Yorkshire & Humber Archives - North West End UK

The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Sheffield Lyceum

20Feb

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Sheffield Lyceum

Tea that hits the perfect spot! The Sheffield Lyceum Theatre welcomed a full house of young theatre goer’s to The Tiger Who Came To Tea. Expertly created and adapted by David Wood with Emma Clayton as Associate Director and Choreographer. The set design by Susie Caulcutt gave the visiting Sheffield tea party guests an open stage showing the detailed kitchen of the house. With an initial welcome by Aaron Andrews as Daddy/ Postman/Milkman and Tiger, Jenanne Redman as Mummy and Eleanor Meredith as Sophie, the audience are encouraged to interact with the characters, and this is maintained throughout the 55-minute performance. With Musical arrangers by Peter Ponzen and musical direction by like Cotton, this musical production is aimed at an audience of ages 3+. I took along my 8-year-old Gra...

Perfect Show For Rachel – The Crucible Playhouse

20Feb

By Nathan DunnNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Perfect Show For Rachel – The Crucible Playhouse

Zoo Co (co-produced with Improbable) brought ‘Perfect Show for Rachel’ to The Crucible Theatre Playhouse this week, and what a delight it is to have this production on Sheffield stages this February. The show is a beautiful evening of unrestrained creative exploration and recreation. As we enter the full cast are on stage, very relaxed and smiley as they allow the audience to filter into their pastel coloured living room stage space. An electronic drum-kit, piano and guitar stand upon a small raised area. Rachel O’Mahoney is the director, the all seeing eye, the creative arbiter and final say of this show. She sits behind a large desk adorned with dozens (some 40+) buttons. Her art adorns the walls, and her face is live streamed to a couple TVs attached to a colourful set evoking recrea...

18Feb

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dear England – Alhambra Bradford

It's always struck me as odd that for a nation that invented football there hasn't been more plays written about the beautiful game that is such a central part of so many of our lives. James Graham's Dear England puts that right with an intelligent and emotionally charged piece that genuinely captures the visceral nature of our national obsession with the game. It's a drama as much about human relationships and the unbearable pressures of holding a nation's hopes on the shoulders of 11 young men, as it is about kicking a football about. Thankfully Dear England eschews too much of the cheesy onstage attempts to replicate playing at the very highest level that all too often blights football plays. Once upon a time Gareth Southgate was famous for missing a penalty that dumped England ou...

Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story – Hull New Theatre

16Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story – Hull New Theatre

So engrossed was I while watching Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story at the Hull New Theatre on Thursday evening, that for a fleeting moment I really felt I was watching the man himself. Ridiculous, of course, as the real Buddy died in a plane crash on February 3rd, 1959. But so impressive was AJ Jenks as the spectacle-wearing rock ’n’ roller, it was difficult not to be transported back to a time when, not only was the music groundbreaking and fantastic, but, hallelujah, every word was clearly audible, meaning the songs were ripe to sing along to. And, over 60 years later, that’s exactly what we in the audience did from the very first note Buddy and his backing group, The Crickets, struck up. Buddy (Jenks) on his guitar and The Crickets - bassist Joe B Mauldin (Melker Nilsson), ...

12Feb

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Bodyguard – Sheffield Lyceum

The Bodyguard has become a staple of the West End since its debut in 2013. It has resonated with and entertained audiences internationally. This particular production, however, sadly gives pause. There are some impressive design features throughout this show, more so in Tim Hatley’s set design and in particular the thriller aspects are particularly strong and excitingly creative. James-Lee Harris’ character of the stalker, for example, appears in a flash of lightning at a door we have stared at continuously, never once recognising their presence until that jump-scare moment. It’s exhilarating. Protagonist Rachel Marron’s residence feels swanky and full of scope, choosing to obscure part of the stage with long, impressive curtains. It’s visually interesting and simultaneously pragm...

12Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Macbeth – Hull Truck Theatre

Macbeth, aka The Scottish Play, got off to an explosive start on Tuesday evening, as part of its run at the Hull Truck Theatre. An insider informant - who I will call “Jay” for the purpose of this review - revealed to me pre-show that we theatregoers were in for a thrilling time. And, my goodness, “Jay” was absolutely right. The plain (but extremely effective) stage setting gave no hint of what was to come. The stage floor was level with the audience’s walkway and comprised mottled grey “stone” sections surrounding a drain cover. The backdrop consisted of misshapen doorways, an industrial staircase and a mezzanine revealing more doors. All dimly lit by overhead metal lamps. A large central opening was hung with wide plastic strips through which most of the action took place....

Here & Now: The Steps Musical – Grand Opera House

12Feb

By Adam CraddockNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Here & Now: The Steps Musical – Grand Opera House

Tonight, I had the pleasure of being invited along to Grand Opera House York to review the UK touring production of “Here and Now”, the brand new musical based on the songs of Steps. I knew pretty much nothing at all about this show going into it, knowing only one or two of Steps’ songs and my only knowledge of the plot being from one production image, so needless to say I was going into this pretty blind and neutral. The show is based in the seaside supermarket Better Best Bargains and revolves around a core group of four employees, Caz, Vel, Neeta and Robbie, as they make a pact together for a summer of love to come but this is put in peril when their workplace faces closure. We follow the twists and turns this friendship takes (and believe me there are plenty of twists, just not all ...

4Feb

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Rocky Horror Show – Bradford Alhambra

There are not many shows where the opening overture gets a massive round of applause, but this is the Rocky Horror Show where usual theatrical rules do not apply during this cult classic. More than fifty years after Richard O'Brien first staged his transgressive love letter to the fifties and sixties B-movies of his youth the Rocky Horror Show continues to play round the world, including a cold Monday night in West Yorkshire. This is the simple tale of two very straight fifties kids, Janet (Lucy Aiston) and Brad (James Bisp), who stumble upon the lair of transvestite mad scientist Frank N Furter who is conducting strange experiments in his spooky mansion with his gang of kooky misfits, and takes great delight in corrupting the naive young couple. It's a mashup of finding yo...

4Feb

By Mark HumphreysNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Marriage of Figaro – Leeds Grand

Opera North’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro begins with a quietly touching prologue: during the overture, we’re shown the early romance between the Count and Countess, blooming with promise before gradually cooling. The changing of flowers marks the passing seasons, and alongside this gentle unravelling we see the spark between Figaro and Susanna — their relationship building towards engagement. It’s a deft and atmospheric device, grounding Mozart’s whirlwind comedy in a world shaped by real emotional weather. Louisa Muller’s staging relocates the action to a contemporary country house — not aristocratic in the Downton sense, but a slightly frayed estate populated by tour guides, cleaners, gardeners, and other staff. In this world, hierarchy isn’t defined by powdered wigs but...

My Brother’s a Genius – Sheffield Playhouse

30Jan

By Natalia PrucnalNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

My Brother’s a Genius – Sheffield Playhouse

‘My Brother’s a Genius’ is a comedic but equally incredibly moving and heartfelt play and deeply raw spoken word performance. It’s splendidly written by Debris Stevenson and expertly crafted and directed by Eleanor Manners, with rhythmic music composed by Jammz. A co-production between Sheffield Theatres, The National Youth Theatre and Theatre Centre brings a bewitching ‘indigo’ tone to the Sheffield Playhouse. We follow the story of twins Daisy (Jess Senanayake) and Luke (Tyrese Walters) from childhood to adult life as they navigate neurodivergence, the class system and familial relationships. We watch how their friendship flies, falls and drowns throughout. They experience the world through different lenses: Daisy is named an “idiot” and goes to Circus School, while Luke is labell...