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On with the show: Shaftesbury Avenue in London’s West End (Getty)
Before the pandemic hit last year, Michelle Hedley could only go to her local theatres in the north of England if they were doing a captioned performance.
That happened five times a year at best, said Hedley, who is deaf.
But during the pandemic, she found she could watch musicals all day and night if she wanted, as shuttered theatres worldwide put shows online, often with subtitles. “I started watching anything and everything simply because I could,” Hedley, 49, said in an email interview. “Even subject matters that bored me. It felt like I viewed more theatre than I had done in a lifetime.”
Last modified on Sun 23 May 2021 19.03 EDT
As Leeds Playhouse welcomes back audiences, it is looking backwards as well as forwards. The theatreâs post-lockdown reopening coincides with its 50th anniversary, marked by a collection of new monologues. Involving writers and directors with close connections to the Playhouse, and featuring stories set in Leeds and the surrounding area, Decades reaffirms the theatreâs place within its community. Some of these monologues are more firmly rooted in their historical moment than others, and each takes inspiration from one of the six decades of the Playhouseâs life.
Nicole Botha as Sophia in The Unknown by Leanna Benjamin, directed by Amanda Huxtable. Photograph: Sharron Wallace
3/5
These separately authored mini-dramas, set in the 1970s, 80s and 90s in West Yorkshire, provided some genuinely powerful writing
20 May 2021 • 5:13pm
Connor Elliott as Wilf in Simon Armitage s The Bodyguard, one of the highlights of Decades
Credit: Zoe Martin
As Covid-19 restrictions are eased, tentatively, in England’s theatres, Leeds Playhouse (which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary) has been quick out of the traps with Decades, a series of six newly created monologues for small, physically distanced audiences. The collection of mini-dramas, by six different writers, including Simon Armitage and Maxine Peake, are a diverse collection of tales set in Leeds and West Yorkshire in each decade from the 1970s forward.
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Tony Greenway
Published:
8:57 AM May 1, 2021
Updated:
9:49 AM May 4, 2021
A show from London-based artist Mel Brimfield includes a constellation of audio monologues, fragmented theatrical sets, moving image work and large-scale drawings
- Credit: Mel Brimfield
Real-life events are here at last - let Tony Greenway give your a reminder of what to expect.
until August 30
Mel Brimfield: From This World, to That Which Is to Come, The Tetley, Leeds
A show from London-based artist Mel Brimfield which takes its title from John Bunyan s The Pilgrim s Progress, but reimagines it as a loose allegory for a collapse of mental health and the fraught journey to recovery. Work on display includes a constellation of audio monologues, fragmented theatrical sets, moving image work and large-scale drawings.