Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
The hardest part of writing reviews as far as I am concerned, is staring at a blank screen and wondering how I can find a theme to make what I am about to key onto it interesting. One day I might actually get it right. From the moment, some time last year, I saw that…
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You wait years for stage productions to begin with a period of silence and then we get two in a week! Although adhering to the Mafia code of omertà, and the indication that what followed was going to be out of the ordinary, the opening scenes of Peter Grimes and A Midsummer Night’s Dream could…
Read MoreIn 1975, Fawlty Towers was required television for those of us in our mid-twenties, as it provided what would now be called water cooler conversations at the office, the day after broadcast. There were only three channels so the odds were that the vast majority of colleagues would have seen it. Although not a great…
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I saw this play when it last came to Leeds and so enjoyed it that I thought I would see if it had changed over the past three years and, if so, how. It was obvious that the cast had changed, but what about the show? Having just read my original article I realised that…
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This is the day that Christmas truly arrives for me and quite a few other reviewers, as it is our version of the office party; an event when we can get together and, for those so blessed, let our hair down. It is a pantomime like no other, as it is aimed at the more…
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It is years since I spent a Saturday afternoon in a library, in fact I was probably still at primary school having just enjoyed a swim in York Road Baths before nipping next door to take out a couple of books to see me through until the following week. Ah, the memories. Today I was…
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Here we go with pantomime number two of the season, and this one is in Harrogate which means that like all good children, I should be home for bedtime. Are you listening, Santa! Like most pantos it is based on a fairy tale, a term coined in France by Madame d’Aulnoy in the late 17th…
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Don’t look now, but it seems as though it’s nearly Christmas, and we all know what that means, yes, Pantotime! The first of this year’s offerings is Sleeping Beauty at Carriageworks, and gets things off to a great start. As you will have gathered, this show is based on the legend of Sleeping Beauty, which…
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On Wednesday I went to see The Book of Mormon – I find it helps to have seen something you are reviewing – and I must say that I was deeply offended. The show includes what are now regarded as taboo subjects, racism, FGM, bad language, blasphemy, sex and all manner of suggestive dancing. I…
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This is the second play about a football manager’s tenure I have seen this year. Both dealt with coaches who have approached the position with a totally fresh perspective leading to a marked improvement in the fortunes of their respective teams. I suppose if they had failed miserably then neither of the works would have…
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Tyke It To The Limit 