In case you have missed it Sadler’s Wells is holding its annual Flamenco festival during the second half of February. The festival is always a great chance to see a wide range of flamenco styles of the highest quality.

Rojas & Rodriquez and the Nuevo Ballet Espanol were excellent with fabulous costumes and great ensemble singing/dancing. For a slightly different view read the Express south.

My tips are book early as tickets go very quickly because of the quality of performers and the multibuy 20% is excellent and well handled on their website.

If you have a passing knowledge of orchestral music, and like witty word play, Every good boy deserves favour, at the National Theatre, is you. EGBDF, by conductor Andre Previn and playwright Tom Stoppard, mixes music with funny word play using musical terms.

The play, set in an Russian psychiatric hospital in the bad old days, concerns two ‘patients’ who might or might not be ‘mad’. One who is sure he can hear an orchestra and imaginatively conducts the musicians that the audience can see .

Very enjoyable and highly recommended it deals with serious issues but is also very funny.

The Pitmen Painters, at the National Theatre, by Lee Hall is based on the book by William Feaver. This true story tells how a small group of Ashington miners in 1930s Newcastle learnt how to paint in their spare time.

They wanted to ‘know what paintings mean’ which leads them to learn to paint themselves. In the process they learn what it means to share experiences, be ‘patronised’ by the rich and have their own exhibitions.

This really enjoyable play had the audience continually laughing but also pondering the meaning of art. If you don’t understand Geordie you will struggle.