★★★★☆ Contemporary relevance to the AIDs crisis aside, the reputation and legacy of Rent is based on its music. What’s most interesting about these tunes is that they straddle the anthem-quality of classic show tunes whilst being inflected by a considerably more modern sensibility.

★★★★☆ It’s a pleasant take on teenage angst and hormones before the completely unbridled years of the sexual revolution. Not that there aren’t plenty of smutty little jokes delivered with a wink in the Carry On… tradition. The closest counterpart to Dreamboats is Grease in this respect: a bunch of teenagers who constantly burst into song because their hormonal energies are (presently) unspent.

★★★★☆ The play will be familiar to many, having been staged with some regularity since 1992 and with a BBC adaptation aired in 2010. But for those not in the know, A Passionate Woman concerns Betty, (Liza Goddard) who ends up reflecting on her life and a particular past love as she tidies in the attic on the day of her son’s wedding.