It’s been a tough year for the arts industry, that’s for sure. With closures and hopeful partial re-openings dominating the news feeds, the industry has been working nose to the grindstone for months. Victoria Smith, like others, has decided to take some action and do what she can to support. In September, the fundraising initiative... Continue Reading →
Reflections on Krapp’s Last Tape: A Thing of Reverence
Saturday 10th October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre). Leeds Playhouse and Opera North’s collaboration series Connecting Voices is bringing audiences back into the fold of live theatre in actual theatre spaces. The series includes some reflective works on the main productions, offering audiences excerpts of music and words which engage with central messages and... Continue Reading →
La Voix Humaine: Moving & Well Crafted
Saturday 10th October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Barber Studio). So you’re on a bus, or a train, or a plane, and you’re hearing one side of a scandalous call - or a tragic call - or a break-up call. It’s one side of the story, but gradually the fragmented pieces begin to find one another... Continue Reading →
Interview: Red Ladder Theatre’s Rod Dixon
With theatres shuttered for the time being, I’m going to be spending a lot more time chatting to creatives (at a safe distance, naturally), and the best of the situation is that I’m going to be keeping very good company if this cracking first interview of the lockdown is anything to go by. Rod Dixon,... Continue Reading →
5 Things to Love About: Leeds Playhouse
‘FOUNDED IN 1970, RELOCATED IN 1990, AND RELAUNCHED IN 2018, THE LEEDS PLAYHOUSE IS A THEATRE AT THE HEART OF THE CITY AND REGION WE CALL HOME.’ Artistic Director James Brining and Executive Director Robin Hawkes have been steering this theatre from strength to strength. From the recent re-brand which saw the theatre transform from... Continue Reading →
Oliver Twist: Embracing the Grittier Origins of Dickens’ Story
Wednesday 4th March 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Quarry Theatre). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oliver Twist has once more found his way back to a stage and in this production Amy Leach directs a brand new Dickens adaptation from Bryony Lavery - one that wholly embraces its gritty and disturbing origins. A co-production of Leeds Playhouse and Ramps on... Continue Reading →
Cabaret: A Dark & Twisted Take on the Glitzy Classic
Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at The Grand Theatre and Opera House, Leeds. ⭐️⭐️⭐️Cabaret returns to the stage in a raw and playfully warped form in this latest tour of the the 1966 musical (Book: Joe Masteroff, Music and lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb). Directed by Rufus Norris with an unnerving flair for the dark... Continue Reading →
Kneehigh’s Ubu! – A Frenzy of Rule Breaking, Ridiculousness & Fun
Tuesday 4th February 2020 at Leeds Playhouse. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Absurd anarchy abounds in the best possible way in Kneehigh’s latest offering. All in all this 'promenade musical' and 'sing along satire' is a mixed experience - night club scene, street protest, circus act and avant-garde fearlessness come together to take us on a wild ride of... Continue Reading →
Dr Korczak’s Example: A Remarkable Man & A Remarkable Story Told with Great Feeling
Wednesday 29th January 2020 at Leeds Playhouse. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In seeing Leeds Playhouse’s latest offering, Doctor Janusz Korczak and his brilliant work are no longer in the realm of the unknown to me and for that I am so grateful. We now know that the plague of Nazi rule and the creation of places like The... Continue Reading →
A Night at the Musicals: Thrillingly Theatrical, Thoroughly Fabulous
Wednesday 18th December 2019 at Leeds Playhouse. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is one of those relentlessly fabulous shows which leaves you smiling and giggling away to yourself long after the house lights come up. In A Night at the Musicals, we’re treated to a delicious feast of theatricality which delivers genuinely fantastic voices, sassy sardonic stand up... Continue Reading →