“It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time,” says Jodie Comer, as she plays defence barrister Tessa Ensler on tour. Picture: Rankin
JODIE Comer willrevive her Olivier and Tony Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s sexual assault drama Prima Facie “one last time” on a 2026 tour booked into the Grand Opera House, York, from February 17 to 21.
The Killing Eve, The Bikeriders and 28 Years Later star last appeared on a North Yorkshire stage in her professional debut asspoilt, mouthy but bright, privately educated Ruby, playing opposite York actor Andrew Dunn in the world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in November 2010.
Tickets for the only Yorkshire venue on Prima Facie’s nine-city “Something Has To Change” tour went on sale on March 25 2025, for pre-sale to members at 10am and the general public at 12 noon, selling out only 20 minutes later.
Looking forward to reprising Miller’s monodrama on tour – directed by Justin Martin with music by Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor – Comer says: “It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time and take this important play on tour across the UK & Ireland. The resonance of Suzie Miller’s writing, both in London and New York, exceeded anything we could have imagined.
“I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to get the team back together and take the production to theatres around the country, including my hometown of Liverpool. On a personal note, I can’t think of a better finale to what has been such an incredible and deeply rewarding chapter in my life.”
In criminal lawyer-turned playwright Miller’s Olivier Award winner for Best Play, Comer, 32, will play thoroughbred Tessa Ensler, a young, brilliant barrister who loves to win.
Ambitious Tessa has worked her way up from Liverpool and Luton council estates, via Cambridge University, to be at the top of her game in her early 30s as a criminal defence barrister for an esteemed London chambers: defending the accused, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case.
However, an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.
“She played by the rules, but the rules are broken,” as the sleeve to Miller’s script puts it, when Tessa, the woman who defends men accused of rape, is assaulted herself and ends up in the witness box.
In her 90-minute play, Miller, who was a lawyer for 15 years before focusing on writing since 2010, drew on research from trials at the Old Bailey to address how the legal system conducts sexual assault cases.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the Prima Facie 2026 tour,” says the Australian playwright, screenwriter, librettist, visual artist, novelist and human rights lawyer, who has degrees in both science and law. “This play has already achieved more than we all could have dreamed, and Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution.”
Liverpool-born Comer won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her 2022 performance as Tessa in her sold-out West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, repeating that feat in the Tony Awards when Miller’s play transferred to Broadway in 2023.
The NTLive (National Theatre) and Empire Street Productions live capture of Prima Facie has enjoyed two record-breaking cinema releases, with streaming on National Theatre At Home too, and Comer also has recorded an audiobook adaptation by Miller.
Now, opening at Richmond Theatre, Surrey, on January 23, Comer will complete the “perfect full circle by concluding the tour in her home city at the Liverpool Playhouse from March 17 to 21.
In an exclusive interview with Harpers Bazaar journalist Helena Lee on January 22, (https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a70089560/jodie-comer-prima-facie-play-tour/), Comer said: “Honestly, it’s just such a gift. I’ve got a fair chance to revisit Tess, to see how the character can develop and what further truth I can find. It’s rare.
“I’ve had so many different life experiences [since she first played Tess]. I’m coming into the room feeling a little more confident, a little more knowing, which is making for more detailed and revelatory discoveries.”
Comer’s Harpers Bazaar interview concluded: “We’re going out to regional, smaller cities and presenting Tess to the people she probably speaks to most. To go on this tour and have the final week in Liverpool – a homecoming for both Tess and myself – feels really quite magical.”
Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees, all sold out. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.
THE Kleio Quartet – Juliette Roos, Katherine Yoon (violins), Yume Fujise (viola) and Eliza Millett (cello) – opened opened the programme with an impressive account of Elgar’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83.
How this young group of players managed to embrace the emotional depth of this remarkable work was beyond me, but they did.
Although the Quartet was written in 1918, the final year of the First World War, it does not emerge as a wartime statement. It instead signals the collapse of the Edwardian world and Elgar’s withdrawal from public life.
Gone is the public voice of the Enigma Variations and the symphonies; Elgar retreats instead to the private, intimate world of chamber music. The Quartet is therefore shaped by introspection, cultural rupture and disillusionment.
This was most evident in the Kleio’s performance of the central Piacevole (poco andante): the emotional core of the work. The opening cantabile melody – played by the first violin – unfolded in a tender, sustained line, aided by minimal vibrato and superbly natural phrasing.
The lines were passed between the instruments with great sensitivity. The viola’s tone added a warm glow to the texture, suggesting nostalgia. There was noticeable role reversal with the second violin, which generally played a supporting role to the first, while the cello provided vital support through its countermelodies. The balance was impeccable.
If the opening Allegro moderato can be labelled dramatic, it is surely through the restrained tension beneath the surface. Again, the Quartet’s interpretation and judgement were admirably on display.
The thematic material is shared across all four instruments, and the balance and clarity of the inner voices – particularly the second violin and viola – were vital in maintaining the movement’s flow. The phrasing and dynamics were beautifully judged.
The closing Allegro molto was driven by a restless energy. The rhythmic playing was invariably precise, and the contrasting lyrical passages that emerged from the ensemble texture – with excellent contributions from viola and cello – carried that glance-over-the-shoulder, reflective quality. The end of the movement avoided any sense of triumph or resolution, but was satisfying nonetheless.
Beethoven’s String Quartet in D major, Op. 18 No. 3 came as a breath of fresh air. The opening Allegro was deceptively relaxed: the witty conversational interplay and the speed at which themes were passed around were a hoot. The rhythmic energy was light rather than driven, and the elegance of the playing made for an impressive opening.
Their playing in the Andante con moto had emotional warmth and lovely poise, while conveying a subtle tension beneath the calm surface. The third movement Allegro came across as a robust minuet, but one with both bite and humour. Sharp accents and crisp articulation added to the character, giving the dance a distinct rhythmic edge.
The closing Presto shone with sparkle and wit. The light articulation and clarity in the fast passagework were thrilling. Great fun too.
The interval usually gives me time to clear my head before the second half. This time, however, my companion pointed out that the Beethoven quartet opens with the same minor seventh as There’s A Place For Us from West Side Story. From that moment on, Bernstein refused to leave my head – a damned good tune, admittedly.
I have always found Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 44 No. 3 to be texture-driven rather than theme-driven, with much of its character emerging from the interaction of inner voices rather than overt melodic statements.
It was a relief to hear a performance in which the texture was kept both clear and buoyant. This was evident from the opening Allegro vivace, where the movement’s brilliance lay in the quick exchanges between the instruments. Not for the first time, the viola and second violin ensured a strongly conversational quality.
The light, almost weightless playing in the second movement, Scherzo: Assai leggiero vivace, had a delightful, wispy, magical character, while the turbo-charged energy of the closing Molto allegro con fuoco – cleanly articulated and crackling with kinetic energy – nearly sent an instinctively animated first violin, Juliette Roos, into orbit.
For me, the movement that lingered most was the Adagio non troppo, the still point of the quartet. The long cantabile lines shared across the ensemble, shaped with warmth but without indulgence, and the intimacy of the phrasing made the performance simply divine.
WHEN you walk out of a concert feeling that it may have been the musical event of the year and it is still only early February, you have certainly experienced something special.
In the case of pianist Angela Hewitt, it was extraordinary. Not that we should be surprised by now. This was at least her fourth visit to York in the past ten years: she must like it here.
Her focus was entirely on Bach. She played all but one of six works from memory. The exception was the huge Prelude & Fugue in A minor, BWV 894 (not one of the ‘48’), where her tablet could not be more than an aide-memoire, given the rapid tempos both halves demand. She kept it until last, yet after a whole evening her intensity was as strong as ever.
In the fugue, her relaxation was so engrossing that it was as if she were unveiling a brand-new narrative, despite its complexities.
It was about 20 seconds into the opening Toccata in D major, BWV 912, that she had the packed audience in the palm of her hand. While its moods were distinctive, there was also a sense of excitement building throughout: the final gigue, which happens also to be a fugue, was intoxicating for its sheer enthusiasm. As with so much of the evening, she used her sustaining pedal sparingly: clarity was the watchword.
By now her palpable enjoyment had become infectious. In the Fifth French Suite, in G major, there was an elegiac transparency to the Sarabande and a gentle lilt to the majestic Loure, both standing in contrast to the commanding virtuosity elsewhere and testimony to Hewitt’s feeling for the romantic side of Bach, an aspect too widely ignored. The taxing gigue, needless to say, was at once colourful and percussive.
The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, in D minor, was an ear-opener, the first part dazzling in its harmonic daring, right at the limits for the composer’s time, the second incredibly crisp, with subtle weighting of the various voices.
That clarity was maintained in the Fifth Partita (a suite in all but name), despite the cracking pace at the start. There were supple dabs of rubato along the way, before a finale of mesmerising brilliance.
In the Italian Concerto, published in 1735 and the latest work in this programme, we could feel Bach letting his hair down: the sun sparkling on the Mediterranean in the exhilarating opening, the flowing song of the Andante with teasing ornamentation, and the balletic momentum of the final Presto, this was Italy in a nutshell. Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring made a deeply touching encore.
Angela Hewitt has once again confirmed her already legendary status as a player of Bach. We must hope that she will continue to make frequent returns to York.
Robin Simpson’s Sam, the emotional support dog, in Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
“I CAN’T think of anyone better to play a dog than Robin,” said York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster at Saturday night’s post-show discussion.
She is referring to West Yorkshire actor and storyteller Robin Simpson, best known in York for his six seasons as the Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame – and already confirmed for next winter’s Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs too.
Simpson’s ability to connect with audiences is “extraordinary”, said director and associate artist John R Wilkinson, an ability needed for both his panto role and now York Theatre Royal, English Touring Theatre and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s world premiere co-production of Catherine Dyson’s one-act solo play.
In a nutshell, what links the two parts is the requirement for “direct address” to the audience. Here Simpson is playing Sam, an emotional support dog on a Year 9 school trip to a museum (unspecified but the Imperial War Museum in all but name).
Robin Simpson: Storytelling prowess in The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
Simpson is not dressed as a canine, nor does he walk on all fours, but his tabard bears the message “Don’t Pet Me I’m Working” and his roll-neck jumper and trousers evoke the colours of a Golden Retriever or Labrador.
This dog talks, taking the narrator’s role, while evoking the school head of history and a particularly sensitive schoolboy, and taking the audience by the hand as he invites us to imagine being in a theatre in 2026,then the group of school children, on the bus trip and in the museum, and most hauntingly, the victims of the Nazi Holocaust in each Second World War picture.
Writer Dyson decreed only a few stage instructions, the most significant being that the pictures being described by Sam should never be shown. Instead, the images should be formed in our imagination – one of theatre’s most powerful tools – but such is the impact of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), the children’s exodus from Poland, the Jewish ghettos and the concentration camps that, when combined with Dyson’s descriptions and Simpson’s storytelling prowess, we readily draw on imagery from history books, films and documentaries.
Dyson’s structure is methodical, building momentum all the while. A head count is taken as regularly as Simpson’s Sam asks us how we are feeling after each picture. Simpson’s narrator explains how Sam can sense our emotions, our distress, without having the capacity to understand the play’s greater question: Why?
Director John R Wilkinson in rehearsal with actor Robin Simpson for the world premiere of The Last Picture
Gradually, we see teacher, breakaway 13-year-old pupil and dog all break down in reaction to what they are encountering, all conveyed so expressively by Simpson.
We learn too of other children’s reactions: wanting to know when lunch will be; wondering why something that happened so long ago in a different country should matter to them as they head from room to room, one marked Escalation, Deportation, Final Solution. They reach for the mobile phones at the earliest opportunity to flick through the latest posts.
Interestingly, contrary to myth, dogs do see in colour, but not in the same way we see colour, and here Wilkinson and set designer Natasha Jenkins complement Dyson’s descriptions of colour used by Sam to sum up the mood of each scene.
The back wall is covered with a plain cloth (an aid for us to build up a picture); the flooring has a metallic black sheen, framed by Isle of Skye lighting designer Benny Goodman’s strip lighting that changes from white to yellow. When the cloth drops suddenly, the stage is bathed in fiery orange.
Natasha Jenkins’s set design for York Theatre Royal’s production of The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
The minimalism stretches to the props: one table to the side, with a water bottle marked Sam (for Simpson’s vocal lubrication) and five lecture hall/school room chairs that Simpson uses in differing ways, most disturbingly to portray dead children when lain on their side.
Every detail has been thought through to the max, honed in four weeks of rehearsals, a research visit to Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield, and in Wilkinson’s bond with Dyson over the power of abstract, non-literal theatre and European drama, as well as in Simpson’s remarkably adroit performance.
The Last Picture had begun life as one of 37 new plays picked from 2,000 entries to mark the500th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio in 2023 with a national playwriting initiative, when Wilkinson directed a rehearsed reading at York Theatre Royal and saw its potential for a full-scale production.
Robin Simpson’s Sam in a rueful moment in The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
This is that production, the full picture of The Last Picture, and what a fitting, moving first show for the Theatre Royal to make for the Studio space since the accursed Covid pandemic.
Add Max Pappenheim’s sound design, a devastating use of Mendelssohn’s music – deemed “degenerate” by the Nazis – and movement direction full of circular rhythm by Alexia Kalogiannidis, and Dyson’s play is unique, wholly original, thoroughly theatrical.
The Last Picture is unmissable, unforgettable, urgently needed theatre at its best.
The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14, 7.45pm plus 2pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees, then on tour. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.The tour will visit HOME Manchester, February 18 to 21; Bristol Old Vic, February 24 to 28; Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, March 5 to 7; Mull Theatre, March 11 and 12; Bunessan Village Hall, March 13; Iona Village Hall, March 14.
YORK artist, art tutor and mentor Liz Foster launches her Deep Among The Grasses exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York from 6pm to 9pm on February 12. All are welcome.
On show until April 10, the eight abstract oil paintings continue Liz’s personal exploration into memory, place and landscape in this first showing of her new series.
The exhibition invites viewers into a world of painterly abstraction full of colour and atmosphere in works that consider Liz’s relationship with the landscape of her childhood, drawing on memory and imagination to create expansive and gestural canvases, depicting into rich, expansive imagined spaces.
Her largest piece, Green Air, takes its title directly from a passage in Virginia Woolf’s 1931 novel The Waves. The fictional children play outside, absorbed in the garden, up to their necks in soil, stems and leaves. As if underwater, they imagine sinking through the green air of the leaves, just touching the ground with the tips of their toes.
Like the fictional characters, Liz’s real memories of being immersed in the space, rather than viewing it from a safe distance, are at the core of what she is exploring.
Drawing on her background and experience of growing up in the flat-lands of East Yorkshire, the works speak to broader themes of changes to the environment and childhood freedoms and isolation.
Liz studied at the Glasgow School of Art and has exhibited works spanning oil painting, watercolour, collage and print at the Royal Academy, Royal West of England Academy, London Art Fair and the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate.
Paper Tree, oil on canvas, 100cms x 100cms, by Liz Foster
Here Liz discusses Deep Among The Grasses with CharlesHutchPress.
How did this exhibition come about? You have exhibited at Bluebird Bakery previously…
“Yes, I had a solo show back in 2023, when I was invited by their curator, artist Jo Walton. I’d worked with Jo a few years earlier, so I already knew her.
“In 2023, she was looking for new artists who made large-scale work that could fill the space. She asked, and I said ‘yes’. A couple of years later, I was delighted that she asked again!
In combining memory and landscape in your work, do you paint landscapes from memory or from existing material?
“My paintings aren’t direct representations of places, so I don’t use reference materials such as photos. Although I don’t work from sketches either, I do draw a lot, especially plants and trees.
“I like to observe and take notes of how things look or are put together – all of this ‘research’ feeds into my work tangentially, so my painting remains loose and intuitive.”
Your work takes in watercolour, collage and print too, so why paint these particular works in oils?
“For works on canvas, I nearly always use oils. The buttery texture of the paint, slow drying time and saturated colour allow me to paint in an expansive, gestural and fluid way.
“I’m a process-led painter, which means that I don’t have a fixed image in mind when I begin. It’s very open ended. I add paint, wipe it off, come back the next day and it’s still malleable. I think of oil as a very generous and patient paint.”
Swoop, oil on canvas, 45cm x 70cm, by Liz Foster
Does a relationship with landscape change from childhood to adulthood?
“Yes, I think so. There is certainly a sense of wonder that we lose as adults. I think also the sense of scale shifts; as children a small garden can feel like a kingdom. We move through it differently, hiding, climbing, digging.
“I remember, as a kid, I used to play in the mud and dig up worms; it was messy and physical. As an adult, I suspect I sit and look more. I love how landscapes are scarred over time with pathways and ancient markings.”
Your body of work “speaks to broader themes of changes to the environment and childhood freedoms and isolation”. Develop that statement further….
“Growing up in the 1970s and early 1980s, I felt isolated. I lived in a hamlet of industrial farms and distant neighbours. We played outside a lot, cycled everywhere, space felt endless and we had time to get really bored.
“I think the leap from that world to today’s hyper-connected world is astonishing. I’m conscious of how different the world appears to my son, where information and knowledge is only a click away.
“There are advantages, but real damage too. I was watching coverage of the California fires last year and, as the reporter spoke, there were flecks of red embers floating around against the pitch black sky. It was both beautiful and horrifying. “Although my work is abstract, these are the kinds of things I think about while painting.”
Deep Among The Grasses, 2025, oil and acrylic on canvas, 140cm by 140 cm, by Liz Foster
What made you choose York for your home?
“I don’t think I really chose York; it was never a plan to stay here this long. I did know it quite well already as my dad moved here in the late 1980s and I’d worked here, on and off, in my late teens and early twenties.
“I’ve always enjoyed moving around – and still have itchy feet – but about 20 years ago my then husband and I both started teaching jobs, and York sat at the mid-point between our workplaces, so it made sense.
“Priorities shift and families change, but my son started school (he’s now in sixth form) and he’s been really happy here, so I stayed put.”
What’s in a title, Liz?
“Titles can provide a way in, holding the door open for the viewer to enter the artist’s world. Personally, I like short titles. Ones that give you a flavour of what I’ve been thinking about, but without telling you what to think…it’s a balance.
“Sometimes a title comes while I’m working and just seems to land in my lap. On other occasions, it’s a real struggle to get the right phrase or word; it can feel harder than the actual painting process itself.
“After having decided on a few titles in this series, includingDeep Among the Grasses, I went to poetry and literature – my reliable aids – to help me generate the words I needed. In The Waves, Virginia Woolf describes children playing in a garden before school: it encompasses the magic, wildness and timeless quality that I was reaching for in my own work. Green Air are just two words from a sentence in that book; the right two words.”
For more of Liz’s reflections on creating Green Air, visit https://www.lizfosterart.com/blog/the-story-of-a-painting-green-air.
Green Air, 2025, oil and acrylic on canvas, 150cm x 150cm, by Liz Foster. “Green Air is constructed from four smaller panels, sewn together and then stretched to create one painting,” says Liz. “I’ve used a combination of acrylic and oil paint; both paints hold different qualities that add to the work”
Suede: Returning to York Barbican for the first time since March 2023. Picture: Dean Chalkley
DRESSED in black, Brett Anderson strides onto the York Barbican stage to cheers from Saturday’s sold-out audience.
Suede, the Britpop band with a stripe of depth that marked them out from their peers, are in York as part of a tour to promote their tenth album, last September’s Antidepressants.
At 58, Anderson has retained his good looks and panache. He’s a clever, talented, self-made man. He has penned two volumes of autobiography, including Coal Dark Mornings, about his tough upbringing in a West Sussex council house that was virtually penniless.
He was heartbroken at the death of his mother and did not attend her funeral, an act of existential defiance he now regrets.
His lyrics often focus on the tougher elements of life and the band tend to view themselves as outsiders. They are much deeper, but less popular, than their 90s’ cousins Oasis, whose Gallagher brothers Anderson once dubbed “the singing plumbers”’.
The artwork for Suede’s September 2025 album, Antidepressants, which peaked at number two in the UK charts
Opening with Disintegrate, from the new album, the band pummel through a set that is mostly loud, fast and excitable Several songs in and they deliver two killer tunes: Trash and Animal Nitrate. These show Suede at their bombastic best: rousing songs with shadowy lyrics and a hint of edginess.
Animal Nitrate is a dark tale of abuse and escapism set to a soaring chorus, but it is closely followed by Film Star, which is leaden and repetitive, with little of the same brio.
Anderson is backed by Simon Gilbert (drums), Richard Oakes (guitar and keys), Mat Osman (bass) and Neil Codling (keyboards and guitar), who resembles Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham with his long hair and Gibson Les Paul.
The band play most songs at a similar brisk pace and with attendant volume, sometimes lacking in variation. Clearly influenced by David Bowie, Suede would benefit from borrowing some of the dynamics that another of their influences, The Smiths, used so effectively.
Just because you can play loud and fast doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy other approaches. Anderson, revelling in the drama of performance, exhorts the audience to feverous applause. He lies down, he grapples with fanatic audience members, he sings his heart out. By the end, he’s drenched in sweat. The fans, of course, lap it up.
Robin Simpson in The Last Picture at York Theatre Royal Studio, Picture: S R Taylor Photography
MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s favourites for February fulfilment.
Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14, 7.45pm except Sunday, plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees
ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s anti-Fascist monodrama The Last Picture, directed by associate artist John R Wilkinson.
Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school museum trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Colour & Light turns the spotlight on Viking invader Eric Bloodaxe among York’s rogues, scoundrels and historical figures in Double Take Productions’ light installation at York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower. Picture: David Harrison
Illumination of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, until February 22, 6pm to 9pm
YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings are illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for Double Take Projections’ fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.
Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show bring York’s historic rogues, scoundrels, miscreants, mischief makers and mythical characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.
Suede: Showcasing Antidepressants album on York Barbican return
Recommended but sold out already: Suede, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede make a rather hastier return on their 17-date Antidepressants UK Tour when Brett Anderson’s London band promote their tenth studio album.
“If [2022’s] Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Anderson. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. This is broken music for broken people.” Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Sara Pascoe: Contemplating smart and astute nocturnal thoughts in I Am A Strange Gloop
Comedy gig of the week: Sara Pascoe, I Am A Strange Gloop, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
HAVE you ever been awake in the middle of the night and thought something so smart and astute that you could not wait for the world to wake up for you to tell them? “This show is that thought, in that it doesn’t make much sense and is a bit weird on reflection,” says Dagenham comedian, actress, presenter and writer Sara Pascoe.
In I Am A Strange Gloop, Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club podcaster and former The Great British Sewing Bee host Pascoe reveals how her children don’t sleep, her kitchen won’t clean itself and her husband “doesn’t want to be in it”. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Sally Ann Matthews’ supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now The Steps Musical. Picture: Danny Kaan
Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 10 to 15, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm
PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.
However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Hayes’ Caiaphas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 11 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.
On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Annie at the double: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells will be sharing the title role in York Light Opera Company’s musical. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography
The sun’ll come out, not tomorrow, but from Thursday at: Annie, York Light Opera Company, York Theatre Royal, until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm
MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.
This heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Liz Foster: Exploring memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places in Deep Among The Grasses
Exhibition launch of the week: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10
YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.
Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.
Craig David: Performing his TS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase weekend
Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24
SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.
David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment , plus current House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
Ice amid the January rain: York Ice Trail 2026
Festival of the week: Make It York presents York Ice Trail, An Enchanted City, York city centre, today and tomorrow, 10.30am to 4pm
THE streets of York will be transformed into An Enchanted City, where a spell has been cast, as ice sculptures, alive with enchantment, appear across the city’s cobbled and narrow streets.
Created by Icebox, 36 sculptures inspired by magic, mystery, the weird and wonderful will make an extraordinary trail, but who cast the spell and why? Follow the trail to uncover the truth. Pick up a trail map from the Visit York Visitor Information Centre to tick off all the sculptures; collect a special sticker on completion.
The sculptures will be: Ice Ice Baby (neon photo opportunity), provided by Make It York; Igloo 360 Photobooth, Party Octopus; The Ice Village (curated market); All Aboard for Railway Stories, National Railway Museum; Bertie the Shambles Dragon, Shambles Market Traders; The Wizard of Ouse!, City Cruises York and Mr Chippy; The Enchanted Chocolate Bar, York’s Chocolate Story.
Drake’s Spellbound Catch, provided by Drake’s Fish and Chips; Sword in the Stone, York BID; The Yorkshire Rose by Kay Bradley, Bradley’s Jewellers; Saint William’s Poisoned Chalice, York Minster; Toadstool House, York BID; York Park & Brrr-ide, First Bus; Wizard Teddy Bear, Stonegate Teddy Bears; Bettys Bern Bears, Bettys; The Magic of Connection, Grand Central Rail.
Lord of the Lodging, provided by The Judge’s Lodging; The Ice Wall (photo opportunity), Make It York; Spellbound Train Ticket, The Milner York; From Grand Roots, Magic Blooms, The Grand, York; Hobgoblin, York BID; Enchanted, Icebox; Wade The Giant, North York Moors National Park; Let It Sew, Gillies Fabrics; The Hungry Dragon, Ate O’clock; Barghest, York BID.
The Prophet Hen, provided by SPARK: York; Jack Frost, York BID; Wings of Ice, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall; Magic Mixie Monster, York Mix; Mjolnir – The Bringer of Lightning, Murton Park; Beaky Blinder the Puffin, RSPB; Food and Drink Area; Ice Masterclass (paid experience); The Snow Block (photo opportunity), Make It York, and Live Ice Carving (from 12 noon each day).
In Focus: Navigators Art performance & exhibition, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 5pm
Penesthilia, by Penny Marrows
TO mark the opening of Penny Marrows and J P Warriner’s posthumous exhibition at City Screen Pictiurehouse, Penny and artist Timothy Morrison’s son, London jazz guitarist Billy Marrows, performs tomorrow with Portuguese Young Musician of the Year 2025 Teresa Macedo Ferreira, supported by lutenist Simon Nesbitt. Admission is free.
The exhibition launch follows at 6pm, celebrating two late York artists whose paintings were never exhibited in their lifetimes.
Born in 1951, Penny grew up in Tockwith, west of York, and attended Mill Mount Grammar School for Girls before studying 2D and 3D art at York College, training as a sculptor, then taught art in prisons and adult education in London.
On returning to Yorkshire, she painted and drew trees, landscapes and portraits for 30 years, including her self-portrait as an heroic winged figure.
Her exhibition is curated by husband Timothy Morrison, York artist and teacher, who says: “I met her in a printmaking evening class in Brixton, where Penny made linocuts and engravings of alarmingly aggressive-looking mythical beasts.
“Billy came along…and as a teenager fell in love with the guitar and jazz, and went on to study at Royal Academy of Music.
“Fast forward to early 2023 when Penny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Billy started sending little video recordings of his music to cheer her up (and me). New compositions, and duets with Teresa [Macedo Ferreira].
Penny Marrows in her garden
“The Beech Tree had its premiere at Penny’s funeral, and some of these pieces became Billy’s first album, Penelope, released soon after in her memory. So far it’s raised almost £7,000 for World Child Cancer.”
In 2025, Penelope was shortlisted in the category of Best New Album in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. “Penny doesn’t know about all this, nor that thanks to Billy’s music her paintings have had an extraordinary resurrection.
“The trauma of the illness, combined with major retro-refit work in the house, meant that the paintings were buried in the chaos. We found them at the back of a huge pile. First exhibited at the funeral, they’ve since gone round the world beautifully emblazoned on Billy’s album covers.”
Penny loved trees, especially walking through woods. “The paintings seemed to burst from nowhere at the time, almost with a secretive devil-may-care diffidence, but are actually distillations of detailed observational sketchbook drawings done in the Howardian Hills while we collected wood for our stove,” says Timothy.
“Her early notebooks tenderly catch details of family life in Tockwith with an almost Bonnard-like natural draughtsmanship. My garden is a beautiful sculpture garden.
“If Penny is anywhere, she’s in the trees, both in the paintings and out there. Her work inspires my own drawings; I think of her as Daphne and I often depict her as a bird perched humorously and enquiringly on her very own branch.
“I would like to thank Richard Kitchen, who greatly encouraged me to curate this show of Penny’s work, and for making it possible.”
J P Warriner’s work Untitled, featuring in Navigators Art’s exhibition
BORN in Ireland in 1935, J P (John)Warriner lived most of his life in York, where he died in 2019 aged 84. “He has no surviving family or partner,” says Navigators Art’s Richard Kitchen. “Research indicates he was a brilliant and kind man, and a grandfather figure to troubled local youth.”
John was a contemporary figurative painter whose style spanned surrealism, post pop, erotic and neo-mythic genres. Married to Effie, the couple had two children, Ronald and Nigel, who both died tragically young.
“John seemed to have taken to painting to heal from the losses he and Effie endured,” says his exhibition curator, Cath Dickinson, of Notions Vintage. “He remains somewhat of an enigma, with little recorded about his life or artistic endeavours.
“We know that he was a retired Nestle employee, living in Acomb, suspected to have hailed from Omagh, County Tyrone. With no social media or websites to dissect, no records of known influences or potential drivers, the journey of discovery about JP is just beginning.”
Local accounts reveal that he was a much loved go-to grandfather figure to all the children in his street in Foxwood, Acomb, never missing a birthday or Christmas, delivering shortbread and fixing many broken bikes.
In a strange encounter, curator Cath Dickinson, who has been collecting paintings by John for five years, met someone who knew a friend and neighbour of John by chance.
“I discovered that John had been more than a friendly neighbour but amentor to troubled local adolescents and young people who were struggling with the temptations of life in the hedonistic 1990s and 2000s,” says Cath.
Artist J P Warriner with “our Amy”
“John had a particularly close friend, mentee and muse in ‘Our Amy’, a wonderful young mum who was full of life, and had a fantastic sense of humour. John became Amy’s mentor and confidante and tried to not only guide but also record many of the pivotal moments in her tragically shortened life.”
Exhibition visitors hopefully will be able to discover and share more of the history of John’s painting and subjects. “The main part is in tribute and memory to Amy and John and their bond which transcended generations and societal norms,” says Cath. “John’s works have been likened to Alasdair Gray and Grayson Perry. They span decades and observe war, tragedy, comedy, temptation, love and loss.
After the exhibition in memory of John, Effie and Amy ends on March 6, some of John’s works will be available to buy from notionsvintageyork.com at 6 Aldwark Mews, York, YO1 7PJ.
“This joint exhibition has been both a labour of love and a voyage of discovery for its two curators,” says Richard. “Come and discover the work of two wonderful creative artists and their vibrant contrasting styles and subject matter.”
Penny Marrows & J P Warriner, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on show until March 6, open daily from 10.30am until closing time.
Did you know?
BILLY Marrows also played at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, on February 5 with Di-Cysgodion, a contemporary jazz quartet making waves in the capital and touring the north following their appearance at London’s Vortex Jazz Club.
Billy will return to The Basement with the Billy Marrows Band on March 26 in a 7.30pm concert promoted by Jazztones at 7.30pm. Tickets: TicketSource booking at bit.ly/nav-events.
The quartet brings together exciting London jazz scene improvisers to present York-born Billy’s boundary-pushing compositions, where they explore the relationship between improvisation and composition, incorporating grooves from across the globe and taking inspiration from many genres, including contemporary jazz, funk, progressive jazz and classical.
Penny Marrows’ artwork for Billy Marrows’ album Penelope, which received a four-star review in Jazzwise
Joining Billy, electric guitar and compositions, will be Chris Williams, alto sax (Led Bib, Sarathy Korwar, Grande Familia, Let Spin), Huw V Williams, double bass (Gruff Rhys, Ivo Neame, Chris Batchelor, Di-Cysgodion) and Jay Davis, drums (Mark Lockheart, Eddie Parker, Elliot Galvin, Di-Cysgodion).
Their debut album, Dancing On Bentwood Chairs, will be released on February 13, and this concert forms part of the accompanying tour,
Billy, who grew up in Sheriff Hutton, near York, studied jazz guitar at the Royal Academy of Music. He also leads the chamber-jazz project Grande Família, whose appearances have taken in top British venues, Scarborough Jazz Festival and a sold-out residency at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho.
In addition, Billy performs with Docklands Sinfonia, Tom Ridout Quintet, Chelsea Carmichael, Patchwork Jazz Orchestra and Di-Cysgodion. For more details, go to: billymarrows.com.
Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane
ONE of the joys of York’s remarkable spread of theatre companies is the chance to catch the ever-widening span of acting talent in leading roles.
Helen Gallagher has performed in musicals since she was young, across Yorkshire, in Manchester and overseas in Seoul, South Korea. Now she takes the title role in Sophie Cooke’s production of Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s 1961 musical story of friendship, adventure, and romance, set against the backdrop of the American Western Frontier.
Alongside her is the towering Matt Tapp, who has played everything from a sailor to an asylum owner in amateur musicals for years, not least a Viking (no surprise there, given his heavy metal mane of hair and beard).
Here he takes on a “real challenge, but an amazing one” in his Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company debut as “Wild” Bill Hickok (soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman and actor of the American Old West), here spelled ‘Hickock’ in the programme.
Gallagher’s ‘Calam’ and Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill are both superb leads in Cooke’s impressively well-drilled company, one that fills the stage to the gills with bright energy, fun, frills and bonhomie, choreographed with admirable precision and passion by Heather Stead and Rachel Shadman.
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s eighth fundraising show for the JoRo Theatre’s maintenance since 2017 is built on strong foundations: Cooke’s direction, so alive to the show’s romance, love of theatrical performance and balance of frivolity, femininity, feminism and competitive male swagger, in tandem with Martin Lay’s zestful musical direction of an 11-strong orchestra (featuring polymath James Robert Ball in yet another guise as trombonist).
Then add Stead’s choreography, maximising ensemble movement, Julie Fisher and Costume Crew’s costume designs and Eliza Rowley’s set design of a prettily refurbished cabin for Calamity and Katie Brown (Jennifer Jones) and an open-plan structure for the Golden Garter, the saloon run by Alex Schofield’s ever-harassed by perennially willing-to-please Henry Miller.
Charting the interlinked lives of the Deadwood City community in 1876, when everyone knows everyone’s business, Calamity Jane is suffused with colourful characters united by dreams of a better life. Not only the frontier-town folk and fort of soldiers, but also Jones’s Katie Brown, the dresser mistaken by Calamity Jane for Chicago singing sensation Adelaide Adams (Mollie Raine) when she promises Miller she will bring back Adelaide from the Windy City to perform at the saloon.
Gallagher’s sharp-shooting Calam’ (real name Martha Jane Canary) is as fast with her tongue as her gun, always in a rush, ready for the rough and tumble, a no-nonsense tomboy, but with a romantic heart held in check beneath the bravado.
She sings delightfully too, from The Deadwood Stage opener, through the exasperated Men! to Windy City and the ever-gorgeous My Secret Love. Best of all is her Act Two opening duet with Jones’s Katie, A Woman’s Touch.
Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill has bags of stage presence too, matched by his assured singing, whether in his I Can Do Without You duet with Calamity or his ‘big number’, Higher Than A Hawk.
At the heart of Calamity Jane is the love interest, played with a lightness of touch by Gallagher’s Calamity, who’s in love with Adam Gill’s upstanding but very forward Lt Danny Gilmartin, who’s fallen in love with Jones’s Katie, the new apple of the eye of Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill. Such a merry-go-round of the heart is delightfully daft and yet deftly played.
Sadie Sorensen’s Susan blossoms in the story’s other romance with Tom Menarry’s Francis Fryer, the Chicago act booked mistakenly (as Miss Frances Fryer) by Miller. Menarry is a particular joy in drag for Hive Full Of Honey, while Raine revels in Adelaide’s moment in the spotlight , It’s Harry I’m Planning To Marry.
From Emily Hawkins’ poster designs to Scenery Solutions’ backcloth for the Black Hills Of Dakota, this Calamity Jane is spot on in every way.
Iain Harvey’s Jesus in Inspired By Theatre’s radical reinvention of Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
INSPIRED By Theatre’s “gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful” staging of Jesus Christ Superstar will “push the boundaries of what local theatre can achieve”.
Directed by founder Dan Crawfurd-Porter, the York company’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical will be unfurled at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from February 11 to 14.
“What defines this production is its intensity,” says Dan. “Our staging is bold, the choreography [by assistant director Freya McIntosh] demands everything from the cast, and the individual performances are so powerful. There’s no coasting, no safe choices.
“We’re embracing a visual and physical language that gives the story a new edge. It’s a Jesus Christ Superstar that commits fully to the story’s momentum and spectacle.”
Dan continues: “We have leant heavily into the imagery, symbolism and movement because it’s a very ‘dancey’ show, where I think Freya has brought her best choreography to it as the music can only do so much.
Inspired By Theatre director Dan Crawfurd-Porter
“For one of the most popular musicals of all time, we’ve done everything with purpose with our visual decisions, where we keep coming back to the need to help to tell the story.
“Where the narrative is unspoken, we’ve brought in some of our bolder choices, when we hope the visual elements will have an impact on the audience.
“There’ll be no projections, no gimmicks; the main component of the set will be 20 individual blocks that will be moved from musical number to number and that’ll do a large part of our storytelling.”
Set in a shifting space, part temple, part battleground, by designer Gi Vasey, the story will unfold through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion.
Taking the lead role of Jesus will be company regular – and man of faith – Iain Harvey. “I directed the show ten years ago in Tadcaster, aged 27 – Dan’s age – when my dad was in the company and Kelly Ann Bolland, who’s now playing Judas, was Mary.
Kelly Ann Bolland’s Judas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
“Working with Dan, he goes into the real minutiae of the detail, not only for how the show looks but also on the emotional level, and he’s been open minded to every side of the argument, so you can interpret it how you choose to.”
In bringing his interpretation of Jesus to the stage, Iain says: “The physical attributes of Jesus, how he looks, is not the point. I’m just trying to embody the emotive aspects of the character, though don’t get me wrong, I’ve been doing some crunches!
“In Jesus Christ Superstar, there are so many big, vibrant characters, and Jesus can often come across as morose or depressive, but that’s because of the weight of what he has to do, sacrificing himself for his heavenly Father’s vision.”
Dan has previous form for Lloyd Webber and Rice’s musical. “It was my first show in 2021 when I played Peter for Ripon Operatics at the Ripon Arts Hub,” he says. “I remember thinking that often when it’s done, Peter gets a little lost in Act One and suddenly comes to the fore in Act Two. For our production, I’ve told Richard Bayton that I would ask more of him than most Peters.”
Iain adds: “Dan has made the conscious decision to bring certain characters to the fore, like Mary Magdalene, and we have a brilliant Mary in Rianna Pearce. She makes such an emotional connection and brings light in the time of darkness.”
Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Heyes’ Caiaphas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar
Part of Iain’s preparation has involved having conversations with musical director Matthew Peter Clare about the tone of his singing. “I wouldn’t want to replicate something from previous versions, but working with Matthew, we explore how to bring an individual quality to it, but I’m also aware of not going too far away from what’s familiar,” he says. “I want to be in that place where the audience are comfortable because it brings back memories.”
Dan rejoins: “But I also want someone who hasn’t seen the show before to be blown away by it.”
Since forming under the name Bright Light Musical Productions, and now as Inspired By Theatre, Dan’s company has performed such shows Green Day’s American Idiot in 2024 and RENT in 2025, both at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
“Inspired By Theatre was built on the belief that theatre can influence, uplift, and spark meaningful change,” says Dan. “The name itself reflects the countless productions, performers, creatives and audiences that continue to inspire and shape the company’s journey.”
Coming next will be Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening, followed by the Madness musical Our House. “We’ll be shaking up our production team a little bit for Spring Awakening; Mikhail Lim will be directing; Freya [McIntosh] will be by his side, with Jess Viner as musical director,” says Dan. “That gives me a bit of a rest to tee me up for Our House.”
Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 11 to 14, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Age recommendation: 12 plus. Box office: 01904 501935 or https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musical/jesus-christ-superstar/2832.
Sally Ann Matthews in her musical debut as Patricia in Here & Now
SALLY Ann Matthews’ next step on leaving Coronation Street last October after treading the Weatherfield cobbles across 39 years is to join the cast of Steps’ musical Here & Now.
“This is my first tour show since 2010. I’ve come in for the second leg,” she says, after taking over from Finty Williams – Dame Judi Dench’s daughter – in the role of Patricia, a supermarket proprietor “with a touch of Hyacinth Bucket about her”.
Next week, she will play a York stage for the first time, performing at the Grand Opera House from February 10 to 15.
How did Sally Ann feel on her first night at The Mayflower in Southampton on January 23? “I wasn’t remotely nervous,” she says. “It’s a beautiful theatre – another one I’d never played before – with that lovely feeling of 1,700 people on their feet at each show. What’s not to love about a show that leaves everyone with a smile on their face?”
She was delighted to be offered the chance to join the hit show. “I got a phone call from my agent, saying ‘how do feel about touring again?’. I said, ‘what is it?’. ‘Here & Now, the Steps musical’.
“Of course I said ‘yeah’ as I’m a massive Steps fan and I know Claire [Steps member Claire Richards]. We have mutual friends and we’ve kept in touch. I messaged her to say ‘I’ve just had an offer to play Patricia’. ‘I suggested you!’ she said.
“When she then came to see the show, I told her I was so grateful she’d recommended me.”
At 55, Matthews is making her debut in a musical. “I’ve done plays and pantomime, but never musical theatre, though I do love musicals,” says Sally Ann, who is part of a touring company of 56-60. “They’re such a vibrant, young, talented group that I’m working with.”
Introducing Sally Ann Matthews as Patricia in Here & Now
Produced by Steps, the London dance-pop group with 14 consecutive top five hits to their name since 1997, Here & Now weaves those songs into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.
However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending?
“The best way to describe it is it’s like Mamma Mia!, but with Steps songs, rather than Abba,” says Sally Ann. “It’s about love, life and loss, with the Steps songs feeding the storytelling parts beautifully – and it’s really funny as well.”
That means comedy and, of course, Tragedy, the Bee Gees cover so synonymous with Steps. “We use it as a war cry at the start of Act Two,” says Sally Ann.
“These characters have real heart and you really invest in their journey – and it’s like a panto because there’s a villain too, though I don’t want to give anything away about that.”
Tooled with such Steps favourites as Tragedy, Heartbeat, Stomp, One For Sorrow, Better Best Forgotten, 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart and Chain Reaction, Here & Now appeals to every demographic, reckons Sally Ann.
“We have older, retired couples there; then we have youngsters, like my great-nephew, aged six, who’s coming to the show; there are a lots of groups of girls and mums on a Prosecco trip, all dancing away, and then there are lots of men who love Steps,” she says.
“I’ve been to three Steps concerts, where it’s very inclusive and very safe, everybody coming together because there’s such a love of Steps – and this show is the same. After the curtain call, there’s a ten-minute mega-mix, where everyone’s on their feet.”
Sally Ann Matthews’ Patricia and Lara Denning’s Caz in Here & Now
Sally Ann has been struck by the high quality of the touring show and the demands on the cast to be at their best. “We have a resident director with us on tour, so every day we have notes from the director, the dance captain and the musical director to keep up in check. It’s a really tight show,” she says.
“It looks stunning too: a simple set, but so effective, beautifully lit, and the costumes are out of this world, with everyone working so hard for all the quick changes.”
Ironically, Sally Ann’s character has only one costume. “Though I do get to wear a pink pleather coat with fur collar,” she says. “It’s rather fabulous, with a scarf underneath that you only see a little of – but it’s a Dior scarf. There’s been no expense spared in this show.”
Sally Ann is best known for playing Jenny Bradley in Coronation Street, first from 1986 to 1991, then a brief return in 1993 before coming back as a regular from 2015 to 2025.
How did she feel when she recorded her final episode last autumn? “By that point, I felt excited for what was next,” she says. “I’d had a very, very fortunate time, starting my career at 15, then had a long gap when I went off and learnt my trade on stage and had my children as well – they’re 27 and 25 now.
“When I went back in 2015, it was supposed to be a short stint, but when they asked me to stay, I did. But there came a time when Jenny lost the love of her life three times in three years – Johnny in 2021, Leo in 2022 and Stephen, the serial killer, in 2023. Three years on the trot!
“It kind of got to the point where other actors were saying, ‘please don’t put me with her’ – and she’d been held up at gunpoint four times at the Rovers. It kind of felt like a natural end when it came. Jenny had been through so much, she needed a break.”
Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 10 to 15, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
