Audience in tears as husband and wife take to Royal Court stage for Haunted Scouse

There wasn't a dry eye in the house by the end of Haunted Scouse at the Royal Court.

Gerry Linford, Yellow Breck Road and Ellen & Rigby writer, sure knows how to connect with his audience, particularly a northern one. With Haunted Scouse it's no different, with audiences sniffling through tears of laughter, but also of heartbreak.

Haunted Scouse, the Liverpool Royal Court's first show of the year, sees Brookside's Michael Starke return to the stage to play Charlie Moon. He stars alongside his real life wife Lynn Francis, playing Molly, his widow living alone with only her quirky neighbours for company since Charlie's death.

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Charlie is trapped in limbo and his only way out is to haunt Molly, with help from his ghostly auntie Peggy, until he has closure to move on. Closure will only come when he figures out the truth about how he died but he keeps running into dead ends along the way.

Death and the afterlife are running themes throughout which makes the show sound morbid but, in typical Gerry Linford fashion, it's hysterical. Grief after all should involve comedy and Haunted Scouse certainly features all the right jokes, including plenty of farts and sexual innuendo, to carry the laughs.

While Charlie is the pivotal role in the play, there wasn't one stand out performance as thankfully all the characters were outstanding. It was clear that the cast gel well with each other which was certainly helped by the fact that they're real life family and friends.

But sometimes, friends or not, the writing is so good and the casting is so ideal, that a play just works. That's what Haunted