Mary Anning Rocks at Yorkshire Museum, York. Picture: Antony Chappel Ross
DINOSAUR adventures and the CBeebies house party, Sparks’ York return after 52 years and Leeds Festival’s summer serenade offer contrasts aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s choices for the days ahead.
Last-chance holiday activities: Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York, open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm
AS the school summer holidays enter their final fortnight, the Yorkshire Museum invites visitors to “make the most of the interactive activities, craft sessions and amazing exhibits before term starts again”.
Grab a dinosaur backpack to explore the Mary Anning and Jurassic galleries in dino-themed entertainment for younger ones, while spotting fossils and dino bones on their adventures on August 24 or 28. The final Melsonby Hoard treasure trove crafting session will be held on August 26, although Viking beaded jewellery and bug brooch making are available every day through the summer break. Pay once to receive all these free activities and unlimited return visits for a year. Tickets: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.
Nile Rodgers: Celebrating Good Times with CHIC at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: Nile Rodgers & CHIC, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 22, gates open at 6pm
IN the final Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert of the summer, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner and composer, producer, arranger and guitarist Nile Rodgers returns to the Yorkshire coast for the third time with CHIC, the New York City R&B and soul band he co-founded with Bernard Edwards.
Expect such disco dance-floor fillers as Le Freak, Good Times, We Are Family and I’m Coming Out. Acid jazz combo Brand New Heavies support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael: Returning to York after 52-year hiatus
York gig of the week: Sparks, York Barbican, August 25, doors open at 7pm
NEXT Tuesday, cult Californian pop-rock pioneers Sparks play York for the first time since their November 2 1974 gig at the University of York.
Coinciding with their release of latest album Sparks Live On The Moon, the Mael brothers, Ron (keyboards), 81, and Russell (vocals), 77, are lining up a euphoric, career-spanning set, picking from such hits as This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Amateur Hour, Something For The Girl With Everything, The Number One Song In Heaven and Beat The Clock. Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer supports. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Justin Fletcher: Directing CBeebies House Party Live! at York Barbican, featuring special guest Mr Tumble
Children’s show of the week: CBeebies House Party Live!, York Barbican, August 26, 11am and 2pm
DIRECTED by CBeebies superstar Justin Fletcher, CBeebies House Party Live! is a fun-packed family stage show full of sensational songs, stupendous surprises and mega moments.
Throwing an epic party just for you will be Mr Tumble, Mister Maker, York Theatre Royal pantomime alumni Andy Day and Evie Pickerill, Duggee, Nigel Clarke and George Webster, who promise dancing, singing, streamers, giant jellies, bubbles galore and a CBeebies bedtime story. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
This Is The Kit: Through the round window at The Crescent, York
Recommended but sold out already: Please Please You & Brudenell Presents: This Is The Kit & Seamus Fogarty, The Crescent, August 27, 7.30pm
IN today’s fast-paced mid-apocalyptic world, it can feel like a waste of time to discuss time, but with This Is The Kit, alias songwriter/banjo strummer/pinhole camera lover/Winchester-born Paris dweller Kate Stables, time deserves a modicum of consideration. Why? Because Stables keeps making albums of cataclysmic honesty and welcoming tonal embraces.
Placing companionship at a premium, This Is The Kit welcomes you into its space, on record and in concert halls with Stables’supporting cast of Rozi Plain (bass), Jamie Whitby-Coles (drums) and Neil Smith (guitar). Irish-born, London-based alt-folk alchemist Seamus Fogarty supports. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com.
Dave: Headlining The Grid stage at Leeds Festival on August 30. Picture: Leeds Festival
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 27 to 30
KASABIAN headline day one of Leeds Festival on The Grid stage, where The Lathums and Arkayla play too that day. Next Friday’s line-up on The Grid includes Blossoms, Role Model, Florence +The Machine and headliners Chase & Status Live, while headline-grabbing Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap play The Gallery that night. Look out too for Westside Cowboy and Paris Paloma in The Ballroom.
Next Saturday serves up York singer-songwriter Beth McCarthy (12.30pm to 1pm), James Marriott, Declan McKenna, Skepta, Charlie XCX and bill-topping Fontaines D.C. on The Grid. Catch Geese in The Gallery too. Next Sunday’s Grid finale features Absolutely, Slayyyter, Maisie Peters, Sombr, Raye and the festival-closing Dave. Box office: leedsfestival.com/tickets.
Carolyn Coles: Hosting seascape painting workshop for beginners at South Bank Studios, Bishopthorpe Road, York
Workshop of the week: A Day At The Seaside with Carolyn Coles, South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, York, August 28, 10am to 5pm
SOUTH Bank Studios seascape painter Carolyn Coles hosts A Day At The Seaside, a workshop for beginners, in the Garden Room at South Bank Studios. “Start the day with the ‘Loosen Up and Feel The Flow’ workshop,” says Carolyn. “Then, in the afternoon, paint a panel and frame it.” Everything is included for £75. For more information and to book a place, email carolyncolves75@googlemail.com.
Looking ahead, Carolyn will take part in Staithes Festival of Arts & Heritage 2026 from September 11 to 13, when 113 artists will exhibit at 67 pop-up venues, alongside live music, heritage talks and outdoor screenings. General entry and the Artist Trail are free.
Lee Gemmell’s Egyptology student Edward Bellingham in Baron Productions’ The Mummy Lot No. 249
Thriller of the week: Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Mummy Lot No. 249, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, August 28 & 29, 7.30pm
FOUNDED by Daniel Wilmot in 2015, York company Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1892 one-act play The Mummy Lot No. 249 as its 2026 summer show, in which Oxford student Abercrombie Smith discovers his neighbour, Egyptology student Edward Bellingham, has used ancient magic to reanimate a malevolent mummy to terrorise and attack his rivals.
Wilmot’s cast features Jack McAdam as Smith, Lee Gemmell as Bellingham, M. Alder as Peterson, Lauren Hegarty as Hastie and Ellie Guffick as Monkhouse Lee. Box office: https://www.ticketsource.com/baron-productions.
The Snake Davis Band: Heading to Helmsley Arts Centre
Return upcoming: The Snake Davis Band, Everlasting Love Tour, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 12, 7.30pm
SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis is “so happy to be back at Helmsley Arts Centre yet again”, this time showcasing new tunes and his new album on the Everlasting Love Tour with his four-piece band featuring guitar, bass guitar and drums.
The set list spans “floaty to danceable, soul and Northern Soul to pop, jazz to world”, embracing original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train, as Snake swaps performing arena and stadium gigs with stellar acts for playing intimate venues with his own music choices and favourite musicians. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Claire Sweeney’s gin-guzzling Miss Hannigan in Nikolai Foster’s touring production of Annie. Picture: Paul Coltas
CORONATION Street and Brookside star Claire Sweeny will star as bitter, gin-drinking, child-hating New York City orphanage matron Miss Hannigan in Annie at the Grand Opera House, York, from January 12 to 16 2027.
Tickets will go on sale at atgtickets.com/york on Wednesday, September 2 at 10am for ATG members and 12 noon for general sales.
Sweeney last appeared at the Grand Opera House in April 2015, leading the cast as a relationship expert in Sex In Suburbia, an uplifting, revealing and raunchy comedy about dating disasters that she co-wrote with Mandy Muden.
Claire Sweeney, centre, in her last appearance at the Grand Opera House in Sex In Suburbia in 2015
In October 2010, she starred in a re-worked version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s song cycle Tell Me On A Sunday, charting the romantic misadventures of a young English girl newly arrived in New York.
Next January, Claire arrives in old York in Michael Harrison and David Ian’s tour of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s musical, set in 1930s’ New York in the mire of The Great Depression, where brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage.
Her luck changes, however, when she is chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire Oliver Warbucks. Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family.
Claire Sweeney’s Miss Hannigan on the orphanage rampage in Annie. Picture: Paul Coltas
Sweeney, 55, will be joined by Alex Bourne as Oliver Warbucks, Tanisha-Mae Brown as Grace Farrell, Christian Cooper as Rooster and Amber Kennedy as Lily St Regis.
In the company too will be Jack Buchanan, Harrison Burley, Zoë Canham, Sophie Elmes, Belle Kizzy Green, Issy Khogali, Yujin Park, Elliot David Parkes, Carl Sanderson, Michaela Stern, Matthew Sweet and Jessica Wright.
Victoria Alsina, Sophia Saravanan and June Young will share the role of Annie. The orphans will be Chloe Angiama, Freya Beer, Rachelle Bonfield-Bell, Olivia Brooks, Coco Chapman, Maddy Collings, Sienna Culm, Anna Deikalo, Dolly Ismail, Amber Koduah-Hutchison, Thandie Lalji, Jemima Lown, Kennedy-May McLeary, Mollie Moran, Myla Park, Blossom Rolston-Williams, Khit Thakhin and Marnie Rae Warren-Baker.
Amber Kennedy’s Lily St Regis, left, Claire Sweeney’s Miss Hannigan and Christian Cooper’s Rooster in Annie. Picture: Paul Coltas
Best known for It’s The Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, I Don’t Need Anything But You and Tomorrow, the Tony Award-winning Annie combines Strouse’s music with Charnin’s lyrics and Meehan’s book.
The touring production is directed by North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster, artistic director of Curve, Leicester, with set and costume design by Colin Richmond, choreography by Nick Winston, lighting by Ben Cracknell and sound design by Richard Brooker.
Sweeney, from Walton, Liverpool, is an actress, singer and television presenter. She plays series regular Cassie Plummer in Coronation Street and appeared in Channel 4 soap opera Brookside as Lindsey Corkhill on and off from June 1991 until the final episode, broadcast in November 2003.
Claire Sweeney’s Miss Hannigan making her point to the orphans in Annie. Picture: Paul Coltas
Her TV credits include roles in Clocking Off, Holby City, Merseybeat, Candy Cabs, Scarborough, The Good Ship Murder and Benidorm.
Claire’s many West End roles include Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre and Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, playing opposite Patrick Swayze, at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Claire’s further stage credits take in starring roles in national tours of 9 To 5 The Musical, Crazy For You, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Legally Blonde, Hairspray and September In The Rain and the title role of lippy Liverpool hairdresser-turned-Open University student Rita in Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, playing opposite Matthew Kelly’s cynical, alcoholic tutor Dr Frank Bryant.
Claire Sweeney in the tour poster for Annie
Sweeney has appeared in Willy Russell’s classic Shirley Valentine, White Christmas, Shout!, a world tour of Fosse and The Play What I Wrote too.
Tanisha-Mae Brown’s theatre credits include Singin’ In The Rain at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Brigadoon at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Guys And Dolls at The Bridge Theatre, Evita at Curve, Leicester, UK and Ireland tours of The Lion King and Chicago, A Mother’s Song at the Lowry, Salford, and Pippin at the Garden Theatre.
Christian Cooper played Rolf Gruber in The Sound Of Music at Curve, Leicester, directed by Nikolai Foster. Amber Kennedy’s theatre credits include the UK tour of Sister Act The Musical, UK and international tours of Joseph And tThe Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the international tour of West Side Story and the pantomimes Dick Whittington and Sleeping Beauty, both at Theatre Royal Windsor.
Claire Sweeney in the photoshoot portrait announcing her role as Miss Hannigan in Annie
Gilbert O’Sullivan: New tour, new album this autumn. Picture: Park Promotions
IN 1972 Gilbert O’Sullivan topped the American Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks with Alone Again (Naturally), a song later covered regularly by Morrissey in concert.
The Smiths frontman also has performed Nothing Rhymed and recorded I Didn’t Know What To Do, the B-side to somewhat obscure May 1971 single Susan Van Heusen, as the flipside to his 2018 single Back On The Chain Gang. “He sent me a recording with a full band – and he told me he liked my image too,” recalls Gilbert.
Dusty Springfield performed Nothing Rhymed on The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine on November 22 1971, while Alone Again (Naturally) has attracted at least 88 cover versions, from Nina Simone to Shirley Bassey, Neil Diamond to Pet Shop Boys & Elton John, Diana Krall & Michael Buble to Donny Osmond, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass to Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis to Andy Williams. No wonder CMAT has called it “the greatest Irish song ever made”.
Born in Waterford, Ireland, and long resident in Jersey, triple Ivor Novello Award winner Gilbert will be turning 80 on December 1, but before then he will celebrate 60 Years Of Music on an autumn tour that will visit four Yorkshire locations: York, Bradford, Doncaster and Harrogate.
It will be a chance to revisit his UK chart toppers, 1972’s Clair and 1973’s Get Down, as well as such O’Sullivan favourites as No Matter How I Try, We Will, Matrimony, Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day, Why, Oh Why, Oh Why and What’s In A Kiss?, the last of his 16 Top 40 entries from August 1980.
Gilbert O’Sullivan in his early songwriting days. Picture: Park Promotions
Then add selections from his multiple studio albums that bear witness to his enduring gift for endearing tunefulness, unabashed sentiment and existentialist musings, with his last three reaching the Top Ten, Top 20 and Top 30 respectively.
60 years, Gilbert: where has all that time gone? “I guess I don’t think about it because I always look ahead, with the imminent release of a new album on November 6,” he says. “So we’ve been working on that. All new material, and there’s a duet with the lead singer from The Corrs, Andrea. A song called Is That You?
“On the last studio album [July 2022’s Driven], we had duets with Mick Hucknall [Let Bygones Be Bygones] and K. T. Tunstall [Take Love], which were rock songs, and this time there’s no piano, just acoustic guitar, like a folk song.
“We thought, ‘who could we have singing on this?’, and it was suggested Andrea would be a good choice. So we approached her and she did it in her own way in her own studio because technology is really good for letting you do that now. That will be released as a single, hopefully before the album comes out.”
“Without ever having bothered to look it up, I’m told it will be my 21st studio album,” he says. It will be entitled On The Record (a title shared with a 1976 spoken-word album by controversial British politician Enoch Powell, according to AI Overview). “Between my daughter, my management, my wife and my record company, all my possibilities were rejected,” says Gilbert. “If there were five people arguing about it, this one had three supporting it.
Gilbert O’Sullivan with guitarist Bill Shanley, who will join him for the 60 Years Of Music tour
“We did the album artwork in Nashville, where I was playing the Grand Ole Opry after they got in touch with us and I was asked to go there to perform three songs, What’s In A Kiss, Nothing Rhymed and Alone Again (Naturally), one with a band and two with Bill [guitarist Bill Shanley], who’ll be playing on tour with me.”
After working with producer Ethan Johns on his self-titled 2018 album, Gilbert recorded Driven with Andy Wright, . “I feel that by having a different producer, you get that difference you want. He’d worked with Simply Red and Simple Minds, so this was Simply O’Sullivan!” he says.
O’Sullivan and Wright then made Songbook, a collection of key songs from Gilbert’s expansive catalogue accrued over 55 years, recorded at Lafayette, King’s Cross, London in late 2023 for release in September 2024.
For On The Record, “I decided to go with Andy again, letting him choose the musicians, with some of them having played on the last album,” says Gilbert who recorded the 13 tracks over five days in Eastcote Studios in London. “They know how I work. I play the song to them on the piano, we rehearse it a few times, and then we do a take. No rocket science involved.
“There’s an element of a Sixties feel to a couple of tracks that I really liked, re-mixed with another producer in the USA, Tony Hoffer, who’s well respected in the production field, and it’s worked out really well on the album.”
The poster for Gilbert O’Sullivan’s tour, Celebrating 60 Years Of Music. Picture: Park Promotions
One song in particular addresses the ageing process. “We have a track called Growing Old Disgracefully, which I was anxious to get done before anyone else pinched it!” says Gilbert.
“We also have a song with a choir, made up of studio singers, to sing the chorus to See Us Gone. That song deals with the end of the world, Putin, and what’s going on now. That fear that one day someone is going to press that bl**dy button and we’ll all be gone.
“That’s what I like when writing songs. My songs are like newspapers with the common denominators as headlines, so you can incorporate things that are going on in the world, like on Nothing Rhymed too.”
Heading out on his 22-date tour from September 1 to November 8, pianist Gilbert travels with his own keyboard, rather than relying on each venue to provide him with a piano. “This keyboard allows me to face the audience, and the sound I get is proper sounding, with electric piano for a couple of songs,” he says.
“I have five instruments now, including one in Nashville, one in Ireland and one in Denmark. They’re kept by people I’m working with, who are happy to put them up.
“In the beginning, of course, I used a grand piano and my voice could sing in concert pitch, then one tuned one below concert pitch, and now I have buttons on my keyboard that allow me to be one tone below concert pitch and a semi-tone below concert pitch.
“Morrissey told me he liked my image,” says Gilbert O’Sullivan, pictured in his trademark garb when first making his name. Picture: Park Promotions
“It helps me because, as you get older, your voice drops and you have to drop your singing voice. I have a good voice but limited range so I make sure I’m in the right key.”
Gilbert conducts vocal exercises before each concert. “If you don’t have a good voice, forget it,” he says. “I look after my voice. I’ve had no issues, thank goodness.”
He has lived on the island of Jersey for more than 30 years, having moved there with his wife, Aase, to raise their two daughters. “I love it here. It’s just home,” says Gilbert, who has a studio there. “I’m not a social animal. I go on my walks; home life is great.
“My daughters look after the business for me. Tara is on the internet, doing the social media, which is so important for musicians now.”
Summing up 60 years of songwriting, Gilbert concludes: “Why are we able to keep doing it? You do it because of your love of music. You love what you’re hearing. You hear the chords of Burt Bacharach? You want that. I’m a rhythm pianist, I can’t tinkle the ivories, but we have the ability to write music because we love what we hear.”
Gilbert O’Sullivan, 60 Years Of Music 2026 Autumn Tour, Grand Opera House, York, September 22, doors 7.30pm; St George’s Hall, Bradford, September 27, doors 7.30pm; CAST, Doncaster, October 1, 7.30pm (sold out); Harrogate Theatre, October 30. Box office: York, 0333 009 6690 or atgtickets.com/york; Bradford, 01274 432000 or bradford-theatres.co.uk/st-georges-hall; Doncaster, for returns only, 01302 303959 or castindoncaster.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
The artwork for Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 21st studio album, On The Record, to be released on November 6 on BMG
Mary Anning Rocks at the Yorkshire Museum, York. Picture: Antony Chappel Ross
DINOSAUR museum adventures and the CBeebies house party, CHIC’s good times on the coast and Sparks’ York return after 52 years offer contrasts aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s choices for the days ahead.
Last-chance holiday activities: Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York, open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm
AS the school summer holidays enter their final fortnight, the Yorkshire Museum invites visitors to “make the most of the interactive activities, craft sessions and amazing exhibits before term starts again”.
Grab a dinosaur backpack to explore the Mary Anning and Jurassic galleries in dino-themed entertainment for younger ones, while spotting fossils and dino bones on their adventures on August 21, 24 or 28. The final Melsonby Hoard treasure trove crafting session will be held on August 26, although Viking beaded jewellery and bug brooch making are available every day through the summer break. Pay once to receive all these free activities and unlimited return visits for a year. Tickets: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.
No common ground: Pandora Clifford’s Mags and Liz Garland’s Liz in Handbagged at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2013 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Magic Numbers: Brothers and sisters in unison at The Crescent
Siblings of the week:An Evening With The Magic Numbers, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.30pm
THE Magic Numbers combine two pairs of siblings, Romeo & Michele Stodart and Sean & Angela Gannon, who are known for their unique harmonies, melodic hooks, songwriting craftsmanship and timeless sound, exemplified by Forever Lost, Love Me Like You and Love Is A Game across five albums. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Nile Rodgers: Performing with CHIC at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: Nile Rodgers & CHIC, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates open at 6pm
IN the final Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert of the summer, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner and composer, producer, arranger and guitarist Nile Rodgers returns to the Yorkshire coast for the third time with CHIC, the New York City R&B and soul band he co-founded with Bernard Edwards.
Expect such disco dancefloor fillers as Le Freak, Good Times, We Are Family and I’m Coming Out. Acid jazz combo Brand New Heavies support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael: Playing York after 52-year hiatus on August 25. Picture: Munachi Osegbu
York gig of the week: Sparks, York Barbican, August 25, doors open at 7pm
CULT Californian pop-rock pioneers Sparks play York for the first time since 1974 on their 2025-2026 world tour, coinciding with this month’s release of latest album Live On The Moon.
The Mael brothers, Ron (keyboards), 81, and Russell (vocals), 77, are lining up a euphoric, career-spanning set, picking from such hits as This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Amateur Hour, Something For The Girl With Everything, Looks, Looks, Looks, The Number One Song In Heaven and Beat The Clock. Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The poster for CBeebies House Party Live! at York Barbican
Children’s show of the week: CBeebies House Party Live!, York Barbican, August 26, 11am and 2pm
DIRECTED by CBeebies superstar Justin Fletcher, CBeebies House Party Live! is a fun-packed family stage show full of sensational songs, stupendous surprises and mega moments.
Throwing an epic party just for you will be special guest Mr Tumble, Mister Maker, York Theatre Royal pantomime alumni Andy Day and Evie Pickerill, Duggee, Nigel Clarke and George Webster, who promise dancing, singing, streamers, giant jellies, bubbles galore and a CBeebies bedtime story. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Lee Gemmell’s Egyptology student Edward Bellingham in Baron Productions’ The Mummy Lot No. 249
Thriller of the month: Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Mummy Lot No. 249, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, August 28 & 29, 7.30pm
FOUNDED by Daniel Wilmot in 2015, York company Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1892 one-act play The Mummy Lot No. 249 as its 2026 summer show, in which Oxford student Abercrombie Smith discovers his neighbour, Egyptology student Edward Bellingham, has used ancient magic to reanimate a malevolent mummy to terrorise and attack his rivals.
Wilmot’s cast features Jack McAdam as Smith, Lee Gemmell as Bellingham, M. Alder as Peterson, Lauren Hegarty as Hastie and Ellie Guffick as Monkhouse Lee. Box office: https://www.ticketsource.com/baron-productions.
The artwork for the interactive Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote at Milton Rooms, Malton
Crime detection games ahead: Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 2, 7.30pm
HOSTED by super-fan, playwright and PopHorror co-producer Tim Benzie, cult event Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote comes to Malton with an interactive screening of NBC Universal Television’s classic Murder, She Wrote episode A Fashionable Way To Die, wherein Jessica Fletcher visits Paris to support her friend’s fashion show, but soon a murder takes place that only she (or you) can solve.
Combining games, prizes and audience participation, Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote features a race to solve the crime, via the Fameometer and the Suspiciometer; a Cabot Cove quiz; a singalong to the theme tune with new lyrics, plus clips and biographies of the campy guest stars. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Snake Davis Band: Heading back to Helmsley Arts Centre
Return upcoming: The Snake Davis Band, Everlasting Love Tour, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 12, 7.30pm
SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis is “so happy to be back at Helmsley Arts Centre yet again”, this time showcasing new tunes and his new album on the Everlasting Love Tour with his four-piece band featuring guitar, bass guitar and drums.
The set will span “floaty to danceable, soul and Northern Soul to pop, jazz to world”, embracing original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train, as Snake swaps performing arena and stadium gigs with stellar acts for playing intimate venues with his own music choices and favourite musicians. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Michelle Yim in The Ballad Of Mulan, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Malcolm Tam
Tour show announcement of the week: Red Dragonfly Productions & Grist To The Mill Productions present The Ballad Of Mulan, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 12, 7.45pm; September 12, 2pm & 7.45pm
COMMISSIONED and performed by West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress Michelle Yim, The Ballad Of Mulantells the story of the real woman behind the legendary Chinese female warrior who disguised as a man to join the Empire’s army – and inspired Disney’s animation and live-feature Mulan.
Woman, warrior, legend, for ten years Mulan has fought for the Chinese Empire. Now, after one last battle, she will be going home, but can she return to her old life, becoming a woman again? Yim’s hour-long The Ballad Of Mulan presents a search for identity in a violent world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ron and Russell Mael: Bringing Sparks back to York after a 52-year hiatus. Picture: Munachi Osegbu
CULT Californian pop-rock pioneers Sparks will play York for the first time in 52 years on their 2025-2026 world tour on August 25.
The Mael brothers, Ron (keyboards) and Russell (vocals), will take to the York Barbican stage in one of two dates added in June to a British itinerary already booked into London, Glasgow, Blackpool, Bournemouth and Bristol. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe have been on their travel list too.
Their last York appearance came at the University of York on November 2 1974, they year when Sparks rose to fame with This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us and Amateur Hour, both from the album Kimono My House.
Ron, now 81, and Russell, 77, are lining up a career-spanning set next Tuesday on the back of their 28th studio album, 2024’s MAD!, its companion EP, MADDER!, and now Sparks Live On The Moon, released on double CD and download/stream on August 14, to be followed by the limited-edition moon-coloured, marbled double LP, available exclusively from the band’s store at https://store.allsparks.com/ ahead of its September 4 release.
The album cover artwork for Sparks’ 2026 live album, Sparks Live On The Moon
The eternally adventurous, boundary-pushing Mael brothers achieve another first with this 20-track performance, captured in all its heavenly glory, complete with intro and outro contributions by actress Cate Blanchett.
“After our 2025 World Tour, Sparks accepted an invitation to do a special one-off concert on the Moon, more precisely at the Taruntius Crater, near Mare Fecunditatis,” say Ron and Russell, in an announcement from Earth 2026.
“Honoured to be the first band to perform on the Moon, let alone at the beautiful Taruntius Crater, we couldn’t have imagined the lunar fan interest, with all tickets being grabbed up within an hour, Coordinated Lunar Time (CLT). Thank you, Moon!
“And a big thank-you to Cate Blanchett for taking the time out of her busy schedule to accompany us on this journey and perform emcee duties at this special concert. What a riot Cate was on the mission’s four-day flight, helping us pass the time with hours of gravitational-pull jokes and the like!
The poster for Sparks’ York Barbican debut
“So sit back, close your eyes and imagine the wondrous setting, and enjoy Sparks Live On The Moon.”
The track listing is: So May We Start; Do Things My Own Way; Reinforcements; Academy Award Performance; Goofing Off; Beat the Clock; Please Don’t F*** Up My World; Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab; Suburban Homeboy (“Ron Speaks” Version); All You Ever Think About Is Sex; Drowned In A Sea Of Tears; JanSport Backpack; Music That You Can Dance To; When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”; The Number One Song In Heaven; This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us; Whippings And Apologies; Lord Have Mercy; The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte and All That.
The live album comes ahead of a final run of shows for 2026 that will see Sparks return to Southend-on-Sea, as well as York, for the first time since 1974, alongside a highly-anticipated set at Green Man Festival, Crickhowell, on August 23, and dates in France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Sparks formed in Los Angeles, California, when Ron and Russell, raised in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, established the band in 1968 while attending UCLA. Now known as “your favourite band’s favourite band”, the duo went on to inspire artists such as Joy Division, Squeeze, Depeche Mode, Björk, Beck and latterly The Last Dinner Party. As producer Jack Antonoff once put it: “All pop music is re-arranged Sparks.”
The album cover artwork for Sparks’ 2024 album, Mad!
After the 1974 springboard of This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us and Amateur Hour, they notched further chart success with Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (1974); Something For The Girl With Everything (1975); Get In The Swing (1975); Looks, Looks, Looks (1975); The Number One Song In Heaven (1979); Beat The Clock (1979); When Do I Get To Sing “My Way” (1994 & 1995); When I Kiss You (I Hear Charlie Parker Playing) (1994) and This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us, with Faith No More (1997).
In 2021, the Maels were the subject of Edgar Wright’s documentary The Sparks Brothers. That year too, the brothers conceived, wrote and scored visionary French filmmaker Leos Carax’s surreal, dark, meta-fictional rock opera, Annette, which charted the tragic romance between a provocative stand-up comedian and a world-renowned opera singer, whose lives are upended by the birth of their mysterious child.
Earlier this year, Sparks supported Gorillaz at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20, having joined Damon Albarn and co on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 9 to perform The Happy Dictator, a collaboration featured on Gorillaz’s 2026 album The Mountain.
Extras tickets were released in June for Sparks’ York Barbican debut but have since sold out. Doors will open at 7pm next Tuesday.Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer supports. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Pianist Katya Apekisheva: “Delivered an account of Berg’s single-movement Piano Sonata, Op 1 that you are unlikely to hear bettered”
THE best-kept secret in the world of chamber music is up and running once again. This 18th year’s theme celebrates the wonders of Creation and is titled accordingly. Fittingly, this includes six premieres over the festival fortnight, at all of which the composers concerned will be present.
The sheer statistics are worth a glance. Over the course of 13 concerts, there will be 58 pieces from 32 different composers covering 300 years to the present. Most featured are Thomas Adès and Schumann with six pieces each, followed by Beethoven and Mozart with four apiece.
There are 28 performers involved, all of them outstanding in their field, including many who return year after year and have become audience favourites.
For those new to the festival, it should be mentioned that although the programmes are published in advance, the names of the actual performers are only revealed just before each event – which adds an anticipatory frisson.
This year’s Young Artists Ensemble is the Davidoff Trio, who had the honour of opening proceedings, which encompassed Opus 1 pieces by Beethoven, Schumann, Berg and Mendelssohn. The outstanding feature of the trio’s treatment of Beethoven’s Op 1, No 1 in E flat was the intelligent pianism of Yona Sophia Jutzi. She maintained an ideal balance with her partners along with smooth momentum.
The ‘Mannheim skyrocket’ of the opening theme had a crisp staccato in all three voices. By contrast, the unusual Rondo slow movement was notable for the pianist’s rubato and the cellist’s interjections.
Much was made of the contrast between the pianissimo opening of the Scherzo and the more robust moments later. There was sparkling wit in the finale, taken at particularly brisk pace, with the strings handling its Mozart-style chromaticism with panache.
Roman Kosyakov highlighted the vitality in Schumann’s Op 1, his Abegg Variations for piano, his first foray into musical acrostics, since the letters of the name (with B representing the note B flat) are the theme that he develops. Kosyakov was clearly aware that their style was largely derived from Chopin and he milked it cleverly, particularly in the highly decorated fourth variation.
Katya Apekisheva, a long-time favourite here, delivered an account of Berg’s single-movement Piano Sonata, Op 1 that you are unlikely to hear bettered. She was totally attuned to the idiom of extremely late Romantic harmony composed when Berg was still a pupil of Schoenberg. Her touch and attention to detail were impeccable, notably as she built towards its big climax.
Mendelssohn’s First Piano Quartet, Op 1 in C minor, brought a third pianist to the podium, Daniel Lebhardt, in company with violinist Charlotte Scott, viola player Elliott Perks and cellist and festival director Jamie Walton. It proved a superb combination. Its opus number belies the work’s extraordinary maturity, which was apparent in the relentlessly detailed piano role in the first movement. Lebhardt handled it impeccably.
There was a truly Romantic soulfulness in the Adagio, largely coloured by the lower two strings. The excitement in the scherzo gave it a sense of acceleration and a power cut during the trio was weathered faultlessly. Battery lights were brought on before the finale which, despite its moderato marking, was taken at a fair clip, growing in intensity into a thrilling coda.
Review by Martin Dreyer
North York Moors Chamber Music Festival continues until August 22. For the full programme, visit: northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
SmART Gallery charity art sale organiser Jo Dalgleish
AS many as 180 artists will be taking part in the fundraising SmART Gallery art sale on Sunday, August 30 from 11am to 2.30pm in South Bank, York.
Pictures at this outdoor art gallery will be displayed on the York Racecourse fence that runs from Campleshon Road along Racecourse Road.
“It’s a totally inclusive art gallery, created by the community, for the community, all to raise money for two great charitable causes: our voluntary work in Sierra Leone and the Christmas Crisis appeal,” says SmART organiser Jo Dalgleish.
“The idea is that we produce homemade canvases, sell them blank for £10, then ask the artist to donate them back to SmART for the gallery. On the opening day we’ll have live music, stalls, a cafe and a grand sealed bid auction of all the paintings.
“All money raised on the day goes to charity. All the paintings that are not sold will remain on the fence for the year as an outdoor art gallery for the community to enjoy.”
Among the artists contributing artworks will be Yohanna, a ten-year-old refugee from Ethiopia; Tadcaster artist Beth Elsdon; Di Wood, Jo’s friend from her York schooldays, who now lives Inverness, from where she will post her canvas to Jo, and part-time artist Sally Ellen Barlow, who has exhibited for six years and has had a piece licensed and sold globally by IKEA.
Jo’s two-year-old grandson, Oskar Carlyle, has created his first canvas entitled Wisteria, after watching his Great Grandad’s creeper being pruned while on holiday in France. By way of contrast, probably the oldest participant is Tessa Bailey, who has just retired as an artist at the age of 80.
The Huntington Art Group of professional and amateur artists, Caroline, Julia, Kevin, Jackie, Maureen, Linda and Steve, will be exhibiting for the second year.
“On show too will be works by Leah, Aggie, Rose and Maddie, four girls at college wanting to be paramedics or midwives, who all want to join our group going to do voluntary work in Sierra Leone next Easter,” says Jo.
Artworks on show at the SmART Gallery charity art sale in 2025
“Part-time artist Nick Clapham got involved because his sister has been going to Sierra Leone for years as she helped set up the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum! Nick gets many of his friends and families involved and drives over to York to deliver everybody’s canvases.”
Jo continues: “A number of young people and staff from Lord Gowthorpe’s Independent School for young people with autism, where I work, will be exhibiting too.
“Angela Atkin had never painted canvases before the beginning of the SmART Gallery, but, living on Knavesmire Crescent, she wanted to support the event during Covid, so she learnt how to paint and now exhibits every year, along with getting all her family involved.”
Contributing too will be Bob Anderton, a well respected and long-time York artist, who, among other credits, was instrumental in the restoration of the Holgate Windmill, in Windmill Rise, York.
Look out for a work by Tim Blake, Jo’s brother, who was born in York but now lives in London and works as an art director and production designer, latterly on the films Shelter and Hamnet.
Pictures will be displayed in full on August 30. “We’re hoping to sell as many as possible but at least half are taken down and taken by the buyers; the rest of them stay up on the fence till next year!” says Jo.
“Every year we have one stolen – very annoying – despite the fact there are clear signs saying they’re still for sale and the money is all for charity! We usually continue to sell those left out in dribs and drabs, all year, to be honest.
“This year we sold two after they’d been up for around ten months! They did look a little worse for wear! But, depending on what medium has been used, they can look as good as new after a year.
“Once taken down, a year later, they progress to the Alley Art Gallery on the walls of the alley between Knavesmire Crescent and Curzon Terrace! This has a sign at the top explaining.”
Doubles troubles: Husband-and-wife strife for Helen Clarke’s Margo and Jamie McKeller’s ageing club champ, Lionel, in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Magpies’ folk festival, Sue Slack’s landscape paintings and The Basement’s new comedy club should outshine this evening’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until Saturday, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday show
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax on the Scarborough coast
Coastal gig of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, Friday, gates 6pm
FLAMBOYANT, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill on Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Grim reading: Pandora Clifford’s Mags (a younger Margaret Thatcher) flicking through the headlines in Handbagged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2013 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their annual folk festival at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, Friday and Saturday. SOLD OUT
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, Saturday & Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on Saturday
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, Saturday, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Nice touch: Chloe Petts feeling lippy about playing Basement Comedy Club’s debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch gig, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
More Things To Do in York and beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 33, from The York Press, from August 15 onwards
Squash on the tennis court: Effie Warboys’ insufferably spoilt Chessie, front left, pushing around her doubles partner, Alexa Williams’s Belle, in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? In the background are Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony. Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Basement’s comedy launch night and Johnny Depp’s Scarborough return spark Charles Hutchinson’s curiosity.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15, 4.30pm, 6pm & 7.30pm
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 15 and 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market has returned for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day on the third of three weekends, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Cut Capers: Headlining Main Stage at The Magpies Festival on August 15
Folk festival fully booked: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, August 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents today’s line-up on the Main Stage of Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm).
The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on August 15
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, August 15, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Hollywood Vampires: Joe Perry, left, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen
Coastal gig of the week: Hollywood Vampires, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 15, gates 6pm
NAMED after Alice Cooper’s 1970s’ drinking club, American rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires return to Scarborough after their sold-out 2023 gig with the regular line-up of Cooper, film star and guitarist Johnny Depp, Aerosmith co-founder Joe Perry and Crossbone Skully and Warlock musician Tommy Henriksen. Punk icons The Damned support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.
Sara Barron: Compere for Basement Comedy Club debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch show, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, August 16, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-e-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, August 16, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Silent Disco falls even more silent
CANCELLED:Glasswerk presents Day Fever Silent Disco, York Museum Gardens, August 21, 6.30pm
YORK Museum Gardens will no longer be transformed into “the ultimate outdoor dance floor” for Day Fever’s first ever Silent Disco under the stars that would have followed the organisers’ series of York Barbican indoor events.
“It’s really simple,” said Day Fever’s co-organiser, actress Vicky McClure, before the late cancellation. “Everyone gets a pair of headphones. You’ll be connected to a Day Fever DJ, who will be playing non-stop Day Fever anthems from 6.30pm until 10m. Sing as loud as you like – no-one can hear.” Ticket refunds: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/York/Museum-Gardens/Day-Fever-Silent-Disco/42485814/.
Michelle Yim in The Ballad Of Mulan, on tour at York Theatre Royal.
Show announcement of the week: Red Dragonfly Productions & Grist To The Mill Productions present The Ballad Of Mulan, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 12, 7.45pm; September 12, 2pm & 7.45pm
COMMISSIONED and performed by West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress Michelle Yim, The Ballad Of Mulan tells the story of the real woman behind the legendary Chinese female warrior who disguised as a man to join the Empire’s army – and inspired Disney’s animation and live-feature Mulan.
Woman, warrior, legend, for ten years Mulan has fought for the Chinese Empire. Now, after one last battle, she will be going home, but can she return to her old life, becoming a woman again. Yim’s hour-long The Ballad Of Mulan presents a search for identity in a violent world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
On the stretch: Jamie McKeller’s Lionel and Stuart Lindsay’s Charles limbering up for a doubles match in Summer Sonnets’ What The Deuce? at Holy Trinity Churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
ROSY Rowley and Stuart Green, partners off court, are the new doubles partnership for York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-themed 2026 Summer Sonnets.
Familiar figures on the York stage, they have switched to directing and writing YSP’s regular summer enterprise, wherein ten of the Bard’s sonnets are performed within a framework that changes each year.
Courtly love takes on a new meaning in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, set in the summertime, when the weather is fine at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club as four doubles teams compete for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament.
Ace partnership: What The Deuce? director Rosy Rowley and script writer Stuart Greenputting top spin on York Shakespeare Project’sSummer Sonnets with novel tennis theme
Sporting endeavour clashes with unsporting behaviour when partnerships and rivalries on court undermine partnerships off court, taking rivalries to break point in a surfeit of subterfuge and sabotage. “Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?” ask Green and Rowley, who duly reach for a volley of tennis puns, put away with the flourish of a Federer.
Free drink in hand – alas not Robinsons Lemon Barley Water, but then again Robinsons’ partnership with Wimbledon ended after 86 years in 2022 – the audience settled into seating repositioned by 90 degrees in the Holy Trinity Churchyard.
The cast now performs with the sound of the Chinese restaurant kitchen fans on Goodramgate now behind or to the side of them: an excellent decision that ensures vocal clarity. In addition, Rowley has her actors delivering from closer to the audience, again ensuring no line is lost.
Alan Sharp’s groundsman (in a change of rock band T-shirt from the one referenced in this review) receiving the first of multiple instructions from the tennis club chair, Christine Bramwell’s Elizabeth, in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
York tour guide Alan Sharp is no stranger to speaking on the move, above street noise, and here he does so as the phlegmatic, weather-beaten, worldly-wise groundsman Graham, whose every line is either delivered in iambic pentameter in Stuart Green’s script or is one of the Bard’s smattering of tennis references (or real tennis as it would have been at that time), from Henry V to Hamlet.
In his System Of A Down Mine Is Bigger Than Yours T-shirt and shorts, Sharp’s Graham will open and close the show and make regular interjections to carry out handyman tasks, reappearing with a plunger, rubber gloves, replacement barley water bottle and finally an old-school groundsman’s line marker (with the obligatory squeak). It is a standard-fit line marker, by the way, rather than bigger than yours.
The churchyard grass is not converted into a tennis court (games are conducted as ‘noises off’), but serves as the club grounds where all the shenanigans take place.
Drinks break: Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony sip the barley water in a joke that will run and run in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? as Stuart Lindsay’s Charles looks on. Picture: John Saunders
Each time the drama heightens, invariably in a heated discussion, rather than bursting into song in opera or musical theatre, a protagonist moves seamlessly into sonnet mode, and come the 50-minute mark, all ten will have unburdened themselves in Shakespeare’s silver tongue.
We meet Christine Bramwell’s ever-enthusiastic club chair Elizabeth; her doubles partner, Helen Clarke’s Margo, wife to Jamie McKeller’s ageing club champ, whose doubles partner, Stuart Lindsay’s Charles, is wont to hiding behind trees, desperate to win Margo rather more than his matches.
Of the young things, Oscar Langford’s Harry is a loyal partner to James Robert Ball’s Tony, in more ways than tennis as it becomes increasingly apparent, but Lionel and Margo’s spoilt-brat, posh and pushy daughter Chessie (Effie Warboys, whose birthday falls tomorrow) wants Harry to hurry up in his affections for her. “I’m practically club royalty,” she scoffs, making a racket at every toss and turn.
Squash on the tennis court: Effie Warboys’ insufferably spoilt Chessie, front left, pushing around her doubles partner, Alexa Williams’s Belle. In the background are Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony. Effie will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow. Picture: John Saunders
Her long-suffering best friend Belle (Alexa Williams) has the hots for Harry too. Meanwhile, club newcomer Vic (Sarah McKeagney), in jeans and Gorillaz T-shirt, is on the lookout for a partner, as we watch everything play out game, set and match, fair game, re-set and mis-match, with delightful mischief in Green’s plot and Rowley’s direction alike.
“Only in tennis does ‘love’ mean you are losing,” laments Lindsay’s Charles in Green’s best line, although Charles’s “I had Brazilian last night,” prompting a misunderstanding Lionel to enquire “Chafing?” is a peach too. Easy mis-steak to make!
All the familiar Shakespeare comedy tropes are present and freshly spun from mistaken identity to a potion in the barley water, cross-dressing to mistaken identity; revenge to lust and unrequited love. You will be rushing home to check whether Mexican Donkey Laxative actually exists.
Sarah McKeagney: One of eight York Shakespeare Project debutants in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, playing tennis club newcomer Vic at Holy Trinity Churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
What The Deuce is YSP’s ninth season of summertime sonnets and third at Holy Trinity, where Rowley and Green have certainly supplied new balls, please, with their rallying call enticing eight of the cast to make both their Sonnets and YSP debut.
Whether Sonnet Walks or Sit-Down Sonnets, Sonnets at the Bar [Convent], Sonnets in Bloom in 2025 or tennis fun and games in 2026, this event remains one of the joys of the York outdoor theatre year for performers, audience and venues alike. You cannot be serious? Very much so.
York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, play resumes tomorrow until Saturday, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm Saturday show. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Doubles troubles ahead: Helen Clarke’s Margo and her husband, Jamie McKeller’s Lionel, the ageing club champ in Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
Donna Maria Taylor in her South Bank Studios studio
GEORGIAN celebrations, a brace of art fairs, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court and The Magpies’ folk festival should outshine Wednesday’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.
Artists in situ: South Bank Studios’ Summer Artists Open Doors, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York, today, 10am to 4pm
MEET the South Bank artists and makers who work in a broad range of disciplines, from textile art, painting, drawing and photography, to mixed media, letterpress and linocut printmaking.
Visit their studios to see their creative processes in a day of art to buy, art demonstrations and activities, including the loft studios, not usually on view to the public. The cafe will be open for refreshments. Entry is free; all welcome.
Masquerade Ball at the 2026 York Georgian Festival tonight
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, until August 10
HIGHLIGHTING the sights and sounds of 18th century life, York Mansion House and beyond plays host to the fourth York Georgian Festival in a festival programme that ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the York Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms tonight. Talk, tours, performances and workshops feature too. For full listings and booking details, go to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.
Carlton Main Colliery Band: Brass At The Proms at Selby Abbey
Rousing concert of the week: Brass At The Proms, Carlton Main Colliery Band, Selby Abbey, tonight, 7pm
JOIN Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band on its return to the former coalfield town of Selby for a Last Night of the Proms brass concert featuring a vibrant mix of rousing favourites. Seating in the Main Nave will be allocated, with seat and row numbers; Rear Nave seating will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.
Futureproof’s logo for a night of poetry, drag, monologues and comedy
Art and science bonding exercise of the week: Futureproof presents Opposites Attract Scratch Night, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.30pm
EIGHT acts perform a mixture of poetry, drag, monologues and comedy. Expect biochemistry, molecular biology, sewing, chalk stream-inspired dance and more tonight.
The theme, Opposites Attract, derives from the idea that many things will give people joy, purpose, belonging and entertainment — such as maths and science — that seem to be mutually exclusive to theatre. Futureproof invites creatives to consider these ostensible contrasts, alongside the concept that theatre is meant to reflect our world and/or be a tool to create new ones. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Comedy event of the week: Kevin Bridges: Warm Up, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 8pm
CLYDEBANK comedian Kevin Bridges performs two warm-up shows in York ahead of his UK stand-up tour Here If You Need Me. Tonight’s gig has sold out but tickets are still available for tomorrow, as well as for his Leeds First Direct Bank Arena tour show on November 19. Box office: York, atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, axs.com/uk/events/1240964/kevin-bridges-tickets?skin=leeds.
On the stretch: Jamie McKeller’s Lionel, left, and Stuart Lindsay’s Charles limbering up for the doubles in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until August 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster fort York River Art Market 2026. Illustration by Elliot Harrison (@York360)
Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, today and tomorrow, then August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
York River Art Market 2026 organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Tribute gig of the week: SWT presents Pulp’d vs Blur 2, Milton Rooms, Malton, today, 8pm
PULP’D and Blur2 team up for a double-header of Britpop royalty tonight. Born and raised in Sheffield, passionate Pulp fans Pulp’d came together to re-create the hits, passion and Jarvis Cocker moves.
Blur2 bring the very best of Blur to every show: the energy, the fun, the sound, the looks and the musicianship of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and co. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Scissor Sisters: Heading to the Scarborough coast tonight
Coastal gigs of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Scissor Sisters, today; Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, August 14, gates 6pm
AFTER their 2025 UK arena reunion tour and that summer’s Saturday night Glastonbury set, Scissor Sisters bring their trademark blend of glam, grit and glorious to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend. Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and co will be rolling out such favourites as Take Your Mama, Laura, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin, Let’s Have A Kiki, Only The Horses and Filthy/Gorgeous.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax in Scarborough
Flamboyant, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill next Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival at Sutton Park
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 14 and 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents next Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
Next Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Composer Thomas Adès: Presenting new composition at Creation-themed North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Marco Borggreve
In Focus: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 8 to 22
THE North York Moors Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 18th consecutive year with the premieres of six works by contemporary British composers.
Aptly named Creation, the 2026 festival will run from August 8 to 22, featuring new compositions by Thomas Adès, Huw Watkins (both of whom will perform at the festival), Charlotte Bray, Tom Coult, Isabella Gellis and Helen Grime.
“Our 2026 festival celebrates the wonder of beginnings and features six newly commissioned premieres that evoke the six days of the universe’s creation, woven through the festival theme, by six of our country’s very finest composers,” says festival director and cellist Jamie Walton.
Charlotte Bray: Premiering That Which You Wove Of Lightest Thread, I Wear To Honour Stone at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: David Beecroft
“As part of this narrative, the Sabbath (Sunday) remains a day of rest – and each concert includes works that were themselves groundbreaking or innovative in their time, reflecting music’s timeless power to create, to renew, and to tell a universal story through sound.”
Jamie continues: “Thomas Adès is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest living composers, so it’s a real coup to have him both write for us and come to premiere the piece, Flower Variations [in the Landspeak concert on August 14 at 7pm at Welburn Manor].
“We’re really proud of the fact that, alongside these six outstanding composers, we have such a stellar line-up of international artists.
Helen Grime: Premiering Time Be Brief. Picture: Benjamin Ealovega
“We’re also continuing to champion visual artists from the moors in the brochure, pairing their work with concert titles. We’ve done this for the past two years and it’s a wonderful way to cross-pollinate and collaborate with more artists.”
Charlotte Bray’s piece for horn and string quartet, That Which You Wove Of Lightest Thread, I Wear To Honour Stone, will be accompanied by a collaborative artwork by Caroline Burraway, exhibited on stage at St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge during The Dividing Line performance on August 13 at 2pm.
Isabella Gellis’s Creation will be premiered in August 11’s Dialogue concert at St Hilda’s, Danby, at 2pm; Helen Grime’s Time Be Brief, at Metamorphoses concert, Welburn Abbey, August 15, 7pm; Huw Watkins’s Oboe Quartet, The Architect’s Hand concert, St Mary’s, Lastingham, August 18, 2pm, and Tom Coult’s Two Nocturnes and A Maze, in its UK premiere, Nightfall concert, Welburn Abbey, August 20, 7pm.
Huw Watkins: Premiering his Oboe Quartet in festival appearance. Picture: Benjamin Ealovega
The festival will take place in four historic moorland churches – St Hilda’s, Danby, St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge, St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham – along with the majority of concerts being staged in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside, where the acoustically-treated venue has been enlarged this year to reflect the festival’s increasing popularity.
The festival was named a Best of British Fund Winner 2026 by Airbnb, representing Yorkshire as part of the North York Moors Beacon for the Arts.
Jamie says: “Our festival celebrates the art of collaboration in an awe-inspiring setting, taking our audience on a musical quest each year through interwoven themes within a central storyline.
Isabella Gellis: Premiering Creation in August 11’s Dialogue concert at St Hilda’s, Danby. Picture: Ella Pavlides
“Over 18 years, we have built a reputation for breaking down barriers to make exceptional music accessible to all, fostering community and cultural connection through friendship and trust. Uncompromising even amid pandemic challenges, our festival was one of the few to present full, live performances in 2020 and 2021.
“August, when the heather is in full bloom, brings the North York Moors to life. Artists are immersed in the National Park, rehearsing and living in a deeply holistic environment, while audiences are welcome to enjoy picnics on the grounds of Welburn Manor, attend concerts, and explore the region’s historic churches and priories.”
The event continues to attract international artists, 28 this year, many of them committing to the entire fortnight by taking up residencies in a festival of 13 concerts featuring 58 chamber works from 32 composers spanning 300 years to the present day.
Tom Coult: Premiering Two Nocturnes and A Maze on August 20. Picture: Matthew Johnson
This year, these include Alena Baeva, Benjamin Baker, Oliver Cave, Oliver Heath, Alessandro Ruisi and Charlotte Scott (violin); Sascha Bota, Meghan Cassidy, Emma Wernig and Simone van der Giessen (viola); Rebecca Gilliver, Tim Posner and Jamie Walton (cello) and Will Duerden (double bass).
Taking part too are: Thomas Adès, Katya Apekisheva, Joseph Havlat, Roman Kosyakov, Daniel Lebhardt and Huw Watkins (piano); Ben Goldscheider (French horn); Nicholas Daniel (oboe); Matthew Hunt (clarinet); Jonathan Davies (bassoon) and James Gilchrist (tenor). Completing the line-up will be the festival’s award-winning Young Artists ensemble, The Davidoff Trio.
“Our 2026 festival celebrates the wonder of beginnings and features six newly commissioned premieres that evoke the six days of the universe’s creation,” says North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
