Liverpool’s Theatre in the Rough’s Leadership Lab provides skills development and mentoring for aspiring arts leaders under 25 years old living in the Liverpool region. Workshops will cover artistic vision, project management, fundraising, marketing and career planning in the creative sector. Participants will receive a £300 budget and a £150 seed commission to launch a mini arts… Continue reading Leadership Lab for young arts leaders
Author: Editor
Pinocchio
The Theatre Royal Stratford opened exactly 140 years ago this month, and Carlo Collodi’s story of puppet Pinocchio is just a year older. It doesn’t have some of the typical pantomime characters familiar from earlier fairy tales—there is no romance with a prince or princess to trigger a wedding walk-down finale, no demon king to… Continue reading Pinocchio
Devoted & Disgruntled of Leeds
Improbable Theatre’s annual three-day event Devoted & Disgruntled, posing questions about theatre and the arts, will be at the Warehouse in Leeds 16–18 March. Now in its eighteenth year—though this is the first in-person event in five years due to COVID-19—D&D is aimed at “anyone who is passionate about the arts, from audiences to artists, CEOs… Continue reading Devoted & Disgruntled of Leeds
Julie’s one-woman show at Bolton and Newcastle
Stage and screen actress Julie Hesmondhalgh is to bring her intimate, autobiographical show to support the Octagon in Bolton and Live Theatre in Newcastle. Julie starred as Hayley Cropper in ITV’s Coronation Street for 16 years, as well as Happy Valley (BBC), Broadchurch (ITV), Doctor Who (BBC) and, most recently, ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office. These I Love is described as, “a hymn… Continue reading Julie’s one-woman show at Bolton and Newcastle
Jack and the Beanstalk
It’s a sign of a successful panto when the performers are struggling to continue because they can’t stop laughing. There are two action-stopping moments in Nottingham Playhouse’s current offering that mean the show can’t go on—for a brief moment at any rate. In the first half of Jack and the Beanstalk, Dame Daisy Trott is supposed… Continue reading Jack and the Beanstalk
Sanctuary
Cassie has decided to hide out in her basement from the growing right-wing unrest in the American city where she lives in Christine Rose’s topical political thriller Sanctuary directed by Donna King. Not wanting to be alone during such tense times, she has invited her childhood friend Amelia to join her in the basement. Initially, they reminisce… Continue reading Sanctuary
Madama Butterfly
It is 21 years since the première of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production for the Royal Opera, since which time there have been many revivals and many outstanding singers in the role of Butterfly, Cio-Cio-San. So it is an interesting question why this version, starring Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, recorded in March 2024, is… Continue reading Madama Butterfly
The Nutcracker
As seasonal as Christmas pudding, turkey, stuffing and sprouts, Nutcrackers get family audiences out for their postprandial annual treat, tonight filling the five-thousand-plus-seater Royal Albert Hall. And they are loving it… I hear a lot of Russian voices in the audience, celebrating one of their own, though neither Tchaikovsky nor Petipa had an easy time of… Continue reading The Nutcracker
The Legends of Them
Sutara Gayle, AKA Lorna Gee, is a celebrated actor and reggae singer. As solo performer for the entire show, Gayle sings and acts out her life, playing herself and family figures as well as an entire repertoire of unsavoury individuals who hindered her path, from the troubling school years to a successful singing career finding… Continue reading The Legends of Them
Jack and the Beanstalk
Great start with the entrance of Fleshcreep (Richard Meek) magnificently attired (Elizabeth Dennis) and straight into boos and “oh no you won’t”. He is joined by Vegetable Fairy (Millie Readshaw), a Middlesbrough lass, who instantly connects with the audience, feisty and contemporary. The drop cloth is raised to revealed a stunning, three-dimensional set (Ian Wilson,… Continue reading Jack and the Beanstalk