Director: Rachel Lambert Cast: Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena Certificate: 12A By Roger Crow Is it too strong a statement to say I adore Daisy Ridley? Not in an obsessive way, but of all the people to carry a 2010’s wave of Star Wars movies, she was the perfect choice. So, while fans like me wait for her next Star Wars movie – yes she is continuing with the franchise – there’s this curious little indie flick which she also produced. The first thing you notice are those opening titles – over-elaborate and occasionally undecipherable like the producers didn’t care if you knew who wor ..read more

By Karl Hornsey, May 2024 It would be easy for me to describe Forest Pines Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort as something of a hidden gem. Clearly not to many others, as even on a Wednesday afternoon and evening there were lots of people using the place, but, given that we live about half an hour away over the other side of the Humber Bridge, it’s quite curious that we were unaware of its existence. And now, I’m very pleased that we do, as a return visit will surely be in the offing in the not-too-distant future. One of the keys to its appeal is its multi-use functionality, attracting people for th ..read more

Stuart Maconie’s best selling travelogue, the entertaining and wryly observational The Full English, is about to be published in paperback. In it, using public transport, he retraces the steps of J B Priestley’s travels across England in the 1930s. David Schuster chatted to him about the great man, what it means to be English and the pros, and cons, of the pork pie. Plus a little bit of politics… How did you first come to be inspired by J B Priestley?Like a lot of people, his was a name I knew, without really knowing much about his work. He was a hugely famous figure in the middle of the 20th ..read more

By Barney Bardsley Hard to forget the euphoria of November 1989: the fall of the Berlin Wall; the collapse of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe; and the end of the bitter, long, entrenched Cold War between West and East. A couple of years later, some pundits even declared this to be the end point of any future conflict in the region. Hence Francis Fukayama, quoted in Martin and Daniel Sixsmith’s new book, wrote confidently: “What we are witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such…” From now on, a ..read more

By Gail Schuster, April 2024 Come From Away is a relatively new musical, but one which has won a multitude of well-deserved awards since it first arrived in theatres, including the coveted Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards in 2019. The production follows the events that happen in Gander, Newfoundland, following the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The audience doesn’t see, nor isn’t told what those events are, but I am sure that most people who were alive then will remember where they were when they first heard about them. As a result of the attacks, planes were diverted ..read more

By Christine Goode, May 2024 The esteemed Northern Contemporary School of Dance postgraduates touring group VERVE graced their hometown with a captivating triple bill performance at Leeds Playhouse. Northern Contemporary, famed for being one of the leading UK dance centres for education, and is the only institution of its kind in England outside of London, enables aspiring dancers to enter and shape the industry and become leaders in their field. If, like me, you have been lucky enough to see any of their performances before, you know you are in for something special. The evening commenced wit ..read more

By Roger Crow, April 2024 There’s a table among the many impressive props in 2:22 – A Ghost Story. Four legs, and a solid top, a lot like the drama itself; four primary characters who hold the show up. And on their shoulders rests one of the most jaw-dropping shows you’ll see all year. Jay McGuiness (from the band, The Wanted), George Rainsford (Casualty), Fiona Wade (Emmerdale) and Vera Chok (Hollyoaks) are the latest thesps to carry the stage phenomenon that has taken the West End by storm. And it’s that hype in London which made me wonder if it was worth a look when it finally came to Grand ..read more

By Sarah Morgan Harrogate… a picturesque town full of beautiful buildings, amazing eateries, exciting shops and… murder. Well, for one long weekend in July every year the latter is the case anyway, because that’s when the annual Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival takes place at the Old Swan Hotel. In 2024, it’s running from the 18th to the 21st, with a line-up featuring the great and good of the crime-writing fraternity. One person who knows all about it is this year’s programming chair, Ruth Ware, whose novels, including In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Lying G ..read more

By Barney Bardsley Prospect Cottage stands in solitary splendour on the wild shingle beach at Dungeness. Its canary yellow window frames, set against the black pitch of the wooden slatted walls, make it one of the most iconic sights of our contemporary era. The strange and beautiful garden that surrounds it – packed with rusted metal structures, piles of holey stones, and clumps of vivid shrubs, herbs and flowers – is even more so. Bought by artist and film maker Derek Jarman in the 1980s, as an escape from – and witness to – his struggle with, and eventual death from AIDS, the desolation and ..read more

By Karl Hornsey, April 2024 Such is the remarkable imagination required to conceive the original story of Edward Scissorhands, it takes something close to an artistic genius to transform that into a ballet. And, realistically, there’s only one man who could achieve such a feat. That man is Matthew Bourne and the audience at Hull New Theatre were on their feet at the end of the opening night of this run of the return of the stage production by Bourne’s New Adventures company. That New Adventures are the only company in the world that performs the story as a theatrical spectacle is testament to ..read more