Yorkshire & Humber Archives - Page 2 of 47

The Ladies Football Club – Crucible Theatre

11Mar

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Ladies Football Club – Crucible Theatre

The popularity of women’s football has grown exponentially recently, bolstered by England’s back-to-back European titles. And every good movement has a good origin story behind it. And if you are thinking, “I don’t know anything about football, maybe this one isn’t for me…” then give me a couple of minutes of your time while I try to persuade you otherwise. I am not a football fan, at all. It’s not something I grew up with, and it all feels a bit alien to me. But I am a fan of women being brilliant, women telling stories, and women supporting and promoting other women, and that is what you get here. The Ladies Football Club, written by Stefano Massini and adapted for this production by Tim Firth, takes us back to the first moments of women’s football. It is World War I. Most men are ...

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Hull New Theatre

11Mar

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Hull New Theatre

I have a bone to pick with the cast of Hessle Theatre Company. Please have more consideration for the afflicted when you perform Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as you did at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening. I was the afflicted in question. You see, I had a huge cold sore on the corner of my mouth, meaning every time you made me laugh - which was often - the pesky sore cracked painfully. Luckily for you, the pain was worth it, so you’re all forgiven. This local company continuously dishes out productions that wouldn’t look out of place on a West End stage and the venue was very well-attended on Tuesday. “Joseph” as it’s popularly known, was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), in 1967 and is still a favourite with theatregoers. ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Drama Studio, Sheffield

5Mar

By Nathan DunnNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Drama Studio, Sheffield

The Company brought Oscar Wilde’s philosophical gothic great ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ to Sheffield’s Drama Studio this week, and audiences lucky to attend are in for an impressive, arresting night of theatre. This particular adaptation was born from the brain of George Shore, who co-directs this piece with Mark Todd. Shore’s script is refined and full of wry humour. In many cases the world-building is contingent upon the script, and here Shore exercises expressive vernacular with all the appropriate didactic bombast of Wilde’s upper-class late Victorian realm. I really enjoyed Shore’s reliance on subtext in dissecting the narrative, leaving an air of mystique surrounding the picture and the terms of Dorian’s negotiation with it. It’s a pointed, concise text that Shore has crafte...

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile – Grand Opera House York

4Mar

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile – Grand Opera House York

Oooooh la la, what a magnificent performance! J’adore Lucy Bailey’s portrayal of Agatha Christie’s renowned murder mystery ‘Death on the Nile’, a truly nail biting and explosive narrative well told, by none other than Hercule Poirot himself (Mark Hadfield). The famous who done it on stage, lived up to its beloved reputation and more, despite the familiarity of the story the anticipation and action still swallow you whole, slowly and then all at once, the same way that the moon encapsulates that last bit of sunlight at sunset. Lucy Bailey’s take, stays both quintessentially Agatha Christie and humble, unravelling the murder case but at the same time humouring the audience with the obviousness of the plot. Mark Hadfield playing Monsieur Poirot fascinated the audience in fi...

Legally Blonde The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

4Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Legally Blonde The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ took Sheffield Theatres’ stage by storm. An absolute tour de force, it is a hilarious, dazzling night of entertainment for all. Amber Davies stars as Elle Wood, the chihuahua wielding, pink-wearing, fashion-obsessive sorority queen who embarks on an adventure in pursuit of status and legitimacy (or what her ex-boyfriend Warner refers to as ‘seriousness’). Davies is remarkably adept in the role, possessing great comedic sensibility and offering a very precise and focussed portrayal of the unlikely, unlucky-in-love law student. She is excellently matched by George Crawford’s Emmett who provided an equally as pointed and complete performance. Adam Cooper’s Callahan is formidably authoritative and delightfully antagonistic. Jocasta Almgill’s Brooke is refreshin...

Friends! The Musical Parody – Hull New Theatre

4Mar

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Friends! The Musical Parody – Hull New Theatre

Friends graced our TV screens from 1994 to 2004, so you would surmise that many of the iconic moments from that period, acted out in Friends! The Musical Parody, which has been running since 2022, would be long forgotten. The show arrived at the Hull New Theatre on Monday as part of a UK and Ireland tour, and, judging by the audience’s reactions during the performance, there were many whose memories didn’t need to be jogged re the shenanigans of Rachel, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe and Monica - the friends in question. There is a long gap between the end of the original TV series to the 2021 Reunion TV Special, an unscripted celebration of the iconic show. But Friends is now streamed on TV, maybe spawning a new crop of fans. Photo: Pamela Raith Monday’s show revealed a stage se...

27Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Swan Lake – Hull New Theatre

Without fail in Hull, a former city of culture, theatregoers flock to the theatre when the ballet is in town. And Thursday was no exception as Hull New Theatre was packed in anticipation of watching the Varna International Ballet company perform the classic, Swan Lake. Founded in Bulgaria in 1947, the company has been playing to full theatres at home and abroad and brings its talents to Hull as part of a UK tour visiting 23 venues around the country. As well as Swan Lake, the ballet dancers will perform Cinderella during their visit to Hull. Classed as the greatest romantic ballet of all time, Swan Lake benefits from the musical compositions of none other than Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. And throughout Thursday evening’s production we were treated to his music played by the most t...

25Feb

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dry Bits – Crucible Playhouse

Imogen Ashby, with support from Sheffield Theatres and the LEVEL Centre, brought her raucous, raw solo show ‘Dry Bits’ to the Crucible Playhouse stage. What followed was a night of humour, vulnerability, ferocity and honesty. To the show’s credit, whilst a one-woman piece about menopause might feel like it has a very clear target audience (and it does), it is ultimately a story about change, memory and how we attach and detach ourselves emotionally from moments, events and conditions of past, present and future life. That seems loaded, but this show also knows exactly what it is and isn’t afraid to put that on the tin (the show’s title doesn’t leave much to the imagination, for example). The concept is delivered with great playfulness and kookiness to good comedic effect. Ashb...

25Feb

By Natalia PrucnalNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Single White Female – Sheffield Lyceum

‘Single White Female’ is an intense psychological thriller, adapted by Rebecca Reid from the iconic 1992 film under the same name, but with a modern twist for its 2026 audience. The script takes many creative liberties in updating the story from the source material, but generally does so fluidly, despite the occasional already-outdated reference and odd pacing of the end of the second act. The play follows Allie and her teenage child Bella, as they navigate life in a skyscraper apartment. Allie’s ex-husband, Sam, tells her his new fiancée is pregnant and cannot afford to support them, so Graham (Allie’s coworker and best friend) encourages her to look for a roommate. Online they quickly find Hedy. Hedy’s relationship grows with both Allie and Bella, but things take a turn for the worst,...

25Feb

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Sunny Afternoon – Leeds Grand Theatre

If you thought Liam and Noel were the most quarrelsome rock ‘n’ roll siblings, this often dark jukebox musical featuring the hits of The Kinks will make you think again. The decades-long sibling rivalry at the band’s creative heart, tortured songwriter Ray Davies and his wild guitarist sibling Dave, make the Gallagher boys look like choirboys in comparison. They were at each other’s throats from the moment they formed The Kinks in Muswell Hill with constant bickering, plus onstage fistfights, which led to them being the only UK pop act banned from America at the heart of their powers, denying them the chance to be huge across the pond. They probably wouldn’t have made it big like the Fab Four or The Who as Ray’s often bittersweet classics that are all included in the show are so quin...