Joanna Lumley and Stephen Fry Join Cast of LBT Co-Production

Plus American folk guitarist Brooks Williams streamed live from CAST Doncaster, stand-up comedy from Daliso Chaponda, a sweet teddy bear's picnic and some Gothic terror...

This week’s newsletter is coming to you with the unhelpful intervention of a poltergeist.

I was sitting alone in my first-floor flat on Saturday night when without warning the upstairs front door shook violently. Two loud thumps suggested that there was a maniac trying to get in.

I froze — then ran to the window to see if the downstairs front door, at the foot of the stairs, was open. No. And nor had the security light clicked on.

Then the upstairs door rattled violently again.

Only after I’d summoned a puzzled neighbour to stand outside in my garden could I find the courage to open the upper door. Of course, there was nothing there.

To say I was spooked is an understatement. I have never been so frightened in my life. (And I was once caught up in an IDF incursion into Ramallah.)

The next day, still shaken, I participated in an online performance of Recall, a one-to-one exploration of memory by Francesc Serra Vila. The set was a beautifully decorated cardboard box, the actors were two glove…