Author: Charles Hutchinson

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when taking Steps to entertainment. Hutch’s List No 5, from The York Press

Robin Simpson in The Last Picture at York Theatre Royal Studio, Picture: S R Taylor Photography

MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s favourites for February fulfilment.

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14, 7.45pm except Sunday,   plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s anti-Fascist monodrama The Last Picture, directed by associate artist John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school museum trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Colour & Light turns the spotlight on Viking invader Eric Bloodaxe among York’s rogues, scoundrels and historical figures in Double Take Productions’ light installation at York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower. Picture: David Harrison

Illumination of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, until February 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings are illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for Double Take Projections’ fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show bring York’s historic rogues, scoundrels, miscreants, mischief makers and mythical characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

Suede: Showcasing Antidepressants album on York Barbican return

Recommended but sold out already: Suede, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede make a rather hastier return on their 17-date Antidepressants UK Tour when Brett Anderson’s London band promote their tenth studio album.

“If [2022’s] Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Anderson. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. This is broken music for broken people.” Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Sally Ann Matthews’ supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now The Steps Musical. Picture: Danny Kaan

Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 10 to 15, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm

PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Hayes’ Caiaphas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 11 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.

On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Annie at the double: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells will be sharing the title role in York Light Opera Company’s musical. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

The sun’ll come out, not tomorrow, but from Thursday at: Annie, York Light Opera Company, York Theatre Royal, until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company  for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.

This heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars  Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and  Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Liz Foster: Exploring memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places in Deep Among The Grasses

Exhibition launch of the week: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10

YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.

Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.

Craig David: Performing his TS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase weekend

Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.

David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment , plus current  House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

In Focus: Navigators Art performance & exhibition, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 5pm

Penesthilia, by Penny Marrows

TO mark the opening of Penny Marrows and J P Warriner’s posthumous exhibition at City Screen Pictiurehouse, Penny and artist Timothy Morrison’s son, London jazz guitarist Billy Marrows, performs tomorrow with Portuguese Young Musician of the Year 2025 Teresa Macedo Ferreira, supported by lutenist Simon Nesbitt. Admission is free.

The exhibition launch follows at 6pm, celebrating two late York artists whose paintings were never exhibited in their lifetimes.

Born in 1951, Penny grew up in Tockwith, west of York, and attended Mill Mount Grammar School for Girls before studying 2D and 3D art at York College, training as a sculptor, then taught art in prisons and adult education in London.

On returning to Yorkshire, she painted and drew trees, landscapes and portraits for 30 years, including her self-portrait as an heroic winged figure.

Her exhibition is curated by husband Timothy Morrison, York artist and teacher, who says: “I met her in a printmaking evening class in Brixton, where Penny made linocuts and engravings of alarmingly aggressive-looking mythical beasts.

“Billy came along…and as a teenager fell in love with the guitar and jazz, and went on to study at Royal Academy of Music.

“Fast forward to early 2023 when Penny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Billy started sending little video recordings of his music to cheer her up (and me). New compositions, and duets with Teresa [Macedo Ferreira].

Penny Marrows in her garden

“The Beech Tree had its premiere at Penny’s funeral, and some of these pieces became Billy’s first album, Penelope, released soon after in her memory. So far it’s raised almost £7,000 for World Child Cancer.”

In 2025, Penelope was shortlisted in the category of Best New Album in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. “Penny doesn’t know about all this, nor that thanks to Billy’s music her paintings have had an extraordinary resurrection.

“The trauma of the illness, combined with major retro-refit work in the house, meant that the paintings were buried in the chaos. We found them at the back of a huge pile. First exhibited at the funeral, they’ve since gone round the world beautifully emblazoned on Billy’s album covers.”

Penny loved trees, especially walking through woods. “The paintings seemed to burst from nowhere at the time, almost with a secretive devil-may-care diffidence, but are actually distillations of detailed observational sketchbook drawings done in the Howardian Hills while we collected wood for our stove,” says Timothy.

“Her early notebooks tenderly catch details of family life in Tockwith with an almost Bonnard-like natural draughtsmanship. My garden is a beautiful sculpture garden.

“If Penny is anywhere, she’s in the trees, both in the paintings and out there. Her work inspires my own drawings; I think of her as Daphne and I often depict her as a bird perched humorously and enquiringly on her very own branch.

“I would like to thank Richard Kitchen, who greatly encouraged me to curate this show of Penny’s work, and for making it possible.”

J P Warriner’s work Untitled, featuring in Navigators Art’s exhibition

BORN in Ireland in 1935, J P (John)Warriner lived most of his life in York, where he died in 2019 aged 84. “He has no surviving family or partner,” says Navigators Art’s Richard Kitchen. “Research indicates he was a brilliant and kind man, and a grandfather figure to troubled local youth.”

John was a contemporary figurative painter whose style spanned surrealism, post pop, erotic and neo-mythic genres. Married to Effie, the couple had two children, Ronald and Nigel, who both died tragically young.

“John seemed to have taken to painting to heal from the losses he and Effie endured,” says his exhibition curator, Cath Dickinson, of Notions Vintage. “He remains somewhat of an enigma, with little recorded about his life or artistic endeavours.

“We know that he was a retired Nestle employee, living in Acomb, suspected to have hailed from Omagh, County Tyrone. With no social media or websites to dissect, no records of known influences or potential drivers, the journey of discovery about JP is just beginning.”

Local accounts reveal that he was a much loved go-to grandfather figure to all the children in his street in Foxwood, Acomb, never missing a birthday or Christmas, delivering shortbread and fixing many broken bikes.

In a strange encounter, curator Cath Dickinson, who has been collecting paintings by John for five years, met someone who knew a friend and neighbour of John by chance.

“I discovered that John had been more than a friendly neighbour but amentor to troubled local adolescents and young people who were struggling with the temptations of life in the hedonistic 1990s and 2000s,” says Cath.

Artist J P Warriner with “our Amy”

“John had a particularly close friend, mentee and muse in ‘Our Amy’, a wonderful young mum who was full of life, and had a fantastic sense of humour. John became Amy’s mentor and confidante and tried to not only guide but also record many of the pivotal moments in her tragically shortened life.”

Exhibition visitors hopefully will be able to discover and share more of the  history of John’s painting and subjects. “The main part is in tribute and memory to Amy and John and their bond which transcended generations and societal norms,” says Cath. “John’s works have been likened to Alasdair Gray and Grayson Perry. They span decades and observe war, tragedy, comedy, temptation, love and loss.

After the exhibition in memory of John, Effie and Amy ends on March 6, some of John’s works will be available to buy from notionsvintageyork.com at 6 Aldwark Mews, York, YO1 7PJ.

“This joint exhibition has been both a labour of love and a voyage of discovery for its two curators,” says Richard. “Come and discover the work of two wonderful creative artists and their vibrant contrasting styles and subject matter.”

Penny Marrows & J P Warriner, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on show until March 6, open daily from 10.30am until closing time.

Did you know?

BILLY Marrows also played at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, on February 5  with Di-Cysgodion, a contemporary jazz quartet making waves in the capital and touring the north following their appearance at London’s Vortex Jazz Club. 

Penny Marrows’ artwork for Billy Marrows’ album Penelope

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REVIEW: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ****

Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

ONE of the joys of York’s remarkable spread of theatre companies is the chance to catch the ever-widening span of acting talent in leading roles.

Helen Gallagher has performed in musicals since she was young, across Yorkshire, in Manchester and overseas in Seoul, South Korea. Now she takes the title role in Sophie Cooke’s production of Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s 1961 musical story of friendship, adventure, and romance, set against the backdrop of the American Western Frontier. 

Alongside her is the towering Matt Tapp, who has played everything from a sailor to an asylum owner in amateur musicals for years, not least a Viking (no surprise there, given his heavy metal mane of hair and beard).

Here he takes on a “real challenge, but an amazing one” in his Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company debut as “Wild” Bill Hickok (soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman and actor of the American Old West), here spelled ‘Hickock’ in the programme.

Gallagher’s ‘Calam’ and Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill are both superb leads in Cooke’s impressively well-drilled company, one that fills the stage to the gills with bright energy, fun, frills and bonhomie, choreographed with admirable precision and passion by Heather Stead and Rachel Shadman.

The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s eighth fundraising show for the JoRo Theatre’s maintenance since 2017 is built on strong foundations: Cooke’s direction, so alive to the show’s romance, love of theatrical performance and balance of frivolity, femininity, feminism and competitive male swagger, in tandem with Martin Lay’s zestful musical direction of an 11-strong orchestra (featuring polymath James Robert Ball in yet another guise as trombonist).

Then add Stead’s choreography, maximising ensemble movement, Julie Fisher and Costume Crew’s costume designs and Eliza Rowley’s set design of a prettily refurbished cabin for Calamity and Katie Brown (Jennifer Jones) and an open-plan structure for the Golden Garter, the saloon run by Alex Schofield’s  ever-harassed by perennially willing-to-please Henry Miller.

Charting the interlinked lives of the Deadwood City community in 1876, when everyone knows everyone’s business, Calamity Jane is suffused with colourful characters united by dreams of a better life. Not only the frontier-town folk and fort of soldiers, but also Jones’s Katie Brown, the dresser mistaken by Calamity Jane for Chicago singing sensation Adelaide Adams (Mollie Raine) when she promises Miller she will bring back Adelaide from the Windy City to perform at the saloon.

Gallagher’s sharp-shooting Calam’ (real name Martha Jane Canary) is as fast with her tongue as her gun, always in a rush, ready for the rough and tumble, a no-nonsense tomboy, but with a romantic heart held in check beneath the bravado.

She sings delightfully too, from The Deadwood Stage opener, through the exasperated Men! to Windy City and the ever-gorgeous My Secret Love. Best of all is her Act Two opening duet with Jones’s Katie, A Woman’s Touch.

Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill has bags of stage presence too, matched by his assured singing, whether in his I Can Do Without You duet with Calamity or his ‘big number’, Higher Than A Hawk.

At the heart of Calamity Jane is the love interest, played with a lightness of touch by Gallagher’s Calamity, who’s in love with Adam Gill’s upstanding but very forward Lt Danny Gilmartin, who’s fallen in love with Jones’s Katie, the new apple of the eye of Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill. Such a merry-go-round of the heart is delightfully daft and yet deftly played.

Sadie Sorensen’s Susan blossoms in the story’s other romance with Tom Menarry’s Francis Fryer, the Chicago act booked mistakenly (as Miss Frances Fryer) by Miller. Menarry is a particular joy in drag for Hive Full Of Honey, while Raine revels in Adelaide’s moment in the spotlight , It’s Harry I’m Planning To Marry.

From Emily Hawkins’ poster designs to Scenery Solutions’ backcloth for the Black Hills Of Dakota, this Calamity Jane is spot on in every way.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight and 2.30pm (last few tickets) and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musical/calamity-jane/2830.

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Inspired By Theatre push boundaries with radical vision of Jesus Christ Superstar at Joseph Rowntree Theatre from Feb 11 to 14

Iain Harvey’s Jesus in Inspired By Theatre’s radical reinvention of Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

INSPIRED By Theatre’s “gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful” staging of Jesus Christ Superstar will “push the boundaries of what local theatre can achieve”.

Directed by founder Dan Crawfurd-Porter, the York company’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical will be unfurled at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from February 11 to 14.

“What defines this production is its intensity,” says Dan. “Our staging is bold, the choreography [by assistant director Freya McIntosh] demands everything from the cast, and the individual performances are so powerful. There’s no coasting, no safe choices.

“We’re embracing a visual and physical language that gives the story a new edge. It’s a Jesus Christ Superstar that commits fully to the story’s momentum and spectacle.”

Dan continues: “We have leant heavily into the imagery, symbolism  and movement because it’s a very ‘dancey’ show, where I think Freya has brought her best choreography to it as the music can only do so much.

Inspired By Theatre director Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“For one of the most popular musicals of all time, we’ve done everything with purpose with our visual decisions, where we keep coming back to the need to help to tell the story.

“Where the narrative is unspoken, we’ve brought in some of our bolder choices, when we hope the visual elements will have an impact on the audience.

“There’ll be no projections, no gimmicks; the main component of the set will be 20 individual blocks that will be moved from musical number to number and that’ll do a large part of our storytelling.”  

Set in a shifting space, part temple, part battleground, by designer Gi Vasey, the story will unfold through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion.

Taking the lead role of Jesus will be company regular – and man of faith – Iain Harvey. “I directed the show ten years ago in Tadcaster, aged 27 – Dan’s age – when my dad was in the company and Kelly Ann Bolland, who’s now playing Judas, was Mary.

Kelly Ann Bolland’s Judas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“Working with Dan, he goes into the real minutiae of the detail, not only for how the show looks but also on the emotional level, and he’s been open minded to every side of the argument, so you can interpret it how you choose to.”

In bringing his interpretation of Jesus to the stage, Iain says: “The physical attributes of Jesus, how he looks, is not the point. I’m just trying to embody the emotive aspects of the character, though don’t get me wrong, I’ve been doing some crunches!

“In Jesus Christ Superstar, there are so many big, vibrant characters, and Jesus can often come across as morose or depressive, but that’s because of the weight of what he has to do, sacrificing himself for his heavenly Father’s vision.”

Dan has previous form for Lloyd Webber and Rice’s musical. “It was my first show in 2021 when I played Peter for Ripon Operatics at the Ripon Arts Hub,” he says. “I remember thinking that often when it’s done, Peter gets a little lost in Act One and suddenly comes to the fore in Act Two. For our production, I’ve told Richard Bayton that I would ask more of him than most Peters.”

Iain adds: “Dan has made the conscious decision to bring certain characters to the fore, like Mary Magdalene, and we have a brilliant Mary in Rianna Pearce. She makes such an emotional connection and brings light in the time of darkness.”

Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Heyes’ Caiaphas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar

Part of Iain’s preparation has involved having conversations with musical director Matthew Peter Clare about the tone of his singing. “I wouldn’t want to replicate something from previous versions, but working with Matthew, we explore how to bring an individual quality to it, but I’m also aware of not going too far away from what’s familiar,” he says. “I want to be in that place where the audience are comfortable because it brings back memories.”

Dan rejoins: “But I also want someone who hasn’t seen the show before to be blown away by it.”

Since forming under the name Bright Light Musical Productions, and now as Inspired By Theatre, Dan’s company has performed such shows Green Day’s American Idiot in 2024 and RENT in 2025, both at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

“Inspired By Theatre was built on the belief that theatre can influence, uplift, and spark meaningful change,” says Dan. “The name itself reflects the countless productions, performers, creatives and audiences that continue to inspire and shape the company’s journey.”

Coming next will be Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening, followed by the Madness musical Our House. “We’ll be shaking up our production team a little bit for Spring Awakening; Mikhail Lim will be directing; Freya [McIntosh] will be by his side, with Jess Viner as musical director,” says Dan. “That gives me a bit of a rest to tee me up for Our House.”

Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 11 to 14, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Age recommendation: 12 plus. Box office: 01904 501935 or https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musical/jesus-christ-superstar/2832. 

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Corrie star Sally Ann Matthews steps up to new role in Here & Now jukebox musical. Next stop, Grand Opera House, York

Sally Ann Matthews in her musical debut as Patricia in Here & Now

SALLY Ann Matthews’ next step on leaving Coronation Street last October after treading the Weatherfield cobbles across 39 years is to join the cast of Steps’ musical Here & Now.

“This is my first tour show since 2010. I’ve come in for the second leg,” she says, after taking over from Finty Williams – Dame Judi Dench’s daughter – in the role of Patricia, a supermarket proprietor “with a touch of Hyacinth Bucket about her”.

Next week, she will play a York stage for the first time, performing at the Grand Opera House from February 10 to 15.

How did Sally Ann feel on her first night at The Mayflower in Southampton on January 23? “I wasn’t remotely nervous,” she says. “It’s a beautiful theatre – another one I’d never played before – with that lovely feeling of 1,700 people on their feet at each show. What’s not to love about a show that leaves everyone with a smile on their face?”

She was delighted to be offered the chance to join the hit show. “I got a phone call from my agent, saying ‘how do feel about touring again?’. I said, ‘what is it?’. ‘Here & Now, the Steps musical’.

“Of course I said ‘yeah’ as I’m a massive Steps fan and I know Claire [Steps member Claire Richards]. We have mutual friends and we’ve kept in touch. I messaged her to say ‘I’ve just had an offer to play Patricia’. ‘I suggested you!’ she said.

“When she then came to see the show, I told her I was so grateful she’d recommended me.”

At 55, Matthews is making her debut in a musical. “I’ve done plays and pantomime, but never musical theatre, though I do love musicals,” says Sally Ann, who is part of a touring company of 56-60. “They’re such a vibrant, young, talented group that I’m working with.”

Introducing Sally Ann Matthews as Patricia in Here & Now

Produced by Steps, the London dance-pop group with 14 consecutive top five hits to their name since 1997, Here & Now weaves those songs into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending?

“The best way to describe it is it’s like Mamma Mia!, but with Steps songs, rather than Abba,” says Sally Ann. “It’s about love, life and loss, with the Steps songs feeding the storytelling parts beautifully – and it’s really funny as well.”

That means comedy and, of course, Tragedy, the Bee Gees cover so synonymous with Steps. “We use it as a war cry at the start of Act Two,” says Sally Ann.

“These characters have real heart and you really invest in their journey – and it’s like a panto because there’s a villain too, though I don’t want to give anything away about that.”

Tooled with such Steps favourites as Tragedy, Heartbeat, Stomp, One For Sorrow, Better Best Forgotten, 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart and Chain Reaction, Here & Now appeals to every demographic, reckons Sally Ann.

“We have older, retired couples there; then we have youngsters, like my great-nephew, aged six, who’s coming to the show; there are a lots of groups of girls and mums on a Prosecco trip, all dancing away, and then there are lots of men who love Steps,” she says.

“I’ve been to three Steps concerts, where it’s very inclusive and very safe, everybody coming together because there’s such a love of Steps – and this show is the same. After the curtain call, there’s a ten-minute mega-mix, where everyone’s on their feet.”

Sally Ann Matthews’ Patricia and Lara Denning’s Caz in Here & Now

Sally Ann has been struck by the high quality of the touring show and the demands on the cast to be at their best. “We have a resident director with us on tour, so every day we have notes from the director, the dance captain and the musical director to keep up in check. It’s a really tight show,” she says.

“It looks stunning too: a simple set, but so effective, beautifully lit, and the costumes are out of this world, with everyone working so hard for all the quick changes.”

Ironically, Sally Ann’s character has only one costume. “Though I do get to wear a pink pleather coat with fur collar,” she says. “It’s rather fabulous, with a scarf underneath that you only see a little of – but it’s a Dior scarf. There’s been no expense spared in this show.”

Sally Ann is best known for playing Jenny Bradley in Coronation Street, first from 1986 to 1991, then a brief return in 1993 before coming back as a regular from 2015 to 2025.

How did she feel when she recorded her final episode last autumn? “By that point, I felt excited for what was next,” she says. “I’d had a very, very fortunate time, starting my career at 15, then had a long gap when I went off and learnt my trade on stage and had my children as well – they’re 27 and 25 now.

“When I went back in 2015, it was supposed to be a short stint, but when they asked me to stay, I did. But there came a time when Jenny lost the love of her life three times  in three years – Johnny in 2021, Leo in 2022 and Stephen, the serial killer, in 2023. Three years on the trot!

“It kind of got to the point where other actors were saying, ‘please don’t put me with her’ – and she’d been held up at gunpoint four times at the Rovers. It kind of felt like a natural end when it came. Jenny had been through so much, she needed a break.”

Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 10 to 15, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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REVIEW: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Kym Marsh’s Hedy clasps Lisa Faulkner’s Allie in Rebecca Reid’s stage adaptation of A Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

HERE comes Single White Female at the double.

Journalist, author and writer Rebecca Reid’s new stage adaptation is not so much a doppelganger, in the style of Hedra’s identity thief, but a new spin on Swiss director Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 film and John Lutz’s 1990 source novel, SWF Seeks Same. One, however, still equipped with stilettos and a nerve-shredding elevator.

Correction, it is not an elevator, but a malfunctioning, screeching lift, as Reid has switched the location from Nineties’ New York apartment to an Elephant and Castle tower-block flat  with dodgy lighting and electrics in the invasive social-media age of 2026 London.

No stranger to the kitchen from her 2010 Celebrity MasterChef victory, cookery books and YouTube channel with husband chef John Torode, Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage after a 21-year hiatus and finds herself standing behind the island on Morgan Large’s open-plan set.

Lisa Faulkner in her first stage role in 21 years as London divorced mum and tech start-up boss Allie in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

Two doors lead to neighbouring bedrooms, a third to the lift, and, out of view, is the doorway to Faulkner’s divorced mum Allie’s bedroom. A glass panel gives views of a less-than-beautiful London skyline.

Large’s rectangular design is framed by Jason Taylor’s lighting, sparking on and off in blues and reds that pick out the eerie shape of a children’s cot above, accompanied by a child’s cries and echoing screams.

The misbehaving electrics, lift and lighting are matched at the outset by gremlins in Max Pappenheim’s sound design that thankfully dissipate as Tuesday’s press night progresses. The overall effect is deliberately unnerving, whether screeches, clunks, cries or sparks spitting from plugs, complemented by amusingly discordant slabs of musical discharge (even an instrumental segment from Radiohead’s Creep).

Single White Female’s Allie and Hedy (Kym Marsh) are no longer in their late 20s/early 30s. Allie has a 15-year-old  daughter, surly Bella (Amy Snudden), who is starting at a new school, and already consigned to the role of bullied misfit, after tech start-up boss Allie is found a new home by business partner Graham (Andro) in his tower block.

Amy Snudden’s troubled teenager Bella and Lisa Faulkner’s mum Allie in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

To make ends meet, Allie advertises for a flatmate (on social media of course). Fashion photographer Hedy replies, moves in and takes over the cooking, building bonds with Bella. Graham, buoyed by acquiring a new boyfriend through Grinder, keeps popping in, as does Allie’s “reformed” alcoholic ex-husband Sam (Jonny McGarrity), whose bond with daughter Bella remains strong, even if access is restricted.

Piece by piece, flash of light by flash of light, we learn of Hedy’s past, her loss of a child, spoiler alert, to cot death, and so Marsh portrays a more complex character than either Jennifer Jason Leigh’s film portrayal or indeed Marsh’s more openly villainous Cruella De Vil on her last visit to the Grand Opera House in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024.

Manipulation of social media and mobile phones is now Hedy’s weapon of choice, whether impersonating Allie on phone calls to the errant Bella’s school, tampering with Graham’s Grinder account or using her photographic training to help Bella to send a compromising A1-doctored post.

Reid’s script is snappy, witty, darkly humorous, surprising, suspenseful and up with the zeitgeist. If you have never heard the expression “situationship” before, as playground argot for “relationship”, you will here.

Seeing double: Jonny McGarrity’s Sam encounters Kym Marsh’s blonde Hedy in Allie’s dress in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

Reid riffs on Schroeder’s film, but makes those tropes her own, whether the startling lift noises, or the notorious stiletto when Marsh’s Hedy gives Sam a right eyeful as director Gordon Greenberg turns up the schlock horror without reaching for the histrionics.

Marsh, fresh from her tyrannical Beverley in Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party at Manchester’s Royal Academy, is terrific and, yes, ultimately terrifying as Hedy, never resorting to melodrama, but calculated, desperate and consumed by grief, jealousy and finally uncontrolled rage.

In a parallel story arc, the equally impressive Sneddon’s troubled  teenager descends into her own darkness with terrible consequences, warped by the machinations of electronic messaging and bullying.

Faulkner’s enervated Allie, Andro’s amenable Graham and McGarrity’s pliable Sam all contribute to the rising tide of tension emanating from Greenberg and Reid’s stylish, steely, stiletto-sharp psychological thriller.  Book now, but don’t wear stilettos.

Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Lisa Faulkner’s tech company boss Allie and Andro’s business partner Graham in a nerve-shredding moment in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 5, from Gazette & Herald

Two into one won’t go: Lisa Faulkner’s Allie, left, and Kym Marsh’s Hedy in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

AN update of a Nineties’ psychological thriller and a panto dame’s transformation into a dog top Charles Hutchinson’s  cultural picks for early February and beyond.

World premiere tour of the week: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today and Saturday

SCREEN actress, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, TV presenter, chef and cookery book author Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage for the first time in 21 years in Rebecca Reid’s darkly humorous stage adaptation of psychological thriller Single White Female, now updated to the social-media age.

Faulkner’s recently divorced mum Allie is balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up. When she decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, Kym Marsh’s Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Viking illumination: Colour & Light celebrates Eric Bloodaxe at York Castle Museum. Picture: David Harrison

Illumination launch of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, today to February 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings will be illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for a fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show will bring York’s historic characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

Musical of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

HELEN Gallagher’s tough talkin’, gun-totin’ heroine ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s former peace-officer ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok lead director Sophie Cooke’s cast for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s musical Calamity James.

Deadwood’s citizens are content with their ways of life: supporting their fort of soldiers and socialising at the beloved Golden Garter saloon. However, when a new face blows in from the Windy City to create a stir, friendships will be formed, long-time loyalties tested and perhaps even secret love revealed. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Ancient & modern drama of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EASINGWOLD theatre-makers Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger begin their new partnership with Theatre@41 by re-visiting Helios, wherein a lad lives half way up a historic hill, a teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car and a boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.

In Wright’s story of the sun god’s son, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city. “It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” he says. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Robin Simpson in rehearsal for Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, premiering at York Theatre Royal Studio

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to February 14, except February 8, 7.45pm, plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, directed by John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Simeon Walker: Inviting his audience to gather around the piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Pianist of the week: Simeon Walker, An Evening Around The Piano, Helmlsey Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

LEEDS modern classical pianist and composer Simeon Walker performs in Great Britain and Europe, while notching 50 million streams across online platforms and having his music played on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.

Walker, who has a keen interest in jazz, folk and ambient music too, has collaborated on interdisciplinary work with artist Mary Griffiths, Portuguese choreographer Sara Afonso, writer Emma White and filmmakers Will Killen and Ben Cohen, plus BBC Radio 4 and University of Leeds. His concerts span moments of quiet, gentle solitude to boisterous, flowing exuberance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Julie Carter: Addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature in The Dreamtime Fellrunner

Wellbeing on the run: Julie Carter, The Dreamtime Fellrunner, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 12, 7.30pm

IN her first theatre show, poetry and creative non-fiction author Julie Carter charts her running exploits on the Lakeland fells in this moving and humorous account of being an athlete with a physical disability in the form of a developmental disease of the spine.

Presenting fell running as a type of land art and spiritual practice, Carter emphasises body-mind-spirit-place connections while addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature, in a 60-minute immersive performance supported by original music, topped off by second-half opportunities for discussion and reflections on wellbeing and the ways we inhabit our environments. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Mark Stafford: Solo performance at the double in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Helmsley Arts Centre

Split personality of the month: Mark Stafford in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21, 7.30pm

PUBLISHED in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic mystery tale of the timeless conflict between good and evil is performed by Mark Stafford in his compelling and faithful adaptation.

In fog-bound Victorian London, respectable lawyer Gabriel Utterson is concerned by a strange clause in his friend Henry Jekyll’s will, whereupon he investigates the sinister Edward Hyde, Jekyll’s unlikely protégé. Convinced that Jekyll and Hyde’s relationship is founded on blackmail, Utterson finds the truth to be far worse than he could have ever imagined. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest’s day of equine films at Helmsley Arts Centre

In Focus: EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, Block 1, 12 noon to 2.16pm; Block 2, 3.30pm to 5.07pm; Block 3, 7pm to 9.45pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre, in collaboration with Ryedale Bridleways Group, presents the first British screening of the EQUUS UK Film & Arts Festival this weekend. 

Founded in 2013 by Illinois equestrian Lisa Diersen, who has spent her life in the company of horses, EQUUS aims to show the world how horses can bring everyone together regardless of race, age, gender, abilities or disabilities. 

Saturday’s event comprises two afternoon blocks of short films, exhibitions from Ryedale artists and an evening showing of the 96-minute feature film Big Star, The Nick Skelton Story.

Showing from 12 noon will be Horse & Human Connection, featuring Wings Of Angels, Healing Horses In Mongolia, Heart Of Compton and My Life Between The Reins.

The Wild Horse Collection, from 3.30pm, presents American Mustang (music video), Wild Heart  Mustang Book Project, Wild Horse Refuge “Dahtetse”, A Mustang Story promo, Okanagan Wild, Hellbent, Evoke and Renegade.

The Big Star Collections opens at 7pm with Healing In The Open, followed by Inside The In Gate and Unstable. After a 15-minute interval, Big Star will close the event.

Tickets for single blocks or the whole day are available on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.

An equine photograph from Valerie Mather’s 2025 trip to the USA

AMONG the exhibitors at Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest event will be Yorkshire lawyer-tuned- portrait, documentary and travel photographer Valerie Mather.

“After a successful career in law, I retired early to pursue a lifelong passion for photography,” she says. “I learned to ride (English style) as a child but was brought up watching Western movies on television and longed to see for myself the real cowboys and cowgirls of the American West.

“That dream came true in 2025 when I visited the United States and spent time at the McCullough Peaks wild horse area and the Shoshone National Forest ranchlands in Wyoming. “

Another of Valerie Mather’s McCullough Peaks photographs on show at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday

Did you know?

RYEDALE Bridleways Group (RBG) covers the Ryedale district and North York Moors National Park. Activities include fundraising events, such as equestrian talks and films. RBG works with local authorities to seek to resolve issues on bridleways and Countryside Access Service Unsurfaced Unclassified Roads, as well as carrying out practical work such as bridleway clearances and  surveys.

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Allie Long returns to York to take up post of theatre director at Grand Opera House

Grand Opera House theatre director Allie Long

ALLIE Long is the new theatre director at the Grand Opera House on her return to the York theatre.

Allie joined ATG Entertainment in 2017 while studying at the University of York, starting in the front-of-house department before progressing through marketing, operational and management roles across the UK.

She completed ATG’s venue management graduate scheme, with placements in London, Glasgow and Stockton-on-Tees, before returning to the Grand Opera House in 2022 as theatre manager.

This was a pivotal year for the Cumberland Street venue that saw capital investment into the building, a venue re-brand and a re-launch that enabled a new trajectory to bring the best of the West End into York, such as Six The Musical, Dear Evan Hanson, Pretty Woman The Musical and Heathers The Musical.

After a year as theatre director at Richmond Theatre, Surrey, Allie took a year of maternity leave when she and husband Joe had a baby boy in 2025.

Now she has returned home to York to take over the leadership in a year when the Grand Opera House will next present Here & Now – The Steps Musical, Lee Mead in Barnum, The Circus Musical, Jodie Comer in a sold-out February 17 to 21 run of Prima Facie and Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.

Returning to where her career in live entertainment began, Allie is looking forward to leading one of North Yorkshire’s most cherished theatres. “A theatre like the Grand Opera House is more than a venue,” she said. “It’s a place where careers, like mine, can begin, local talent have a stage to showcase themselves, and stories and theatre craft are shared live on stage.

“I’m proud to champion career pathways in the creative industries here in York and to share a programme that has something for everyone.”

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Andrew Carter, York choir trainer and composer: a tribute by classical music critic and university tutor Martin Dreyer

Andrew Carter RIP

ANDREW Carter, choir trainer and composer, has died at the age of 86.

He was born and grew up in Leicester. He first came to Yorkshire to take a degree in music at the University of Leeds, then put down roots in York when he joined the choir of York Minster as a bass songman (lay clerk).

He also began to teach at the Bar Convent School, where by all accounts he maintained a strict regime and achieved excellent results, particularly with his choirs.

But it was when he founded the Chapter House Choir in December 1965, initially as a one-off venture to raise funds for the Minster, that he began to emerge as a serious choir director. So successful was the first concert that demand quickly mounted, from singers and audience alike, for the choir to continue.

It went on to win several awards, not least in the Let The Peoples Sing choir contest on BBC Radio, and is still a force to be reckoned with, several conductors later, a sure sign of the powerful foundations built by Andrew.

Apart from its regular concert season, the choir became known for its annual Carols By Candlelight, which, despite at times being given on three consecutive nights, was constantly sold out.

Queues for tickets would form outside the Minster at 6a.m. on a Saturday morning in early December, often in the freezing cold. Many of Andrew’s early carol arrangements were made for this event, before beingpublished, first by Banks Music Publications of York and later by Oxford University Press (the latter has published more than 50 of his works, including seven for choir, soloists and orchestra).

These concerts always included several works for handbells, a legacy of his mother’s influence as a handbell ringer herself.

His choral compositions and arrangements grew in popularity to the point where he was only able to fulfil all the commissions he was receiving by devoting himself full time to composition. Choirs in North America were particularly keen to commission and perform new works by Andrew as soon as they were written. He became a regular visitor to the United States as both composer and choir director.

A Maiden Most Gentle, the first of his carols to be sung at King’s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, is rightly highly prized. He also wrote two carols including solo soprano lines for Lynne Dawson, an early member of the Chapter House Choir: Spanish Lullaby and Spanish Carol, making use of her linguistic skills. His carols take pride of place in my own collection of Christmas music.

On a more personal level, I enjoyed encountering Andrew at concerts on many occasions, when he was always kindly solicitous of my own and my wife’s good health. Our meetings were full of laughter, with his deep bass chuckle ever infectious. I shall miss him. But his music will certainly live on.

Martin Dreyer

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Big Deal mark 40th anniversary with biggest ever line-up for charity barn dance gigs for Outreach EMR and Two Ridings Community Foundation at De Grey Rooms

The poster for Big Deal’s 40th anniversary charity concerts. Picture: taken last summer outside the barn where the band first performed in 1986

THE Big Deal Band will be at their biggest ever – 16 musicians in all – when they mark their 40th anniversary with a brace of reunion Barn Dance, Buffet & Musical Extravaganzas in York on Friday and Saturday.

The 7pm and 11pm charity fundraisers will be held at the De Grey Rooms, St Leonard’s Place, York, 30 years exactly since the country/folk collective celebrated their tenth anniversary there, when founder Richard Hunt first lived in York.

“We couldn’t have known it at the time, but soon after that splendid night we split up into several ‘mini–Big Deals’ in far-flung locales, including New Zealand, Mexico and Chicago,” says Richard, band founder, leader and fiddle and mandolin player – and software company owner to boot – who returned to York with his family in 2015 after spending 20 years in Chicago.

“We’ve hunted down 16 past band members from around Britain, America and New Zealand and successfully bribed them with new straw hats to reunite and play on Friday and Saturday. Now we’re encouraging you, our friends and faithful foot-tapping audience, to turn the evenings into huge celebratory flings.”

The Saturday shindig, in aid of York-based medical charity Outreach EMR, has sold out, with dozens on the waiting list, but tickets are still available at £30 for Friday’s gig for the Two Ridings Community Foundation, marking the foundation’s 25th anniversary. To book, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/tworidingscommunityfoundation/1933063.

Each night will include buffet catering provided by Florencia Clifford and Hugo Hildyard’s Brancusi and Partisan, in Micklegate, plus a bar and raffle, to complement hoedown dancing to Gaelic, American, and Cajun tunes. Rest assured, newcomers, that absolutely no barn-dance experience is needed as caller Jo Howard leads barn dancers through the steps to the stomping hillbilly band.

“It’s definitely NOT black tie. Dress casual, dress down, dress gingham style,” says Richard, who will be meeting up with some players for the first time in 25 years.

Forty years ago, he formed the band with university friends Dave Williams, Adrian Hollis, Mike Evans and Mike’s girlfriend (now wife) Claire, performing their first folk-flavoured gig in the barn at the Warwickshire house of Richard’s parents.

They went on to support Hank Wangford and play the college and university circuit,  and although they never made the big time, music-making continued as a hobby.

Now comes the concert reunion weekend for two charities with roots in the York area, one supporting the welfare of people globally, the other supporting hundreds of York, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire charities.

Set up by retired GP Peter Smith and led by retired York-area doctors, Outreach EMR supports 23 medical clinics in some of the poorest countries in the world, designing and building desperately needed Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software packages for laptop computers that enable staff in remote clinics to keep a record of patients’ medical histories.

These are being installed and supported for free in Africa and many other places around the world, including Haiti, Nicaragua and the Philippines, where medical workers are forced to rely on outmoded paper records.

Outreach EMR’s work is saving the lives of thousands of children and other vulnerable people every year. A suggested donation of  £20 per head can be made at https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/donation-form/dig-deals-push-for-electronic-medical-records. Food, entertainment and venue costs have all been underwritten by Big Deal so that 100 per cent of your gift can reach the charity.

The Two Ridings Community Foundation provides grants to charities and community groups throughout York and North and East Yorkshire. Last year alone it awarded 509 grants totalling £2.4 million.

All money raised from Friday’s ticket sales, bar and raffle will be match funded and go directly to Two Ridings’ 25th Anniversary Appeal with a target of £10,000 on the night. In addition, donations to the Barn Dance Fundraiser 25th Anniversary Appeal can be made for match-funding on the night.

Already, Big Deal band members Tim Crusher, Dave Williams, Drew Crawford and Richard Hunt have busked in the King’s Square rain in York city centre on January 17 for Two Ridings. The full band will be out in York on Saturday busking for Outreach EMR.

Assembling for the two concerts will be Adrian Hollis, from Muscat, Oman, on guitar; Mike Zecchino, from  Tucson, USA, on guitar; Richard Hunt, on violin and mandolin; Jo Howard, Richard’s sister, on barn-dance caller duty; Andy Howard, on washboard; Mike Evans, on mandolin, guitar and violin; Claire Evans, on double bass; David Webster, on guitar and banjo; Kate Hunt, Richard’s sister, on percussion.

So too will Chris Aston, from New York City, on guitar and bass; Alasdair Baxter, from  Auckland, New Zealand, on vocals, banjo and guitar; Tim Crusher, from Whitby, on accordion; David Williams, from Sheffield, on double bass, guitar and mandolin; Jez Fish and Nigel Peet, on saxophone, and Nigel Holmes, on electric bass.

“We have 16 members returning for the two concerts this week,” says Richard. “I’ve not seen Alasdair Baxter and Mike Zechinno for over 25 years. In the audience, we’ll have a dozen people who were there 40 years ago for the start and many who were there at the De Grey Rooms 30 years ago. A couple of friends, Dawn and Bill, are coming from Pittsburgh specially for the gig.”

The Big Deal Band: back story

Big Deal founder Richard Hunt, of Tadcaster Road, York

“I STARTED busking in 1982 while at Huddersfield University to help supplement my grant, along with my good friend Mike Evans,” recalls Big Deal founder Richard Hunt. “We got an early train every Saturday morning, at 6am, to get the most coveted busking spot in Leeds, outside C&A.

“After university, we formed a band, Big Deal, and the first concert was 40 years ago at my parents’ soon-to-be- converted barn in the Warwickshire countryside at Beausale. Publicity photos were taken in the barn behind.”

The conversion never went ahead. “We used exactly same location for our re-union photo shoot in August last summer, but we had to take out a 40-year build-up of nettles, brambles and old machinery,” says Richard.

For Big Deal’s first proper concert, a few months after their barn debut, they supported Hank Wangford, playing to an audience of 1,000 at Birmingham University. “We combined our own compositions and songs interspersed with barn dancing,” recalls Richard.

“For ten years we were predominately on the college tour, including playing all the May Balls in Oxford and Cambridge, occasionally three in a night! We shared line-ups, stages and sometimes dressing rooms with bands such as The Commitments, The The, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, The Farm, Aswad, Desmond Decker, Bad Manners and Voice Of The Beehive.

“In June 1991 we went on stage just after the Manic Steet Preachers had played only four songs,” says Richard. “They then proceeded to smash their instruments and throw them around the hall at Downing College, Cambridge: a publicity stunt, with journalists at the ready to record.

“For the record, Big Deal never intentionally smashed instruments, but we once dropped the miked-up double bass in a bad hand-off, making a spectacular bang.”

Richard was known to play and dance. “I’ve fallen off the stage a few times, once breaking my violin scroll in two and one time my bow,” he says. “I had to have knee surgery two years ago, which I’m pretty sure was caused by these antics.

Big Deal Chicago band members Elaine Moore, Tim Crusher, centre, and Richard Hunt in 2011

“Our most famous barn-dancer at one of our gigs was Stephen Hawking, who did a fine job of a do-si-do in his wheelchair.”

Big Deal failed to make the big break through. “There was no Irish band part in the Titanic film for us, but we did have our share of disasters. Once we were on the John Peel Road Show, when, after performing, I asked John what he thought. He told me not to give up my day job. I told him I hadn’t got one!

“We also auditioned for Opportunity Knocks, singing one our original songs, Cowboy In The Wild West Midlands, at the Birmingham Ballroom. Everything went spectacularly wrong during the performance. Then the two bales of straw we’d brought in as props fell apart onto the thick, red shag carpet as we were trying to make quick exit.”

Guitarist Dave Williams has a framed rejection letter from presenter Huey Green. “I did, however, make a Super 8 film of the song that was used as part of the highlight reel, which included filmmaker Derek Jarman, for the Leicester Super 8 festival and UK tour in 1986,” says Richard.

Big Deal performed to 2,000 mostly screaming Barry Manilow Fan Club members at the Birmingham NEC. “At the time, we had Charlie, a band member with a striking similarity to Barry Manilow. We almost brought the house down.”

Accordion player Tim Crusher and Richard formed a new Big Deal band with Elaine Moore as their first American recruit in Chicago. “Elaine is the reason for me meeting my wife/her best friend Laura, but that’s another story!” says Richard.

“The authorities once stopped our set. We were on the first floor of a huge Irish pub, Fados, where hundreds of people were jumping up and down together in time with the music with the potential for the floor to collapse.”

In 1998, on St Patrick’s Day, the American Big Deal band played at the Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza (30 Rock), New York. “We shared the venue with The Chieftains, together with Michael Flattery and all the Lord of the Dance ensemble, who were celebrating the end of their tour,” says Richard.

“After our set, we gatecrashed their private party next door. A memorable night of dancing ensued with the full dance troupe, Riverdance style, with the band returning to the hotel at 7am.”

Later that year, Richard travelled with a monitor and mixing deck in a large suitcase from Chicago to Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Tim [Crusher] had recently moved from Mexico City to Argentina’s capital and the two of us had been booked for the first four opening nights of Guinness’s first pub in the country,” he recalls.

“Our set lasted from 12 midnight to 6am, at which time many of the wild punters headed directly to work! I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much Guinness being drunk by such stylish people.”

Big Deal assembled for a tenth anniversary gig at the De Grey Rooms on February 6 1996. “After that, we split up,  heading in different directions. Of the York-based band members, Tim Crusher, had already left to go to Mexico; banjo player Alastair Baxter went to Auckland, New Zealand, and I departed for Chicago, USA,” says Richard. “Only Nigel Holmes, the bass player, stayed in York.

Big Deal member Chris Aston plays bass in Brooklyn-based Fugue State Fair, whose concept album The Coming War Between the States imagines an alternative reality where America is at war with itself, again. Across 14 original songs, it tells stories of those involved in all aspects of this contemporary conflict, through its genesis, escalation and ultimate armistice.

After Alasdair Baxter emigrated to Auckland in the 1990s, he began playing his banjo and guitar in Irish pub bands before writing and performing as part of indie-folk band Hoop, who host the Ministry of Folk events in Auckland. Latest album Wrap Me Up In Winter was released to rave reviews.

Tim Crusher and David Williams are members of Rudolf Rocker, formed by very tall brothers Mark and Steve Goodall. Other members include the League Of Gentlemen writer Jeremy Dyson.

Elaine Moore is a professional guitar player in Chicago, where she teaches at the Old Town Folk School.

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Russell Howard and Ross Noble to lead Futuresound line-up for second York Comedy Festival at York Museum Gardens

The poster for York Comedy Festival ’26, promoted by Futuresound, on July 12

RUSSELL Howard and Ross Noble will top the bill at Futuresound’s second York Comedy Festival on July 12, the fourth and final day of this summer’s Live At York Museum Gardens season.

After a sold-out launch last July as one of Great Britain’s largest outdoor comedy events, the festival once more will play to a seated capacity of more than 3,000 on a stage in front of St Mary’s Abbey.

Bath-born stand-up satirist Howard, host of Russell Howard’s Good News, and Newcastle surrealist Noble will be joined by Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning comic and presenter Russell Kane, Irish stand-up and podcaster Joanne McNally, from My Therapist Ghosted Me, and Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell.

On the 2.30pm bill too will be cult-stand up hero-turned viral sensation Jeff Innocent, Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid and Barry From Watford, the 82-year-old comic creation of actor, writer and comedian Alex Lowe (who played Clinton Baptiste in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights on Channel 4).

The event will be hosted by master of ceremonies Jarred Christmas, the British-based New Zealand comic and winner of Chortle’s Best Compere award.

Last July’s inaugural York Comedy Festival defied the Sunday downpours with a line-up of Dara Ó Briain, Katherine Ryan. Bridget Christie, Angelos Epithemiou, Joel Dommett, Vittorio Angelone, Clinton Baptiste and Scott Bennett, hosted by “the fabulous” Stephen Bailey.

Tickets for July 12 are on sale at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/york-comedy-festival-2026/york-museum-gardens/3561349.