I will be honest. I have never seen Les Miserables and when a friend asked if I would like to go see a Schools Edition of it performed by a youth theatre company in Halifax I was worried that it might not be the best version of the show to see for my first time... However I think it was absolutely brilliant and don't regret it one bit!

The show was held in The Halifax Playhouse - a small but fully formed venue that I will keep in mind for if I am ever looking for a seated venue for 200-300 people, anyway - and was simply astounding with fantastic individual and group performances, a superb orchestra and great lighting design - and a whole lot more besides.

The vocal performances of the entire ensemble were strong with clear pronunciation and I didn't detect a single wrong note at any point during the night. The actors were well suited to their roles both in terms of mannerisms and voice. All of the leading roles were played fantastically well with great individual performances.

The orchestra were a big hit with me from the off with the opening piece setting the mood for the rest of the show with a full and tight sound that never faltered and maintained both quality and momentum throughout the performance. 

My only reservation sadly lies within my own camp. While I was a member of the audience for this performance I was not overly enthused about the quality of the sound. There were many instances of repeated feedback, some points where singers could not be heard or their microphones were obviously muted and other points where some backstage talk was picked up and broadcast over front of house. I understand it's a challenge to do this kind of performance as I've done it myself but I do feel that the quality of the sound fell short of the quality of the performers - never the way it should be. 

That aside other technical aspects of the show were very good with the lighting design being very professional with great use of the lighting rig, which was surprisingly substantial given the size of the venue. I did notice a few points where the followspotters missed their mark though.

From a performance point of view this production was the single finest production I have seen with a cast of youths, including both stage schools, youth theatre projects and secondary schools. The cast had obviously worked very hard and produced a faultless performance - fantastic work. I will be looking forward to the next Calder Vale Youth Theatre Production.

• Caldervale Youth Theatre Website - http://www.cvyt.co.uk/
• The Halifax Playhouse - http://home.btconnect.com/playhouse1/index.html

Now it's getting towards the coldest time of the year - otherwise known as winter - John and I are starting to plan our winter walking schedule. If at all possible we would like to climb Snowdon and the three peaks in Ribblesdale however after John's suggestion that we should try walking across Ilkley moor in the dark I'm slightly worried as to whether he has a slightly devil may care attitude that could land us in trouble when trying to trickier pig-track up Snowdon.

More walking new to follow soon, I hope! 

Well it's been a busy and quite interesting week. The show has gone pretty well really. There were no major hiccups as far as sound was concerned with only some minor issues which were down to mic placement - by the cast on their costumes during changes.  The show over all was good but I'm still not a fan of trying to actually work with omnidirectional lapel mics on people clothes - the head types are much easier to use - and as it transpired I could of had them instead but never mind! 

All in all a good show and a good after show curry although I was rather disappointed at the turn out when only three people went two being myself and Rob.

Well the first night has come and gone. In historical terms it was one of the better first nights at Royds I have seen however there were still quite a few slip ups, although none by either myself on sound or by Tom on LX - one for the techies!

I enjoyed working on the show and thankfully it was pretty simple, given that it was the first time I had seen most of it!

I certainly enjoyed the pint of 'G' that was purchased and consumed after the show - although was slightly disappointed at the number of attendees! More tomorrow and I'm actually looking forward to it!