Review: Home, I’m Darling is Fascinating, Very SoReview: Made in Dagenham is mighty and movingReview: My Fair Lady is ‘loverly’Review: Pretty Woman: The Musical is pretty predictableReview: Tess, a bold circus adaptation of the Hardy classic, at York Theatre RoyalReview: Unhomely: Three Tales of Terror at Harrogate TheatreReview: Leeds Playhouse’s Oliver! is a glorious festive treat

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com. 

Leeds Playhouse’s festive season kicks off with family favourite Oliver!, and it’s a real Christmas treat. 

Set and Costume Designer Colin Richmond creates a Dickensian masterpiece of the Playhouse’s vast Quarry space. His Victorian London is gloomy, grimy and shadowy, where candle-lit lamps illuminate the night and ash falls from a smog-laden sky. 

The production is staged in the round, with audience members observing the action from all angles. Additional staging, featuring stairways and platforms, surrounds and spans the main set, with characters departing the stage to appear suddenly elsewhere, creating the feel of a hustling, bustling metropolis, where anyone could be hiding around the corner. 

Direction and choreography are flawlessly orchestrated to ensure all audience members, regardless of their seat, feel present and part of this world. Costume and props are also splendidly immersive, and swaps are seamlessly integrated. 

The production is made complete by its huge cast, many of whom, naturally, are youngsters, chosen for their parts via an open call-out across the north, and whose talent and commitment shine. 

The roles of Oliver and The Artful Dodger are each shared by three young actors over the course of the run; on Friday, 9-year-old Nicholas Teixeira took on the titular role with ease, delivering an adroit rendition of Where is Love? to pull many a heartstring. Felix Holt’s Dodger is as Dickens intended: a boy old before his time. Holt has a natural comedic swagger that will undoubtedly take him far.

As for the grown-ups: Steve Furst makes for a memorable and multidimensional Fagin, his wickedness and greed mingling with fleeting displays of kindliness for his young criminal apprentices. Chris Bennett’s Bill Sikes, meanwhile, shows not a shred of humanity and may be the fiercest iteration of one of fiction’s most vicious antagonists that I have ever seen. 

And there is, of course, tune after glorious tune, all familiar, but all elevated by Lucy Hind’s exciting choreography. I loved That’s Your Funeral, led by the marvellously macabre undertakers under whose care Oliver briefly finds himself, and Consider Yourself, a musical lover’s dream with its dazzling, full-cast, high-octane performance.  

I’d do anything to encourage you to catch this impeccably produced Christmas spectacular at Leeds Playhouse, running until 27 January 2024.  

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Review: Dick Whittington is thigh-slapping, side-splitting fun

An extravagant dame, a wicked villain, high jinks and many an excitable child: it must be pantomime season.

Harrogate Theatre’s 2023 show is the thigh-slapping, side-splitting Dick Whittington, and it’s another swashbuckler for the panto lovers out there.

Spirited, sparkling and silly, the tale of Dick Whittington’s adventure to London and beyond makes for the perfect panto plot with bountiful boisterous frolics. The fun-loving cast is infectiously energetic, indulging its audience in a couple of hours of folly and fancy.

The youngest audience members, many dressed up for the occasion, had a ball, singing, dancing and revelling in their participation – especially the many opportunities to shout, boo and hiss.

The grown-ups don’t miss out, with gags to tickle even the weariest parent, and the panto is Harrogate through and through, with mention of local politics aplenty. A rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas doubles up as an advert for many of the town’s local specialties, from Weeton’s hampers to Taylors tea and Pizza Parada.

Set changes are as frequent as the dame’s outfit swaps, and the whole stage is awash with colour, glitter and merriment. A true variety performance, the show is jam-packed with audience interaction, runabouts, singalongs and slapstick humour, and sprinkled with cheeky twists on popular songs, covering everything from Elton John to Harry Styles.

The brilliantly rambunctious Michael Lambourne as the evil King Rat delivered two of my personal favourites: These Claws Are Made for Walking and a rip-roaring rendition of Rat Out of Hell.

As the countdown to Christmas begins, Harrogate Theatre’s custard-pie-covered, water-pistol-soaked, fairy-dusted panto is just the way to get into the spirit. Oh yes, it is!

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Review: Calendar Girls The Musical is a cheeky and heartfelt roller coaster 

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Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com. 

It’s the Yorkshire tale we all know and love: the remarkable story of a group of ladies in a small Women’s Institute in the Dales, who, after the death of one member’s husband, and wanting to raise money for the hospital that cared for him, did what no WI had ever done before. They produced a nude calendar. Twenty-five years on, the women have raised an incredible £6 million for Blood Cancer UK.

The story was shared with the world in 2003 with the release of a major film, Calendar Girls, featuring Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and a slew of other big names. It was followed by a stage adaptation in 2008 with the same writer, Tim Firth, at its helm.

The newer musical production, now on tour across the country, is a fresh take entirely and a collaboration between Firth and long-term friend, Take That’s Gary Barlow. I was lucky enough to experience the result of this perfect partnership at Leeds Grand Theatre last night.

The two writers’ skills combine to create something totally magnificent. Barlow’s lyrics and melodies elevate the piece to a whole new level: it is as if it was always intended to have a soundtrack. And, to deliver the magic to the stage: an all-star cast of music, television and theatre talent, including Maureen Nolan of the Nolan Sisters and Lyn Paul from the New Seekers.

Eastenders’ Tanya Franks plays the newly widowed Annie beautifully; her rendition of Kilimanjaro, in which she mourns the everyday struggles of grief, is truly heart-breaking. Amy Robbins, of Coronation Street fame, is extraordinarily entertaining as Annie’s best friend, Chris.

Tanya Franks as Annie. Pic: Alex Harvey-Brown

And it really doesn’t end there: every single cast member performs with such life and understanding, their lyrics delivered with meaning and purpose. Each character has her moment, with her own challenge to overcome, from the process of ageing and worries over children, to cheating spouses and turning to the bottle.

I cried with laughter and with sadness; the whole production filled me with an unbridled joy that reminded me why I love theatre. Poignancy, comedy, bittersweet beauty, wrapped up so effortlessly like a present: it’s a rare thing, and a full standing ovation was the proof of the pudding.

As if that wasn’t enough of a roller coaster of emotions for one evening, the revelation that members of the famous WI branch were among the audience was the icing on the proverbial cake.

If you do anything this week, go and see the Calendar Girls doing their thing on stage, plum jam, bare bums, iced buns and all.

The final performance is on Saturday night.

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Review: 50 years of Ilkley Literature Festival

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com. 

For a fortnight in October, the charming town of Ilkley buzzes as bookworms unite for the UK’s second longest-running book festival.

Now in its impressive 50th year, and with more than 90 events spanning 17 days across various venues, 2023’s festival programme caters to every kind of reader. I was eager to get a taste for the Ilkley Literature Festival over the course of its opening weekend.

First on my agenda was Jacqueline Wilson, celebrated author of countless children’s novels, who took to the stage to an audience of enthralled youngsters to discuss the inspiration behind her hugely popular books and to talk about her latest (117th!) penning, The Best Sleepover in the World. This was one of several events on the festival’s programme geared towards children, and it was exciting to see a room filled with young, enthusiastic book-lovers, just at the start of their reading journeys.

Next up was something wholly different, as father-and-son duo David and Ben Crystal discussed Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life, their latest co-authored book with a quote for each day of the year. Entertaining and insightful, the pair persuaded me (and many other people, if the queue for buying a signed book was anything to go by) that the Bard’s work, rather than daunting, can actually be rather fun.

Neurodiversity was the key theme of Melanie Sykes’ event, in which the presenter and broadcaster discussed her memoir, Illuminated, written in the wake of a late diagnosis of autism and ADHD. Sykes spoke extremely candidly of her life, career and struggles, with great authenticity and humour.

I then took a detour into the world of ecology at author Sophie Pavelle’s event. She recounted, eloquently and passionately, the tale of her journey around the UK, exploring 10 animals and habitats that are being impacted by climate change, from the harbour porpoise to the mountain hare, which provided the basis of her debut, Forget Me Not.

I concluded my festival tour with a suitably Yorkshire-themed talk, listening to Rick Broadbent, Times writer, exiled Yorkshireman and author of Now Then: A Biography of Yorkshire. Broadbent went down a storm with his local audience, recounting many a Yorkshire tale, including that of the night Jimi Hendrix stopped off in Ilkley to perform a (very brief) gig.

The events I attended were but a glimpse of what this delightfully friendly and accessible festival has on offer. I came away from the weekend feeling invigorated by the diversity of creativity and ideas in what had been just a taster of the programme’s events, and I’d absolutely go back for more. Running until Sunday 22 October, there’s plenty of time to catch one of your favourite authors on stage, or to see something entirely unfamiliar and thought-provoking.

Upcoming headliners include all-round favourite Gyles Brandreth, food writer Grace Dent, comedian Shaparak Khorsandi, journalist Gavin Esler and broadcaster Clare Balding, plus many more; for the philosophers, there’s AC Grayling, and for the Strictly-lovers, Anton Du Beke. For the poetry fans, there is a whole day dedicated to the art form on Saturday 14 October.

Music, food, sport and politics all have a place, and with fringe performances, quizzes, workshops and walks, there’s oodles to do and see in this small town on the edge of the world-famous moor. And when you’re all book-wormed out, a bracing pint at The Cow and Calf is ready and waiting.

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