THERE’S nothing quite as gripping as a courtroom drama. And The Verdict is up there with the best of them.

Jason Merrells is known for roles in TV’s Agatha Raisin, Emmerdale, Happy Valley and Waterloo Road. Now he is starring in the UK tour of The Verdict, in a role made famous by Paul Newman in the 1982 film.

It’s the story of a washed up, middle-aged lawyer called Frank Galvin, who lives in Boston in the early 1980s. He’s a Second World War veteran, a big drinker, and his marriage is in a mess. He spends his time looking in the local newspaper for deaths and injuries so he can offer his services as a lawyer, and is firmly stuck on the lowest rung of the legal ladder.

Then a case comes before him - a medical malpractice case. He’s offered a settlement, but when he goes to see the patient, who is in a coma, Frank decides that this is a case he has to fight.

Says Jason: “It becomes a kind of personal redemption for him, a heroic effort against all the odds and against the establishment of Boston.

“The interesting thing about this story for me is that he’s a flawed man who does something good. And I think that works both ways. Good people can do bad things. Bad people can do good things. But this becomes an opportunity for him to put all that guilt and worry about his life behind him and do something right.”

It is, he says, “a fantastic story”. “It’s funny, it’s warm, it’s heartbreaking. It’s a love story. But mainly it’s a tale of redemption. And I think everyone can benefit from seeing something like that,” he adds.

How does it compare to the film?

“Well, I’m a huge fan of Paul Newman - I think he’s wonderful. What an amazing actor. And his performance in The Verdict is superlative,” says Jason. “It’s slightly different from what we’re doing, although it’s the same story. “

The Verdict is at the Alhambra from June 27 to July 1.

* ALSO heading for the Alhambra (November 6-11) is an acclaimed production of The Life Of Pi. This dazzling Olivier Award-winning stage adaption of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel stars an extraordinary life-size puppeteered Bengal Tiger.

Based on one of the best-loved works of fiction - winner of the Man Booker Prize, selling over 15 million copies worldwide - Life of Pi is a breath-taking new theatrical adaptation of an epic journey of endurance and hope.

After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, there are five survivors stranded on a single lifeboat - a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, a 16-year-old boy and a 450lb Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh. Who will survive? Leading the company is Divesh Subaskaran as the boy.

The production won five Olivier Awards in April 2022. In an historic first for the Oliviers, the seven performers who puppeteer the Tiger, ‘Richard Parker’, were collectively awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The show opened on Broadway in March and is nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Costume Design.

* TEXAS-BASED Thom Woodruff is also known as ‘Thom the Worldpoet’. And this month he’s touring Bradford.

Says Bradford poet Bruce Barnes: “You may have come across Thom in his troubadour like pereginations , but this trip will be special for those who have never experienced him, have heard him and want more, and those from West Yorkshire who have visited Austin International Poetry Festival and other Texas Festivals thanks to Thom’s organisational energy and the Austin poetry community’s generous hospitality.

“I hope that those dropping in on Thom’s tour will get a sense of Austin’s poetry scene-unique presence and, if you will, put that up as a mirror to Bradford’s own open mic poetry scene, not to replicate nor in envy, but to add it to that stock of experience that will contribute to making Bradford an international City of Culture in 2025.”

Thom Woodruff is in Bradford from June 14-20, doing readings, performances and supporting workshops with mental health service users.

On June 15 he is at the JosefK Cafe, Little Horton Lane, for a birthday reading from 12noon to 1pm, then for ‘Old Fogies Back from Austin’ - reading and reminiscing from poets “from Bradford and elsewhere” who have visited Austin to read and perform - from 2-3pm.

On June 16 Thom is at a mental health service user workshop at the JosefK Cafe, 11am to 12.30pm; on June 17 he’s at The Trapezium Gallery on Kirkgate, Bradford, from 12noon to 3pm for an open mic poetry, with videos from the Austin poetry scene; on June 18, Father’s Day, he’s at The Boar and Fable, North Parade, Bradford, from 2-4pm for an “informal non-gendered group celebration of fathers - bring poems, songs, music and memories”; and on June 19 he’s back at the JosefK Cafe meeting Beehive Poets, billed as an opportunity to share poems in a listening environment.

For more information email brucepoetbradford@utistugu.myzen.co.uk or text 07717717833.