Arriving into York to temperatures of 26 degrees and clear skies, it felt like nature knew we were here to enjoy two days of luxurious travel and was already spoiling us. Over the past five years, I’ve visited this city many times, having worked on...
When Edith Nesbit was four-years-old her father died suddenly, ending the idyllic security of her childhood. In many ways, The Railway Children is the story of her life as she would like it to have worked out. Written at the turn of the 20th...
Any city that builds a ski-jump overlooking a graveyard must have a sense of humour. Look over from Bergisel Olympic ski jump to a picture postcard view of the Nordkette mountain across the valley. Gaze down and, well, sometimes it’s best to keep...
The Mayfield venue, an old railway siding behind Piccadilly station, barely looks passable from the outside for anyone to enter without a hard hat. Inside, some basic raised seating, lighting rigs and a sprung reflective floor, transform this...
Where did the time go? That’s the central question of Shirley Valentine. For anyone in the audience who remembers the 1980s, it’s a question we’re all asking – not least on hearing Jodie Prenger is in the lead role. ‘She must be playing it younger,’...
The glimpse of a bare bum on stage is guaranteed to induce a burst of laugher. And herein lies the enduring appeal of Hans Christian Andersen’s morality fairy tale. It’s cheeky, silly and pokes fun at the pomposity sometimes only an innocent child...
The advances in digital technology have connected us in ways we could never have imagined. At the same time, our obsession with being ‘connected’ is also a cause of disconnect and overload. How we find a comfortable balance between the two is the...
To say that Sukanya is Ravi Shankar’s only opera, while true, gives a misleading impression of his talent and influence on world music. Knowing he began writing it in the eighth decade of his life tells us more about his enthusiasm for music and his...
It’s hard to believe six years has passed since Manchester saw the premiere of Ghost the Musical with Richard Fleeshman in the lead. Based on the 1990 film with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, this supernatural murder mystery romance already had an...
Babe The Sheep-Pig is a story that has captivated young imaginations for more than 30 years. ‘A sheep-pig, that’s silly!’ my five-year-old theatre buddy laughs before we arrive. It is a ridiculous concept that twists and turns into a fantastical...
Carmel Thomason