Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
Jane Eyre was not a novel on the reading list of a slum kid from East Leeds in the 1950s even though it was written by a Yorkshirewoman about an orphan girl who grew up in hardship. My first encounter with Ms Eyre was a television adaptation in 1963 on a small black and white…
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Somebody, somewhere, must be taking notice of the stuff I write because, after complaining about the inability to catch the names of a lot of the pieces played in concerts due to their being in a foreign language or the lack of a programme/set list – neither being the fault of Howard Assembly Room –…
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Now here’s a trip down Memory Lane. I was taken by my mum and dad to see the film when it first came out and all I can remember was being bored! I have just looked it up and the release date is 1954, but it would have been a bit later than that by…
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After my overdose of The Magic Flute, it is folk music which seems to have filled the void. I pointed out that the artists on last week’s gig were individual performers, being support and main act, here we had two artists who were a duo, but also appeared singly as their own warm-up. Kerching! Aidan…
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Just to get things straight from the start, these are two separate acts rather than one ensemble. They are, however, both folk artists and their music of Celtic influence. Hannah Rarity is a Glaswegean who has had the good taste to make her first visit to Leeds, and I certainly hope it will not be…
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As you may have gathered from the title, this show is based on the brilliant comedy series of the same name. It does, however, merit a Trigger Warning. If you get that, you will love the evening, if you don’t, you will still enjoy it, but there are an awful lot of ‘in’ jokes, both…
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Well, that’s that then. I have completed the Grand Slam of The Magic Flute. I have seen the September 2024 production, the February 2025 one, which was the same but with a few cast changes, the free, 40-minute pop-up version performed in Holbeck Working Men’s Club in June, 2021, The 30-minute rendering in County Arcade,…
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Now here’s something I have never done before – seen the same production twice. For those of you who are paying attention, you will notice that I have copied my original review and posted it next to this. I thought it would save you scrolling to last September, when The Magic Flute began its run.…
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It was great to be back at Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House, to give it its Sunday name. The place looked better for its fettling, as we say in this part of the world, having had a nip and tuck rather than the full Cher. Just as well really, as this opera provides more…
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When I see the two names, Manchester Collective and Howard Assembly Room, I know that I am in for a night of music, played to an unbelievably high standard, in wonderful surroundings. It will also be a challenge – but in a good way. The great thing about Manchester Collective is that they take your…
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Tyke It To The Limit 