Kneehigh Theatre at Leeds — a 1970s Don Giovanni. Just a little too much style and not enough substance. I suppose it’s easy for a theatre company (or singer) to give a play or a song their standard treatment — and sometimes the treatment gets to be more important than the play, rather than shedding new light upon it. I think that happened here, intriguingly bizarre though it all was. It’s a sort of inverted tragedy — the hero deserves his comeuppance and descent to hell, but the tragedy rests in all the lives he has ruined before.
Kendell’s Bistro round the corner does an excellent pre-theatre dinner — though if you are going to put up the menu in French it would be as well to have staff who can understand at least the menu items in that language. The quality of the food makes up for any defects in service.
