Yorkshire Writer Wins BBC National Short Story Award

Yorkshire novelist and short story writer, Ross Raisin has won the nineteenth BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry. The news was announced live on BBC Radio 4 Front Row on Tuesday 1st October during a […]
Opera North’s Magic Flute (through the eyes of a first-timer)

Having only seen one opera before – Rigoletto at the Sydney Opera House – it is fair to say that I am an opera newbie with a skewed experience of this art form. As far as expectations go, I had close to none, walking into Leeds Grand Theatre for the opening night of Opera North’s […]
A Raisin in the Sun: at Leeds Playhouse Until 28 September

Lorraine Hansberry broke new ground in 1959, the first Black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics’ Circle award. A Raisin in the Sun was the first show staged on Broadway by an African-American woman. Sixty-five years later, her play still engages and remains relevant. This was a play I had […]
Northlight Arts Centre: Abstract Painting Exhibition IV: A Journey Through Colour, Form and Emotion – on Until 7 October

There’s something undeniably special about abstract painting. It frees both the artist and the viewer from the usual expectations, inviting you to simply enjoy colour, texture and form without needing to pin everything down to a recognizable subject. Abstract art gives us permission to see what we want to see and feel what we want […]
Birdsong: A Harrowing Tale of Love and Loss – ‘poignant, powerful and distressing; utterly spellbinding’

One of the most critically acclaimed books of recent years, Sebatian Faulk’s novel Birdsong was adapted first onto the big screen in 2012 and then onto the stage in 2013. Original Theatre now presents a new production of the harrowing tale live at the Playhouse for four nights only. The story centres on the character […]