Melissa Blease

From Captain Hook to Hamlet, Bond villain to Tony Blair, Toby Stephens has spent three decades portraying some of drama’s most compelling characters. Ahead of his appearance in Peter Shaffer’s haunting masterpiece Equus at TRB, he talks to Melissa Blease about mental health, AI, artistic honesty, his mother, Dame Maggie Smith – and why theatre should never be afraid to make audiences uncomfortable. If you’re holding out for a hero, it’s very likely that acclaimed British actor Toby Stephens has

Melissa Blease explores Bath’s beer scene and discovers its never been better.

Beverley Knight chats to Melissa Blease of The Bath Magazine about her upcoming Born to Perform tour.

The UK’s ‘Queen of Shops’, Mary Portas talks to The Bath Mag about grief, growth and the future of shopping.

From New Romantic pioneer to fearless solo artist, Midge Ure reflects on five decades in music, creative freedom, and the cinematic journey behind his bold new album A Man Of Two Worlds. Interview by Melissa Blease. Images: © ToddeVision. Few artists are gifted with the propensity to turn their innovative creative dreams into the inspired works of art that Midge Ure has produced over the past five decades. But listen to the man himself sharing his thoughts on his forthcoming […]

Occupying prime leafy neighbourhood position just past the Royal Crescent on the edge of Royal Victoria Park, the Marlborough Tavern effortlessly brings proper pub and upmarket contemporary bistro …

Paul Merton and Suki Webster have turned improvisation into an art form. We chat to them ahead of their Bath Comedy Festival appearance.

Occupying prime leafy neighbourhood position just past the Royal Crescent on the edge of Royal Victoria Park, the Marlborough Tavern effortlessly brings proper pub and upmarket contemporary bistro …

Director Sally Cookson reflects on a bold, two-year community theatre project bringing 'David Copperfield' to life with a cast of 104 local people.

Thirty-five years after The One and Only became one of the defining hits of the 90s, Chesney Hawkes is still standing. We catch up with him here.

The roads are dark, a storm rages, and Brad and Janet are caught out by a flat tyre on their road trip to Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle. However! “In the velvet darkness of the blackest night, burning…

The Further Adventures of Peter Pan gives the Christmas panto genre a subtly contemporary update. Melissa Blease shares her thoughts.

Melissa Blease steps inside Clayton’s Kitchen, the much-loved local institution celebrating 12 years, to chat all things food with Rob Clayton.

Words by Melissa Blease | Production images by Alex Tabrizi Since its premier in Chicago in 2001, writer and composer Jason Robert Brown’s poignant analysis of how, why and when a relationship between two young people breaks down has slowly but surely garnered traction, acclaim and a cult following. While director Richard LaGravanese’s 2014 film version didn’t quite scale similar popularity heights, the stage production regularly tours to small theatres across the globe, pitstopping at the Ustin

Words by Melissa Blease | Production photos Johan Persson Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern gothic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960 and largely focusing on the trial of a Black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama, is a perennial classic of modern American literature. Despite topping the most frequently banned books in the USA charts, the book has been continuously in print since publication, with between 750,000 and 1 million copies sold each year

Two decades ago, Richard Bertinet opened The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath, heralding the start of a quiet food revolution on our doorsteps.

Our Theatre Reviewer Melissa Blease's thoughts on Ken Ludwig's 'Death on The Nile'.

We catch up with bestselling author and feminist champion Kate Mosse, who was in Bath earlier this month to highlight her new book, 'Feminist History for Every Day of the Year'.

Words by Melissa Blease; production photographs by Manuel Harlan Norwegian playwright Henrik (“the father of modern drama”) Ibsen’s 1891 drama Hedda is one of those late 19th century theatre-world behemoths that “everybody” is supposed to know all about – as in, “OMG, Ibsen’s Hedda! Powerful to the max!” But a play with that kind of reputation can also be a victim of its own status, surrounded by a ring of fire so pedagogic that it becomes almost sacred. Am I clever enough to understand the […]

Melissa Blease dives into the world of ‘new water’ offering alternative hydration, from tapping birch treesfor refreshing pick-me-ups to new-school soft drinks and tea-based cocktails… The vital role that water plays in every aspect of our lives, health and wellbeing cannot be emphasised enough. It delivers oxygen and nutrients to every single cell, protects our vital organs, lubricates our joints, regulates our temperature and more – all that, in one glass. Well, not quite one glass; in an idea