Curtain up on an exciting theatrical season

The summer is coming to a close – and that means the theatres are almost back in full swing. Nick Ahad on what you should watch.
Will Young in CabaretWill Young in Cabaret
Will Young in Cabaret

It’s probably worth a recap. So far this summer we have looked ahead to what’s coming up over the autumn at the region’s theatres including Sheffield, Hull, today Harrogate and of course at West Yorkshire Playhouse where all eyes are turned on what new man James Brining’s first season will look like.

In our region there are other theatres that don’t always feature in-depth interviews about how the ship is being artistically steered and that is because they run a different course.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Bradford Alhambra, Leeds Grand Theatre, City Varieties, York Grand Opera House – these are different beasts because they are what is known in the trade as receiving houses. They don’t actually make work in house – just present what is being offered out on the road by other companies.

People by Alan Bennett, with Frances de la Tour as Dorothy Stacpoole and Linda Bassett as Iris.People by Alan Bennett, with Frances de la Tour as Dorothy Stacpoole and Linda Bassett as Iris.
People by Alan Bennett, with Frances de la Tour as Dorothy Stacpoole and Linda Bassett as Iris.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there is no artistic leadership in these buildings.

Take Bradford Alhambra, for example. The man at the helm is Adam Renton.

While the people running the buildings where work is produced, like the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Sheffield Crucible are generally actors and directors, Renton comes from a background in hospitality.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

His strengths lie in knowing what the people want and making his venues – he has charge of St George’s Hall too – welcoming to those audiences. As well as making his venues welcoming to audiences, he has also been on a mission over the past decade to convince the theatre-going public of West Yorkshire that contemporary dance is not scary.

Back in the early 1990s a contemporary dance company came to Bradford and for a series of reasons, the performance at the Alhambra, being entirely underwhelmingly received, caused financial difficulties for the theatre.

When Renton took charge he was determined to bring contemporary dance back to the theatre. It was a marker, a stamp of quality that the best dance companies in the world – and the very best from around the globe have visited in recent years – would come to Bradford.

Renton understands that he still needs to crowd-please on occasion, hence X Factor failure Chico turning up in this year’s pantomime, but his commitment to quality is in evidence in his booking of Cedar Lake, a contemporary ballet company which will bring to the theatre, in October, a piece of work choreographed by one of the greatest choroegraphers of the modern age, Jiri Kylian. Will Young will be on the Alhambra’s stage with Cabaret next month and a new stage version of To Sir With Love, starring the highly respected Matthew Kelly comes to the theatre in November.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Work that will please the crowds include the 40th anniversary tour of The Rocky Horror Show, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and an internationally acclaimed piece of theatre called Slava’s Snowshow which is a little difficult to describe, but has clowning at its heart and a raft of awards at its back as it arrives in October.

In Leeds, at the city’s Grand Theatre, the building can call on two of the city’s major producers to offer constant quality. With Opera North literally across the road (the internationally renowned outfit is essentially the in-house company of the Grand) and Northern Ballet just down the road, there is plenty on the doorstep for this beautiful old theatre to stage. Not that that means it doesn’t go looking for other good work outside of the city and testament to that is the fact that in November the theatre will play host to the National Theatre with a production, no less, of local boy Alan Bennett’s latest play People.

Next year the theatre will welcome an unusually long run of hit musical Wicked and appears to be making up for that with a large number of one and two-nighters this autumn, in between the long stints by Opera North and Northern Ballet.

Comedians Paul Merton, Bill Bailey, Sean Lock and Milton Jones will all be on the stage of the Grand and audiences will have the opportunity to spend time with Sir Roger Moore and Ray Mears – both on Oct 27, but both in separate events – Roger Moore is in the afternoon, Ray Mears, the evening.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Bradford Alhambra equally doesn’t do too badly with its comedic offerings – the St George’s Hall allows it a second venue for one-night shows, and this autumn it will see visits from Sarah Millican, Ed Byrne, Stewart Leeds and the inimitable Russell Brand.

Comedians making their way to Leeds City Varieties include Ardal O’Hanlon and Stephen K Amos.

Perennial musical favourite Blood Brothers is back on the road and comes to York Grand Opera House in October before it starts playing host to its annual pantomime, this year Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

The theatre is also welcoming back the live stage show of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – which clearly had a good run when it went on the road last year as it appears at all the venues mentioned above.

Related topics: