Christopher Ryan Grant’s Johnny Cash and Christina Bianco’s June Carter Cash duetting in The Ballad Of Johnny & June, on fire at Grand Opera House, York, this week. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
ONE comment stood out in Drama Desk Award nominee Christina Bianco’s interview with CharlesHutchPress ahead of her return to York to play June Carter Cash in The Ballad Of Johnny & June.
“The film [James Mangold’s 2005 biopic Walk The Line] is only about 60 per cent accurate, whereas it’s so special that this show comes from the family,” she said.
The Johnny Cash Musical is directed and co-authored by Jersey Boys director (in tandem with Robert Cary), but the key voice belongs to Johnny and June’s only son, story consultant John Carter Cash, whose books Anchored In Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash and House of Cash: The Legacies of My Father, Johnny Cash, inform the script so richly.
What’s more, Ryan O’Donnell’s John Carter Cash narrates the musical, breaking down the fourth wall to engage in informal, home-spun conversation with the Stallls, full of homilies on the thorn pricks of love and marriage as he reflects on the truths behind “country music’s greatest romance”.
After sold-out seasons at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California, and the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Canada, Christopher Ryan Grant has crossed the Big Pond to play Johnny Cash on tour, joined by UK-based New Yorker Bianco, whose acting, singing and impersonating skills were last seen in York as the multi-voiced LV in Jim Cartwright’s tragic-comedy The Rise Of Little Voice at the Theatre Royal in July 2022.
Not that she delivers an impersonation of June here. “I feel a great responsibility to present her as accurately as possible, without doing an impression,” she told CharlesHutchPress. Her performance is all the more truthful for focusing on emotional depth, her June in full bloom in the face of Johnny’s hurricane, while her singing grows ever stronger, the more the show progresses.
The subtitle may be The Johnny Cash Musical, but McAnuff and Cary’s show gives equal time to Johnny and June, even if Ryan’s swarthy, black-eyed Johnny is the last to arrive on stage, the Man in Black held back for maximum impact.
Grant looks the part, physically imposing, moving with a swagger, crystallised in the way he holds his guitar, and then there is that deep-as-a-well Arkansas voice: the rolling thunder of his basso profundo, suited equally to warmth, flirting, righteous fire and darkness in songs that address sorrow, fickle morality and redemption with room for humour too (typified by A Boy Named Sue).
As many as 33 songs feature, some sung by O’Donnell’s affable John in storytelling mode, others by characters denoted as Man and Woman 1, 2 and 3, playing wives, husbands, members of Cash’s Tennessee Three and more besides. Anne Marie Wojna is particularly striking as Johnny’s wife Vivian, who inspired I Walk The Line, rooted in his vow not to stray or consume pills.
As O’Donnell’s narrator reveals, those vows were broken. Cash is drawn to pills & alcohol, as much as to June, although the veracity of how they first met is played out three ways by the show’s end, because Johnny and June may be unreliable witnesses, and so John Carter Cash lets us play judge and jury.
This warts’n’all musical, like Jersey Boys before it, features such career landmarks as Ring Of Fire (with Johnny challenging June’s claim of writing his biggest hit), his Folsom Prison and San Quentin concerts, his television specials and his late-career revival with Trent Reznor’s Hurt.
There is no mention of the cotton farmers’ son’s four years in the American Air Force, nor of producer Rick Rubin’s key contribution to his American Recordings late renaissance, but the tragic death of his brother and Sam Phillips’ early influence at Sun Records do feature, while the typeface on the list of locations and city names above Robert Brill’s wood-dominated set design mirrors the American Recordings album covers.
Throughout, the ‘ballad’ of Johnny & June plays out as a love affair that damaged but fed each other, as son John asks June to admit to her prescription drug habit in later years and Grant’s Johnny has to address his demons, encapsulated in his soul-baring rendition of Hurt.
Connagh Tonkinson’s band is terrific throughout, especially Morgan Rees’s trumpet, while Byron Easley’s delightfully diverse choreography, Sarafina Bush’s costumes, Peter Fitzgerald’s sound design and Sean Nieuwenhuis’s projections all add to the sound and fury signifying everything in the volatile yet boundless love of Johnny and June.
The Ballad Of Johnny & June runs at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
A still from 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize main prize winner Felipe Castelblanco’s three-channel video and sound work Tunda: A Quantic Plant and the Devil’s Breath
FELIPE Castelblanco is the £10,000 Main Prize winner of the 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize at York Art Gallery with his 2025 three-channel video and sound work Tunda: A Quantic Plant and the Devil’s Breath.
The £1,000 Emerging Prize went to DIVA’s three-channel video and sound work Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enough, produced in 2025 with the support of the Department of Art History and Film Studies at the University of Montreal and the Graduate Film Programme at Howard University.
Castelblanco is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher and filmmaker who works at the intersection of participatory, film and media art. Tunda: A Quantic Plant and the Devil’s Breath explores the entangled histories of plants and colonial extraction, depicting an Indigenous man thrust from the Colombian Amazon to the Swiss Alps, drifting between vision and reality.
Landing in a remote museum’s herbarium, he encounters botanical artefacts relating to the Brugmansia plant. This plant is a powerful teacher for Kamnënstá Indigenous healers in Colombia’s Andean-Amazon region. Among these communities, it is believed to possess the ability to cross boundaries of time and space. The work combines science, ethnomedicine and ecology, encouraging us to question how we see things.
Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enoughreflects onDIVA’sidentity as a Black French woman in New Orleans through the lens of another diasporic experience: a Mardi Gras Indian Queen.
The Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition on show at York Art Gallery. Picture: Jim Poyner
The Mardi Gras Indian tradition is believed to originate from encounters between Native and Black communities in the late 19th century. The Queen’s voice introduces the traditions and history of this African American cultural practice, rooted in community resilience and resistance. The work explores how artistic archives, cultural memory and testimony shape belonging across diasporic histories.
Both winners are featured in the Aesthetica Art Prize 2026: States of Becoming exhibition, running at York Art Gallery until November 15 2026.
The exhibition showcases 20 shortlisted artists whose work addresses urgent global themes, including health and wellbeing and the environment in the modern age; the impact of emerging technologies on perception; our changing relationship with the world and to nature past and present; memory as something continually reconstructed and identity, migration and belonging.
Moved this year from the ground floor to the first floor, this annual showcase presents the work of contemporary artists around the globe, working across a range of media, including digital media arts, while supporting York’s status as a UNESCO Media Arts City and bolstering the creative industries within this historic city.
DIVA’s three-channel video and sound work Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enough
Aesthetica director Cherie Federico says: “Now marking its 20th anniversary, the Aesthetica Art Prize stands as an international platform for contemporary art, amplifying voices that shape and challenge the cultural conditions of the present day.
“Over two decades it has evolved into a space where artistic practice is not only exhibited but also activated, supporting careers, fostering global dialogue and championing work that responds directly to the urgencies of now.
“This is art with purpose: work that operates as a force of disruption and recalibration, unsettling fixed ways of seeing and opening up new ways of understanding a world in flux.”
The selected artists engage directly with the defining pressures of contemporary life, from accelerating technologies that reshape perception and truth, to the legacies of colonial histories and their ongoing impact on identity and belonging, and ecological systems under strain, says Cherie.
Kazuaki Koseki’s Golden Forest (2020) on show at York Art Gallery
“Across these works, memory is not fixed but porous and unstable, continuously rewritten through image, material and experience. Photography, film and installation move beyond documentation into active states of becoming, where meaning is constructed, unsettled and reformed,” she continues.
“Rather than resolving uncertainty, the Prize holds space for it – creating a platform where contemporary art reflects, resists and redefines the present.”
Of the winners, she says: “The Aesthetica Art Prize has grown into an international platform for contemporary art, creating opportunities for artists at pivotal stages in their careers and connecting their work with new audiences.
“Felipe Castelblanco and DIVA demonstrate the power of art to deepen our understanding of history, identity, ecology and collective memory. Their work invites audiences to engage with urgent questions from fresh perspectives, creating space for reflection, dialogue and new ways of seeing.”
Filip Haglund’s 4 Oceans Installed All Blue on show in the 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition
Livia Turnbull, curator of contemporary art at York Art Gallery, says: “It is wonderful to be hosting Aesthetica as it celebrates its 20th year. The range of mediums are always an exciting part of the exhibition design, blending the physical and digital into York Art Gallery and recognising how they sit alongside the other contemporary works in our own collection.
“The Prize helps to show the range of artistic diversity within the exhibitions programme and showcases York as a champion of creative arts and media.”
The 20 shortlisted artists on display are: Alexis Pichot; Chrissy Lush; Claudia Behrensen: DIVA (Emerging Prize winner); Edgar Martins; Felipe Castelblanco (Main Prize winner); Filip Haglund; Hope Strickland; Jarrett Murphy; Jeonghan Yun; Katharine Dowson; Kazuaki Koseki; Liza Dracup; Magid Magid; Neil Armstrong; Neville Gabie; Sara Campaci; Teti (Julia Teti); Tommy Goguely and Yasuaki Matsuura.
Some works mesh a combination of the States Of Becoming themes together, such as winner Castelblanco’s Tunda: A Quantic Plant and the Devil’s Breath, while Claudia Behrensen ‘s Sacred Bond follows a similar theme, but instead looks to the future by portraying the link between people and the natural world through powerful imagery of a dystopian world if nature continues to be neglected in favour of artificial entertainment.
Captain Murphy from Hope Strickland’s shortlisted entry for the 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize
Other works from Filip Haglund, Hope Strickland, Jarrett Murphy and Alexis Pichot also navigate themes of the natural world. Pichot and Murphy use photography and prints to capture forests and mountains, while Haglund and Strickland portray their explorations of the ocean and rivers through film.
Kazuaki Koseki captures Himebotaru fireflies, a species unique to Japan, in an illuminated scene highlighting the beauty of the fireflies with the fragility of nature.
DIVA’s Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enough and Magid Magid’s Faith Amongst The Ruins look at identity, race and cultural memory in the community, while Edgar Martins’ prints make a poignant comment on mental health in the modern world.
Jeonghan Yun’s Photograph Drawing III encourages discussion about how photography and drawing are defined, directing focus to either the different lenses or the abstract of the overall piece. Contemporary art is a continually fluctuating practice, where works such as Yun’s facilitate how these media are displayed and interpreted.
Arrival, from Chrissy Lush’s Now series, 2024-ongoing, in the Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition
York, as a proud member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, celebrates new and ground-breaking installations that demonstrate the creativity and innovation of contemporary artists.
York’s status as a UNESCO City of Media Arts provides an important cultural foundation for this work, positioning it within a globally connected network of creative cities. This status reinforces the city’s role as a site of exchange where international artistic practice intersects with local cultural infrastructure.
Within this framework, the Aesthetica Art Prize continues to expand its global reach, with artists applying to enter from more than 60 countries and contributing to an increasingly diverse curatorial field.
The exhibition becomes a space where international perspectives converge, producing dialogue that extends beyond geography. Contemporary art is understood here as a shared global language shaped through multiple contexts and voices, creating a dynamic environment where cultural exchange is continuous and evolving.
Tommy Goguely’s Digigrams entry for the 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize
Since its inception in 2007, the Aesthetica Art Prize has become a springboard for some of the most dynamic and groundbreaking artists working today. Thousands of practitioners have been recognised through the Prize, and alumni include internationally acclaimed artists such as Larry Achiampong, Jenn Nkiru, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Liz West, Steve Messam and Squidsoup.
Aesthetica’s magazine, in circulation for more than 20 years and with a total reach of 950,000, has been instrumental in shaping conversations around contemporary culture, championing innovation and amplifying diverse voices globally.
The Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition is part of a wider programme that has seen four other exhibitions open across North Yorkshire at Skipton Town Hall, Scarborough Art Gallery, Woodend Gallery, Scarborough, and Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. Find out more at https://artprize.aestheticamagazine.com/northyorkshire/
The Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition runs until November 15, open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm, and is included in general admission. A programme of talks will accompany the exhibition; events will be uploaded throughout the run at https://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/exhibition/aesthetica-art-prize-2026/.
A visitor stands by DIVA’s Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enough, the Emerging Prize winner in the 2026 Aesthetica Art Prize. Picture: York Museums Trust
The poster image for York Theatre Royal’s co-production of Death Of A Salesman with Glasgow Citizens Theatre.Picture: FEAST
YORK Theatre Royal will present a major new revival of Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman as the centrepiece of the new season.
In a first for the St Leonard’s Place theatre, the production will be co-produced with Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre.
Directed by Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, Death Of A Salesman will open at York Theatre Royal on March 2 2027, preceded by previews from February 24, and will run until March 27 before transferring to Glasgow from April 7 to May 1 2027.
Richard Grassie’s image for Emma Rice Company’s revival of Tristant & Yseult
Miller’s heartbreaking story of the pursuit of wealth and popularity remains devastatingly relevant today. After 34 years on the road, Willy Loman returns home exhausted, having sacrificed everything in pursuit of success and recognition. Yet the American Dream seems always just out of reach.
When his career falters and the debts mount, Willy is lost in memories of the past as his family tries desperately to reconcile the man they love with the tragic consequences of his delusions.
In another co-production, York Theatre Royal will continue its creative collaboration with the Emma Rice Company and Nottingham Playhouse in a revival of Kneehigh and Emma Rice’s Tristan & Yseult. Last seen on stage in 2017,the production will be staged at York Theatre Royal from April 6 to 17 as part of a nationwide UK tour.
The artwork for John Godber’s new play This Is The Life, touring York Theatre Royal next January
Paul Crewes, York Theatre Royal’s chief executive officer, says: “We’re very excited about this upcoming season. Most notably, in a first for us, we will be working with our friends at Citizens Theatre in Glasgow on Arthur Miller’s modern classic Death Of A Salesman, directed by the fabulous Dominic Hill. This is a wonderful collaboration with a great theatre.
“Spring 2027 will also see us co-producing again with the Emma Rice Company and Nottingham Playhouse on a revival of Tristan & Yseult. I have such fond memories of originally producing this show with Emma when we were both at Kneehigh alongside Mike Shepherd. I can’t wait for York audiences to have the chance to finally see this production that successfully toured the world for many years.”
Paul continues: “These productions join the line-up of our other produced work already on sale, including our revival of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad later this year with Amelia Bullmore as Penelope, our Youth Theatre production of Wendy And Peter Pan and the highlight of the festive season, our panto Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.
The Penelopiad: Directed by York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster this autumn
“Our dance programme also continues to be one of the most exciting in the north of England, with the return of London City Ballet, the world premiere of the latest show from Carlos Acosta and the Acosta Danza Company and Ben Duke’s Lost Dog coming to York for the first time. I hope we have given audiences plenty to look forward to with a range of classics, new work and family favourites on our stage.”
Dominic Hill, artistic director of Citizens Theatre, says: “I am delighted to be directing a new production of this brilliant Arthur Miller play that is one of the most influential works of the 20th century.
Lost Dog’s Juliet & Romeo, playing York Theatre Royal on November 20 and 21. Picture: Paul Blakemore
“It could not be more timely in the age of Donald Trump’s politics of greed and toxic masculinity. But Death Of A Salesman is also an ordinary working man’s story, as a family tries to wrestle with living up to expectation and forging their own path. I can’t wait to see the reaction from audiences in York and Glasgow to this new production.”
Other highlights include the UK premiere of Acosta Danza’s Cuban Baroque, in collaboration with York Theatre Royal, running from October 1 to 3. The visiting programme also includes the UK premiere of London City Ballet: Firebird – A Mixed Bill ( co-produced by York Theatre Royal, London City Ballet and Opera De Vichy) on September 18 and 19.
In a new touring production starring Jane Asher and Samantha Womack from November 10 to 14, Daisy Goodwin’s By Royal Appointment tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II’s life behind-the-scenes. Lost Dog’s dance-theatre duet Juliet And Romeo flips the story of Romeo And Juliet on its head, blending dance, comedy and theatre on November 20 and 21.
The poster artwork for By Royal Appointment, booked into York Theatre Royal for November 10 to 14
York Theatre Royal will welcome back a variety of York and Yorkshire companies in the upcoming season in the Studio, including York Actors Collective in The Strongbox (October 28 to 31) and Story Craft Theatre’s festive production of The Enormous Christmas Pudding (December 16 to 24).
Wakefield’s John Godber Company will return with John Godber’s new play, This Is The Life, from January 27 to 30 in the Main House, where York Light Opera Company will perform the Dolly Parton musical, 9 To 5 – The Musical, from February 4 to 13.
THE EMMA Rice Company has announced the cast for the 2026-2027 revival of Emma Rice’s Tristan & Yseult, booked into York Theatre Royal for April 6 to 17 next year.
First produced in 2003 and last seen on stage in 2017, now the new production will be co-produced by York Theatre Royal and Nottingham Playhouse and will preview at Theatre Royal, Bath, from September 11.
John Leader and Nandi Bhebhe will lead the cast as Tristan and Yseult, joined by Matthew Churcher (Frocin), Tom Fox(Morholt and Brangian), Jack Heydon(Love Spotter), Stephanie Hockley (Whitehands), Edward Rowe(King Mark) and Nigel Sudarkasa (Love Spotter).
In the band will be Pat Moran, Stu Barker, Harry Miller, Philippa Hogg and, as alternate for the New York run, Mary Johnson.
John Leader: Cast as Tristan in Emma Rice Company’s Tristan & Yseult
Staged originally by Cornish company Kneehigh and Emma Rice, Tristan & Yseult opened in the open air at Restormel Castle in Cornwall and Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire. In 2004, it played cliff-side Minack Theatre, in Porthcurno, Cornwall, before being re-imagined as an indoor production for the Cottesloe at the National Theatre in 2005. Now, the new UK tour marks the first time Tristan & Yseulthas been performed to audiences since 2017.
Written by Anna Maria Murphy and Carl Grose and adapted and directed by Rice, the show will be staged by a creative team featuring Stu Barker (composer), Simon Baker (sound designer), Malcolm Rippeth (lighting designer) and Etta Murfitt (choreographer & intimacy coordinator). Bill Mitchelll’s original set and costume design is refreshed by Vicki Mortimer.
One of the most influential theatre productions of the 21st century, Tristan & Yseult’s “poem to love and its madness” is returning for the first time in ten years, offering a rare chance to encounter a modern masterpiece fresh and live on stage.
Visceral, playful and heartbreakingly beautiful, Rice’s internationally celebrated production blends myth, music, movement and storytelling. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Nandi Bhebhe: Cast as Yseult in Emma Rice Company’s Tristan & Yseult
The Penelopiad: One of the shows in the new free membership scheme for £15 tickets for young theatregoers at York Theatre Royal
YORK Theatre Royal is launching a new free membership scheme for 16 to 30-year-olds to provide the opportunity to enjoy the best seats in the house for only £15.
They can book two tickets (one for themselves, one for a friend or family member of any age) for a variety of Theatre Royal main-house productions.
Shows on offer include such Theatre Royal in-house dramas as Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman; world-class dance performances in London City Ballet’s Firebird and Acosta Danza’s Cuban Baroque; musical offerings from York Light Opera Company, including 9 To 5 The Musical, and much more besides.
16-30 YTR Members also will acquire access to invitations to exclusive membership events and monthly £15 Club newsletters to keep up to date when new shows are added.
For each production included in the discount scheme, 100 £15 tickets will be released, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The cast for York Theatre Royals’ revival of The Penelopiad
AMID the summer buzz over Christopher Nolan’s film account of The Odyssey, the full cast and creative team is in place for York Theatre Royal’s autumn revival of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.
Joining the already announced Amelia Bullmore in the leading role of Penelope will be Nell Baker (Laertes), Danielle Bird (Eurycleia), Olivia Burton-Laws (Naiad Mother), Theatre Royal pantomime alumna Faye Campbell (Melantho), Pena Iiyambo (Helen), Kat Johns-Burke (Antonius), Syakira Moeladi (Telemachus) and Charlie Russell (Odysseus).
Directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, the production will open on October 14, with previews from October 10, and will run until October 31.
“Margaret Atwood is such a phenomenal writer – she’s clever, witty, subversive and her insights into human dynamics are acutely well observed,” says Juliet. “The Penelopiad is a funny, moving, fast-paced, visual feast, a classical tale told through a contemporary lens. The epic, heroic story of The Odysseywill never look the same again! I am thrilled we will be staging it here at York Theatre Royal, and I can’t wait to get started on the show.”
The Penelopiad writer Margaret Atwood. Picture: Luis Mora, 2020
Adapted for the stage by Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood from her 2005 novella, The Penelopiad’s feminist retelling of The Odyssey reimagines Homer’s epic through the eyes of Penelope and her chorus of maids.
Atwood, author of the modern feminist classic The Handmaid’s Tale, presents a powerful, irreverent and darkly humorous retelling that unpicks one of the oldest of myths. Immortalised as the devoted and faithful wife to the glorious Odysseus, Penelope waits 20 years for her husband to return from the Trojan War, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again. Now it is time to hear the story of those left behind.
Reimagining this ancient tale, Atwood gives voice to the silenced Penelope and her maids. Wandering the underworld, Penelope spins a different kind of thread: her side of the story – a tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge.
Forster, director of such York Theatre Royal productions as Little Women and Around The World In 80 Days-ish!, will deliver an exuberant and witty retelling that questions the version of events we think we know and exposes the truth behind the myth.
Juliet Forster: Director of York Theatre Royal’s production of The Penelopiad
Juliet says: “It has been such a joy to meet so many brilliant women over the last couple of months, and what a phenomenally talented cast and creative team we have lined up for The Penelopiad. It is clear just how strongly this story resonates with people today, and I am looking forward to a rehearsal room buzzing with excitement and creativity.
“Margaret Atwood’s powerful script is so rich with wit and humour as she unveils a new feminist perspective on the familiar Odyssey myth. The show is interwoven with songs and exuberant movement and we hope to offer audiences an entirely different way of understanding the story of Penelope and her maids – and most importantly a great night out.”
Amelia Bullmore will return to the stage to star as Penelope, having last trod the boards in the 2018 revival of Annie Baker’s 2009 play Circle Mirror Transformation at HOME, Manchester.
Amelia says:“I’m thrilled I’m going to be working at York Theatre Royal – such a beautiful theatre – on this fantastic play. The Penelopiad manages to be funny, dark, moving and provocative by turns. And it’s Margaret Atwood, so the writing is uniquely brilliant. I think audiences will love how playful it is and how directly it connects with them.”
Amelia Bullmore: Cast as Penelope in The Penelopiad
Welcoming her to York, Juliet says: “It is wonderful to have Amelia on board to lead the cast for The Penelopiad. Penelope is such a fascinating and complex character in Margaret Atwood’s retelling and I know Amelia will do her justice! I can’t wait to work with her to bring this compelling story to the stage for York audiences.”
Joining Forster in the all-female creative team will be designer Sara Perks, lighting designer Alexandra Stafford, composer, musical director and sound designer Kate Marlais, movement director Michelle Edwards and casting director Ellie Collyer-Bristow.
To ensure as many people as possible can enjoy the show, the first preview on October 10 will be offered on a ‘Pay What You Choose’ basis, allowing audiences to pay as little or as much as they wish.
The York Theatre Royal Choir will present special foyer performances for audiences on October 10 and press night, October 14, before the 7.30pm shows start.
Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York Theatre Royal’s poster for The Penelopiad. Concept: Émilie Chen. Photography: Camilla Greenwell
Did you know?
MARGARET Atwood’s The Penelopiad premiered at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, in July 2007 in a co-production between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Canada’s National Arts Centre. York Theatre Royal’s production marks the first major UK revival since that original staging.
Amelia Bullmore: back story
THEATRE credits include Circle Mirror Transformation (HOME Manchester); A Christmas Carol (Noël Coward Theatre); The Norman Conquests (The Old Vic and Circle in the Square Theatre, New York); The Crucible (Sheffield Crucible); Really Old, Like Forty Five (National Theatre); Road and The Queen And I (Leicester Haymarket, Royal Court Theatre and UK tour).
Also, The Thickness Of Skin (Royal Court Theatre); A View From The Bridge, Romeo And Juliet (Royal Exchange Theatre and UK Tour); All My Sons and How The Other Half Loves (Cheltenham Everyman); Be-Bop-A-Lula (Liverpool Playhouse and UK tour); The Red Balloon (Contact Theatre); The Threepenny Opera (Birmingham Rep); Major Barbara and Sweet Bird Of Youth (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow);The Way Of The World (Wilton’s Musical Hall) and Ladies In The Lift (Red Stockings Theatre Company.)
Her television credits include Riot Women; The Buccaneers; Happy Valley; Gentleman Jack; Scott & Bailey (as series regular DCI Gill Murray and co-writer); Twenty Twelve; The Crown; Vienna Blood; I’m Alan Partridge; Jam; Big Train; State Of Play; Ashes To Ashes; The Jetty; Marble Hall Murders;The Larkins and Coronation Street (as series regular Steph Barnes).
Her films include Mrs Dalloway, Festival, The Truth, Endgame and What We Did On Our Holiday.
She is an acclaimed writer for TV, radio and stage. Her play Di And Viv And Rose premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End.
Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c.1829-32. Image courtesy of Maidstone Museum
YORK Art Gallery will mark the finale of Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints during the August Summer Bank Holiday.
This special event will run on Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30 August, with more details to be announced to complement the activities, times, tickets and more information posted already at yorkartgallery.co.uk.
Look out for Japanese-themed crafts and food, traditional harp playing and drumming sessions, as well as performances from York choir groups, plus Kokedama, a traditional nature-based craft.
Visitors are encouraged to enjoy all these activities, staying all day to eat, play and relax in the beautiful Japanese Garden at the back of the gallery.
Hashimoto Chikanobu’s Evacuation Of Chiyoda Palace, from the series The Inner Palace Of Chiyoda, 1896, on show at Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints at York Art Gallery. Picture: York Museums Trust
Throughout the August Bank Holiday weekend, a range of activities will be available to try inside the gallery too.
This will be the final chance to see Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa on loan from Maidstone Museum, and to learn more about Japanese art and culture as the exhibition bids farewell with this special closing celebration.
Visitors can create their own print as part of the exhibition, view kimonos from Durham Oriental Museum, discover samurai armour and swords from the Royal Armouries, Leeds, and buy from the gallery gift shop’s Japanese ranges.
More than 38,000 people have visited Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints already. To book tickets, go to: yorkartgallery.co.uk.
VISITORS are invited to experience York Museum Gardens “like never before” as the botanical gardens open after hours for exclusive Friday evening events on August 14 and 28.
Guests can enjoy Evening In The Gardens, a relaxed adults-only experience offering rare access to one of York’s most beautiful green spaces after the gardens have closed to the public at 6pm.
York Museum Gardens will reopen exclusively for ticket holders from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, giving visitors the chance to be in the gardens at this peaceful time of day.
Against the backdrop of the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, guests can unwind with a cocktail, listen to live music, sample street food and soak up the atmosphere as the sun sets over the historic gardens, whether you are on a date night, linking up with friends for the evening or simply wanting to experience this iconic spaces in a completely different way.,
Run by York Museums Trust, the event is suitable for age 18 upwards. Tickets cost £7.50 and include a cocktail on arrival. Additional drinks and street food will be available to buy throughout each evening. To book, go to: yorkmuseumgardens.co.uk.
York Museum Gardens, leading to the rear of York Art Gallery. Picture: York Museums Trust
York Museum Gardens: back story
ESTABLISHED in the 1830s by Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS). Noted for collection of trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs.
The land was granted to YPS under the condition that botanical gardens would be established on the site. These were created Sir John Murray Naysmith and originally contained a conservatory, pond and menagerie.
In 1960, the gardens and Yorkshire Museum were given in trust to the City of York Council. Since 2002, they have been managed by York Museums Trust.
Opening hours: 9am to 6pm, daily. For more information, head to yorkmuseumgardens.org.uk.
COMEDIAN and world-famous prankster Simon Brodkin once showered FIFA president Sepp Blatter with cash, handed Prime Minister Theresa May her P45 and created the BBC comedy series Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show. Now he is to play York Barbican on March 14 2027 on his 56-date Unleashed tour.
Hampstead-born Brodkin, who pivoted to stand-up comedy in 2019, is launching his 2026-2027 travels with ten international shows between May and July, taking in Australia, Sweden, Greece and Cyprus.
Unleashed will hit the UK and Ireland for 46 shows from September 11 2026 to March 20 2027. Combining outrageous punchlines with electric crowd work, Brodkin, 48, will rip into broken Britain, the American Dream, religion, marriage, Genghis Khan, vape shops and wild swimmers.
“I can’t wait for my biggest ever tour!” he says. “The timing feels perfect. I’ve not toured for two years, so I’ve got a lot to say, and my teenage kids no longer find me funny.”
Brodkin’s last tour, Screwed Up, was extended four times, running to 170 shows around the world, culminating in three sold-out nights at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, as well as a headline-grabbing appearance at the Royal Variety Performance.
He is breaking records on social media with his stand-up clips, averaging more than 50 million views across his platforms every month. He has more than one million followers on Facebook and four million across all platforms.
Screwed Up became the most viewed UK special to premiere on YouTube. Filmed at Theatre Royal, East London, Brodkin tore into social media, celebrities, the police, Prince Andrew, Putin and God. Nothing was off limits, including his own mental health, his family, his five arrests and how he once found himself at an underground sex party.
Brodkin first rose to fame with his outrageous characters that became household names in the UK, such as Lee Nelson and superstar footballer Jason Bent. He wrote and starred in three BBC series of Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show and Well Funny People.
Brodkin has made global headlines frequently with his audacious stunts on the world’s most powerful people, from Sepp Blatterand Theresa Mayto joining Kanye Weston stage at Glastonbury Festival and ambushing President Donald Trumpon his golf course by surrounding him with “creatively decorated” golf balls.
Brodkin last played York on November 10 2024 at the Grand Opera House on his Screwed Up tour.
The full cast for Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep’s tour of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, playing Grand Opera House, York, from October 27 to 31
ALEX Keenan and Imi Price will become the first women to portray fearful yet fearless teenager Chris Boone in Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep’s bold new interpretation of The Curious Incident In The Night-Time, booked into the Grand Opera House, York, for October 27 to 31.
Directed by Ned Bennett, this fresh perspective on one of contemporary theatre’s most iconic characters will honour the heart of the original story while inviting audiences to experience Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel through a new lens.
The story combines the intrigue of a whodunit with a coming-of-age story, wherein 15-year-old schoolgirl Chris Boone is gifted with a brilliant mind for numbers but is unsettled by the unpredictability of people and everyday life, distrusting strangers deeply, never venturing alone beyond the end of her road.
Novelist Haddon never called Chris autistic or attributed Asperger Syndrome to the character, but she does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying, can count binary numbers to infinity and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour.
When a neighbour’s dog is discovered killed, Chris comes under suspicion. Determined to prove her innocence, Chris becomes both detective and suspect, drawn into a mystery that grows darker and more complex with every clue uncovered.
Charlie Brooks as Teresa Phillips in her York debut at the Grand Opera House in 2017 in Alan Ayckbourn’s How The Other Half Loves
What begins as the search for a culprit soon reveals secrets closer to home, forcing Chris to confront truths that will test her courage, family and understanding of trust, independence and the wider world.
Keenan and Price will alternate the lead role on tour, joined by Charlie Brooks and Joe McFadden as Chris’s parents Ed and Judy.
Brooks is best known for her long-running soap opera role since 1999 as wildcat Janine Butcher, caught up in cocaine addiction, murder and prostitution in EastEnders. Rumours began yesterday that Janine is to return after four years [on release from prison] for “two explosive episodes in the autumn”.
Brooks made her York debut in October 2017 in Alan Strachan’s revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1969 comedy of matrimonial mishaps How The Other Half Loves, playing Teresa Phillips on tour at the Grand Opera House. “Teresa is fiery and strong, like Janine, but I think the similarities end there,” she said at the time.
McFadden has appeared in the BBC’s The Crow Road and Holby City and ITV’s Heartbeat and was the 2017 Strictly Come Dancing Glitterball winner to boot. He played film director Jason in the Original Theatre Company’s production of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d at York Theatre Royal in October 2022 and was last seen on a Yorkshire stage as Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption at Leeds Grand Theatre in May this year.
Joe McFadden’s Jason, the film director, in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d at York Theatre Royal in October 2022, playing opposite Sophie Ward
Completing the ‘Curious Incident’ cast will be Bridgette Amofah as Siobhan;Alex Murdochas Mrs Alexander/Posh Woman/Voice One; Matthew Bulgo as Roger (Mr Shears)/Duty Sergeant/Voice Two/Mr Wise/Man Behind Counter/Drunk One and Jerone Marsh Reid as Mr Thompson/Man with Socks/London Policeman/Voice Three.
Carla Garratt will play Punk Girl/No. 40/Voice Five/Information; Tom Clegg, Reverend Peters/Uncle Terry/Voice Four/Station Policeman/Station Guard; Robert Penny, Voice Seven, and Sera Mustafa, Mrs Gascoyne/Woman on Train/Shopkeeper/Police Officer One/Voice 6. All will perform ensemble roles too.
Alongside Ned Bennett in the production team will be set & costume designer Eleanor Bull; lighting designer Laura Howard; composer & sound designer Giles Thomas; video designer Hayley Egan; movement director Jenni Jackson; costume supervisor Izzy Pellow; props supervisor Eve Hall; casting director Abby Galvin and associate director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2012 and has been seen globally by more than five million people. The National Theatre’s inaugural tour visited the Grand Opera House, York, in January 2015. York company Pick Me Up Theatre staged the play in April 2025 at Theatre@41, Monkgate.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Andrew Isherwood’s production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, in April 2025
