THEATRE

THEATRE VISITS - 2013

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I have continued to enjoy National Theatre Live shows at the local Odeon: The Magistrate and This House were excellent and the performances by Branagh in Macbeth and Kinnear & Lester in Othello were amazing. In La Voix Humaine for Opera North, Lesley Garret was superb in a very demanding role. I think Cush Jumbo is the best young actress around and it was great to see her again - in A Doll's House. I was unimpressed by One Man, Two Guvnors and can't understand it's great success. George Critchley - who I first shared the stage with in 1986 - co-produced his first major national tour with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and what an excellent production it was. The highlight of my year was seeing Roddy Frame (aka Aztec Camera) in concert again. I'm a long time fan (see my Collectors pages) and he gave a stunning performance including the whole of the album High Land, Hard Rain which he wrote as a teenager 30 years ago. The man is a genius. I rarely go to see tribute acts but Michael King as Billy Fury at my local Thwaites Empire Theatre was terrific. Also at the Empire, the best amateur shows of the year were Me and My Girl by Blackburn Musical Theatre Company and Bronte by Blackburn Drama Club. The comedian Jimmy Cricket - a lovely man - wrote a very tuneful musical, Maloney's Big Moment, which he produced at the Empire (with me in it as an 'extra'!).