Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
There is an old saying that you should always beware of what you wish for – you might just have it answered. Normally this is a warning that something which might seem like a good thing, can go disastrously wrong. I recently reviewed War Horse at Leeds Grand Theatre and started by saying that it…
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I can’t believe that it was the end of May when I last visited the wonderful Howard Assembly Room. Like most of my regular haunts it has been having a fallow period, was it something I said, but is now back in full swing with some amazing performers in the Autumn/Winter programme. Judith Hill was…
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Another week, another end of academic year celebration, this time showcasing the talents of Leeds Grand Youth Theatre. I recently saw The Maladies, which was presented by the alumni of Leeds Actors In Training, featuring the age group 18-25; Leeds Grand Youth Theatre comprises the younger aspiring actors in the 8-18 bracket. Both of these…
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There seems to be no more appropriate time and place for this classic musical to be performed than now, in Leeds. The time, because the themes concern antisemitism, persecution and forced displacement, by Imperialist Russia in the area which is now Ukraine. The place, because Leeds used to have a large Jewish community, which helped…
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Transform is a festival of powerful international performance, it says on their programme, and, judging by the contents, it certainly lives up to the claim. The 2025 event marks ten years of the biennial, this, being number six, shows that they must be doing something right. That is a feeling reinforced by the way in…
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It was interesting to get back to Farsley as, between 1978 and 1982, I lived just around the corner from Sunny Bank Mill when it was still, well, a mill. Like the rest of the area it has now been gentrified – everywhere seems to go upmarket when I leave – and is home to…
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You would think that a one-woman show covering mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse and doomed relationships all set against the background of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, the place of her birth, would be a bit of a downer, but not so. Suzy Crothers treated us to an hour-long account of her fall and rise…
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I suppose it had to happen. After saying that I was well on the way to understanding the language of dance, I was somewhat baffled by some aspects of this production, which was not only dance, but projected film and spoken word as well. Fortunately there was an information sheet to summarise the intention of…
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I am going to begin this article with a trigger warning. According to Leeds Heritage Theatres’ website, this show ‘contains mature adult themes…’ I would venture to suggest that it contains many more immature adult themes, just what we wanted really, as maturity goes out of the window when you are out for a night…
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Leeds Playhouse is on a roll at the moment, the last four or five productions I have seen, whether their own or touring, have been as interesting, varied and spectacularly well performed as you could hope for. Tess was no exception, being a take on Thomas Hardy’s novel, Tess of the d’Urbavilles. This is the…
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Tyke It To The Limit 