Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
What the Dickens would Christmas be without A Christmas Carol in some form or another. This year we were treated to a wonderful performance of the classic by Northern Ballet, Directed and Devised by Christopher Gable CBE and Choreographed by Massimo Moricone to Music by Carl Davis. A formidable trio indeed. For those of you…
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There is something about brass bands at Christmas which just seems right. Whether it is because it is the time when the Salvation Army regale shoppers with their renditions of carols, I don’t know, but it certainly adds a festive cherry to the fruit cake. Now where’s the Wensleydale? Naturally, the programme comprised a selection…
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The Festive Season has got off to a great start this year. After two wonderful pantomimes and a stunning Christmas show, here I am at the fabulous Howard Assembly Room for an evening of song from Madeline Bell and Ian Shaw. The pair have been performing together for many years off and on but obviously…
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If last week’s trip to the pantomime took me back to my first childhood, this one certainly appeals to my second. The jokes were far more risqué, with lots of double entendres but even more single entendres! The age guidance is 4+ although there is advice for those who are bringing younger tots, due to…
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I was looking forward to seeing this show, which I last saw in 2022, and wondered what someone else would do to it. As it happens it was basically the same production but with a few small changes. What hadn’t changed, however, was that the story is told in flashbacks, the opening scene depicting the…
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I don’t use a star system to grade the things I review. My reasoning for this is that the top rating would mean, should something come along which was palpably better than those to which I had allocated five stars, I could not do it justice. In 1999 the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab was so…
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I have rewritten this piece several times as I want to do it justice, but the more I analysed it the more confused I became about its aim. The strap line on the programme is ‘Who do you care about and why?’ A bit of a profound question to be examined in just over an…
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We can start celebrating Christmas now that Leeds Playhouse has opened its Festive Season offering. Over the years these shows have become the yardstick against which others are measured. Last year’s production of Oliver! which I sadly had to miss as I was in hospital, and was sold out by the time I recovered, won…
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Anyone who regularly reads my articles will know that, apart from them needing therapy, I hate having the classics messed around with. If you think you can do it better then write your own play, even if you have to use the original idea. This is almost what happened here, the concept of Shakespeare’s Romeo…
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The problem with reviewing a play dealing with a controversial subject is you need to keep your opinions of the issue to yourself and write your article on the merits of the piece of drama itself. Anyone who regularly reads my stuff will know that I usually insert some personal experiences so this will be…
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Tyke It To The Limit 