Covid-19 has hit — and the government refuses to trace infection. You decide to do it yourself

Published in The Tribune on August 17, 2024

“I promised myself when I retired, I wouldn’t do any more public health – I’d do other things,” says Paul Redgrave, a former GP and director of Public Health in Sheffield, with a touch of wistfulness. A genial, grey-haired 72 year old, he breaks off our conversation at one point in absolute delight at spotting a woodpecker out the window – bird-watching being just the sort of “other thing” retirement is designed for. 

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Rehearsing Othello on Zoom: the theatre students pursuing their dream during a pandemic

Published in The Evening Standard January 21, 2021

While 2020 may be behind us, the new year brings continued uncertainty for the UK’s theatre industry. And if the situation is bleak for staff and freelancers facing shuttered venues, it’s surely even tougher for the next generation of talent: young people still studying – who have had to return to remote learning online this month, as schools and colleges shut once more – as well as those who graduated last summer with little chance of working.

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‘If people can’t go to the panto then it must go to them’: the birth of The Travelling Pantomime

Published in The Telegraph November 29, 2020

Pantomime is a cornerstone of Christmas for families up and down Britain – but few cities are quite as committed to it as York. The annual show at York Theatre Royal is a proper local institution, with generations of families booking the same seats year after year, and prompting queues around the block the day tickets go on sale.

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Rufus Norris on theatre and class: There’s ‘an awful danger’ that only people with money can survive in the industry

Published in The i Paper September 24, 2020

When lockdown was announced, Francesca Martinez’s play All of Us was in its final week of rehearsals at the National Theatre.

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‘There will be positives’: artistic directors on theatre’s terrible year

Published in The Observer September 27, 2020

Last summer, the Observer profiled a group of newly-appointed artistic directors – a fresh surge of talent taking its place at the top of six of our best-loved theatre companies. A notably diverse cohort, they were bursting with optimism and ideas for shaking up the industry.

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