I do not go to the theatre enough. Leeds has four main theatres (West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Grand, The Carriageworks and The City Varieties) and I am sure that if I did a bit of research I would find several others within spitting distance. A few years ago I had a phase of going several times a year, but this has dwindled dramatically. This week, however, I went to the City Varieties for the first time.

Now, those of you who read this blog who grew up in Britain and watched television in the 1970s may remember a programme called ‘The Good Old Days’, which was essentially retro televised Music Hall. It was a show that I was aware of being on, but I never watched it myself. I will have been too young to find it interesting. The reason I mention this is that ‘The Good Old Days’ came from The City Varieties, and for good reason. This theatre is a wonderful Victorian construct, full of red velvet and gold brocade. It is small, but if you asked a child to create a theatre, this is what they would make. There are several boxes in the Circle, looking onto the stage, where those who wanted to be seen could go, and for those who wanted to remain anonymous or save their pennies, the seats in the stalls and the gallery go far back.

What we saw borrowed from the Music Hall tradition. It was a show called ‘The Big Society’, set in 1910, when the country was ruled by old Etonians and was in thrall to big business and royalty. The plot (such as it was) centred around the back stage shenanigans of a Music Hall, but with plenty of on-stage acts thrown in (‘Barry and his Mystical Wardrobe’, ‘Eve the Escapologist’, that sort of thing). The big name draw was Phill Jupitus, but we went to see it because a friend who plays trumpet in WYSO, Jude Abbott, was in it. She had a non-speaking role that alternately involved playing the euphonium and knitting. It was a riotous night out, though was an angry piece of work. Well worth going to see. I will try putting a You-Tube clip from the show below, but never having tried that before will probably fail. If I do, click here to see that, and here to see an amusing Christmas greeting from the cast (which I appreciate is a bit late!)

The Big Society