Theatre reviews for you, by you. If you would like to review for us,
please contact us including a short review of what you have seen recently.

Book: Arthur Ransome Adaptor: Helen Edmundson Music & Lyrics: Neil Hannon Director: Tom Morris Reviewer: Nicola Harrison The Public Reviews Rating: ‘Who would wave a flag to be rescued if they had a desert island of their own? That was the thing that spoilt ‘Robinson Crusoe’. In the end he came home. There never ought to be an [...]

Writer: Helen Edmundson Director: Polly Teale Designer: Naomi Dawson Reviewer: Katie Lee The Public Reviews Rating: ‘There is no life but loving,’ Mary cries as she declares her love for Percy Bysshe Shelley in a new play by Helen Edmundson. It tells the tale of a woman deeply influenced by those around her to live her life fully [...]

Writer: Dylan Thomas (abridged by Adrian Metcalfe and David Robertson) Director: David Robertson Reviewer: Katie Lee The Public Reviews Rating: ‘To begin at the beginning’ is the opening line of Under Milk Wood, neatly inviting us to listen to the tales of the ‘nasty lot’ that live in a town smelling of ‘seaweed and breakfast’. As part of [...]

Lead violin: Simon Blendis Music: Shostakovich, Anthony Powers, Elgar Reviewer: Nicola Harrison The Public Reviews Rating: ‘Music is a means capable of expressing dark dramaticism and pure rapture, suffering and ecstacy, fiery and cold fury, melancholy and wild merriment – and the subtlest nuances and interplay of these.’ Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) The ‘Schubert Ensemble’ concluding Leeds International [...]

Lyrics: Tim Rice Music: Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus Director and Choreographer: Louise Denison Musical Director: Jim Lunt Reviewer: Maggie Poppa The Public Reviews Rating: Chess could be described as a ‘Marmite Musical’ – you will probably either love it or hate it. But what is quite evident is that whether or not this is your favourite musical, [...]

Conductor: Christian Lindberg Pianist: Alessandro Taverna Music: Nielson, Grieg, Sibelius Reviewer: Nicola Harrison The Public Reviews Rating: ‘Musik er Liv, som dette uudslukkelig’ (Music is life, and, like it, inextinguishable) Nielsen (1865-1931) As part of Leeds International Concert Season we are truly privileged to be a part of this remarkable celebration of Scandinavian classical music. The Scandanavian theme [...]

Writer: Caryl Churchill Director: Max Stafford-Clark Reviewer: Rhian Williams The Public Reviews Rating: Born out of Thatcherism and shoulder pads, Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls beautifully exemplifies an age of strident feminism and social change. Positioned firmly on the fence, Churchill elucidates the arguments for and against capitalism and the rise of the individual. She does this though the [...]

Music: John Pryce-Jones, John longstaff Choreographer: David Nixon Director: David Nixon Reviewer: Tiffany Shepherd The Public Reviews Rating: The opera ‘Madame Butterfly’ will always hold a special place with me as the first opera I ever saw as a young child and the Artistic Director of Northern Ballet, David Nixon, was brave to abandon the voice and embrace [...]