Author: Editor

Anthony Hewitson was a media baron before the world knew of such folk. A Victorian journalist, he turned newspapers into big business in late 19th century Preston. Over the same period he also kept diaries, detailing his private life, its domestic challenges and tragedies, and his scurrilous opinions about his local contemporaries. It is these… Continue reading The Hewitson Diaries

Denzel Westley-Sanderson directs an all-black production of the wittiest comedy in the English language, something which I don’t think has happened professionally in England since Yvonne Brewster’s production in 1989 for Talawa Theatre. The poster and the programme cover make the same bold statement. There is a large silhouette of a handsome black young man… Continue reading The Importance of Being Earnest

“A star is born” the local Italian newspaper proclaimed in English after the appearance of the little-known 21-year-old Caterina Sala as Adina in the opening production of the 2021 Donizetti Festival in Bergamo. Wow, how right they were. Although just moments from the end of the opera, Sala’s extended aria “Ah! L’eccesso del contento” almost… Continue reading L’elisir d’amore

As far as From Here To Eternity is concerned, size matters and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The musical adaptation of this story, set in Pearl Harbour military base in the run-up to the Japanese attack in 1941 that would see America join the War, fares much better now at the modestly-proportioned Charing Cross… Continue reading From Here To Eternity

When the film version of The Commitments came out in 1991, it did not fare particularly well at the box office despite excellent reviews and a handful of BAFTAs (including Best Film and Best Director for the late, great Alan Parker). However, over the last thirty years, this boisterous comedy-musical has gained an enthusiastic cult… Continue reading The Commitments

Former Principal of The Royal Ballet Ivan Putrov’s showcase for the male dancer, Men in Motion, is back bigger and better. Kyiv-born Putrov has brought his productions of Men in Motion to London in 2012 (twice), 2014 and 2017. His Dance for Ukraine fundraising gala (together with Alina Cojocaru) in March this year must have… Continue reading Men in Motion 10th Anniversary Gala

If you can remember what you were doing in the Sixties, they say, you weren’t really there. So what a chance to enjoy it if you missed it. And without the headache. Beautiful is a stomping, stonking ride through Carole King’s greatest early hits, all helpfully listed in the programme, that had the audience rising to… Continue reading Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Opera North and South Asian Arts-UK join forces to make music worthy of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a massive challenge, and they succeed beautifully. Jasdeep Singh Degun, composer and sitar player, weaves and melds European baroque music and Indian classical music into a coherent whole, equally respectful to both sources. Half the opera (which originally premièred in 1607)… Continue reading Orpheus

Former Principal of The Royal Ballet Ivan Putrov’s showcase for the male dancer, Men in Motion, is back bigger and better. Kyiv-born Putrov has brought his productions of Men in Motion to London in 2012 (twice), 2014 and 2017. His Dance for Ukraine fundraising gala (together with Alina Cojocaru) in March this year must have… Continue reading Men in Motion 10th Anniversary Gala

German born independent dance artist Esther Huss, who has been based in Northumberland since 2019, brings her new work Stairwall to non-theatre settings during October and November and I caught up with this eccentric and charming piece at the timber merchants Percy A Hudson in North Shields. As I approached, the timber workers were busy… Continue reading Stairwall – the things we find