Considering I was away on a cruise for almost three months this year, the number of theatre visits (21) was on a par with pre-pandemic levels.

It was good to go back to the Pitlochry Festival after three years absence. The highlight there was Gypsy; not one of my favourite musicals but Shona White's performance as Mama Rose was a tour de force. However Brief Encounter was a disappointment. It was hard to believe it was the same adaptation I'd enjoyed years ago in London; the casting, production and set bore no comparison with it.

I haven't often been to outdoor productions, much preferring the atmosphere of a theatre, but this year I went to two. The promenade performance in Williamson Park of Around the World in 80 Days was actually more enjoyable than the Bolton Octagon one. Also at the Octagon was a Jeeves & Wooster play, Perfect Nonsense - which it was! A cast of three did an amazing job; Luke Barton's Wooster was spot on.

I've seen The Hollies many times but this was not up to past standards. Perhaps because it was the first date on a very long tour they hadn't quite got it together.

For the second year running I went to the G&S Festival where I saw The Grand Duke for the first time and can't understand why it is so rarely done.

At the Royal Exchange, setting Great Expectations in India worked very well. With his energetic performance, Esh Alladi was a very convincing Pip(li) both as a boy and an adult.

The Life of Pi at the Lowry was very cleverly adapted for the stage. Divesh Subaskaran was superb as Pi but I found some of the actors voices indistinct even though they were wearing mics.

We went to London in December especially to see Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends and Bernadette Peters in particular. I have long enjoyed her performances on the screen and it 

Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester continues to provide shows that are less likely to be seen elsewhere. The Gap was an excellent play by Jim Cartwright performed to perfection by Matthew Kelly and Denise Welch. The 'Fringe' type show, I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical, was great fun presented by four great actors including Julie Yammanee who had previously impressed me here in Cinderella a couple of years ago.

I thought the selection of shows at Pitlochry Festival Theatre was better than last year. The musical productions, Footloose and Beautiful were very well performed and introduced me to Kirsty Findlay. Her outstanding singing and great dancing made her my performer of the year. She also played a straight role in Sense & Sensabilty and again was riviting. My neice's husband, Robin Simpson, was also in all three shows playing very different parts to perfection. Two-hander The Brenda Line and the one woman show, Shirley Valentine, were both very impressive.

On the way home we stopped off in Edinburgh to see the acclaimed musical Come From Away. I found it most disappointing. I couldn't engage with it and found much of the dialogue inaudible. It might have worked better in a more intimate venue - the Playhouse is a cavernous theatre. Worse was Northanger Abbey at the Octagon. The pace was frenetic and the actors did not project well enough from the in-the-round stage. Turning mid-sentence alters the volume level and before one could adjust, they turned again.

My granddaughter, Dixie, and the rest of the cast did great job in making a baffling play, The Box of Delights, so entertaining.

The live broadcast of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was fun but, as I've always thought, it is totally scripted making it less impressive to watch.

The most unusual venue was the magnificent Harpa concert hall in Reykjavic. For a recital by the excellent  soloist, Stefania Svavors, the small audience was seated on the stage!