Rosemary Waugh

Natalie Ibu in the bar of Northern Stage. Photo: Christopher Owens “Oh Rosemary, we’ve got a problem on our hands!” exclaims Natalie Ibu, interrupting herself mid-way through chatting about her new role as Artistic Director of Northern Stage. The situation? Obi Puff Puff, an adorable white Maltese dog who’s the star of Ibu’s social media feed and who I instantly asked to meet at the start of the interview, has helped himself to an entire bag of treats intended to be kept out of his reach.

This show comes with a tasting menu. Four dishes: cherry tomato, onigiri (Japanese rice balls), kale crisps and sticky ginger pudding. One part, the cherry tomato, involves almost zero effort apart from a quick rinse under a tap. The others variously require soaking, boiling, rolling, toasting, oiling, flavouring, mixing, pouring, chopping and baking.

“I still have huge imposter syndrome about what a leader looks like,” confesses Bryony Shanahan when we meet via Zoom midway through Lockdown 2.0. “It’s something I like to be open about because I really struggle with it.” But despite her hesitations, the Stoke-born director is precisely that: a leader. In November 2019, Shanahan took over as co-Artistic Director of the Manchester Royal Exchange alongside Roy Alexander Weise.