Having spotted in my Rough Guide and cycled past it on my bike tour I was determined to consume the theatrical offering of Boom Chicago, an English language comedy/improv/cabaret venue in the heart of the city’s cultural centre.

There isn’t much English theatre on offer in Amsterdam, and neither there should be, if a culture is to be represented, examined and better understood through traffic on the stage then it should be done in the mother tongue, how else is it to speak to its audience? It could be argued that Boom Chicago fits within this statement as more tourists performing to tourists. The mainly American accented cast had a Dutch speaker amongst them and made enough Dutch language and political jokes to keep locals feeling that they were in on something the rest of us weren’t, but the main comedy offering was one of universal appeal and was genuinely funny.

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I was very pleased find myself amongst the large audience assembled for Dynamic Theatre’s production of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick… BOOM! in the Unity Theatre on Wednesday evening. Better known for his musical Rent, Larson’s earlier work is an autobiographical one, telling the story of his existence as a struggling composer in New York, working in a diner and living in a squalid apartment as he waits for his big break.

Adapted after Larson’s death from a self performed, rock monologue (how very 90s), into a three hander by David Auburn, the musical covers similar themes to Larson’s other and perhaps better known work, with references made to both homosexuality and AIDs. Joe Taylor, who took the lead role of Jon in this production, brings Larson’s character to life with a strong portrayal of the frustrated composer. With most of the narrative driven forwards by his narration, delivered straight to audience the other two actors, Katie Bernstein and Chris Britton, find themselves playing multiple roles filling the New York existence of the diner waiter / musical composer.

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Liverpool improv group Impropriety took to the stage of the Kazimier last night for the inaugural presentation of their newly formed group. Familiar faces were certainly present on stage and in the audience with the event’s programme highlighting the inclusion of many members of the 2008 minute improv marathon and student improv group Purple Circle into a cast which numbered some 20 performers.

For Liverpool residents who have not been to the Kazimier, it is certainly well worth a visit. Nestled in Wolstenholme Square next to the Nation night club, Jorge Pardo’s colourful sculpture ‘Penelope’ and opposite the Pleasure Rooms strip bar, it is a venue run by The Arts Organisation, a group dedicated to artistic squatting of sorts, “enabling the legal occupation of disused spaces” as they express it on the Property Solutions section of their website. You will know them, probably, as the folk who run the TAO Gallery on Slater Street and the very well known Mello Mello.

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Bringing a fantastically irreverant look at the West End to the West End, Jest End doesn’t miss a beat from start to finish. Having watched previews of the show online I knew Jest End was slick, taking well known West End numbers and replacing lyrics with a series of fast paced, tongue in cheek romps through musical theatre past and present.

Combining well choreographed chorus numbers with wonderfully witty solo performances the show doesn’t take any prisoners, unashamedly taking the mick out of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and just about everyone who has taken a part in a West End musical, or written one.

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Familiar to those I have worked with at C venues over the past couple of years, Belt Up are an an experimental theatre company hailing from York who have recently been making quite the impression at the Fringe. Their adaptation of Kafka’s Trial was one of two sell out shows that were staged at the Fringe this year, moving the group from their previous Red Room venue at C central into a found space in the fire wrecked C soco.

The back arch at Southwark Playhouse plays host to the piece for the next three weeks and again gives the piece a fantastic backdrop of urban decay. Just a few metres away from the trains rumbling over head the lighting design can only be described as spectacular, moving the audience from one end of the space to another, constantly creating new environments and revealing what sometimes feels like an endlessly large space. It really is a fantastic environment to showcase the work, adapted by and starring Dominic Allen.

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