The Likeminded Podcast kicks off the new Opening Nights series of innovative specials by exploring the preparations for Ian Salmon’s new play A Brief Conversation About The Inevitability Of Love. This production is part of the Liverpool Theatre Festival which represents the early and tentative re-emergence of many local grass roots theatre groups in July 2021.

Ian Salmon was a Likeminded Podcast guest back in February this year when he told us of his love for writing and theatre. Salmon is a prolific writer of books and film scripts, a music and sports journalist and is part of the flagship football podcast The Anfield Wrap. He is now firmly a playwright who drips with passion and commitment without ever straying from his working class roots.

Ian Salmon - Writer of 'A Brief Conversation About The Inevitability Of Love'

Salmon worked in a record shop for twenty-seven years waiting for ‘the band to take off’ which never happened, but this did put him at the fulcrum of the social, cultural and political changes which exploded on Merseyside during the 1980s. His music pedigree was put to best use in his previous plays Girls Don’t Play Guitars and The Comeback Special.

His latest offering, A Brief Conversation About The Inevitability Of Love, is a tale of two people who are meant to be together but miss their chance and make the wrong choices. They seem to always be the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Salmon told me: ‘I wanted to write a love story, pure and simple, about how love isn’t always simple or easy, about how sometimes it takes time to be with the person you are meant to be with, but that being with them is inevitable. The play predates the pandemic and lockdown but I think it’s a piece that will resonate with everything that so many of us have been through as human contact is at the heart of the story’.

Mikee Dickinson - Director of 'A Brief Conversation About The Inevitability Of Love’

One of the things we will be keen to explore is the relationship between Salmon and the production’s director, Mikee Dickinson (Naughty Corner Productions, Not the Horse, Bob The Russian, Raves R Us).

This is the duo’s third collaboration and we expect it to once again successfully combine Dickinson’s flamboyant, dynamic directing with Salmon’s thoughtful, considered dialogue to create the perfect blend of their two contrasting styles.

One thing is certain, the play has a strong cast with the incendiary Samantha Alton (Kitty Queen of the Washhouse), who is clearly capable of any role, and the brooding Thomas Galashan (Bob The Russian, Murder Ballads) who is chiselled from Irish granite. Between them they are likely to create an intense and emotional experience.

The Opening Nights podcast will give behind the scenes insight into rehearsals and preparations for this exciting event.

A Brief Conversation About The Inevitability Of Love - Liverpool Theatre Festival
Monday, 12th July 7.30pm, St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

Words by Christopher Woodward