken the podcast to their hearts and turned it into the irresistible juggernaut that it has become.

The podcast sprung from a discussion in a Turkish Café in Liverpool’s Bold Street during a period of loosened restrictions and since that time it has detonated the local theatre scene showcasing fantastic talent and inspiring a tidal wave of creativity.

We have been knocked out by the flamboyant success of the podcast and its endless supply of ingenious, gifted guests. We have turned a microscope on the local performing arts scene and found it flourishing right through the chilly winter of lockdown.

The podcast has brought us closer to the mundane lives of co-hosts Caitlin and Bob as they share the small change of their humdrum lives before they gently tease out some absolute gems from their creative guests.

Opening Nights - A NEW Podcast

As the dusty curtains rise on small theatres across the country and costumes are taken out of mothballs, our spin-off podcast ‘Opening Nights’ bursts onto the local scene. The concept is to take the listener to the exhilarating precipice of thrilling opening nights of productions.

Caitlin and Bob will thrust a microphone under the anxious noses of actors and directors to capture their unguarded and instinctive reactions as they unleash their fledgling productions to unpredictable audiences. This is such an exciting project as it brings audiences into the most intimate and volatile part of the production process.

Good things come to those who wait and during the absence of live theatre the Likeminded team has been working tirelessly on the development of a hard-hitting historical drama - Kristallnacht. Drowning in bigotry and fear the story lurches through some of the darkest events in modern history and audiences will get to inhale and absorb this caustic and penetrating drama that will leave a lasting impact.

After lengthy research and painful exploration this production will be staged at carefully chosen venues in November of this year (all things being well).

The Timeline

Ahead of Kristallnacht we will shortly be releasing an audio drama which will prelude the stage show and provide background including introductions to some of the characters. We are currently casting for roles and devising the sound techniques for this poignant and challenging production. Similar to the podcast, this production will be available for people to access and listen to at a time and place that most suits them. Like the podcast this drama will seep insidiously into the unsuspecting minds of the listeners where is will remain and fester.

Vodka & Mushrooms

A BOOK OF SHORT STORIES BY BOB TOWERS

This is the year that we publish two books and thereby significantly expand the capacity of Likeminded Productions as part of our diabolical grab for world domination.

The first of which is 'Vodka and Mushrooms' - Bob Towers’ collection of short stories. Here we have vignettes of working-class life for the most part set in Liverpool. Welcome to a world of drug addiction, homelessness, domestic abuse and poverty all told in a darkly humorous but not uncaring manner. Self-harmers, care workers, Polish migrants, poorly paid, low-ranked, white collar administrators on weekend benders...a dialogue between a woman with multiple sclerosis and her judgemental cat, the touching intimacy between two old lovers dancing around their living room, the surreal reincarnation of Albert Camus and Bernard Manning and Scouse soldiers dying from a roadside bomb in foreign lands or the beautiful portrait of a drug-addled conspiracy theorist in 'Conspiracy Billy'.

MY SONG

A NOVEL BY ASHLEY ALI

An unsentimental portrayal of a young man’s journey through mental health. The reader is more than a mere observer but is taken along an arduous road of suicide thoughts, obsessive disorder, anxiety and agoraphobia.

The story is deeply moving and engaging and the telling is achingly honest; written in a style which is forensic and factual. The reader can feel intrusive as if reading somebody’s personal diary.

My Story is a tale of resilience and stoicism as a young man navigates his way from debilitating mental health and tragedy through to recovery, work and love. It is so timely for the many things we are all going through.

Words by Bob Towers
Images by Andrew Smith & Joe Harper