Performer: Dame Josephine Barstow

In a setting that might be The Grange itself, a production which steadily tightens its grip until a blistering finish.

As the UK continues to emerge from lockdown, Leeds Playhouse and Opera North stage Sondheim. 

Daniel Kramer’s direction is a model of restraint compared to some of his earlier work for the company.

Queen of Spades began life as a sharp little ghost story by Alexander Pushkin, quite different in tone and spirit from the melodramatic adaptation by Modest Tchaikovsky, who wrote the libretto for his composer brother.