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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 32, from The York Press

Donna Maria Taylor in her South Bank Studios studio

GEORGIAN celebrations, a brace of art fairs, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court and The Magpies’ folk festival should outshine Wednesday’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.

Artists in situ: South Bank Studios’ Summer Artists Open Doors, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York, today, 10am to 4pm

MEET the South Bank artists and makers who work in a broad range of disciplines, from textile art, painting, drawing and photography, to mixed media, letterpress and linocut printmaking. Visit their studios to see their creative processes in a day of art to buy, art demonstrations and activities The cafe will be open for refreshments. Entry is free; all welcome.  

York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, until August 10

HIGHLIGHTING the sights and sounds of 18th century life, York Mansion House and beyond plays host to the fourth York Georgian Festival in a festival programme that ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the York Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms tonight. Talk, tours, performances and workshops feature too. For full listings and booking details, go to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.

Rousing concert of the week: Brass At The Proms, Carlton Main Colliery Band, Selby Abbey, tonight, 7pm

JOIN Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band on its return to the former coalfield town of Selby for a Last Night of the Proms brass concert featuring a vibrant mix of rousing favourites. Seating in the Main Nave will be allocated, with seat and row numbers; Rear Nave seating will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.

Art and science bonding exercise of the week: Futureproof presents Opposites Attract Scratch Night, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.30pm

EIGHT acts perform a mixture of poetry, drag, monologues and comedy. Expect biochemistry, molecular biology, sewing, chalk stream-inspired dance and more tonight.

The theme, Opposites Attract, derives from the idea that many things will give people joy, purpose, belonging and entertainment — such as maths and science — that seem to be mutually exclusive to theatre. Futureproof invites creatives to consider these ostensible contrasts, alongside the concept that theatre is meant to reflect our world and/or be a tool to create new ones. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Comedy event of the week: Kevin Bridges: Warm Up, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 8pm

CLYDEBANK comedian Kevin Bridges performs two warm-up shows in York ahead of his UK stand-up tour Here If You Need Me. Tonight’s gig has sold out but tickets are still available for tomorrow, as well as for his Leeds First Direct Bank Arena tour show on November 19. Box office: York, atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, axs.com/uk/events/1240964/kevin-bridges-tickets?skin=leeds.

New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until August 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows

SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?

Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster fort York River Art Market 2026. Illustration by Elliot Harrison (@York360)

Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, today and tomorrow, then August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.

Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.

Tribute gig of the week: SWT presents Pulp’d vs Blur 2, Milton Rooms, Malton, today, 8pm

PULP’D and Blur2 team up for a double-header of Britpop royalty tonight. Born and raised in Sheffield, passionate Pulp fans Pulp’d came together to re-create the hits, passion and Jarvis Cocker moves.

Blur2 bring the very best of Blur to every show: the energy, the fun, the sound, the looks and the musicianship of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and co. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Coastal gigs of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Scissor Sisters, today; Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, August 14,  gates 6pm

AFTER their 2025 UK arena reunion tour and that summer’s Saturday night Glastonbury set, Scissor Sisters bring their trademark blend of glam, grit and glorious to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend. Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and co will be rolling out such favourites as Take Your Mama, Laura, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin, Let’s Have A Kiki, Only The Horses and Filthy/Gorgeous.

Flamboyant, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill next Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of  Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 14 and 15

RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents next Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).

Next Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.

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York River Art Market 2026 is off to flying start as potter Caroline Turner takes over

The poster for York River Art Market 2026. Illustration: Elliot Harrison (@York360)

CAROLINE Turner is delighted by how well her takeover of York River Art Market is going.

The first of three weekends of 30 artists and designers per day setting up stalls by the Ouse riverside on Dame Judi Dench Walk was greeted by sunshine and a steady footfall last Saturday and Sunday.

Professional potter and Clay Space pottery teacher Caroline took over York’s answer to Paris’s Left Bank when founder, organiser, artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson stepped down after a decade to focus on her teaching role as award leader for York College’s BA (Hons) 3D creative practice course.

“It was really busy, and I was so relieved because it’s big boots to fill after Charlotte, when you feel a lot of responsibility to all the artists,” says Caroline. “First of all, they all turned up, the sun came out, and they were making sales at one minute past ten, so that was great.

“City Cruises York put us on their tour list of things to do, saying where we were, and I kept seeing swathes of people coming straight towards as they disembarked on what were really busy days for the cruises.”

One innovation by Caroline for 2026 sees stalls being set up on both sides of the pathway for the first time. “I was initially nervous about doing it, as Charlotte didn’t, but because there were so many applicants, I thought, ‘let’s open it up’,” she says. “We even had one artist hanging items on the mesh around a tree, and there are three more places where that could happen.

“I’m pleased I took the plunge with that decision and I’ll definitely be doing the same again next year.”

Some artists and makers have booked stalls for all six days (August 1 & 2, August 8 & 9 and August 15 &16). “Quite a few do that, but we also have plenty of newbies, maybe as many as 50 per cent of the artists, who haven’t done it before, to keep up the variety each day, as I want it to be varied for regular visitors and it’s important to give new artists a chance to take part, ” says Caroline.

“We had some newcomers who were nervous about how to set up their stall, but what’s lovely is that experienced stall holders showed them what to do. Everyone was helping each other out.”

At the invitation of SPARK: York, she held a launch event there last Thursday featuring artworks by participating artists. “It was very last minute, but it was great opportunity to publicise the event,” says a grateful Caroline, who gained a surge of confidence and momentum for the markets ahead.

“I’d taken on a big challenge, thinking ‘OK, I can do this’, but the launch event meant I was now seeing real people, and I felt really lifted after spending all those hours at home preparing for it. It made all that admin worthwhile,” says Caroline, who makes pottery under the name Happy Pot Mama, by the way.

Now, the weather is set fair for weekend two of York River Art Market 2026, where visitors can buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides.

York River Art Market continues on August 8 & 9 , then August 15 & 16, on Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, 10am to 5.30pm. Admission is free.

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REVIEW: The Songs of Joni Mitchell, with Lail Arad, Jesca Hoop & Naima Bock, The Citadel, Gillygate, York, July 31

Lail Arad: Founder of The Songs of Joni Mitchell

LAIL Arad first sang a Joni Mitchell song in public at her London school concert at the age of 11. Joni’s biggest  British hit, Big Yellow Taxi, was her choice, and it would be her first pick at The Citadel too.

Singer-songwriter Lail first presented The Songs of Joni Mitchell to mark her groundbreaking Canadian counterpart’s 80th birthday, since when she and Manchester-based American singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop have organised two tours and now a summer of special shows and festival appearances.

They have been joined by the varied likes of This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables, cult singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Irish singer and composer Lisa Hannigan, David Bowie band member (1995 to 2004) Gail Ann Dorsey, Scottish folk and dream-pop singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni, BRIT Award winner Emile Sande and American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon.

The latest addition is former Goat Goal band member and folk singer Naima Bock, whose York appearance was only her second with Lail and Jesca, having met them for the first time to rehearse only the day before her debut.

Rather more settled in the ranks is regular pianist Richard Sears, but he was not the only musician to be seated at last Friday’s concert, played to a full house of Mitchell devotees of differing ages, young and much older, split evenly between women and men.

For each solo number, followed by a song with Richard accompanying her on the keys, Naima brought on a chair, then played her guitar cross-legged in bright socks and afterwards returned the chair to from whence it had come, out of view beyond the door to the side.

“I like sitting down,” she later explained. Certainly it added to her looking and sounding very much at home in this nascent association with “Songs Of”, deeper of voice than Lail and Jesca, when performing Tin Angel and A Case of You in Set One and early Mitchell composition Urge For Going and Shades Of Scarlett Conquering, her best number, in Set Two.

Jesca Hoop: Lail Arad’s collaborator and co-organiser for The Songs of Joni Mitchell shows. The York concert was promoted by Joe Coates and The Crescent

The bright white-walled Citadel was looking spick and span after the £300,000 restoration of its meeting spaces and café, all the more so in the early evening daylight. Built as a place of worship and mission centre for the Salvation Army, and still home to the York City Church, the building’s air or reverence lent itself to the tone of the performance.

Always closer to reverent, never irreverent, but with interpretation rather than impersonation at its root, the approach was typified by Lail slowing down Big Yellow Taxi to a stately glide, eschewing Joni’s trademark laugh at the climax  too.

Lail incidentally was wearing a shirt from Saskatchewan, in honour of Joni’s formative years there (playing her first paid gig at the Louis Riel Coffee House in Saskatoon). “I bought it on Vinted,” our host admitted, before performing For Free (which presumably the shirt wasn’t).

Introduced by Lail, Jesca had opened Set One with Morning Morgantown, whose melody had ‘stuck in her head for 38 years’ and was newly released to electric guitar accompaniment. Joined by Richard, Jesca’s take on Lessons In Survival, from her favourite Joni record, 1972’s For The Roses, located that survival instinct.

Richard had one solo number, Little Green, from 1971’s Blue, and by now the concert lighting was taking greater effect, whether bathing the walls in green, blue, pink, red or taxi- yellow.

Your reviewer most enjoyed the climax to each half when Lail, Jesca and Naima (now standing) united in harmony, but switching positions, with Richard to their side, first for Night In The City. “How does the first line go?” said a stage-whispering Jesca, promptly answering her own question by breaking into Rainy Night House.

Lail told a story of mistakenly thinking Joni was singing “’A little money riding on the make-beliefs” on Raised On Robbery, until she married a Canadian who put her straight about the “Maple Leafs”, as Set One closed on a surge of Richard’s boogie-woogie piano.

Naima Bock: Making only her second Songs of Joni Mitchell concert appearance in York. Picture: El Hardwick, for Sub Pop Records

The format remained the same in Set Two, opening with Lail in a cappella mode.  “This song is from 1969 but it could have been written today,” she said, introducing the anti-war sentiments of The Fiddle And The Drum, her solo highlight.

Jesca picked Night Ride Home and California, either side of Naima’s Set Two contributions.  “I know about this next song,” she said, in a nod to her roots in Santa Rosa, in rural northern California, and her years in Los Angeles. “I’m just learning to strum, it’s true,” she chided herself  after “fluffing” (in her words) a guitar line. “Thank you, that’s very generous,” came her response to the audience clapping as appreciatively as ever.

Jesca went on to highlight how Joni had been the first female singer-songwriter to divulge details of family, friends and loved ones in her lyrics. “Now we have permission to spill out our experiences, when previously it wasn’t normal.” Step forward Charlie XCX, Self Esteem, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish et al.

Jesca’s rendition of Amelia ensued and then it was time for the grand finale, all four together again for Joni’s Woodstock Festival anthem, Woodstock, the song she did not perform at the August 1969 gathering on account of her manager, David Geffen, fearing the heavy traffic would prevent her arrival at the ABC Television Center in New York to perform it on The Dick Cavett Show. Ironically, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Jefferson Airplane all turned up straight from the festival to join her.

That song “defined not only the festival but the entire generation”, enthused Lail as she took lead vocals, the stage by now resplendent in golden light. She fronted Carey too, where Naima and Jesca’s harmonising was at its most sublime.

Aptly for Both Sides Now, both sides, audience and performers alike, were invited to sing together. All three protagonists took a lead vocal, one each for “I really don’t know clouds at all/love at all/life at all”.

Joni really does know life at all, of course, as Lail, Jesca and Naima’s performances of The Songs of Joni Mitchell testified. Definitely not a “tribute show”, instead they paid her the highest compliment.

Stanley Chow’s poster illustration for The Songs of Joni Mitchell tour with Naima Bock, including The Citadel, York, on July 31

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New-look Basement at City Screen Picturehouse launches monthly Sunday comedy club from August 16

Nice touch: Chloe Petts feeling lippy at the prospect of headlining first Basement Comedy Club bill at City Screen Picturehouse on August 16

CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, has redecorated The Basement for the first time in 15 years for concerts, comedy and more.

The refurbishment will be marked by the launch of a new comedy night. “Although we’ll still be working with Damion Larkin for Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club nights on the first Saturday of the month, we’ve now set up our own Basement Comedy Club,” says City Screen general manager Cath Sharp.

“It’ll be held on the third Sunday of the month, so as not to compete with Laugh Out Loud. It’s been many years since we had our own club – remember The Other Side?”

The first bill, on August 16, at what will be the regular early evening kick-off of 6pm, will feature Chloe Petts, Faizan Shah and Lovdev Barpaga, introduced by MC Sara Barron.

Sara Barron: Compere for August 16 bill at The Basement

Petts has been touring their 2025 Edinburgh Fringe show Big Naturals, addressing lad culture and identity politics. Manchester comic Shah sheds light on his experiences growing up in an immigrant household, along with the mental health challenges this journey often entails.

Barpaga is a comedian, breakfast show presenter on FreeRadio in Birmingham and podcaster, hosting “Crazy Little Thing Called Lovdev”. On the comedy circuit for ten years now, he specialises in crafting old school-style one liners and puns.

Compere Barron made her Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2018 and has toured such shows as For Worse (2018), Enemies Closer (2019), Hard Feelings (2022) and Anything For You (2024). She co-created the Succession recap podcast Firecrotch and Normcore and presents They Like to Watch, a weekly TV discussion podcast.

She is taking her work-in-progress show Slop to the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe, where she will explore topics ranging from grannies and dogs to adult films and Jeffrey Dahmer.

Looking ahead, in the diary for September 20 are Daliso Chaponda, Hannah Platt, Dom Hatton-Woods and MC Raul Kholi, followed on October 18 by Lauren Pattison, Nicola Mantalios, Aaron Simmonds and MC Aaron Wood.

The redecorated Basement at City Screen Picturehouse

“It’s us and the Hackney Picturehouse, in East London, that will be running comedy clubs among the Picturehouse cinemas,” says Cath. “Hackney Picturehouse is doing a Saturday programme organised by Jon Barrenechea, and we’ve chosen to do Sundays with an early-doors policy with three acts and a compere from 6pm.”

As part of the Basement revamp, “we’ll be running a menu downstairs – the cinema auditorium menu – served on paper plates, and on cabaret nights, on crockery,” says Cath.

“The Basement capacity will be 100, seated in rows or standing, with a cabaret night capacity of 50, making it York’s most intimate venue.”

Veteran performer and producer Poppy Pout Presents will be putting on burlesque and cabaret nights, while the York Filmmakers club will continue to hold bi-monthly selection of shorts and BFI (British Film Institute) screenings.

The poster for Pigeon Paint Off, the live art competition at The Basement on September 12, in aid of Columba Sanctuary and Advocacy for Pigeons

RARE Collective artist Sharon McDonagh (alias spAm) and artist/DJ Sola will hold a DJ Night on a date yet to be confirmed. The Dead Toe Society’s Pigeon Paint Off day will take over The Basement on September 12 from 11am until late in a day filled with live music, talks and stalls, as well as the centrepiece of two rounds of the paint-off featuring pigeon-loving artists from all over the country. 

Visitors will have the chance to “learn more about why pigeons need our support and how you can help advocate for their wellbeing”. The artworks will then go on display in a three-week exhibition.

The Basement upgrade, carried out by Picturehouse Cinemas to a design by architect Marta Tavares, has introduced a new lighting rig and sound panels, ox-blood red chairs and a French navy colour scheme on the walls, topped off by flamingo-pink on the stanchions.

Further features are a new screen for York Filmmakers and new microphone stands, while the floor has been re-painted and the adjoining green room for performers has new carpeting. Meanwhile, the old Basement chairs have found a new home at St Oswald’s Church, Fulford.

New red-and-black carpeting has been fitted at City Screen for the first time since 2000, with off-cuts being used in The Basement as flooring for drummers. The City Screen bar is to be re-fitted in October and new furniture will be provided for the first-floor terrace space.

Gill Riley’s exhibit from A Northern Landscape, on display in the Upstairs Gallery at City Screen Picturehouse

New mustard-yellow blinds have been installed on the first-floor corridor, where the latest exhibition, York Learning’s summer show, A Northern Landscape, is running in the Upstairs Gallery until September 4.

Course tutors challenged painting, drawing and watercolour learners aged 19 upwards to capture the essence of landscapes on plywood canvases, and now the work of more than 70 artists is on show.

This year also has welcomed the introduction of The Book Club programme at City Screen, launched on May 31, when Elizabeth Strout was in conversation with broadcaster Francine Stock, broadcast live from Picturehouse Central.

On August 4, Jaqueline Crooks marked the release of her new novel, Sky City, a spellbinding portrait of 1990s’ London, in conversation broadcast live from The Ritzy in Brixton.

Next up,  Waterstones York presents Tidings: Poetry Quarterly featuring Kimberly Campanello at The Basement on September 22 from 7pm to 9pm. Contact event coordinator Nick Newman for more details at Manager.York@waterstones.com.

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Where love becomes 40-love as Rosy and Stuart serve up Shakespeare sonnets on tennis court at Holy Trinity Church

Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green, on the bench at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, rehearsing with Summer Sonnets cast members and producer Maurice Crichton (arms folded, at the back). Picture: John Saunders

DIRECTOR Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green are the new doubles partnership for York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-themed 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?

New balls, please, will be served on the grass of Holy Trinity Churchyard, in Goodramgate, York, from Friday to August 15, with a rest day on August 11.

Should you be wondering “Why tennis?”, the game features in no fewer than seven Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Act II, Scene 1; Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 2; Henry VIII, Act I, Scene 3; Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene 2; Pericles, Act II, Scene 1; The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act V, Scene 2, and most notoriously in Henry V, Act I, Scene 2.

In that scene, the French Dauphin mocks King Henry by sending him a gift of tennis balls to besmirch his youthful reputation as a frivolous playboy. Henry responds by threatening to turn the balls into cannonballs to play a set as explosive as McEnroe against the French crown.

Ready to serve: Tennis fan William Shakespeare in York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Summers Sonnets: What The Deuce?

Now  comes What The Deuce?, where summertime at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?

Cue further tennis puns aplenty as Rowley directs Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation, where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet.

Pulling on the traditional and not-so-traditional Wimbeldon tennis whites for York Shakespeare Project (YSP) will be Alan Sharp’s Graham; Christine Bramwell’s Elizabeth; Helen Clarke’s Margo; Jamie McKeller’s Lionel; Stuart Lindsay’s Charles; Oscar Langford’s Harry; James Robert Ball’s Tony; Alexa Williams’s Belle; Sarah McKeagney’s Vic and Effie Warboys’ Chessie.

“Stuart has been wanting to write and I’ve been wanting to direct,” says Rosy. “I’d directed a Direct Approach play for Settlement Players – Night Secrets – so I just wanted to get back into it, and I suppose YSP have taken a bit of a punt on us.”

James Robert Ball, left, and Oscar Langford in rehearsal for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders

It should be pointed out that Rosy and Stuart tread the boards regularly in York, first meeting when performing in the York Theatre Royal community play Sovereign in 2023. “We’ve done a few plays together, such as A Kingdom Jack’d  in April, and theatre is the thing that brought together as a couple,” says Rosy.

“We’ve now got one of those bricks on the wall at Theatre@41, Monkgate, where we both volunteer, that says ‘Theatre together’.”

Stuart and Rosy settled on 80 per cent of the sonnets before Stuart set to work on the script that weaves ten sonnets into the tennis plotline. “We’ve had great fun putting the story together with classic Shakespeare tropes and then putting them in a tennis setting,” says Rosy.

“We’ve crammed a lot into our 50-minute play,” says Stuart. “We have cross-dressing; mistaken identity; poisoning, revenge; lust; unrequited love…

Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green in the Holy Trinity Churchyard, the setting for courtly love with a difference in their tennis-themed Summer Sonnets. Picture: Maurice Crichton

… “and of course lots of tennis,” says Rosy. “What’s been really important to us is not making the sonnet just something they recite but part of a conversation, which is the case in all but two of them that will be done as monologues.”

Stuart adds: “We wanted to incorporate the sonnets into conversations in the play, thinking how could a sonnet fit with a particular character? The aim is that the audience doesn’t notice they’ve gone into a sonnet because it makes the sonnets really accessible by putting them in a narrative, where suddenly they make more sense.”

Not all of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets focus on romantic love. Death, political vexation, artistic rivalries, human flaws and the passage of time are significant themes too, alongside desire and love.

“We thought how could we interpret sonnets in ways that fit with our play, and the beautiful thing is that there are so many ways to interpret them, not just romantic love,” says. “For example, Christine Bramwell’s sonnet reflects her love for the tennis club and the game.

Belle of the ball: Alexa Williams playing the role of Belle in York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-punned Summer Sonnets: What’s The Deuce. Picture: John Saunders

“Right at the start of rehearsals, I had one-to-one table sessions with each actor to see how we could make their sonnet work with the character.”

Stuart adds: “I think it helps that both Rosy and I are actors because we know what each actor can bring to the part.”

Stuart and Rosy have been delighted by the response to this summer’s sonnet project. “We had 30 people applying to take part, which was a record number,” says Stuart. “Then 24-25 auditioned, and we cast ten, where only two of them – Stuart Lindsay and Effie Warboys – had done Summer Sonnets before.

“A lot of them are new to YSP. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was just that they were the best to put themselves forward.”

Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford, Stuart Lindsay and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing with Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? script writer Stuart Green. Picture: John Saunders

One other new element will be the positioning of the actors in the Holy Trinity churchyard. “We’ve shifted it 90 degrees so that the Chinese restaurant, on Goodramgate, with its noises and smells, will now be behind the actors, rather than the audience,” says Rosy. Good decision.

Green by name, green keeper by profession, Stuart first wrote screenplays in his teens and 20s. “I wanted to get into films, but the chances were non-existent, so I became a green keeper, initially at Bushey Hall Golf Club in Watford, then went to college and ended up at Gleneagles for four years,” he says.

“Now I teach green-keeping: I’m a grass nerd! I used to be based at Askham Bryan, where I taught apprentices at the agricultural college. Now I work for Train Together, teaching green keepers and cricket, football and rugby groundsmen.

“There’ll be a groundman as one of the characters in our Summer Sonnets, Alan Sharp’s Graham. I couldn’t resist it! I’ve called on one of my old York Cricket Club contacts to lend us an old line marker – and one of my stipulations was that it had to be squeaky as they generally are!”

Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing a scene from Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders

Tennis gear will carry significance in Rosy and Stuart’s production. “What they’re wearing denotes their status at the club, whether it’s all white or not,” says Rosy. “There has to be a bit of a social statement in that.”

No tennis pun has been resisted. “We realised we didn’t have enough tennis innuendo at first, so I’ve had fun writing some absolute ‘tennis filth’,” says Rosy. “Now it’s unashamedly Carry On Tennis,” says Stuart.

“And of course we had to crow-bar ‘You cannot be serious’ in there too,” says Rosy.

York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 7 to 15, except August 11, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm Saturday shows. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/seasons/2e40b388-a069-4f16-bafe-30250ae8c13a

Lara Stafford in her Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses in readiness for August 12’s solar eclipse during the 6pm performance of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Pairs are available for free for Sonnets audience members

Not to be eclipsed…

ON Wednesday, August 12, the UK will experience its deepest solar eclipse since 1999, with up to 96 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon.

Across North Yorkshire, the partial eclipse will begin at 6.12pm, peak at 7.08pm and finish at 8.02pm. That day’s 6pm and 7.30pm performances of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? will go ahead as planned, but do come prepared for the eclipse experience.

Quick question: Do sunglasses protect eyes in a solar eclipse? NO!The official advice is: Never look directly at the Sun.

Why? The Sun can burn the retinas in the eyes, leading to permanent damage or even blindness. This can occur even if your eyes are exposed to direct sunlight for only a few seconds.

Proper eye protection is the only safe option, not sunglasses. The only way to view the Sun safely – eclipsed or not – is to either project or filter the Sun’s rays.

Suggestion: Make your own box projector or acquire safe solar eclipse glasses. NASA also recommends welder’s glasses rated 14 or higher, to be found at welding supply stores.

Lara Stafford demonstrating the benefit of wearing Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses for August 12’s partial eclipse of the Sun

YORK actress, Physics teacher and Theatre of Science communicator Lara Stafford is teaming up with York Shakespeare Project for a special offer for Summer Sonnet audience members. “August 12’s 6pm show coincides with the solar eclipse: the best one to happen to the UK until 2090, with over 90 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon,” she says.

“It’ll begin just after 6pm and peak an hour later, just after the performance. A £10 Summer Sonnets ticket has always come with a free drink, but to celebrate this cosmic coming together, we’re going to give out a free pair of eclipse glasses with every ticket sold for performances up to the 6pm show on August 12.”

Lara continues: “I buy them in for work anyway, so I’m just ordering a few more! It’s quite difficult to get eclipse glasses cheaply and guarantee they’re not fakes, and you can ‘only’ watch the eclipse with your eyes if you’re wearing eclipse glasses. So it’s an easy way for us to spread the eclipse excitement around York and spread awareness of the sonnets.”

Should you be wondering, a reference to an eclipse can be found in Sonnet No. 35, one that does not feature in Rosy and Stuart Green’s choices for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? So here is the quote:

“No more be grieved at that which thou hast done.
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.”

Still shielding their eyes! The Brontë Sisters in York Settlement Community Players’ poster for Underdog: The Other Brontë at Theatre@41, Monkgate

ECLIPSE glasses removed, Lara Stafford will be shining next on the York stage as Charlotte Brontë in Claire Morley’s production of Sarah Gordon’s 2024 play Underdog: The Other Brontë for York Settlement Community Players at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 13 to 17.

The plot? Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one…Anne.

Underdog presents an “irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters like you’ve never seen them before”. This is not a story of well-behaved women but of the power of words, sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/.

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REVIEW: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29 *****

No common ground: Pandora Clifford’s Mags and Liz Garland’s Liz in Handbagged at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

THIRTY six years since her resignation and 13 since she died at the Ritz Hotel, Margaret Thatcher still drew boos and derision from the SJT audience – in a town that only turned red from decades of Tory MPs in 2024.

There was a smattering of cheers too, drawing more boos from the derisive naysayers for a Westminster titan that remains as divisive as ever in an age of increasingly short-lived minnows in Downing Street.

Moira Buffini’s 2013 play – so full of wit, brio and intelligence – is neither biased nor one-sided in its depiction of Mrs T, instead letting her speak, vehemently, vigorously, and even vituperatively, for herself over her 11 years as the UK’s first female  Prime Minister. She stands and – seemingly in many eyes and ears on press night – falls by her words.

Words that were fired off in the direction of the other dominant female presence of the British 20th century, Queen Elizabeth II, in their weekly meetings at Buckingham Palace and beyond.

Director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder in the rehearsal room with Handbagged cast member Simon Darwen. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Revived by the Stephen Joseph Theatre under the directorship of Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder (whose father, Andrew Pinder, received a CBE for his services to Tony Blair’s Labour government), Handbagged is built on the classic political structure of conflict where people talk but don’t engage in conversation.

Born within six months of each other but poles and circumstances apart, albeit that both had to face a patriarchal world, the PM and HM The Queen serve as a double act, or, to be precise, a double double act, on account of Buffini doubling the combat between  a younger Mags (Pandora Clifford) and Liz (Liz Garland), from the weekly audiences, and an older T (Alexandra Mathie, wig too dark) and Q (Meriel Scholfield).

Observing their younger selves, they each say equally quizzically, “I never said that”, as if they have become unreliable witnesses to their earlier sentiments and assertions.

That said, everything Buffini writes of their awkward conflabs behind closed doors can only be conjecture to complement words from public utterances and Mrs Thatcher’s Downing Street Years memoirs.

Alexandra Mathie’s T: Doubling down on her political philosophies in old age in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Grim reading: Pandora Clifford’s Mags flicking through the Sunday paper headlines in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Yet she writes with such cultural savvy, comedic conviction, assiduous detail, such a grasp of her satirical subject, that she brings to mind the mischief-making of  political heavyweights The Thick Of It , House Of Cards or Yes, Prime Minister. It feels all the more truthful for the assured voice of Buffini.

A third double act is at play: our convivial hosts Actor One (Deven Modha) and Actor 2 (Simon Darwen), who spar over who should play Labour Leader Neil “Kinnockio” Kinnock, while allocating themselves such support acts as Denis Thatcher, Prince Philip (only one irascible line), Gerry Adams, Geoffrey Howe, Ronald Reagan, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Heseltine (all Darwen), and Kenneth Kaunda, Nancy Reagan, Michael Shea, Kenneth Clarke, a Palace footman and protestor (all Modha, while refusing to play Enoch Powell).

Serving as Greek chorus too, both challenge Mrs Thatcher’s tendency to skip over her most controversial policies, only to be forced to confront them anew. Throughout their mimicry of accent and mannerism is spot on.

Multi-rolling Actor I (Deven Modha), left, and Actor 2 (Simon Darwen) playing First Lady Nancy Reagan and President Ronald Reagan in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Deven Modha’s No Poll Tax protestor in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

On the surface, you could be inclined to decide that everyone loves the Queen (especially in Garland and Scholfield’s superb caricatures), whereas Maggie, whether younger or older, remains the humourless villainess of the piece in Clifford and Mathie’s characterisation.  Buffini’s writing is far too bright for that, however, all while making Mrs T funny on occasion through jokes at her expense when breaking through that humour dead zone.

Buffin seeks the humanity in both women. Margaret Thatcher is given every chance to state,  re-state and  double down on political philosophies, and we see her change, as her voice does, ironically adopting “we” when she becomes more “I” and isolated as she loses her allies. Always and forever, her favourite word is No. No. No, until no more.

The Queen’s Christmas Day addresses are the cornerstone of her portrayal: one of compassion, a call for kindness, and in essence Socialist principles from the richest woman in the land. Through the years, PM and HM talk but never bond, for all that time and tea consumption together, never finding common ground.

Out of step? Liz Garland’s Liz dancing with Simon Darwen’s Denis Thatcher and Pandora Clifford’s Mags doing likewise with Deven Modha’s Kenneth Kaunda in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

All six performances are top notch, matched by Pinder’s astute direction, using the Round as a battlefield, where she keeps moving the combatants to emphasise the shifting tectonic plates of the relationship.

Katie Scott’s design is circular too, giving the sense of a merry-go-round thanks in part to Aiden Crawford’s movement direction. A museum shelf of named props and costumes on the stage rim works wonderfully well too for speed of character changes before your very eyes.

As the years tick by since the passing of both protagonists, Handbagged becomes an ever better play, one where Buffini’s skill in weaving her own mischievous political commentary into her modern-day comedy of manners is delivered with witheringly witty  aplomb. Bag a ticket pronto.

Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Pandora Clifford’s Mags, Liz Garland’s Liz, Meriel Scholfield’s Q and Alexandra Mathie’s T expressing differing opinions in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Everything stops for tea: Meriel Scholfied’s Q raises a cup and humorous quips aplenty in Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Early Music Festival, International Young Artists Competition 2026, National Centre for Early Music, York, July 11

The Lyons Mouth: Winners of the Main Prize and Friends of York Early Music Festival Prize at York Early Music Festival’s International Young Artists Competition. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

THIS biennial competition, for ensembles of at least three members with an average age no more than 35, attracted 56 entries this year. Nine of these reached the final, three each from the Netherlands and Switzerland and one each from France, Israel and the United Kingdom.

Two featured a solo soprano and one consisted of six unaccompanied singers. The remaining six were purely instrumental. There were three trios, four quartets and two sextets.

So much for statistics. However, they suggest, quite accurately, that there was variety aplenty. Technical standards were extremely high, reflecting the professionalism of early music teaching across European conservatories these days. ’Twas not always so.

Ossian’s Dream: Joint winners of European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) Development Trust Prize. Picture: Shelagh Bourke

Eleven criteria were listed as assessable by the international jury. Only one, however, touched on that indefinable X-factor that marks out a performer as destined for a serious career: presentation. It involves the kind of charisma that conveys a good deal more than merely the music itself and is intertwined with a performer’s personality. Inevitably this was much rarer here.

Each group was allotted 20 minutes to display its wares. The sextet Ossian’s Dream was distinctive in sticking largely to the 19th century, with the historical clarinet of Claudia Reyes Segovia at its centre. After a crisp, not to say dramatic, account of Mendelssohn’s First Walpurgisnacht overture, there was strong contrast in the slow movement of Weber’s Clarinet Quintet, whose jovial centre was much enhanced by the clarinet. The finale of Mendelssohn’s C minor Piano Trio was truly effervescent.

The stand-out player of the quartet I Mastricelli was Bianca Cucini, whose soprano gamba dominated their set. With her colleagues confined to bass gamba, cello and organ, colours were otherwise regularly dark. A Tobias Hume almain and a lively, cross-accented Recercada by Diego Ortíz were but warm-up acts for the increasingly vivid variations in the Diferencias on ‘La dama le demanda’, by Antonio de Cabezón, which featured riffs from all four players.

I Mastricelli, featuring jury prize for the most promising young artist winner Bianca Cucini. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Recorder, harpsichord and cello provided the underlay for soprano Liron Givona in the Nari Baroque Ensemble. She was fuller voiced than one might have expected in this repertory, but her tone was flexible even when slightly diffuse.

She trilled neatly alongside a sopranino recorder nightingale. The cellist was underpowered more than once here, but delivered some very rapid obbligato in a forceful little melodrama from a Pepusch cantata, ‘When Love’s Soft Passion’.

The French quartet La Mandorle – oboe, violin, cello and theorbo – focused on native composers from the generation just before Bach, all played without scores. Victoire Delnatte’s oboe was engagingly clean and full-bodied and Elodie Brzustowsk’s theorbo proved fluent.

Lagrime: Winners of the Cambridge Early Music Prize. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

The ensemble was rhythmically alive in Clérambault’s La Félicité suite and equally idiomatic in a Robert de Visée suite, in whose Gigue the oboist briefly slapped rhythm on the cello. This group was unlucky not to be among the prizewinners. We shall certainly hear from them again.

Bianca Cucini reappeared in the Swiss trio Tra Noi, playing bass gamba and quinton (a descant viol) alongside recorder and harpsichord. A rather pallid Passacaglia by Andrea Falconieri nearly let them down, but ensemble remained taut in the same composer’s Ciaccona at a rapid tempo.

However it was Nicola Matteis’ Diverse Bizzarrie that showed how technically dazzling a chaconne can be in the right hands. Spearheaded by Silvia Berchtold’s recorder, Tra Noi took all its hurdles in their stride.

Tra Noi: Joint winner of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) Development Trust Prize. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Handel and his Italian rivals, Porpora and Geminiani, all born within two years of each other, were the targets of Dutch quartet Il Parrasio, with a standard line-up of two violins, cello and harpsichord or organ. It was all very stylish but lacking in daring.

There was clarity and balance in a Sinfonia da Camera by Porpora, and a delicately phrased Allegro in Handel’s Op 5 No 1 trio sonata. Geminiani’s Andante affettuoso (The Enchanted Forest) lacked emotion. It was a case of nearly there, but not quite.

Another Dutch quartet, Quarterino, with Tomasso Simonetta Sandri’s flute replacing one of the violins, took a similar tack, this time with Charles Avison heard between Geminiani and Vivaldi. Avison’s two allegros in a G minor trio sonata were impressive, one a snappy fugue, the other with tight-knit accents. But Vivaldi’s trio sonata, RV84 in D, fell down on two counts, a garbled opening Allegro, taken too fast, and an oddly chromatic ending that failed to convince.

Bianca Cucini: Winner of the jury prize for the most promising young artist, who played with both I Mastricelli and Tra Noi at the International Young Artists Competition. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

The Swiss trio Lagrime boasted the unusual line-up of soprano, Baroque trombone and theorbo, neither of the latter two using scores. All five of their pieces were settings of texts from the Song of Songs and some introduced a modicum of stage movement.

Franziska Blömer’s straight-toned soprano was ideally suited to music of the early Baroque, and Maximilien Brisson’s quietly velvety trombone was superbly controlled. The two duetted beautifully, conversing in Claudia Rusca’s Ego dormio and harnessed movingly in Vulnerasti cor meum by Giovanni Sances.

Finally, we had the British vocal sextet The Lyons Mouth, three female voices, three male, whose name derives from their shared background at the University of York. They appeared barefooted, without scores.

Bianca Cucini receiving her prize from Philip Hobbs. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Alongside two madrigals from Monteverdi’s Fourth Book, they offered three motets, one of them by the nun Raffaella Aleotti, thought to have been the earliest woman to have sacred music published. The group was remarkable for its ability to maintain a tight blend despite relatively full- throated delivery.

There was nothing precious about Monteverdi’s chromatic Sì, ch’io vorrie morire, nor were they afraid of the scrunchy discords in Sigismondo d’India’s Dispietata pietate. But there was more variation, even tenderness, in Victoria’s Vadam et circuibo civitatem from the Song of Songs.

Perhaps with the advantage of performing last and certainly through their assured ensemble, The Lyons Mouth carried off the overall First Prize, as well as the Friends of York Early Music Festival Prize.

The Lyons Mouth’s profile for the International Young Artists Competition

The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) Development Trust Prize was shared between Ossian’s Dream and Tra Noi. The jury prize for the most promising young artist was awarded to Bianca Cucini.

The Cambridge Early Music Prize went to the trombone-based Lagrime. As noted above, La Mandorle was unlucky to lose out, but there can be no argument that the rest of the prizes were thoroughly well deserved.

Review by Martin Dreyer

HIGHLIGHTS of the competition will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on August 30 at 5pm and will be available thereafter on BBC Sounds.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 32, from Gazette & Herald

York Georgian Festival, promenading through the streets and taking over York Mansion House

YORK River Art Market’s return, Georgian festivities, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court and Britpop tribute acts R catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye as August arrives.

York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, tomorrow to August 10

HIGHLIGHTING the sights and sounds of 18th century life, York Mansion House plays host to the fourth York Georgian Festival in a five-day festival programme that ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the York Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms on Saturday. Talk, tours, performances and workshops feature too. For full listings and booking details, go to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.

Oscar Langford, left, and James Robert Ball in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York. Picture: John Saunders

New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, Friday to August 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows

SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?

Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/

New York Brass Band line up with Hyde Family Jam members Tom Gill (accordion), back row, third from left, and Will Dreyfus (vocals and guitar), front row, left, ahead of Friday’s York Barbican gig

Mash-up of the week: The Crescent presents New York Brass Band & Hyde Family Jam, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

TWO of York’s biggest, bounciest musical party troupes collide at York Barbican for a co-headline show with a difference. Promoter Joe Coates has decided the four-piece Hyde Family Jam will be on stage first, followed by an eight-piece line up of New York Brass Band, each playing a 40-minute set before rampant folk-rock meets New Orleans brass head on in a collaborative finale of these high-energy street urchins’ biggest hits. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

York Stage’s poster for Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revue at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

Musical theatre celebration of the week: York Stage presents brings Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revue, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm, and Saturday, 2pm and 4pm

THIS uplifting showcase by the next generation of performers features iconic songs from Broadway Junior favourites, showcased by a talented young York Stage cast ready to sing out and shine as they take centre stage with confidence, courage and nascent star quality. Cue big numbers, heartfelt moments and personality aplenty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for this summer’s York River Art Market. Illustration by Elliot Harrison (@York 360)

Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 8 & 9 and August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.

Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.

Scissor Sisters: Heading for Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Scissor Sisters, Saturday; Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, August 14,  gates 6pm

AFTER their 2025 UK arena reunion tour and that summer’s Saturday night Glastonbury set, Scissor Sisters bring their trademark blend of glam, grit and glorious to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend. Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and co will be rolling out such favourites as Take Your Mama, Laura, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin, Let’s Have A Kiki, Only The Horses and Filthy/Gorgeous.

Flamboyant, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill next Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of  Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax in Scarborough next Friday

Tribute gig of the week: SWT presents Pulp’d vs Blur 2, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

PULP’D and Blur2 team up for a double-header of Britpop royalty tonight. Born and raised in Sheffield, passionate Pulp fans Pulp’d came together to re-create the hits, passion and Jarvis Cocker moves.

Blur2 bring the very best of Blur to every show: the energy, the fun, the sound, the looks and the musicianship of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and co. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival weekend at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest

Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 14 and 15

RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents a Friday Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).

The Saturday line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.

Katherine Priddy: Saturday set at The Magpies Festival

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What happens when New York Brass Band match up with Hyde Family Jam? Find out at Friday’s party night at York Barbican

Match-up of the day: New York Brass Band, featuring Elita, from Rio de Janeiro, on bass drum, with Hyde Family Jam accordionist Tom Gill, back row, third from left, and vocalist Will Dreyfus, front left. Picture: Liam Van Hymus

TWO of York’s bounciest party/function musical troupes collide at York Barbican for a co-headline show with a difference on Friday.

Please Please You promoter Joe Coates has decided the four-piece Hyde Family Jam will be on stage first, followed by New York Brass Band in an eight-piece line-up.

“I can see why Joe’s done that,” says Hyde Family Jam vocalist and guitarist Will Dreyfus. “To go on after an eight-piece band, to try to ramp things up even more…no, it’s better to do it the other way round.”

After each combo plays a 40-minute set, rampant folk-rock will meet New Orleans brass head on in a collaborative finale of the same length in a match-up cum mash-up of their biggest hits from wedding, busking and festival engagements.

“We did play together in the golden days of the Post Office Club, where we used to do it once a year, when we got Hyde Family Jam to support us,” recalls New York Brass Band founder and trumpet player James Lancaster.

“But this Barbican gig came about totally by accident. It started with sharing a busking pitch in Parliament Street, when New York Brass Band were trying to flog tickets for our show with my son Charlie’s Heavy Beat Brass Band, which he’d started at the Birmingham Conservatoire, where his final project was to create a New Orleans-style brass band – and they’ve been going for ten years now. The family musical links run deep!

“We ended up doing a few songs together and we thought, ‘OK, there’s probably something in this’. Rupert (Engledow, Hyde Family Jam violinist) and I got talking as the band leaders, and then my son Joe [fellow trumpet player Joe Lancaster] was definitely the driving force behind it.”

New York Brass Band founder James Lancaster with the York combo’s signature French horn

The next task has been “trying to get 12 grown men together in one room” for rehearsals. “We travel a lot for weddings and festivals, so to get everyone together is a challenge but we’ve managed it a few times,” says James, the latest gathering being on Monday.

An element of unpredictability will frame Friday’s climax. “Hyde Family Jam don’t have a drummer, so importing our drummer into their sound could either be a car crash or a success,” says James.

“It’s been quite an eye opener for us,” says Will. “We normally take all our cues from Kai [West], whose double bass playing is so percussive.” Or as James puts it, “Slapping it!” “We’re so used to taking our cues from Kai that it’s been like, ‘oh drums, I remember them,” rejoins Will.

James considers the possibilities for Friday’s joint set. “I’ve been to New Orleans a few times, and there’s a Zydeco element, where I looked where there could be a crossover with Hyde Family Jam’s line-up. Like Iko Iko – we play the Dr John version – just fitted together, with Rupert’s violin, the brass and the accordion.

“We’re both covers bands with a twist. I’m relatively hard-headed that I make my living as a musician, so my bottom line is that it’s about disguising we’re a covers band by twisting it.”

Will recalls seeing Hyde Family Jam in a socially distanced gig in Covid times at The Crescent. “I thought, ‘oh this is a brilliant way to do covers’,” he says. “I had a conversation with Rupert about being a ‘dep’ for John [frontman John Holt-Roberts] when he had acting commitments. I was working as festival co-ordinator for York Mediale and playing solo gigs at the time.

“John and Kai had played in Dead Drummer, basically heavy metal on acoustic guitar and stand-up bass, playing everything at 3,000 miles per hour – it was a sight to behold – so Hyde Family Jam play very fast too. Coming in to learn the set list was very intimidating, though now it feels very settled as I must have done 300 gigs over four years.”

Hyde Family Jam’s 2026 line-up: Rupert Engledow, violin, Kai West, double bass, Tom Gill, accordion, and Will Dreyfus, lead vocals and guitar

Will has been working with theatre-makers Wright & Grainger too, latterly at Latitude Festival, where they put together a show called Sonder in a day. “We met at ten in the morning, knowing we had to deliver an hour-long show, having a breakdown in the afternoon, then magically it all came together at night, on the theme of Mary Oliver poems.”

Will also joined up with writer, theatre-maker Casey Jay Andrews for her Feast of Words show in Adelaide, Australia, earlier this year and is working on a scratch show with Phil Grainger under the Wright & Grainger umbrella.

New York Brass Band’s upcoming gigs include a late-night party slot at The Magpies Festival on August 14 at 11pm Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest and Lindisfarne Festival on September 3. “It’s a meeting of crazy Geordies and Scots, where they all dress up as Vikings,” says James, whose first  Barbican gig came in his days as the trumpet player in Big Ian Donaghy’s Huge, performing the test event at the Barbican Centre, as it was first called, in 1991.

Looking ahead, he says: “We can visualise getting together with Hyde Family Jam again – if it goes well with the audience and with the accountant.”

 “Every time I walk past the Barbican, it’s lovely to see the poster up – and the Barbican staff have been very supportive,” says Will.

Friday’s concert will have one other fresh ingredient. “After I caught my son Charlie learning Portuguese In 300 Days on Duolingo, he met a girl in Rio de Janeiro, Elita. They kept flying over to see each other, and eventually she proposed to him and they married on a beach in Rio.

“She now has a visa, so she spends half the year in Rio, half  over here playing the festival season, and she’ll be playing bass drum on Friday. She’s an absolute ray of sunshine, and we now have Grace [James’s daughter] and Elita to balance the general maleness of the band!”

New York Brass Band & Hyde Family Jam, York Barbican, August 7, 8pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

John Holt-Roberts

Did you know?

HYDE Family Jam founder member, singer and guitarist John Holt-Roberts still performs with the York band on occasion, when not clashing with his acting commitments. This summer he played Costard in Shakespeare in the Squares’ 10th anniversary tour of Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare’s comedy of flirtation, foolishness and the irresistible pull of love, directed by fellow York theatre alumnus Toby Gordon, from June 3 to July 12.

Will Dreyfus says: “When John doubled down on his acting, it worked out well for me as I love playing with these guys. He still does some gigs with the band, and he’s very much the the consummate actor-muso, hopping around the stage whereas I’m more about the chat than the moves.”

Did you know too?

HYDE Family Jam double bassist Kai West will be flying back from Sorrento tonight in good time for Friday’s gig at York Barbican.

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What’s in store at 2026 York Georgian Festival? Here are Aug 6 to 10’s highlights

York Georgian Ball: Festival highlight on Saturday at Grand Assembly Rooms

YORK Georgian Festival returns for its fourth year, filling the city with the sights and sounds of 18th century life from August 6 to 10.

Hosted by York Mansion House, the five-day festival programme ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the splendour of the York Georgian Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms, in Blake Street, and includes talks, tours, performances and workshops too at a variety of venues.

York Mansion House manager and curator Richard Pollitt says: “We’re looking forward to another fabulous festival, with a busy programme lined up exploring the fascinating history of this era. We’d like to thank all our partner attractions for supporting the festival once again.

“The popularity of the Georgian and Regency period shows no sign of slowing down with people finding so much joy in recreating the fashions and social occasions of the time, and we aim to bring some of that joy to the streets of York.

Author Terry Deary: Talk on Murder in the Georgian Theatre at York Mansion House on Thursday

“We’re hoping to see the city centre full of Georgian splendour over the weekend with so many people coming to York for the festival.”

The festival promenade will return for a second year on Saturday, starting from Clifford’s Tower at 11am and making its way through the city, via Coppergate and Parliament Street, to York Mansion House at 11.20am, led by red-coated members of Pulteney’s 13th Regiment of Foot, a group of military re-enactors. Anyone interested in dressing up in Georgian and Regency dress to join the promenade is invited to book a free place.

The Pulteney’s regiment will be demonstrating its drills on Saturday and Sunday at 12.15pm and 3.45pm in St Helen’s Square, complemented by displays of Georgian dancing by the Galliard Folk Dancers at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3pm.

The regiment has stepped in to help the festival at the 11th hour, after the previously booked military group, His Majesty’s 33rd Regiment of Foot, cancelled through unforeseen circumstances.

Promenade through York: Passing through Coppergate en route from Clifford’s Tower to York Mansion House on Saturday morning

Visitors to the Mansion House can find out more about the uniform and kit of soldiers of the time in afternoon talks by the visiting redcoats on Saturday and Sunday at 2.30pm.

Richard says: “We’re very grateful to Pulteney’s for helping us out at such short notice and are looking forward to seeing them in action, leading our promenade and recreating military drills in front of the house in St Helen’s Square.”

Saturday’s evening highlight will be the Masquerade Ball, from 7pm to 11pm, traditionally an extravagant occasion when guests would wear elaborate fancy dress and masks to disguise their true identities. Live music will be provided by Eboracum Baroque with guidance from dance mistress Lottie from Dance The Past, all with the support of ASK Italian and York Gin.

The poster for No Priest But Love, the Church Conservation Trust’s fundraising event featuring Helena Whitbread and Angela Clare’s play about Anne Lister

Anyone wanting to prepare for the Masquerade Ball can take dancing lessons at The Guildhall on Friday and there will be free fan language workshops at York Mansion House, where you can learn how to send secret messages across the dance floor.

Talks and tours include the return of Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, who will explore Murder in the Georgian Theatre, at York Mansion House on Thursday from 6pm to 7pm; self-led and bookable festival tours of the Bar Convent; curators’ talks on fashion and dress at Fairfax House and York Castle Museum and an examination of how women were treated by the Georgian justice system in PhD researcher Tom Ellis’s talk Convict Women in York and Beyond at Barley Hall on Friday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

One of York’s most famous Georgian visitors, “Gentleman Jack” Anne Lister, will be the subject of Helena Whitbread and Angela Clare’s new play, No Priest But Love, at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, on Sunday at 4.30pm, preceded by a 2pm look around Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, where Anne Lister and Ann Walker celebrated their commitment made to each other on March 30 1834; a 2.30pm to 3.30pm talk by Angela Clare and a guided walk to Merchant Taylors’ from 3.30pm to 4pm.

On the concluding day, Monday, a series of talks at York Mansion House will include York St John University students launching a new edition of correspondence exchanged between writers Charles Ignatius Sancho, one of the first Black Britons known to have voted in a parliamentary election, and Laurence Sterne, vicar of St Michael’s, Coxwold, and author of Tristram Shandy, at 3.30pm. Further topics will be Georgian men’s shoes at 1.30pm and the campaign to abolish the slave trade at 5.30pm.

Find full listings and booking details at: www.yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.

Eboracum Baroque: Playing at Saturday’s Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms