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More Things To Do in and around York amid the Christmas merriment. Feast your mince pies on Hutch’s List No. 54, from The Press

Jared More and Katie Coen feeling stressed out at the Bethlehem Inn in Riding Lights’ Christmas Inn Trouble 

CHRISTMAS shows in myriad merry modes dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the week ahead.

Magical new twist on the Nativity of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Christmas Inn Trouble, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, today, 1.30pm and 4pm, then December 21 to 24, 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm

BOTHER aplenty is afflicting The Bethlehem Inn and Spa, where taps are leaking, the rats are squeaking and the rooms are fit to burst. So many guests have arrived that parking your camel is impossible and, if things were not bad enough already, a rascally Roman soldier has come to make sure everything is above board.

Written by Rachel Price, directed by Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch and starring Jared More and Katie Coen, festive farce Christmas Inn Trouble “turns the traditional tale on its head” in a slapstick comedy perfect for telling the Nativity story to primary-school aged children and their families. Box office: 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/christmasinntrouble.

Eve Lorian: Conducting Prima Choral Artists’ Family Christmas Concert at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York

Choral concert of the week: Prima Choral Artists, Family Christmas Concert, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, today, 4pm to 5pm

PRODUCED and conducted by Prima Choral Artists director Eve Lorian, today’s concert unites her choir with the New World String Quartet, organist James Webb and pianist Greg Birch in reflective and cheerful Christmas celebrations.

Here come high-spirited festive classics, modern choral arrangements and string and organ repertoire, including works by Tchaikovsky and Rawsthorne. Box office: primachoral.com and on the door.

The Queeries: Fun, frolicsome fiddling at Navigators Art’s As Yule Like It

All cracker, no cheese festive menu of the week: Navigators Art presents As Yule Like It, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm (doors 7pm)

NAVIGATORS Art promises “All cracker, no cheese” at As Yule Like It, tonight’s live, local and loud showcase of “some of York’s finest and most individual sounds”. On the bill are University of York music student Cast Beatbox, racing up the ranks in national contests; Knitting Circle, York’s socially conscious and urgent post-punk trio, and York St John University folkies The Queeries, purveyors of fun, frolicsome fiddling.

Performing too will be Tang Hall Smart tutor and passionate singer-songwriter Toemouse, offering an invitation to a mystical ride, and Weather Balloons with a set of Boschian vignettes and betrayals of guitar music from a soft-rock renegade off duty from regular band Fat Spatula. Some material may not be suitable for young children. Box office: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance.

Hole Of Horcum, 2025, from Donna Maria Taylor’s This Rugged Earth exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Exhibition of the week: Donna Maria Taylor, This Rugged Earth, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until February 12 2026

SOUTH Bank Studios resident artist Donna Maria Taylor’s latest collection of paintings, This Rugged Earth, is inspired by the world around her and her travels both in the United Kingdom and Europe.

“The majority of the new work nod to my love of rugged hillscapes and mountainous landscapes,” says Donna, who will be exhibiting at York Open Studios and York Hospital in 2026.

Hannah Christina’s Rosie and Emilio Encinoso-Gil’s Rex in Pocklington Arts Centre’s Christmas show, Jingle All The Way

Deer double act of the week: Jingle All The Way, Pocklington Arts Centre, today, tomorrow, 1.30pm; Monday, 4.30pm; Tuesday, 10.30am and 4.30pm  

FROM the team behind The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish comes Elizabeth Godber’s latest Christmas family adventure, co-directed by Jane Thornton with musical direction by Dylan Allcock.

Reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie (Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes. Santa, however, has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance? Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Northern Ballet’s dancers in a flurry of snow in The Nutcracker at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Sophie Beth Jones

Ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in The Nutcracker, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2026

LEEDS company Northern Ballet’s much-loved festive production of The Nutcracker – premiered in 2007 – is revived anew this winter, featuring lavish costumes and Charles Cusick Smith sets that capture the 19th century Regency England setting beautifully for the timeless story of Clara and her wooden Nutcracker doll. As the clock strikes midnight, she finds herself being whisked away on a magical adventure filled with dancing snowflakes and a whole host of colourful characters. 

Choreographed by former artistic director David Nixon CBE, the ballet is performed to the instantly recognisable music of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that first accompanied Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s original choreography in 1892. Glory be, that score will be performed live under conductor Yi Wei. Box office: https://northernballet.com/the-nutcracker.

Gemma Curry and her Arctic Fox puppet in Yuletide Tales at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Where the Northern Lights dance and old tales come alive: Hoglets Theatre in Yuletide Tales, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, Sunday, doors 4pm

GATHER round as the snow begins to fall and step into a world of wonder, cheeky robins and enchanted polar bears in Yuletide Tales, York company Hoglets Theatre’s heartwarming festive show for families, full of original songs, puppetry and magical storytelling.

Join cheerful storyteller Gemma Curry and her mischievous Arctic Fox friend as they journey through wintery folktales from the icy kingdoms of the North to the shimmer of the Northern Lights. Re-imaginings of traditional stories East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon, The Arctic Fox And The Northern Lights and How The Moon Got Its Cloak are accompanied by gentle audience interaction and a message of warmth and togetherness. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

The poster for Anton Du Beke’s festive song-and-dance show with friends at York Barbican

Dandy dancing of the week: Christmas With Anton Du Beke & Friends, York Barbican, Sunday, 5pm

EMBARK on a dazzling journey into a festive wonderland as Strictly Come Dancing judge and ballroom king Anton Du Beke joins forces with his dynamic live band, vocalist Lance Ellington and  troupe of dancers for a magical evening of cherished Christmas songs, captivating dance and festive humour. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Recommended but sold out already is Robert Plant’s Saving Grace gig, Ding Dong Merrily, at York Barbican on December 23 (doors 7pm), when Plant, co-vocalist Suzi Dian drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley and cellist Barney Morse-Brown showcase September 26’s Saving Grace album, “a song book of the lost and found”.

David Ward Maclean: Marking Winter Solstice with “iceberg songs with penguins on them”

Solo show of the week: David Ward Maclean Winter Solstice Concert, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

JOIN York singer-songwriting legend David Ward Maclean for a lovely night of songs to mark the Winter Solstice, drawing on material from the past 20 years for his two sets. “My songs are icebergs. With penguins on them,” he says. “All revenue will go straight to recording my new album Pilgrims.” Box office: https://wegottickets.com/event/668355/.

Copyright of The York Press.

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Jocasta Almgill takes shine to dark side as wicked fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty

Jocasta Almgill’s wicked fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

WEST End star Jocasta Almgill has headed home to Yorkshire to patrol the dark side as villainous Carabosse, East Riding accent and all, in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal.

One hundred years of sleep await Aoife Kenny’s Princess Aurora but there will be no rest for Jocasta’s wicked fairy until January 4 2026.

Originally from Hull and now based in London, she has appeared in such musical roles as Diana Morales in A Chorus Line (Curve Leicester/Sadler’s Wells/national tour) and Rizzo in Grease (Dominion Theatre, London), receiving nominations for the 2022 Black British Theatre Award for Best Supporting Female in a Musical and the 2023 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical.

No wonder York Theatre Royal creative director and Sleeping Beauty director Juliet Forster enthuses: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Jocasta to York for this year’s panto. She is an incredible talent and audiences are in for a real treat.”

Amid her myriad credits, Jocasta has performed in York previously. “I was in the original tribute to The Blues Brothers, which came to the Grand Opera House years ago in my first job out of college [Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, from where she graduated in 2009 after three years of musical theatre studies],” she says.

East Yorkshire-raised actress Jocasta Almgill

“Then I came back on tour in 2018 with Hairspray, when I was Peaches, one of The Dynamites.” Watch this space for news of a possible return there in a “big musical” next year.

In the meantime, Jocasta is revelling in breaking new ground in Sleeping Beauty. “Carabosse is my first baddie. It’s such fun,” she says. “I always do the Fairy normally, and I love the Fairy in panto, but she’s there to tell the story.

“As Carabosse, I can just have fun and have a lovely time being bad, so I’m really enjoying playing the baddie. Basically Carabosse is so annoyed she’s not been invited to Aurora’s Christening that she casts a spell on her that, before her 18th birthday, she will prick her finger and then be asleep for 100 years.”

Such bad behaviour contrasts with Jocasta’s previous goody-goody pantomime roles for Evolution Productions, York Theatre Royal’s panto partners. “Last year I played Cupid the Fairy in Beauty And The Beast at Canterbury; prior to that, Myrtle the Mermaid in Peter Pan in St Albans.

“In 2020, for Evolution, I was at The Hawth Theatre in Crawley, when we were socially distanced with the tier system in place for Covid 19, and we managed to stay open through the run. It was called something like Dame Dolly Saves Panto!” Indeed it was.

Jocasta enjoys working with the award-winning Evolution team each panto season. “One hundred per cent! It’s why a lot of actors go back to work with them each year, having that security of a good show each winter, which frees you up to do other acting jobs over the rest of the year, knowing you have a job at Christmas.”

Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse in her lair. “She’s my first baddie. It’s such fun,” she says. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

This year took Jocasta to Japan to reprise her role as Diana Morales in A Chorus Line. “It started off as a Curve production in Leicester, then went to Sadler’s Wells, and then some Japanese producers picked it up,” she says.

“We were there for ten weeks, playing three cities, Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka and then back to Tokyo. Japanese is a tricky language to learn, but within the company there were lots of Japanese people, so I could practise my Japanese.”

How did that go? “Sometimes they would laugh at me! Like when I thought I was saying ‘That was delicious’ and in fact I’d said ‘Would you marry me’!”

She took the opportunity to go sight-seeing in each city. “There was more time than you might think to do that – and I’m quite the early bird, getting up early to see things. It was very special to be there; an experience I shall never forget.”

Jocasta had pinned her hopes on playing a panto villain  earlier than this winter. “At St Albans two years ago, I said ‘I want to play Captain Hook’, which would have been so much fun, but then they cast me as Cupid,” she recalls.

Jocasta Almgill in rehearsal for her villainous role as Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty

“I thought, ‘it’ll never happen’, but thankfully they offered me Carabosse this winter, and I told them, ‘I’d love to do that’.”

Jocasta is delighted to be drawing the boos in Sleeping Beauty. “It’s great to be working with Evolution again. We have a brilliant show on our hands that’s really exciting and is a real spectacle, as well as being funny. Visually it’s amazing, and I’m very happy with my costumes,” she says.

“I sing quite a few big numbers. Paul [Evolution Productions’ artistic director and York panto writer Paul Hendy] always has me doing some rocky numbers. I did Guns N’ Roses’ Welcome To The Jungle as Welcome To The Panto in Beauty And The Beast, and here I’m doing Hellfire, from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame musical.

“I get to open Act Two with Pinball Wizard, and I’ve got a duet with Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam where we compete with each other in Ugly Kid Joe’s Everything About You.

“The cast bounces off each other so well, and I love working with Robin [Robin Simpson’s dame Nurse Nellie], who’s hilarious. Luckily I don’t have too many scenes with him or I’d be giggling!”

York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions present Sleeping Beauty until January 4 2026. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jocasta Almgill in her poster portrait, announcing her appearance in Sleeping Beauty

Behind the scenes of Sleeping Beauty pantomime with S R Taylor Photography

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime photographer S R Taylor Photography has gone behind the scenes to give a glimpse into the backstage magic of this winter’s co-production with Evolution Productions.

Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs regular dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s villainous Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s daft lad Jangles, CBeebies’ star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora, Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia and fire act Kris Madden’s Guardian of the Raptor in the panto run until January 4 2026.

Here is a selection of Taylor’s plethora of panto photographs.

Behind you: S R Taylor Photography takes a picture of York Theatre Royal dame Robin Simpson as Nurse Nellie prepares to enter the stage

Aoife Kenny’s Aurora in a quiet moment in the wings

Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam on full beam

Raptor the dinosaur and fire act Kris Madden’s Guardian of the Raptor turn up the heat in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal

Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie in a riot of colours in Sleeping Beauty. The dame’s costumes are designed by Michael J Batchelor and Joey’s Dame Creations

Kris Madden lighting the wheel of fire for his pantomime pyrotechnics in Sleeping Beauty

Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia performing a duet in a captivating scene in Sleeping Beauty

Hat trick! Kris Madden prepares to light up the panto with one of his fire highlights

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REVIEW: Red Ladder Theatre Company in A Proper Merry Christmess, Slung Low Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds and on tour **

Under pressure: All in need of quick cash, can grotto department workforce Maryam Ali’s Rani, left, Charles Doherty’s Michael and Roo Arwen’s Red win the Christmas bonus in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s A Proper Merry Christmess? Picture: Robling Photography

LEEDS companies Red Ladder Theatre Company and Wrongsemble have joined together to tour the UK with a Christmas double bill this festive season.

The shows opened at fellow Leeds company Slung Low’s cavernous Warehouse, in Holbeck, before venturing out to Stockton Arts Centre, Wakefield Exchange, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle (December 19 to 21), the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield (December 22 and 23), and Brighton Dome (hosting “chilled performances”, December 27 to 31).

CharlesHutchPress caught Red Ladder’s riotous, righteous  new comedy A Proper Merry Christmess, whose somewhat perfunctory set was surrounded to either side by presumably the designs for A Town Called Christmas, Wrongsemble’s family show for three year olds and upwards. The effect was to feel like being on one funfair ride, with prospective further rides all around that started to look more attractive.

Alas, Red Ladder’s lustily performed Christmas play turned out to be something of a bumpy ride, one where you could follow the words on a screen above the stage that revealed Charles Doherty’s anything but saintly Michael had developed a progressively worsening habit of adding swear words, as if putting the improper in A Proper Merry Christmess.

He delivers lines with an Australian accent as disdainful as Aussie bowlers and commentators giving their verdict on England’s kamikaze batting in the Ashes.

Roo Arwen’s Red makes her exasperated point to Charles Doherty’s Michael, the grouchy Santa in A Proper Merry Christmess. Picture: Robling Photography

Whether he or first-time playwright Seeta Wrightson and co-writer Leon Fleming called the tune on his potty mouth, who knows, but it had the look and sound of an actor striving too hard for a laugh.

Michael is the resident if reluctant Father Christmas at West Yorkshire’s cheeriest garden centre, where he is a rebel with a Claus, the grouchy Santa of attention, a cross between the Grinch and Billy Bob Thornton’s swindler, Willie Soke, in Terry Twizogg’s 2004 American movie.

As miserable as Ebenezer Scrooge before his Christmas Eve ghost tour, and drawing complaint after complaint for his treatment of children in his grotty grotto, Michael’s mood is only worsened by store announcer Katherine (Kathryn Hanke) declaring the £500 Christmas bonus will be given to only the best-performing department.

Michael needs the money urgently, having overspent massively on his daughter’s wedding, to the point that the four bailiffs of the apocalypse are about to knock on his door.

Doherty’s Michael is “working” with a “positive Christmas tree” and a stressed-out elf, as selfish meets elfish in the dysfunctional Team Grotto. Michael thinks only of himself; Roo Arwen’s Red, an overstretched single mum, is thinking “How can I afford the present” she so desperately wishes to give her young child; Maryam Ali’s Rani is a student, taking odds and sods of part-time jobs to meet the cost of her accountancy degree.

Maryam Ali’s stressed-out student Rami in Christmas tree mode in Santa’s grotto in A Proper Merry Christmess. Picture: Robling Photography

She’s thinking of changing her course to working with animals, as accountancy doesn’t add up to fulfilment and she is only doing it to please her parents.

In Red Ladder tradition, politics plays its part in Leeds writers Wrightson and Fleming’s story, one that evolved from workshops with BITMO (Belle Isle Tenant Management Organisation) and St George’s Crypt, an award-winning charity that supports homeless people in Leeds.

The gig economy, the exploitation of workers, their dissatisfaction with the need to comply to ever-changing management rules, all play their part in the rising tensions of Christmas Eve in garden centreland.

Management is represented by the intrusive Tannoy voice of Hanke’s unseen but increasingly heard Katherine, at first jolly and encouraging in her Christmas sales pitch, but slowly turning to frustration then slurred panic, seemingly under the influence of more than a glass or two as dirty tricks consume the workforce.

All around her, the garden centre is collapsing into chaos in a mini-version of the Titanic going down, with friction to rival Shane McGowan’s tired and emotional lovers in A Fairytale Of New York, as Doherty’s Michael goes rogue and Ali’s Rani and Arwen’s Red grow exasperated, each having their monologue moment in the spotlight.

Be on Red alert: Roo Arwen’s elf loses her rag in A Proper Merry Christmess. Picture: Robling Photography

Red Ladder artistic director Cheryl Martin’s direction gathers ever more pace over the 75 minutes, but the humour does not match that acceleration, feeling too forced, like failed rhubarb.

Carrying an age guidance of 16-plus, A Proper Merry Christmess is billed as a “a chaotic Christmas comedy for grown-ups – an honest festive story, featuring the authentic heartbreak and humour that the Christmas movies usually leave out”. 

Chaotic? Yes. Honest? Earnest, certainly. Authentic heartbreak? Humour? The frantic pursuit of the latter undermines the former, riding roughshod over the pathos in both Rani and Red’s stories.

A Proper Merry Christmess ends up feeling exactly that.

Red Ladder Theatre Company presents A Proper Merry Christmess, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen’s Square, Queen Street, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, December 22 and 23, 6pm. Box office: 01484 430528 or https://www.thelbt.org/what-s-on/drama/a-proper-merry-christmess/.

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on York Musical Society, Christmas Concert, St Lawrence Parish Church, York, 13/12/2025

York Musical Society in concert at St Lawrence Parish Church, York

WHAT was immediately striking at the start of the concert was the vertigo-inducing podium from which musical director David Pipe conducted the choir.

Indeed, if he had swapped his baton for a paintbrush, he could have given Michelangelo a run for his money and painted a few contemporary murals whilst he was up there.

York Musical Society’s concert opened with five excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. And The Glory Of The Lord was tight; the imitative lines were clearly articulated and the soprano high notes well executed. Like the male voices, I struggled with the over-articulation of the consonants in the quick, fugal chorus, And He Shall Purify.

Ellie Miles-Kingston was a delight; the recitative (There Were Shepherds) and the aria (Rejoice Greatly) – duetting with the excellent organist, Shaun Turnbull – were beautifully delivered. The set closed with a lovely performance of His Yoke Is Easy.

David Willcocks’ arrangement of the English traditional Sussex Carol sounded both joyful and effortless. This is no easy thing as the writing is deceptively difficult, especially for the sopranos. This was followed by an utterly splendid performance of O Come, All Ye Faithful by us, the People’s Choir.

Interlude on The Coventry Carol by the splendidly named William Southcombe Lloyd Webber inhabits an entirely different sound-world to that of the Willcocks or indeed the later Rutter: austere, internal and actually technically quite challenging.

David Pipe’s performance was nothing short of poetic: emotional restraint, long unbroken lines, the carol tune always audible – tricky when played using the pedals. A real concert highlight.

Richard Shephard’s Christmas Cantata (after Corelli) was extremely effective and, on the whole, enjoyable. The writing for the sopranos was attractive, but I thought the tessitura sat high for too long with a tendency to drift sharp-wards. I really enjoyed the solo contribution from tenor Leo Fulwell. On the whole, I found the Cantata stylistically ambiguous but that’s probably just me and not the fine performance.

We, the People’s Choir, returned with yet another flawless performance, this time in the uplifting It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.

William Mathias was a truly outstanding composer. As this exuberant performance of his Sir Christèmas clearly shows, what seems like surface good, festive fun – fast tempos, bright brass-like organ writing, motor rhythms – is also a really well-crafted piece of music. The choir captured the energy and drive, and I heard a joy that was forged rather than decorative. Impressive.

What’s not to like about David Willcocks’ Silent Night? Given this rendition, clearly very little indeed. The YMS Choir delivered justice to the composer/arranger’s setting, enhancing the carol’s natural beauty.

Indeed, what’s not to like about John Rutter’s Shepherd’s Pipe Carol too? Again, given this rendition, clearly very little indeed. I just loved the persistent ‘dum-da-dum’ ostinato, which gave the music groove as opposed to flow. Add the syncopation into the mix and we are closer to pop, even jazz, rather than the traditional Christmas carol.

David Pipe’s performance of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, arranged by Thomas Trotter, was a festive joy. We heard trotting hooves, bell-like figurations, crisp winter air, a season of goodwill and Butlin’s. I’ll get my coat.

After a standing, standout blast of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – us again – the choir wished us a merry Christmas and directed us to free glasses of mulled wine. I felt we had earned them.

Review by Steve Crowther

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 53, from Gazette & Herald

Emily Chattle’s Lowen and Ceridwen Smith’s Granbow in a magical scene in Next Door But One’s Christmas show with a difference, When Robins Appear. Picture: James Drury

FESTIVE shows, carol concerts, dancing with Anton and a musical aboard a Christmas steamer fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box for December delights.

A different kind of Christmas show of the week: Next Door But One in When Robins Appear, Clifton Explore, December 18, 5.30pm; York Explore, December 20 and 21, 11am and 2pm

WRITTEN and directed by Next Door But One artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, When Robins Appear follows two friends as they face the big changes of moving house, starting new schools and a first Christmas without Grandma, when the festive sparkle seems to be missing.

Helped by a magical Robin (played by Ceridwen Smith), 12-year-old Ellis (Annie Rae Donaghy) and Lowen (Emily Chattle) are whisked away on a heart-warming journey through their favourite wintery memories to find the magic again. Soon they discover that the real sparkle of Christmas will not be found under the tree, but in the laughter, love and unforgettable moments we share together and that can live forever in our hearts. Tickets update: Sold out, for returns only, go to: www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk.

Adam Price’s Billy Crocker, left, Alexandra Mather’s Reno Sweeney and Fergus Powell’s Moonface Martin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Felix Wahlberg

Full steamer ahead of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 21, then December 27 to 30

CLIMB aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.

Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Winter WonderBand: Performing Joy Illimited album at Helmsley Arts Centre

The cover artwork for Winter WonderBand’s Joy Illimited album

Christmas folk concert of the week: Winter WonderBand, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

CHAMBER folk quartet Winter WonderBand comprises Saul Rose (from Faustus, War Horse and Waterson Carthy) on melodeon; Maclaine Colston (Pressgang and Kings Of Calicutt) on hammered dulcimer; Beth Porter (SpellSongs and Bookshop Band) on cello and Jennifer Crook (Broken Road and Cythara) on harp and guitar.

Together they play winter and festive-themed acoustic music and songs, traditional, modern and original, as heard on debut album Joy Illimited, released on December 1. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The Icons Of Soul: In serenading mood at Milton Rooms, Malton, on Saturday

Christmas soul parties of the week: The Magic Of Motown, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm; The Icons Of Soul, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

ON its 20th anniversary tour, The Magic Of Motown travels down nostalgia avenue in celebration of  Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Mary Wells, The Isley Brothers, The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie at York Barbican on Thursday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Two nights later, direct from the United States, The Icons Of Soul serenade Malton’s audience with soul classics and slick dance routines as they celebrate 1960s and 1970s’ vocal groups such as The Drifters, The Temptations, The Stylistics and Tavares. Be prepared to dance all night long. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The poster for Pocklington Arts Centre’s Christmas show, Elizabeth Godber’s Jingle All The Way

Deer double act of the week: Jingle All The Way, Pocklington Arts Centre, until December 23

FROM the team behind The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish comes Elizabeth Godber’s latest Christmas family adventure, co-directed by Jane Thornton with musical direction by Dylan Allcock.

Reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie(Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes. Santa, however, has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance? Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Eve Lorian: Conducting Prima Choral Artists’ Family Christmas Concert at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York

Choral concert of the week: Prima Choral Artists, Family Christmas Concert, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, Saturday, 4pm to 5pm

PRODUCED and conducted by Prima Choral Artists director Eve Lorian, Saturday’s concert unites her choir with the New World String Quartet, organist James Webb and pianist Greg Birch in reflective and cheerful Christmas celebrations.

Here come high-spirited festive classics, modern choral arrangements and string and organ repertoire, including works by Tchaikovsky and Rawsthorne. Box office: primachoral.com and on the door.

Festive song and dance with Anton Du Beke and terpsichorean friends at York Barbican

Dandy dancing of the week: Christmas With Anton Du Beke & Friends, York Barbican, Sunday, 5pm

EMBARK on a dazzling journey into a festive wonderland as Strictly Come Dancing judge and ballroom king Anton Du Beke joins forces with his dynamic live band, vocalist Lance Ellington and  troupe of dancers for a magical evening of cherished Christmas songs, captivating dance and festive humour. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Recommended but sold out already is Robert Plant’s Saving Grace gig, Ding Dong Merrily, at York Barbican on December 23 (doors 7pm), when Plant, co-vocalist Suzi Dian drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley and cellist Barney Morse-Brown showcase September 26’s Saving Grace album, “a song book of the lost and found”.

Pickering Musical Society in pantoland: Starting off the new year in Snow White at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Booking recommended now: Pickering Musical Society in Snow White, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, January 14 to 25, 7.15pm, except January 19; 2.15pm, January 17, 18, 24 and 25  

INTEREST has been “extraordinary” for Pickering Musical Society’s January 2026 pantomime, directed for the tenth year by resident director Luke Arnold. More than 1,000 tickets have sold already; January 18’s 2.15pm performance has sold out and several others are close behind.

Written by Ron Hall, the show combines comedy, spectacle, festive magic, dazzling scenery and colourful costumes and features such principals as Marcus Burnside’s Dame Dumpling, Danielle Long’s Prince Valentine, Alice Rose’s Snow White, Paula Cook’s Queen Lucrecia and Sue Smithson’s Fairy Dewdrop. Audiences are encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.littleboxoffice.com.

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REVIEW: Next Door But One in When Robins Appear, Explore York library tour until December 21 ****

Emily Chattle’s Lowen, left, Ceridwen Smith’s Robin and Annie Rae Donaghy’s Ellis in Next Door But One’s When Robins Appear. All pictures: James Drury

ACCORDING to British folklore, “robins appear when loved ones are near”.

The beloved Redbreast is omnipresent on Christmas cards, not least  on York printmaker Gerard Hobson’s exclusive illustration for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s 2025 charity card.

Mother Hutch had a corner devoted to each Yuletide’s new arrivals, and since her passing in September 2025, your reviewer has worn her favourite Robin badge on his lapel.

That lapel has a new addition, thanks to York community arts collective Next Door But One, whose cast of Ceridwen Smith, Emily Chattle and Annie Rae Donaghy hand out When Robins Appear badges at the conclusion to NDB1’s inaugural Christmas show (after 12 years of wholly inclusive, wholly accessible theatre-making for children and young people in and around the city).

Emily Chattle’s Lowen, left, and Annie Rae Donaghy’s Ellis experiencing “a different kind of Christmas” in Next Door But One’s When Robins Appear

Writer-director Matt Harper Hardcastle has penned “a different kind of Christmas show for those who have a different kind of Christmas”, in part inspired by the loss of his mother to cancer.

Enter the Robin, the harbinger of British winter birds, the messenger from the spirit world whose presence is deemed to be a comforting sign of a late loved one being close at hand.   

Here, the Robin takes the form of Ceridwen Smith in magnificent gold and red, topped off with feathery plumage and tailed with natty red and pink pumps. On occasion, her hand transforms into a bird-sized Robin, again bedecked in festive livery of gold and red.

On entering York Explore’s wood-panelled Marriott Room, eyes are drawn to Emily Chattle’s Lowen and Annie Rae Donaghy’s Ellis, each looking glum, avoiding eye contact, tucked away but still in plain sight behind wooden triangular shapes with numbers that evoke both Advent Calendars and decorations in Catherine Chapman’s child’s play of a set design.

Movement director Bailey Dowler, left, writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, Ceridwen Smith, Annie Rae Donaghy and Emily Chattle in rehearsal for When Robins Appear

Lowen, 12, misses her late Gran, known to her as Granbow, on account of wearing clothing as colourful as a rainbow: a habit Lowen  seems to be mirroring in her get-up of pink, red, grey, amber and yellow stripes.   

Ellis, also 12, is looking after her ill mum, both uncertain of her future. She feels as blue as her clothing, a mood not enhanced by moving into a new home and being unable to find her phone charger.

Both she and Lowen are surrounded by boxes: in Lowen’s case, the boxes for packing away Granbow’s belongings with her Dad (played by Smith, denoted by a hat, either worn or held in her hand when this admirable multi-tasker is playing Ellis’s Mum with the simple symbol of a pair of glasses).

Facing a first Christmas without her cherished, shining grandma, Lowen needs to find one elusive box, in particular, the one with her Dad’s fairy lights that Granbow (Smith in role number four) used to transform the cupboard under the stairs where he would retire in shy childhood days.

Emily Chattle’s Lowen with Ceridwen Smith’s Granbow in the shadow-play light box scene in When Robins Appear

At the start, Chattle’s Lowen and Donaghy’s Ellis do not know each other, but each is facing the challenge of a “different kind of Christmas”, of dealing with grief or illness, of coming to terms with changing circumstances or a change of address, above all of feeling overwhelmed.

Who should bring them together but Smith’s chatterbox Robin, chirping away ten to the dozen. What then ensues is an invitation from Robin to, first, Lowen, then Ellis, to recall a past Christmas that made them happy and then to invoke the spirit of that story into Christmas this year.

Those fairy lights and Ellis’s Mac’n’Cheese Christmas Day lunch feature in stories told with delightful  interplay, typically imaginative direction by Harper-Hardcastle and highly engaging characterisation by Chattle, already such a whizz at children’s entertainment, and Donaghy, back home for Christmas in York after graduating with first class honours in contemporary theatre at East 15 Acting School and taking her first steps in London’s theatre jungle.

Joshua Goodman’s enchanting songs and Bailey Dowler’s less-is-more movement direction complement Harper-Hardcastle’s beautifully judged direction as the chameleon Smith and the Chattle & Donaghy double act – where they bring out the inner child in us all – hold the attention of children aged seven to 11 and their adults alike.

Emily Chattle’s Lowen, left, Ceridwen Smith’s Robin and Annie Rae Donaghy’s Ellis on Catherine Chapman’s child’s play of a set design

As ever with Next Door But One, whose research took in working with York Young Carers, this is a caring, considerate show, with British Sign Language to boot, that says so much in under an hour for those whose story is not the stuff of glitzy, wham-bam pantomimes.

What’s more, you will not see a better use of boxes this festive season, gradually transforming into a Christmas tree before your eyes, while an earlier shadow-play light box scene is wondrous.

NDB1 are taking When Robins Appear on the road for eight primary school performances as well as public shows in Explore York libraries that all sold out before the tour opened. The £3.50 ticket price makes When Robins Appear the best-value festive family show in York this Christmas.

It would be no surprise to see this magical Robin bobbing around again next winter.

Next Door But One in When Robins Appear at York Explore, at Clifton Explore, December 18, 5.30pm; York Explore, December 20 and 21, 11am and 2pm. All sold out. Box office for returns only: nextdoorbutone.co.uk.

On the Way Up as Emily Chattle’s Lowen and Annie Rae Donaghy’s Ellis find festive cheer in a different kind of Christmas

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Donna Maria Taylor’s paintings of rugged hills and mountain landscapes rise high at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb from Thursday

Artist Donna Maria Taylor at work in her “bright and airy” Studio 1 at South Bank Studios, York. Picture: Paul Oscar Photography

SOUTH Bank Studios resident artist Donna Maria Taylor’s latest collection of paintings will be on display at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, from Thursday, when she will attend the 6pm to 9pm launch.

At the invitation of Bluebird artistic curator Jo Walton and bakery co-owner and poet Nicky Kippax, her This Rugged Earth exhibition will run for eight weeks until February 12 2026.

Inspired by the world around her and her travels both here in the United Kingdom and Europe, the majority of the new work nods to her love of rugged hillscapes and mountainous landscapes.

Donna exhibits regularly, this year taking part in York Open Studios, North Yorkshire Open Studios and the Saltaire and Staithes art festivals, as well as exhibiting in Skipton, Danby, Scarborough and Lincoln.

Her Bluebird Bakery exhibition, however, brings her work much closer to home. “Therefore I’m thrilled to have my paintings exhibited here,” she says.

Alongside her professional art practice, Donna is a fully qualified and experienced tutor, offering  regular art workshops in York, as well as art retreats to Southern Morocco, Andalusia in Spain and Tuscany in Italy.

Next year, she will be opening her South Bank studio for the seventh consecutive year for  York Open Studios (April 18/19 and 25/26 2026), and she will exhibit in the main gallery space of York Hospital, Wiggington Road, York, from September 2026 onwards.

The poster for Donna Maria Taylor’s launch of This Rugged Earth at Rise:@Bluebird Bakery

Here, Donna discusses This Rugged Earth, her highly productive 2025 and plans for next September’s York Hospital show with CharlesHutchPress.

Does the look of Rise/Bluebird Bakery influence your choice of artworks to be shown there?

“Only in terms of scaling up the size of some of my paintings to fill the space. Given that I’m used to painting large backdrops in the theatre though, going a little bigger is no real problem. It just means more paint and bigger brushes!

“I do think that the colour palette I’ve been using recently compliments Bluebird’s interiors, but I’m not someone who creates original artwork to match a room. My work is personal to me and hopefully forms a cohesive collection, no matter where it’s shown.”

What draws you to rugged hillscapes and mountainous landscapes? 

“Something within me I guess – maybe it stems from walks I used to enjoy as a child in the Peak District…or family holidays in the Lake District and North Wales? I also spent three  winter seasons working as a ski instructor in the Austrian Alps when I was younger, so maybe that’s it?

Loch Long, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“I love the drama of rugged landscapes, the fresh air and the connection you have with nature. Although I don’t think I could live permanently in the countryside, I’ll often spend my spare time there – sketching, en-plein-air painting, walking or mountain biking with family and friends.”

Where have you travelled in Europe recently?

“I’ve been lucky enough to travel through quite a few places – Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria – mainly because I chose the ‘slow travel’ option to reach my art retreat destinations.

“I also came back from Italy via Slovenia this time: a place I’ve never visited before. The scenery there is stunning, although you do have to be aware of bears – not something we have to worry about when wandering around in this country…”

How do the opportunities to teach in Morocco, Andalusia and Tuscany come about? What do your sessions cover? 

“They come via word of mouth and recommendations really. My first Moroccan holiday came about when I tripped and broke my foot whilst working on stage in the theatre back in 2018, meaning I couldn’t walk for several months.

Hole Of Horcum, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“I had a lot of time on my hands and was stuck at home all day, so what was I to do? Make exciting plans for the future, of course!

“I’d already run a couple of art holidays in the UK, so going further afield and combining my love of art and travel felt like the perfect next step. By that point, I’d also had more than 20 years’ experience teaching adults, so I was used to working with a wide range of groups and abilities.

“Sketchbooks have always played an important role on the retreats because they allow you to get out and explore. When you’re somewhere new, that’s essential – so that you really get a sense of the place.

“The sketchbook becomes a sort of visual diary; a real record of your time spent there. Sketchbooks also make the retreats accessible to everyone, from complete beginners onwards.

“I encourage the use of a range of media in them, including watercolour, collage and acrylics. Of course, some people prefer to focus on more finished pieces, and that’s absolutely fine too. As an experienced educator you learn to adapt to each person’s needs.”

La Tania, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

What do your art classes and workshops cover?

“There’s a wide range of media and techniques: watercolours, inks, acrylic, print, collage, pastels and oils. I try to encourage learners to experiment, play with the mediums and really develop their own style, but observational drawing is also an important and fundamental part of it all too. It’s all about ‘learning to see’ and creating your own visual language.

“I think coming from a theatre background really has given me a multi-disciplinary approach to both my art and my teaching.”

How did your exhibitions in 2025 compare and contrast: Skipton, Danby, Scarborough, Lincoln, York Open Studios, North Yorkshire Open Studios (NYOS), Saltaire, Staithes and York Hospital (from November 2025 to February 2026)? It sounds like a very busy, very productive year. 

“Yes, I perhaps packed a little too much into my calendar this year, but I do like to keep busy. The exhibitions organised through NYOS, York Hospital and the gallery were fantastic for getting my work out in front of new audiences, but festivals and events are quite different because you get to meet and engage with the people who want to talk to you about your work, so it becomes far more interactive and personal.

Les Chenus, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“Also, you’re often working alongside other artists at events too, which I love. It’s harder work but very rewarding.”

Looking ahead, what will you exhibit in the York Hospital main gallery space from next September?

“New work that hopefully doesn’t exist yet! As an artist, I’m always striving to stretch myself and find new ways of expressing myself, so the answer to that really is ‘watch this space’…”

What is the function of art in a hospital? 

“Having art in hospitals genuinely makes a difference to the lives of patients, visitors and staff alike. I know this from personal experience but also from the lovely messages people sometimes send me to tell me how much seeing my work has meant to them or made their day.”

Donna Maria Taylor: back story

ORIGINALLY from South Yorkshire, Donna completed Art Foundation course after A-levels, followed by degree in Multi-disciplinary Design.

Began career in Stoke-on-Trent as textile and ceramic tile/mural designer before gaining  a distinction in her Postgraduate Diploma in Theatre Design.

Led to long and varied career in theatre design and production, allowing her to draw on wide range of creative skills. Worked in theatres across UK and abroad before moving to York in 2000 to take up post of full-time scenic artist at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.

Continues to work regularly with Yorkshire theatres, including Leeds Playhouse and York Theatre Royal, where she served as prop maker and workshop facilitator for this summer’s community production, His Last Report.

Well known for creating large-scale animal puppets that first appeared in the York Minster Mystery Plays, From Darkness Into Light, in 2016.

Alongside her theatre work, Donna contributes to community art projects, including  two pieces inspired by the work of artist John Piper, now on display at Southlands Methodist Church.

Based at Studio 1, South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road,
York, where you can visit her by appointment (donnataylorart@icloud.com) .

Join her  mailing list at https://donnamariataylor.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f53feedf07e7c7ef532cecaba&id=a9ce963475 to be the first to learn of her latest art news, including information on new courses, workshops and art holidays to Morocco, Spain and Italy.

View Donna’s paintings and learn more about her extensive career in the arts at: www.donnamariataylor.com. She is on Facebook: @DonnaTaylorArt; Instagram: @donnataylorart.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Early Music Christmas Festival, Lowe Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 12

Lowe Ensemble: Echoes of the Spanish Baroque programme at York Early Music Christmas Festival

THERE cannot be many early music groups in which no less than five siblings are involved. The Lowes grew up in Madrid, although now based in London, so their Echoes of the Spanish Baroque programme may be said to have come naturally to them.

The ensemble – soprano, two violins and two cellos – was completed here by Daniel Murphy, doubling on theorbo and Baroque guitar: he fitted smoothly into the family setting.

In a sense, this programme was back to front, first revealing Spanish influence on other countries, before returning to Spanish originals. Lully’s comédie-ballet Le bourgeois Gentilhomme offered the perfect opening. It guys a rich man’s efforts to become cultured which, tellingly, includes acquaintance with Spanish music and dance.

The instruments were pleasingly jaunty in the Air des Espagnols before soprano Myriam Lowe joined with a more measured account of love’s delightful pains.

A Spanish sarabande for gamba and theorbo by Marais was a touch leaden even for this stately dance; it might have been amusingly compared to the 16th century zarabanda, quite a different animal.

But the melancholy rocking of Henri de Bailly’s Yo Soy La Locura (I Am Madness), with pizzicato accompaniment, revealed a Frenchman truly intoxicated by Spain. Similarly an Italian, Andrea Falconieri, used rapid tremolos in lower strings to demonstrate his excitement over a señora.

Before that we had the surprise of hearing Handel setting a Spanish love-song during his sojourn in Italy. Thereafter we were in Spain itself. After the sadness of delivering a José Marín tono, Myriam took to the harpsichord, joining the others in the refined variations of Santiago de Murcia’s Grabe.

More typical – to the outsider – Spanish repertoire came with Mateo Flecha’s lovelorn Florida Estava la Rosa (The Rose Was In Full bloom), slow at first but eventually rhythmically vivid, with guitar introduced.

Finally, the players let their hair down with a couple of fandangos. Alessandro Scarlatti’s wasvigorous enough, but Soler’s was idiomatic to the core, a joyful conclusion. The Basque carol The Angel Gabriel, beautifully slow, made a touching seasonal encore.

This is a fine group, with a bright future. They took their time to achieve full alegría de vivir (joie de vivre), but when the early tension had dissipated they arrived there in the end. I hope they will return soon.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Early Music Christmas Festival, Helen Charlston & Sholto Kynoch, National Centre for Early Music, December 6

Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston

COULD this be a lieder recital? In an early music Christmas festival? Although it contained no mention of Christmas, nor even a fortepiano for authenticity, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and her piano-partner Sholto Kynoch delivered a lunchtime recital so memorable that none of the fortunate 70 in the audience would have had the slightest qualms about hearing it in the festival.

It was billed as A Lyrical Interlude, a translation of Heinrich Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo of 1827, from which all its poetry was drawn. It culminated in Schumann’s Dichterliebe, after seven related songs, including two each from the Mendelssohn siblings, Fanny and Felix.

It is not necessarily an easy option to include a chestnut like Felix’s On Wings Of Song. But here Charlston’s cleverly suppressed ecstasy, complemented by Kynoch’s gently rippling keyboard, delivered something special. Reiselied (‘Song Of Travel’) was vivid enough to evoke Schubert’s ‘Erlking’.

Fanny Hensel’s two songs, about a lonely pine and a swan giving its last, revealed Charlston’s ability to nail a mood at once. In juxtaposing settings of ‘Die Lotosblume’, she found an appealing line in Schumann’s but surprisingly greater depth of emotion in Loewe’s.

Few Anglophones can boast her command of the German language. This is not merely a question of good pronunciation, although hers is excellent; it is the ability to convey literary nuance. It proved a huge asset in her account of Dichterliebe, a cycle much more often associated with male voices. Both performers went well beyond the poetry’s “mask of irony” referred to by Kynoch in his first-class spoken preface to the work.

Her early naivety and the chattering excitement of ‘Die Rose, Die Lilie’ (even so, finding room for rubato) gradually dissipated as the shine of the romance began to tarnish. Charlston found greater chest tone for ‘Im Rhein’, leading to the start of nostalgic bitterness, although the hammered postlude was out of scale for the venue and left little in reserve for later in the cycle.

‘Ich Grolle Nicht’ (I Bear No Grudge) was positively dripping with sarcasm, slightly muted by her choice of the optional lower notes at the end: her mezzo would comfortably have reached the more telling higher ones. But what really made the song was the brief sotto voce at its centre, as she recalled a dream.

After a deeply elegiac ‘Hör’ich das Liedchen Klingen’, the next song, ‘Ein Jüngling Liebt ein Mädchen’ brought playful relief. She stayed rivetingly in character through the tearful dream, evoking tears in her listeners.

There was yet another new mood for a jaunty start to ‘Aus Aalten Märchen’ (From Old Fairy Tales) but a smoothly regretful transition as these in turn melted away like foam. There was real anger in the final ‘bad old songs’, as both performers wrung every last drop of self-pitying pain from the poet’s ‘Schmerz’.

The postlude was finely drawn, even if its rallentando was a touch over-pointed. But this had been

a genuine duet, the performers drawing from one another. This programme, plus Héloïse Werner’s song- cycle Knight’s Dream, can be heard at Leeds Song on April 15 next year. You dare not miss it.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Early Music Christmas Festival, Apollo5, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 9

Apollo 5 members, left to right, Penny Appleyard, Thomas Mottershead, Augustus Perkins Ray, Joseph Taylor and Lily Robson

APOLLO5 is a vocal quintet featuring soprano, mezzo, two tenors and a bass. Its early evening programme was entitled The Crimson Sun, reflecting both the close of day and the title of a piece by Alexander Campkin.

Despite the title, all the works on the programme were seasonal and most were festive too. Dobrinka Tabakova’s springy, syncopated Good-will To Men was immediately contrasted with Piers Connor Kennedy’s A Spotless Rose, not the traditional tune, but a reworking of two of the ‘O’ antiphons, moving gracefully from the original plainsong into modern close-harmony versions.

Thereafter we backtracked to the 16th century, where the singers’ straight tone was especially apt. Handl’s Omnes de Saba was brisk but lacked shading, whereas Guerrero’s Virgen Sancta – a rare example for its time of sacred music in the vernacular – had all the tenderness you might expect from the Spanish master.

The calmer centre of Byrd’s Laetentur Caeli contrasted well with its vivid frame. The passing dissonances of Poulenc’s O Magnum Mysterium were also neatly tuned.

It is always risky when modern composers attempt to rework established favourites: the results may inspire or annoy, rarely both. In the first camp were Fraser Wilson’s fresh new harmonies for The Angel Gabriel, whereas a new take on The Coventry Carol lacked clarity.

New creations rather than arrangements included Ola Gjeilo’s Ubi Caritas, respectful of tradition but also exultant, the reverent last-verse adoration of James Bassi’s Quem Pastores, the mediaeval feel of James MacMillan’s O Radiant Dawn, with its repeated cries of “Come! Shine!”, and Adrian Peacock’s Spanish-flavoured Venite, Gaudete!.

As for Campkin’s setting of Rev George Grantham’s Victorian carol, The Crimson Sun, it suffered slightly from being heard in the wake of Walton’s frisky Make We Joy Now, but its repeating downward motif in the soprano helped paint the fading daylight and its ‘Gloria’ refrain stirred the spirit.

Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych’s Carol Of The Bells made an ideal ending. On this evidence, Apollo5 is a versatile, well-balanced ensemble, whose programme was perfectly tailored to the festival.

Review by Martin Dreyer