Michael Ball’s poster for his Glow UK Tour 2026, when he will play Yorkshire shows at Bradford Live, Sheffield City Hall, Hull Connexin Live and York Barbican
MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour.
“There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs, as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says.
“I hope you enjoy the new album, and I hope you come to see us on tour next year. It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Tickets go on general sale on Friday at 9am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.
Featuring original material, Glow will be released “early next year” and will be available via the Michael Ball store at https://michaelball.tmstor.es/. Fans can pre-purchase the album now to gain exclusive tour access, starting today at 9am.
Ball will be on the road from August 26 to October 2 2026 on his Glow UK Tour, whose itinerary takes in further Yorkshire concerts at Bradford Live on September 3, Sheffield City Hall, September 5, and Hull Connexin Live, September 6. Box office: livenation.co.uk; gigsandtours.com or michaelball.co.uk.
Michael Ball: back story
BORN in Bromsgrove on June 27 1962, Great Britain’s “leading musical theatre star” is a double Olivier Award-winning, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum recording artist and radio and televison presenter.
For more than 40 year, he has starred in West End and Broadway musical theatre productions, winning critical acclaim, a devoted following and awards for his stage work and recording career.
His theatre credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (ENO/Coliseum); Javert in Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (Gielgud Theatre & UK/Australia Arena Tour); Anatoly in Chess (ENO/Coliseum); Mack in Mack And Mabel (Chichester/UK Tour), and Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd and The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (West End), winning Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Further credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (Original West End cast), winning Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical; Kismet (English National Opera); Patience (New York City Opera); The Woman In White (West End/Broadway); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West End); Passion, The Phantom Of The Opera, Aspects of Love (West End/Broadway), and creating the role of Marius in Les Misérables (Original West End cast).
TV credits include the Victoria Wood BBC TV film, That Day We Sang, opposite his Sweeney Todd co-star, Imelda Staunton.
He presents his own show on BBC Radio 2 on Sundays. On TV, he has hosted The Michael Ball Show on ITV1, his first TV travelogue, Wonderful Wales on Channel 5 and an Easter Sunday special for the BBC.
Tours UK regularly as a concert artist, selling millions of albums over the past 40 years, as well as performing in Australia, China, USA and Japan. In 2007, he made his BBC Proms debut in An Evening With Michael Ball at Royal Albert Hall, London, marking the first time a musical theatre star had been given a solo concert at the Proms.
Deep in conversation: Snow goes underground in A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre
A SNOWY reboot, festive trail, treasured exhibition and pantomime launches spell out that winter staples aplenty are up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Time travel of the week: A Winter Adventure at JORVIK Viking Centre, York, untilFebruary 22 2026
A WINTER Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses. For the first time, visitors can peer through Bright White’s time portal into the blacksmith’s house excavated on this site in the 1970s.
They will then board a time sleigh to travel back in time around the backstreets, transformed for winter by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow, bathed in cold blue lighting.Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.
Christmas at The Bar Convent in York. Illustration by Nick Ellwood
Activity trail of the week: Christmas At The Convent, The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 22, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm
DECEMBER visitors to The Bar Convent can uncover fascinating festive traditions through the centuries in a family-friendly activity trail through the exhibition that combines the convent’s history with the Advent season.
Families can enjoy finding clues, making decorations, dressing up, discovering traditions from Christmas past and much more. Look out for the traditional crib scene in the chapel. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Garlands galore at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Festive exhibition of the week: An Inspired Christmas at Fairfax House, York, until December 21,open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
TREASURER’S House has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined by the National Trust with festive flair, inspired by the 17th-century house’s rich history.
Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.
The Jeremiahs: Irish folk band play York for the first time on December 3. Picture: Tony Gavin
York debut craic of the week: The Jeremiahs, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 3, 7.30pm
IRISH band The Jeremiahs have travelled extensively, including playing 26 states in the USA, performing rousing new songs and tunes in the folk genre, peppered with picks from the trad folk catalogue. Lead vocalist and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, from County Dublin, is joined by his fellow founder, Dublin guitarist James Ryan, New York-born fiddler Matt Mancuso and County Clare flautist Conor Crimmins. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Malton White Star Band: Performing Brass and Voices At Christmas at Milton Rooms, Malton
Ryedale festive concert of the week: Brass and Voices At Christmas with Malton White Star Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7pm
MALTON White Star Band and Community Training Band team up with singers from Norton Primary School for the 2025 edition of Brass and Voices at Christmas. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are on sale at https://donate.givetap.co.uk/f/malton-white-star-band/christmas-concert-2025 or by ringing Dave Creigh on 07766 237947.
The one and only Jesca Hoop: Playing NCEM in York tomorrow
Singer-songwriter of the week: Brudenell Presents and Please Please You present Jesca Hoop, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4, 7.30pm
DISCOVERED by Tom Waits, invited on tour by Peter Gabriel and encouraged to relocate to the UK by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Jesca Hoop left California for Manchester to carve out a singular path across six albums of original material. Collaborations with producers John Parish (PJ Harvey), Blake Mills (Feist), and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers) have only sharpened the intricacy of her craft. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events/jesca-hoop-at-the-ncem-york/.
Ryedale Christmas children’s show of the week: Esmerelda The Elf And Father Christmas, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm; Sunday, 10.30am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm
WHO thought it was a good idea to put Elf friend Esmeralda in charge of Christmas sweeties? Can you help her to have everything ready in time? Will any goodies be left by the time Christmas Day arrives?
Each family has its own space to sit in at this interactive show and can visit Father Christmas individually at the end. All children will receive a gift. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Bec Silk’s Robin Hood and writer Martin Vander Weyer’s Dame Daphne in 1812 Theatre Company’s pantomime Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure
Ryedale pantomime opening of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; December 14, 2.30pm
HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs company-in-residence 1812 Theatre Company in this traditional panto with a Knock Knock Joke Contest, scripted by Martin Vander Weyer.
Robin Hood will be rescuing the lovely Maid Marian from the wicked Sheriff of Pickering, while Black Swan landlady Dame Daphne will lead the merriment and mayhem. Knock Knock! Who’s there? Daphne! Daphne who? Daph-nitely book early to avoid disappointment on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Hannah King’s Peter Pan in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm
JOIN Wendy, John and Michael as they fly with Peter Pan to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Peter and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates. Fear not as Nanny McFlea and her ever eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Michael Ball: Glowing at York Barbican next September
Concert announcement of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, September 12 2026
MUSICAL star and radio presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour. “There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says.
“It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.
Farewell to Purpleman: Good Rabbits Gone obituary cartoonist Bertt deBaldock’s tribute to Mike Todd. Bertt is the nom d’artiste of Pyramid Gallery owner, curator and artist Terry Brett, who played host to Purpleman’s For The Love Of Purple exhibition in 2014
HIS love of the colour purple began on the family farm. “My first purple memories were of the purple potatoes,” he said. “As a six-year-old I envisaged myself as purple and I kept having that dream.”
A dream that would turn into street performer Purpleman, hitting his purple patch each day and staying there, motionless, as if turned to stone on Stonegate, as the commotion of shoppers passed by either side.
Purpleman would break out of that deep freeze, maybe to startle an unsuspecting tourist, or for a chat, quietly spoken, waspishly witty, putting the world to rights, as he did in his tireless fundraising on tyres, most memorably heading to war-torn Syria with vanloads of toys for children and food.
He was Purpleman, a character as colourful as his name, part of the street furniture of York, like George Leeman, Willam Etty or Emperor Constantine, and he was ahead of his time too, setting others in motion – although still, not moving – in other cities.
He never revealed his name in interview – he once referred to himself as “Sebastian” when curating his 2014 exhibition For The Love Of Purple at the adjacent Pyramid Gallery, but that was a red, or should I say purple, herring. It turns out he was Mike Todd, on his todd on his bike, perennially Purpleman.
He had left behind the “unhappy Yuppie corporate world” to become stationary, bike-riding Mr Windy City in 2001 before transforming into Purpleman in 2007, perpetually in a rush yet never moving from his pitch.
“I kept the windy look where I appear to be going fast but I’m actually going nowhere and finding inner calm when everyone around me is chasing happiness, but that happiness is just illusionary,” he once said. “If they just stopped, they could find it inside themselves.”
Purpleman became very possibly the most photographed cyclist in the world. “Well, maybe apart from Lance Armstrong, but it’s not always positive with Lance,” he said. Indeed so, but it was always positive with Purpleman, whether handing out paint brushes daubed with messages of love in the street or collecting his thoughts in his autobiography, I Am Purpleman, printed in what else but purple.
“It’s a book about love, positivity, overcoming obstacles and expressing unconditional love for strangers, and it comes from my purple heart because I used to be normal but I wasn’t happy,” he said.
Always Purpleman, never Yellowman, he famously declined the request to change to mark Le Grand Depart from York for 2014 Tour de France. “I’m going to ask Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme if the first stage winner could wear purple rather than the traditional yellow,” came his retort.
As opposed to Purple Rain’s Prince, whose favourite colour turned out to be orange, Purpleman will be forever in purple, forever in our memory, on that purple bike, looking as if time were against him, like Lewis Carroll’s Mad March Hare, but never leaving his purple patch, a living statue. How lovely it would be if York could honour him in similar fashion, a work of art for a man so full of heart.
Mike Todd, aka Purpleman, died suddenly on November 27 2025, aged 65.
The Jeremiahs, fronted by Joe Gibney. Picture: Tony Gavin
IRISH folk band The Jeremiahs make their York debut tomorrow night at the National Centre of Early Music on the second night of a six-date tour.
“We’ve played the Swaledale Festival in North Yorkshire, but this will be our first time in York,” says singer and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, whose tour is supported by Culture Ireland.
“We’re putting a route together around the UK, where we’ve played a lot, and lovely York came out second on our list, so we’re playing there on the second night.” Newcastle tonight, Cardiff, on Thursday, Crediton in Devon on Friday, Chidham on Saturday, and Woodbridge on Sunday complete the travels.
Joining Joe on that intense itinerary will be fellow founder James Ryan, from County Kildare, on guitar, New York-born Mat Mancuso, on fiddle and vocals, and Conor Crimmins, from County Clare, on flute.
“The Jeremiahs were formed by James and myself in 2013 and we had two French lads playing with us, one for seven and a half years in fact, but they were settling down and wanted to do less travelling. Mat joined two and a half years ago,” says Joe. “Though he’s from New York, he lives in Armagh, and people on the Irish music circuit recommended to us. It’s worked out well for us.”
The Jeremiahs are a band regularly on the move. “We’ve travelled a lot, playing Denmark, Germany and the USA, where we go three or four times a year, like playing upstate where you can play two or three gigs within two or three hours of each other,” says Joe.
“We must have played 26 states in The USA so far. Everybody wants to be Irish, and when you trace back, there are a lot of Irish roots there. It’s great to keep going across the Pond. There might be some jetlag, but I’m not complaining!”
Looking ahead tomorrow’s set list for an early-December gig, Joe says: “We might put a couple of Christmas songs in there, a couple of nice Christmas Carols, without changing the set too much. The lads might try to get me to wear a Santa hat, but I might put my foot down.”
The set will feature predominantly The Jeremiahs’ own material but with a nod to tradition too. “We like to write our own songs and tunes, but we’re mindful that there’s so much good stuff out there that we usually pick songs that we like too – and the audiences agree with our choices!” says Joe.
“The last Jeremiahs’ album [Misery Hill & Other Stories] came out in 2023 with nine originals and one cover version on it, so it’s usually 80 per cent originals and 20 per cent covers in the shows. We also like to do 60 per cent songs to 40 per cent tunes, so there are a good few instrumentals in there, as there are thousands and thousands of traditional tunes around.
“It’s a chance for me to step off stage and let the lads do what they like to do, and you can see the joy they get from that, as I sit at the side of the stage watching them.”
Should you wondering why they are called The Jeremiahs, here is Joe’s explanation. “When we started back in 2013, we didn’t have a name, so we temporarily chose The Jeremiahs, as James’s grandfather was called Jeremiah,” he says. “At the time, we had long beards, so people thought we must be Amish, but we’ve stuck with it and people seem to like our ‘temporary’ name for 12 years now!”
Putting Joe on the spot as to why Irish music is so popular across the globe, he says: “It’s hard to say why. People have tried to put their finger on it. I think there’s a simplicity to it that’s not taking away from the technicality, but it’s so catchy, like all those melodies in the songs of The Dubliners. Sometimes it’s just nice to have that melody there.
“There are 70 million Irish passport holders across the wold, and with that Irish diaspora, you can imagine the impact that has had on bringing Irish music to all corners. There’s even a Japanese band called Pinch Of Snuff who come to Ireland to play trad Irish music – and they look good too!”
The Jeremiahs play National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, on December 3 at 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Ellie Gowers at Rise: “Brightening even the most colourless winter evenings”. All pictures: Paul Rhodes
LIKE sundew on her beloved Dartmoor, Ellie Gowers’ music can brighten even the most colourless winter evenings.
Gowers is a regular in York (she was last here as one of the Magpies at the NCEM on November 1). This time around she had found time for glider ducking at Sutton Bank and, before that, a recording session with this evening’s opener Gary Stewart.
Hearing Stewart sing is always a treat, his light Scottish burr and mellow finger-picking guitar beaming directly from that halcyon 1970s’ era of singer-songwriters.
Gary Stewart: Opening November 30’s gig at Rise
It wasn’t his finest hour, in truth, but even in ruffled form there were gems. Use It Or Lose It (recorded that very day with Gowers) was the best of them, somehow combining Paul Simon wisdom with a love of Hornsea mugs. Nothing, sadly, from his wonderful lockdown creation, Lost, Now Found.
As a performer and impresario, Gowers’ confidence on stage has come on apace. She was totally in control of her surroundings, very comfortable talking and tuning (while not standing on her tiptoes). The 50-minute, eight-song set was just right for showcasing her new EP You, The Passenger before the rapt crowd.
Ellie Gowers defending the right to roam in The Stars Are Oursat Rise
The EP takes a different direction from her full album, Dwelling By The Weir’s set of folk songs from her native Warwickshire. No cuts from that; instead, we found Gowers in singer-songwriter mode.
While using Joni Mitchell as a comparison is normally far-fetched, there were echoes of the Canadian’s For The Roses album. It’s a personal record (not Blue personal), in part inspired by her visits to Nova Scotia. A Moment was a more muscular performance, while I Can Be Right For You was beautifully sung and plaintive.
The brightest moment in the set was her anthem to defend the right to roam, The Stars Are Ours, a stellar clarion call for freedom, which sees Gowers transcend her influences. Definitely a name to watch as her star ascends.
Review by Paul Rhodes
The Magpies’ Ellie Gowers performing solo at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
The deep freeze: Snow goes underground in A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre
A FESTIVE trail, treasured exhibition and snow reboot, pantomime and A Christmas Carol spell out that winter staples aplenty are up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Time travel of the week: A Winter Adventure at JORVIK Viking Centre, York, until February 22 2026
A WINTER Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses. For the first time, visitors can peer through Bright White’s time portal into the blacksmith’s house excavated on this site in the 1970s, seeing what it would have been like to live there.
They will then board a time sleigh to travel back in time around the backstreets, transformed for winter by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow, bathed in cold blue lighting.Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.
Christmas at The Bar Convent. Illustration by Nick Ellwood
Activity trail of the week: Christmas At The Convent, The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 22, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm
DECEMBER visitors to The Bar Convent can uncover fascinating festive traditions through the centuries in a family-friendly activity trail through the exhibition that combines the convent’s history with the Advent season.
Families can enjoy finding clues, making decorations, dressing up, discovering traditions from Christmas past and much more. Look out for the traditional crib scene in the chapel. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Garlands galore at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Festive exhibition of the week: An Inspired Christmas at Fairfax House, York, until December 21,open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
TREASURER’S House has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined by the National Trust with festive flair, inspired by the 17th-century house’s rich history.
Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra, wife to King Edward VII. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.
Guy Masterson’s Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, on tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Festive ghostly return of the week: Guy Masterson in A Christmas Carol, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 2pm 7.30pm
HEADING back to Theatre@41 for the fourth time, Olivier Award winner Guy Masterson presents Charles Dickens’s Christmas fable anew, bringing multiple characters to vivid life as ever, from Scrooge and Marley to the Cratchits and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come.
Be dazzled, be enchanted by a performance destined to linger long in the memory. “It’s guaranteed to get you into the Christmas Spirit – in many more ways than one,” says Masters. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ellie Gowers: Songs exploring distance, longing and identity at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Ecological songs of the week:Ellie Gowers, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7.30pm
WARWICKSHIRE singer-songwriter – and Morris dancer to boot – Ellie Gowers blends contemporary acoustic sounds with the storytelling traditions of folk. Her 2022 debut album Dwelling By The Weir addressed ecological themes and her 2024 EP You The Passenger received airplay on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie’s BBC 6Music show.
Her influences range from Mipso to Jeff Buckley is songs that explore distance, longing and identity. An extended version of the EP arrives this autumn 2025. Easingwold singer-songwriter Gary Stewart supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
St Agnes Fountain: Promoting new Christmas album Flakes & Flurries at NCEM, York
Folk gig of the week: Black Swan Folk Club presents St Agnes Fountain, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 1, 7.30pm
AFFECTIONATELY known as “the Aggies”, Chris While, Julie Matthews and Chris Leslie bring their Christmas cheer to the NCEM, presenting carols with a curve. They celebrate 25 years together with material from new festive album Flakes & Flurries (Fat Cat Records), old Aggie classics and a doff of the fedora to founder member David Hughes, who died in 2021. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Name of the dame: Robin Simpson will be playing Nurse Nellie in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal
Pantomime opening of the week: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, December 2 to January 4 2026
THEATRE Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael in Sleeping Beauty.
Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Mark Thomas in Ed Edwards’s play Ordinary Decent Criminal at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Recommended but sold out already: Paines Plough presents Mark Thomas in Ordinary Decent Criminal, York Theatre Royal Studio, December 2 and 3, 7.30pm
MEET recovering addict Frankie, played by political comedian Mark Thomas in his second acting role for playwright Ed Edwards after England & Son in 2023. In Ordinary Decent Criminal’s tale of freedom, revolution and messy love, Frankie has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail for dealing drugs.
On his arrival, none of his fellow convicts are what they seem, but with his typewriter, activist soul and sore lack of a right hook, he somehow finds his way into their troubled hearts, and they into his. In the most unexpected of places, Frankie discovers that the revolution is not dead, only sleeping. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Jeremiahs: Irish folk band play York for the first time on December 3. Picture: Tony Gavin
York debut craic of the week: The Jeremiahs, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 3, 7.30pm
IRISH band The Jeremiahs have travelled extensively, including playing 26 states in the USA, performing rousing new songs and tunes in the folk genre, peppered with picks from the trad folk catalogue. Lead vocalist and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, from County Dublin, is joined by his fellow founder, Dublin guitarist James Ryan, New York-born fiddler Matt Mancuso and County Clare flautist Conor Crimmins. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
The one and only Jesca Hoop: Playing NCEMon December 4
Singer-songwriter of the week: Brudenell Presents and Please Please You present Jesca Hoop, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4, 7.30pm
DISCOVERED by Tom Waits, invited on tour by Peter Gabriel and encouraged to relocate to the UK by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Jesca Hoop left California for Manchester to carve out a singular path across six albums of original material. Collaborations with producers John Parish (PJ Harvey), Blake Mills (Feist), and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers) have only sharpened the intricacy of her craft.
Now she has released Selective Memory, an unplugged reworking of 2017’s Memories Are Now, recorded live at home with bandmates Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer for Last Laugh Records. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events/jesca-hoop-at-the-ncem-york/.
University Symphony Orchestra conductor John Stringer
WE are apt to forget that York has three full-size symphony orchestras: York Guildhall Orchestra and York Symphony Orchestra, of course, but also the university’s own orchestra, culled from throughout the campus. All are worthy of our attention.
The University Symphony Orchestra (USO) reminded us of its quality with this appearance under its regular conductor John Stringer.
It involved four northern European composers: Denmark’s Poul Ruders, Estonia’s Arvo Pärt and Finland’s Sibelius, before dipping southwards for Belgium’s Franck.
The Ruders was a UK premiere, despite being written as long ago as 1994: The Return Of The Light, music to accompany a ten-minute film on the Christmas gospel. It began with amorphous dissonance, until a drumbeat emerged and high strings evoked a chilly night.
Figments of a chorale floated into view and for the first time the announced sampled sounds on tape began to clarify, delivering watery sounds. Finally, woodwinds launched into a return of the chorale. One suspects this work is more successful as soundtrack than as a concert piece.
Pärt’s Greater Antiphons for strings is equally seasonal, based on the church’s Advent antiphons, or ‘O antiphons’ as they are known (since each of the seven – preludes to the Magnificat – opens with the exclamation ‘O’). They are brief but distinctive, if similar in general atmosphere to the Ruders.
After a gently rocking ‘O Adonai’, there was a bolder line in ‘O Root Of Jesse’ and some urgency in ‘O Key Of David’. ‘O Emmanuel’ was well worked, its major-chord lullaby becoming a fanfare before fading out.
Uncertain horns fuzzied the start of the Intermezzo in Sibelius’s Karelia Suite, although it firmed up when the string tremolos appeared. The Ballade was distinguished by fine string tutti and a sturdy cor anglais solo. The blending of the march’s two themes made a resplendent finish.
The lingering lethargy at the start of Franck’s Symphony in D minor was immediately dispelled by a vivid Allegro. Here was plenty of evidence, if any were needed, of what a fine body of violins the university boasts at the moment, always persuasive. They would also have been more shapely had contrasts been more marked, since in this relatively small hall everything tends to sound loud unless rigorously controlled.
Franck himself characterised the second half of the Allegretto as a scherzo, which makes the movement almost a scherzo and trio, but in reverse. The melancholy chromaticism of the opening was affecting but it was the violins’ pianissimo in the alleged scherzo that was absolutely magical.
The main theme in the finale needed more bite from the cellos who were a touch lightweight all evening. Not so the reply in the brass, who were in the forefront as the themes from earlier movements were recollected, resulting in an enormous climax as we reached a triumphant D major.
OCTANDRE is a piano quintet, with a double bass replacing the second violin. Think, in other words, of the instrumentation in Schubert’s ‘Trout’ quintet – which ended the programme here.
Before it, we heard works by Nicola LeFanu, her late husband David Lumsdaine and Christian Mason, who happens to be a co-artistic director of Octandre.
But before a note had been played, we were treated to an excerpt from Lumsdaine’s Soundscape 4: Butcher Birds Of Spirey Creek, a dawn chorus recorded in the Warrumbungles, a mountain range in his native New South Wales. Without risking a description, we can say that this remarkable bird has tonal instincts.
Next up was Mason’s Shadowy Fish (2020), which he subtitles ‘Hommage à Schubert’, although its title originates in a Pablo Neruda poem. In three sections, with the outer two labelled “mysterious” amongst other epithets, it is clearly a very personal reaction to the poetry of Schubert’s setting (actually by Christian Schubart), but without obvious relevance to the composer himself.
A viola interlude interrupts the angular motifs that jostle for attention at the start, and there is a viola solo near the close, which may mean that the instrument represents the trout. The plaintive slitherings in the middle – “slow, with a heavy heart” – against sforzando chords in the piano, might have been the fisherman’s moment of truth and the spaced high chords at the close offered the possibility of lament. But one struggled to detect much in the way of water, a mystery indeed.
Much more decisive because more vivid was LeFanu’s briefer Night Song With Frogs, originally a cimbalom solo, dating from 2004. With the strings now accompanied by harpsichord, the original score formed the basis of an improvisation, accompanied by an edited Lumsdaine tape of frogs on the Darling River.
Paradoxically, this sounded quite structured, with the strings flitting like insects around the frogs: motifs like little jigs, sometimes pizzicato, sometimes rapidly bowed, intrigued the ear and came close to blending with the tape, even elaborating upon it.
Lumsdaine’s solo cello piece Blue Upon Blue (1991) continued the theme of dawn and dark, since its title comes from a Buddhist poem about distant hills under evening clouds. The work is almost a duet: against an unpretentious though lyrical melody there is accompaniment of pizzicato and glissandos.
These come into the foreground along with rapid tremolos as the melody fades. It made a tricky combination, but was deftly handled by Corentin Chassard.
It cannot have been easy for the players, switching from the contemporary to the classical in Schubert’s ‘Trout’ quintet. Perhaps for that reason, this was not a particularly Viennese account, but also partly because the pianist, Joseph Houston, dominated most of the textures, more or less rigidly adhering to his own view of the score. There was little sense that he was responding to his colleagues.
Most of the melodic lines in the piano, although competently drawn, were a touch more forceful than would have been ideal for balance.
That said, there were compensating joys. After an edgy scherzo, the trio, taken at a more leisurely pace, was pleasingly smooth. The ‘trout’ theme itself was played without vibrato, a cute move, and the variations upon it strongly varied. Overall, the work would have benefited from a more relaxed approach that reflected Schubert’s own light-heartedness.
Jared More and the more-and-more-roles-playing Katie Coen in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s alternative Nativity play, Christmas Inn Trouble. All pictures: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
CHRISTMAS Inn Trouble is Riding Lights’ second festive show since the York faith theatre practitioners’ 2024 re-launch and the first since artistic director Paul Birch and executive director Oliver Brown teamed up as co-chief executive officers.
As is customary, Riding Lights are heading off around the country, this time taking in Barrow-in-Furness, Mold, Bulwell, Lliswerry, Cheltenham, Chiswick, Hadleigh, Colchester, South Benfleet, St Albans and closer to home, Easingwold, before a five-day finale back home at their Friargate Theatre headquarters.
First up was a brace of performances at St Peter’s Church, Norton, playing to 600 children from Norton Community Primary School, perched two child per chair, in the afternoon before a public show at 5pm, when plenty of children were present again, introduced with delightedly expressive enthusiasm by Reverend Jenny Buckler, who moved to God’s Own Country from Somerset in 2021.
Last winter, Birch wrote A Christmas Cracker, his first play since taking the Riding Lights reins, rooted in the transformative power of storytelling, delivered with Birch’s trademark comedy plus puppetry aplenty.
Katie Coen’s shepherd in Christmas Inn Trouble
Description and detailed plot progression played a stronger hand than visual, magical wonder under Erin Burbridge’s direction. This time, Birch is in the director’s chair, at the helm for Rachell Price’s fast-moving, fun, physical, fizzing two-hander for all the family that is a definite upgrade on A Christmas Cracker in its comedic impact while being as strong as ever on delivering “a magical new twist on the Nativity that turns the traditional tale on its head”.
After soothing the white-noise technical gremlins that stopped the start in its tracks – handled with admirable aplomb by cast members Katie Coen and University of York-educated Jared More – the hour-long show quickly finds its rhythm as bother aplenty afflicts The Bethlehem Inn and Spa.
The taps are leaking, the rats, squeaking, the rooms, fit to burst as the Bible story meets Fawlty Towers in the sparring of More’s hotel manager and the multi-role playing Coen’s dogsbody, doing all the graft. If she is more Polly than Sybil, More definitely has the flavour of Basil, from moustache, gait and height to oversized tie, temperament and oleaginous air.
His performance, however, is not mere Fawlty pastiche. Instead, he makes his manager a befuddled, exasperated character of his own as he awaits the arrival of a special guest.
Over-stretched: Jared More’s manager tries to handle multiple phone calls when the inn is already fully booked for Christmas
Given the date, we know who that “guest” might turn out to be, even if the manager is none the wiser, as all the clues build up in Coen’s portfolio of characters, turning herself into a grouchy, rascally Roman guard, Joseph (good with a hammer and wood), Mary (only too happy to take over the cow shed), a shepherd and a “Professor”, Price’s variation on the (un)Wise Men.
All are played with comic zest, all the better for Coen’s interaction with More that clicks instantly. They make for a highly humorous double act, but More reveals another side when, spoiler alert, cradling the baby.
Writer Price is alive to the power of puppetry and pooping noises being guaranteed to bring the young house down, and how they laugh at a cheeky donkey popping out of the myriad cupboards doors to bite More on the backside or grab and eat his bookings diary. The more the donkey does so, the louder the laughs grow. Likewise, the squelching boots of Coen’s shepherd are irresistibly comical, the more she walks.
Caitlin Mawhinney’s set is colourful and playful. The Spa sign is a loose-fitting add-on for a new facility, sure to fall off; the manager’s desk revolves around the stage at pace; the phone is sky blue, old-fashioned, but with a modern ring tone for the children to recognise. In the tradition of farce, two doors are in constant use; the cupboard ones even more so.
Riding Lights Theatre Company’s co-chief executive officers Oliver Brown and Paul Birch, director of Christmas Inn Trouble
“Our aim is to make theatre make a difference by creating unforgettable, entertaining theatre in response to current issues and the hopes and fears of the world we share,” says Brown. Christmas Inn Trouble does exactly that, not in a preachy, heavy-handed way, but with lightness and a sense of wonder at the abiding message of the magical Christmas story.
Mawhinney’s set and costume design are a joy, complementing the tone of Price’s storytelling with a palette of matching pleasures, while Patrick Burbridge’s songs are as much fun for the performers as they are for the audience.
Christmas Inn Trouble lives up to its vow to “bring you the Nativity like you’ve never seen it before!”, setting up families so joyfully for Christmas Day.
Riding Lights Theatre Company in Christmas Inn Trouble, The Galtres Centre, Easingwold, December 13, 2pm; Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, December 20, 1.30pm and 4pm, December 21 to 24, 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm. Box office: Easingwold, https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/mbbjvlpojddg; York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/christmasinntrouble.
Behind you: The scene-stealing donkey brings a smile to Katie Coen’s Professor, one of the (un)Wise Men by another name in Christmas Inn Trouble
Having a laugh: Writer-director Nick Lane enjoying rehearsals for his variation on Sleeping Beauty at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture:Tony Bartholomew
REGULAR Christmas show writer Nick Lane is making his Stephen Joseph Theatre directorial debut with Sleeping Beauty, joined in the rehearsal room by actors Jacob Butler, Amy Drake, Annie Kirkman, Oliver Mawdsley and Kiara Nicole Pillai.
“Have you ever had one of those dream?” he asks. “You know the ones, the one where you’re running but you can’t get anywhere? Or the one where you really, really need the loo but people keep getting in your way?
“What about the dream where you get cursed by a wicked fairy to prick your finger on your 12th birthday and fall asleep for 100 years?
“Not had that one? Molly has. She’s been having it a lot recently. Her 12th birthday is just around the corner. The day before Christmas Eve, in fact.”
Her Auntie keeps saying “One more sleep”. “But if Molly’s not careful, she could end up having have the longest and craziest sleep of her life!” says Nick, introducing his typically unconventional take on a familiar tale, one that opens at the SJT tomorrow.
“I didn’t want to do that Sleeping Beauty – even when she is awake, she has no agency and she’s barely in it!” he says. “So I’ve found a way of subverting it, where she will not just spend the second half asleep in a bed. She will in fact be in a dream world, so she will be ‘asleep’ but we will see her dream world.”
Nick has “tried to remain second cousins with the original Charles Perrrault story”. “The Wicked Fairy wants Fairyland for herself, and so sending ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to sleep is part of the gambit of leveraging Fairyland for herself.
“In the original story, the Wicked Witch wanted to kill Sleeping Beauty, but you’re not going to get many laughs if you kill her, so we change it to tricking her into being asleep in Dreamland.”
Nick continues: “What we’ve done is play around with the idea that there are three different types of dream: the Golden Mile of happy dreams; the Weird Lands, and the Swamp of nightmares.
“Our Sleeping Beauty, Molly, has to navigate her way from one place to another to find her way out of Dreamland to save us from an authoritarian fairy.
“The journey, and the order of that journey is integral to the plot, as she journeys through nice dreams, weird dreams and awful dreams.”
Nick’s Sleeping Beauty is “just an ordinary girl called Molly”. “She lives with Aunty Claire and Uncle Harry, she’s about to turn 12, and she’s been having these strange dreams about pricking her finger,” he says.
“The idea is that Molly is half-fairy, half human, otherwise known as ‘Hairy’. Being brought up by her aunt and uncle, she doesn’t know that her mother’s the Queen of the Fairies but her dad is a mere human, a bloke called Dave, living in Scarbarinia.”
Aunty Claire is in fact Clare de Lune; the authoritarian fairy is called Crepusculla and her mother is Aurora. “Their names are all to do with light: dawn light, twilight and night light,” says Nick.
“Our Crepusculla is a fairy supremacist who believes that humans have no place in Fairyland, and Aurora had no right to bring her daughter there as Crepusculla believes she should be ruling Fairyland.”
Out goes the usual Prince of the story too, replaced by plain old Dan, while Nick creates two henchmen characters, Sock and Butter, out of…a sock and a pack of butter.
He loves steering clear of the conventions of pantomime to create his own form of boisterous, madly inventive Christmas show. “The thing is, because they’re such well-known stories, pantomime does a good job of making them silly while still trying to stick to the story, but I have always thought, ‘why not try to do something different with the story, like making Aladdin rubbish at magic,” he says. “This time I thought, ‘what if Sleeping Beauty could be ‘awake’ and make her way out through the 100 years’.”
Nick continues: “Pantomime tends to be a lot of mucking about and not enough storytelling, so I’m not a big fan of it. It doesn’t do a lot for me. I know it’s the only time that some people go to the theatre, but panto done badly is merely mucking around when it needs to be more than that. What I do is kids’ stories but hopefully with adult appeal too – and kids are smarter than we think.”
As for Helen Coyston’s set design, Nick says: “Scarbarinia is a kind of modern-day Scarborough, while Dreamland is more weird, with Sock and Butter living there, and it looks amazing. Like a quilt, all soft and lovely!”
Sleeping Beauty stays awake at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from November 29 to December 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
