Alleged fraud and the recuperative powers of cheerfulness explain Leonard Cohen’s return to the stage. The fraud follows his claims in 2005 that an ex-manager emptied his retirement fund, leaving him almost penniless. At the age of 73, the “poet laureate of pessimism” must once more sing for his supper.

His first appearance on a British stage in 15 years came under the auspices of the Manchester International Festival, where he entertained an ecstatic audience with a droll, graceful show. There was no allusion to his financial crisis, nor any sign of his famously gloomy outlook. With old age has come the lifting of his lifelong depression. “Cheerfulness,” he told us with a twinkle, “can bring you through.”