BY THE WATERS OF LIVERPOOL Will Embark on Spring 2020 Tour

By: Stephi Wild Jan. 10, 2020

In less than two months, the brand new stage production of Helen Forrester's By The Waters Of Liverpool embarks on a 17-venue tour across the UK.

By The Waters Of Liverpool Spring 2020 UK Tour will open on Tuesday 3 March at the New Brighton Floral Pavilion in Wirral - just a few miles from where Helen Forrester was born.

And in celebration of Helen Forrester's 100th Birthday, an iconic Blue Plaque will be unveiled at a special event in February at the late author's family home in Hoylake - a place which featured heavily in Helen's four volumes of best-selling autobiography, including Twopence To Cross The Mersey.

The 11-week national tour follows a hugely successful run at the Liverpool Empire Theatre in October 2018, when the new production was premiered to rave reviews.

Following on from the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton, the show will visit venues in Stockport, Warrington, St Helens, Lancaster, Crewe, Southport, Rhyl, Swansea, Darlington, Malvern, Eastbourne, Isle Of Man, Hayes, Winchester, Liverpool and Blackpool.

By The Waters Of Liverpool is a stunning period drama produced by the team that brought the smash hit Twopence To Cross The Mersey to the stage.

The stellar cast features star names from stage and screen, including Sian Reeves and Mark Moraghan.

Sian has recently been seen in living rooms across the country appearing in Coronation Street - the world's longest running TV soap opera. And she will be returning to the cobbles in late January as part of a key storyline.

The touring cast also features Parry Glasspool, Lucy Dixon, Eric Potts, Lynn Francis, Danny O'Brien, Roy Carruthers, and Chloe McDonald.

The new touring production of By The Waters Of Liverpool is again produced by Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms and is directed by Gareth Tudor Price.

Writer and friend of Helen Forrester, Rob Fennah has written both the stage play versions of Twopence To Cross The Mersey and By The Waters Of Liverpool.

Rob Fennah commented: "Although Helen is no longer with us, she is always in my thoughts. While I was writing By The Waters Of Liverpool, I imagined her looking over my shoulder to check all the little details were correct and in order. Even after all these years on from adapting Twopence To Cross The Mersey, I can still hear her voice in my head saying, 'Make sure you get it right Rob, this is my life we're talking about here!'. It's a real privilege to be entrusted with her most famous works, but also a huge responsibility."

This new production of By The Waters Of Liverpool also features sizeable chunks from Helen's earlier book Liverpool Miss, together with flashbacks to Twopence To Cross The Mersey.

Rob added: "I've even managed to weave in a storyline from Helen's fourth autobiography, Lime Street At Two. That way, the audience get a complete picture of her life. To make all this possible we use a technique called 'story theatre' whereby the actors form part of the landscape itself and take on multiple roles - over 50 different characters. It's a fluid and very theatrical way of presenting such an epic tale and has proved to be a huge hit with our audiences."

Helen Forrester's son, Robert Bhatia, said: "The partnership between playwright Rob Fennah and my mother Helen, and her legacy, has been outstanding."

By The Waters Of Liverpool is set in the 1930s after Helen's father went bankrupt during the Depression. Her family were forced to leave behind the nannies, servants and comfortable middle-class life in the South West of England. The Forresters chose Liverpool to rebuild their shattered lives, but they were in for a terrible shock. Taken out of school to look after her young siblings, Helen is treated as an unpaid slave. So begins a bitter fight with her parents for the right to go out to work and make her own way in life. But by 1939 and with Britain on the verge of war, Helen now aged 20, has still never been kissed by a man. But things start looking up for her when she meets a tall strong seaman and falls in love.

By The Waters Of Liverpool has sold more than a million books. Now this is your chance to see it come to life in this brand new stage play adaptation.

Helen Forrester's best-selling volumes of autobiography include Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Liverpool Miss, By The Waters Of Liverpool, and Lime Street At Two.