Tuesday 24th June 2025 at Leeds Grand Theatre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A good few years ago, I saw a production of Moira Buffini’s Handbagged and thought it was pretty inspired. A two hander, allowing us to watch Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher behind the scenes? Fascinating. Now, this new work from Daisy Goodwin takes us behind... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 13th May 2025 at Leeds Grand Theatre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff is a pretty dark look at the lacerating impact of unemployment in 1980s Liverpool. Based on the 1982 BBC drama (which I haven’t seen - I know, shocking really), this staging by James Graham follows the criss-crossing lives of out... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th April 2025 at York Theatre Royal ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Badapple Theatre’s warm-hearted drama looks at the lives of women in war-time. When war hits and the men-folk of Thankful head off to do their duty, three women are left counting the days, scouring the news and navigating tensions in their own lives. The lofty Victoria... Continue Reading →
Thursday, 27th February 2025 at Union Theatre, Southwark ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reviewer: Charlotte Dawes Almost 60 years on from the harrowing mining disaster, Mr Jones explores the unfathomable loss of the forever-altered Welsh village of Aberfan. On the morning of 21 October 1966, the last Friday before half term, a landslide of coal waste crashed into the... Continue Reading →
Friday, 8th November 2024 at Leeds Playhouse ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Chris Foxton adapts Robert Westall’s novel, The Watch House, for the stage, and it’s an interesting blend of warm comedy with a cynical edge, and very mild spookiness. Papatango’s production sees George Turvey direct a no-fuss production which relies on the cast appealing to the imaginations of the... Continue Reading →
October 2024 Investigating Rebus Gray O’Brien isn’t the first actor to play Ian Rankin’s detective John Rebus and almost certainly won’t be the last. The character is an established fan favourite who has been portrayed on stage, radio, TV and online by a range of actors including Ken Scott, Brian Cox, Charles Lawson, John Hannah... Continue Reading →
Wednesday, 25th September 2024 at York Theatre Royal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women holds high status on many bookshelves. It was one of the books my mother waxed lyrical about and insisted I read when I was younger - and she still references it on a regular basis (she’s a self-identifying Jo, for those... Continue Reading →
September 2024 ‘It’s a play about the freedom to dream, to aspire and to own rather than be owned’ JN Benjamin talks to Joi Gresham and Director Tinuke Craig about A Raisin in the Sun “It took us fifty-odd years to learn that it wasn’t really about what we thought it was about,” says Joi... Continue Reading →
September 2024 Being in a top-rated, much loved television series can be both a boon or a bother for an actor who becomes identified with a particular character and find directors reluctant to cast them in a different sorts of role. Happily Jack Ashton, best known as the Rev Tom Hereward in Call the Midwife,... Continue Reading →
September 2024 SISTERLY FEELINGS When the opportunity to audition for a new production of Little Women at York Theatre Royal arose, Laura Soper knew which of the sisters she wanted to play - Beth. Forget Amy, Meg and Jo. Beth was role that Laura, a former member of the theatre’s Youth Theatre, desired. “I auditioned... Continue Reading →
Always Time For Theatre 