Beth Steel’s Sandy and Jonathan Stockill’s Danny in Ryedale Youth Theatre’s Grease The Musical
RYEDALE Youth Theatre heads back to the summer of 1959 at Rydell High to follow the epic love story of Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowksi in Grease The Musical at the Milton Rooms, Malton, from April 1 to 4.
Here come the T-Birds and Pink Ladies, hot rods and timeless songs, such as Summer Nights, We Go Together and Greased Lightning in a show with book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and songs from the 1978 film by arrangement with Robert Stigwood.
Formed in 1991, the main purpose of Ryedale Youth Theatre is to train young people, aged eight to 18, in the Ryedale and York areas in all aspects of the performing arts and in particular musical theatre, both on stage and behind the scenes.
Each Easter, Ryedale Youth Theatre welcomes up to 70 young people to participate in a theatre production, an enriching experience that inspires creativity, teamwork and confidence at an organisation run by dedicated volunteers that relies heavily on the generosity of supporters to fund such productions.
Ryedale Youth Theatre lads in leather in Grease The Musical
Next week, the focus falls on Grease, the American musical that opened on February 5 1971 in Chicago, in a damp, draughty former trolley barn called the Kingston Mines Theatre. On a $171 budget , a non-professional cast of 18 actors played the first of its scheduled “four performances only” to a full house of 120 seats.
Almost immediately, the show was extended…then again and again and again. The rest, as they say, is history.
A year later, on St Valentine’s Day, February 14 1972, the musical romantic comedy opened in New York. Within six months, a national tour crossed the United States and Canada. Then a company opened in Australia.
The first London production premiered at the New London Theatre with a young, unknown Richard Gere as Danny Zuko (the role assumed eventually by co-producer Paul Nicholas). Soon the foreign productions, touring companies and stock and amateur groups seemed to span the globe.
The success of Randal Kleiser’s 1978 motion picture starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in 1978 resulted in a new legion of Grease fanatics. Forty-eight years later, the musical continues to play to packed houses.
Ryedale Youth Theatre’s Pink Ladies cast members in Grease The Musical
“Grease doesn’t have a message,” says Ryedale Youth Theatre chair Barbara Wood. “It gives you a flavour of being a teenager in the ’50s – when rock’n’roll and putting grease on your hair were the most important things in life. If people come along to the show and take it on that level, then we’ll give them a party.
“In fact, if you come out of the theatre feeling that you’ve been to the best party in town, then we’ll know that we’re getting it right. A party of the best kind. It was fun then, but it’s just as much fun now!
“What Grease is really all about – more than anything else – is having fun. So, just sit back, kick off your blue suede shoes, and relax. Have a ball! Grease is, after all, a celebration.”
Ryedale Youth Theatre presents Grease The Musical, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 1 to 4, 7.15pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: yourboxoffice.co.uk.
Dale Vaughan, front, with Monica Frost and Matthew Warry, in a scene from Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal. Picture: Joanna Hird
A DYSFUNCTIONAL American family musical, a spirited band of newsboys, a madcap murder mystery and a bakery burlesque night confirm variety is the spice of Charles Hutchinson’s arts life.
American musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to April 4, 7.30pm except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm matinees, Saturday, Sunday and April 4
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning musical exploration of family and illness, loss and grief as a suburban American household copes with crisis and mental illness.
Dad is an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens but their lives are anything but normal, because Mom has been battling manic depression for 16 years.Next To Normal presents their story with love, sympathy and heart. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns on board a baguette at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Cabaret of the week: Freida Nipples presents Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Friday, 8pm, doors 7pm
YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, swaps teas for tease as she turns the bakery cafe into a cabaret joint for a night of fun, frolics and freedom of expression in all shapes and sizes.
On the fabulously zesty menu will be Donna Divine, Ezme Pump, Callum Robshaw and Freida herself, hosted by Harvey Rose. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Tribute show of the week: The Supermodels, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
BACK by popular demand, The Supermodels return to Pickering with hits aplenty from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, from The Who to Led Zeppelin, Abba to A-ha Abba, ELO to Queen, Erasure to Oasis. The show is “guaranteed to put a smile on your face”, but book promptly because a sell-out is predicted. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
The Snake Davis Trio: Jazz, soul, tales and banter at Helmsley Arts Centre
Jazz gig of the week: The Snake Davis Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
SAXOPHONIST to the stars Snake Davis teams up with his best buddies, trumpet player Johnny Thirkell and guitarist Mark Creswell, for a night of gorgeously mellow musicianship infused with jazz, soul and pop. Expect beautiful tunes, fascinating tales and bags of banter. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Lucy Keirl in rehearsal for Murder For Two at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Whodunit of the week: Murder For Two, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Saturday to April 18
JOE Kinosian and Kellen Blair’s fast-paced musical whodunit is a madcap murder mystery with a twist, performed by two actors, Tom Babbage and Lucy Kierl , who play 13 characters between them, plus the piano, as they put the laughter into manslaughter.
When famous novelist Arthur Whitney is found dead at his birthday party, it is time to call in the detectives, but they are out of town. Enter Officer Marcus Moscowicz, a neighbourhood cop who dreams of climbing the ranks. Here is his chance to prove his super sleuthing skills and solve the crime before the real detective arrives. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The clock is ticking: James Bye, left, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn in 2:22 A Ghost Story, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Supernatural thriller of the week: 2:22 A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, March 30 to April 4, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
“THERE’S something in our house. I hear it every night. At the same time,” says Jenny, who believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam is having none of it. Whereupon they argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben. Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening and is moving closer. Only by staying up until 2:22 will they know the answer.
James Bye, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn perform Uncannyand The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robbins’s supernatural thriller, the Best New Play winner at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, on its return to York. As secrets emerge and ghosts may or may not appear, dare you discover the truth? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions on Parade in the rehearsal room for next week’s musical at the JoRo
The other American musical of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
PRESENTED by York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions under the direction of Matthew Peter Clare, Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s stirring Tony Award-winning musical explores love and hope against the odds, set against a backdrop of political injustice and rising racial tension.
Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew, is put on trial for murder, but when the world seems against you, receiving a fair trial might prove impossible. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Beth Steel’s Sandy and Jonathan Stockill’s Danny in Ryedale Youth Theatre’s production of Grease The Musical
‘Word’ of the week: Ryedale Youth Theatre in Grease The Musical, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 1 to 4, 7.15pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
EACH Easter, Ryedale Youth Theatre welcomes up to 70 young people to participate in a theatre production. This time the show will be Grease, featuring book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and songs from the 1978 film by arrangement with Robert Stigwood.
Ryedale Youth Theatre heads back to the summer of 1959 at Rydell High to follow the epic love story of Danny and Sandy. Here come the T-Birds and Pink Ladies, hot rods and timeless songs, such as Summer Nights, We Go Together and Greased Lightning. Box office: yourboxoffice.co.uk.
In Focus:Be Amazing Arts in Disney’s Newsies Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
Be Amazing Arts’ cast for Disney’s Newsies Jr, this week’s production at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
YORK audiences are invited to seize the day this week as Malton company Be Amazing Arts brings the high-energy, crowd-pleasing musical Disney’s Newsies Jr to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
This spectacular youth production features a cast of 60 young performers from the Ryedale and York area, aged seven to 18, who will share the unforgettable music, dynamic choreography and inspiring story after months of dedicated rehearsals.
Written by Harvey Fierstein (book), Alan Menken (book) and Jack Feldman (lyrics), Disney’s Newsies The Musical was adapted from the 1992 film, premiering at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Milburn, New Jersey, before hitting Broadway in 2012.
Packed with moving numbers, bold dance routines and a powerful message of courage and unity, Newsies Jr follows a spirited band of newsboys as they fight for what is right against New York City’s powerful newspaper publishers.
In the news: Be Amazing Arts cast members rehearsing for Disney’s Newsies Jr
Promising to be an uplifting theatrical experience for audiences of all ages, the production will showcases not only the performers’ talent but also their commitment, teamwork and passion for live theatre.
Be Amazing Arts specialises in providing young people with the opportunity to work in a professional theatre environment while developing industry skills both on and off the stage. From performance and technical theatre to teamwork and discipline, participants gain invaluable experience that builds confidence and creativity in a supportive yet professional setting.
Creative director Roxanna Klimaszewska says: “Our cast has worked incredibly hard to bring this show to life. Their energy, dedication and enthusiasm have been inspiring. We cannot wait for the people of York to see what these amazing young performers have achieved.
“Be Amazing Arts strives to inspire the next generation, keeping at the heart of everything they do, making work with, for or by young creatives.”
Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
YORK spoken-word poet, performer and cheesemonger Stu Freestone will launch his debut poetry collection, The Lights That Blur Between, at The Crescent on March 30.
A co-founder and associate artist of Say Owt, York’s “collective of gobby northern poets” since 2014, he writes in a playful style founded in everyday moments in works that walk the line between between grit and gentleness.
Or as Barmby Moor surrealist comedian Rob Auton puts it: “There’s so much momentum in Stu’s words. The images sprint into your head and your brain is a better place for it.”
Drawing from family stories, kitchen tables, pub corners and stages across the country, his poetry “celebrates ordinary lives with extraordinary care,” says Stu. “Blending conversational humour with emotional honesty, the writing explores love, loss, resilience, and the quiet lights that carry us through.”
The Lights That Blur Between has been written over more than a decade, shaped on stage and finally brought together “somewhere between a notebook, a pint and a deep breath”.
“The collection explores the nostalgia of adolescence, relationships and grief, and the ongoing work of processing life, as well as the occasional – and necessary – detours into the comedic themes of condiment addiction, festival trips gone wrong, cheesemonger battle raps and the perils of ‘after work’ drinking,” says Stu, summarising his “honest portrayal of life experiences”.
The cover artwork for Stu Freestone’s The Lights That Blur Between. The sea, its vastness and restorative powers, feature emotively in his writing
Freestone has performed across the UK, including multiple runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, and was shortlisted for Best Spoken Word Performer at the Saboteur Awards in 2015. He has shared stages with internationally renowned artists such as Shane Koyczan, Hollie McNish, Sage Francis, B. Dolan, Dizrael, and Harry Baker and has recorded live sessions for BBC Introducing and BBC Upload.
Now comes his debut book launch, promising an evening of powerful performance and heartfelt storytelling, including two sets from Stu, one accompanied by a band featuring guitarist (and shoemaker) Simone Focarelli, accordionist Ben Crosthwaite and drummer Joe Douglas, plus support slots from York performance poet and political satirist Sarah Armitage and emotive Grantham singer-songwriter Adam Leeson.
“It’s amazing really,” says Stu, reflecting on the book’s completion. “It’s been a journey since 2012-2013 to now, where I’ve always thought I should have done it before, but the writing wouldn’t be same.
“I’ve had a lot more experiences to collate into my writing, so there are more meaningful tendencies to what I want to write about: whether nostalgia or re-living that nostalgia, or resilience or getting over grief: things I had not experienced back then. So it’s ‘me on a page’ on 100 pages and it’s nice to have that proof in my hand, in the book, which is very different to having it on my laptop.”
Stu’s poetry differs in print from live performance too. “There’s a massive contrast because I was very aware of how to transpose it to the page, and where it would need an edit to a make it more book-friendly,” he says.
“There are pieces that have evolved for the page or been written expressly for the page. There is therapy here, from both the reader’s perspective and mine, where I feel I’m confiding in them amid the grief of everyday life, when there are things that don’t get spoken about in the spoken-word performance environment.
Stu Freestone’s self-portrait from The Lights That Blur Between as he looks at himself in the mirror
“The book is basically saying we’re all the same in how we grow through memories, reflecting on those nostalgic moments but then contrasting that with the everyday processes of normal life: the things that others don’t see.”
The book is divided into four sections: adolescent reflection, mental health, then comedic works that “try to find the light in life” and finally, our relationship with loss, encapsulated in Before The Lights Go Out and the closing poem, title work The Lights That Blur Between.
“We try to get through loss with courage and empathy, where we can grow from our memories, but inevitably we walk through these lines between ‘breaking’ and ‘becoming’,” says Stu.
“I lost a friend, Nick,to suicide two years ago and wrote Before The Lights Go Out as an ode to our home town of Grantham and then the desperate bleakness of him no longer being there. The only thing I can take peace from is he achieved what he need to achieve, which sounds very dark, when he felt help was not an option.
“I’m 40 now, and to have lost as many people as I have in my close circle is very unlucky, so it’s an interesting place for me to try to find the perspective on that. I’ve done that through processing and writing, and I’ve written poems that aren’t in the book that are angry, but the ones in there that mean most to me are testament to trying to find positivity, for men to know that it’s OK to talk. That’s why we’ll be fund-raising for CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably charity.”
Stu’s trademark playful positivity surges through two poems in particular, Bliss, his hymn to York, his home since York St John University days in 2005, and Heed The Cheese, a nod to his other life running The Cheese Trader in Grape Lane. “I wanted to write a ‘univocalic’ poem, where every word uses only one specific vowel, so it had to be ‘E’ for cheese!” he reasons.
It strikes the only cheesy note in the book.
York Literature Festival and Say Owt present Stu Freestone, The Lights That Blur Between: book launch, The Crescent, York, March 30, doors 7pm. Box office: yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk or https://thecrescentyork.com/events/say-owt-stu-freestone-book-launch/.
Catrin Mai Edwards’ Martha, left, Estella Evans’ Mary Lennox and Dexter Pulling’s Colin in York Theatre Royal’s production of The Secret Garden The Musical. Picture: Marc Brenner
THIS production marks two homecomings: the return of the 1991 Broadway musical to its Yorkshire moorland roots in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel, together with John Doyle’s re-acquaintance with York Theatre Royal after 29 years.
The Scotsman had put actor-musician shows at the heart of his York artistic directorship from 1993 to 1997 before going on to win Tony Awards on Broadway when transferring the artform to the United States.
Now, when his cast members fold away the dust sheets at Misselthwaite Manor, they are not only reviving Hodgson’s story but the actor-musician template too, one where all the players are omnipresent on stage, instruments in hand, rather than garden tools, always on the move as if on a merry-go-round.
Doyle and co-scenic designer David L Arsenault further enhance the sense of a ghost story or memory play by populating the stage with trunks and suitcases, in part to reflect 11-year-old orphan Mary Lennox’s arrival at her uncle’s haunted house from India, where her parents have died from cholera.
Haunting presence: Joanna Hickman’s Lily with Henry Jenkinson’s Archibald Craven. left, and Andre Refig’s Neville in The Secret Garden The Musical. Picture: Marc Brenner
Visually, although the moors are depicted on the base of the drapes, the walled garden of the title remains a secret. We never see its regeneration in the form of flowers or foliage; instead seeds are pulled out of trunks or petals fall from above.
The large key, discovered by Mary (Estella Evans, sharing the role with Poppy Jason), must unlock our imagination to create the mysterious yet now magical garden, dormant since the death of Lily (Joanna Hickman), whose fall from a tree had induced her son Colin’s birth, her life curtailed in childbirth.
Marsha Norman and Carly’s sister Lucy Simon’s musical condenses Hodgson’s story into 90 unbroken minutes, and in doing so turns the spotlight rather more on the struggling adults than young Mary’s own spiritual growth, nurtured in tandem with her rejuvenation of bed-ridden Colin (Dexter Pulling, splitting performances with Cristian Buttaci).
The lack of garden matches that shift in focus: we see plenty of the Theatre Royal’s bare black-painted bricks and stone walls, an austere backdrop that adds to the claustrophobia of omnipresent loss that Mary’s uncle Archibald (Henry Jenkinson) imposes on all around him in the grip of grief that leaves him listless and unable to carry out any functions.
His equally stultifying younger brother, doctor Neville (Andre Refig), feels burdened with the need to step in, overseeing Colin’s highly restrictive treatment, ordering Mary to attend school and assuming control in the face of Archibald’s incapacity. In song too, they have a heft reminiscent of opera, and Jenkinson, in particular, sings with devastating impact.
John Doyle’s cast on the set design of cloths, trunks, suitcases and mosaic flooring in Misselthwaite Manor. Picture: Marc Brenner
Floating between both worlds is Hickman’s Lily, who moves in dream-like slow motion by comparison with all around, adding to her ghostly presence. Her singing is sublime throughout, and her performance is the embodiment of Doyle’s belief in the power of actor-musicianship to lift the music-making from underneath (in an orchestra pit) to within the performer.
Hickman, the outstanding performer here, becomes one with her cello, inseparable and heartbreaking – even more so than Jenkinson when at the piano – and this is the apotheosis of Doyle’s performance style and indeed the personification of musical supervisor Catherine Jayes’ gorgeous, deeply moving orchestrations.
The need for light amid the grave shade finds reward in Mary’s relationships with the caring Martha (Catrin Mai Edwards), gardener Ben (Steve Simmonds), young Dickon (Elliot Mackenzie), and especially in her sparring with spoilt, initially insufferable Colin that brings much needed humour.
Mary’s bewilderment at the Yorkshire accent elicits the loudest laugh, and more of this Them and Us banter would have been welcome, whereas the clash is more often one of wills, whether with Ann Marcuson’s teacher Mrs Winthrop or Refig’s Neville.
Elizabeth Marsh, on her return to York Theatre Royal, in the role of Mrs Medlock. Picture: Marc Brenner
Returning to the Theatre Royal, where she had been part of Doyle’s company for his first York actor-musician show, Moll Flanders, Elizabeth Marsh serves a dual role, primarily as stern head housekeeper Mrs Wedlock but also as a symbolic robin, guardian of the “secret” guardian, whose perky presence is represented by constant chirping on flute or whistle: a lovely, uplifting touch.
There is something of an (Indian) elephant in the room. Not so much Dickon being played by an adult (the kindly MacKenzie in roll-up jeans and braces), nor Hickman’s Lily wearing white boots in the Dr Martens style, because artistic licence, directorial whim and costume designer Gabrielle Dalton’s mood board must be allowed to play their part.
More so, why is Mary Lennox in modern clothes with a rucksack on her back (rather than the Indian clothing of the book at the start)? Is this to play to the school groups on GCSE study duty; is Mary reading a book and then stepping into the story? Is it to make Mary even more of an outsider, the alien arriving in Yorkshire? The book she carries is a photo album of relatives, so that rules that theory out; the other explanations go down cul-de-sacs too.
It was a diverting talking point afterwards in the foyer and no suggestion has satisfied your reviewer’s curiosity yet. Further answers on a proverbial postcard are welcome.
York Theatre Royal presents The Secret Garden The Musical, until April 4, 7.30pm (except Sundays and Mondays), plus 2pm, March 26 and April 2; 2.30pm, March 28 and April 4; 6.30pm, tonight and March 30. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Joanna Hickman’s Lily and Dexter Pulling’s Colin in a scene from The Secret Garden The Musical. In the background are Steve Simmonds’ Ben and Elizabeth Marsh’s Mrs Medlock. Picture: Marc Brenner
Tigerslane Studios’ cast for Murder Trial Tonight IV, Death Of A Landlord
I WAS really looking forward to this show—perhaps more accurately, this re-trial of a real-life court case—and it didn’t disappoint.
From the moment we entered, Sunday afternoon’s sold-out audience was cast as the jury in the trial of reclusive tenant Tre Bennet, accused of the brutal stabbing of his landlord, Victor Sloane. The only eyewitness: Sloane’s young daughter.
Presented under the direction of Gareth Watts, the stage was starkly arranged as a courtroom, complete with witness box, dock and judge’s bench, while the prosecution and defence occupied opposite sides as a cast of 11 played out Steve Cummings’ script.
When we were asked to stand for the judge’s entrance (Karren Winchester’s Her Honour Judge Amanda Livingstone KC ), the theatrical illusion snapped seamlessly into something far more immersive: participation.
The prosecution’s opening statement (by Alex Kapila’s Ms Victoria Pelham KC) was commanding, laying out what initially seemed like a compelling case. Witness statements, months of unpaid rent, and a description of a Black man in a yellow jacket—identified by the child—combined with blood found on the defendant’s door, all pointed toward Tre (Alpha Kamara).
We were also told that he suffered from schizophrenia, a detail framed to suggest a potential for violent outbursts. Add to this a recent confrontation between Tre and the landlord involving his mother, and the prosecution’s narrative appeared convincing. At this stage, the outlook for Tre Bennet felt bleak.
However, the defence lawyer (Ian Houghton’s Mr Miles Cavendish KC) methodically dismantled this certainty. The yellow jacket, central to the eyewitness account, was shown to be outdated—photographic evidence taken years earlier, with the garment long since discarded. The blood on the door was given a far more mundane explanation: an accidental injury sustained by the landlord while carrying out repairs. Gradually, the cracks in the prosecution’s case began to widen.
The emotional core of the piece came through the testimony of Tre’s mother (Karlina Grace-Paseda’s Dolores Bennet). Her account—detailing her escape from Sierra Leone to build a life in England with her young son—was deeply affecting.
Through her words, and those of Tre’s music teacher (Jason Deer’s Jason Scott), we were introduced to a very different portrait: a gentle, gifted young man shaped by hardship and subjected to racist abuse, yet defined by kindness and creativity. Importantly, the defence also challenged assumptions around mental illness, reminding us that the proportion of people with schizophrenia who commit violent crimes is extremely small.
What makes Death Of A Landlord so powerful is its insistence on confronting bias – both within the justice system and within ourselves. The production subtly raises the issue of racial profiling, prompting us to question whether the investigation may have been too quick to focus on a suspect who “fits the bill,” rather than exploring alternative possibilities.
The balance of the case is its greatest strength. Just when you feel certain, a new detail unsettles your confidence. The writing is sharp and meticulously structured, and the performances are so naturalistic that the boundary between theatre and reality all but disappears. As jurors, the weight of responsibility becomes palpable; the fear of reaching the wrong verdict lingers throughout.
Adapted from a true story, Tigerslane Studios’ production culminates in a modern twist: the audience delivers its verdict – guilty or not guilty – via smartphone using a QR code. Only then is the real-life outcome revealed on a large screen.
It’s a striking and sobering conclusion, leaving you not only reflecting on the case, but on your own judgement – and on this occasion, 84 per cent of York’s jury turned out to be wrong in their verdict.
This is immersive theatre at its most thought-provoking: gripping, unsettling, and impossible to forget.
Celestine Dubruel, theatrical judge and jury member
Darren Walsh: Puns by the punnet load at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
A PLETHORA of puns, a dysfunctional American family musical, an alien invasion in film and theatre and a bakery burlesque night confirm variety is the spice of Charles Hutchinson’s arts life.
Comedy show like no other, bar pun: Darren Walsh: Do You Like Puns?, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
WITNESS a pun Goliath in person when Darren Walsh brings his 8ft frame to York for his Do You Like Puns? show. Noted for his Jokes On The Street series on social media, he combines sound effects, videos, one-liners and improvised jokes spun off audience suggestions. “Book now, li is two short,” he says. Think about it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Pianist David Hammond
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music: David Hammond, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm
PIANIST David Hammond’s recital celebrates Yorkshire and northern composers, brought together in an afternoon programme full of musical storytelling, ranging in mood and imagery from Patrick John Jones’s Eel and the world premiere of James Else’s Kitten’s Prelude, to butterflies, letters and birthday cards in works by Dawn Walters and Nicola LeFanu.
Two further world premieres, a new James Williamson piece, alongside Scarlatti’s Cat’s Fugue, echo the animal thread and electronic elements feature in Jake Adams’s Thirty In Eight, adding a contemporary edge to Hammond’s typically imaginative combination of local voices, strong themes and plenty of character. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.
Catrin Mai Edwards’ Martha, left, Estella Evans’ Mary Lennox and Dexter Pulling’s Colin in The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner
Actor-musician show of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until April 4
TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.
Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The BudapestCaféOrchestra: Fronted by Christian Garrick at Helmsley Arts Centre
Snappiest attire of the week: Christian Garrick & The Budapest Café Orchestra, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm
CHRISTIAN Garrick (violin, darbuka), Murray Grainger (accordion), Kelly Cantlon (double bass) and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar, saz, balalaika, domra) team up in this refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired boutique orchestra. Playing gypsy and folk-flavoured music in a unique and surprising way, The Budapest Café Orchestra combine Balkan and Russian traditional music with artful distillations of Romantic masterworks and soaring Gaelic folk anthems.
Established by British composer Garrick in 2009, BCO have 16 albums to their name, marked by an “astonishing soundscape and aural alchemy” characteristic of larger ensembles, evoking Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy campfires. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
This charming man: Nigel Havers is ready to talk at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett
Laughter, nostalgia and charm equals: Nigel Havers Talking B*ll*cks, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm
LET esteemed actor and self-deprecating raconteur Nigel Havers introduce his touring talk show. “Join me, a stage, and a lifetime of gloriously ridiculous stories to share with you. You’ll get the full Havers experience: charm, wit, and absolutely no running in slow motion.
“Of course, there’ll be behind-the-scenes gossip, tales of triumph (and disaster), moments of sheer madness, and a fair bit of talking b*ll*cks. And just when you think you’ve got me figured out, I might surprise you.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Off Pat: Nevin is ready to talk at The Crescent
Football chat of the week: Pat Nevin, Football And How To Survive It, The Crescent, York, March 24, 7.30pm kick-off, doors 7pm
PAT Nevin, the “Wee Man” on the pitch but never short of opinions off it, shares stories and insights from 40 years in football, turning out on the wing for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell in a professional career from 1981 to 2000.
Now a familiar voice on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Premier League coverage, Nevin has seen the game from all sides, from playing for Scotland under Sir Alex Ferguson to being chairman of the players’ union and even a spell as a club chief executive, with a sideline in DJing at club nights too. Expect stories of Kenny Dalglish, Ally McCoist and ex-Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, Morrissey, Saddam Hussein and John Peel too, in conversation with journalist Duncan Steer. Audience questions will be welcomed. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Dale Vaughan, left, Ryan Richardson, Monica Frost, Niamh Rose, Fergus Green and Matthew Warry, at the back, in rehearsal for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal
American musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 25 to April 4, 7.30pm except March 29 and 30; 2.30pm matinees, March 28 and 29, April 4
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning musical exploration of family and illness, loss and grief as a suburban American household copes with crisis and mental illness.
Dad is an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens but their lives are anything but normal, because Mom has been battling manic depression for 16 years.Next To Normal presents their story with love, sympathy and heart. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mike Wozniak: Coming off The Bench to perform twice at the Grand Opera House, York
Sit-down stand-up of the week: Mike Wozniak: The Bench, Grand Opera House, York, March 25 and September 12, 7.30pm
THE Bench is the new stand-up tour show from Mike Wozniak, wherein in a story about a bench will be prominent. Previous experience of or strong opinions about benches are not required. Let Wozniak worry about that.
This Oxford-born comedian, writer, actor and former medical doctor portrays Brian in Channel 4 sitcom Man Down, is part of the team that makes Small Scenes for BBC Radio 4 and co-presents the Three Bean Salad podcast with Henry Paker and Benjamin Partridge. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Gorillaz: Bringing The Mountain to Leeds next Wednesday
Yorkshire gig of the week: Gorillaz, supported by Trueno, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, March 25, 7.30pm; doors 6pm
DAMON Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s BRIT and Grammy-winning British band showcase their chart-topping ninth studio album in Leeds after two warm-up shows at Bradford Live. Spanning 15 songs that embody the collaborative Gorillaz ethos, The Mountain creates a “playlist for a party on the border between this world and whatever happens next, exploring the journey of life and the thrill of existence”. Box office: gorillaz.com.
Bonnie Baddoo, Gareth Cassidy, Amy Dunn and Morgan Bailey in Imitating The Dog’s War Of The Worlds. Picture: Ed Waring
All’s Wells that ends in the worst nightmares of the week: Imitating The Dog in War Of The Worlds, Leeds Playhouse, March 25 to 28, 7.45pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
FOUR performers enter the stage and construct an epic road movie before your eyes in Imitating The Dog’s re-invention of H G Wells’s apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear as extraterrestrial life-forms land from the skies.
Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks and projection, the ever-audacious Leeds company mixes the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to ask “What would you do if order broke down? What would you do to survive? How far would you go to protect your own?” Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk
Vitamin String Quartet: Eroding boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop at Grand Opera House, York
Billie Eilish, Bridgerton & Beyond concert of the week: Vitamin String Quartet, Grand Opera House, York, March 27, 7.30pm
ERASING the boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop, Vitamin String Quartet perform renditions of everything from Billie Eilish to BTS, Taylor Swift to The Weeknd and Danny Elfman to Daft Punk. Formed in 1999, this Los Angeles group comprises Tom Lea, viola, Wynton Grant and Rachel Grace, violins, and Derek Stein, cello. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns burlesque on board a baguette at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Cabaret of the week: Freida Nipples presents Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, March 27, 8pm, doors 7pm
YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, swaps teas for tease as she turns the bakery cafe into a cabaret joint for a night of fun, frolics and freedom of expression in all shapes and sizes.
On the fabulously zesty menu will be Donna Divine, Ezme Pump, Callum Robshaw and Freida herself, hosted by Harvey Rose. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff, in Ernest mode, right, woos Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew in Rowntree Players’ The Importance Of Being Earnest. All pictures: Jamie McKeller
LIKE the best cucumber sandwiches, Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” can be sliced in different ways, but always with the crusts, not the upper crust, removed.
The dust has not long settled on Stephen Fry’s Lady Bracknell in the National Theatre production at the Noel Coward Theatre, a role David Suchet had played on the London stage a decade earlier.
Cross-dressing comedy duo Hinge & Bracket went Wilde in 1977, as did satirical duo Lip Service in 2001, when the late Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding set the Victorian comedy of manners in the 1950s.
In 2015, Nigel Havers’s Algernon Moncrieff and Martin Jarvis’s John Worthing teamed up with Siân Phillips’s Lady Bracknell for the Bunbury Company of Players’ “golden-oldies” version, playing the Grand Opera House on tour that November.
Lizzie Lawton’s yearning Jack Worthing and Bethan Olliver’s enamoured Gwendolen Fairfax in Rowntree Players’ The Importance Of Being Earnest
In September 2022, Denzel Westley-Sanderson sassy co-production for English Touring Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Rose Theatre, Kingston, “melded Wilde’s wit with chart-toppers, shade and contemporary references”.
Setting Oscar’s satire of dysfunctional families, class, gender and sexuality in Black Victorian high society, he cast Daniel Jacob, alias drag queen Vinegar Strokes, as Lady Bracknell and added to the gender fluidity with Dr Chasuble being played by Anita Reynolds, bonding in a lesbian relationship with Joanne Henry’s Miss Prism.
All this is by way of introduction to Hannah Shaw’s LGBTQ+ exploration of gay playwright Wilde’s comedy for Rowntree Players, where she introduces new young players to the company too. This re-invention is not far-fetched, by the way, as a quick search reveals that “Importance” is “widely interpreted by critics and scholars as having a significant queer subtext, acting as a ‘gay play’ encoded for contemporary audiences”.
To further quote “AI Thinking”, “while the plot revolves around heterosexual romances, it is celebrated for its camp style, irony and subtle references to same-sex desire, often termed ‘Bunburying’.”
Checking the diary: Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, left, and Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax
And there’s more: ‘Bunburying’ is “a code for leading a secret life to pursue forbidden, potentially gay, sexual activity”; the name “Earnest” was “a late-Victorian euphemism for a homosexual or queer man”; the play is “a foundational work of queer literature”.
Until now, your reviewer has been in Wilde’s “serious people” mode, but Hall’s light and bright production is very much in the spirit of “trivial comedy”, having as much fun and games as possible by going Wilder in the country, even when stretched to Wilde’s original four-act, three-hour version, reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, at the request of the Rowntree Players committee.
From Stephanie Cullingford & Hannah Shaw’s costumes, all vintage lines yet modern too, to Nathan Kirby’s classical instrumental arrangements of pop nuggets such as Abba’s I Do, I Do, I Do and Sabrina Carpenter’s Nonsense, Shaw’s show straddles Wilde’s dapper past and today’s dandy designs.
Algernon’s London abode is dominated by heavy curtains, complemented by an old lamp shade, a timeless hat stand and modern sofas. Max Palmer’s butler, Lane, is thoroughly modern in attire, but old school in demeanour.
Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff, in the guise of Ernest, evoking Gentleman Jack in The Importance Of Being Earnest
Jorja Cartwright’s Miss Algernon Moncrieff, in tassled boots, dark trousers and waistcoat, is working her way through the cucumber sandwiches, awaiting effervescent, financially reckless bachelor friend Jack Worthing (Leeds Conservatoire graduate Lizzie Lawton (they/them)). Therein lies Shaw’s gender exploration and LGBTQ+ integration into Wilde’s mannered comedy.
Both must lead double lives, Algernon inventing an ever-ailing friend Bunbury to escape dull duties; Jack engineering a fictional younger brother, Ernest, to facilitate his partying in London and wooing of Gwendolen Fairfax (Leeds Conservatoire third-year student Bethan Ollivier), rebellious daughter of Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell has always been a snob, a stickler for social niceties, a dragon snorting disdain, but here, as played with burning acidity by Jeanette Hambridge, she becomes a social climber, a successful businesswoman, in Shaw’s vision, working her way up from nothing to be the breadwinner for the stay-at-home Lord Bracknell, never shedding her London accent in her rise up the ladder.
In this guise, she is more cynical, on occasion sarcastic, her manner perma-frosty, putting a more poisonous sting into Wilde’s waspish wit.
Lizzie Lawton’s Jack Worthingchecking the military records for the importance of being Ernest
Olliver’s Gwendolen has all the trappings and airs of a posh education, bursting with over-excitement at the mention of the name “Ernest”, even growling playfully; all part of turning Wilde wilder. Likewise, Lawton, so dextrous both vocally and physically, so joyously energetic, so top of the fops, has a tendency to take exaggerated movement into clowning territory.
By contrast, Jorja Cartwright, arriving on the York scene via Greater Manchester, favours a less gaudy acting style, a flick of a leg here, an elegant clamber over a sofa there. Miss Algernon Moncrieff becomes Mr Ernest when wooing Jack’s ward, Cecily Cardew (Londoner Katie Shaw) in country matters behind Jack’s back, by now in tassled boots, white trousers and a brocade waistcoat, blond locks in a ponytail.
If you are picking up Gentleman Jack/ Ann Lister vibes, then Cullingford and Shaw’s work is done here. Cartwright is outstanding, her voice playful, her movement just right, even when talking while filling her face with muffins.
Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew writing her latest gushing diary entry
Katie Shaw’s diary-keeping Cecily is to the spoilt-ingenue manner born, behind the pretty frills, and her spat over tea and cake with Olliver’s Gwendolen is a comedic high point as they climb ever higher on chairs to assert their claims to each being betrothed to Ernest Worthing.
Palmer’s brace of long-suffering butlers, Lane and not-so-Merriman, adds cameo dry humour, while the slow-burning romance of Wayne Osguthorpe’s bookish Reverend Canon Chasuble and Rebecca Thomson’s moral novel-writing tutor Miss Prism warms pleasingly in the background, played in a lower key to match Hambridge’s underwhelmed Lady Bracknell.
Under the Shaw touch, The Importance Of Being Earnest bends willingly to the gender agenda, bringing fresh fun and freedom to Wilde’s Victorian social satire, but Lady Bracknells of yore would surely give short shrift to this nouvelle-riche arriviste, more snotty than snooty.
Rowntree Players, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2pm and 7.30pm today (21/3/2026). Box office for “last few tickets”: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff makes a hasty exit. You will not be seeking to do likewise, even though Rowntree Players’ four-act The Importance Of Being Earnest runs to three hours
NEWFLASH 23/03/2026
HANNAH Shaw will direct Rowntree Players’ production of Marc Camoletti’s French farce Boeing Boeing in Beverley Cross’s English adaptation at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from July 23 to 25.
In Paris, in 1960, Bernard, a successful architect living abroad, reckons he can juggle his three flight attendant fiancées with ease. All it demands is a question of timing and a little help from his trusted housekeeper, who reluctantly plays “romantic air traffic controller”. Tickets are on sale on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Ready to talk: NigelHavers heads to the Grand Opera House on Monday
LET Nigel Havers, veteran actor, host of BBC One auction show The Bidding Room and self-deprecating raconteur, explain why he will be “Talking B*ll*cks” at the Grand Opera House, York, on March 23.
“Well, I loved my first tour – and I think the audiences did too – so here we go again! Join me, a stage, and a lifetime of gloriously ridiculous stories to share with you. You’ll get the full Havers experience: charm, wit, and absolutely no running in slow motion,” he says.
“I’ll be taking you on a thoroughly entertaining trot through five decades in showbiz. From my early days as a fresh-faced drama school hopeful, to the highs and lows of a career that’s seen me in everything from Chariots Of Fire and Empire Of The Sun to Don’t Wait Up and some rather marvellous West End plays – and more than my fair share of [London] Palladium pantos.”
Anything else, Nigel? “Of course, there’ll be behind-the-scenes gossip, tales of triumph (and disaster), moments of sheer madness, and a fair bit of talking b*ll*cks. And just when you think you’ve got me figured out, I might surprise you,” he teases.
“Let’s just say there’s a taste of my very first acting role and a little showcase of one of my off-stage talents – I’ll leave you guessing. So, come along for a night of laughter, nostalgia, and, dare I say, charm. It’s going to be a lot of fun – I promise.”
To put flesh on these bones, Nigel delayed lunch with his wife Georgiana Bronfman for a quick chat – more hors d’oeuvres than main course – with CharlesHutchPress. Having “talked b*ll*cks on the road last year, he has decided to tour again, split into spring and autumn itineraries.
“I did 12 dates and it was such fun, as it’s the first time I’ve been on stage without having to learn lines,” he says. “I can just walk on stage and ‘talk b*ll*cks’. I just go wherever my mind takes me.
“Because I haven’t got a script, I feel very free. I feel great. Whereas if you’ve got a script, you think, ‘Oh my God, what if I forget that bit?’ I don’t have any worries about that anymore. I can’t dry because I can just go on to another anecdote.”
He keeps the show to a tight 90 minutes. “It’s 45 minutes, an interval, than another 45 minutes, and no audience questions,” says Nigel, now 73.
“I can’t think of anything better than doing this show. It’s more fun than I’ve ever had!” says Nigel Havers ahead of his York visit. Picture: Matt Crockett
“I come offstage on a high. I have a dry martini, and then go out to dinner with my missus, which is great. It’s a really wonderful evening. And then I’m on to the next town. It’s fantastic. I can’t think of anything better than doing this show. It’s more fun than I’ve ever had!”
Nigel will be reflecting on a five-decade career that has taken in everything from The Charmer to Passage To India, Benidorm to Coronation Street, Yasmina Reza’s Art to the “golden oldies” version of Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people”, The Importance Of Being Earnest, that he brought to the Grand Opera House with Martin Jarvis as John Worthing to his Algernon Moncrieff in Lucy Bailey’s touring production for the Bunbury Company of Players in November 2015.
“Martin and I had done it at the National Theatre 30 years before, and I said, ‘maybe we should do it again’. Martin wasn’t sure at first, but when I further explored why I wanted to re-visit it, he agreed,” he recalls.
Explaining his working practice, Nigel says: “I’ve always been a ‘letter-box’ actor. When a script comes through the letter box, I’ll think, ‘I’ll do that…”
Or not? “I don’t think I’ve ever turned anything down. At least, I can’t remember doing that. You learn by doing things, and as a young actor, a lot of my contemporaries would say ‘I don’t do that’, but I’d say ‘yes’,” says Nigel.
“I used to walk around the BBC at White City, when no-one would check who you were, and you could meet all the producers and end up being cast.”
Unlike the typical 9 to 5 career, actors spend great parts of their life being “someone else”, whether on screen or stage or in the rehearsal. Nigel disagrees, however. “You’re still playing roles all day [in other jobs] because we all do that – and acting takes that further, but it’s a job and it feels like that.
Nigel Havers in the role of Algernon Moncrieff in the Bunbury Company of Players’ production of The Importance Of Being Earnest, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, in November 2015. Picture: Tristram Kenton
“My wife doesn’t think it’s a serious job – because you can make it look easy. But it’s like watching tennis and thinking, ‘I could do that’. In reality, anyone who makes it look easy is good at it.”
Nigel is a fixture in the London Palladium pantomime, the biggest show of the year each winter in London. “It’s second nature now,” he says. “I play myself mostly. Last year I was the Keeper of the Privy [in Sleeping Beauty]. There was no plot! I was just abused by Julian [Clary], as everyone in the show is. I’m just his foil!” He will be back for more Clary putdowns next Christmas in his 20th consecutive year in pantomime.
Meanwhile, his talking tour rolls on, where the only bump in the road is the title. “Whenever I go on any TV or radio show, they tell me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t mention the title of the show.’ ‘What? Talking B-?’ ‘Don’t say that!’,” he says.
“You could call b*ll*cks ‘nonsense’. If you talk ‘b*ll*cks’, you can talk to anyone – and ‘b*ll*cks’ isn’t a swear word. Lindsay Hoyle [Speaker of the House of Commons] confirmed that the other day in Parliament.”
Beyond anecdotes, what features in the show? “I do a bit of magic, which always goes wrong. I love doing magic tricks, but I do them really quite badly!” says Nigel. “I also make the perfect dry martini at the end. I drag my wife on stage to help me hand out the glasses to the audience. But I don’t allow her to speak because that would cost me money!”
Nigel’s lunch was calling, but not before one last question. Does he have one particular role he still craves playing? “Absolutely nothing that I haven’t done yet! I never have those ambitions. I just wait for the latter box.”
Nigel Havers: Talking B*ll*cks, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm . Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Never mind the title! The poster for Nigel Havers’ Talking B*ll*cks tour show
Window of opportunity: Alice Pryor’s Nella Racksole, Thomas Cotran’s Prince Aribert of Posen, centre, and Bill Champion’s Theodore Racksole. Picture: Andrew Billington
CONRAD Nelson. Deborah McAndrew. Bill Champion. All are names familiar to Yorkshire theatre audiences past and present, but what of Arnold Bennett?
He is as much a part of the Potteries as Nelson and McAndrew’s Stoke-on-Trent company Claybody Theatre, but for all his 34 novels, 13 plays, seven volumes of short stories, several self-help books, screenplays and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, he may be best known for the Omelette Arnold Bennett, the creamy one with gruyere cheese, smoked fish and béchamel sauce, invented in his name by chef Jean Baptiste Virlogeux while he was staying at The Savoy in 1929 to write his 1930 book Imperial Palace.
Bennett loved The Savoy – his second home – and hotel culture at large, a love expressed in his 1902 “rollicking comedy thriller” The Grand Babylon Hotel (based on The Savoy, apparently).
Alice Pryor’s Nella Racksole and Thomas Cotran’s Prince Aribert of Posen take to the water in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
Thrice turned into a film, in 1914, 1916 and1920 (in Germany), now it is transformed into a theatrical whirl of a murder mystery drama in the spruce yet madcap style of Patrick Barlow’s reinvention of The 39 Steps, replete with fabulously attired, flamboyant characters, dextrous movement and dance-step interludes, sleight-of-hand role shifts and equally fast costume, accent and location changes on a rising tide of physical comedy and mentally adroit twists and turns.
Co-artistic director Nelson’s touring cast for McAndrew’s wizard, whizzing Jazz Age stage adaptation adds Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion to four players from last autumn’s premiere at the New Vic.
Champion, cigar seemingly forever betwixt his lips, is playing American railroad billionaire Theodore Racksole, whose demanding daughter, Nella (Alice Pryor), wants filleted steak and Bass beer for her birthday treat.
Michael Hugo’s Ticket Collector in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
However, as supercilious maitre d’hotel Jules (Michael Hugo) explains, they are not on Italian chef Rocco’s menu at London’s exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel.
Whereupon Theodore buys the chef, the kitchen, the hotel, lock, stock and barrel of unexpected problems. Big mistake? When Reginald Dimmock (Thomas Cotran) keels over, murder is followed by the kidnapping of Nella.
McAndrew stirs myriad characters into the melting pot, even inventing one, German Nanny Heidi (one of four roles for Shelley Atkinson, including fierce hotel worker Miss Spencer, who may really be Baroness Zerlinski).
Shelley Atkinson’s Nanny Heidi in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
Thomas Cotran, who you have seen in Mikron Theatre shows, flits between three roles, the unfortunate Dimmock, the heel-clicking German Prince Aribert of Posen and knife-wielding, moustachioed Italian head chef Rocco, having particular fun with the latter.
They are joined in McAndrew’s trio of “clowns” by Michael Hugo, once a fixture in Northern Broadsides productions, and still as elastic and electric in his comic tomfoolery, stealing scene after scene like acts of daylight “rubbery”.
He plays a sextet of roles, each with a different accent, rhythm of speech, manner of movement, whether the alarming Jules, the dastardly Tom Jackson, the Cockney detective Marshall, the Porter or the hypochondriac Prince Eugen of Posen.
Most amusing of all is his growling French ticket collector, fag in mouth, playing tricks on the audience members when asking them to hold a boarding rope. In Tom Jackson mode, aboard a boat, he even asks “beefy John” from the front row to take over the wheel. You won’t see a comic tour de force to rival Hugo on a Yorkshire stage this year, whether leaping into a basket or being thrown around like a rag doll when Prince Eugen is assumed to be dead.
Lis Evans’s costumes are a playful delight, while her open-plan set design can be adapted for differing venues, letting the cast do the heavy lifting in conveying locations, such as when Champion’s Theodore mimes his journey of discovery through the hotel’s unseen interior, banging his head three times on thin air!
Champion and Pryor play it straight while still playing off the crazed comic energy of Atkinson, Cotran and especially Hugo as Nelson’s direction judges the pacing perfectly, each scene surpassing the last.
James Atherton’s compositions, Daniella Beattie’s lighting and floor projections, Damian Coldwell’s sound design and Beverley Norris-Edmunds’ movement direction and choreography all play their part in making The Grand Babylon Hotel so swish and stylish, topped off by Nick Haverson’s physical comedy direction.
Nelson’s cast uses the assets of the SJT’s in-the-round structure to the max, from Champion delivering monologues from the stairways to the three entry points being in constant use. No doubt, the show will adapt to Harrogate Theatre’s classical proscenium arch next month with equal elan.
Wherever you choose to go to see Champion, Atkinson, Cotran, Pryor and Hugo in particular, book now.
Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm and 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Scarborough,01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Claybody Theatre’s poster for The Grand Babylon Hotel
Family matters: Niamh Rose (Natalie), left, Monica Frost (Diana), Matthew Warry (Gabe) and Dale Vaughan (Dan) in a scene from Next To Normal. Picture: Emma Darbyshire
YORK company Pick Me Up Theatre follows up Christmas hit Anything Goes with Next To Normal’s intimate exploration of family and illness, loss and grief at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.
Running from March 25 to April 4, this winner of three 2009 Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize combines book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey with music by Tom Kitt in its musical account of how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness.
Andrew Isherwood directs Pick Me Up’s cast of Monica Frost, Dale Vaughan, Niamh Rose, Matthew Warry, Fergus Green and Ryan Richardson in the story of architect Dad, Mom rushing to pack lunches and pour cereal, and their bright, wise-cracking teenage daughter and son.
Outwardly, they appear to be a typical American family, and yet their lives are anything but normal, because the mother has been battling manic depression for 16 years.
“Next To Normal takes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family’s story of dealing with mental illness with love, sympathy and heart,” says Andrew, who is joined in the production team by musical director James Robert Ball and producer/designer Robert Readman.
“It’s a relatively new work that’s not been done in York before, chosen by Robert [company founder and artistic director Robert Readman], who had this great idea to segue The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time [April 2025], Everybody’s Talking About Jamie [July 2025] and now – after the festive hiatus for Anything Goes – Next To Normal as three musicals that tackle mental health.
Dale Vaughan, front, and Ryan Richardson in rehearsal for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal. Picture: Emma Darbyshire
“‘Curious Incident’ was told through the mind of a child [who called himself a ‘mathematician with some behavioural difficulties’]; ‘Jamie’ was a coming-of-age story of a teenage drag queen facing bigotry; Next To Normal is told through the parents’ eyes and deals with mental illness and facing a crisis. All three have incredible family drama at their core, even family dysfunction.”
Monica Frost plays Diana, the mother with a bipolar condition. “Monica has a huge task, but for all of the cast it’s such an emotionally taxing show, where we’ve discussed at length dealing with the grief of loss, processing it, and how it might have exacerbated her bipolar condition,” says Andrew.
He is delighted by the contribution of Dale Vaughan too as husband Dan. “He’s been terrific from the moment he came into the audition, having seen him for the first time in Pick Me Up’s Fun Home last September, when I thought, ‘blimey, where have you been hiding?’!”
Diana is undergoing Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). “There’s a scene that depicts that, and because this show can be quite dark, we’re trying to find moments of light too, otherwise it could be ‘misery porn’,” says Andrew.
“Thought we don’t show it, there’s a heavy revelation of suicidal tendencies, and because the subject is very complex, we need to handle it with care. The story is told with references to the past, shown through flashbacks, to show how Diana hasn’t addressed the loss of her child before or dealt with her grief.”
Matthew Warry and Niamh Rose in the rehearsal room
In putting the show together in rehearsals, “the way I like to work and the way I’ve worked with musical director James Robert Ball was to give him the show for the first four weeks because the music is such a massive component,” says Andrew.
“So we’ve focused on that first, learning the music and the lyrics, before we started building in the lighting, the costumes, the props, the entries and the exits, getting the skeleton together for the songs, ” says Andrew.
Then he set about “moving the cast around the stage, getting them to move with my interpretation,” he adds. “It’s not choreography of sorts, but if you sit in a chair for too long, it can swallow you up, but by moving them around it helps to tell the story.”
Dialogue between songs is as important as the big numbers. “It’s what the actor James Willstrop calls ‘my detail work’,” says Andrew, who won the Best Direction prize in February’s York Theatre Community Awards for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
Meanwhile, Readman’s set design and Adam Moore’s lighting enable a physical manifestation of Diana’s state of mind, such as stairs representing transition or the use of a box for the ECT treatment as a manifestation of the world closing in on her.
Analysing the title of Next To Normal, Andrew says: “What is our interpretation of ‘normal’ when you have a family trying to function with all the complexities of life? But you also want the audience to leave the theatre feeling uplifted, so if it’s not ‘normal’ , then this life is considered to be ‘next to normal’ for the family. That’s what works for them.”
Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 25 to April 4, 7.30pm except March 29 and 30; 2.30pm, March 28 & 29 and April 4. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s poster artwork for Next To Normal
