Charlotte (Emmeline) North’s mural on the Fishergate side of York Barbican
LOOK out for Charlotte (Emmeline) North’s new mural at York Barbican, celebrating the city’s music and culture.
The work has been commissioned by the York BID as part of an ongoing programme to introduce more street art to York.
Yorkshire mural artist and designer North won the commission to design a mural based on the “York Narrative”, representing what York means to the people who visit and live in the city.
Charlotte says: “I think it’s great that businesses are invested in art for the city. I’m thrilled to be creating a mural in York; my mum’s side of my family are from here. We’ve had a great response so far, and it’s been lovely to hear that gentle York accent while chatting to people.”
Featuring Charlotte’s signature bright and abstract style, reflecting movement, rhythm and connection, the mural is the largest to be commissioned by the York BID so far at 14m long and 2m high.
Created in environmentally friendly paint, it runs along the Fishergate side of York Barbican, a busy route for those accessing the city by car, bicycle and on foot.
Made by Graphenstone, the paint is free of plastic and other harmful toxins and uses natural materials developed into a formula proven to absorb CO2 from the environment, creating a “living” mural that acts as an adult tree.
Rachel Bean, projects and finance executive at York BID, says: “I love the energy and flow of Charlotte’s work. York is bursting with creative talent and this piece beautifully captures that. Our ambition with this project is to create new destination points in the city and hopefully encourage residents and visitors to explore new areas.”
York Barbican manager Sam Ryder says: “Arts and culture is in the bloodstream of the city of York. At York Barbican, we continue to strive to bring the best live entertainment to York, and we are very grateful to be a part of this cultural transformation of the city. Now everyone will take in a piece of the incredible atmosphere that’s created inside the Barbican as they travel past”.
Mural artist Charlotte (Emmeline) Scott
Charlotte (Emmeline) North: the back story
Studied Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design at Leeds Arts University with a focus on materials and sustainable design.
Began her first exterior installation in 2018.
Firm believer in the concept of turning art galleries inside out, having work for all people to see, and hopefully enjoy, as they go about their day.
Her work can be spotted in York, Leeds, Dewsbury, Batley and Birmingham.
Her studio is at Red Brick Mill, Bradford Road, Batley.
Vote Nature: York artist Jade Blood with her Community Notice Board installation for Bloom in the Artists Gallery behind York Art Gallery. Picture: Charlotte Graham
FLOWER power indoors and out, musicals with a twist, trees and romantic entanglements hark the arrival of Charles Hutchinson’s new summer of love.
Garden of delights: Bloom at York Art Gallery, on display until October 8
FLOWERS, plant life and gardens have fascinated and inspired generations of artists. Cultivated by York Art Gallery curator of fine art Becky Gee, the Bloom display brings together more than 100 botanical artworks from York Art Gallery’s collection, alongside key loans, to explore the importance of nature and green spaces for enjoyment, creativity and wellbeing and highlight the gallery’s relationship with the neighbouring Museum Gardens, set up by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1828. Look out for York artist Jade Blood’s installations too.
Banjo player Curt Eller: Bringing his band to the Arts Barge on July 1
Down by the river: The Arts Barge presents Dylan Earl, on Selby Tony, Foss Basin, York, tonight, 7pm; Curtis Eller’s American Circus, July 1, 7pm
ARKANSAS singer Dylan Earl returns to the Arts Barge for a headline gig after his Arts Barge Hoodang appearance last year. Likewise, Curtis Eller’s American Circus show heads back to the barge, this time with full band in tow for a night of banjo-driven rock’n’roll. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
SIX of the best: The Queens giving Harry the hurry up. Picture: Pamela Raith
Quick return of the week: SIX The Musical at Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Sunday; also Leeds Grand Theatre, August 1 to 6
WAS it only last October that Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s Spouse Girls musical/pop concert first wowed York? Its return has all but sold out again as the dancing queens with attitude tell their story in song in chronological order to decide who suffered most at Henry VIII’s hands once he put a ring on that wedding finger.
Of York interest, Knaresborough-raised Lou Henry returns to the stage where she made her professional debut in the 2019-2020 pantomime as Snow White. This time she plays the apparently not-so-squeaky-clean Catherine Howard, short-lived wife number five. Box office (probably for frustration only): atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Mark Simmonds, Monica Frost, Emma Dickinson and Richard Bayton (at the wheel) in rehearsal for York Light Opera Company’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
In pursuit of love: York Light Opera Company in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
RIOTOUS, rude and relevant, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts’ off-Broadway musical revue is directed by York Light’s Neil Wood in its 2018 updated revamp in a witty look at how we love, date and handle relationships.
Guiding love’s path through a series of comedic and poignant vignettes will be Richard Bayton, Emma Dickinson, Monica Frost, Emily Hardy, James Horsman, Sanna Jeppsson and Mark Simmonds. Shocks and surprises incoming, as love lives are reflected in art, up close and personal. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company cast members rehearsing Musicals In The Multiverse
Expect the unexpected: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Musicals In The Multiverse, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Thursday and Friday, 7.30pm
IN a fundraiser for the JoRo, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company transports you into a multiverse full of musical theatre favourites with a twist. Guided by director Helen Spencer, enter a parallel universe where familiar songs have their traditional renditions turned on their heads in swaps of gender, major to minor keys, musical styles and eras. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Acoustic gig of the week: An Evening With Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon & Oscar, Harrogate Theatre, Thursday, 7.30pm
OCEAN Colour Scene vocalist Simon Fowler and drummer Oscar Harrison present an intimate acoustic performance of their big hits and anthems, from The Riverboat Song, The Circle and Traveller’s Tune to Hundred Mile High City and The Day We Caught The Train.
“Our acoustic shows are a real tonic: a great chance to look the audience in the eye and interact with them on a more personal basis than ever before,” says Fowler. Dexys Midnight Runners founder member Pete Williams supports. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Murray Watts: His play Mr Darwin’s Tree will be performed at Stillington Mill
Science meets art: Mr Darwin’s Tree, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, July 1, 7.30pm
COMMISSIONED for Charles Darwin’s bicentenary and premiered at Westminster Abbey, Riding Lights luminary Murray Watts’s 75-minute play has since been staged in China, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Now Stillington Mill beckons.
Watts directs film, television and theatre actor Andrew Harrison – last seen at Stilllington in Fire From Heaven last summer – in a study of the relationship between the agnostic Darwin and his Christian wife Emma that explores science, faith, family, love and destiny. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.
Saxophonist Snake Davis: Having a blast at Cop’ Carnival’s Jazz Night
Community event of the week: Cop’ Carnival Day, Copmanthorpe Recreation Centre, Barons Crescent, Copmanthorpe, York, July 1, 11.30am to 7pm
COP’ Carnival Day returns in its 53rd year for a day of dance troops, bands (including Miles And The Chain Gang), traditional games and attractions. Tickets are on sale at copmanthorpecarnival.org.uk and on the day.
The carnival week runs from June 27 to July 1, featuring a jazz night with saxophonist Snake Davis on Tuesday (7.45pm); a wine-tasting quiz on Wednesday (7.30pm, sold out) and a comedy night with Justin Moorhouse, Tal Davies, Roger Monkhouse and host Alex Boardman on Thursday (8pm). Copmanthorpe Methodist Church houses the carnival exhibition by 30 artists from today to July 1.
Jack Whitehall; Chance to Settle Down at York Barbican
Not many tickets left: Jack Whitehall: Settle Down, York Barbican, July 12, 6.30pm
SETTLE Down is comedian, actor, writer and presenter Jack Whitehall’s “most personal show to date”, driven by material aplenty focused on the big changes in his life.
“It’s about my struggle to settle down gracefully,” says Londoner Whitehall, 34. “I’ve got a long-term partner, a ridiculous dog and am now hurtling towards middle aged without a clue. It’s about a foppish man-child’s cack-handed attempt at adulting!” Note the early start time; no late night for this all-work-and-no-play Jack! Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Opera singer Jennifer Coleman: Soprano soloist on song at York Proms
PROMS, outdoor festivals and carnivals, here comes the sun and summer fun as Charles Hutchinson reaches for the cream.
Outdoor event of the weekend: York Proms, Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates open at 5pm
BRITISH-IRISH soprano Jennifer Colemen, Opera North tenor Tom Smith and West End musical theatre singer, actress and TV presenter Shona Lindsay will be the soloists for Sunday’s York Proms.
Musical director Ben Crick conducts the 22-piece Yorkshire Festival Orchestra in a musical theatre tribute, from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and Bernstein and Sondheim’s West Side Story through to Les Miserables and Wicked. The rousing Proms finale will be accompanied by The Fireworkers’ fireworks. Tickets update: sold out; waiting list for returns at yorkproms.com/contact.
Tom Smith: Tenor soloist at Sunday’s York Proms
Shakespeare Shorts: Twelfth Night, Barley Hall Great Hall, Coffee Yard, York, today, on the hour, every hour, from 11am to 3pm
SHAKESPEARE in only 15 minutes presents an immersive re-telling of Twelfth Night, the one with heaps of mistaken identities, cross-dressing and long-lost siblings.
Barley Hall’s costumed storyteller promises to “make simple a story that has even the characters confused, all while exploring themes of gender identity and the history of cross-dressing in theatre”. Barley Hall admission: barleyhall.co.uk.
Shakespeare Shorts: The artwork for the 15-minute Twelfth Night at Barley Hall
Strensall Community Carnival, Strensall Village Hall and Field, Northfields, Strensall, York, today, 12 noon to 5pm
BACK for its 8th year, Strensall Community Carnival has attractions for all the family, with a procession from Hurst Hall, a food court, 30-plus charity and business stalls and entertainment on the outdoor arena.
Look out for Ebor Morris, The Cadet Band, York Karaoke DoJo, Dynamics Band and Generation Groove in the arena; the Robert Wilkinson School Choir and Band and Mark’s Magic Kingdom Puppet Show in the main hall, and the Captivating Creatures animal show, medieval mayhem with the Knights of the Wobbly Table storytellers, Messy Adventures sensory play and Generate Theatre drama games in the outdoor space.
The Grand Old Uke of York: “Almost unplugged” at Stillington
Uke over there: The Grand Old Uke of York, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK collective The Grand Old Uke of York grace the At The Mill stage in an unusual twist to their norm: turning their usual set list on its head to bring gorgeous, pared-back vocals, buttery harmonies and ukuleles played with summery vibes – rather than their usual rock mode – to the garden.
Formed more than ten years ago, they love nothing more than to transform expectations of the ukulele’s bounds. Tonight is a rare chance to see the dynamic group stripped back and “almost” unplugged. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill/925922
Party time: Just Josh celebrates a decade of entertaining children’s parties with a JoRo show
Big kid of the weekend: Josh Benson: Just Josh’s 10th Birthday Party!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 4pm
AFTER a decade of doing other kids’ parties, York family entertainer, magician and pantomime silly billy Josh Benson has decided he should have his own bash.
Expect all Just Josh’s usual mix of daft comedy chaos, magic, juggling, balloons, dancing and games, plus extra-special surprises. “It’s the perfect Sunday afternoon treat for the whole family,” he says. “Yes, even Dad. It is Father’s Day after all!” Ticket update: last few on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for York Printmakers’ summer showcase at Blossom Street Gallery
Exhibition of the week: York Printmakers: A Showcase, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until July 31, open Thursdays to Sundays
SIXTEEN York Printmakers members demonstrate techniques and printing processes that date back hundreds of years through to those that push the boundaries of contemporary practice, with laser-cut plates, digital elements and 3D techniques.
Taking part are: Harriette Rymer; Lyn Bailey; Bridget Hunt; Carrie Lyall; Patricia Ann Ruddle; Jane Dignum; Jo Rodwell; Lesley Shaw; Phill Jenkins; Sally Parkin; Emily Harvey; Gill Douglas; Becky Long-Smith; Vanessa Oo; Sandra Storey and Rachel Holborow.
Two women up a hillside with ashes stuck to their trouser leg”: Terrain Theatre in Helen at Theatre@41
New play of the week: Helen, staged by Terrain Theatre/Theatre 503 at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
HELEN is 40 when she loses her husband. Becca is 15 when her dad dies. Now it is only the two of them, what do they do next? From Maureen Lennon, the Hull-born writer of York Theatre Royal’s 2022 community play, The Coppergate Woman, comes Helen, a series of snapshots of their relationship’s joys and traumas, laughs and arguments over the next 40 years.
Presented by new northern company Terrain Theatre and directed by Tom Bellerby, this 85-minute play about love, death, grief, postnatal depression, eating disorders, alcoholism, dementia and cancer, and two women up a hillside with ashes stuck to their trouser leg, explores the thread that binds them together and the different ways they damage and save each other. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for the return of Mrs. Brown Rides Again: Heading to Hull in October
Comedy booking of the week: Mrs. Brown Ride Again, Hull Bonus Arena, October 27, 7.30pm, and October 28, 2pm and 7.30pm
BRENDAN O’Carroll and Mrs. Brown’s Boys will be back on stage in their “classic play” Mrs. Brown Rides Again from August to November. The only Yorkshire shows of the ten-venue tour with the television cast will be at Hull Bonus Arena in late-October.
Written by and starring O’Carroll as the beloved “Mammy”, the play finds Agnes Brown and her dysfunctional family romping their way through what seems to be her last days at home. After hearing of a plot by her children to have her put into a home, Agnes decides to prove them wrong by displaying a new lease of life. Box office: bonusarenahull.com.
The Prodigy: “Full attack mode, double barrel” at Leeds First Direct Arena this autumn. Picture: Andrea Ripamonti
Gig announcement of the week: The Prodigy, Army Of The Ants Tour, Leeds First Direct Arena, November 18
THE Prodigy’s Liam Howlett and Maxim will play Leeds on night three of their seven-date autumn arena tour after a spring and summer run of international festival headline dates. Support will come from Soft Play, the British punk duo of Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman, formerly known as Slaves.
“Army Of The Ants is a calling to The Prodigy peoples,” says Howlett. “We’re comin’ back for u the only way we know, full attack mode, double barrel.” Box office: tix.to/TheProdigy
Soft Cell’s Dave Ball and Marc Almond: Headlining Let’s Rock Leeds
Recommended but general and VIP admission sold out already:Let’s Rock Leeds, Temple Newsam, Leeds, today, gates 11am; 10.30pm finish
HOMECOMING Leeds duo Soft Cell and OMD top the bill at this retro festival. Tony Hadley, Midge Ure, Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom, The Farm, The Real Thing, Roland Gift, Heatwave and Hue & Cry play too. For any form of tickets left, head to: letsrockleeds.com.
In Focus: York Light Opera Company in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 27 to July 1
York Light Opera Company cast member Sanna Jeppsson
RIOTOUS, rude and relevant, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts’s off-Broadway musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change looks at how we love, date and handle relationships.
In a revamp of the original 1996 production, York Light Opera Company stage this witty hit show with a cast of seven under the direction of Neil Wood, fresh from his menacing Sweeney in Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Martin Lay provides the musical direction for the two 7.30pm peformances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee.
Noted for its insights into human nature and catchy-as-a-Venus-flytrap songs, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change explores the joys and challenges of love in songs that chart the heart’s path from dating to marriage to divorce.
Guiding audiences through a series of comedic and poignant vignettes will be Richard Bayton, Emma Dickinson, Monica Frost, Emily Hardy, James Horsman, Sanna Jeppsson and Mark Simmonds.
Cue shocks, surprises and songs aplenty as our love lives are reflected in art, up close and personal. Box Office tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
The poster for York Light Opera Company’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
York Printmakers’ work on show at Blossom Street, York
YORK Printmakers are presenting A Showcase at Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until July 31.
On show is an array of printmaking skills, demonstrating techniques and printing processes that date back hundreds of years through to those that push the boundaries of contemporary practice, with laser-cut plates, digital elements and 3D techniques.
Taking part are: Harriette Rymer; Lyn Bailey; Bridget Hunt; Carrie Lyall; Patricia Ann Ruddle; Jane Dignum; Jo Rodwell; Lesley Shaw; Phill Jenkins; Sally Parkin; Emily Harvey; Gill Douglas; Becky Long-Smith; Vanessa Oo; Sandra Storey and Rachel Holborow.
York Printmakers formed in 2015 when a dozen or so printmakers from the York area joined together. The group now numbers around 50 members who meet monthly to share work, discuss ideas about processes in an informal way and learn from each other.
Their work spans a wide variety of methods, from etching, linocut, collagraph, monotype and screen print to solar plate, Japanese woodblock, lithography and stencilling.
Members have a wide range of printmaking backgrounds, from art students to professional artists who exhibit widely, and they work continually work on new opportunities for the group. For example, the logo was created as a group project with several members choosing letters and producing prints of them in their individual ways.
Regular opening hours at Blossom Street Gallery are: Thursdays, 11am to 3pm; Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Driller thriller: Birmingham Rep in David Walliams’ Demon Dentist at the Grand Opera House, York
COMEDY aplenty, musical collaborations, dental mystery adventures and soul seekers make a convincing case for inclusion in Charles Hutchinson’s list.
Children’s show of the week: David Walliams’ Demon Dentist, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday, 1.30pm, 6.30pm; Friday, 10.30am, 6.30pm; Saturday, 11am, 3pm
CHILDREN’S author David Walliams has teamed up with Birmingham Stage Company for Demon Dentist, their third collaboration after Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy, aapted and directed by Neal Foster.
Join Alfie and Gabz as they investigate the strange events happening in their hometown, where children are leaving their teeth for the tooth fairy and waking up to find odd things under their pillows. No-one could have dreamed what Alfie and Gabz would discover on coming face to face with the demon dentist herself in this thrilling adventure story. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Isabelle Farah: Sadness meets humour in Ellipsis at Theatre@41
Therapy session of the week: Isabelle Farah: Ellipsis, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.45pm
STAND-UP is the outlet that keeps you sane, where the nature of the game is to turn everything into punchlines. But can you do it if you feel all-consuming sadness, ponders comedian/actor/writer/nightmare Isabelle Farah in Ellipsis.
“I wanted my therapist to come and watch me to see how hilarious I am, but I thought how odd it would be performing to someone who’s seen so far behind my mask,” she says. “Would he even find it funny or just sit there knowing what I was hiding?” Cue her exploration of grief, authenticity and being funny.
Elinor Rolfe Johnson: Soprano soloist at York Minster tonight
Classical concert of the week: Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony, York Minster, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK Musical Society and Philharmonischer Chor Münster from York’s twin city in Germany mark 30 years of concert collaborations with Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, using text from Walt Whitman poems.
Toward The Unknown Region, another Whitman setting, takes a journey from darkness to light, followed by the beautiful orchestral work Serenade in A minor. Tonight’s soloists are soprano Elinor Rolfe Johnson and bass Julian Tovey. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; on the door from 6.45pm.
Frankie Boyle’s tour poster for Lap Of Shame, doing the rounds on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Great Scot of the week: Frankie Boyle, Lap Of Shame, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
SCATHING Scottish comedian, surrealist, presenter and writer Frankie Boyle, 50, is on tour. “Buy a ticket, because by the time I arrive, the currency will be worthless and you and your neighbours part of a struggling militia that could probably use a few laughs,” advises the often-controversial Glaswegian.
Only a handful of tickets are still available at atgtickets.com/york. Please note: no latecomers, no readmittance.
Scott Bennett: Heading to Selby Town Hall
Great Scott of the week: Scott Bennett, Selby Town Hall, Sunday, 7.30pm
SCOTT Bennett has been blazing a trail through the stand-up circuit for the best part of a decade, writing for Chris Ramsey and Jason Manford too.
After regular appearances on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and The Now Show and his debut on BBC One’s Live At The Apollo, he presents Great Scott! in Selby. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.
Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri: On the road to Helmsley Arts Centre
Rescheduled gig of the week: Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
MOVED from March 3, Bradford soul singer Kiki Dee and guitarist Carmelo Luggeri head to Helmsley for an acoustic journey through stories and songs, from Kate Bush and Frank Sinatra covers to Kiki’s hits Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, I Got The Music In Me, Loving And Free and Amoureuse. Songs from 2022’s The Long Ride Home should feature too. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Neil Warnock: Moving his York Barbican show from June 15 to next May
Re-arranged show announcement: Neil Warnock, Are You With Me?, York Barbican, moving from June 15 to May 31 2024
ARE you with Neil Warnock on Thursday? Not any more, after “unforeseen circumstances” forced the former York City captain and Scarborough manager (and town chiropodist) to postpone his talk tour until next spring. Tickets remain valid.
After guiding Huddersfield Town to safety from the threat of relegation in the 2022-2023 season, Warnock, 74, was to have gone on the road to discuss his record number of games as a manager, 16 clubs and 8 promotions, from non-league to Premier League, and a thousand stories along the way that have never been told. Now those tales must wait…and whose season might he rescue in 2023-24 before then?! Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Kyshona: Protest singing in Pocklington
Discovery of the week: Kyshona, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 8pm
UNRELENTING in her pursuit of the healing power of song, community connector Kyshona Armstrong has the background of a licensed music therapist, the curiosity of a writer, the resolve of an activist and the voice of a protest singer.
As witnessed on her 2020 album Listen, she blends roots, rock, R&B and folk with her lyrical clout. Past collaborators include Margo Price and Adia Victoria. Now comes her Pocklington debut. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The Illegal Eagles: Taking it easy at York Barbican
Tribute show of the week: The Illegal Eagles, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
THE Illegal Eagles celebrate the golden music of the legendary West Coast country rock band with musical prowess, attention to detail and showmanship. Expect to hear Hotel California, Desperado, Take It Easy, New Kid In Town, Life In The Fast Lane and many more. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Shalamar: Toasting 40 years of Friends at York Barbican
Soul show of the week: Shalamar Friends 40th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, June 17, 7.30pm
SHALAMAR mark the 40th anniversary of Friends, the platinum-selling album that housed four Top 20 singles, A Night To Remember, Friends, There It Is and I Can Make You Feel Good, outsold Abba, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Culture Club and Meat Loaf that year and spawned Jeffrey Daniels’ dance moves on Top of The Pops.
Further Shalamar hits Take That To The Bank, I Owe You One, Make That Move, Dead Giveaway and Disappearing Act feature too. Special guests are Jaki Graham and Cool Notes’ Lauraine McIntosh. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The poster for the Academy of St Olave’s summer concert
Celebrating England’s musical legacy: Academy of St Olave’s, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, June 17, 8pm
THE Academy of St Olave’s chamber orchestra rounds off its 2022-23 season with a summer concert centred on England’s musical legacy, from symphonies written for London audiences by the great Austrian composers Mozart and Haydn, to works by English composers Frederick Delius, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Paul Patterson.
The concert is book-ended by Mozart’s first symphony and Haydn’s hundredth, known as “The Military”. Mozart composed his work in London during his family’s Grand Tour of Europe in 1764, when the boy wonder was eight. Likewise, Haydn’s work was one of his 12 “London symphonies”, to be performed during his second visit to England in 1794-95. Box office: academyofstolaves.org.uk or on the door.
In Focus: Who are the York community chorus in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar at York Theatre Royal?
Community chorus sextet Hilary Conroy, Astrid Hanlon, Elaine Harvey, Stephanie Hesp, Anna Johnston and Frances Simon with music director Jessa Liversidge, right
SIX women – all inspirational leaders within the York and North Yorkshire community – will form the Chorus when the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring production of Julius Caesar visits York Theatre Royal from June 13 to 17.
Step forward Hilary Conroy, Astrid Hanlon, Elaine Harvey, Stephanie Hesp, Anna Johnston and Frances Simon, under the musical direction of community choir leader Jessa Liversidge, from Easingwold, with Zoe Colven-Davies as chorus coordinator.
The women in next week’s chorus have roles in the community spanning activism and campaigning to charity and social work, lecturing, teaching and coaching. In their day-to-day lives they each make an impact on the York community, whether through fighting for social change, championing community voices, supporting vulnerable groups or encouraging engagement in the creative arts.
Between them, they lead and support a diverse range of groups and community causes, including supporting disabled and neurodivergent people, those impacted by dementia and mental health issues, people affected by loneliness and those suffering from domestic abuse. They empower others through the creative arts and performance and champion wellbeing in marginalised groups.
Leading the York group is music director Jessa Liversidge, calling on her wealth of experience with community choirs, inclusive singing groups and working with people of all ages to inspire them through music.
Juliet Forster, York Theatre Royal’s creative director, says: “It’s a huge privilege for us to have these voices heard alongside the RSC’s actors, and we are so thankful for their input and commitment to the project.
“This production explores what makes a leader and asks questions about gender and power. Who better to take part than women who are already leaders in our community and in their workplace?
“The opportunity is exciting and empowering and is strong evidence of how committed the RSC is to meaningful collaboration with its regional theatre partners. We are incredibly proud to be able to contribute a local perspective into this nationwide conversation, and I can’t wait to see what our York women do.”
Explaining the role that the York community chorus will play, RSC director Atri Banerjee says: “Julius Caesar is a play about a nation in crisis, a play about the gulf between politicians and the people they are trying to rule.
“It just makes so much sense to me that this production would include ‘real’ people from where we are touring. So, alongside the professional acting company, we have found a way of integrating the communities from all the areas the show is playing.
“Community work has always been important to me, making work with non-professionals, whether that’s young people or non-professional adults.
“It’s not unusual for productions of Julius Caesar to have a chorus who come on to be the citizens of Rome and say ‘Read The Will’ and then you never see them again. But I wanted to include them to amplify the supernatural, apocalyptic terror within the play. They’ll be singing, using their voices, and will be present on stage for significant parts of the play. They will be something akin to the chorus you’d see in a Greek tragedy watching the action.
“Premonitions of death really. Premotions of figures who embody death in ways that go beyond these characters.”
Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Claire Richards: Taking Steps to headline York Pride’s main stage
PRIDE is loud and proud this weekend in a city full of ideas, heated politics and apocalyptic music, as recommended by Charles Hutchinson.
Diverse celebration of the week: York Pride, city-centre parade at 12 noon, followed by festival until after-hours on Knavesmire
NORTH Yorkshire’s largest LGBT+ celebration sets out on a parade march from Duncombe Place, outside York Minster, processing along Bishopthorpe Road to the festival site on Knavesmire.
Hosted by Sordid Secret and Mamma Bear, the Main Stage welcomes Claire Richards, from Steps, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finalist Kitty Scott-Claus. Plenty more acts take to the YOI Radio Stage and Family Area and the new Queer Arts Cabaret Tent (1.30pm to 7pm, headlined by York’s pink-attired Beth McCarthy). Full festival details at: yorkpride.org.uk.
In the pink: Beth McCarthy tops the Queer Arts Cabaret Tent bill at York Pride this evening
Festival of the week and beyond: York Festival of Ideas 2023, until June 15
THIS University of York co-ordinated festival invites you to Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild in a programme of more than 150 free in-person and online events designed to educate, entertain and inspire.
Meet world-class speakers, experience performances, join entertaining family activities, explore York on guided tours and more! Topics range from archaeology to art, history to health and politics to psychology. Study the festival programme at yorkfestivalofideas.com.
Ocean-loving Kentviolinist and composer Anna Phoebe performs her Sea Soul album with Klara Schumann and Jacob Kingsbury Downsat the National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight at 7pm as part of the York Festival of Ideas. Picture; Rob Blackham
Don’t myth it: The Flanagan Collective in The Gods The Gods The Gods, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm; Slung Low at Temple, Water Lane, Holbeck, Leeds, tomorrow, 7.30pm (outdoor performance); Hull Truck Theatre, Stage One, June 29,7.30pm
WRIGHT & Grainger’s myth-making The Gods The Gods The Gods is performed as a 12-track album in an exhilarating weave of big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word. In the absence of co-creators Alexander Flanagan-Wright and Megan Drury in New York and Australia respectively, Easingwold birthday boy Phil Grainger, 34 today, will be joined by Oliver Towse and Lucinda Turner from the West End original cast of Wright’s The Great Gatsby.
The 65-minute performance links stories of two youngsters who meet when out dancing, destined to fall hard; a woman on a beach, alone at night, looking at the stars, and a bloke on a bridge, thinking about jumping, just before dark, all at the crossroads where mythology meets real life. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, slunglow.org; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Upwards and onwards: Oliver Towse, left, Lucinda Turner and Phil Grainger survey the auditorium ahead of their Harrogate Theatre performance of The God The Gods The Gods. York, Leeds and Hull dates lie ahead
Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan, Classy, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm
IN a world of groups, hierarchies and class systems, everyone tries so hard to fit in. What’s wrong with being a misfit? Be you, be proud!
From the caravan to the middle-class neighbourhood, Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan, 46, has taken four decades to realise this. Time for the Edinburgh Fringe regular to pass on his observations on living his contemporary life alongside stories of his upbringing. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Patrick Monahan: Classy performance at Pocklington Arts Centre
Apocalypse now: Late Music presents Late Music Ensemble, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK Late Music concludes its 2022-23 season on a spectacular – if not entirely optimistic! – note tonight when the Late Music Ensemble, conducted by Nick Williams, opens up the End Of The World Jukebox.
Composers and players re-imagine the pop songs they would like to hear if Armageddon were nigh in arrangements of Imogen Heap’s Hide And Seek, David Bowie’s Warszawa, Cole Porter’s Every Time We Say Goodbye and Bob Dylan’s Cat’s In The Well. The Beatles will be represented by The End from Abbey Road, alongside new works by Christopher Fox and Anthony Adams.
Williams’s nine-strong ensemble promises a broad musical spectrum through the presence of Edwina Smith (flute, piccolo), Jonathan Sage (clarinet, bass clarinet), Iain Harrison and Lucy Havelock (saxophones), Murphy McCaleb (bass trombone), Kate Ledger (piano, toy piano, voice), Tim Brooks (keyboards, piano), Catherine Strachan (cello) and Anna Snow (voice).
Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s lunchtime concert by Stuart O’Hara has been postponed. It will, however, be rescheduled in the 2023-24 season, whose programme will be announced in the next few months.
While the End of the World cannot be avoided, York Late Music adminstrator Steve Crowther is an optimist who believes that, for now at least, the end is no nigher. A 6.45pm, pre-concert talk by Christopher Fox includes a complimentary glass of wine or fruit juice. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Kate Ledger: Pianist playing in the Late Music Ensemble’s end-is-nigh concert tonight
Folk gig of the week: Spiers & Boden, The Crescent, York, Wednesday, doors 7.30pm
THIS weekend the focus falls on the City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green. Meanwhile, the organisers, the Black Swan Folk Club, have teamed up with The Crescent to present Bellowhead big band cohorts Spiers & Boden in a seated concert next week.
John Spiers and Jon Boden re-formed their instrumental duo in 2021 after a seven-year hiatus to release the album Fallow Ground. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Seated gig: Folk duo Spiers & Boden atThe Crescent on Wednesday
Defiant gig of the week: Mike Peters presents The Alarm (Acoustic), The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
AFTER a year of health challenges, The Alarm leader Mike Peters returns to the stage this spring with a new album set for release in the summer.
Co-founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, the 64-year-old Welshman will be performing a one-man band electro-acoustic set list of songs from all four decades of The Alarm discography. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Mike Peters: Setting The Alarm songs acoustically at the Crescent on Thursday
Troubadour of the week: Steve Earle, The Alone Again Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
AS his tour title suggests, legendary Americana singer, songwriter, producer, actor, playwright, novelist, short story writer and radio presenter Steve Earle will be performing solo and acoustic in York: the only Yorkshire gig of a ten-date itinerary without his band The Dukes that will take in the other Barbican, in London, and Glastonbury.
Born in Fort Monroae National Monument, Hampton, Virginia, Earle grew up in Texas and began his songwriting career in Nashville, releasing his first EP in 1982 and debut album Guitar Town in 1986, since when he has branched out from country music into rock, bluegrass, folk music and blues. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Steve Earle: Heading from New York to York for the opening night of his British solo tour. Picture: Danny Clinch
Brass at full blast: Shepherd Group Brass Band: Stage And Screen, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 10, 7pm
SHEPHERD Group Brass Band’s late-spring concert showcases music from across the repertoire of stage and screen, featuring five bands from the York organisation, ranging from beginners to championship groups, culminating with a grand finale from all the bands. Tickets update: only the last few are still available on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Thalissa Teixeira: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s first black female Brutus in Julius Caesar, directed by Atri Banerjee, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner
Power play: Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
ATRI Banerjee directs this fast-paced political thriller on the RSC’s return to York Theatre Royal in a fresh interpretation of Julius Caesar with a female Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira) and non-binary Cassius (Annabel Baldwin) that asks: how far would we go for our principles?
Concerned that divisive leader Julius Caesar (Nigel Barrett) poses a threat to democracy, revolutionaries take the violent decision to murder him but without a plan for what happens next. As the world spins out of control, chaos, horror and superstition rush in to fill the void. Civil war erupts and a new leader must rise, but at what cost? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Digital artist Kit Monkman, of KMA, with his latest People We Love installation at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
YORK digital artist and filmmaker Kit Monkman’s People We Love installation explores “the invisible transaction between a person, a piece of art and that emotion which bonds us all”. Love.
The latest edition of KMA’s community-inspired artwork has taken over the Chapel at Castle Howard, near York, where a bank of five high-definition screens is showing portraits of the estate community, residents and visitors filmed in March as they gaze at a picture of their choice. A picture you never see, but you will feel each unspoken story as the faces tell the tale of a person they love.
After gracing York Minster twice (the first run was stopped by Covid), followed by Pittsburgh, USA, Viborg, Denmark, and Selby Abbey, North Yorkshire, the latest KMA installation is once more designed by Monkman and produced by York-based Mediale.
“Each installation is a portrait of a community at that moment,” says Mediale founder and creative director Tom Higham. “What’s really exciting is doing a series of different places that collectively make a 21st century portraiture archive.
“York Minster was an awe-inspiring space for the installation, but there is something more intimate about the experience here in the Chapel. You can’t compete with the grandeur of the place, but you provide something that is complementary.”
The Castle Howard setting enables moving images of the digital age to stand alongside the grandeur, oil-painted portraiture and collections of the John Vanbrugh-designed stately home.
“Viewers of People We Love will meet the penetrating gaze of the work’s subjects, never knowing who the focus of their detailed attention is,” says Kit.
“In the most direct sense, the aesthetic subjects of the installation, the people we love, are absent, and can only be conjured into existence through an act of imagination on the viewer’s behalf. The work turns on this notion, the notion that love and empathy start as an act of imagination.”
A study of people studying faces in People We Love in the Chapel at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
People We Love finds its inspiration in The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Coxwold clergyman, humorist and novelist Laurence Sterne. First published in York in 1759, the book contains a blank page for the reader to imagine, draw or write about a person they love.
Participation in the Castle Howard project was by open invitation to attend the late-March filming. Among the faces is the Honourable Nick Howard, present occupant of the 18th century stately pile, in informal attire of black T-shirt and unbuttoned work shirt.
“It was brave of him, maybe that’s the right word, maybe the wrong word, to do it,” says Kit. “This house is full of portraits denoting power and stature and yet these portraits are about vulnerability, showing these really honest, vulnerable faces close up.
“If you sit in the Chapel for a long time with these faces, in the beautiful chapel light, you will have an inner dialogue with them. You absolutely will start to project a story on to them, or at least have an empathetic response.”
Among those meeting the gaze of the faces on screen on the opening day were Tim and Delia Madgwick, from nearby Yearsley. “The installation feels quite benign but also radical,” she says. “So much of our culture today is about attention-seeking, but this really repays quiet attention if you’re prepared to spend time with it,” says Delia.
“There was something that was all encompassing about being filmed, holding a photograph of Tim, being asked questions. All your senses were at play and it felt like you were in the womb. You had a sense of being very safe.”
Delia took part in People We Love after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, being filmed when she had no hair but had no qualms about facing the KMA camera for the six-and-a-half-minute recording.
“I didn’t feel self-conscious, even knowing it was going to be out there for hundreds of people to see. It was an extremely appropriate moment to do it, and that moment was all that mattered,” she says. “I found Kit’s approach very welcoming and comforting.”
“There is something more intimate about the experience here in the Chapel,” says Mediale creative director Tom Higham
After deliberation, Tim was her choice for her photo. “My daughter said, ‘Good! I’d have been worried if you hadn’t done that’!” says Delia.
Tim selected one from their time in Australia. “It was a lovely picture of us taken in Perth, Western Australia in 1982/1983 , when we decided we couldn’t stay over there. It’s that moment, looking at it, where you think, ‘where have the last 40 years gone? How things have changed’.”
Delia put herself forward to be filmed first. “Afterwards, I said to Tim, ‘you must do it too’, ” she recalls of her experience.
“It was very emotional, when you reflect on having been together for 44 years and the challenges we have been through this winter” says Tim. “I looked at the photograph for some time on the day, so it was on mind, and as you look at it, you realise the essence of the person you’re looking at hasn’t changed.
“In fact it has developed and matured, and what has changed is that life experiences have added to it. We could reflect on our good fortune when thinking things were not quite so fortunate.”
Coming next for People We Love will be a return to Viborg Cathedral for a new installation of Danish faces from September 2023 after an installation of York faces there last autumn. ArtHouse Jersey will follow. “Some discussions are under way for 2024, but nothing is locked in yet,” says Mediale’s Tom Higham.
People We Love is on show in the Chapel at Castle Howard, near York, until October 15, open 10am to 4pm, as part of the general admission ticket at castlehoward.co.uk.
Dr Wendy Mitchell takes to the skies in a photograph in the People With Dementia Can…Be Inspired exhibition at Pocklington Arts Centre
DR Wendy Mitchell and Bob Long, who both live with dementia, are presenting an inspiring exhibition of photography and poetry at Pocklington Arts Centre until June 16.
Their People With Dementia Can…Be Inspired display combines photographs taken by Sunday Times best-selling author Wendy with poems composed by retired head teacher, pantomime provider, tennis lover and ping-pong player Bob.
The exhibition began its tour at Market Weighton Town Hall, where it was attended by dignitaries, people living with dementia, researchers and other sector experts. Post-Pocklington, further venues will follow.
Wendy says: “My message is always to see the person, not the disease. Dementia is so misunderstood by society. I hope our work helps more people appreciate that people living with dementia are all different and can still achieve remarkable things.”
Beneath a photograph of Wendy taking to the air, her exhibition statement reads: “On the 31st July 2014 I was diagnosed with Young Onset Dementia. My brain was overwhelmed with images of the last stages of the disease – those familiar tropes, shortcuts and cliches that we are fed by the media, or even our own health professionals.
“But my diagnosis far from represented the end of my life. Instead, it was the start of a very different one. I may not have much of a short term, but in this exhibition I’m hoping to convey that, although we’ve been diagnosed, people like me still have a substantial contribution to make; we still have a sense of humour; we still have feelings.
Bob Long, who wrote the poems on display at the exhibition, with his wife Sue, centre, and exhibition coordinator Sandra Burley, from Dementia Friendly Market Weighton
“I’m hoping to show the reality of trying to cope on a day-to-day basis with the ever-changing environmnt that dementia throws at those diagnosed with the condition. What I want is not sympathy. What I want is simply to raise awareness.”
Alongside a photograph of Bob on the tennis court is his message: Parting Shot. Adventure. Achievement. Ambition.
He had moved to Market Weighton from Cambridge with his young family in 1980 to take up a school headship at North Cave. “We never thought we’d still be here 43 years later but we are and we love it!” his exhibition statement reads.
“After I retired there were some signs that I was getting forgetful, so I was referred to the Memory Clinic in 2015.” Later he would be diagnosed with dementia.
“There was then a period of time that caused us to be anxious about our future. However, it wasn’t long before we recognised that we could deal with this change and that we could and would enjoy our togetherness positively.
The People With Dementia Can…Be Inspired exhibition on show at Pocklington Arts Centre
“We are keen that, having found our ‘road’, we would like to assure others that dementia is not our ‘story end’ and that together we are able to enjoy life.”
Damian Murphy, from York dementia support group Minds and Voices says: “First and foremost, this is a joyful exhibition of outstanding photography and talented poetry. Projects like this are helping us to improve our understanding of how best to support people living with dementia. Celebrating and showcasing the talent and stories of Wendy and Bob will serve as an inspiration to others.”
PAC director Angela Stone says: “We’re delighted to be welcoming this exhibition to Pocklington Arts Centre. The essence of breaking the old views of dementia, bringing rights, hope, creativity and potential into light underpins our commitment to create safe and inclusive opportunities for everyone in our community to express themselves in our supportive and welcoming space.
“We are grateful to our friends at Dementia Forward for delivering dementia awareness training to our staff and volunteers to help us better understand how to create engaging, inclusive activities, including our weekly Singing For Fun sessions, held every Thursday morning.
“We also have the forthcoming Smashing Mirrors production of Mike & Millie Go To The Seaside, an interactive workshop for those living with dementia on Thursday, June 8. We are inspired and honoured to share such an important body of work.”
People With Dementia Can…Be Inspired can be viewed during Pocklington Arts Centre’s opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am to 4pm; Thursday, 10am to 5pm; Saturday, 10am to 1pm.
Long shot: The photograph of Bob Long playing tennis and his accompanying message entitled Parting Shot
Artwork by Alex Utley for Blueberry Academy Summer Fayre
YORK charity New Visuality is bringing newly designed innovative artworks to the Blueberry Academy Summer Fayre the Melbourne Centre, Escrick Street, York, on June 8.
“This annual event is increasingly popular with its learners, learners’ families, and its staff,” says charity co-founder Greg McGee. “Traditionally it has consolidated the work of Blueberry Academy’s commercial arm, Blueberry Academy Pop Up Shop, now at 108 Walmgate,York. Now organisers are keen to widen the net to attract the wider community.”
Curriculum manager Laura Kent says: “The promise of lovely items available for purchase, plenty of tea and coffee and as much cake as you can eat has served us well in the past and is a good reflection of the positive energy created at our events.
“However, we’d like to see members of the public attend, so if people could please spread the word, that would be great. Our collaboration with New Visuality has meant that we have been able to work on the exhibitions we have here on display, as well as items for sale that have been designed using AI software.”
Alex Utley: Artist and activist
Formed in 2007 by Andy Bucklee and Andrew Cambridge, Blueberry Academy provides specialist support for young people and adults with learning differences, autism, social, emotional and mental health needs and/or other disabilities, with employability and independence as educational priorities.
New Visuality, directed by artist husband-and-wife team Greg and Ails McGee, has collaborated on visual arts projects since the beginning. “We received funding from Arts Council England’s National Lottery project grants to work with York’s wheelchair-using community,” says Greg.
“The project, Better Wheels, has gathered a groundswell after working with wheelchair-using residents in Acomb, Westfield, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without. Our plan is to integrate York’s wheelchair-using community with artists in sessions and exhibitions, interfusing traditional skills with innovation, celebrating access to cultural sites.
“It’s been a great success with art displays at Sanderson House, Take5 and Dalton Terrace’s Art Camp. When it comes to Blueberry Academy’s Summer Fayre, we thought, ‘this is an opportunity to build on the work we’ve been doing and to bring in some humour, AI technology and a game-changing exhibition’.”
Be Your Best Planet, by Alex Utley
New Visuality invited digital artist Alex Utley to participate. “Alex is an activist and artist, whose vision on accessibility provides the perfect portal for what Better Wheels has become,” says Ails. “The paintings I created were inspired by him, and the title, Shot In The Dark, a tribute to the Ozzy Osbourne song, was his idea.
“Basically, it’s a series of paintings shot through with positivity. That’s what we got from Alex, and the curatorial decisions were in the main part taken by him, with help from other Blueberry learners.”
Shot In The Dark will be on view for visitors to the summer fayre, alongside stalls selling prints, candles, jewellery, cards and much more, including coasters designed by Alex using innovative AI software, Canva.
He is pleased with the results. “Accessibility is such a massive issue in York, and though I and thousands like me have frustrations, there has been a lot of good work over the past few years,” he says.
Blueberry Academy learner Joe P curating the summer fayre exhibition
“I thought it would be better to focus on the humorous side of what it is to be a resident like me in a heritage city in 2023. The coasters incorporate my ideas visually, I’m really proud of them and I’m looking forward to the next limited-edition series.”
Greg is confident the project will continue to engage. “We have kiosks around Acomb where members of the public can leave ideas in a light-hearted way on what access means to them. We have plans to exhibit art based on access with the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre in Blossom Street.
“We’re set to sit down with policy makers from City of York Council on how we can continue to make progress on York’s accessibility. In the meantime, the summer belongs to Blueberry Academy. We hope to see you there.”
Blueberry Academy Summer Fayre, Melbourne Centre, Escrick Street, York, June 8, 1pm to 3pm. Please note: no parking is available.
Rob Auton (self portrait): Seeking a crowd in Pocklington and Leeds
WHICH shows will draw the crowds? Charles Hutchinson prepares to join the merry throng across the summer beyond the Bank Holiday sunshine.
Crowd pleaser: Rob Auton, The Crowd Show, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm; Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, June 5, 7.30pm
CHARMINGLY offbeat Pocklington-raised poet, stand-up comedian, actor, author, artist and podcaster Rob Auton heads back north from his London abode on his 2023 leg of The Crowd Show tour to play Pock and Leeds.
After his philosophical observations on the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking and time, now he discusses crowds, people and connection in a night of comedy and theatre “suitable for anyone who wants to be in the crowd for this show”. Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Leeds, hydeparkbookclub.co.uk.
Antler alert: Comedian Tim Vine in his alarming headwear for Breeeep! at the Grand Opera House, York
“Witness the stupidity” comedy gig of the week: Tim Vine: Breeeep!, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
EXPECT a mountain of nonsense, one-liners, stupid things, crazy songs and wobbly props, plus utter drivel, advises punslinger Tim Vine.
“Tim’s like the manager of a sweet shop where all the sweets are replaced by jokes, and he serves them in a random order,” says the show blurb. “So it’s like a sweet shop where the manager just throws sweets at you. Enjoy the foolishness and laugh your slip-ons off.” Sold out; for returns only, check atgtickets.com/york.
Amy May Ellis: North York Moors singer-songwriter promotes her debut album at The Crescent
Homecoming of the week: Amy May Ellis, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 8pm
NOW moved to Bristol, singer-songwriter Amy May Ellis was raised on a remote dale on the North York Moors, playing her early gigs at The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale.
Steeped in the culture, scenery, folklore and wildlife of the countryside that surrounded and shaped her as a child, she wrote her debut album Over Ling And Bell – named after two types of heather – in a secluded moorland farmhouse, mostly alone but sometimes with friends. Released on Lost Map Records on May 12, it is available on digital platforms and limited-edition vinyl. She will be joined by her new band for tomorrow’s gig, when North Yorkshire-London combo Wanderland support. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Ryan Addyman as Jamie New, right, in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Musical of the week:York Stage inEverybody’s Talking About Jamie, Teen Edition, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
JAMIE New lives on a council estate in Sheffield with his loving mum. At 16, he doesn’t quite fit in. He may be terrified about the future, but Jamie is going to be a sensation.
The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae’s coming-of-age musical follows the true-life story of Sheffield schoolboy Jamie Campbell as he overcomes prejudice and bullying to step out of the darkness to become a drag queen. York Stage artistic director Nik Briggs directs. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Sarah Dean: Plucking strings at the City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend at the Black Swan Inn
City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend, Black Swan Folk Club, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, June 2 to 4
TOM Bliss and The Burning Bridges open the three-day folk fiesta at the Black Swan on Friday night, to be followed by afternoon and evening sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Among the weekend’s acts will be: Stan Graham; Eddie Affleck; The Barbarellas; Blonde On Bob; Clurachan; Union Jill; White Sail; Edwina Hayes; Minster Stray Morris; Caramba; The Old Humpy Band; Tommy Coyle; Paula Ryan; Judith Haswell; Sarah Dean; Chris Euesden and Ramshackle. Full details at: blackswanfolkclub.org.uk/programme.cfm.
Alexander Ashworth: Baritone soloist for Elgar’s Dream Of Gerontius at York Minster. Picture: Debbie Scanlan
Purgatory awaits: University of York Choir and Symphony Orchestra, Elgar’s Dream Of Gerontius, York Minster, June 14, 7.30pm
THE University of York Choir and Symphony Orchestra perform Edward Elgar’s Dream Of Gerontius with soloists Joshua Ellicott (Gerontius), Kitty Whately and Alexander Ashworth, conducted by John Stringer.
Elgar dramatically sets to music Cardinal Newman’s poem depicting the journey of Gerontius’s soul from his deathbed to judgement before God. On his way, he encounters angels and demons, colourfully portrayed by the chorus, before settling finally in purgatory. Box office: 01904 322439 or yorkconcerts.co.uk.
The poster for City Screen Picturehouse’s outdoor cinema season, Movies In The Moonlight, at York Museum Gardens in July
Outdoor cinema: City Screen Picturehouse presents Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, Museum Street, York, July 14 to 16, from 7.30pm
MUSEUM Gardens play host to City Screen Picturehouse for three nights of summertime open-air film action, opening with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, starring Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy on July 14. Next come Mamma Mia!, featuring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, on July 15 and Steven Spielberg’s 1975 shark attack classic Jaws on July 16.
All these outdoor cinema events start at 7.30pm. Films will be shown at sundown; drinks and snacks will be on offer but guests can bring picnics. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor.
Ruby Wax: Presenting the latest Wax work, I’m Not As Well As I Thought, at the Grand Opera House, York, this autumn
Looking ahead: Ruby Wax: I’m Not As Well As I Thought, Grand Opera House, York, September 28, 7.30pm
AFTER four years, American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality and mental health campaigner Ruby Wax, 70, follows up her How To Be Human show with a stage adaptation of her May 11 book, I’m Not As Well As I Thought, promising her rawest, darkest, funniest show yet.
In 2022, Wax began a search to find meaning, booking a series of potentially life-changing journeys: swimming with humpback whales in the Dominican Republic; joining a Christian monastery; working in a Greek refugee camp; undertaking a silent 30-day mindfulness retreat in California. Even greater change marked her inner journey. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Tom Allen: Completely and utterly at York Barbican
Recommended but too late for tickets
ACERBIC comedian Tom Allen’s Completely gig at York Barbican on Sunday at 8pm has sold out. Completely.
Under discussion will be Allen’s life updates, his vegetable patch and the protocol for inviting friends with children for dinner.
