Review: A Dog’s Tale at The Holbeck

I attended The Holbeck club to see the above production and had an absolutely wonderful time with my grandchildren aged 8 and 4.

After spending so much time in Lockdown it was such a thrill to meet up outdoors and to see new faces although at a social distance.

The event was very well organised and I had been given all relevant information beforehand. Everyone involved was very helpful and extremely welcoming. The atmosphere outdoors was amazing with lots of smiling faces and chatter. My grandchildren were made to feel special and were both excited to see the production. My grandson is desperate for me to adopt a dog and is so in tune with anything dog related that I hoped this would be perfect for him. The staff provided the children with a “doggy bag” each and they were thrilled.

The play started on time and was immediately entertaining. The view from where we were seated was perfect with no obstructions in the way. The sound levels were ideal and we could hear each character perfectly. From the very beginning the story began to unfold and it was easy for all to follow. Every member of the cast were excellent with their deliveries and all very likeable characters. There really was an appealing tale being told.

The musical items were very entertaining and lots of the audience were joining in. My grandson especially enjoyed singing along by following the lyrics in the great programme provided. The fact that there were no actual dogs there was irrelevant as the sound effects and impersonations were brilliant. It was amazing that the audience could actually visualise the dogs by the way the actors portrayed them. The whole production was very entertaining, extremely funny and yet had a really good story to tell.

All In all we had a wonderful evening and came away feeling very light hearted and the children were really happy. I personally felt invigorated because it was the first real public outing that I had attended in over a year. I only became aware of the event because I picked up a copy of South Leeds Life in my local Asda for the first time.

I was not previously aware of the publication, but will now be looking out for it each month. I found the community newspaper very informative and wish that I had known about it previously. There is so much community news and information that I was not aware of but now feel that I can be more in touch with my community because of this publication. I am really looking forward to the next issue although in fairness I still haven’t completely read the June issue yet.

I recently retired in October 2020 after working for 50 years and it was a difficult time to adjust due to Covid restrictions etc. I did feel a little cut off but I’m sure South Leeds Life will keep me connected.

Irene McCarron

Jeremy Morton adds:

Mikron Theatre company kicked off their 2021 tour with a performance of A Dog’s Tale at The Holbeck club on Saturday (5 June 2021).

A socially distanced audience enjoyed a family friendly show with humour and songs on a warm and sunny evening in the club’s car park.

The tale in question is a history of the Crufts dog show, but it also took in puppy farms, rescue dogs, therapy dogs, dog food, dog merchandise … in fact all the ways we interact with ‘man’s best friend.’

A small cast of four – Rachel Benson, Thomas Cotran, James McLean and Elizabeth Robin – played all the parts with aplomb. Minimal sets, props and costumes ensured we knew who was who in every scene. I particularly liked the stiff dog leads (there were no live dogs in the show although they were welcome in the audience), as our own dog very rarely walks on her lead in any other position than full stretch.

As Irene says, the musical numbers were impressive and the actors very talented. It all made for a very enjoyable show.