The smell of greasepaint, the roar of the crowds..

I love going to the theatre. I'm lucky enough to live in a city which has a strong performing tradition and lots of theatres, ranging from big to very small indeed. My particular favourite is the Unity - it's a lovely small scale venue that shows a cracking mixture of plays, dance and comedy. Pretty much anything they put on is worth seeing, even if it's a first time piece that no-one's ever heard of.

But I'm not averse to dashing around the country in order to catch a particular show. My friend Lee and I had a wonderful couple of days in London between Christmas and New Year and saw War Horse (utterly amazing) and The Misanthrope (not quite so good but still fun and who's going to pass up second row tickets to see Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis? Not me!). I'm currently keeping my eyes peeled to see when tickets for Michael Sheen as Hamlet go on sale. Did I mention I love Michael Sheen? Let's have a gratuitous photo of him.

And Damien Lewis too. J'adore the ginge.

Where was I? Oh yes, theatre. Summer tends to mean that there's less on at the theatres but instead the joyful prospect of outdoor theatre is here instead. Oh I love it so. There's no faffing about with complicated sets or hoards of actors, just a minimal cast and lots of props. Plus I take any excuse to whiz together a delicious picnic and indulge in a little glass of wine or two in the evenings.

I'm jammy enough to get free tickets to the shows that we put on at work so last week it was time for Alice Through The Looking Glass. Doesn't the Hall make a beautiful backdrop? Fab play, very hectic and very funny.

Tonight was the turn of The Tempest and I journeyed into deepest darkest Cheshire to watch it. I absolutely love the theatre company (Lord Chamberlain's Men) but was away in London when they were on at work, so was quite happy to pay to go and see them elsewhere. They perform Shakespeare in traditional style - all male cast, period costume and songs and dance. I can't say it made as much difference to tonight's play but I've seen a couple of their other performances and the comedies work on a whole other level when they're done this way.

I wish I'd taken more clothes with me - it was flipping freezing!

Have you seen anything good recently? I'm always on the hunt for new things to see so would love to hear your recommendations.

ps - I'll be faffing around with the layout and design over the weekend so things may look weird on here for a few days.