Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter

Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter

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Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter
Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter
Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter: What's On This Week (Jul 9-15)

Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter: What's On This Week (Jul 9-15)

'Talent' At Sheffield Theatres Review Plus The Best Of The Region's Shows, Theatre News And Resources

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Liz Ryan
Jul 08, 2021
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Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter
Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter
Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter: What's On This Week (Jul 9-15)
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Jonathon Ojinnaka and Lucie Shorthouse as Mel and Julie dressed in 1970s costume of a white, wide-lapelled suit with black shirt and green halterneck dress.
Jonathon Ojinnaka and Lucie Shorthouse as Mel and Julie in Talent. Photo credit: Chris Saunders

Long ago I had a temporary job at a privatised utility company. Two of my fellow word-processor operators confessed (without any obvious sign of shame) that after a mean-minded Christmas party for staff held in one of the meeting rooms, they’d sneaked back into the management offices and pee-ed on the carpets.

At the time I thought they were a pair of disgusting little savages and moved on from the assignment as soon as possible.

But there were echoes of this incident in the first act of Victoria Wood’s Talent at Sheffield Theatres. Julie, a 24-year-old aspiring singer (Lucie Shorthouse), is backstage at Bunter’s nightclub waiting to appear in a talent contest. Unable to find a working ladies’ lavatory, she fastidiously relieves herself in a pot she finds lying around and then hides the evidence in a filing cabinet.

That sets the tone for the comedienne’s first play, written for Sheffield Thea…

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