Arts

Reinvigorating public perceptions of history is no mean feat but the second Manchester Histories Festival, which opens this Friday at venues throughout Greater Manchester, aims to do just that. With more than 1,000 events planned…

Tennessee Williams’ landmark play A Streetcar Named Desire is a rich, raw evocation of its time and place – that is, sweltering summer nights in New Orleans in 1947. So how does one go about…

The career of Suggs, dynamic Madness frontman, sometime television presenter and all round cheeky chappy, has taken many twists and turns since his band sprang to prominence back in the late 1970s. His latest endeavour,…

The West Yorkshire Playhouse is about to stage a production of Samuel Beckett’s classic play Waiting For Godot with a difference: the cast will be made up entirely of black actors. The play, in which…

It was a trip to northern England that gave pianist Noriko Ogawa the inspiration for a UK-based festival focusing on the works of Debussy. Ogawa is recognised as one of the finest interpreters of Debussy’s…

Everyone knows the story of Annie, the loveable orphan whose only wish is to find her parents. But it’s been 10 years since a professional production of the famous Broadway musical was staged in Yorkshire….

Usually when a beloved actor leaves a soap, it’s in a taxi with a sat-nav programmed to “Destination panto”. While some may haughtily sneer, it’s easy to see why it’s such an alluring offer. For…

At five foot 11 inches, Robert Pickavance is an unlikely giant, but with an innovative approach to creating scale on stage, this year he steps into the enormous footsteps of one of the nation’s best-loved…

As the literary manager at Hull Truck Theatre, former actor and playwright Nick Lane has the role of being its gatekeeper. He is currently in the process of deciding which fresh works receive a commission…

Classic panto has always been a bit of a grey area when it comes to sexuality. Oh yes it has. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to find drag artist Miss…