Nik Briggs’s cooking copper, Ben, and Harriet Yorke’s carer, Gemma, become entwined in The Great British Bake Off Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
YORK Stage will be rising to the occasion in the York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical from Wednesday (5/11/2025) to Saturday at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Nik Briggs’s cast will be putting the tension into the tent – and the fun bite into the bun fight – in the familiar journey from never-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers as eight contestants seek to avoid soggy bottoms en route to impressing judges Phil Hollinghurst (Chris Wilson) and Pam Lee (Tracey Rea).
“Prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become delicious reality,” says director and producer Nik. “It’s a show that proves baking isn’t just about the final product, it’s about the journey and the joy that comes from sharing that journey with others.”
He was determined to snap up the show for York Stage. “It started off in July 2022 at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, then transferred to the West End [Noel Coward Theatre, February 24 to May 13 2023], and when the rights became available earlier this year, we were straight in there with our application!
“It’s a show by Jake Brunger [book and lyrics] and Pippa Cleary [music and lyrics], who did the 2015 musical The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, and this show has gone the furthest for them since then. It’s gorgeous! It has the perfect recipe: it’s got comedy, real heart, it’s so British – and it knows how to poke fun at the great national institution that Bake Off has become, but at the same time hold it in respect.”
The show is built around Brunger and Cleary’s original songs. “A lot of the humour comes in the wordplay and the lyrics, which are reminiscent of Victoria Wood’s patter songs, so rehearsals have been so funny,” says Nik. “It’s just been a lovely experience, which is just what you need when you’re rehearsing a show in only five weeks, whereas we normally do ten.
“Traditionally in musicals, you have your principals and the chorus singing the rousing chorus in harmony four times in the same song, but with this show, you have your Bake Off contestants being eliminated, so you have fewer people to do the harmonies as the show goes on – and everyone’s harmonies then swap too!”
Nik continues: “There’s one song with four choruses, where I sing different parts with different harmonies in every chorus! Those harmonies are gorgeous – and as Bake Off fans will recognise, all the big numbers are based on the underscore music from the TV series.
“It’s so clever the way it’s been done. The audience will think, ‘what a gorgeous, heart-filled British comedy’ it is, and they will realise what hard work has gone into it when people thought it might be twee, but it really isn’t.”
The Bake Off musical condenses the path of a full TV series into one show, replete with the aforementioned technical challenges, show stoppers, eliminations by the musical’s answer to Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith all introduced and jollied along by hosts Jim (Sam Roberts) and Kim (Mary Clare).
“Like in the TV series, we learn about their home life, why they’re doing Bake-Off. Like Izzy (Amy Barrett), the Cambridge graduate, who’s very competitive, desperate to win and thinking of the big deals that might come from winning.
“There’s a school dinner lady, who’s just there for the experience, and the environmentalist, who will not cook with butter and insists on everything being vegan. There’s a carer and policeman, both at a new stage in their lives, and we see them connecting with each other as the competition progresses.”
The policeman, Ben, will be played by Nik. “His daughter Lily is with him for reasons that will become clear, and I have four of my York Stage School students, Eady Mensah, Abigail Hodgson, Ella Laister and Meg Pickard, sharing the role,” he says.
Now so busy directing York Stage shows and running York Stage School, Nik is seldom to be seen on stage. Indeed Ben will be his first principal role since leading the cast in green in Shrek The Musical in September 2019 at the Grand Opera House.
“When I first came by the show, there is this duet that Ben sings with Lily, and though it’s very rare these days, I thought, ‘ooh, I would love to sing that’, when nowadays I’m much more comfortable on the other side, directing.
“I still felt that way about the song after a few months, so I decided that I would scratch that [performing] itch once in a decade!”
Nik has been turning his hand to another skill. “We have to make 50-odd cake and pastry props,” he says. “We’ve been designing and making them ourselves, using various crafts, like making things out of Polystyrene and foam. After this interview, I’m off to finish off the Eiffel Tower and Blackpool Tower cakes!”
How does he rate his own baking skills? “I’m rubbish with pastry as I have hot hands, when cold hands are good for pastry making, but back in the day, I was quite renowned for my sponges and cakes in food tech at school,” says Nik. “But in lockdown, I just lost the knack. Neither of my banana breads worked, so I gave up.”
York Stage’s show could not be better timed. “This year’s final is on Channel 4 tomorrow night[4/11/2025); we open on Wednesday. Some people might think it was planned!” says Nik.
York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, November 5 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Joseph Egan’s club boss Fat Sam, from Team Malone, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone
THIS is Pick Me Up Youth Theatre by all but name, revelling in the chance to fire off splurge guns at those joyless dullard authoritarians determined to make artistic expression more and more difficult for young people.
Why, why, why? I defy anyone not too see the benefits, the joys, the camaraderie, the sheer fun of being on stage, working as a team but flourishing individually, in Bugsy Malone, British writer-director Alan Parker’s 1976 gangster spoof with words and Jazz Age music by Paul Williams.
The Grand Opera House stage is buzzing with energy, with comic glee, with the sharpest of suits and glitziest of gowns (outstanding work by Julie Fisher & Costume Team).
A gauze screen with a full canvas of a young chap in suit and pork pie hat, and the title Bugsy Malone in boldest red, establishes immediately that Pick Me Up producer Robert Readman and fellow designer Rich Musk are going to hit the right notes on the design front.
Theo Rae’s Fizzy: Outstanding performance, topped off by his rendition of Tomorrow
In familiar Readman style, there is a stairway to either side of a mezzanine level, on which musical director Adam Tomlinson’s band members are kitted out in Prohibition-era attire. To the front of them, singers will be picked out by squares of light bulbs.
To the sides of the stage are yet more banks of light bulbs, the kind to be seen in dressing rooms. A revolving stage turns from well-stocked bar to a plain backdrop. Images of New York’s skyline and more besides are projected on drapes. The evocation of the Big Apple and Fat Sam’s Club is complete, and it looks fantastic, good enough, frankly, for a touring professional show.
Readman has focused on the staging this time. Lesley Hill, from the Attitude Dance Club in Copmanthorpe, takes on the dual role of director and choreographer, and her cast responds with both aptitude and just the right attitude to portray 1920s’ gangland New York.
“This has been a truly wonderful experience,” says Lesley, in the programme, and that enjoyment is writ large in her cast. Make that casts, not cast, because performances are being shared between Team Bugsy and Team Malone, some actors appearing in both, and more than 40 involved overall.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s Dandy Dan at the double: Kurtis Moss from Team Bugsy, left, and Max Porter from Team Malone
The love for this musical among the performers – one of the Blousey Browns said she had watched Parker’s film more than 100 times – is evident from the start, whether in principal or ensemble roles, in the opening Bugsy Malone and Fat Sam’s Grand Slam numbers.
The joy for these young swells is being centre stage, children playing adult roles, showing up the absurdities, mannerisms and machinations of adult behaviour by playing it straight, eliciting laughter from doing so, as speakeasy boss Fat Sam (Team Malone’s Joseph Egan on press night) goes to turf war with Dandy Dan (Max Porter) who is holding all the aces.
Penniless boxing promoter Bugsy (Zachary Stoney) is Fat Sam’s fixer, drawn to wannabe club singer Blousey Brown (Elizabeth Reece), but can he resist the charms of seductive songstress and former flame Tallulah (Cara Suddaby, now Dandy Dan’s moll)?
You watch throughout with a beaming smile, loving the audacity, the confidence, the dazzling look and the delightfully daft comedy of this sassy, snazzy jazzy show, suffused with knockout performances, not only from Stoney, Egan, Porter, Reece and Suddaby, but also Tommy Lonsdale (good surname for a boxer) as putative pugilist Leroy in the outstanding ensemble routine So You Wanna Be A Boxer?
Their name is Tallulah: Cara Suddaby, left, and Freya Horsman in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone
Taylor Carlyle’s Knuckles gives a cracking performance too, as does Nancy Walker is her cameo as Lena Marrelli, the loose-cannon star singer.
On talent watch, keep an eye on Theo Rae’s Fizzy, a stage natural with a wondrous voice already. Good news, he will be fizzing his way through every performance, serving in both teams.
As if Bugsy Malone were not fun enough already, SAHA Media provides even more thrills in Fat Sam and Dandy Dan’s car on the big screen.
Bugsy Malone remains the perfect avenue for theatre colts and fillies to learn the ropes, here kitted out with New York accents, custard pies and whipped cream-firing splurge guns in this tongue-in-cheek look at gang warfare in 1920s’ America that hits the target with every song, every gag.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, resumes tomorrow until November 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Bugsy Malone times two: Team Malone’s Zachary Stoney, left, and Team Bugsy’s Dan Tomlin
Introducing: Team Bugsy and Team Malone’s Bugsy and Blousey Brown
HAVE you heard the one about the three All Saints Catholic School pupils and the Manor Church of England Academy boy?
They are all starring Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone at the Grand Opera House: All Saints’ Zachary Stoney, 12, as boxing promoter and speakeasy boss Fat Sam’s fixer Bugsy, and Elizabeth Reece, 13, as aspiring singer from the sticks Blousey Brown, in Team Malone and Manor student Dan Tomlin, 12, as Bugsy to 11-year-old All Saint Darcey Powell’s Blousey in Team Bugsy.
All four have seen Alan Parker’s 1976. “I must have seen it at least 100 times,” says Darcey. “It’s my favourite musical movie.” Elizabeth? “I’ve grown up watching it.” Zachary? “I kind of grew up watching it. It’s one of my favourite musical films.”
Elizabeth Reece’s Blousey Brown and Zachary Stoney’s Bugsy in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone
For Dan, however, “I was completely new to Bugsy Malone, but then I watched it for the first time and absolutely fell in love with it,” he says.
Director-choreographer Lesley Hill’s cast may be divided into teams, but this quarter has enjoyed bouncing ideas off each other. “Me and Dan have given each other notes,” says Zachary. “It’s constructive to do that.”
“We all have our differences in how we interpret our roles, but sometimes you can draw inspiration from each other,” says Darcey. “I’m making the role for myself, but watching Darcey too,” says Elizabeth.
Darcey Powell’s Blousey Brown and Dan Tomlin’s Bugsy
They are all thrilled to be in such an iconic show. “It’s such an opportunity to be on this stage, at this theatre, playing this role,” says Darcey. “It’s just that feeling, that emotion of getting up on stage and doing this show.”
“I cried when I got the part of Blousey!” says Elizabeth. “I’d say I’m best at my dancing, but I’ve loved doing all the other things in this show. I’ve taken inspiration from seeing what Blousey [Florrie Dugger] did well in the film, but thinking about what style I can bring to it myself.”
“I was thinking I was going to get Fat Sam’s role, but I was so pleased that I ended up with Bugsy,” says Zachary. “Having the opportunity to do my own version of Bugsy is such fun.”
Darcey Powell’s Blousey Brown, left, standing back to back with Elizabeth Reece’s Blousey Brown
“I auditioned for Dandy Dan, the bad guy, but then I was picked to play Bugsy, and I’m so glad because I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I am because I wasn’t expecting it,” says Dan.
“I’ve been waiting for this role for so long because it’s a great part in a great show,” says Darcey. “Growing up, I’ve always wanted to play Blousey, so it’s lovely to be doing it,” says Elizabeth.
Sitting chatting in the front row of the Grand Circle, their enjoyment of performing together is abundantly clear. “We’re all good friends, and working with each other you build such good friendships,” says Darcey.
“We’re loving the chance to play the leads in an all-child cast,” says Zachary. “Usually you’re playing a kid, but in Bugsy Malone, we’re children playing adults – and that’s cool!”
Pick Me Up Theatre cast members in Lesley Hill’s knockout production of Bugsy Malone
Sir Gareth Southgate: Discussing his new book Dear England at York Barbican…and the subject of James Graham’s play of that title at Leeds Grand Theatre
SIR Gareth Southgate, of Swinsty Hall, Fewston, Harrogate, makes the comparatively short trip to York Barbican to discuss his eight years of leading England’s footballers on the world stage with a revolutionary management style that combined calm empathy with mental resilience, courageous integrity with strong accountability.
He will discuss his new book Dear England: Lessons In Leadership, a title shared with James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play (and forthcoming television drama) that takes its name from Southgate’s open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
David Sturzaker plays Southgate, Samantha Womack, team psychologist Pippa Grange, in this “inspiring, at times heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting story” of England, penalties, lost finals and a new-found national identity.
The cast also includes returning performers Jass Beki as Bukayo Saka, Courtney George as Alex Scott, Miles Henderson as Ensemble and Tom Laneas Eric Dier, joined by Jake Ashton-Nelson as Jordan Henderson, Luke Azille as Jadon Sancho, Ian Bartholomew as Greg Dyke, and Ashley Byam as Raheem Sterling.
Steven Dykes plays Sam Allardyce; Oscar Gough, Harry Kane; Jayden Hanley, Marcus Rashford; Connor Hawker, Harry Maguire; Ian Kirkby, Gary Lineker; Jack Maddison, Jordan Pickford; Liam Prince-Donnelly, Dele Alli, and George Rainsford, Mike Webster.
In Conversation With Gareth Southgate, Lessons In Leadership, York Barbican, November 3, 7.30pm;National Theatre in Dear England, November 4 to 8, kick-off at 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate, in signature waistcoat, in James Graham’s play Dear England, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre
Here stage and screen writer James Graham discusses Dear England, meeting Gareth Southgate, his own lack of sporting prowess and the power of theatre.
What did you feel when you met Gareth Southgate, James?
“Well, he’s a hero, so I felt nervous. But I was relieved that he didn’t remotely disappoint. I felt moved by his humility, his evident decency and his normality. He gave me confidence.
“I felt like a bit of a fraud in the world of competitive male sport. I wasn’t a sporty person at school. PE was my least favourite subject. I wanted to do plays, but I felt safe with Gareth. He’s a bit more like me, slightly shyer and softer and not an alpha male in the traditional sense.
“In a very Gareth Southgate way, he was mortified that the play was happening and that a famous actor [Joseph Fiennes, National Theatre, 2023] was playing him. He said he wanted to help, but he would never come and see it.”
Samantha Womack’s Pippa Grange, the team psychologist in Dear England. Picture: Mark Brenner
Have other England players seen the play?
Former England greats such as Gary Lineker, David Seaman and Ian Wright have come along. Lee Dixon too. And members of the women’s team, such as Alex Scott. The reaction has been really positive because they think that what Gareth has done is extraordinary and it’s exciting for them to come to a theatre and see their world reflected.
“They also enjoyed the comedic impressions of people they’re familiar with. Gary Lineker thought Gunnar Cauthery, who played him when he caught the production in 2023, was bang on.”
What can you say about making Dear England into a four-part TV series for BBC One?
“On stage, it’s a big panorama, quite comedic and the football is very abstract. That all plays to theatre’s strengths. On television, it’s going to be more literal and naturalistic, with more of the behind-the-scenes machinations and more of the players’ interior lives.”
David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate leading a team talk in Dear England. Picture: Mark Brenner
You say you weren’t a sporty child at school. More of a nerd?
“An absolute nerd. I tried to get out of games all the time. I did support Nottingham Forest and Mansfield Town but didn’t follow club football like some people do. It was the sheer operatic scale of World Cups and international tournaments, the stakes of them, the fact that they only come round so often, that I loved.
“I had to get over my imposter syndrome with this play, and in a very Gareth Southgate way, what I’ve learned is you can’t fake it. I knew I had to walk into a room of young actors who could explain the offside rule in two and a half seconds and admit that there are things about football I don’t know or feel innately. I feel the drama and passion of it but I don’t know the data.”
Why do you love theatre so much?
“Because there’s nothing else in the modern world except arguably sport, arguably football, that demands you leave your home and go to a physical space and sit in proximity with your community and laugh and cry together.
Goal celebration for, who else, but England in James Graham’s Dear England. Picture: Mark Brenner
“You interrogate your nation together, and the systems that run it, and what it is to be alive together and it’s that final bit of being together that makes it just electric.
“I felt that the first time I was ever in a play at school. The feeling of making your neighbours laugh and sharing it as an endeavour with your cast mates. The chemical reaction of it is extraordinary. It’s the most eruptive thing I experience in my life, and it is so satisfying.”
Did you know?
THE National Theatre is running a year-long schools engagement programme inspired by Gareth Southgate’s Dear England open letter that he wrote to England fans in 2021.
This programme, designed to prompt young people across the UK to reflect on their own place in history, just as the footballers in Southgate’s squad were encouraged to do, is in response to the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
It is being delivered in schools across England with assemblies and workshops using spoken word and sound design to support students to share the hopes and aspirations they have for themselves, and other young people, 80 years from now.
The resulting sound archive will form a unique 2025–2026 time-capsule. Students also will be invited to see performances of Dear Englandduring the tour.
This engagement programme is expected to reach more than 10,000 young people.
Oh dear, England. Will we ever win a final again? David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate in contemplative mood on James Graham’s play. Picture: Mark Brenner
Poet Ian Parks with his new collection The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light
YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening With Ian Parks and Friends on November 21 at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York.
“This is one for lovers of poetry and folk music,” says organiser Richard Kitchen. “Ian is a widely published and much admired poet from Mexborough, described as ‘the finest love poet of his generation’, although his work vigorously addresses the political as well as the personal.”
Parks will be reading from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light. Joining him will be York novelist and poet Janet Dean, critic and poet Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail.
In addition, Parks will be in conversation with publisher Tim Fellows, of Crooked Spire Press. Tickets for this 7.30pm event cost £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm. “We hope to adjourn for a chat after the show with anyone who’d like to join us,” says Richard.
The poster for Navigators Art’s November 21 bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York
David Walliams: Frank chat at York Barbican. Picture: Charlie Clift
CANDID conversation, outrageous anecdotes, storytelling and surprises combine in An Evening With David Walliams, actor, writer, sketch comedian and talent show judge, at York Barbican on November 4.
Everything, from his breakthrough with Matt Lucas on Little Britain, Come Fly With Me and judging duty on Britain’s Got Talent to his prolific book writing for young readers, will be on the table, opening in Little Britain attire and topped off with the chance to put questions to “one of Britain’s most beloved entertainers” in the second-half Q&A.
“I was last in York for a book signing about a year ago. I love the city,” he says. “Went to the Minster, bought some old-fashioned sweets. I like cities and towns where you can walk around, not too big. That’s why I like Edinburgh, Bath and York.
“I love the National Railway Museum too. I’ve been there a few times. I went there as a kid, when the Mallard was my favourite. I had a Horny train set too. I like a train journey, so I’ve always wanted to write a book based around trains but I haven’t had the right idea yet.”
When does he know that moment has arrived? “I think it’s when…I make a lot of notes…and it’s normally when you have a number of ideas coming out of you at once. What will make it different from other books?” says David, whose books have been translated into 55 languages.
“I read a brilliant book by Stephen King about writing where he said, ‘a good book has to have two ideas’, and it just stuck with me. With kids’ books, you write in a world halfway between imagination and reality, Like, if there was an empty house on my street as a child, I would say it was haunted.
“With each book now, it’s very much a case of having to top the last book, having started by drawing on my childhood experiences, like The Boy In The Dress, writing stories very much grounded in our world, even though fantastical things might be happening.
“But as I went on, I had to invent more, or I would have written the same book again, and indeed I’ve had to let my imagination run riot. What is popular with kids is writing a series of books, like The World’s Worst Children, but most of the time with my books I have to start with a new character, maybe a new setting.”
Writing a book can be a slog, but that slog is worthwhile. “It’s not something I can speed up. It’s not something you can dash off,” says David, who puts plenty of planning into his writing. “Some things get cancelled because they’re just not working.”
Has the prolific David Walliams ever experienced writer’s block? “Sometimes I don’t know what to write, but I then just get up and do something else. There is always tomorrow,” he says. “Sometimes maybe you need to go for a walk, or weirdly, when you’re not thinking about it, your brain goes into problem-solving mode and comes up with the solution.
“I’m constantly alive to ideas, wherever they come from, like reading an article in the newspaper and thinking, ‘this is a great story’. The other day I was reading about an archaeologist and then flipped it on its head for an [Egyptian] mummy to travel to the modern world.
“It’s stuff like that which makes you constantly open to new ideas – and I’ve had many more ideas than I’ve used. Just like with Little Britain, where we had so many characters that never saw the light of day, maybe two thirds of the things we came up with.”
The three series of Walliams & Lucas’s satirical sketch show Little Britain aired from 2003 and 2005 and, such is the nature of comedy, they were very much of their time whereas books tend to transcend time – or so I suggested to David.
“My son is 12 and we watch comedy movies together, and he’s drawn to the ones from 20 years ago, like Borat [from 2006] and the Austin Powers films [from 1997 to 2002]. You might think, ‘you couldn’t do that now’, but I think, ‘what’s the point of this debate?’. They’re still really funny. Sometimes it’s context.
“If you don’t like Borat, which I think is the funniest film ever made, what are you going to do to complain about it?”
David continues: “Interestingly, people are still finding Little Britain funny and teenagers are sharing it on social media, which is pleasing because it means they’re enjoying it. You can remember bad reviews and negative voices, which are always loud. People can always turn off the TV if they don’t like it.
“You have to remember that there’s a spread of opinions, and just because there are negative opinions, it doesn’t mean they are more important.
“At the end of the day, there were moments of satire, but it was silly as well, and entertaining people, if you’re successful, is a fantastic feeling, because it can be life-changing when people say ‘I was going through difficult times and thank you for helping me to get through that’.”
Humour, by its nature, will either be found funny or not, and that may change with changing tastes too. “Come Fly With Me, which came out in 2011 [first episode, December 25 2010], the kids are really into it now, partly because it’s edgy,” says David. “We’re watching things thinking ‘you couldn’t make that now’, but Mitchell & Webb have just done a new sketch show [Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping, Channel 4] that I loved.
“It’s just that people are much more able to articulate their response now. You can be on your phone at the same time [as you are watching], saying you find something offensive, whereas before you had to call the BBC and wait in a queue, when 100 complaints would be a big deal.”
Was he tempted to call his tour show ‘A Night With’ rather than ‘An Evening With’? “No. I think if you said ‘Night’, you would think you’d be up all night on a crawl of kebab shops!” he reasons. “I was first asked to go to Australia and New Zealand with ‘An Evening With’ and had a brilliant time there as they’re very aware of what shows I’ve done.
“We put together this show with all my funny stories and favourite characters, talking about my career and where ideas came from, showing clips of the best bits, then inviting audience questions.”
What is the most unusual question he has been asked? “In Australia, an 11-year-old girl said her mum had given her her ticket because she wasn’t well…‘My question is, who are you?’! The audience love it when they put you down.”
He is enjoying the format, with more shows planned for next year after this autumn’s dates in York, Hull and Derby. “It’s like a stand-up show with a stool for me to sit on,” says David. “I’m at that age [54] where you make noises when you get up!”
An Evening With David Walliams, York Barbican, November 4, 7.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.Also Hull Connexin Live, November 5, 7.30pm. Box office: https://connexinlivehull.com/
Film critic Mark Kermode: Book talk and gig with his band Dodge Brothers at York Theatre Royal in the Beyond the Frame strand of Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025. Picture: Julie Edwards Visuals
THE 15th Aesthetica Short Film Festival tops the bill in a week when Sir Gareth Southgate and David Walliams are keen to talk too, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.
Festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, all over York, November 5 to 9
NOT so much a film festival as a “screen and media event”, in its 15th year, York’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival is bigger and broader than ever. Not only more than 300 shorts, features, documentaries, animations and experimental films, but also the VR & Games Lab; masterclasses and panels; workshops and roundtables; networking and pitching; Listening Pitch premieres; the inaugural New Music Stage and Aesthetica Fringe shows; Beyond the Frame events at York Theatre Royal; the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO and the Podcasting strand. For the full programme and tickets, go to: asff.co.uk.
Joseph Egan’s club boss Fat Sam from the Team Bugsy cast for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone
Young swells of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, until November 8, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, both Saturdays and Sunday
LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of more than 40 young performers in Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s Jazz Age musical, replete with the film songs You Give A Little Love, My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand Slam and Bugsy Malone.
In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Mark Steel: Addressing the leopard in his house at York Theatre Royal tonight
“Leftie, working-class, BBC Radio 4 favourite” comedy gig of the week: Mark Steel: The Leopard In My House, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
COMEDIAN, nation-travelling radio presenter and writer Mark Steel has not so much an elephant in the room as The Leopard In My House. Under discussion is his battle with throat cancer, one that he is winning (thankfully) and that has spawned his new comedy tour show. Cancer, by the way, has done nothing to dull the edge of Steel’s trademark acute political and cultural observations.
“This show is the story of my year, of wonderful characters and often tricky but bafflingly positive experiences,” says Steel. “Doing the show doesn’t quite make me glad that it happened, but it definitely makes up for it quite a bit”. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Magpies: Launching new EP at the NCEM
Folk gig of the week: The Magpies, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm
THE Magpies, the folk trio that hosts The Magpies Festival at Sutton House, near York, every summer, combine rich harmonies with fiddle-led fire and lyrical storytelling, wherein Bella Gaffney (banjo, vocals), Holly Brandon (fiddle, vocals) and Ellie Gowers (guitar, vocals) meld Anglo and American traditions.
Tonight’s intimate gig marks the launch of this autumn’s EP, The One Thing That I Know. Lead single Painted Pony is a stirring tribute to the St John and St Lawrence rivers of Canada: a song that flows with memory, movement and the quiet majesty of nature’s imprint. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
George Stagnell in the short film Bomb Happy, part of an Everwitch Theatre double bill
Theatre and film memorial of the week: Everwitch Theatre in Bomb Happy VE Day double bill, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 3pm
PRESENTED in the lead-up to Remembrance Sunday, whose focus this year falls on 80th anniversary of VE Day, Bomb Happy has been created by writer-performer Helena Fox and actor-vocalist Natasha Jones, of Everwitch Theatre.
From D-Day to VE Day, this powerful one-hour double bill of live performance (30 minutes) and short film (30 minutes) brings to life the verbatim accounts of two working-class Yorkshire Normandy veterans, highlighting the lifelong impact of post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep trauma, not only on war veterans but on their families too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Leading light Mad Alice: Welcoming passengers to her Ghost Train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Train ride of the week: Mad Alice’s Ghost Train, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Pickering Station, Sunday, 6.15pm and 8pm
JOIN York ghost walk hostess Mad Alice as she takes a spine-tingling ghost-train ride through the haunted heart of the North York Moors from Pickering to Levisham and back again in an hour-long eerie adventure. “I’ll be joined by Jonny Holbek, from York Light Opera Company, and professional actor Joe Standerline to help me tell stories in the carriage,” says Mad Alice. “Plus a few extra ‘ghosts’, who are actually either NYMR volunteers or York Light members – and even my own niece!”
All on board to learn of the mysterious ghosts that still haunt the carriages and stations; hear of supernatural tales and folklore of the land, and enjoy a special retelling of Charles Dickens’s ghost story, The Signal Man, all while sipping Mini Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin & Tonic from York Gin (age 18 upwards). Box office for waiting list only: nymr.co.uk/Event/ghosttrain.
Sir Gareth Southgate: Discussing his new book Dear England at York Barbican…and the subject of James Graham’s play of that title at Leeds Grand Theatre
Ex-England manager at the double: In Conversation with Gareth Southgate, Lessons In Leadership, York Barbican, November 3, 7.30pm; National Theatre in Dear England, Leeds Grand Theatre, November 4 to 8, kick-off at 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
SIR Gareth Southgate, of Swinsty Hall, Fewston, Harrogate, makes the comparatively short trip to York Barbican to discuss his eight years of leading England’s footballers on the world stage with a revolutionary management style that combined calm empathy with mental resilience, courageous integrity with strong accountability.
David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate, in trademark waistcoat, in James Graham’s play Dear England, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Mark Brenner
He will discuss his new book Dear England: Lessons In Leadership, a title shared with James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play (and forthcoming television drama) that takes its name from Southgate’s open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
David Sturzaker plays Southgate, Samantha Womack, team psychologist Pippa Grange, in this “inspiring, at times heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting story” of England, penalties, lost finals and a new-found national identity. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
David Walliams: An evening of frank chat and outrageous anecdotes at York Barbican. Picture: Charlie Clift
Candid comedic conversation of the week: An Evening With David Walliams, York Barbican, November 4, 7.30pm
SKETCH comedian, prolific author, talent show judge and English Channel swimmer David Walliams presents an evening of laughter, storytelling and surprises, discussing his Little Britain breakthrough, Come Fly With Me and his days on Britain’s Got Talent.
Expect the stories behind legendary TV sketches and reflections on his myriad books and the highs and lows of a career. Prepare for candid conversation and outrageous anecdotes, topped off with the chance to put questions to Walliams in the Q&A. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ben Rosenfield and Laura McKeller in The Wetwang Hauntings – Live. Picture: Emma Warley
Halloween horrors and jump scares of the week: Neon Crypt & The Deathly Dark Tours present The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 4 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
BETWEEN 1986 and 1993, a series of often violent hauntings rocked the small Yorkshire town of Wetwang. The cases went cold and all the records were lost…until now! Join York ghost walk guide Dr Dorian Deathly as the Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours team digs into the history and horrors of these cases. “This show is not for the faint of heart,” he forewarns. Suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Nik Briggs: York Stage director back on stage to play a contestant in The Great British Bake Off Musical
York musical premiere of the week: York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, November 5 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
BAKING battles, singing sponges and a sprinkling of hilarity is the recipe for York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical, rising to the occasion under the direction of Nik Briggs, who also makes a rare stage appearance as one of the Bake Off contestants.
Expect a sweet and savoury symphony of British wit and oven mitts, propelled by a menu of jazz hands and jubilant original songs that capture the essence of the Bake Off tent, from nerve-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become fruitful reality. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Katie Leckey: Directing Griffonage Theatre’s three nights of Kafka’ strangest short stories in the House of Trembling Madness cellar in Lendal
Deliciously disturbing stories of the week: Griffonage Theatre, Kafka By Candlelight, The House Of Trembling Madness, Lendal, York, November 5 to 7. 6.30pm and 8.30pm
“NO rest for the week,” say Griffonage Theatre, York’s purveyors of the madcap and the macabre, who are performing Kafka By Candlelight in the cavernous belly of the House Of Trembling Madness cellar as part of Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s debut Aesthetica Fringe, featuring 25 shows across the city.
This one showcases five of Franz Kafka’s strangest short stories, told disturbingly in the darkness with the audience in masks (optional). “Dare to join us?” they tease. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/kafka-by-candlelight-tickets-1815618316259.
York actor, writer and director Constance Peel: Presenting Service Please at Aesthetica Fringe 2025
In Focus: Introducing Constance Peel, Service Please, Aesthetica Fringe, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, November 4 and 7, 8.30pm; Micklegate Social, Micklegate, York, November 9, 2pm and 8pm
CONSTANCE (Connie) Peel, York-born director, producer, writer and performer, will present her debut one-woman show Service Please as part of the inaugural Aesthetica Fringe.
“I’ve been working as an assistant director and performer in theatre professionally for the past two years, since graduating from the University of York,” says Connie, 24. “This show explores the reality of working in hospitality, including the harassment and sexism you can face as a young woman.”
Service Please is billed as “a relatable and comedic monologue that follows Lara, a creative writing graduate, who hopes to write the next best-selling fantasy romance novel. There’s only one thing standing in her way, her casual waitressing job that keeps the money coming in.”
“We’ve all been there, but Lara wasn’t ready for the stressful and chaotic reality of working in the service industry,” says Connie, introducing her monodrama. “Can Lara keep her sanity and get her big writing break or will she crumble under the pressure of understaffed shifts, creepy comments and customers who say their only food allergies are ‘women’?”
Hospitality is the fastest-growing economic sector, worth £93 billion to the UK economy. “But it’s under severe pressure with more than 100,000 job losses predicted by the time of this month’s Budget, due to National Insurance rises (according to UK Hospitality),” says Connie.
“It’s evident working in the sector that to continue profits and keep up with the cost of living, food prices and discounts both need to increase while labour hours decrease. Being a server has never been more stressful and unpredictable and this experience (as other working-class experiences) is so often overlooked by theatre.”
Sexual harassment is an epidemic in the hospitality industry too, says Connie. “As many as 47 per cent of workers having experienced it – and 69 per cent witnessed it in 2021 (Culture Shift).
“These statistics, though informative, mask the personal cost to the individuals harassed and abused. My play presents interpretations of my own personal experiences, including those with harassment, and they’re an unfortunate part of the job when working as a waitress.
“They shouldn’t be, and awareness of this experience even in Fringe-scale theatre is always beneficial to the cause.”
Lastly, says Connie, Service Please tells the story of an artist with no clear way into her industry. “This is the most personally accurate part of my script. I wrote and performed the 50-minute monologue while producing and marketing it alone for its six-day debut run at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe, where it won plaudits from critics and top reviews.
“Though this is hopeful for creatives, both in the execution of the play and my own story behind it, I wanted to show the emotional toll of struggling as an artist, especially as in the past five years there has been one third fewer art jobs (directly impacting my career).
“It was important that I brought this show back to where my career started, in York where I graduated from the University of York and where I’ve been working for the past three years between York and Leeds. I hope this production and my story makes people see the importance of a small-scale play like this in today’s society.”
Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black in A Shadow Work, choreographed by Chanel DaSilva. Dancers: Acaoã de Castro & Taraja Hudson. Picture by ASH
NOW in its 24th year, Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black returns to York Theatre Royal with a thrilling new double bill, featuring Pancho’s darkly comic adaptation of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s international bestselling novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer.
When Korede receives a distress call from her sister Ayoola, she knows what to do: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This is the third boyfriend Ayoola has killed in “self-defence,” and the third mess Korede has to clean up.
She should probably go to the police, but family comes first. Things take a turn, however, when Ayoola begins dating the doctor Korede secretly loves, forcing Korede to choose between saving him and betraying her sister.
The double bill is completed by Brooklyn-born, award-winning choreographer Chanel DaSilva, making her British choreographic debut with A Shadow Work.
Renowned for using the arts to inspire meaningful change, DaSilva has been commissioned by prestigious companies such as The Washington Ballet, Parsons Dance Company and Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and made history as the first Black woman to choreograph for The Joffrey Ballet.
In her debut for Ballet Black, DaSilva delves into the profound practice of shadow work, exploring its power to reveal our true selves. Her work is celebrated for its deep exploration of humanity and its potential to inspire transformation both within the dance world and beyond.
Ballet Black has transformed the landscape of British ballet, creating a prominent platform for dancers and artists of Black and Asian descent, as well as establishing a new canon of ballet repertoire that resonates with audiences around the world.
Discover more tonight. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Party six pack: David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, left, Adam Marsdin’s David Hinson, Heather Patterson’s Jennifer Hinson, Catherine Edge’s on-edge party hostess Rosa Smethurst, Xandra Logan’s Sandy Lloyd-Meredeth and Helen Wilson’s party pooper Mrs Hinson in Settlement Players’ Party Piece. All pictures: John Saunders
RICHARD Harris’s fractious farces have been the staple of amateur productions country-wide, from stalwart city companies to village hall societies.
The chances are you may well have encountered Outside Edge or Stepping Out, but maybe not Party Piece, the choice of American director, writer, producer, historian, author and stuntman Martin T Brooks for his York Settlement Community Players debut.
This is the 1992 one where control-freak doctor Michael Smethurst (James Wood) and his eager-to-please wife Roma (Catherine Edge) are preparing for their fancy-dress housewarming party, an event of military precision.
On the open-plan, somewhat rudimentary set design of two houses, their back doors and gardens, dischuffed, ornery Mrs Hinson (Helen Wilson) is looking through the peep hole in the (imaginary) wall, less than enthusiastic about her posh neighbours and their gentrification of her working-class street.
Old-fashioned washing on the line, Zimmer frame always at hand, and her late husband’s shed out of bounds, she is resolutely determined to stay put and hasn’t a good word for anyone – except her son David’s ex-wife, Rosemary.
David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, dressed in the guise of Alec Guinness in The Man In The White Suit, plus a fez for no particular reason, introduces his party outfit to fancy-dress party hosts Michael Smethurst (James Wood) and his wife Rosa (Catherine Edge), attired in role reversal as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
Mrs Hinson is the bane of North Yorkshire fruit- and-veg mini-empire boss David’s life, and even more so of sourpuss second wife Jennifer (Heather Patterson), who will never be good enough to replace Rosemary.
The party to end all parties turns out to be anything but as a series of disasters befalls the increasingly vexed Michael and Rosa, when the phonecall excuses for non-attendance pile up; the barbecue misbehaves in comedy tradition, and the Zimmer frame is lobbed over the wall.
The two guests who do turn up only add to the headache: step forward David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, an anaesthetist so dull he could send himself to sleep, and Xandra Logan’s coquettish Sandy Lloyd-Meredeth, who does something in property and has just split earlier that day from Gareth (who may or may not arrive). She is in need of a drink and company, any company, even dullard Toby.
One by one, David (Adam Marsdin), Mrs Hinson and Jennifer all pop round to the party, while Michael and Rosa make their exasperated way to the end of their tether.
All the ingredients are in place for the kind of English farce that Mischief’s mischief-makers have sent up so gloriously in The Comedy That Goes Wrong. What cannot be predicted is that Settlement’s play starts mirroring that show, misbehaving door panel et al (putting it out of use late on).
Mother and son vie for family top dog in Party Piece: Helen Wilson’s wily widow, Mrs Hinson and Adam Marsdin’s “big-in-fruit-and-veg” David Hinson
The normally reliable Helen Wilson has moments of struggling with Mrs Hinson’s lines, prompting Marsdin to whisper her cues loudly to her on a couple of occasions.
This has the effect of destabilising Settlement’s comedic rhythm, so important to farce, where confidence and timing are all. What a great shame as Helen’s grouchy dragon characterisation is spot on.
In keeping with David’s character, Marsdin takes charge, while also having fun with the practical joker in David, who tells his mother that the neighbours are called Jerry and Margo Leadbetter (Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith’s snobbish, conventional couple In The Good Life). He puts the cat further among the pigeons by informing Michael about the buried treasure in his garden.
Marsdin’s partnership with Patterson carries rather more conviction than the somewhat awkward physicality of Wood and Edge, but Harris’s wit and way with a funny line still break through the unease that took over Wednesday’s performance. Barrott and Logan gamely plough their own furrows, Logan in particular continuing her scene-stealing streak on the York stage.
York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until November 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Martin T Brooks: Directing York Settlement Community Players for the first time
More theatre, vicar? Nicki Clay playing Geraldine Grainger in The Vicar Of Dibley for the second time in 2025. Picture: Matt Pattison
NICKI Clay is going doubly Dibley for MARMiTE Theatre in the new York company’s debut production of The Vicar Of Dibley at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from November 11 to 15.
“I’ve just played the role of Geraldine Grainger for the Escrick Monday Players in May,” she says. “I’ve been in well over 50 plays but I’ve never done the same part twice – until now!
“I was very laissez-faire when Martyn [Hunter, the director] contacted me because I’d ended on a high note. So I was kind of not anxious over the audition because I felt I had nothing to lose. A week later I got a call from Martyn, and that’s when there was a flip in my tummy, and I thought ‘, ‘yup, I’ve got to do this again’ – and it’s been brilliant.
“It’s a different experience, and I’m loving it just as much because I don’t have the extra responsibility as I do with chairing the Monday Players. I can focus entirely on doing the role and I’m enjoying being around different people as well. It’s been hilarious in rehearsals
“We did it with the same script in Escrick, when Martyn’s wife, Jeanette, and assistant director Chris Higgins came to see it and were pretty blown away by the show. It’s the mix of the script and the characters that make it work.”
The poster for The Monday Players’ production of The Vicar Of Dibley, starring Nicki Clay’s Geraldine Grainger, in Escrick, near York, in May 2025
Adapted by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter from Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s beloved television series, The Vicar Of Dibley brings together all the favourite characters, the eccentric residents of Dibley, as the arrival of the new vicar shakes up the parish council of the sleepy English village.
Re-meet Jim “No, No, No” Trott, Letitia Cropley, the not-so-gifted Bake Off queen, Owen Newitt, with his infamous ailments, Frank Pickle, the minute-taking bore, Hugo Horton and his cantankerous father David and the delightfully dim Alice Tinker, but is Dibley and its inhabitants ready for the wind of change that is Geraldine Grainger?
“It’s just wonderful to get another chance to play Geraldine,” says Nicki. “I love the play. I love the role, and I’m loving playing opposite new people’s different interpretations of such iconic roles, so it doesn’t feel like going through motions – and I’m doing new things and not just doing the same things I did before.
“Geraldine is enthusiastic, she’s energetic and she’s extremely empathetic, which you have to mix into your performance, and I think you have to be a Dawn French fan as well. I saw her doing her Dear Fatty show [Dawn French In 30 Million Minutes] at York Barbican [in July 2014), and she was wonderful. Dawn has even ‘liked’ one of her Instagram posts for this show.”
How has she approached following in Dawn French’s shoes as Geraldine. “Usually, when you play a role, either you’ve seen the film or the show before, and you then interpret it yourself, but with Geraldine you have to be very faithful to Dawn’s character,” says Vicki. “She definitely has a rhythm how she says things.
Mark Simmonds’s Owen Newitt, left, Vicki Clay’s Geraldine Grainger, Neil Foster’s Hugo Horton, and Glynn Mills’s David Horton in rehearsal at St Nicholas Church Hall, Back Lane, Wigginton. Picture: Matt Pattison
“The first time, I studied the sitcoms, as it’s good to have something to work with, but now, because I’ve done it before, I’ve not revisited the TV shows as you don’t want to overdo it or you start second guessing yourself.”
After he directed the Rowntree Players in Glorious! at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in March, The Vicar Of Dibley marks the birth of MARMiTE Theatre under the direction of York amateur stage stalwart Martyn Hunter.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play many diverse roles over the years and to work with so many talented directors, who have taught me everything I know about amateur theatre. Now feels like the right time to put that experience into practice.
“With The Vicar Of Dibley, we’re setting the tone for MARMiTE Theatre: easy-going, feel-good comedy that lets audiences relax, laugh and leave their worries at the door. We want you to love us or… LOVE US!”
Ah yes, that MARMiTE company title. “I thought it was because of ‘Mar’ in Martyn’s name,” says Nicki. “I don’t think I’ll be able to get away with it forever,” says Martyn. “It came about because, with everything that you want to do, you have to have a company name to apply for the performance rights for a play. I thought about various names and then thought MARMiTE might work by changing it to a lower case ‘i’!”
Love it or hate it, like it or lump it, this is MARMiTE Theatre’s logo!
What if the makers of Marmite hate it, rather than love it, Martyn? “Worse case scenario, we can say ‘marmite’ is a French casserole dish,” he says.
Two years ago, Martyn was asked to audition for 1812 Theatre Company’s production of The Vicar of Dibley in Helmsley. “But I read the script and was a little disappointed that I didn’t think it was as good as I was expecting, but it piqued my interest and then I discovered there were various different versions of a play script,” he recalls.
“So I contacted Tiger Aspect, who said that was the case and I could do one of those or I could adapt my own version. There’s no licence fee to do it, just the set donation you are obliged to make to Comic Relief.
“Ian Gower, who lives in the beautiful fishing village of Mousehole in Cornwall, sent me the script, and I laid on the bed on a Sunday reading it and constantly laughing out loud. ‘What are you laughing at?’ said Jeanette [Martyn’s wife}. She read it and started laughing as well!”
And so MARMiTE Theatre’s debut production was born, delayed by changes from the original cast but now ready for the November run after Martyn spread his net wider, retaining the original nucleus, now supplemented by two additions.
Martyn Hunter: Director of MARMiTE Theatre’s debut production, The Vicar Of Dibley
What guidance has Martyn given his cast on playing such familiar characters? “From day one, I told them that everyone had to bring their best impersonation of their character to the auditions,” he says.
“This does bring its own problems, as you don’t have to look for the character when everyone knows the character. That can be difficult to put your own stamp on it, but it has to become the stage version, rather than having a camera in your face.”
Martyn continues: “I’ve no illusions of being some great director. I know that all theatre is subjective, so what I think is good, someone next to me might think is terrible. I’ve purposely stayed away from the TV series, other than having memories of the characters, staying away from everything else, to put my own slant on it.
“We’ve also kept the 1990s’ setting, being as faithful as possible to the characters. Ironically, The Vicar Of Dibley is a bit like Marmite: there are those who say ‘they can’t stand Dawn French’, but the majority of the country are fans!”
Last question, Vicki and Martyn. Marmite. Do you love it or hate it? “Hate it,” says Vicki. “I tried it only once. It’s good for disguising the dog’s medicine in, but that’s about it – but we do love this MARMiTE!.” Martyn? “I think somewhere in the dark and distant past I tried it. I do know I tried tripe once and that was that.”
MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 11 to 15, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. Supporting Comic Relief.
Mark Simmonds’s Owen Newitt, left, Jeanette Hunter’s Letitia Cropley and Adam Sowter’s Jim Trott in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley. Picture: Matt Pattison
Who’s in MARMiTE Theatre’s cast for The Vicar Of Dibley?
Nicki Clay as Geraldine Grainger
Florence Poskitt as Alice Tinker
Glynn Mills as David Horton
Neil Foster as Hugo Horton
Adam Sowter as Jim Trott
Mike Hickman as Frank Pickle
Mark Simmonds as Owen Newitt
Jeanette Hunter as Letitia Cropley
Helen “Bells” Spencer as Woman
Did you know?
NICKI Clay will be stage-managing the Escrick Monday Players’ production of Tim Firth’s Neville’s Island at Escrick & Deighton Village Hall from October 30 to November 1.
Did you know too?
WHEN Martyn Hunter operated the giant plant Audrey II in the late Clive Hailstone’s production of The Little Shop Of Horrors, who should be the off-stage voice of Audrey II but Nicki Clay’s father, Adrian Clay.
FOOTNOTE: Looking ahead, MARMiTE Theatre has its sights set on further productions in a similar vein, including additional The Vicar Of Dibley scripts, ’Allo ’Allo!, The Good Life, Ladies’ Day and Last Tango In Whitby.
Nicki Clay’s Geraldine Grainger, Neil Foster’s Hugo Horton, centre, and Glynn Mills’s David Horton rehearsing for MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley. Picture: Matt Pattison
Nell Baker’s Eddy, left, Jo Patmore’s Alice and Tom Gallagher’s Connor in the John Godber Company’s premiere of Elizabeth Godber’s Wolf Country at East Riding Theatre
FOR Halloween, the John Godber Company unleashes Elizabeth Godber’s country music-dusted werewolf comedy-drama Wolf Country at the East Riding Theatre, Beverley.
Country music mega-fan Alice (played by Jo Patmore) and no-nonsense nurse Eddy (Nell Baker) are best friends who would be happy for things to stay exactly as they are. Unfortunately, a potential werewolf is running rampant around Beverley, and so nothing looks like it will stay the same for long.
Eddy cares not a jot for all the rumours and conspiracies, but Alice is straight down the rabbit hole, especially after meeting self-proclaimed werewolf expert Connor (Tom Gallagher).
As the hot breath of Halloween looms ever closer, the full moon is out and matters are starting to spiral. Surely they know East Yorkshire is Wolf Country – and don’t you?
From the co-writer of the UK Theatre Award-nominated Stephen Joseph Theatre hit The Comedy of Errors (More Or Less) and writer of the ERT premiere of The Remarkable Tale Of Dorothy Mackaill comes a lupine comedy of friendship, ambition andwhat drives our fears amid the wildness that lurks beneath the surface of modern life in East Yorkshire – all underscored by a Country Western soundtrack.
Nell Baker, left, Jo Patmore and Tom Gallagher in an uplifting scene in Elizabeth Godber’s play about anxiety, East Yorkshire and werewolf folklore
“I first came across the legend of ‘Old Stinker’, Beverley’s very own werewolf, while looking into local folklore and history when studying at the University of Hull,” says Elizabeth.
“I’ve always loved anything a bit whimsical and magical, and the idea really stuck with me. Werewolf legends are very rare in the UK; most come out of Germany, Eastern Europe or the USA, so the concept of a werewolf on Beverley Lock was just too good an idea to put to one side.
“Especially as East Yorkshire was the last place in the UK to have wild wolves, who were said to have died out in the 18th century, so it’s all just a brilliant story that almost wrote itself.”
When Elizabeth looked further into the legend, she was excited to learn there had been a flurry of sightings of the beast in 2015 and 2016. “Even the rock musician Alice Cooper had got involved, posting on social media about it,” she says. “This is where I really started to link the wolf to music and Americana, and I’ve always been a massive country music fan, so including that all made sense to me.”
A real hunt for the beast was conducted by the werewolf hunters of East Yorkshire in 2016. “In researching for this play, I was excited to be able to talk to some of the people who went on it, although they didn’t find anything,” says Elizabeth.
Cue her tale of werewolves, anxiety and growing up in Beverley, accompanied by a country music sound track, whose flavour can be savoured on the East Riding Theatre website with a link to Spotify. Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain et al, y’all.
Wolf Country playwright Elizabeth Godber
“From all those East Riding folklores came the idea of this play – though it’s not really about werewolves,” says Elizabeth. “It’s about three friends in their late 20s, living in Beverley, finding themselves at that time in life when they’re discussing adulthood and the move away from being a teenager to that person with a job.
“There’s also romance going on, but all this is happening when there’s a werewolf on the loose in Beverley, creating fear and paranoia, which is reflected in their own lives.
“Learning about the werewolf hunts in 2015 and 2015, I liked the idea of writing about our paranoia that there is something out there in the dark playing on our phobias.”
At 30, “for sure I felt I was ready to write something of my own experience of being a young person growing up in a more rural place,” says Elizabeth. “I live in Beverley, and I see a lot of plays set in London and Manchester, but there are a lot of people like me who grew up and live in the countryside, and I want to tell that story.
“It was really important to me too to have a local cast. Jo Patmore, from The Highwayman last year, and Nell Baker are both from Beverley and Tom Gallagher is from Hull. I wanted to have that authenticity of growing up in East Yorkshire. That’s important when you’re premiering plays to an East Yorkshire audience, who will tell you exactly what they think!”
Mental wellbeing plays its part in Elizabeth’s play. “The lead character that Jo plays, Alice, is overtaken by anxiety about the werewolf legend, to the extent that the hunt takes her over, so it’s also a play about mental health,” she says.
Wolf/Alice: Jo Patmore’s Alice experiences anxiety over the East Yorkshire werewolf stories in Elizabeth Godber’s Wolf Country
“There’s a balance between ‘oh my god, what’s going on?’ and all the laughter, which is reflective of life, so it’s uplifting and positive overall, but there will be highs and lows on the way.
“I hope that the story is both interesting and funny as well – being my father, John Godber’s daughter, I write plays that are comedic too.”
As for the inclusion of country music, “Alice has an obsession with country music. That’s how she deals with her anxiety,” says Elizabeth. “I’ve always been drawn to folklore element of country music, with all that ‘ruralness’ to it, which I wanted to bring from America to East Yorkshire, but also because it has an ‘otherness’ to it that I wanted to bring to the story.”
One final thought from Elizabeth: “Be careful on your travels on your way home as you never know what might be out there!” she says, in the finale to her programme note.
Elizabeth Godber’s Wolf Country, East Riding Theatre, Beverley, until November 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Age recommendation: 16 plus for strong language and sexual references. Box office: eastridingtheatre.co.uk/wolf-country/
The John Godber Company’s poster for the Halloween premiere of Wolf Country
