Leeds Playhouse (At Home) Having rehearsed A Christmas Carol with live, socially distanced audiences planned, Leeds Playhouse has been hit with ‘COVID-closure’ once again. Pivoting swiftly, they’ve taken their show online and audiences now have the opportunity to watch Dickens’ classic tale from their sofas. So, what’s Dickensian Leeds like from sofas in front of... Continue Reading →
Orpheus in the Record Shop: If Music Be the Food of Love…
Saturday 10th October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Quarry Theatre). Orpheus in the Record Shop brings the incredibly talented Testament back to Leeds Playhouse, and it’s a return worth waiting for. With text and music by Testament (with additional music by Taz Modi) and direction from Aletta Collins, musical and storytelling styles merge to tell a... Continue Reading →
Krapp’s Last Tape: A Retrospective of Spools & Spoils
Saturday 10th October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Bramall Rock Void) Before Jonathan Larson was penning musings about 525,600 minutes to measure a year, Samuel Beckett had the supremely underwhelmed Krapp facing the exact same existential crisis, just from much further down the line of life experience... In this co-production from Opera North and Leeds Playhouse,... 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 →
Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show: Anarchic & Pacy
Wednesday 7th October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse (Outdoor). Live theatre is back and it comes with a side of lawless anarchy and lip-smacking satire in this whirlwind production from Imitating the Dog. Co-written and directed by Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, and billed as a horror show with nods to all kinds of influences from... Continue Reading →
Spotlight On: All-Time Top Ten Shows*
*to date... Remember when going to packed, bustling, lively theatres was a thing? You know, we’d collectively shut out the world with the closing of the doors and the dimming of the lights; we’d spend more than twenty minutes without a phone in hand; we’d let ourselves be completely taken in by the creations of... Continue Reading →
Shebaa’s Adventure to Jopplety How: Embracing Difference & Learning to See Things Anew
Concrete Youth’s online multi-sensory production of Shebaa’s Adventure to Jopplety How is a lovely tale of self-love and affirmation tailored to audiences living with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Having interviewed Artistic Director Daniel Swift recently about how accessibility lies at the heart of this company, it was great to preview this show and see... Continue Reading →
BLACK WOMEN DATING WHITE MEN: Talking Love & Relationships in a Complicated World
In BLACK WOMEN DATING WHITE MEN, Somebody Jones offers insights into the world of love, dating and marriage through the eyes of five Black women interviewed about their experiences of being in long term relationships with white men. Beginning with a specific recent experience and then developing tangential discussion from there, the piece is engaging... Continue Reading →
Primrose Path: A Love More Pain than Gain
Warning: references to mature content, domestic violence and abuse. Damon and Chriss are in love. It’s a warped, macabre, dangerous kind of love, but it’s love to them. ‘Are we good for each other Damon?’ She asks. ‘It doesn’t matter, we’re right for each other’ comes the blinkered reply. Primrose Path doesn’t so much entertain... Continue Reading →
Third Wheel, A Musical Web Series: A Quirky Look at Love in Lockdown
Third Wheel is a musical web series based on an earlier 2017 stage show by name of The Dysfunctional Guide To Being a Third Wheel. Adapting to the current situation, the creative team has taken the basic premise online, with Adam Johnson’s screenplay taking livewire Pam Maguire from stage to screen in all her manic... Continue Reading →