Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her solo play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson
“I COULDN’T write like that at 25,” said John Godber, writer of more than 70 plays since the age of 21, after watching daughter Martha Godber on the first night of the York Theatre Royal Studio premiere of her solo show, Jesse North Is Broken.
In the back row of the Studio full house too were her mother, Jane Thornton, writer and director; sister Elizabeth, burgeoning playwright with credits at East Riding Theatre and Pocklington Arts Centre, and Nick Lane, Doncaster playwright and director, who has a long creative association with John Godber.
On the evidence of her hour-long play, Martha already has found her own forthright voice and theatrical rhythm to go with her formidable acting skills, last seen on the Theatre Royal stage in Godber senior’s hymn to Northern Soul, Do I Love You? in June 2025.
Directed with economy by Millie Gaston to match Martha’s intensity, Jesse North Is Broken is a spoken-word drama, performed against the backdrop of a white canvas, daubed with a skyline, and two neon lights of changing colours to either side. Martha utilises only one stool and no props or costume changes – even sparser than Godber senior’s Bouncers – as everything is conveyed through voice, physicality, facial expression and movement, drawing on the dance-floor shapes she paraded in Do I Love You?
Addressing the theme of working-class survival in Britain, Martha’s play takes place over one torrid day’s journey into the long, long Friday night and back to work at dawn without sleep. She is playing Hull care worker Jesse, 25, who is introduced to the audience in direct address on her latest £13.50-an-hour shift as she looks after her 94-year-old patient.
Martha’s Jesse will remain in her carer’s uniform throughout, in a constant reminder of her chaotic working conditions, but she will describe her dance-floor dress and later undress on her night out on gay best friend Jimmy’s birthday that ends in a one-night stand with a 6ft 2 stud, told in full detail from greasy kebab and bus journey, to the state of his bedroom and bathroom, and how he no longer looks so hunky afterwards.
The surging lust is interrupted both by Jimmy’s messages, wondering where she is, and by a carer colleague’s early-morning call, asking her to cover a shift for her. All is conducted with frank humour and confessional candour in Martha’s script, full of social observation and frustration at “the system”, while wryly capturing the ups and downs of a night out in Hull and the way the city moulds how she lives.
Like the kebab, the cheap thrills don’t last, the problems of being underpaid won’t go away, Jesse’s ADHD makes her all the more anxious, and yet she loves those in her care and wishes that carers and patients alike had a better deal.
As the title suggests, Jesse is broken on the wheel of an uncaring state that uses and exploits her, and more young women like her, but you sense she will be on the pull again next weekend.
“Is that all there is?”, Godber senior’s volcanic character Lucky Eric asked in his existential monologues in Bouncers. Almost 50 years later, Martha’s Jesse is asking that question again, and alas the answer is still the same, come Hull or high water.
John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.45pm, with post show-discussion; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.45pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Cone, by Alison Jagger, on show at WET Bar & Plates, York
FROM street photography to Jack The Ripper investigations, German comedy about the English weather to Canadian naughtiness, Charles Hutchinson highlights all manner of cultural delights ahead.
Photographic show of the week: Alison Jagger, After The Crowds, WET Bar & Plates, Micklegate, York, until June 3
AS a lone traveller and self-confessed free spirit, York street photographer Alison Jagger draws inspiration from the urban landscape, whose vitality she loves to capture with her mobile phone camera.
“There is nothing better than waking up in an unfamiliar city and recording its character, colour and vibrancy through my curious lens,” says Jagger. After The Crowds is the second in RARE Collective’s programme of solo exhibition at James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.
Exhibition of the week: Louise Davies and Glassmakers, Journey In Colour, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until July 4
PAINTINGS and etchings by South East London artist and printmaker Louise Davies are complemented by glass by Allister Malcolm, Madeleine Hughes, Margaret Burke, Charlie Burke and Amelia Burke.
Davies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, combines fluid lines and rich colour in vibrant landscape prints and oil paintings. Gallery owner Terry Brett drove to Stourbridge to pick up glass works by Malcolm and his workshop assistant, Hughes. Margaret Burke, son Charlie and his wife, hot glass specialist Amelia, run the hand-blown glass studio E&M Glass at The Old Bakery, Sarn Bridge, Malpas, Cheshire.
Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her new play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson
Solo show of the week:John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight,7.45pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm & 7.45pm
JESSE North, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, writer-performer Martha Godber’s play follows Jesse from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.
“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha, whose solo play is directed by Millie Gaston. A post-show discussion follows tonight’s performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for James Morrison’s 20 Years Of Undiscovered Tour, bound for York Barbican
Anniversary of the week: James Morrison, 20 Years Of Undiscovered, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
UNDISCOVERED was the number one debut album that changed everything for Rugby soul singer-songwriter and guitarist James Morrison (or James Morrison Catchpole to give him his full name). Back then, he was fitting carpets by day, playing open mics by night and driving up and down to London at any spare moment, taking meeting after meeting with multiple record companies.
On his 18-date May and June tour, 2007 British Male Solo Artist BRIT award winner Morrison is playing Undiscovered in its entirety in a set taking in big hits such as You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, fan favourites The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and This Boy, rarely performed gems One Last Chance and How Come and highlights from his six-album songbook, topped off by 2025’s Top Five success Fight Another Day. Cordelia supports. Tickets update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Wehn and where: Henning squeezing every German joke out of the British weather at Grand Opera House, York
York comedy gig of the week: Henning Wehn, Acid Wehn, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
GERMAN Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn takes an unbiased look at climate change. “It’s a topic sure to delight audiences and no surprise,” he says. “After all, everyone loves talking about the weather. Rain or shine, all will be fine. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows?! Come along. Or else.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Stephen Morgan’s show An Evening With Jack The Ripper
Reopening the greatest unsolved case in criminal history: Steve Morgan in An Evening With Jack The Ripper, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm
PRODUCER and broadcaster Steve Morgan conducts Ripper walks through London’s East End, where he retraces the steps of the notorious killer through the Whitechapel streets he stalked in 1888, when a series of women were murdered brutally between August and November.
The identity of the killer remains a mystery. Was he a doctor, a sailor, a soldier or some kind of religious zealot intent on ridding the streets of vice? Now Morgan has adapted his walk talk for the stage to explore the Ripper’s motives and investigate how he escaped detection. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
York Chamber Music Festival director and cellist Tim Lowe
Festival launch of the week: Tim Lowe (cello) & Stephen Gutman (piano), Gems Of The Romantic Cello, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm
DIRECTOR and cellist Tim Lowe previews the 2026 York Chamber Music Festival (September 11 to 13) in concert with pianist Stephen Gutman in a passionate exploration of expressive and beautiful works from the cello and piano repertoire.
Their programme will be the same as they played at St Mary le Strand, London, last Wednesday: Beethoven’s 12 Variations on See The Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus; Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No 1 in C Minor; Richard Strauss’s Cello Sonata in F Major and Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: Hand in hand for folk night at Helmsley Arts Centre
Folk gig of the week: Kathryn Roberts and Seth Lakeman, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
KATHRYN Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s creative bond spans 30 years, from being young trailblazers in 1990s’ folk supergroup Equation to twice being named Best Duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their live shows are brimful of charm, wit and musical mastery of songs of emotional depth, as captured on 2025’s Another Day At The Circus, their first live concert album. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Tom Stade: Naughty By Nature mischief-making
Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Tom Stade, Naughty By Nature, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
CANADIAN stand-up Tom Stade is back on the road with his 2025 Edinburgh Fringe hit, wherein he playfully dishes out more of his insightful observations in a night of mischievous and uncompromising comedy. His credits include the Have A Word Pod podcast, Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, The John Bishop Show and Live At The Apollo. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster for Scarborough Theatre Company’s first visit to Kirk Theatre, Pickering, with Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat
Musical of the week: Scarborough Theatre Company in Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, May 22, 7.30pm; May 23, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; May 24, 2.30pm
DIRECTED by Alex Weatherhill, Scarborough Theatre Company will be performing in Pickering for the first time, presenting Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s debut musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with a combination of unforgettable songs, dazzling costumes and electrifying energy.
Having staged The Addams Family, Kinky Boots, White Christmas and The Wizard Of Oz on the East Coast, now Weatherhill oversees a tale of betrayal, hope and triumph in a story that continues to inspire audiences of all ages, driven by pastiches of many musical styles. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Cone, by Alison Jagger, on show at WET Bar & Plates
FROM street photography to an introduction to ballet, sparring spiritualists to acidic German comedy about the English weather, Charles Hutchinson highlights all manner of cultural delights ahead.
Photographic show of the week: Alison Jagger, After The Crowds, WET Bar & Plates, Micklegate, York, until June 3
AS a lone traveller and self-confessed free spirit, York street photographer Alison Jagger draws inspiration from the urban landscape, whose vitality she loves to capture with her mobile phone camera.
“There is nothing better than waking up in an unfamiliar city and recording its character, colour and vibrancy through my curious lens,” says Jagger. After The Crowds is the second in RARE Collective’s programme of solo exhibition at James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.
English National Ballet School students in My First Ballet: Cinderella, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
Children’s show of the week: English National Ballet & English National Ballet School, My First Ballet: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, today, 10.30am and 2pm; tomorrow, 1pm and 3pm
MEET the nature-loving Cinderella, who lives on the edge of an enchanted forest where she once gardened and sang with her mother. After loss and silence settle over her home, she is left with a sharp-tongued stepmother, two noisy stepsisters and a house full of chores and shadows.
However, when a letter arrives, inviting all to a garden ball, Cinderella’s journey to find her true self begins, guided by the spirit of her mother and the magic of the forest. Using a narrator to help the young audience follow the story, and a shortened, recorded version of Prokofiev’s score, this introduction to ballet is choreographed byGeorge Williamson and performed by English National Ballet School Graduate Artists Programme students. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sparring spiritualists Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) and prickly mum Rosa (Frances Barber) in Rosa’s mobile home in York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
World premiere of the month: The Psychic, York Theatre Royal, until May 23
“IS any of it real,” ask Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman in The Psychic, the latest spook-fest from the writer-director duo behind Ghost Stories. In their twisted new thriller, popular TV psychic Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) loses a high-profile court case that brands her a charlatan, costing her not only her reputation but also a fortune in legal fees.
When a wealthy couple ask Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child, she senses an opportunity to bleed them for money. What follows makes her question everything she has ever believed, leading her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tenor Christopher O’Gorman
Lunchtime concert of the week: York Late Music presents Christopher Gorman (tenor) & Mark Hutchinson (piano), Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm
THE first complete performance of York composer Steve Crowther’s song settings of poems by late York writer Helen Cadbury will be given by tenor Christopher O’Gorman and pianist Mark Hutchinson this afternoon. The concert also features Richard Allain’s Three Shakespeare Sonnetsplus music by Emily Hall and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs Of Travel. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Exhibition opening of the week: Louise Davies and Glassmakers, Journey In Colour, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today, 11am to 2.30pm, until July 4
PAINTINGS and etchings by South East London artist and printmaker Louise Davies will be complemented by glass by Allister Malcolm, Madeleine Hughes, Margaret Burke, Charlie Burke and Amelia Burke.
Davies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, combines fluid lines and rich colour in vibrant landscape prints and oil paintings. Gallery owner Terry Brett drove to Stourbridge to pick up glass works by Malcolm and his workshop assistant, Hughes. Margaret Burke, son Charlie and his wife, hot glass specialist Amelia, run the hand-blown glass studio E&M Glass at The Old Bakery, Sarn Bridge, Malpas, Cheshire.
Bradley Creswick: Violin soloist at York Guildhall Orchestra’s concert tomorrow
Classical concert of the week: York Guildhall Orchestra Spring Concert, York Barbican, Sunday, 3pm
YORK Guildhall Orchestra continues its celebration of the works of German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist and critic Carl Maria von Weber, this time recognising his considerable input into the world of opera with the overture to Der Freischütz.
Tomorrow afternoon’s soloist will be Bradley Creswick, leader emeritus of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No 1. The second half features Verdi’s overture to his opera The Force Of Destiny, Britten’s Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes and Ravel’s orchestral showpiece La Valse. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson
Solo show of the week:John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, May 11 to 14, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday matinee
JESSE North, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, writer-performer Martha Godber’s play follows Jesse from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.
“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha, whose solo play is directed by Millie Gaston. A post-show discussion follows Wednesday’s performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for James Morrison’s 20 Years Of Undiscovered tour
Anniversary of the week: James Morrison, 20 Years Of Undiscovered, York Barbican, May 13, doors 7pm; Sheffield City Hall, May 23, doors 6.30pm
UNDISCOVERED was the number one debut album that changed everything for Rugby soul singer-songwriter and guitarist James Morrison (or James Morrison Catchpole to give him his full name). Back then, he was fitting carpets by day, playing open mics by night and driving up and down to London at any spare moment, taking meeting after meeting with multiple record companies.
On his 18-date May and June tour, 2007 British Male Solo Artist BRIT award winner Morrison is playing Undiscovered in its entirety in a set taking in big hits such as You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, fan favourites The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and This Boy, rarely performed gems One Last Chance and How Come and highlights from his six-album songbook, topped off by 2025’s Top Five success Fight Another Day. Cordelia supports. Tickets update: York, limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Sheffield, https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/james-morrison-sheffield-23-05-2026/event/35006367D9B1B6C6.
Wehn and where? Henning squeezing every German joke out of the British weather at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy gig of the week: Henning Wehn, Acid Wehn, Grand Opera House, York, May 14, 7.30pm
GERMAN Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn takes an unbiased look at climate change. “It’s a topic sure to delight audiences and no surprise,” he says. “After all, everyone loves talking about the weather. Rain or shine, all will be fine. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows?! Come along. Or else.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Tim Lowe: Launching 2026 York Chamber Music Festival with NCEM recital with Stephen Gutman
Festival launch of the week: Tim Lowe (cello) & Stephen Gutman (piano), Gems Of The Romantic Cello, National Centre for Early Music, York, May 15, 7.30pm
DIRECTOR and cellist Tim Lowe previews the 2026 York Chamber Music Festival (September 11 to 13) in concert with pianist Stephen Gutman in a passionate exploration of expressive and beautiful works from the cello and piano repertoire.
Their programme will be the same as they played at St Mary le Strand, London, on Wednesday: Beethoven’s 12 Variations on See The Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus; Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No 1 in C Minor; Richard Strauss’s Cello Sonata in F Major and Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
Cowboy Junkies: 40 years and counting
In Focus: Cowboy Junkies, Celebrating 40 Years And Beyond Tour, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, tonight; doors 7pm for 7.45pm start
Cowboy Junkies: 40 years and counting
TORONTO’S Cowboy Junkies are playing British venues for the first time since 2022 on April and May’s Celebrating 40 Years and Beyond tour, promoted by Hurricane Promotions. Next stop, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, tonight.
Coinciding with the 11-date itinerary, the Canadians have released a triple LP/ double CD/digital collection of songs from their 21st century releases, Open To Beauty.
Released on May 1 on Cooking Vinyl, this ‘Best Of’ set revisits selected tracks from the albums Open, One Soul Now, Early 21st Century Blues, At The End Of Paths Taken, Renmin Park, Demons, Sing In My Meadow, The Wilderness, All That Reckoning, Songs Of The Recollection and 2023’s Such Ferocious Beauty.
Speaking of the new compilation, Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins says: “We are now 25 years into this century, the beginning of which saw us leave the world of major labels and return to making music as an independent band.
“We figured this was as good a time as any to look back, reassess and reflect on the music that we have recorded over these past two and a half decades and, hence, Open To Beauty – The Best of the 21st Century.”
Tour tickets are on sale at: https://cowboyjunkies.com/tour/. Tonight’s show has sold out: for returns only, https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/cowboy-junkies/.
Did you know?
COWBOY Junkies’ signature performance of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground composition Sweet Jane was featured in the final episode of Netflix TV series Stranger Things.
Cowboy Junkies’ Peter Timmins, Margo Timmins, Michael Timmins and Alan Anton
Cowboy Junkies: back story
SOMETIMES revolutions begin quietly. In 1988, Canadian alt. country band Cowboy Junkies proved there was an audience waiting for something quiet, beautiful and reflective. The Trinity Session was like a whisper that cut through the noise – and it was compelling, standing out amid the flash and bombast that defined the late 1980s.
The now classic recording – made live at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto in November 1987 – combined folk, blues and rock in a way that had never been heard before and went on to sell more than a million copies.
Cowboy Junkies’ ability to communicate volumes before the lyrics kick in defines an enduring career. Where most bands chase trends, the Junkies have stayed their course, maintaining a low-impact excavation of melody and evocative language delivered sotto voce in singer Margo Timmins’s feathery alto.
Forming in Toronto in 1985, Margo was joined by siblings Michael Timmins on guitar and Peter Timmins on drums, plus Michael’s life-long friend Alan Anton on bass, to begin a journey that has evolved over 29 albums.
“I’ve known Alan longer than I’ve known Pete,” says Michael. “We were friends before Pete was born.”
Unlike most long-lasting groups, Cowboy Junkies have never had a break-up or taken a sanity-saving hiatus. There’s an appreciation of each other that keeps them constantly working. “It’s that intimacy and understanding of what each one of us brings to the table,” says Michael.
The oldest, Michael is the chief architect; songwriter, and guitarist, who works with Margo on sculpting the emotional planes and vocal performances before bringing in Peter and Alan to create the soundscapes that have made Cowboy Junkies a band that defies categories.
“The expectations and responsibilities of our roles are a big part of the band’s ethos,” says Michael. “We’re still amazed that we’re doing things our way and continuing to grow the band, but the longer we are at it, the more fun it’s become. We don’t take it for granted.”
Margo adds: “We do what we do and it feels right for all of us. After 30-plus years of playing together, the band and its music are more important to us than ever. The music we make brings each of us a great sense of contentment, a knowledge of place, and a sense of doing what we were meant to do.”
Sean Cameron and Sophie Maybury in rehearsal for Next Door But One’s My Mad Mum. Picture: James Drury
IN the wake of the impactful tour of How To Be A Kid in 2025, Next Door But One and Our Time Charity are collaborating anew on a new play, My Mad Mum, to encourage conversations around mental health, identity and being a young carer.
The York community arts collective specialises in raising awareness of often unspoken topics, while Cottingham-based Our Time is the only British charity dedicated to improving the outcomes for children growing up with a parent with a mental illness.
Statistics reveal that 3.7 million under-18s in the United Kingdom have a parent who struggles with their mental health: a total more than the combined populations of Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.
Commissioned by Our Time, playwright Ant Stones highlights that reality in My Mad Mum, a “fast-paced, fun and fearless collision of real friendships, messy families and surviving the stuff no-one warns you about as a teenager”.
Touring secondary schools in York and North Yorkshire from May, Stones’s play will reach 3,000 pupils aged 11-plus – as well as audiences at public performances at York Explore on May 13 and 14 and specific performances for young carers and those accessing mental health services – with the relatable story of Andy and Harper, played by Sean Cameron and Sophie Maybury (and understudies Adam Kane and Tasha Potts).
Everyone knows Andy and everyone knows his mum. The looks. The whispers. The rumours that follow him everywhere. Andy is used to it – or at least he pretends to be. When Harper, the new girl, arrives at school, things finally start to feel different. Finally, somebody ‘gets’ him, but as their friendship grows, their worlds crash into each other and the truth comes out, and once out, there will be no taking it back.
My Mad Mum director Kate Veysey in the rehearsal room with cast member Sophie Maybury. Picture: James Drury
Poor parental mental health and serious mental illness is an issue that affects one in three children in every UK classroom. Consequently children who have a parent with a mental illness often face unique challenges at school and at home. What’s more, for too many of them, it feels like a secret they have to carry alone.
Next Door But One’s performance, with an accompanying workshop, aims to validate the experience of these young people, raise awareness of their lives for their peers and equip teachers with this knowledge to better support their students.
Last year, Next Door But One (NDB1) and Our Time Charity toured a similar provision into primary schools with proven outcomes from How To Be A Kid on which they are looking to build: 91 per cent of young audiences felt the show helped them to discuss their feelings, emotions and mental health, while 94 per cent said the show helped them to identify a trusted adult in their life to whom they could go when they needed help.
My Mad Mum director Kate Veysey says: “The schools we are touring to really recognise the challenge we are presenting, with many of them already having Young Carers Champions and some signing the Young Carers Covenant.
“As a company we really believe that theatre has the power to bring everybody into the same important conversation and provide the knowledge and confidence to enact real change. We are delighted to continue our partnership with Our Time Charity as, with their 20 years’ experience and resources, we are able to continue encouraging vital social change in our communities.”
My Mad Mum director Kate Veysey, assistant director Matthew Harper Hardcastle (Next Door But One’s artistic director) and NDB1 company manager Jane Williamson watching a rehearsal. Picture: James Drury
Georgie Williams, Our Time Charity’s operations director, says: “For too many children, growing up with a parent who is struggling with their mental health can feel isolating and confusing. At Our Time Charity, we know that when children are given the language, understanding and safe spaces to talk, it can be life-changing.
“This production brings those experiences out into the open in a way that feels real, relatable and accessible to young people. By combining powerful storytelling with practical support for schools, we are helping to ensure that no child feels alone.
“We know that having just one adult that a child can safely talk to has a huge impact them. We give adults the tools to feel more confident to recognise and respond to children whose parent has a mental illness.
Leeds Conservatoire graduates Sean Cameron and Sophie Maybury – who both live in Leeds – are performing with NDB1 for the first time under the company’s scheme of working with fledgling professional actors within their first two years on the books.
“I got an email through the Conservatoire and that’s what then made me apply,” says Sophie, who has a BA in Acting. “It’s been fantastic because the main thing I’ve struggled with, coming out of drama school, has been the lack of sessions, especially in the north, to give you something new to learn or to refresh on.”
Sean, who has a BA in Musical Theatre, says: “I hadn’t seen an NDB1 show but had heard about their work and knew Emily Chattle and James Lewis-Knight – who run Clown Space and are associates of NDB1 – and they really sang the company’s praises. It’s been a really great opportunity and a challenge too because there’s a responsibility to make these people in the play feel represented.”
Sophie adds: “We have to get it right in reflecting their lives, showing awareness that they’re not the only ones going through their experience, so that they do feel connected, not misrepresented.”
Next Door But One presents My Mad Mum at York Explore, May 13 and 14, 5.30pm. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives?srch=My+Mad+Mum.
Moustaches en masse: Laura McKeller, left, Michael Cornell and Laura Castle in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles
AFTER Dracula: The Bloody Truth and The Wetwang Hauntings in 2025, mischief-making York company Neon Crypt put the gothic humour into horror once more for a fright in every comic bite in John Nicholson’s particularly silly take on The Hound Of The Baskervilles.
In the spirit of Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps, the late Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding’s Lip Service and indeed Nicholson’s work with Peepolykus and Le Navet Bete, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “consulting detective” Sherlock Holmes is stretched to caricature, if still recognisable in deer stalker and pipe, but now taking on multiple disguises, from hirsute hermit to a hot dog costume. No violin, no recreational narcotics, but plenty of schtick, Sherlock.
What’s more, under Jamie McKeller’s direction, Neon Crypt’s Holmes is played by a woman, Laura McKeller, in ponytails, waistcoat and waxed moustache, but with no change of gender in the aloof brain-box characterisation.
Quick on the draw: Laura Castle’s pistol-packing Dr Watson in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles
Likewise, Laura Castle follows up her Dracula with Dr John Watson, wearing the same Victorian two-piece that Elexi Walker’s penny farthing-cycling Watson sported in Damian Cruden’s ‘Baskerville’ production at York Theatre Royal in 2016.
Like the other Laura, Castle’s Watson is moustachioed, again with no change of pronouns. The voice is West Riding, the manner no-nonsense amid all the comic nonsense, conducting investigations with earnest rigour, yet all the more humorous for that. Her Watson is quick on the draw too, whether reaching for sketch pad or pistol.
Aside from a West Country rustic, Laura C will put all her eggs in the sterling Watson basket. By comparison, Laura M must navigate more costume changes than Cher in concert, not only Sherlock’s multiple disguises on the moor, but also whizzing between Mr and Mrs Barrymore; the train guard; Cecile Stapleton; Jack Stapleton and Slasher Seldon, “the Notting Hill murderer”.
Laura McKeller’s Sherlock Holmes in hot dog disguise in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles as Laura Castle’s Dr Watson looks on, strangely reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin in City Lights!
Michael Cornell, now a cross-dressing fixture as the dame in the Rowntree Players pantomime, is almost as busy as Laura M on the multi-rolling front, switching with alacrity and elasticity from Sir Henry Baskerville to Sir Charles Baskerville, Dr Mortimer to a cabbie, one meat-wielding Yokel to another (in denial of being the same character, distinguished only by the cut of meat in the bag).
All the while, York author and poet Rebecca Payne is lurking in the Theatre@41 shadows for the third time as Neon Crypt’s stage manager, except that this time she steps out of those shadows to appear on stage frequently, silent, but over-worked, handling all the scenery changes and prop exchanges, when not overseeing quick-fire costume changes from the wings.
In a running joke – and she really is on the move all the time – Rebecca accumulates a tidy sum in tips for each prop or scene change, albeit handed over increasingly begrudgingly by Cornell in particular.
Crucial too is the work of sound tech Jess Whitehead, who is called on to engineer all manner of noises, sometimes frightening, more often funny, in the tradition of Foley artists on 1950s’ radio. Listen out for the sax solo from Gerry Rafferty’s hit at every mention of Baker Street, accompanied hastily by Cornell on a blow-up pink saxophone.
Michael Cornwell multi-rolling in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles
Jamie McKeller conducts the still familiar Conan Doyle thriller with brisk purpose, physical flair and set-piece swagger, giving free rein to his cast to express ridiculous characterisation, comedic camaraderie and comic timing, with room for ad-libbing and smashing down theatre’s fourth wall to revert to being Laura C, Laura M and Michael.
Neon Crypt stay true to the verbal and visual ingenuity of Nicholson and Steven Canny’s script and stage instructions, first staged by Peepolykus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds in 2007, while applying their own free-spirited comedic style, daft yet deft.
You would be howling mad to miss this Hound Of The Baskervilles.
Neon Crypt Productions in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Stage manager Rebecca Payne, right, joining in the Sherlock shenanigans at the finale to The Hound Of The Baskervilles
Sheila Gold: Frank, incensed and muddying the truth in The Psychic at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Manuel Harlan
THIS critique comes with a personally signed request from theatre makers Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, paperclipped to the programme for their world premiere of The Psychic.
“Whilst we know it makes your job a little harder, we would love it if your review could steer clear of spoilers of any of the twists or secrets that you are about to learn,” they ask.
The Psychic has been up and running for a week of previews before Wednesday’s press night – with Jonathan Ross and actor Tim McInnerny among the high-spirited full house – and no doubt those twists and secrets are being shared already, but your reviewer’s lips are sealed on the minutiae of what unfolds.
Frances Barber’s prickly Rosa in The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
The north and south writer-director combo of Dyson (from Ilkley) and Dyson (from London) made the same request for Ghost Stories, their audacious spooky conceit that is still freaking out audiences after 16 years (and played the Grand Opera House, York, in March 2020).
After the paranormal scares and shrieks of Ghost Stories, Dyson, alumnus of the deeply, madly, darkly twisted League Of Gentlemen, teams up anew with regular creative co-pilot Nyman, actor, director, writer and collaborator with psychological illusionist Derren Brown for two decades, who played Winston Churchill in Peaky Blinders, by the way.
Illusions and disillusion play their part in The Psychic, a twisted dark thriller of jet black humour wrapped inside a state-of-the-nation study of fame and the corrosive impact of the Fourth Estate and radio shock-jocks, delivered with a theatrical sleight of hand in tandem with illusions designer Chris Fisher, lighting designer Zoe Spurr, sound designer Nick Manning, video designer Duncan McLean and, above all, set and costume designer Rae Smith, whose scene-setting is outstanding and well worth the longer-than-usual interval wait for the revelation of the gaudy interior of a Spanish villa.
Writer-directorsAndy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson in rehearsal for The Psychic’s world premiere at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Dyson and Nyman were delighted to team up with the Theatre Royal in York, a city “drenched in the supernatural” as Nyman described it, for the torrid tale of TV’s most famous psychic, Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) in the immediate aftermath of losing a high-profile court case, costing her not only her reputation but also £500,00 in legal fees.
We join her as the audience on the first night of her latest tour, fighting back against the charge of being a charlatan with her golden Irish brogue and “gift” for contacting the other side.
It will not be an easy ride: heat-seeking, scandal-stirring, slick and slimy radio presenter Robert Hamm (Mischief Theatre regular Dave Hearn) is out to give her a hard time; niece Tara (Megan Placito, in her professional stage debut) demands she trains her in her showman skills and won’t take ‘No’ for an answer.
Showing her the ropes: Eileen Walsh’s Sheila Gold working with her “protege”, Megan Placito’s Tara in The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Enter a wealthy couple, Deepak (Jaz Singh Deol) and Nisha (Nikhita Lesler), with a desperate request for Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child. Sheila duly snatches at the opportunity to bleed them for money.
In the words of Dyson and Nyman, “what follows makes Sheila question everything she ever believed and leads her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life”. Occupying the darkest corner of all is her dysfunctional relationship with her mother, the anything-but-rosy Rosa (Frances Barber), her spiteful spiritualist forebear as a fortune teller on the Blackpool pier.
Central to The Psychic is the question: “Is any of it real?”, not only asking whether TV and stage show psychics are fakes, but also what is the truth of such lives beyond the TV screen, as Dyson and Nyman question “what really matters in life”.
Dave Hearn’s arch cynic of an investigative radio presenter, Robert Hamm, in The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Can you trust what you are watching amid Fisher’s illusions and McLean’s videos, and who is deceiving who in the fractured mother-and-daughter relationship of Rosa and Sheila? The greater truth here, beyond the price of fame, is the cost of greed and jealousy, as captured in the terrific performances of Walsh’s Sheila, Barber’s waspish, embittered Rosa and impressive debutant Placito’s aspirational Tara (Placito having grown up in a travelling showman family).
Dyson and Nyman serve up moments of shock-horror and utilise a disorientating sound pool – much in the manner of Danny Robbins’s 2: 22 A Ghost Story – but for all the supernatural intrigue, at its heart The Psychic mirrors Greek tragedies in its study of mortality and morality, the maternal and the matriarchal, the eternal and the material, the ethereal and the real, the heaven and the hell.
Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s The Psychic, York Theatre Royal, until May 23. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Seeking contact with their late child:Jaz Singh Deol’s Deepak and Nikhita Lesler’s Nisha in The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
John Cleese with Danny Bayne, who is playing Basil Fawlty on tour in Fawlty Towers – The Play. Picture: Trevor Leighton
JOHN Cleese was “more confident about it than almost anything I’ve ever done”.
Here he is reflecting on the success of Fawlty Towers – The Play, having enjoyed two sold-out West End seasons and launched a ten-month, 39-venue UK tour in September 2025 that visits the Grand Opera House, York, from May 19 to 23.
“I remember reading the finished script and thinking it was really funny,” reflects Cleese, now 86. “And the English do love farce. Think Ben Travers. Think Brian Rix and Ray Cooney. Look at the success of Noises Off and One Man, Two Guvnors. Farce is universal.”
For all his quiet confidence that Basil Fawlty’s hotel escapades would be received enthusiastically in the theatre, he could not have predicted its rapturous reception.
Cleese does not try to hide his pride in this much-loved classic, co-created with first wife Connie Booth, but he shakes his head in mild wonder at the way it has rooted itself in the public consciousness.
John Cleese behind the Fawlty Towers reception desk with cast members Danny Bayne (Basil Fawlty), left, Mia Austen (Sybil Fawlty,) Joanne Clifton (Polly), Paul Nicholas (The Major) and Hemi Yeroham (Manuel). Picture: Trevor Leighton
“I was told not so long ago of a family who have a game where one of them tries to introduce a quote from Fawlty Towers into the conversation without the other three realising,” he says. “How great a compliment is that? For instance, if anyone says: ‘Don’t mention the war’, everyone knows its origin.”
The play opened at London’s Apollo Theatre in May 2024, directed niftily by Caroline Jay Ranger, who chalked up an earlier West End and touring hit with the musical version of Only Fools and Horses that played the Grand Opera House in October 2024.
As seen at Leeds Grand Theatre in early January, Fawlty Towers’ 18-strong tour cast features changes from the London runs, including Danny Bayne as the deluded, crane-legged Basil – once described by Cleese as “rude but inefficient” – and Mia Austen as his acerbic wife, Sybil.
Joanne Clifton, 2016 winner with Ore Oduba of the Strictly Come Dancing glitterball, takes on the role of Polly, the phlegmatic waitress and chamber maid who pretty much single-handedly prevents Fawlty Towers from collapsing like a pack of cards. Happily, Paul Nicholas remains as the bumbling Major.
The stage show combines three of the most cherished sketches, stitched together by Cleese with a new finale wrapping up proceedings. Miscommunication is the name of the game with a threatened visit by a brace of hotel inspectors, followed by a party of German tourists.
“I remember reading the finished script and thinking it was really funny,” says Fawlty Towers writer John Cleese. Picture: Dave J Hogan
Then comes Basil’s ongoing – futile, as it turns out – attempt to keep from Sybil his flutter on the horses with little or no help from Spanish waiter Manuel, played by Hemi Yeroham.
Last October, Headline published Cleese’s book Fawlty Towers: Fawlts And All – My Favourite Moments to celebrate 50 years of the comedy milestone.
He and younger daughter Camilla have been working on developing a reboot of a possible third TV series of Fawlty Towers, set in a Caribbean motel, where she will play opposite him as Basil’s illegitimate daughter.
In addition, Cleese and Camilla have been collaborating on a stage musical version of hit film A Fish Called Wanda, while a new film script, Lookalikes, is in development too, with the script now in the hands of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Originally, it was going to be about those people who stand on Sunset Boulevard in LA [Los Angeles] pretending to be famous stars,” says Cleese. “That changed when someone came up with the brilliant idea of getting real superstars to play the lookalikes.”
People love laughing, reckons Cleese. Hence he has little time for much of what is shown on TV today. “I’ve never seen Game Of Thrones but I did catch a few minutes of something the other day where a dragon was tied to a chain. It wasn’t for me,” he says.
Paul Nicholas as The Major in Fawlty Towers – The Play
Fawlty Towers, he argues, is both funny and timeless. “And we were lucky with Monty Python. We made two good movies, one of them medieval [Monty Python And The Holy Grail], one of them set in the time of Christ [Monty Python’s Life Of Brian]. Neither is going to date.” Now talk is afoot of bringing Life Of Brian to the London stage.
Cleese turned down a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996. “I asked the authorities if I could call myself Commander Cleese. Absolutely not, apparently,” he says. “Also, look at other people who have turned down awards and titles: David Bowie and Michael Frayn and Alan Bennett and Albert Finney. I have respect for them.”
Fellow Python luminary Michael Palin accepted a knighthood in 2019. “And good luck to him. I was genuinely pleased,” says Cleese. “I now call him Sir Mickey: that’s how I always address my emails to him. He’s a lovely guy.”
Let’s be clear: if Cleese were to be offered a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List, he would turn it down? “I would. I don’t need that sort of validation,” he says. “It’s enough for me to know – because people kindly tell me sometimes – that I’ve helped them through difficult times by making them laugh. Which is delightful.
“They come home, turn on an episode of Fawlty Towers and the world doesn’t seem quite so bleak. That’s my reward. I think we need much more laughter in the world. I’m not advocating mean teasing. Just good old-fashioned laughter. There’s nothing to beat it.”
John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers –The Play runs amok at Grand Opera House, York, from May 19 to 23, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
A scene from John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, from May 19 to 23. Picture: Hugo Glendinning
The Chimera Ensemble in concert at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
LAST Friday evening’s concert was dominated by a performance of Julius Eastman’s 1974 work, Femenine, which, given that it lasted one hour plus, is hardly surprising.
Like the best of the minimalist music, I found the performance both hypnotic and radiant. The opening could be likened to that of a musical dawn, beginning with a simple rhythmic figure – semiquaver groupings coupled with a syncopated two-note motif – on vibraphone, inviting the other instruments to join in.
It felt like the players were given freedom – when to come in, how long to repeat material – and this created a fluid, floating quality. This distinguished the effect from the stricter processes of Philip Glass or Steve Reich, in both feel and structure.
The resulting sensual quality may, in part, help explain Eastman’s choice of title, Femenine. As a Black and openly gay composer working outside the classical mainstream, questions of identity and expression inevitably inform how the work is heard.
In the opening section, the instruments don’t simply join in; they overlap, blurring any clear dialogue, harmony or any sense of hierarchy. Yet there was drama, albeit one without a fixed direction. About halfway through, the music kind of disintegrates. Here it becomes fragile, dislocated, vulnerable. As I didn’t see it coming, the effect was striking.
Composer Julius Eastman
The return journey, although covering similar ground – the rhythmic heartbeat still anchoring the music – felt altered, transformed. Drama was further enhanced by the alignment of clear tonal (simple triads) interruptions, signalled by the pianists Catherine Laws and Felix Edwards-McStay.
The locking-in of these tonal events gave the work moments of both clarity and radiance. The ending – a winding down leaving only the vibraphone’s rhythmic heartbeat gently laid to rest – was exquisite.
It would be wrong to single out any of the individual performers – it just isn’t that sort of experience – but credit should go to performance director Catherine Laws, and to percussionists John Rousseau (vibraphone) and Peter Evans (marimba) for their stamina and utterly infectious enthusiasm.
Mercifully, the first half was a short affair, showcasing three works by the university music department’s student composers.
Now then, back in the day – OK, my day – showcasing student compositions meant indecipherable programme notes explaining the unexplainable, accompanied by a performance experience of extremely loud, piercingly dissonant sounds designed toshatter the listeners’ teeth.
I enjoyed Sidney Wood’s Interruptions for solo electric guitar. It opened in a melancholic, reflective mood, but one without a melody or songline to follow. The “interruptions” were sudden distorted attacks with feedback that not only undermined the flow but also continually invited disorder and improvisation.
The Chimera Ensemble: Taking a bow at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
To be sure, “harmonic saturation” enriched the sound world, and the interruptions added drama, but they also set up an expectation of virtuosic release. Just to be clear, I wasn’t expecting the piece to go full Pete Townshend, but certain expectations come with it: electric guitar solo = rock music = (some sort of) rebellion. Still, as I said, I enjoyed it.
I also enjoyed Manlu Du’s Landscape – for a pianist and their friend, although I wasn’t entirely convinced by it. There were lovely moments: the opening exchange of gentle clusters between the two performers (Roy Watkins and Manlu Du), and a simple piano pattern delicately distorted by the second pianist – the “friend” – dampening the strings, for example.
However, the second pianist’s movement around the spacedidn’t add anything meaningful, and the use of two pianos weakened the intended intimacy.
Now I’ve never heard of Brian Kernighan nor, mercifully, read his A Tutorial to the Language B, but I thought Danny Saleeb’s Hello World – based on the (simple) computer programme – was inspired.
Arthur Elliott’s performance on solo viola gave the impression of an unfolding landscape. The opening texture was one of fragility created through a range of extended string techniques: sul ponticello (bowing close to the bridge, creating a glassy, metallic quality); sul tasto (bowing over the fingerboard, harmonics), producing a purer, thinner tone and microtones – shifting, unstable ‘out of tune’ notes etc.
Saleeb uses these to create fascinating, layered textures that feel distinctly otherworldly. I heard traces of folksong and even Bach – arpeggiation, implied counterpoint – peeping through the surface. A short but inventive and musically intelligent work, and technically demanding. Full credit to Arthur Elliott. This was by far the standout work of the first half, and Danny Saleeb is clearly a composer to watch.
Corella: Debuting A Beautiful World To Lose songs at The Crescent. Picture: Charles Agall
MANCHESTER indie rock band Corella will showcase songs from their upcoming second album at The Crescent, York, on May 28 at 7.30pm.
Ahead of September 18 release of A Beautiful World To Lose on FLG, the six-date May tour will see Joel Smith (vocals/guitar), Ben Henderson (bass/vocals), Jack Taylor (guitar) and James Fawcett (drums) taking it back to where it all began, playing songs from the upcoming album live for the first time, as well as performing fan favourites from 2024 debut album Once Upon A Weekend.
Produced by Grammy-winning Jason Perry (The Molotovs, McFly and Don Broco), A Beautiful World To Lose finds Corella performing with a new ferocity and sense of purpose as they take a piercing glare into the state of the world, alongside a deep look into human emotion and being.
“It definitely sounds more fierce than the last one,” says frontman Smith.“We felt like we were testing the waters, whereas now we know we really want to make a difference through our music. We’re also very aware that there are other bands who’ve cruised and put out similar albums throughout their careers…we wanted to challenge ourselves.”
Corella’s tour poster for May itinerary
Corella have developed their skills as musicians, while benefiting from experience both in their careers and in life, reckons Smith. “A lot has happened since we released our first album,” he says. “We’re writing more for ourselves, this time, but we also hope there’s plenty that listeners will be able to relate to. These lyrics have more grit to them, more heart, and we knew we had to be willing to make ourselves more vulnerable.”
Smith says of first single Rewire: “A lot of people are so vulnerable, especially in the UK, it feels as though they’ll believe anything that gets put in front of them. This song came out of our frustration from simply observing that people have maybe been ‘rewired’ to think a certain way, but also encouraging them to flip that on its head, to challenge the status quo.”
Formed at university, Corella have been supported BBC Radio 1, Radio X and BBC Introducing, while clocking up more 70 million streams, performing at Leeds & Reading, Kendal Calling, Truck, Latitude and Neighbourhood festivals, touring across the UK and Europe and supporting Kaiser Chiefs, Pale Waves, Circa Waves and The Wombats.
The tour includes a further Yorkshire gig at The Parish, Huddersfield, on May 23. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Huddersfield, parishpub.co.uk.
“Now we know we really want to make a difference through our music,” says Corella frontman Joel Smith
Eileen Walsh‘s TV psychic Sheila Gold in York Theatre Royal’s premiere of The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
DYSON and Nyman’s dark thriller world premiere and women sporting Holmes & Watson waxed moustaches tickle Charles Hutchinson’s fancy in his recommendations for the week ahead.
World premiere of the week: The Psychic, York Theatre Royal, until May 23
“IS any of it real,” ask Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman in The Psychic, the latest spook-fest from the writer-director duo behind Ghost Stories. In their twisted new thriller, popular TV psychic Sheila Gold loses a high-profile court case that brands her a charlatan, costing her not only her reputation but also a fortune in legal fees.
When a wealthy couple ask Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child, she senses an opportunity to bleed them for money. What follows makes her question everything she has ever believed, leading her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Laura Castle’s Dr John Watson in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Picture
Mystery thriller of the week: Neon Crypt in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
JOIN York company Neon Crypt for side-splitting stupidity, hot dog disguises and absolute terror in Jamie McKeller’s staging of Peepolykus co-artistic director John Nicholson’s incredibly high-brow adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery The Hound Of The Baskervilles.
Sherlock Holmes (Laura McKeller) and Dr Watson (Laura Castle) must unravel the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville, found dead on his estate with a look of terror still etched on his face and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body. Look out for Michael Cornell popping up as Sir Henry and Sir Charles Baskerville and assorted meat-wielding Yokels. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Pop gig of the week: K-Pop All Stars, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7pm
RIDE the global K-pop wave with K-Pop All Stars’ explosive live celebration of the music, artists and Korean culture that is taking over the pop world. Feel the power of stadium-sized anthems, razor-sharp choreography and a cast that delivers every beat with precision and passion, performing hits by Blackpink, NewJeans, Katseye, BTS, Itzy, Stray Kids, Twice, Jung Kook and more. Cue light sticks glowing in the crowd. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Folk gig of the week: Dervish, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
LEGENDARY Irish traditional folk music band Dervish, recipients of a BBC lifetime achievement award in 2019, have recorded and performed all over the world, playing at festivals from Rio to Glastonbury. Fronted by singer Cathy Jordan. the line-up of fiery fiddle, flute, bouzouki, mandola, bodhran and accordion delivers vibrant sets of tunes and compelling songs. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Tribute show of the week: The Steelers, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
THE Steelers, a nine-piece band of musicians drawn from around Great Britain, perform songs from iconic Steely Dan Steel albums Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, AJA and Goucho, crafted by Walter Becker and Donald Fagan since 1972.
Once described as “the American Beatles”, Becker and Fagan’s songs are noted for their clever lyrics and sophisticated arrangements. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Exhibition of the week: Ceri Jenkins, Through Darkness We Can Find A Light, Helmsley Arts Centre, until July 5
NORTH Yorkshire portrait and art photographer Ceri Jenkins’ exhibition is the culmination of her personal healing journey; showcasing powerful and evocative images that use light, reflections and mirror images to inform the narratives of mental health, overcoming trauma, abuse and addiction and to convey a profound message of hope.
Through Darkness We Can Find A Light explores how, when she felt surrounded and suffocated by falseness, subtle signs from the universe pointed Ceri in the direction of using her art and creativity to look within and find her own light in the darkness. This exhibition is a testament to her long-term mission to utilise art and creativity to promote and support natural healing in herself and others while inspiring us to seek inner peace. Opening hours: 10am to 2pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; Thursday, 11am to 2pm; Sunday, 11am to 3pm, plus during public events. Admission is free.
Solo show of the week: Ali Williams in Careless Talk, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday 7.30pm
IN a true story of high treason, espionage, spam fritters, the only British person to be tried for treason in the Second World War takes to the stage for the first time in Ali Williams’s show. Was Mabel a collaborator? A visionary? Or just an outsider? Was she the victim of a witch hunt? Or the victim of her own uncompromising nature? Join Mabel on Sandown Beach with her secateurs, sequinned tassels and heartfelt, if misguided, self-belief.
This stage adaptation of James Friel’s novel Careless Talk.tale opens a dialogue on the justice system in this country: who does it protect, how and why? And what of those who fall through the net, the unpopular, the uncompromising? Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Children’s show of the week: English National Ballet & English National Ballet School, My First Ballet: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 10.30am and 2pm; Sunday, 1am and 3pm
MEET the nature-loving Cinderella, who lives on the edge of an enchanted forest where she once gardened and sang with her mother. After loss and silence settle over her home, she is left with a sharp-tongued stepmother, two noisy stepsisters and a house full of chores and shadows.
But when a letter arrives, inviting all to a garden ball, Cinderella’s journey to find her true self begins, guided by the spirit of her mother and the magic of the forest. Using a narrator to help the young audience follow the story, and a shortened, recorded version of Prokofiev’s score, this introduction to ballet is choreographed by George Williamson and performed by English National Ballet School Graduate Artists Programme students. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
