Fisherman’s Friends: In harmony at York Barbican next spring
FISHERMAN’S Friends will make York Barbican a port of call on April 2 on their 34-date 2027 British tour.
The Cornish folk harmony group will play further Yorkshire concerts at Sheffield City Hall on March 19, Victoria Theatre, Halifax, April 23, and Bridlington Spa, November 7 2027.
Fresh from their sold-out 2026 UK dates and an Australia tour earlier this year, Fisherman’s Friends ran their inaugural Fisherman’s Friends Festival at Stithians Showground, Cornwall, in a landmark three-day celebration of music, maritime heritage and Cornish culture from May 28 to 30.
At a time when rising costs and industry pressures have seen many UK festivals forced to scale back, postpone or close altogether, the launch of a new independent festival marked a significant achievement, underlining both the enduring appeal of Fisherman’s Friends and their commitment to championing Cornwall’s culture, community and live music scene.
For a group whose remarkable story has inspired two hit feature films, 2019’s Fisherman’s Friends and 2022’s Fisherman’s Friends: One And All, and the touring stage musical Fisherman’s Friends The Musical, the 2027 tour marks yet another chapter in an extraordinary journey that began with friends singing on the harbour in Port Isaac to raise money for local causes.
The tour will see Fisherman’s Friends perform across the UK from February through to November 2027, returning to theatres and concert halls nationwide with the humour, camaraderie and stirring harmonies that have made them one of Britain’s best-loved live acts.
Fisherman’s Friends said: “To be announcing another UK tour while opening our very first festival in Cornwall feels incredibly special. We never imagined when we started singing on The Platt in Port Isaac that it would lead us here.
“Launching a festival in Cornwall and seeing audiences continue to support live music means a great deal to us. We’re looking forward to getting back out on the road and seeing audiences around the country once again.”
This town is big enough for the both of them: Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael are bound for York Barbican. Picture: Munachi Osegbu
CULT pop-rock pioneers Sparks will play York for the first time since 1974 on their 2025-2026 world tour.
The Mael brothers, Ron (keyboards) and Russell (vocals), will take to the York Barbican stage on Tuesday, August 25 in one of two date added to a British itinerary already booked into London, Glasgow, Blackpool, Bournemouth and Bristol. Southend-on-Sea newly awaits too on an itinerary also taking in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Returning to York after a 52-year hiatus, Sparks are lining up a euphoric, career-spanning set on the back of their 28th studio album, 2024’s MAD!, and companion EP, MADDER!
Ron, now 80, and Russell, 77, rose to fame with 1974 hits This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us and Amateur Hour, from the album Kimono My House.
Further chart success ensued with Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (1974); Something For The Girl With Everything (1975); Get In The Swing (1975); Looks, Looks, Looks (1975); The Number One Song In Heaven (1979); Beat The Clock (1979); When Do I Get To Sing My Way (1994); When I Kiss You (I Hear Charlie Parker Playing) (1994); When Do I Get To Sing ‘My Way’ (1995) and This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us, with Faith No More (1997).
Sparks formed in Los Angeles, California, where Ron and Russell were raised in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood and established the band in 1968 while attending UCLA. Going on to be recognised as “your favourite band’s favourite band”, the duo inspired artists as diverse as Joy Division, Squeeze, Depeche Mode, Björk, Beck and latterly The Last Dinner Party. As producer Jack Antonoff once put it: “All pop music is re-arranged Sparks.”
In 2021, the Maels were the subject of Edgar Wright’s documentary The Sparks Brothers. That year too, the brothers conceived, wrote and scored visionary French filmmaker Leos Carax’s surreal, dark, meta-fictional rock opera, Annette, which charted the tragic romance between a provocative stand-up comedian and a world-renowned opera singer, whose lives are upended by the birth of their mysterious child.
Alongside this summer’s headline shows, Sparks will appear at Green Man Festival on August 23, preceded by supporting Gorillaz at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20, having joined Damon Albarn and co on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 9 to perform The Happy Dictator, a collaboration featured on Gorillaz’s 2026 album The Mountain.
Extra tickets have been released for Sparks’ York Barbican debut at yorkbarbican.co.uk. Doors will open at 7pm.
The poster for Sparks’ concert at York Barbican on August 25
PLEASE note, phone calls are not being ignored. Alas, the CharlesHutchPress mobile has breathed its last, without warning, necessitating a replacement selection process that is under way.
In the meantime, contact is more than welcome by email at charles.hutchinson104@gmail.com. Hutch is very happy to arrange interviews on Zoom too.
Normal lines of communication will be resumed pronto and the website will function as normal.
Teddy Thompson: Showcasing new album Never Be The Same at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
BOOKING a lover of period touches like Teddy Thompson into Pocklington’s beautiful All Saints Church was a good move.
This wonderful Hurricane Promotions concert was further helped by the fact that Thompson has happy memories of Pocklington, at least the fish and chips, and he was in good form. He has a well-spoken, dry and ironic sense of humour that provided the warmth between songs.
There was plenty of affection too for fan favourite Blair Dunlop. Dunlop sounds fully committed to his Americana sound and showed off new songs in his brisk opening set. Trilobite might be 500 million years out factually but was musically on the money, while Sweet On You could almost be a Teddy Thompson song with its charming surface and darker interior.
Blair Dunlop performing at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Some singers close their eyes as they sing; Dunlop smiled often. Thompson, on the other hand, stared unnervingly straight ahead, which gave him and his material an edge.
On a casual introduction, Thompson’s new record, Never Be The Same, seems a fairly slight thing, full of short lovelorn songs that sound straight out of the 1960s’ gold era of country pop.
Listen more than once and you’ll be hooked by the clever lyrics, wonderful period production and some gorgeous melodies.
Teddy Thompson’s set list for June 6’s concert at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
As Thompson talked about in his interview with Miles Salter for York Calling, restraint is a key part of his songwriting approach, so each tune is a finely chiselled thing. In concert too, the songs were played straight by a three-piece band (with Mike Robinson on guitars and Chris Jones on drums).
By some sleight of hand, the drummer also was able to add in extra keys, strings and to this reviewer’s ears something at the bottom end.
The Pocklington crowd was treated to ten numbers off that record over the course of the 17-song set, which also revisited some older material. While the first three songs were taken at a clip and sounded a bit too bright, it grew much better.
Teddy Thompson, centre, and his band, guitarist Mike Robinson and drummer Chris Jones, on stage at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
The older songs revealed that Thompson hasn’t wandered too far stylistically in the intervening 26 years. Step Behind, from his first record, showed his style was essentially there from the get-go.
As the sun set and lit up the old stone columns that framed the band, Thompson was by this point fully warmed up, and the wonder that is his singing voice really shone.
I Remember, which sounds like it could have been a country hit for Skeeter Davis, was wonderful and what could have been a Buck Owens riff, while Same Old Song (ironic, but true in a set list that did rather sound the same and stick in the same tempos) was full of lovely period references.
All Saints Church lit up at Teddy Thompson’s concert. Picture: Paul Rhodes
The encore deserved to bring the house down, with a clever solo version of So This Is Heartache. The best song on the new record by a country mile, where it sounds like a lost Stax country classic, Pocklington saw it in naked, devastating form.
The band returned and the anthemic In My Arms rounded off the set. That this song only made it to number 107 tells you everything that is wrong with music charts. Like any number from his catalogue, you wonder when someone else will make it a hit. Until then Thompson remains a well-preserved cult figure ripe for a larger audience.
Review by Paul Rhodes
BLAIR Dunlop will be on the main stage at The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, on August 15. Full festival details can be found at https://www.themagpiesfestival.co.uk/.
The instruments set up for Teddy Thompson’s set at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
IN its 150th year, York Musical Society joined with Philharmonischer Chor Münster and The Ebor Singers to perform Elgar’s The Dream Of Gerontius.
Intensely passionate, strangely driven, deeply spiritual: just three ways to describe this wonderful performance delivered by David Pipe and his choir and orchestra of more than 250.
The passion is right there with the conductor. He embodies the music, every part of him leading this dance, almost balletic in his own movements. Whilst the three choirs have been rehearsing separately, David Pipe’s ability to bring them together on the day is remarkable witness to his outstanding musical leadership.
Sam Furness’s first line, a prayer, after the orchestral introduction, “Jesus Maria – I am near to death and thou art calling me”, was delivered sotto voce and with gorgeous restraint. This was both deeply felt and perhaps a little operatic – hardly surprising that Elgar drew inspiration from Wagner.
Furness handled the many facets of Gerontius’s emotional and spiritual journey with ease, delivering closely knit contrasting lines with consummate skill.
The orchestra accompanied choirs and soloists with great sensitivity. Towards the end of the piece, the Angel sings pianissimo, Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul. The soloist and orchestra almost melted into each other with the tenderness and assurance of these words.
Kate Symonds-Joy’s Angel gave an exquisite performance throughout, almost still in the quieter moments, yet she gave spell-binding fortissimos, for example in the preamble to the great chorus, “Praise to the holiest”.
James Cleverton, as the Priest and Angel of the Agony, sang with great power throughout, deliberately contrasting with the voices of Gerontius and the Angel.
The three choirs were brought together to produce a great sound. Imitations of laughing (Ha! ha!) were vigorously proclaimed, whilst the great crescendo in “To Praise to the holiest” was delivered with warmth and accuracy. The orchestral accompaniment was always steadfast, flexible and sensitive to the singers.
Such events as these belong to amateur singers who are part of Great Britain and Germany’s great choral societies. This is difficult music both in its technical reach and emotional charge. Their dedicated work over a period of months comes to fruition on this one night. It was good to see both Dr Martin Henning, director of Philharmonischer Chor Münster, alongside David Pipe taking a bow.
Thank you for a terrific evening. Our great choral tradition remains in confident hands.
Review by Tim Robinson, musician, choral and chamber concert reviewer and former Church of England vicar at All Saints’ Church, Helmsley, serving Helmsley and Upper Ryedale Benefice for 11 years until retirement in 2021; also as Area Dean of Northern Ryedale.
Eija Gibson: Directing Theatre@41’s first community play, It’s A Wonderful Life
THEATRE@41, Monkgate, York, is to play host to its first community play from December 10 to 23.
The John Cooper Studio’s black-box theatre will be transformed for the classic Christmas story of It’s A Wonderful Life with a community cast and crew.
Directed by Eija Gibson, Mary Elliott Nelson’s stage adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1946 film follows down-on-his-luck banker George Bailey as he is paid a visit by his guardian angel on Christmas Eve 1946.
Soon he discovers how life in Bedford Falls – the beloved small American town where he has grown up – would be without him, whereupon his outlook is transformed in a joyful story of love, hope and community.
The show poster for Theatre@41’s community play, It’s A Wonderful Life
Director Eija Gibson is an exciting young director with a growing reputation, whose credits include being associate artist at Leeds theatre company Wrongsemble.
Eija will be mentored by Theatre@41 theatre manager Tom Bellerby, who has worked at the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and several leading regional theatres, Hull Truck Theatre among them.
“I am so excited to be directing this gorgeous show in such a wonderful space!” she says. “It is such an exciting opportunity and I can’t wait to bring my vision to Theatre@41, learn from Tom’s mentorship and meet the wonderful creatives of York to create a really strong ensemble and a beautiful show.
Step this way: The entrance to Theatre@41, Monkgate, where auditions for It’s A Wonderful Life will take place on June 28. Picture: James Drury
“Hope, community and connection are at the heart of It’s A Wonderful Life. Through intimate staging, fluid storytelling and visual contrast, and most importantly a strong ensemble, we will bring Bedford Falls to York.”
In a message to auditionees and subsequently successful recruits, she says: “Join me for a collaborative, supportive and creative rehearsal process, resulting in a production that feels uplifting, heartfelt and celebratory.”
Theatre@41 chair Alan Park says: “For more than 25 years, Theatre@41 has hosted productions from York’s incredible community theatre companies. It’s A Wonderful Life will allow us to showcase the very best of York’s community theatre performers and creatives. We can’t wait to welcome people to our own Bedford Falls as we throw a lasso round the moon to re-create the most life affirming of Christmas stories.”
Theatre@41 theatre manager Tom Bellerby says: “We are really excited about this new project and providing the theatre audiences of York with an alternative offer this festive season. Our brilliant community creatives will be mentored by experienced professional artists, providing a unique opportunity for those involved.”
Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s Selene, playing Theatre@41, Monkgate, on July 15 and 16
Already this year, under Bellerby’s management, Theatre@41 has partnered with internationally acclaimed North Yorkshire theatre company Wright & Grainger to co-produce their new show, Selene, soon to kick off a UK tour after 70 performances in Australia and New Zealand.
Starring Australian theatre, film and television actor Megan Drury, Selene will play Theatre@41 on July 15 (7.30pm) and July 16 (8.30pm) ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe run in Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger’s story of the goddess and the dark side of the moon.
In this radical explosion of an ancient lunar myth by the company behind Helios, Orpheus and The Gods The Gods The Gods, a young girl watches the moon landings on repeat, a teenager makes a list of all the things they are not and a young adult starts to discover who they are.
“It’s a story about the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, and the things we grow up in the orbit of – and about the stuff inside us, all the wild stuff inside us,” say Wright & Grainger.
National Brass Band Championships: Heading for York Barbican
THE National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain will bring 73 of the country’s finest brass bands to York Barbican for the first time on September 19 and 20 for the Sections 1–4 National Finals.
York Barbican has been chosen on account of its top-class concert hall facilities, central location and reputation for hosting major live events, helping attract thousands of visitors to the city across the weekend.
Local interest will be strong, with Yorkshire bands including York Railway Institute Band, Wetherby Silver Band and Swinton & District Excelsior Band qualifying to compete for national honours.
A spokesperson for the championships says: “York Barbican provides an outstanding stage for one of the biggest weekends in the brass band calendar. Audiences can expect incredible live music, thrilling competition and a fantastic atmosphere throughout the weekend.”
Tickets will be available on the day on both days only from York Barbican at £24 for adults, £16, concessions, and £8, children aged 11 to 17.
The poster for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2026
Shed Seven lighting up the Halifax night sky when opening The Piece Hall’s summer season with a celebration of A Maximum High’s 30th anniversary
THIRTY years on, Shed Seven revisited their Britpop magnum opus A Maximum High in full for one night only to launch Cuffe & Taylor’s remarkable summer of no fewer than 41 concerts at The Piece Hall, Halifax.
A Yorkshire start to an international season was a canny choice, and better still, the typically Yorkshire weather forecast of rain at 6pm and 7pm to greet support acts Seb Lowe and The Guest List turned out to be wrong. There was no need to go chasing rainbows; that could wait until the end under the darkening Halifax skies.
Built as a cloth hall for handloom weavers to sell woollen cloth, the 18th century architectural splendour of the Grade I listed Piece Hall makes a natural amphitheatre for outdoor concerts – hence the busier-than-ever 2026 programme – and Shed Seven supporters turned out in full number, 6,500 filling the courtyard and the tiers above that transform as if by magic from two to three tiers. This is Yorkshire’s answer to summer opera at Arena di Verona, no less!
Guitarist Paul Bankson stage against the backdrop of The Piece Hall
The York band had last played here in their first gig out of Covid lockdowns on September 25 2021: strange circumstances, where proximity was gradually being reintroduced; circumstances too where drummer Alan Leach and guitarist Joe Johnson were in their last days before taking an “indefinite break” from the line-up.
The Sheds returned on the crest of their second wave: two number one albums in 2024, a new album and biggest ever ShedCember tour on the way, and drummer Rob Maxfield’s gold drum kit and guitarist and keyboards player Tim Wills settled into their groove alongside the familiar axis of bassist Tom Gladwin, guitarist Paul Banks and frontman Rick Witter.
Saturday’s focus, however, was on the past. Advance notice had suggested the set would open with 1996’s A Maximum High in track order, but Witter had promised surprises in his CharlesHutchPress interview. Wasn’t that Dirty Soul, the opening track to 1994 debut album Change Giver, cutting through the Halifax air after the band entered to Elmer Bernstein’s The Magnificent [Shed] Seven theme tune? Indeed so, to be followed by early favourites Mark and Dolphin.
Going for red: Rick Witter in that dazzling shirt, fit to burn any disco down
The grimy Shed Seven graffiti that formed the backdrop in black and white should have been a clue. Then Witter, as alert as ever to audience vibes, chipped in: “We know why you bought your tickets. We’re not stupid! It’s coming but not quite yet.” Cue Speakeasy, Witter’s first mention of his mum being in the audience, and Ocean Pie.
By now, the brass band, such a swell innovation at the Sheds’ brace of York Museum Gardens shows in 2024, and five-part Shed Seven Choir, as featured at Scarborough Open Air Theatre and Glastonbury last summer, had made their entry.
The Shed Seven scrawl made way for A Maximum High’s album cover – matched by trombonist Tim Hurst, saxophonist Andy Cox and trumpet player Jamie Brownfield’s T-shirts – and Witter jettisoned his black shirt in favour of a sparkling red number. He could have gone for gold, but maybe that was in the glitter.
A maximum high hat: Shed Seven drummer Rob Maxfield
Like any album, A Maximum High has its highs and lows, but those highs a very high – Getting Better, Where Have You Been Tonight?, Going For Gold and On Standby, all from Side 1, where track two, Magic Streets, held its own too, preceded by Witter’s story of the song referring to “a house of ill repute above the Early Learning Centre”. “It’s about prostitutes. No-one knew!” he revealed.
After the audience sang its lusty version of On Standby before Witter joined in, there followed the lesser lights of Out By My Side, Lies This Day Was Ours, Ladyman and Falling From The Sky, some brought out of the vaults for the first time in two decades.
The Sheds gave them their all, Banks’s guitar parts especially so, but it was a lull, nonetheless, saved by the knowledge of what was coming next: schooldays’ crowd favourite Bully Boy, as belligerent and cocksure as ever, and Parallel Lines, the one helluva party album closer, with a light show to boot. No imagery from 30 years ago was shown, Witter painting the picture instead in anecdotes between songs.
The swanky Shed Seven logo, familiar from the past few years, returned for the rushing thrill of encores: High Hopes, latter-day landmarks Talk Of The Town and Let’s Go Dancing and the swaggering finale of Disco Down and Chasing Rainbows, sung by one and all as always as they exited.
Another night, another town, once more Shed Seven had burned this disco down.
Crowd shot: Shed Seven at the finale to Saturday’s A Maximum High 30th Anniversary Showat The Piece Hall
Kiss and no-tell: Molly Whitehouse’s Minnie and Dan Poppitt’s Alan in Love At First Bite, the play where biter and lover changes from show to show
WHO’S the sucker in vampire rom-com Love At First Bite? The biter or the bitten? The smiter or the smitten? Maybe both, maybe neither, especially when the answer changes with every performance.
York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions return to Theatre@41 with the premiere of writer-performers Dan Poppitt & Molly Whitehouse’s gothic spin on the dating game in the age of Tinder swipes and increasingly anti-social distancing.
The setting is metropolitan, London street names abounding, but it could be universal. To either side of the black-box stage are Minnie and Alan’s flats, fitted with domestic detail to match their characters.
Charlie Clarke, centre, holds court in one of her myriad cameo guises in Love At First Bite as Molly Whitehouse’s Minnie and Dan Poppitt’s listen in on their London Underground journey
In the middle is a space for tables – and for the turning of tables – in a pub or restaurant or indeed a street or Tube carriage, where chameleon Charlie Clarke spins her multitude of often comic, invariably perky roles and accents.
First up, she is overseeing the speed-dating game where Whitehouse’s Minnie and Poppitt’s equally awkward Alan first meet. Conversation is stilted, wilted on the wine, but somehow they still connect as nervy dates and gradually loosening laughter follow, their choice of black T-shirts saying as much as they do.
One thing leads to another, but “what if one of them were a creature of the night”, as the show promo teases? The identity of the vampire suddenly sinks in at the climax to Act One, but as mentioned above, the fang bearer switches from show to show – in a case of I’m A Lover, Not A Biter – and so your reviewer will bite his tongue.
Director Josh Woodgate, left, with his Love At First Bite cast members Molly Whitehouse, Dan Poppitt and Charlie Clarke
Poppitt and Whitehouse’s deadpan, even nonchalant, humour and cultural savvy put you in mind of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s zombie apocalypse movie Shaun Of The Dead with Love At First Bite’s combination of seemingly aimless lives, horror comedy and oddball romance. Their performances are arch, deliberately awkward, quirky, intriguing, full of surprises too.
All the while, Clarke is popping in and out, speed-changing costumes and characters as if in a sketch revue, from moustachioed French waiter to friends and family. Best of all is her living embodiment of cloud artificial intelligence assistant Alexa, a ring of light on her head switching on and off with every voice-activated change of request from Alan’s “Latest Play List”, her metronomic Alexa manner becoming ever more irritating as it always does.
Look out too for mischievous director Josh Woodgate’s cameo as a bored, pranking ice-cream salesman, an extra joy in this sharp-as-a-fang, transmutable love story, where you may well wish to watch both of today’s performances to see how Black Sheep’s game of Who Is Hunter, Who Is Prey? Plays out differently each time as “Love At First Bite toys with romance, rewrites folklore and invites us to consider what it means to love…and to hunger”.
Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ retro B-movie pastiche poster for Dan Poppitt and Molly Whitehouse’s Love At First Bite
Holly Taymar: Playing City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend
A FEAST of folk music and Shed Seven’s anniversary celebration, a le Carré thriller and a Willy Russell classic send Charles Hutchinson out and about.
Festival of the week: City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend 2026, Black Swan Folk Club, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green York, today and tomorrow
CITY of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend’s three-day programme of 50 acts continues today and tomorrow with bands, soloists and sessions throughout the pub and in the car park from 1pm each day after last night’s Irish-themed bill in the club room.
Among the performers will be King Courgette, in the return of the original line-up, Leather’O, White Sail, Janglebuddies, Graham Hodge, Monkey’s Fist, Chechelele, Caramba, Holly Taymar, Duncan McFarlane Band, Mary Molloy, Susie Coyle, Soundsphere and Jon Palmer Band. Admission is free, with collections for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Stuart O’Hara: York Late Music concert this afternoon
Lunchtime concert of the week: York Late Music, Stuart O’Hara (bass) and Rob Hao piano), Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm
MARRYING words and music, bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Rob Hao’s performance is based around new settings of Yorkshire poets by local composers: James Else &Alan Gillott, Retratos (world premiere, complete song cycle); Tim Brooks & Lizzi Linklater, New Student In The University Cafe (world premiere); Jenny Jackson & Richard Kitchen, Vessels (world premiere) and Nick Carter & Hugh Bernays: The Water Will Not Remember from Requiem for the Arctic (world premiere)
This afternoon’s recital also includes David Power’s Six Songs, based on the poetry of E.H. Visiak, and two new settings by York St John University student composers Robyn Hughes-Maclean and Matthew Jarvis. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.
The Elysian Singers: Musical settings of poetry at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York. Picture: Linda Dawson
Poetry and music in motion: The Elysian Singers, York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
DIRECTED by Sam Laughton, The Elysian Singers’ insightful programme celebrates the musical settings of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Benjamin Britten’s A.M.D.G. will be complemented by works by Samuel Barber (Heaven-Haven), Alan Bullard (The Windhover and Spring Morning), Bob Chilcott (The Bethlehem Star) and Ian Stephens (Pied Beauty).
The première of David Lancaster’s new work, Henry Purcell, featuring Hopkins’ tribute to his own favourite composer, provides an opportunity to revisit Purcell’s Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences and O Lord God Of Hosts. David Power’s quirky and imaginative settings of four E.H. Visiak poems completes the line-up, preceded by Lancaster and Power’s 6.45pm pre-concert talk. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.
Shed Seven: Marking 30th anniversary of A Maximum High with one-off concert at The Piece Hall, Halifax, tonight
Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven, A Maximum High 30th Anniversary Show, The Piece Hall, Halifax, today, 6.30pm
YORK band Shed Seven are marking the 30th anniversary of their hit-laden second album, April 1996’s A Maximum High, with a one-off concert at The Piece Hall, featuring the magnum opus in full plus further Sheds’ hits and fan favourites. Expect a few surprises too. The Guest List (6.30pm) and Seb Lowe (7.20pm) support.
Utter Madness: The Nutty Boys stride out at Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time tonight
Seaside trip of the week: Madness, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, doors 6pm
IN their 50th year since forming in Camden, Nutty Boys Madness make their fourth appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre after previous seaside visits in 2017, 2019 and 2024.
Drawing on 31 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Ten albums, their timeless blend of ska, pop, punk and music hall will be on show as ever in Our House, It Must be Love, Baggy Trousers, House Of Fun et al. The Beat featuring Ranking Jnr and reggae vocalist Hollie Cook support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson
Thriller of the week: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Grand Opera House, York, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
FOR the first time, a John le Carré novel is being brought to life on stage by Chichester Festival Theatre in David Eldridge’s adaptation of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, a tale that journeys through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception and moral compromise.
Death In Paradise star Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer, Alec Leamas, is ready to come in from the cold, until veteran agent George Smiley persuades him to take one final mission against the East German Secret Service. Deep undercover, Leamas finds his convictions tested and his defences breached by Liz Gold, a quietly defiant librarian, whose compassion threatens to thaw his frostbitten heart. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
An open book or something more complex than that?Florence Poskitt’s Rita and Jamie McKeller’s Frank in Black Treacle Theatre’s Educating Rita
Literature lessons of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Educating Rita, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm
YORK actors Florence Poskitt and Jamie McKeller team up for the first time under Jim Paterson’s direction in Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving double-hander about the power of education to change lives. When Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signs up for an Open University literature course, she meets disillusioned academic Frank, whose passion for teaching has long faded.
Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and Frank reckons with his own choices and the possibility of a second chance. Change comes with difficult choices for both student and tutor, who must reconsider who they are and who they want to be. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Director Courtney Brown in Pickering Musical Society’s Let’s Do It!, The Cole Porter Songbook
Musical kicks of the week: Pickering Musical Society in Let’s Do It!r, The Cole Porter Songbook, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
IN a sparkling showcase of wit, romance, sophisticated melodies and clever lyrics, Pickering Musical Society celebrates the joyous Cole Porter Songbook, performing beloved songs from Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate and High Society and such hits as You’re The Top and I Get A Kick Out Of You under the direction of Courtney Brown.
The Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance’s vibrant tap, jazz and contemporary routines combine stylish choreography, glamorous costumes and a tribute to the Great American Songbook. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
The Bluffs: Short-form improv games infused with storytelling flair at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Unscripted silliness of the week: Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, June 11, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm
YORK troupe The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games and infuse them with storytelling flair in an evening of laughter, silliness and plot twists. Each fast-paced show is shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. Expect scenes inspired by classic literature, unexpected character mash-ups and even a fanfiction-inspired musical number.
The Bluffs are drawn from a melange of theatrical, comedy and musical backgrounds, from festival stages to pantomime and competitive Theatresports. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/unwritten-the-literary-improv-show-tickets-1984763723726.
Wright & Grainger: Say It & Play: “Gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff” at The Old Paint Shop on Thursday. Picture: Afternoon Film
The Old Paint Shop presents: Wright & Grainger Say It & Play it, York Theatre Royal Studio, June 11, 8pm
FRIENDS and working partners since Easingwold schooldays, Wright & Grainger serve a carefully curated evening of stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos. Known for their internationally acclaimed adaptations of Ancient Greek myths, sometimes they do something a tad different.
Say It & Play It will be a set full of Alexander Flanagan Wright & Phil Grainger’s shorter collaborative works, the poems that stand on their own, the beautiful tracks they have been writing. “It’s a gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff, grown and told on home turf,” they say. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Lincoln Lightfoot: Participating in North Yorkshire Open Studios
In Focus: North Yorkshire Open Studios, Summer edition, June 6 & 7 and June 13 & 14, 10am to 5pm
MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in the summer edition of North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026.
Covering three areas of God’s Own Country, from the remote Upper Dales to the Central locations of Harrogate and York and the Moors & Coast, this annual event enables creative talents to open their studios to promote and sell their work directly to the public.
Taking part in and around York will be jewellery designer Helen Drye (Fountains Close, Riccall); oil painter Pennie Lordan (Moor Lane, Copmanthorpe); artist Emma James (Copmanthorpe Lane, Bishopthorpe); oil painter Lucie Wake (Slingsby Grove); abstract seascape painter Alex Ash (Heslington Lane, Fulford); B-movie poster art pastiche surrealist Lincoln Lighfoot (Brunswick Street) and northern landscape linocut printmaker Jon Haste (South Bank Social Club, Ovington Terrace).
So too are eco jewellery designer Rebecca Mihill (Nunthorpe Grove); mixed-media artist Ali Hunter (Alma Terrace); environment and plant-inspired printmaker Rachel Jones (Richardson Street); stained glass artist, ceramicist and printmaker Veronica Ongaro (Richardson Street); oil painter Di Gomery (Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road) and experimental artist Jill Tattersall (Mount Parade).
Further York artists will be geometric jewellery designer Evie Leach (PICA Studios, Unit 4, Enterprise Complex, Walmgate); animal artist Katrina Mansfield (PICA Studios); figurative artist Lesley Shaw (PICA Studios); Irish landscape artist Lisa Power (PICA Studios); rag rug maker Lu Mason (PICA Studios) and cityscape and architecture artist Ric Liptrot (PICA Studios).
In the line-up too will be abstract rust and gold metal-leaf artist Jo Walton (Rogues Atelier, Franklin’s Yard, Fossgate); illustrator and screen-print gig poster artist Kai West (Rogues Atelier); mixed-media figurative artist Mo Nisbet (Acomb Road); nature and animal acrylic artist Nicola Glover (Beech Grove); stoneware potter Hannah Arnup (Arnup Studios, Panman Lane, Holtby); natural world artist Kate Pettitt (Arnup Studios); fine art photographer Lesley Peatfield and enigmatic, ethereal artist Michelle Galloway (Arnup Studios).
Look out too for pattern-led tropical botanical artist Emily Littler (Sugar Hill Farm Stockton Lane); stone and wood sculptor Janie Stevens (Greenthwaite, Chantry Green, Upper Poppleton); Japanese-inspired British plant, flower and animal artist Toby Staunton (The Cottage, Main Street, Shipton by Benuingbrough); landscape artist Gonzalo Blanco (Rose Dene, Moor Lane, Strensall) and multi-media figurative and abstract artist Andrew Bloodworth (Stonelands Close, Sheriff Hutton).
The names keep coming: mixed-media landscape artist Justine Warner (Laburnum Cottage, West End, Sheriff Hutton); “happy accidents” land, sky and water artist Graham Jones (Harland House, Main Street, Huby); nature artist Nora Gaston (Moat House, Boroughbridge Road, Green Hammerton); experimental landscape artist Freya Horsley (Corner Cottage, The Green, Tollerton) and Bee-spoke Quilts’ hand-made quilt, jackets and waistcoats (Apple Croft, Gale Road, Alne),
Completing the list for York & beyond will be milliner Jane de Carteret’s woodland-type creatures (Apple Croft, Alne); Gina Bean’s semi-abstract North Yorkshire landscapes (The Bentleys, Lower Dunsforth); beach, dale and vale artist Richard Gray (Burnside, Spring Street, Easingwold); landscape artist Jeff Parker (Roedeer House, Raskelf Road, Raskelf) and Anya Manfield’s abstract textile wall hangings, mixed media artworks and layered collage pieces (Amber Cottage, Kilburn).
The full list of artists and makers can be found at nyos.org.uk. The Winter North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026, featuring the same names, is in the diary for November 7 and 8, 11am to 4pm.
