Opera North, based in Leeds, has a long relationship with Theatre Royal, Newcastle and is famed for its high quality, accessible productions and its commitment to touring and education. It was a delight to see them back, opening their stay with Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. This production first premièred in 1980 but feels… Continue reading The Cunning Little Vixen
Month: April 2024
An Actor’s Life in 12 Productions
Now in his 80s, Oliver Ford Davies is an instantly recognisable actor, although he was never destined to be a screen idol or stage legend. As Richard Eyre was to write while directing Ford Davies in David Hare’s Racing Demon, he is “slightly donnish, ineffably good-willed; he’s like a really effective vicar.” For better or… Continue reading An Actor’s Life in 12 Productions
Black Superhero
Olivier-nominated actor Danny Lee Wynter’s debut play as a dramatist centres on mixed-race gay black-activist actor David (played by Wynter) and some of his closest friends, also gay black actors. Most important is King (Dyllón Burnside, best known for his role in TV series Pose), for whom David has long carried a torch. King has… Continue reading Black Superhero
A soundwalk around Leeds
As You Are, a soundwalk for Leeds written for Opera North by South African-born composer and cellist Abel Selaocoe, will open on March 30 as part of Leeds 2023 Year of Culture. It invites audiences to experience Leeds in new and transformative ways, with an emphasis on the meditative and healing power of walking. Audiences… Continue reading A soundwalk around Leeds
The Great Gatsby
Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is set in the ‘roaring ’20s’, a period of ‘riotous license’ in America after the Great War and before the ensuing and all-embracing Depression. The names and life styles of the very rich—the Guggenheims, Astors, Pulitzers—were well known and many of these millionaires had summer homes on Long Island. This provided Fitzgerald… Continue reading The Great Gatsby
This Town
Just to avoid any misunderstanding – Rory Aaron’s This Town is not a tribute to The Go-Go’s. It is an epic narrative poem which demonstrates the ambition of Manchester’s Contact and their willingness to challenge audiences. The play opens in a light, comedic manner fondly painting a word picture of a past-its-best Derbyshire town where… Continue reading This Town
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
This lively musical, originally commissioned by Singapore Repertory Theatre, where it premièred in 2015, is based on a Norwegian fairytale collected by Hans Anderson. It is the tale of three hungry goats who have nothing to eat because there has been no rain and the grass in their fields has dried up. On the other… Continue reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff
L’Incoronazione di Poppea
John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi trilogy, adding Poppea to the earlier L’Orfeo and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, both previously reviewed here, has been issued as a box set with a price around £32, offering a reduction against the cost of the three bought individually. That amounts to well over eight hours of music, all in… Continue reading L’Incoronazione di Poppea