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