Category: Comedy

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as XXX exits and a cosmic piano arrives. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The York Press

Oh No! Have we missed Harland Miller’s XXX exhibition of Letter Paintings at York Art Gallery? No, this weekend is the last chance

HARLAND Miller’s XXX finale and Fangfest’s 25th anniversary, a comic convention and a cosmic piano are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as August makes way for September. 

Do not miss: Harland Miller, XXX, York Art Gallery, ends on Sunday, open daily 10am to 5pm

THIS weekend is the last chance to see York-raised Pop artist and writer Harland Miller’s return to York Art Gallery with XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils. 

Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

 Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter: Premiering their shiny new musical comedy, Astro-Norma!, at York Explore today

Intergalactic musical family adventure of the week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, York Explore Library and Archive, Library Square, York, today, 11am and 2pm

FROM the creators of Green Fingers and the spooky HallowBean comes Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, wherein Norma dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, although children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very  important piano recital coming up.

But what bizarre-looking contraption has just crash-landed in the garden? Is it a bird? Or a plane? No… it’s a piano?! No ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true? Join Fladam duo Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter for a 45-minute show full of awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots and interplanetary puns. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives.

You, Me And Who We’ll Be: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge’s exhibition at Nunnington Hall

Children’s exhibition of the week: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge, You, Me And Who We’ll Be, Nunnington Hall, near York, until September 7

ENTER the colourful worlds of children’s illustrators Josie Brookes and Tom Madge. Through bold, eye-catching artwork, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne duo creates stories that explore the many ways we can help and understand each other, make friends and build relationships.  

Discover your own helpful superpower in the Big Small Nature Club or join best friends Nader and Solomiya on a journey to find home. A dress-up station lets you share in the adventures of Molly the Flower. Before you go, help the story grow by adding your own artwork to the interactive gallery. Tickets: Normal admission charges at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.

York Unleashed Comic-Con: Special guests, stage talks, cosplay masquerade, attractions and merchandise market at York Racecourse

Convention of the week: York Unleashed Comic-Con, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, Sunday, 11am to 5pm

UNLEASHED Events welcomes Tom Rosenthal, Tim Blaney, Peter Davison, Phil Fletcher and special guest Atticus Finch Wobbly Cat to a comic convention featuring stage talks, cosplay masquerade and plenty more.

Comic artists and authors Jim Alexander, Elinor Taylor, Blake Books, Jessica Meats, Paolo Debernardi and Ben Sawyer are appearing too. Attractions include Doctor Bell, Bumblebee Camaro, Johnny 5, Milestone 3D, Imagination Gaming, Battle Ready Academy, Mos Eisley Misfits, Tom Daws Dimple Magician, Rexys Reviews and Iconic Movie Scenes, plus a market selling merchandise and collectables from favourite franchises. Tickets: unleashedtickets.co.uk.

SmART art: One of 100 artworks for sale at the pop-up SmART Gallery at York Racecourse

Art event of the week: SmART Gallery, Racecourse Road, York, YO23 1EU, Sunday, 11am to 2.30pm

SUNDAY’S outdoor, inclusive community art gallery, SmART Gallery, will raise money for the Christmas appeal run by Crisis, the homeless charity, and voluntary work in Sierra Leone next Easter.

The event features more than 100 pieces of art work produced by the York community. Blank canvases are sold for £10, then returned once the art work has been created in any medium. Browsers can submit a secret bid on the day for anything they would like to buy. Any unsold artwork will remain on the fence opposite York Racecourse’s main entrance for five months for all to enjoy.

Austentatious: Improvising new Jane Austen novel from audience suggestions at Grand Opera House, York

Improv show of the week: Show And Tell present Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Grand Opera House, York, September 5 and 6, 7.30pm

AS seen every week in the West End since 2022 and in York in a sold-out show in January, the all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from the audience. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this riotous, quick-moving comedy comes with guaranteed swooning.

The revolving Austentatious cast includes numerous award-winning television and radio performers, such as Cariad Lloyd (QI, Inside No.9, Griefcast, The Witchfinder),Joseph Morpurgo (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee), Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Graham Dickson (After Life, The Witchfinder) and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Pottery workshop at 25th anniversary Fangest Festival of Practical Arts in Fangfoss

Silver anniversary of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, East Riding, September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day

FANGFOSS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fangfest with the All Things Silver flower festival; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and artists aplenty exhibiting and demonstrating their work. 

Opportunities will be provided to try out the potter’s wheel, spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free; more intensive workshops require booking in advance. Look out too for the circus skills of children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, and the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust mobile museum. Admission is free.

Suede: Returning to York Barbican next February on Antidepressants tour. Picture: Dean Chalkley

Show announcement of the week: Suede, Antidepressants UK Tour 2026, York Barbican, February 7 2026

AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede will make a rather hastier return on their 17-date January and February tour. Brett Anderson’s London band will be promoting  tenth studio album Antidepressants, out on September 5 on BMG.

“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: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/suede26.

REVIEW: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Sept 6 *****

Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), left, with Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

ELEVEN years since first encountering the National Theatre’s remarkable War Horse at the Alhambra, Bradford, a return visit brought out all the awe, wonderment and anger anew at Leeds Grand Theatre amid the turbulence of 21st century conflicts, conflagrations and ever more warmongering.

Michael Morpurgo’s source novel was ostensibly a tale for children, as was Michelle Magorian’s Second World War story Goodnight Mister Tom, but Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris’s theatrical tour de force is a show for everyone.

The most successful play in the history of the National Theatre, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide, War Horse is a complete piece of theatre, replete with technical aplomb, extraordinary puppetry, grand design and foundation-shaking sound to complement Nick Stafford’s beautiful, powerful storytelling.

For all those theatrical tools, the story is king, told with imagination and wonder beyond even the cinematic scope of Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film version.

More remarkable still, Morpurgo’s central character is a horse, whose journey is charted from Devon farm to the fields of the Somme, in the service of first the British and then the Germans in the First World War.

Directors Elliott and Morris and designer Rae Smith had the original vision, put into flesh by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company’s Adrian Kohler. Not so much flesh as leather tack and a wooden see-through framework that exposed the three puppeteers, gloved and dressed to add to the sense of equine power in life-sized Joey, whose transformation from colt to magnificent beast is a coup de theatre that takes the breath away.

From the highly physical ensemble acting of revival director Katie Henry’s cast to the deafening sounds of war (by sound designer Christopher Shutt) and the omnipresent animation and projection designs of Nicol Scott and Ben Pearcy that depict war so devastatingly, every last detail counts. Anne Marie Piazza’s singing of John Tams’s affecting folk songs is even more haunting for its female interpretation.

At the core is the bond of a boy and his horse, Tom Sturgess’s stoical farm boy Albert Narracott and noble Joey, as boy becomes man all too young in the most brutal passage of rights in the trenches. War divides but it also unites, bringing out the best and worst on all sides (as Morpurgo’s equal focus on the Germans emphasises).

Co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, this “all-new tour” for 2024-2025 is a triumph once more. The National Theatre and British theatre at their best.

National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until September 6, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 37, from Gazette & Herald

You, Me And Who We’ll Be: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge’s enchanting exhibition at Nunnington Hall

CHILDREN’S outdoor adventures and diverse exhibitions, improvised Austen and American folk blues are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as August makes way for September. 

Children’s exhibition of the week: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge, You, Me And Who We’ll Be, Nunnington Hall, near York, until September 7

ENTER the colourful worlds of children’s illustrators Josie Brookes and Tom Madge. Through bold, eye-catching artwork, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne duo creates stories that explore the many ways we can help and understand each other, make friends and build relationships.  

Discover your own helpful superpower in the Big Small Nature Club or join best friends Nader and Solomiya on a journey to find home. A dress-up station lets you share in the adventures of Molly the Flower. Before you go, help the story grow by adding your own artwork to the interactive gallery. Collages, prints and animation add up to plenty to inspire children. Tickets: Normal admission charges to Nunnington Hall apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.

Kate Stables of This Is The Kit: Playing The Crescent in York tomorrow

York gig of the week: This Is The Kit, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THIS Is The Kit is the pseudonym of Winchester-born, Paris-dwelling songwriter, banjo strummer and pinhole camera aficionado Kate Stables, who makes albums of  “cataclysmic honesty and welcoming tonal embraces” that place companionship at a premium.

Stables will be accompanied in her experimental folk quartet by bass player Rozi Plain, drummer Jamie Whitby-Coles and guitarist Neil Smith, as she was at The Citadel, the former Salvation Army HQ in Gillygate, York, in November 2021. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com/events.

Mandi Grant: Launching There Are Places To Remember exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, tomorrow

York art preview of the week: Mandi Grant, There Are Places To Remember, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, 6pm to 9pm

BE among the first to see South Bank Studios artist Mandi Grant’s new collection There Are Places I Remember on the bakery walls in Acomb. On show will be lyrical paintings of shapes, colour and textures in a combination of oil, acrylic and wax techniques.

Wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Tickets are free but please register to attend at eventbrite.com/e/mandi-grant-art-preview-evening-tickets-1515431479349?aff=oddtdtcreator. Mandi’s exhibition will run until October 23.

Nunnington Hall: Playing host to Dawn Of The Dinos

Children’s adventures of the week: Dawn Of The Dinos, Nunnington Hall, near York, until August 31, 10.30am to 5pm

ENTER the Nunnington that time forgot with outdoor dinosaur-themed games around the gardens and main lawn for the family as you don your explorer’s hat and stomp around with your favourite dinosaurs.

In addition, around the gardens you can find a quiet creative hub with art supplies  and children can enjoy the Lion’s Den play area, where little explorers can climb up, over and wobble along a natural obstacle course, including tree-stump steps, a rope bridge and a wooden climbing frame to conquer. Inside the house, family-friendly art events and activities are running too. Normal admission applies, with free entry for National Trust members and under fives at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/events.

Jake Xerxes Fussell: North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer making York debut on September 3

American folk music for anxious times: Jake Xerxes Fussell, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 3, 7.30pm

PLEASE  Please You & Brudenell Presents promote the York debut of North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer Jake Xerxes Fussell, whose intuitive creative process draws from traditional music and archival field recordings, incorporating elements of Southern folk song and blues into new works for the anxious modern world.

Folklorist Fussell released his fifth album, When I’m Called, last summer as his first on Fat Possum Records. He teamed up again with producer James Elkington to write and record music for Max Walker-Silverman’s feature film Rebuilding, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Austentatious: Improvising new Jane Austen story from audience suggestions at Grand Opera House, York

Improv show of the week: Show And Tell present Austentatious, An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Grand Opera House, York, September 5 and 6, 7.30pm

THE all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from the audience. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this riotous, quick-moving West End hit comedy guarantees swooning.

The revolving Austentatious cast includes numerous award-winning television and radio performers, such as Cariad Lloyd (QI, Inside No.9, Griefcast, The Witchfinder),Joseph Morpurgo (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee), Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Graham Dickson (After Life, The Witchfinder) and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Pottery workshop at Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts

Silver anniversary of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, East Riding, September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day

FANGFOSS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fangfest with the All Things Silver flower festival; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and artists aplenty exhibiting and demonstrating their work. 

Opportunities will be provided to try out the potter’s wheel, spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free, while others are more intensive workshops that require booking in advance. Details of these can be found at facebook/fangfest or Instagram:@fangfestfestival. Look out too for the circus skills of children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, and the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust mobile museum. Admission is free.

Anton Du Beke: Making a song and dance out of Christmas at York Barbican

Show announcement of the week: Anton Du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 21, 5pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke will return to York Barbican with his festive show, Christmas with Anton & Friends, whose debut tour visited York on December 10 last year. Anton, 59, will be joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers to create an evening of song and dance with added Christmas dazzle, concluding with a big medley.

“I loved doing the shows so much last year – they were simply magical – so I genuinely can’t wait to get on the road and do it all again,” says the King of the Ballroom. Box office:  yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as summertime blues stretch into September. Hutch’s List No.37, from The York Press

Comedian Tommy Cannon’s poster for his Keeping The Magic Alive night of reminiscences at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

BLUE skies and outdoor activities, veteran comedy and American folk blues stir Charles Hutchinson into action. 

Comedy night of the week: An Audience With Tommy Cannon, Keeping The Magic Alive, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight, 7.30pm

BEST known as one half of comedy duo Cannon & Ball, national treasure Tommy Cannon presents a night of entertainment and nostalgia with the billing of “Legend, Laughter & Legacy – Live On Stage” as he shares stories from his 50-plus career in showbusiness, many in tandem with Bobby Ball. 

Expect behind-the-scenes secrets, career highlights and heartfelt reflections on his life on and off screen, delivered with charm, warmth and wit. Recollections from the golden days of British television to his stage work and appearances on hit shows will be topped off with special surprises (maybe a song), archive clips and a Q&A, when you can ask Tommy anything. Box office:  01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Kirkgate decorated for summertime at York Castle Museum. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

Museum activities of the week: Summer At York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York, until August 31, Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

INSPIRED by the vibrant and colourful Victorian galas of bygone years, enjoy live music, street performances, seasonal crafts and interactive trails in York Castle Museum’s bustling summer programme.

Victorian street Kirkgate is transformed into a traditional summer scene from 19th century York. On Sundays, live musical entertainment can be heard in the yard; on Tuesdays, The Silly History Boys perform circus skills; History Riot perform regularly as Phinneas Fickletickle returns with his Totally Tremendous Time-Travel Tincture. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.

The Blue Room, original painting, by Horace Panter, from Blue Sky Paintings show at RedHouse Gallery, Harrogate

Exhibition of the week: Horace Panter, Blue Sky Paintings, Journeys Across America, RedHouse Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, until September 18

BLUE Sky Paintings is the new travelogue exhibition by The Specials bassist and Pop Art painter Horace Panter, combining paintings from his ongoing Americana series with new oversized prints. “The myth still beckons. America and its dream,” he says. “As a musician, touring America means basically playing where the water is. The ‘Flyover States’ (that enormous bit in the middle) are the bits that fascinate me these days.

“In recent years, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time in both Texas and South Dakota. Photos from these visits constitute the subject of many of the pieces in this exhibition. Of course, the commonality across the collection is the blue sky. I’m drawn to the intensity of the colour, the light and shade, and always aim to represent its fullness.” Opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Camp manoeuvres: Living History Weekend at Eden Camp Modern History Museum

Family fun days of the week: Living History Weekend, Eden Camp Modern History Museum, Old Malton, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

STEP back in time at Eden Camp, where the past comes alive with re-enactors around every corner in the Living History Weekend programme of displays, talks and activities.

Meet with medics; try out authentic ration recipes; explore a Sherman Tank and its escape hatch, and enjoy live music in the engine shed, with space aplenty to show off dance moves. Why not dress up in Forties fashion to become part of the weekend? Box office: edencamp.digitickets.co.uk.

Kate Stables of This Is The Kit: Playing The Crescent next Thursday

York gig of the week: This Is The Kit, The Crescent, York, August 28, 7.30pm

THIS Is The Kit is the pseudonym of Winchester-born, Paris-dwelling songwriter, banjo strummer and pinhole camera aficionado Kate Stables, who makes albums of  “cataclysmic honesty and welcoming tonal embraces” that place companionship at a premium.

Stables will be accompanied in her experimental folk quartet by bass player Rozi Plain, drummer Jamie Whitby-Coles and guitarist Neil Smith, as she was at The Citadel, the former Salvation Army HQ in Gillygate, York, in November 2021. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com/events.

Mandi Grant: Launching There Are Places To Remember exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Art preview of the week: Mandi Grant, There Are Places To Remember, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, August 28, 6pm to 9pm

BE among the first to see South Bank Studios artist Mandi Grant’s new collection There Are Places I Remember on the bakery walls in Acomb. On show will be lyrical paintings of shapes, colour and textures in a combination of oil, acrylic and wax techniques.

Wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Tickets are free but please register to attend at eventbrite.com/e/mandi-grant-art-preview-evening-tickets-1515431479349?aff=oddtdtcreator. Mandi’s exhibition will run until October 23.

Jake Xerxes Fussell: American folklorist singer, guitarist and songwriter at the NCEM

American folk music for anxious times: Jake Xerxes Fussell, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 3, 7.30pm

PLEASE  Please You & Brudenell Presents promote the York debut of North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer Jake Xerxes Fussell, whose intuitive creative process draws from traditional music and archival field recordings, incorporating elements of Southern folk song and blues into new works for the anxious modern world.

Folklorist Fussell released his fifth album, When I’m Called, last summer as his first on Fat Possum Records. He teamed up again with producer James Elkington to write and record music for Max Walker-Silverman’s feature film Rebuilding, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Christmas cheer: Anton Du Beke to return to York Barbican with festive friends

Show announcement of the week: Anton Du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 21, 5pm. Also Royal Hall, Harrogate, December 1, 7.30pm, and St George’s Hall, Bradford, December 17, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke will return to York Barbican with his festive show, Christmas with Anton & Friends, whose debut tour visited York on December 10 last year. Anton, 59, will be joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers to create an evening of song and dance with added Christmas dazzle, concluding with a big medley.

“I loved doing the shows so much last year – they were simply magical – so I genuinely can’t wait to get on the road and do it all again,” says the King of the Ballroom. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Bradford, bradford-theatres.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond in a flurry of festivals and sonnet declarations. Hutch’s List No. 35, from The York Press

Sonnets in Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s performances will be staged

SHAKESPEARE in poetic full bloom, arguably the best ever British farce and moorland classical music lead off Charles Hutchinson’s case for not going on holiday in August.

Poetic return of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23

REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?

Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.

Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary

Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.

Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.

Mad Alice: History talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York at 4pm tomorrow

York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, until August 11

ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival is a whirl of  dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.

Among the highlights will be a Promenade through the city; Georgian ice-cream cooking demonstrations; Regency Rejigged dance performances; Georgian Execution Tour with Bloody Tours of York; Mad Alice and York Gin’s history talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York bar; York Georgian Ball at Grand Assembly Rooms; Portraits in Jane Austen; A Byron Letter and A Georgian Kerfuffle at York Mansion House and An Intimate History: The Life and Loves of Anne Lister at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.

Seven Wonders: Paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Tribute show of the week: Seven Wonders, The Spirit Of Fleetwood Mac, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

SEVEN Wonders, a seven-piece, 100 per cent live band, cover all eras of Fleetwood Mac, from the Peter Green blues years, through Rumours, to Tango In The Night. Be prepared to dance the night away to Go Your Own Way, Don’t Stop, The Chain, Rhiannon, Dreams, Little Lies, Oh Well, Edge Of Seventeen and many more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alex Phelps, left, Christopher Godwin, Olivia Woolhouse, Valerie Antwi, Susan Twist, Charlie Ryan and Andy Cryer in rehearsal for Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Play of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm  Saturday matinees

SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task. 

Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage and the brilliantly catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson

Moorland festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 10 to 23

IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes. 

The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.

Mark Radcliffe and Arlo: Dog tales at The Crescent

Shaggy dog stories of the week: Mark Radcliffe (& Arlo): In Conversation, The Crescent, August 11, 7.30pm

MARK Radcliffe, radio broadcaster, musician and writer, is one half of BBC Radio 1′s semi-legendary Mark and Lard and one half of BBC 6Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie. Now he introduces his new double-act partner, his beloved pampered Cavapoo, Arlo, as featured in the book Et Tu, Cavapoo?, published by Corsair on August 14.

In March 2024, Radcliffe and Arlo set off from Cheshire in their VW Beetle convertible for a three-month sojourn in Rome. Join them in conversation for an account of their time amid the sights (and sniffs) of the Italian capital in a show for lovers of travel and history, food and drink, art and architecture, and those seeking an insight into the eccentricities of the canine mind. This event combines a book signing, an interview with a special guest host and a chance to put questions to Mark (and Arlo). Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Smashing Pumpkins: Heading to Scarborough on Aghori Tour

Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13, gates 6pm

AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.

Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.

Scarborough band Brightside: Making NCEM debut on August 14

From coast to York: Piano Goes Brightside, National Centre for Early Music, York, August 14, 7.30pm

SCARBOROUGH band Brightside are undergoing a name change to The Waisons but not before playing this Piano Goes Brightside gig in York. In the line-up are Josh Lappao, lead guitar and vocals, Vince Lappao, drums and keyboards,  Mason Marshall, guitar and vocals, and Olly Kershaw, bass guitar.

Formed to compete in a Battle of the Bands school competition, where they were placed runners-up, their two years of gigging has taken in school events, a Nativity entertainment, Christmas parties and a wedding. “We mostly do covers, but plan on making originals soon,” they say. As for the piano, progressive Scarborough pianist Jamie Kershaw will play 45 minutes of Schubert, Debussy, Ludovicio Einaudi, jazz and more. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No.34, from Gazette & Herald

Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary

AUGUST’S arrival heralds the return of riverside art, Georgian festival frolics and moorland classical music in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to a cornucopia of culture.

Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 9 and 10, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.

Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.

Scott Bennett: Presenting Blood Sugar Baby at Pocklington Arts Centre

Storyteller of the week: Scott Bennett, Blood Sugar Baby, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm

ONE family, one condition, one hell of a hairy baby: Scott Bennett, from The News Quiz and the Parenting Hell podcast, relates how his daughter fell ill with a rare genetic condition, congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI).

Never heard of it?  Neither have new parents Scott and Jemma as they fight to achieve  the right diagnosis for their daughter and are plunged into months of bewildering treatment, sleepless nights, celebrity encounters and bizarre side effects, but a happy ending ensues. Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Ryosuke Kiyasu: Drumming prowess on The Arts Barge

Beat that: No Instrument and Arts Barge present Ryosuke Kiyasu, The Arts Barge, Foss Basin Moorings, York, tonight, 7.30pm

PIONEERING snare-drum soloist Ryosuke Kiyasu has redefined percussion since 2003, releasing more than 200 albums, both solo and with his band, drawing 23 million views for his 2018 Berlin live set and featuring on BBC News.

He drums for noise-grind duo Sete Star Sept, the Kiyasu Orchestra and Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha and co-founded Canada’s cult hardcore unit The Endless Blockade. Box office: artsbarge.com/events.

Iago Banet: Finger-style Spanish guitar playing at The Basement

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm

VIRTUOSO finger-style Spanish guitarist Iago Banet, who moved to London from Galicia in 2014, combines gypsy jazz, blues, country, Dixieland, swing, pop, folk and Americana in his acoustic repertoire, as heard on his third album, 2023’s Tres.

He has performed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Cerys Matthews’ The Blues Show on BBC Radio 2, appeared at Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz and played with Josh Smith, Mark Flanagan, Jack Broadbent and Clive Carroll. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Four actors, two plays, forty minutes each: 440 Theatre in Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Shaking up Shakespeare: 440 Theatre in Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

FOUR actors perform 40-minute versions of Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth, transforming the Scottish play  from tragedy into comedy in this raucous, breakneck double bill. “Experience the hilarity of not only one of the Bard’s best comedies but also a side-splitting (literally!) Macbeth,” say director Dom Gee-Burch and producer-composer Laura Sillett. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Terry Deary presents Revolting at York Mansion House tomorrow at 5.30pm at York Georgian Festival

York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, August 7 to 11

ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival will be a whirl of  dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.

Among the highlights will be Terry Deary Presents Revolting; the Life and Loves of Anne Lister; a Georgian dance lesson at the Guildhall; Men’s Hats; Mad Alice’s history talk and gin tasting; the York Georgian Ball; Sounds of Regency by Candlelight; The World of Georgian Fashion; Portraits in Jane Austen and a revival of York actor-playwright Joseph Peterson’s comic romp The Raree Show or The Fox Trap’t. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.

Alex Phelps, left, Christopher Godwin, Olivia Woolhouse, Valerie Antwi, Susan Twist, Charlie Ryan and Andy Cryer in rehearsal for Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Play of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, August 9 to September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm  Saturday matinees

SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task. 

Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee seen entirely from backstage and the brilliantly catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson

Ryedale festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 10 to 23

IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes. 

The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.

The Smashing Pumpkins: Heading to Scarborough on Aghori Tour next Wednesday

Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13, gates 6pm

AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.

Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and collected two Grammy Awards, seven MTV VMAs and an American Music Award. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as the dandy Georgians take up residence. Hutch’s List No. 34 from The York Press

Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary on Dame Judi Dench Walk

AUGUST’S arrival heralds the return of riverside art and Georgian festival frolics in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to a cornucopia of culture.

Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, August 9 and 10, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls on each of the six days.

Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.

York Stage summer school participants in rehearsal for Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr

Musical revue of the week: York Stage in Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 2pm and 4pm

HONOURING 100 years of Disney music, this60-minute revue follows eager trainees on their first day at a fictional Walt Disney Imagineering Studio. As they set out to help each other discover their dreams, they work together to explore the power of those aspirations to unite, inspire and make anything possible.

The show includes songs that appear for the first time in a Disney stage musical, notably fan favourites from The Princess And The Frog, Coco, Enchanto and Frozen II in a showcase of contemporary songs, timeless classics and new medleys. York Stage director Nik Briggs has put this production together in a week with 50 Summer School performers and technical skills trainees. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

James Dowdeswell: Headlining tonight’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

JAMES Dowdeswell, from the BBC’s Russell Howard’s Good News and Ricky Gervais’s Extras, combines deft stand-up with daft stories in his erudite, off-the-cuff headline set this weekend. A comedic authority on beer, wine and pubs, he is the author of The Pub Manifesto: A Comedian Stands Up For Pubs. 

On the bill too are northern humorist Anth Young, Scotland-based Singaporean comic Laura Quinn Goh and regular host Damion Larkin. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Faithless: Bringing Mass Destruction to Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight

Coastal gig of the week: Faithless and Orbital, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today. Gates open at 6pm

RETURNING to the concert platform last year after an eight-year hiatus, Faithless remain one of the most influential, boundary-pushing electronic acts of the 21st century with 17 Top 40 singles and six Top Ten albums to their name. Here come Salva Mea, One Step Too Far, Mass Destruction, Insomnia, God Is A DJ et al.

First up will be Phil and Paul Hartnoll’s electronic duo Orbital, whose music draws on ambient, electro, punk and film scores, spread across ten albums. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Sasha Elizabeth Parker in Femme Fatale Faerytales, Once Upon A Time, at Brancusi restaurant

Fringe preview of the week: Femme Fatale Faerytales, Once Upon A Time, Fairy Tales For Adults, Brancusi (upstairs), Micklegate, York, August 4, 8pm

FEMME Fatale Faerytales’ Once Upon A Time will be 50 minutes of adult storytelling with a feminist agenda, featuring a “real-life faery” who promises to tell truths that will “make your hair curl and your eyes sparkle”.

“It was the faeries who taught the witches, the wise women, all that they know,” says performer Sasha Elizabeth Parker, who is en route to Scotland for her Edinburgh Fringe debut. “Women spun faerytales on their tongue to spread the word among adult ears. Wise words made infantile by men. Let the faery  whisper her words into your ears. Hear her tale of truth. Faeries cannot lie. This, I promise you. She’ll change you, transport you, introduce you to a whole new world and show you a view brand new.” Box office for returns: wegottickets.com/location/29645.

The poster artwork for Cirque, The Greatest Show Reimagined

Circus show of the week: Cirque, The Greatest Show Reimagined, York Barbican, August 4, 3pm and 7pm

CIRQUE’S new show is “bolder, braver and more breathtaking than ever before” as The Greatest Show Reimagined takes the original Circus meets Musical Theatre spectacle to new heights. Experience West End showstoppers paired with circus acts showcasing breathtaking feats of agility to “transport you on a vibrant, kaleidoscopic journey bursting with colour, energy, and excitement”. Britain’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer winner Max Fox leads the cast of vocalists and circus performers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ryosuke Kiyasu: Drum pyrotechnics on the Arts Barge

Beat that: No Instrument and Arts Barge present Ryosuke Kiyasu, The Arts Barge, Foss Basin Moorings, York, August 6, 7.30pm

PIONEERING snare-drum soloist Ryosuke Kiyasu has redefined percussion since 2003, releasing more than 200 albums, both solo and with his band, drawing 23 million views for his 2018 Berlin live set and featuring on BBC News.

He drums for noise-grind duo Sete Star Sept, the Kiyasu Orchestra and Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha and co-founded Canada’s cult hardcore unit The Endless Blockade. Box office: artsbarge.com/events.

Iago Banet: Finger-style Spanish guitar dexterity at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, August 6, 7.30pm

VIRTUOSO finger-style Spanish guitarist Iago Banet, who moved to London from Galicia in 2014, combines gypsy jazz, blues, country, Dixieland, swing, pop, folk and Americana in his acoustic repertoire, as heard on his third album, 2023’s Tres.

He has performed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Cerys Matthews’ The Blues Show on BBC Radio 2, appeared at Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz and played with Josh Smith, Mark Flanagan, Jack Broadbent and Clive Carroll. Box office: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/iago-banet/iago-banet-the-galician-king-of-acoustic-guitar/e-dykrpy. 

Joe Standerline in The Raree Show or The Fox Trap’t, Joseph Peterson’s 18th century romp, revived for the York Georgian Festival. Picture: Gareth Buddo

Festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, August 7 to 11

ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival will be a whirl of  dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.

Among the highlights will be Terry Deary Presents Revolting; the Life and Loves of Anne Lister; a Georgian dance lesson at the Guildhall; Men’s Hats through the Georgian period; Mad Alice’s history talk and gin tasting; the York Georgian Ball; Sounds of Regency by Candlelight; The World of Georgian Fashion; Portraits in Jane Austen; The Radical Georgian Women and a revival of 18th century York actor-playwright Joseph Peterson’s comic romp The Raree Show or The Fox Trap’t. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.

York Minster: Heritage Fair today

In Focus: Heritage Fair of the week: York Minster Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills and Estate Management, Deangate, York, today, from 10am

EXPLORE two new buildings – the Heritage Quad and the Works & Technology Hub – that have established York Minster Precinct’s status as a world-class campus facility for research, education and training in traditional craft skills.

Visitors can see the extensive sustainable initiatives delivered through the construction of these two new buildings, including the latest photovoltaic technology and rainwater harvesting techniques.

There will be three areas to explore:

The Heritage Quad: 10am to 4pm

Visitors can speak to York Minster stonemasons and see live carving, whilst touring brand new facilities and meeting other heritage craftspeople such as joiners and guilders. There will be an opportunity to try out some of the applied craft skills needed to care for an ancient estate like York Minster’s. Free, pre-booked tickets required. 

The Works & Technology Hub: 10am to 4pm

Visitors can engage with the cutting-edge technology now operational in the Works & Technology Hub. They will see live demonstrations of saws and digital modelling, as well as speaking to York Minster staff and partners to understand how technology links with heritage crafts. Free, pre-booked tickets required. 

Heritage Pavilion: 10am to 4pm

A heritage pavilion, located in Minster Gardens in front of the York Minster Refectory, will provide an opportunity for people to talk to our heritage partners. This is an ideal opportunity for anyone considering a career in the heritage industry to speak to the many experts in their respective fields. No tickets are required to attend the careers pavilion.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heritage-fair-tickets-1258143694659?aff=oddtdtcreator

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 33, from Gazette & Herald

Flo & Jones: Florrie Stockbridge, left, and Helmsley Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones team up to perform at Kirkbymoorside Gateway To The Moors Music Festival

KIRKBYMOORSIDE’S three-day music festival and The Three Inch Fools’ garden comedy catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye as August arrives.

Festival of the week: Kirkbymoorside Gateway To The Moors Music Festival, Friday to Sunday

BOOTLEG 60s play the Sixties Night at Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall on Friday (8.30pm), followed by The Breeze, supported by PJ, at Saturday’s Country Night (8pm). PJ will be holding a line-dancing class that day too (3pm). Sunday afternoon’s 1940s Tea Dance combines afternoon tea and a glass of fizz with Forties’ music, featuring DJ Lynne and Bev Martin (2pm).

All Saints’ Church plays host to Carrie Martin and John Drakes on Friday, from 5.30pm; Saturday performances by Wounded Bear at 2pm, Flo & Jones at 4.30pm and Jazz with John Lane & Friends at 7.30pm, then Sunday’s 2pm concert by Moorland Voices & Friday Orchestra Quartet.

Ryedale singers play for free in pubs and cafes on Saturday; teenage band Chocolatebox perform at the White Swan on Saturday afternoon (12.30pm); David Swann & Friends are in action at the Methodist Church on Sunday (4.30pm). Look out for classical, brass band, children’s disco, open-mic and history walk events too. For more information and tickets, go to: kirkbymoorsidetown.co.uk/gateway-to-the-moors-music-festival.

The Three Inch Fools: Heading to Helmsley Walled Garden to present Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Outdoor play of the week: The Three Inch Fools in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helmsley Walled Garden, Helmsley, Friday, 7pm. Gates open at 6pm

ON Midsummer’s eve, deep in an enchanted forest, mischief is stirring in Cumbrian company Three Inch Fools’ staging of Shakespeare’s comedy. The Fairy King and Queen are feuding, four runaway lovers are tying themselves in knots, and a troupe of “Rude Mechanical” actors is preparing a theatrical extravaganza destined to impress. Put shape-shifting trouble-maker Puck at the helm, and the course of true love will never run smooth.

Bring cushions and camping chairs, but no umbrellas, to James and Stephen Hyde’s tenth anniversary open-air adventure, part of a summer tour of 136 performances at 112 locations. Come prepared for the weather: the performance will continue, come rain or shine. Box office: helmsleywalledgarden.org.uk.

Faithless: Bringing Mass Destruction to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend

Coastal gig of the week: Faithless and Orbital, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday. Gates open at 6pm

RETURNING to the concert platform last year after an eight-year hiatus, Faithless remain one of the most influential, boundary-pushing electronic acts of the 21st century with 17 Top 40 singles and six Top Ten albums to their name. Here come Salva Mea, One Step Too Far, Mass Destruction, Insomnia, God Is A DJ et al.

First up will be  Phil and Paul Hartnoll’s electronic duo Orbital, whose music draws on ambient, electro, punk and film scores, spread across ten albums. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Orland James’s Henry VIII and Martin Shaw’s Sir Thomas More, right, in Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Simon Annand

Political play of the week: A Man For All Seasons, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

NOW 80, The Professionals, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently star Martin Shaw plays Sir Thomas More: scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor, friend to King Henry VIII  and a man of integrity in Robert Bolt’s play, directed by Jonathan Church.  

When Henry demands a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn, the staunchly Catholic Thomas is forced to choose between loyalty and conscience, committing an act of defiance that will lead only to the ultimate price. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Alligators: Snapping into blues action at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week number one: Ryedale Blues Club, The Alligators, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

EAST Yorkshire electric blues trio The Alligators formed in 2004 to play old-style rhythm & blues with the classic line-up of guitar, bass and drums. Concentrating on a live sound rooted in Chicago, New Orleans and Texas blues, slide guitar features heavily in several numbers. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Alex Voysey: Best Of The Blues at Kirk Theatre, Pickering. Picture: Tony Cole Photography

Blues rock gig of the week number two: The Alex Voysey Blues Band presents Best Of The Blues, Kirk Theatre Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

NOMINATED for Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2025 UK Blues Federation Awards, guitarist Alex Voysey combines tracks from his May 2024 album Blues In Isolation with material from his inspirations, Joe Bonamassa, Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, Keb Mo and many more. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

York Stage’s poster for Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

Musical revue of the week: York Stage in Disney’s Dare to Dream Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2pm and 4pm

HONOURING 100 years of Disney music, this60-minute revue follows eager trainees on their first day at a fictional Walt Disney Imagineering Studio. As they set out to help each other discover their dreams, they work together to explore the power of those dreams to unite, inspire and make anything possible.

Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr includes songs that appear for the first time in a Disney stage musical, notably fan favourites from The Princess And The Frog, Coco, Enchanto and Frozen II in a showcase of contemporary songs, timeless classics and new medleys. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Hitting the sweet spot: Sweet Legacies exhibition at York Theatre Royal

Exhibition of the week: Sweet Legacies, York Theatre Royal, until August 3

YORK Theatre Royal’s foyer is transformed into a pop-up exhibition of photography, visual arts, audio, film and more as part of the Sweet Legacies community engagement project. The project has seen the Theatre Royal work with 22 community groups across the city to put on a series of fun, free and inclusive activities and events. Admission is free.

James Dowdeswell: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement on Saturday

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 8pm

JAMES Dowdeswell, from the BBC’s Russell Howard’s Good News and Ricky Gervais’s Extras, combines deft stand-up with daft stories in his erudite, off-the-cuff headline set this weekend. A comedic authority on beer, wine and pubs, he is the author of The Pub Manifesto: A Comedian Stands Up For Pubs. 

On the bill too are northern humorist Anth Young, Scotland-based Singaporean comic Laura Quinn Goh and regular host Damion Larkin. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when dinosaurs and Ronan return. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 33, from The York Press

Natural History Museum takes to the stage in Dinosaurs Live at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith 

THE dinosaurs are roaring and roaming anew and love is in the air in Charles Hutchinson’s top tips for summer joy.

Children’s show of the week: Natural History Museum presents Dinosaurs Live, Grand Opera House, York, today, 2.30pm and 4.30pm

FOR the first time since 1881, the “home of dinosaurs”, London’s Natural History Museum, is going on tour, teaming up with Mark Thompson Productions for a “dinosaur adventure like no other”.

Suitable for age three upwards, the show takes a pre-historic journey to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods as  life-like dinosaurs come alive on stage. In addition, today’s audiences will learn more about fossils, time scales and how our planet has changed over hundreds of millions of years. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Junk Drawer Theatre Company exploring the vicissitudes  love in Thank You, I Love You at Theatre@41 

Love stories of the week: Junk Drawer Theatre Company, Thank You, I Love You, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 7pm

STEP into a world where love is found in the quiet moments, the whispered goodnights and the spaces between words in Lucy Connor-Mulhall’s Thank You, I Love You’s 70-minute exploration of connection: romantic, platonic and everything in between.

Through fragmented memories, late-night conversations and the weight of unspoken emotions, Junk Drawer Theatre Company’s Rachael Lanaghan, Emine Altinsoy, Billy Abbey, Holly Carter, Luke Quarrington and Isobel Pilot’s characters navigate love, loss, and longing. Some hold on too tightly, others learn how to let go, in a reminder that love is not so much the  grand gestures, more the smallest, softest things, such as a shared bed, a stolen glance, a promise to light the sky for someone who needs it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri: On song at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight

Coastal gig of the week: Texas, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight. Gates open at 6pm

THIS weekend, Sharleen Spiteri leads Glasgow band Texas through five decades of hits, from I Don’t Want To Be A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Sun to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking. Rianne Downey supports. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Ronan Keating: Returning to York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend today 

Irish craic of the whip of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, today. Gates open at 11.15am; first race, 1.25pm; last race, 5pm

IRISH singer, presenter and talent-show judge Ronan Keating returns to the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, back on the Knavesmire track where he performed with Boyzone in July 2018.

Expect both solo and boy band favourites. “If you’re going to a festival or a racecourse, you have to give the people what they want, what they’re expecting, and because of the Boyzone documentary that’s on Sky and NOW TV, I’ll be doing more Boyzone hits than normal this time,” he says. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

Helena Mackie: Oboe soloist at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s concert at Ryedale Festival 

Ryedale Festival finale: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Final Gala Concert, Hovingham Hall, Sunday, 6.30pm

THE ‘Liverpool Phil’ make their Ryedale Festival debut this weekend, exploring the Italian vistas of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4, complemented by Mozart’s Oboe Concerto (featuring soloist Helena Mackie), Faure’s serene Pavane and Poulenc’s mischievous, charming Sinfonietta. For the festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.

James Willstrop:  From squash court to stage in musical ode to beautiful mothers, sporting ambition and fatherhood at Friargate Theatre

Edinburgh Fringe preview of the week: James Willstrop in Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man?, Friargate Theatre, York, July 28, 7.30pm

JAMES  Willstrop, cynical and driven only by his sporting success, is on the verge of becoming world number one in squash. A chance meeting leads to an agonising dilemma that  threatens everything he has worked so hard to achieve.

Through tender recollections of his mother Lesley, who died when he was 17, and by undertaking the hardest training session of his life in real time, Willstrop learns lessons about ambition, success and love in the Harrogate sportsman, actor and writer’s solo musical ode to beautiful mothers, sporting ambition and fatherhood. Box office: ridinglights.org.

Annie Kingsnorth, left, Martin Shaw and Abigail Cruttenden in Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons at the Grand Opera House, York

Political play of the week: A Man For All Seasons, Grand Opera House, York, July 29 to August 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

THE greatest, most powerful and dangerous figures who shaped English history are brought vividly to life in Robert Bolt’s award-winning play, directed by Jonathan Church on a tour that visits York in its only northern outing before a West End run.

Now 80, The Professionals, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently star Martin Shaw playsSir Thomas More: scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor, friend to King Henry VIII  and man of integrity. When Henry demands a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn, the staunchly Catholic Thomas is forced to choose between loyalty and conscience, committing an act of defiance that can only lead to the ultimate price. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

York Stage: Celebrating 100 years of Disney songs in Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre 

Musical revue of the week: York Stage in Disney’s Dare to Dream Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, August 1, 7.30pm; August 2, 2pm and 4pm

HONOURING 100 years of Disney music, this60-minute revue follows an eager group of trainees on their first day at a fictional Walt Disney Imagineering Studio. As the trainees set out to help each other discover their dreams, they work together to explore the power of those dreams to unite, inspire and make anything possible.

Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr includes songs that appear for the first time in a Disney stage musical, notably fan favourites from The Princess And The Frog, Coco, Enchanto and Frozen II in a showcase of contemporary songs, timeless classics and new medleys to surprise and delight Disney devotees of all ages. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Sweet Legacies: Exhibition at York TheatreRoyal  to tie in with this summer’s community play, His Last Report

Exhibition of the week: Sweet Legacies, York Theatre Royal, until August 3

YORK Theatre Royal’s foyer is transformed into a pop-up exhibition of photography, visual arts, audio, film and more as part of the Sweet Legacies community engagement project.

The project has seen the Theatre Royal work with 22 community groups across the city to put on a series of fun, free and inclusive activities and events.

The free exhibition is open to all to learn more about the project and the Rowntree family to coincide with the Theatre Royal and Riding Lights community play His Last Report.

In Focus: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday

Soprano Lucy Farrimond: Performing at Sunday’s York Proms

NO tickets will be available on the gate for Sunday’s seventh York Proms at York Museum Gardens, presented by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman.

Topping the bill will be rising operatic singers soprano Lucy Farrimond and tenor Oscar Bowen-Hill, performing with the orchestra under director Ben Crick.

Royal Northern College of Music graduate Farrimond made her BBC Proms solo debut in 2019 aged 21, singing Haydn’s The Creation at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed on the BBC, ITV, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.

Bowen-Hill has graduated with BSc 1st Class honours in Cognitive Science and Singing, sings with the London Philharmonic Choir and is embarking on the next steps of his career with scholarships at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, London, and Oxford Bach Soloists.

Farrimond and Bowen-Hill will lead the Proms finale, including Jerusalem and Land Of Hope And Glory, rounded off with fireworks lighting up St Mary’s Abbey, as well as performing operatic arias and show songs. Classical orchestral pieces and film music will feature too.

The main stage will be complemented by York Proms’ biggest ever community stage, presenting more than 200 York performers, including the York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir in its centenary year, opening the event with a rendition of the National Anthem with the orchestra.

Taking part too will be York Rock Choir, Lucy’s Pop Choir, Bridge Shanty Crew, York Musical Theatre Company and the Katie Ventress Dance School.

Gates will open at 5pm for Fast Track tickets and at 5.30pm for Standard. Picnics are permitted, including alcohol and glass bottles but bags will be checked on arrival. Picnics are allowed, with alcohol and glass bottles, although bags will be inspected on arrival. Camping chairs? Yes. Tables, parasols, trolleys and BBQs? No. No dogs will be admitted, except for assistance dogs.

A quick check of the York Proms website confirms that Adult General Sale, Disabled and Child tickets are still on sale; Adult Fast Track and Teen tickets have sold out. To book, go to: yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2025.