Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
Why, I asked myself, would anybody want to organise a bear hunt in Leeds City Centre, where there seems to be a distinct lack of the creatures. It then struck me that this could probably prove how successful the pursuit has proven to be. It was then that the conspiracy theorist in me kicked in,…
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At a running time of an hour and twenty minutes, it has taken me longer to type the heading than to watch the show! I’m not complaining, mind, as this was an action-packed evening celebrating the achievements of some truly remarkable women who changed the world by varying degrees, some are household names, whilst others…
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As I have said before, dance is a language that has always been a mystery to me. When the beat hits my feet I am always the first on the floor and the last one off it, but that is a more primitive version of physical expression than the amazing performances I witnessed in this…
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imitating the dog have made their name by staging productions which do not conform to the norm, even their name has no upper case letters. I find that last fact extremely irritating but the first one usually compensates by stretching the audience’s intellectual boundaries. This piece was no different in that the telling of the…
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As a Yorkshireman I do like a bargain, and here we have a buy one, get one free from Opera North. Cavalleria rusticana is only a short opera, lasting just over an hour, so it is usually twinned with another concise work, normally Pagliacci, but tonight it was given a change of partner and performed…
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I think that I have found my favourite opera so far, and this is it! OK, the work itself is the usual bonkers story which is so daft as to make you wonder what exactly Mozart was on when he wrote it, but the music, staging, singing and acting were so amazing that I could…
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Before I begin this review I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and explain why my site has lain fallow for such a long time. For the two weeks before Christmas I was on an all-inclusive theatre trip. The food was not up to much and the accommodation a bit basic,…
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Last Thursday saw the latest in the Distilled series of concerts. Sadly we didn’t get a complimentary dram to see us through the evening, but something just as intoxicating in Mahler’s 4th Symphony. The name of the event signifies that the work has been distilled into a chamber piece using a much smaller group of…
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Boy bands come and boy bands go but Take That seem to last forever, albeit in truncated form, with two of the original members having left – one of them twice! They were formed in 1990 in Manchester and have had 28 top 40 singles, including 12 number ones, as well as eight number one…
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When I got an invitation to a Scratch Night in Harrogate I thought, great, it is years since I went to a club with a cool DJ using a couple of decks to create a unique sound – it still is! Apparently, a scratch night in a theatrical context, is an event where writers and…
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Tyke It To The Limit 