Everyman & Playhouse deliver their first letter for Love, Liverpool: An A to Z of Hope

The Everyman & Playhouse have delivered letter one of their digital journey through Liverpool City Region. Each letter contains a wealth of multi-media of treats, including audio stories, written stories, poems, pictures, videos, recipes and more – all from our commissioned artists, friends of the theatres and from the wonderful people of Liverpool.

The first letter begins with a story from Mandy Redvers-Rowe, a Liverpool based disabled writer. Her Love Letter to Merseyrail, read by Chloe Phillips, takes us on a journey into her love of Merseyrail as she navigates the well-known route with Sally, her sometimes naughty guide dog.

Screenwriter and novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce, takes a quick pause from his back garden break to tell us about his time in the Everyman Youth Theatre and leaves us a few extra treats too in his ‘picnic’.

Good morning Liverpool, who wants to go on a journey with @merseyrail with this visual taster from @TheGuideLpool of letter 1 & @MandyRRowe #LoveLiverpool pic.twitter.com/pV7J46jQEb

— Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres (@LivEveryPlay) June 5, 2020

Woven in between are the stories from the amazing people of this city, including Dan Thompson, Freya Hannan-Mills, Sam Batley, Julie Culter and many more.

You can read/listen/watch as much or as little as you like – it’s all online for you to dip in and out of between work, chores or any day to day activity. Each story is a story in its own right, which together paint us a beautiful picture of our city.

You can listen to Love, Liverpool online at www.everymanplayhouse.com/love-liverpool or by searching Love, Liverpool – An A to Z of Hope or Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse on your podcast platform of choice.

The theatres received almost one hundred story submissions and many photographs too exploring special places across the city region. These are now being edited together with pieces from commissioned artists Amina Atiq, Luke Barnes and Chloe Moss and picnics from friends of the theatres: Jonathan Harvey, David Morrissey and Cathy Tyson to be delivered over the coming weeks.

Gemma Bodinetz, artistic director of Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres, said:

“The response to our Love, Liverpool digital project has been overwhelming and a real source of hope and joy to those of us working on the project. We can’t wait to share it with you. Collating and editing the remaining letters is still ongoing and we hope we whet your appetite for more with this one. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this project; this is your Liverpool and we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Each episode of Love, Liverpool has had sound design support from Stephen Hull. Gemma Bodinetz directs Chloe Phillips in Mandy Redvers-Rowe’s A Love Letter to Merseyrail (ep 1) and Chloe Moss’ A Love Letter to The Volley which will feature Helen Carter (ep 3) with Chris Tomlinson directing Nathan McMullen in Luke Barnes’ A Love Letter to Night’s Out in Town (ep 4).

Get in touch with The Guide Liverpool through isolation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or email info@theguideliverpool.com.