Impropriety's ImproPlay and the end of Mello Mello
Unexpected and sad news, with the shock announcement that Mello Mello has gone out of business. From its support of some of the city's most talented grass-roots performers (both on stage and as an employer) to serving the best veggie food in town (hello, goodbye, nachos) and having a real passion for decent beer, there's so many reasons to lament this occurrence it's hard to know where to begin. The venue, on Slater Street in the city centre, has been under threat for a couple of reasons over the years - first from seeing its business rates go through the roof (which was eventually resolved), and latterly from developers with a lot more cash (knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, most likely). It looks like bigger business has finally won the day. The closure happened without warning, seemingly for customers and staff alike, who have described their heartbreak on social media. Mello has long made mention of its keenness to relocate and have been looking for the right spot for a while; here's hoping they continue the search and this isn't the end for this brilliant venue. See their official statement here. Mello had at least two great events coming up that MADEUP was looking forward to, that with any luck will find a new venue too some time in future. Tonight's Cosmic Caper, described as "an evening of intergalactic performance inspired by the Science Fiction Theatre of Ken Campbell"; and Improv heroes Impropriety were also soon to revive their six part weekly 'soap' there, which they haven't done for a couple of years. But this week, on Friday (September 26) the company will be staging (read: making up) their own ImproPlay at the Unity Theatre as part of the Liverpool Comedy Festival, a completely improvised play with the style, genre and title all chosen by the audience (tickets here). It's part of a season of events - including a very promising charity fundraiser from founder member Trev Fleming, who fancies attempting to create three hundred characters over three hundred minutes of performance (date TBC). Good luck to all at Mello Mello for the future. MADEUP would love to see you back soon.
