Rohit Jayade’s artwork for Loneliness in the Digital Age
THE topic of Loneliness in the Digital Age will be highlighted in next weekend’s independent exhibition at SPARK: York, Piccadilly, York.
Directed by Katya Shikhova, this public multimedia arts exhibition project explores “connection and isolation in today’s chronically online world”. Admission will be free.
The exhibition on November 29 and 30 is organised by University of York students and recent graduates.
“Our aim is to create a platform for artists, support York’s growing art community and ensure that proceeds from sales and donations go toward helping participating artists cover the costs of their practice, from transport to materials,” says creative director Katya, who is in the final year of her Business of the Creative Industries studies.
Anna Wilkinson’s artwork for Loneliness in the Digital Age
“I’m considering a career in art management, and together with my student friends, we’ve decided to organise this exhibition.”
Explaining the focus on Loneliness in the Digital Age, Katya says: “I’ve noticed that more and more people are raising concerns about communication in the contemporary world.
“With the increasing popularity of such TV shows as Adolescence (2025) and Severance (2022-2025), these concerns have become more visible. What is particularly interesting is that it seems not only older generations are concerned, but also people who grew up alongside rapid digital development.
Katya Shikhova’s artwork for Loneliness in the Digital Age
“More and more young people have begun noticing signs of depression, partially triggered by decreasing real-life communication and increasingly chronic online behaviour. Therefore, my team and I decided to reflect on this issue through the prism of contemporary art.”
Katya and her cohorts in the LitDA team created an open call for artists in the UK who wanted to engage with this topic, showcase and maybe sell their work and explore the themes of the exhibition together.
“We received around 40 submissions and selected ten works to be exhibited at SPARK Studios. Some of the selected works include photography, paintings, a digital painting and an abstract visualisation,” she says. Limited prints by exhibited artists and some who were not shortlisted will be on sale.
The poster for the Loneliness in the Digital Age exhibition
“I would like to highlight that submissions were free,” says Katya. “Artists will be financially supported, with each artist receiving an allowance for transportation and commuting costs, and the main source of funding for the exhibition is donations. We’re very keen on supporting the artists as much as we’re able to.”
Loneliness in the Digital Age will be on show on November 29, 1pm to 7pm, and November 30, 11am to 7pm. In addition, a limited-entry, invitation-only event for friends and family will be held at 7pm on November 29. “This will be a great chance to hear directly from the artists about their works and the theme of the exhibition,” says Katya. “The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.”
Slava’s SnowShow clowns – and their puppet fish – on their sightseeing travels in York
VETERAN clown Slava Polunin is the founder of Slava’s Fools Unlimited, president of the International Academy of Fools, Ambassador of Hans Christian Andersen in Russia and Official Envoy of the Dolphin Embassy. In other words, he is no fool, just like Shakespeare’s fools.
Since 1993, Slava’s SnowShow has won 20 awards while playing 225 cities across 80 countries, re-writing the rules for clowning. No longer are clowns the cloying blockage in the flow of a circus show, filling gaps between more exciting acts. No longer are they strangely frightening or weird.
Still sad faced, painted in the traditional Hobo style, Slava’s clowns are a fusion of Max Wall, Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, the loons of silent cinema’s golden age, the surrealism of Magritte’s paintings and the inventive joy of Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit. You might even find yourself thinking of The Teletubbies. Slava prefers the term “Expressive Idiotism”.
And yet, Slava’s SnowShow is an immersive, whimsical, multi-sensory show like no other, in a league of wonder of its own, charming and enchanting audiences from London to Moscow, Paris to New York, Hong Kong to Los Angeles, and now, at long last, York, where November’s skies heralded its debut visit with the season’s first snowfall on Wednesday morning.
Later, manufactured flakes dusted coats when walking up to the Cumberland street theatre in suitably freezing conditions. Once inside, the stage is bedecked in what appear to be oversized mattresses, arranged as if at Stonehenge, with the stuffing falling out, accompanied by the disorientating pre-show soundscape of jungle wildlife and steam trains. One “mattress” has a hole at the top, adding to the intrigue of what lies in store.
Grown, in Slava’s words, out of dreams, fairytales and magical ritual, images and gesture, play and imagination, Slava’s SnowShow attempts to “wed all the facets of life” while leaving the everyday at the door. To quote in full: this show constructs “a theatre of hopes and dreams, suffused with solitude and longing, premonitions and disillusions…a theatre on the edge between art and life, tragedy and comedy, absurdity and naivety, cruelty and tenderness”.
A figure with a clown’s face atop a fancy-dress chicken’s bright yellow costume (Artem Zhimo) enters carrying a rope, a rope that he will place around his neck. He looks troubled: the tears and the fears of a clown wrapped into one, but thoughts of suicide are cast aside quickly by his playfulness with that rope, although he is always on the edge highlighted in Slava’s quote above. Slava, by the way, originated this role and still plays it on occasion at 75.
Forever blowing bubbles: Slava’s SnowShow, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
Enter Slava’s son Vanya, the first of a multitude of matching clown figures in full-length fleece coats (protecting themselves against the weather in John Motson style). Their dark feet seem to stretch forever, likewise the flaps of their hats, with the wingspan of a plane, forcing them to duck and dive to avoid contact mid-air.
The company of “fools on the loose” is completed by Francesco Bifano, Chris Lynam, Nikolai Terentiev, Yuri Musatov, Aelita West and Bradford West. Together with Zhimo and Polunin Jnr , they move with choreographic precision, yet with room for improvisation too, and they have a wonderful sense of timing, going against comedy’s usual rules for chaos and calamity by slowing everything down for maximum comedic effect.
Zhimo duly excels in a scene where he conducts phone calls on oversized yellow and red telephones that match his attire, another where he repeatedly crashes to the floor from a slanting chair and table, and above all when wrapped in a farewell embrace with a trench-coat on a coat stand at a railway platform. Charlie Chaplin would have loved it..
In this theatre of the absurd, Slava’s Snow Show takes the form of a work of art wherein each scene paints a picture that comes alive, whether for a shark fin to protrude from a misty sea or for clowns and audience alike to become entangled in a huge spider’s web spun the stage across the Stalls in the magical climax to the first half.
Zhimo’s journey becomes ever more prominent in Act Two, whose finale is a blizzard conducted by Zhimo’s chicken figure as if he were The Tempest’s Prospero, leaving the audience knee deep in (paper) snow and wreathed in smiles; their joy heightened by the release of giant balloons to bounce around the auditorium.
It takes four leaf blowers to clear up the mess after each SnowShow, which would make a show in itself, but as the snowfalls continue this week, make sure you find warmth and joy inside the Grand Opera House before clown-time is over. Children and the inner child in adults alike will have a (snow) ball.
Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Age guidance: eight upwards.
York actress Maria Gray puts on a dazzling display of green in Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery at Castle Howard. Picture: Tom Arber
CLW Event Design began working on The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz as long ago as January, and now the Yellow Brick Road is stretching through the rooms and corridors of the transformed North Yorkshire country house to dazzling effect.
Headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and York-based Adrian Lillie, working in tandem with Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog, this immersive experience is on the grandest scale yet since Castle Howard first partnered with CLW Design in 2017.
Huge set pieces were fabricated and built on the Castle Howard Estate before being moved into the house in an installation process that took ten days to complete, requiring 30,000 baubles to be put on display, while the creative team has reused and recycled products where possible and favoured more sustainable materials such as paper and glass.
There really is no place like this home, now dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and soundscapes that culminate in the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery, with its life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York and Malton’s Shambles (or Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, if you insist).
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz creative team in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, led by CLW Event Design’s Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie. Picture: Tom Arber
Look out too for Castle Howard’s famous 28-foot Christmas tree that sparkles in the Great Hall, installed by a team of 30 using a specialist forklift and winch system.
Unique musical compositions accompany each room in the house, alongside the soundscapes that bring the narrative from the original book to life.
The momentum provided by Wicked and now this week’s opening of Wicked: For Good made The Wizard Of Oz the ideal choice for the 2025 show; momentum further buoyed by Castle Howard receiving the Historic House Restoration of the Year award at Sotheby’s for its 21st Century Renaissance project, topped off by the unveiling of the lost Tapestry Drawing Room.
The journey down the yellow brick road is all the more magnificent for this once-in-a-generation transformation as Castle Howard enters its busiest time of the year, when as many as 100,000 visitors will enter the building: one third of the year’s total, condensed into the Christmas season.
The Wicked Witch of the West in Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
“We’re very much thinking about the house whenever we decide what to do, and this time we’ve gone back to L Frank Baum’s original 1900 story, which seems to fit really well with the house, designed by playwright John Vanbrugh,” says Adrian.
“So some things will be new to you that differ from the 1939 film. Like the slippers being silver, not ruby, and we feature all four witches [whereas the film combined the Good Witch of the North and Glinda the Good Witch of the South into one character, Glinda].
“We’ve also played with colours, so each territory has a tone, such as blue for the Munchkins, yellow for the Winkies [as opposed to green in the Judy Garland film], red for the Quadlings, and white for Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.”
In the original story too, everything looked green in the Emerald City as everyone was equipped with green glasses to look through, another detail acknowledged amid The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz props.
The Wicked Witch Of The West in an Andy Warhol-style portrait in The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz at Castle Howard. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
CLW Event Design continues to set itself ever bigger challenges for the Christmas season, this year expanding its portfolio from three to six sites: Castle Howard, Bamburgh Castle; Kensington Palace, Polesden Lacey, Beaulieu, and Chiswick House.
Castle Howard remains the jewel in the crown. “We are always developing our team, and in the week leading up to Castle Howard, we had 18 people working here, and 23 on the night before we opened, including the Imitating The Dog team,” says Adrian. “What I’m most proud of is that our team has really delivered. I was nervous at the beginning as to whether we could do it, but we’ve pulled it off.”
Charlotte adds: “I have to say the most spectacular achievement is the Emerald City High Street that transforms the Long Gallery into The Wizard Of Oz’s Shambles.”
Detail is important and so is humour, typified by Imitating The Dog’s soundscape. “We do have our Dorothy with a North American accent, but just as we had a Yorkshire-voiced Peter Pan, we now have a Good Witch of the North with a Yorkshire accent,” says Charlotte.
There’s no place like home: Dorothy’s bedroom in The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz at Castle Howard. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz draws on source material aplenty. “There are more than 14, maybe 17 books in L Frank Baum’s series. I got through four books, then I stopped,” says Adrian. “You have to extrapolate and you have to make sure all the magic parts are in there, but it’s good to go back to the roots and look at how it would fit into the house.
“The thing that we were very clear about from the start was that we really wanted to embrace this year’s redecoration of the house to integrate it into our design and we have certainly done that.”
Summing up this year’s wizard show, and the creativity that went into it, Adrian says. “Out of the six Christmas shows that we’ve done this year, this would always be the project that we would be working on up to the last minute. It’s just the scale of this house and our ambition as artists that demands we do that.”
CLW Event Design’sThe Wonderful Wizard Of Oz dazzles at Castle Howard, near York, until January 4. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.
The poster for Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
Christmas at Castle Howard events
Christmas at Castle Howard with the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, in the House, until January 4
Father Christmas in the Castle, in the House, November 22 to December 24
Santa’s Grotto in the Boathouse, December 6 to 24
Oz Twilight Tours, November 28, December 5, December 12 and December 19
Wreath Making Workshops, in the Garden Centre, available selected Thursdays and Fridays, November 20, 21 and 28; December 11 and 12
Christmas Afternoon Tea, in the House, until December 31
Accessible Events
CASTLE Howard is offering an expanded series of accessible events to open The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience to even more people, including British Sign Language- interpreted shows and Calm Sessions.
Calm Sessions
Saturday, November 15, 9.30am to 10.30am
Tuesday, November 25, 2.30pm to 3.30pm
Friday, December 19, 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Thursday, January 1, 3.30pm to 4.30pm
BSL Interpreted Session
Saturday, December 13, 11am and 3pm
Follow the Yellow Brick Road through Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Tom Arber
Touch Boxes
AVAILABLE in select rooms as part of the Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz experience. Touch boxes are sensory objects creatively designed to tell the story of the space and are available for anyone who would like to use them as part of their experience. Available to everyone on the day of their visit.
Father Christmas in the Castle
Relaxed performance: Friday, December 19, 6.30pm
Santa’s Grotto in the Boathouse
Relaxed performance: Saturday, December 6, 4.40pm
BSL-interpreted performance: Saturday, December 13, 10am
Did you know?
CASTLE Howard has employed 100 additional Christmas staff from the area to facilitate its Christmas event, on top of their year-round staff. They are supported by a team of 200 volunteers too.
Did you know too?
CASTLE Howard is hosting a Bettys shop in the Stable Courtyard for the duration of the Christmas event, selling confectionery, chocolates, teas and coffees. alongside Castle Howard’s Farm Shop with Christmas food-to-order service, Courtyard Café with seasonal winter menu, Garden Centre selling British-grown Christmas trees and marshmallow fire pit are open too for Christmas shoppers.
And finally
A DOCUMENTARY film crew has followed the Christmas creative team, CLW Event Design, as they prepare Castle Howard’s Christmas experience. The documentary will be broadcast in the Christmas At… spotlight on Channel 4 this winter, although the dates are yet to be confirmed.
Sons Of Town Hall become the Sons Of Selby Town Hall for one night only. All pictures: Paul Rhodes
LIKE a pair of salty stormcocks, the duo Sons Of Town Hall seem to like singing in a gale. Two years ago they sang in the snow in Robin Hood’s Bay. Last Friday, with Storm Claudia sheeting down outside, this well-travelled pair produced what must be one of the gigs of the year at this fine old venue where the sound is always immaculate.
Ben Parker and David Berkeley are frequent autumn visitors to these shores. Their act (it is far more than a set of 15 songs) combines wonderfully timed humour with thoughtful, varied songs that are part heartbreak and part brothel and tavern.
They talked and sang about their hardships on the sea and the land (a fair metaphor for any working musician in the 21st century), but time and time again they find their moment in the sun on stage.
Tall tales in Sons Of Town Hall’s concert at Selby Town Hall
While Sons Of Town Hall seem to operate largely under the commercial radar, they find their audience by word of mouth (and the behind-the-scenes efforts by promoters such as Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy).
Parker and Berkeley are more business-savvy than they let on, of course, and they have crowd-funded a very popular podcast and produced an album made to the highest production standards.
Audiences love them: this pair are twinkle-toed heartbreakers. The boots and hats may be old, but the concept still feels fresh as a night breeze.
Sons Of Town Hall delivering “new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record”
This concert had something for everyone. For the uninitiated, there was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs.
For those who have seen them before in different times, under different skies, there were new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record (Of Ghosts And Gods, out this month, finally!).
These newer tunes seem to be pulling in a more commercial direction, Bossman being the pick (and better than the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name).
“There was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs,” says reviewer Paul Rhodes of Sons Of Town Hall’s performance
Parker and Berkeley have jostled with the setlist since they played in Ripon in May. Antarctica, their “hit” from the 1910s, was present and timeless, and older tunes such as Poseidon made welcome returns.
While their close-knit harmonies are their trademark, their musicianship is also of the highest order. How To Build A Boat was a good example. With their interlocking, separate vocal lines and clever use of their guitar necks and bodies to mimic the build, they inject magic. They also work themselves into a lather, never better than on the old gospel number I Saw The Light
We ended as is their custom, without microphones and up close on Cobbler’s Hill, their voices reaching upwards into the storm.
Adrian Lillie and Charlotte Lloyd Webber, of CWL Design, standing by the 28ftChristmas tree in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, where their Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience enchants until January 4. Picture: Tom Arber
SNOW storms with clowns, Castle Howard’s immersive Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Count Arthur Strong and Adam Z Robinson’s solo takes on A Christmas Carol put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.
Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4
CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight tens of thousands of visitors over a seven-week period.
Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is a highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.
Slava’s SnowShow: Arrival in York coincides with forecasts of snow across the North
Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm, today to Saturday; 2.30pm, tomorrow and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm
ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw
Straight-talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth for any of this.
Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York artist Lesley Birch at work in her studio for her Flower Power exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York. Picture: Esme Mai Photography
Blooms of the week: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm
LESLEY Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition that coincides with the publication of her small artbook of the same title by independent York publisher Overt Books, also featuring Esme Mai’s photographs of Lesley’s home studio and the York artist’s free-verse musings. On show too are Pottery Showdown potter Jacqui Atkin’s ceramics.
Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm
IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.
Gerard Hobson: Cut out for three days of Christmas art
Christmas exhibition of the week: Gerard Hobson, 51, Water Lane, Clifton, York, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sunday, 12 noon to 4pm
YORK printmaker Geard Hobson’s artwork comprises hand-coloured, limited-edition linocut prints and cut-outs focused on nature and wildlife, inspired by the countryside around where he lives in York.
As well as prints and bird, animal, tree and mushroom cut-outs, he creates anything from cards, mugs, cushions and coasters to chopping boards, lampshades, tea towels, notepads and wrapping paper. This week’s festive exhibition focuses on Christmas gifts, cards, prints and cut-outs.
Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light. The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse awaits on Friday
Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.
Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.
Rant: Scottish quartet of fiddle players heads for Helmsley Arts Centre
Fiddlers of the week: Rant, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH chamber-folk fiddlers Rant return to the road after releasing third album Spin last year, featuring their ambitious, bold and reflective reinterpretation of influential tracks by bands and players from across the globe from their formative years.
In the line-up are Bethany Reid, from Shetland, Anna Massie and Lauren MacColl from the Highland peninsula of the Black Isle, and Gillian Frame, from Arran, whose live set reflects years of honing their sound together and their love for the music of each home region through their writing, repertoire and stories. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Adam Z Robinson: Playing Scrooge and 27 more characters in A Christmas Carol at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale solo show of the week:The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company in A Christmas Carol, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
MARLEY was dead.. to begin with. So starts The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company’s ghostly staging of Charles Dickens’s festive tale, performed by Adam Z Robinson, whose solo adaptation “teases out the gothic aspects” and requires him to play 28 characters.
Join miserly misery Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey into the past, present and yet-to-come. The chilly atmosphere of Victorian London is brought to life and the spirits of Christmas return from the dead, all through the spellbinding art of storytelling that combines gripping narration with eerie recorded voices and an immersive soundscape. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The show poster for The Sounds Of Simon at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Tribute show of the week: The Sounds Of Simon, The Music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Old Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
THE Sounds Of Simon, the UK’s longest-running tribute to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, takes a musical journey from their years as Simon and Garfunkel to the successes of their solo careers, as they explore the friendship that led to songs such as Mrs Robinson, The Sound Of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water, onwards to You Can Call Me Al, Graceland and Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes.
The show incorporates elements of the duo’s famously fractious relationship, as well as replicating their beautiful harmonies, complemented by video clips, stories and memories from more than 50 years. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
York illustrator Ric Liptrot with his hot-off-the-presses York Calendar for 2026, his follow-up to 2025’s York Past & PresentCalendar
YORK illustrator Ric Liptrot has produced his third calendar, depicting the city’s independent scene.
The 2026 calendar features new illustrations of Heima, in Gillygate, for January; Haxby Bakehouse, February; York, Home of Independents poster, March; Bettys’ Easter window, in St Helen’s Square, April; Watkinsons Shoes, in Goodramgate, May, and Janette Ray Booksellers, in Bootham, June.
Turn over to July to reveal Heppni Bakery, in Swinegate; August, Two Hoots ice cream boat, by Dame Judi Dench Walk; September, Sir Thomas Herbert’s House/York Gin, in Pavement; October, Forty Five Vinyl Cafe, in Micklegate; November, Rustique, in Castlegate, and December, Silvarious, in Low Petergate.
“We’re so lucky to have so many great independent businesses in York,” says Ric, whose parents owned a newsagent shop in his hometown of Runcorn. “Perhaps it’s this upbringing that has impacted on my beliefs to stand up for the small shops, cafes and pubs of the local community.”
Too Hoots ice cream boat, Ric Liptrot’s choice for August in his 2026 calendar
Explaining how he selected his chosen 12 for 2026, Ric says: “I have a list of shops, pubs and cafes that I would love to draw. They usually have colours or shapes that grab my attention.
“For example, Heima, on Gillygate, I love the shop-front with its beautiful household objects; they’re interesting shapes to draw.
“Some months, such as December, were easy to choose as I was commissioned last year by Silvarious Jewellery to create an illustration. At the time I drew it, they had their festive window display, so I knew this would make a great December image.”
How does Ric assess the present welfare of independent businesses in York, when more and more look to be opening, but mainly yet more cafes! “You’re right that there’s more and more cafes and bars opening, which is why I feel quite strongly about celebrating the small shops,” he says.
The cover to Ric Liptrot’s York Calendar for 2026
“I’ve only lived in York for 15 years but I’ve heard of some lovely shops that have sadly closed; people still have fond memories of them. The saying ‘Use it or lose it’ comes to mind. I try to avoid using Amazon to shop. I get a buzz from buying locally; you feel like you’re making a positive purchase.”
Ric works out of a studio in the artist-led community at PICA Studios in Grape Lane. “I begin each artwork with a sketch taken directly in front of the subject. It’s here that I can take time to capture the detail and take note of shapes and colour,” he says.
“When I’m out sketching on the street, there’ll usually be one or two people who stop to have a nosey or ask what I’m drawing. I’m always happy to stop and chat. I think it’s nice that people take an interest and sometimes they’ll give me a story or fact about the subject I’m drawing.
“Then, using acrylic paint, collage and dip pen, I’ll transform the sketch into a full-colour illustration.”
Heppni Bakeri, Ric Liptrot’s July independent shop for his 2026 calendar
Some shops featured in the 2026 calendar commissioned Liptrot Illustration’s services, among them Watkinsons Shoes in celebration of their 120th anniversary.
“It hangs pride of place in our store and is absolutely stunning,” says manager Alice Preece “Ric’s art and interpretation of the shop has captured the spirit of Watkinsons and what makes us unique. Thank you, Ric for an amazing experience from start to finish throughout the commission.”
2025 North Yorkshire Open Studios participant Ric was delighted to receive this commission from one of his favourite shops. “Watkinsons is a great example of a successful independent shop in York,” he says. “I have people telling me they went there to get their first pair of shoes and now take their children. I love to draw places that people have a connection with.”
Picking highlights of his 2025 diary, Ric says: “There have been fantastic commissions, not only from Watkinsons Shoes, but Heppni Bakeri and Rustique too,” he says. “I was asked by York Independent to produce a cover for the free small newspaper they produce. That was fun, using York’s archways and bridges to frame elements of the independent businesses. The artwork for this is on my March page.
The 12 illustrations for Ric Liptrot’s 2026 calendar celebrating York’s independent shops and businesses
“I was asked to create an illustration of York to wrap around a candle holder for the lovely Born Of Botanics shop on Stonegate. It was my first bit of package design that I’d made.”
Looking ahead, how will Ric be filling his 2026 calendar? “I’m in the middle of working on some designs for the York Cocoa Works on Castlegate. I’ve had some good conversations with Sophie Jewett, the owner, and we’re hoping to produce a map and possibly some chocolate bar packaging,” he says.
“I’m also working on an illustration for a grand hotel just outside of York, Aldwark Manor. The original artwork will hang in the hotel and it will feature on their promotional material.
“I visited the estate recently to make some sketches and was blown away. It’s a stunning building and I can’t wait to start working on the illustration.”
Forty Five Vinyl Cafe: October’s choice for Ric Liptrot’s 2026 York Calendar
Should you be wondering if Ric will just stick to putting up one of his own calendars in the Liptrot home, he says: “There are some great York calendars around and I usually do a swap with artist friend Elliot Harrison, known as York 360, who makes a nice calendar.”
Ric will launch the 2026 calendar at the PICA Studios Winter Sale on November 29 and 30, when fellow PICA Studios artists will be selling work jewellery, ceramics, textiles, prints and paintings from 10am to 5pm each day.
Priced at £15.99, the calendar also will be on sale at the pop-up artists’ shop, at 22 High Petergate, York, or you can order via www.ricliptrot.bigcartel.com.
Ric Liptrot at work on a sketch
Festive final question for Ric
Do you have a Christmas tradition that no Christmas would be complete without?
“IN recent years we’ve headed to York Minster to hear the Choral Matins; it’s a lovely way to start the day. I find it a real, hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck- pricking- up moment.
“We’ve also been enjoying a pint at the local pub on Christmas Day. The last couple of years we’ve popped into the Volunteer Arms [in Watson Street, Holgate] and the atmosphere has been brilliant, full of folk in a festive mood.”
Graham Smith in shocking pink as saucy Dame Dora Di Sorderlie in Dick Whittington in December 2021 in his Rowntree Players days
GRAHAM Smith, once the doyen of Rowntree Players pantomime dames, is moving on to panto pastures new with Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre.
Graham, who lives near Wilberfoss, will revel in the moniker of Dame Nellie Nickerlastic in Rachel Waud’s production of Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood at Shiptonthorpe Village Hall.
Neil Scott, Shiptonthorpe’s former “beloved and renowned dame”, will take on a regal new role as King Richard while Henry Rice will step into the boots of Will Scarlett, one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men.
Joining them will be Toby Jewsen as Robin Hood; Chris McKenzie,Little John; Paul Jefferson, Friar Tuck; Alison Rosa, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Chloe Jensen, Maid Marion.
Further roles will go to Robbie Howe as Snivel and Phil Featherstone as Grovel; Sienna Cayton, Ella; Pelham Dennis, Sam; Carolyne Jensen, Poet; Sarah Burnell, Minstrel, and Shirley Rice, Lady Guy.
Show times will be Friday, January 30 2026, 7pm; Saturday, January 31, 3pm and 7pm; Sunday, February 1, 2pm; Friday, February 6, 7pm, and Saturday, February 7, 7pm.
“Get ready for laughter, adventure and festive fun as the curtain rises on another unforgettable pantomime season,” says the director.
Tickets are available from Richard Waud on 07922 443639 or by emailing richardwaud@yahoo.co.uk.
A trio of York Nutcracker Trail 2025’s designs in preparation for street duty
YORK Nutcracker Trail returns for the festive season with the Kids Takeover theme for 2025.
From now until January 4 2026, you can embark on York BID’s city-wide trail to discover ten giant nutcrackers, each designed uniquely by children from across York and the surrounding area.
Each design has been brought to life with delicacy by York artist Marc Godfrey-Murphy, also known as MarcoLooks, who has hand-painted the children’s creations onto the full-size nutcracker sculptures.
Kids Takeover brings young people’s imagination to life after York BID (Business Improvement District) invited budding young artists to submit their dream nutcracker designs last year. From hundreds of colourful entries, ten were selected to be transformed into life-sized sculptures to brighten York’s historic streets.
Mark Godfrey-Murphy painting one of the Kids Takeover designs for the York Nutcracker Trail
Rachel Bean, project manager at York BID, says: “We wanted to do something truly special this year: to hand the creative reins over to York’s young people. We asked kids across York to let their imaginations run wild, and the designs we received were full of colour and fun. It was so hard to pick just ten!
“York Nutcracker Trail has become a real festive favourite in York, and I can’t wait to see lots of people with trail maps in their hands across the city again this year”
Marc says: “I remember when York BID first talked to me about working on this project with them. From the moment I found out about the concept, I immediately wanted to be involved.
“I used to be an animator for CBeebies, so I know how discerning children’s imaginations can be. Their ideas and minds are bold, brave and limitless. It’s been a joy spending time working with designs from their perspective.
The map for the York Nutracker Trail 2025 with the Kids Takeover theme
“Some of our young designers have used colour combinations I would never think of, but as an artist illustrator, it’s been wonderful to discover the joy in colour and pattern from their world view.”
York Nutcracker Trail maps are available to pick up from the Visit York Information Centre on Parliament Street to help you discover each nutcracker’s location and enjoy a fun, free festive adventure through the city.
Find all ten Nutcrackers and collect their names on your trail map to enter the prize draw for a £250 York Gift Card. That’s not all: by answering the bonus question, you could win an art hamper filled with MarcoLooks goodies.
Submit your completed trail map to the Visitor Information Centre or post it in Santa’s Post Box in York Museum Gardens to enter the prize draw.
York illustrator Marc Godfrey-Murphy
Marc Godfrey-Murphy/MarcoLooks: back story
GRADUATED from Character Animation course with Aardman Animation studios (the people behind Wallace & Gromit).
Worked as animator for CBeebies on Numberblocks and Tree Fu Tom. Now a freelance Illustrator and independent card and calendar publisher in York, he founded MarcoLooks in 2018.
His delightfully daft, quirky and colourful greetings cards and prints, coasters and mugs are stocked in many shops across the UK. From punning animal titles to illustrations of York landmarks and cheeky birthday card messages, “everything pops in bright and happy colour palettes”.
Marc has worked for Fenwick department stores, Oxfam, The Hole In Wand, York BID and Indie Makers and is the founder of the Draw As You May online drawing challenge. He also is a part-time animation tutor and mentor to newbie artists/makers who want to start making money from their creative practice.
You can find Marc across social media as @MarcoLooks. To find out more, visit www.marcolooks.com or go to Fabrication, on Stonegate, to discover his greetings cards and York illustrations.
SCOTT Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox will return to York Barbican on May 29 2026 on The Future Is Vintage world tour across the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Founded by New York-based pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011, his rotating collective of singers, dancers and instrumentalists will perform a new retro-futurist show in the troupe’s signature time-twisting style.
After playing York Barbican on their Moonlight & Magic World Tour on May 7 this spring, Postmodern Jukebox will put a retro spin on everything from 1970s’ rock classics and Britpop hits to present-day chart toppers and movie and video game soundtracks in The Future Is Vintage.
Combining a heavy dose of danceable numbers with jaw-dropping showstoppers, the show “works equally well as the perfect date night or family outing”.
Founder and arranger Scott Bradlee says: “In the midst of the AI hype all around us, some folks have gone so far as to proclaim that in the not-so-distant future, all of the music that we listen to will be AI generated.
“We’ll gladly take the other side of that wager. On the 2026 Postmodern Jukebox UK tour, we’re humbly presenting our own unique vision of a spectacular future; one that is built upon the timeless musical genres of the past and the authentically human spirit of creativity that inspired them.”
Dress in your vintage best for the full time-travel experience, Bradlee advises.
AFTER hosting Palestinian poet Farah Chamma in June, York spoken-word collective Say Owt brings another international artist to The Crescent on November 23 when Gaza Poets Society founder Mohammad Moussa headlines the midday bill.
Palestinian poet and podcast host Moussa set up the Gaza Poets Society as a platform for emerging voices from Gaza and beyond.
Born and raised in Gaza, Moussa now lives in Turkey, where he continues to write and build connections across borders. He has published two poetry collections and contributed to multiple anthologies.
Nadira Alom
“Mohammed shares work that speaks with urgency, humour and hope – poems rooted in lived experience and reaching for freedom,” says Say Owt artistic director Henry Raby.
“We believe in platforming under-represented voices, and through his poetry Mohammed tells the story of the people of Gaza. A humble, gentle soul, Mohammed’s poetry is full of compassion and soul.”
Supporting Moussa at Sunday’s 12 noon to 2pm show of “generous spoken word sharing personal stories” will be York-based poets Nadira Alom and Minal Sukumar.
Minal Sukumar
“Nadira Alom is a poet who believes that your voice is the most important thing you have and you should use it to stand up for the causes you believe in,” says Henry. “She writes about mental health and her experiences as both a woman and a Muslim.
“Minal Sukumar is a writer, performance poet and doctoral researcher at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York. She holds a master’s degree in writing and has performed poetry across India, Ireland and the UK.”
