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This one will run and run as Pilot Theatre present premiere of Manjeet Mann’s teenage tale Run, Rebel at Theatre Royal

Keep on running: A scene from Pilot Theatre’s Run, Rebel, with Kuldip Singh-Barmi’s  movement direction the key to capturing the sensation of running. Picture: Pamela Raith

BLACK Country actress and writer Manjeet Mann was feeling directionless.

Her father had died, she was working as a personal trainer as well as treading the boards, but getting out of bed was becoming a struggle. Where had her drive gone?

“I thought, ‘right, I’m going to run a marathon’,” says Manjeet, “I started the 22-week plan, where if I just run the prescribed 20 minutes each day, I’m winning – and I did. I got out of my slump.

“I’m an advocate of how sport can really help your mental health, and that’s when I thought about writing the book.”

The book in question is Manjeet’s multi award-winning debut verse novel, Run, Rebel, now transferred to the stage in Manjeet’s own adaptation, premiered by York company Pilot Theatre in the latest co-production with York Theatre Royal, Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and Derby Theatre.

Children’s author Manjeet, who was a runner in her schooldays, tells the story of schoolgirl Amber Rai, 15, who is trapped by her Punjabi family’s rules, their expectations, her own fears, yet on the running track feels completely free. There the world slows down as her body speeds up.

Jessica Kaur and Pushpinder Chani in Run, Rebel. Picture: Pamela Raith

Defining her place in that tangled world, Amber (played by Jessica Kaur) navigates a difficult home life and bullying at school, her sanctuary coming through running and running fast. Now is the time to kick-start a revolution, for her mother, her sister and herself in a play suitable for 11-year-olds and upwards that addresses violence, domestic violence, alcoholism, bullying and discrimination and makes reference to “honour” killings.

“Running is Amber’s one form of escape, and that story partly comes from personal experience at school,” says Manjeet, who now lives by the sea, where she swims every day, weather permitting.

“The other symbolism of running is that life is a  marathon, not a sprint, and there will be knockbacks and injuries along the way.”

The name of Amber was chosen with significance too. “I like my main protagonists’ names to have meaning. Amber has a few meanings, depending on what culture you’re from. Amber is a healing stone and a stone for courage too,” says Manjeet, explaining her choice.

She had been equally particular in seeking out Pilot Theatre for the premiere, aware of the impact of their co-productions with the York, Colchester, Coventry and Derby theatres since they forged a partnership in 2018 to develop, produce and present theatre for younger audiences, adapted from young adult novels.

Run, Rebel follows Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses, Alex Wheatle’s Crongton Knights and Zana Fraillon’s The Bone Sparrow on to the touring stage, this time directed by Tessa Walker with a combination of physical theatre  and “mesmerising visuals”.

Jessica Kaur, front, as Amber, with Asha Kingsley and Simran Kular in Pilot Theatre’s production of Manjeet Mann’s Run, Rebel. Picture: Pamela Raith

As Pilot Theatre artistic director Esther Richardson reflects: “Our project has sought to bring brand new stories to the stage for young adults and secondary school-age children, introducing them to characters who are living and experiencing the world as they are too in the 2020s.

“The goal has been to inspire an expansion and diversification of the range of work that is made and programmed for this age group, including on the school curriculum: we’ve aimed to enable theatres and schools to offer to young people and their carers and educators, narratives that are fresher and may feel more immediately relevant and relatable to their lives, than might be said of existing set and ‘classic’ texts.”

Hence Manjeet and Tessa’s determination that Pilot “would be the very best company to collaborate with”.

“I’d worked with a Tessa at Birmingham Rep, where I was an associate for a couple of years, when she was a mentor as well as working on projects with me, so we became great friends,” recalls Manjeet, whose two solo tour shows, Flying Solo and A Dangerous Woman, were directed by Tessa.

“The book came out in March 2020 – what a great year to become an author! – and she read it in 2021. I said I could really see it as a play, and after we did research and development with Arts Council funding, she thought, ‘Yes, this does have legs’.”

Unbeknown to Manjeet, Tessa gave a copy of the first draft to Esther Richardson, a draft that Manjeet considered to be “rubbish”. Nevertheless, Esther, who had done a previous R&D project with Manjeet, had “really liked” the author’s second book, 2021’s The Crossing. So far, so good.

Manjeet Mann: Novelist, playwright and actress

“Then I told her it would only be Pilot that I would want to do Run, Rebel on stage.” A production was born, and Manjeet took on her new writing challenge, adapting a story for the theatre. “It’s been a real learning curve,” she says. “I was naïve going into it, thinking ‘it’s my book, it’ll be easier for me to adapt, right? I’m not reinventing the wheel’. But I was!

“The first draft was very much just the book on stage, and then I started doing something very different with it, and now the play is a mix of the two. I found that things in the book can go in a different order on stage, and what drives a book  doesn’t necessarily drive what’s going on on stage.

“With Tessa being not only an amazing director, but a great dramaturg [script editor] too, it became really fun to do, especially when I put the book down, because I knew the story, and just let the play live.”

Has Manjeet participated in the rehearsals? “As an actor, I know what it’s like to have the writer in the room,” she says. “Tessa said, ‘Come in as often as you want’, but I think it can be stifling to be there.

“It’s best to leave it to the directors and actors, so I was only there on the first three days for the readthrough.”

Running is at the core of Run, Rebel. “The cast has been working with movement director Kuldip Singh-Barmi, who’s fabulous, to represent ‘running’ with lots of movement sequences in the performance,” says Manjeet.

Pilot Theatre’s poster for Run, Rebel, running (what else!) at York Theatre Royal from March 7 to 11

“I remember watching a comedian, Richard Gadd, who ran on a treadmill for the entire show, Monkey See Monkey Do [his story of training for the Man’s Man Final in Mansfield, ‘the ultimate competition of manly masculinity’]. That was awesome! The running in Run, Rebel won’t be too literal; it’s more showing running in a stylistic way, which really works.”

Manjeet’s next book had been scheduled for publication in 2023 until the task of adapting Run, Rebel for Pilot’s premiere took precdence during the past year. “It’s now coming out in June 2024,” she says

“It’s another verse novel, with another underdog , another female protagonist, set in India. She’s a teenager who gets accused of being a witch and then comes back later to take her revenge.

“There are 2,000 deaths a year of women accused of being witches, but the true fuigure is probably higher because they’re not all reported. The women are burnt or hanged from a tree, or witch doctors give them something that will kill them in the end, like having chillis put down their throat. It’s horrific.”

The title? Wait and see: it is yet to be confirmed with the publishers.

Pilot Theatre in Run, Rebel at York Theatre Royal, March 7 to 11, 7pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 1pm, Wednesday to Friday matinees; 2pm, Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York

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Henry Filloux-Bennett appointed executive director in ‘pivotal moment for Opera North’

Henry Filloux-Bennett: New executive director at Opera North. Picture: Samantha Toolsie

HENRY Filloux-Bennett is leaving HOME to be the new executive director at Opera North in Leeds from May 2023.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Opera North,” he says. “Having had a long connection with the company, from first seeing them at the Theatre Royal and Concert Hall in Nottingham to then working with them at The Lowry in Salford, and more recently at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, the prospect of joining as executive director at this really exciting – but also challenging – time is one I absolutely relish.”

Filloux-Bennett, who turned 40 last month, is at present executive director and deputy chief executive officer of HOME, the arts centre, cinema, theatre and gallery complex in Manchester. Previously, he was chief executive and artistic director of the Lawrence Batley Theatre; before that, head of marketing at The Lowry; earlier, head of marketing and communications at Nottingham Playhouse.

Filloux-Bennett also has worked as a producer and general manager for organisations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Royal Haymarket and Bill Kenwright Ltd.

As an author and playwright, he wrote the award-winning Nigel Slater’s Toast, commissioned by The Lowry and subsequently transferred to the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, The Other Place in London, plus a UK tour.

In 2020, his stage version of What A Carve Up!, based on Jonathan Coe’s novel, was chosen as one of the Guardian’s Top 10 theatre shows and the Telegraph’s Top 50 Cultural Events of the year.

In Covid-shrouded 2021, he adapted Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray, starring Fionn Whitehead and Joanna Lumley in a digital production for Barn Theatre/Lawrence Batley Theatre that was seen in more than 70 countries.

Opera North general manager Richard Mantle, left, with new executive director Henry Filloux-Bennett. Picture: Samantha Toolsie

He then co-wrote the original screenplay Going The Distance, starring Sarah Hadland, Shobna Gulati and Matthew Kelly in a digital comedy co-produced by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, The Dukes, Lancaster, and Watermill Theatre, Newbury.

Opera North’s general manager, Richard Mantle, says: “I am delighted to announce that Henry Filloux-Bennett has been appointed as our new executive director, joining the company in May 2023. He brings with him a wealth of experience through his theatre career and as a writer.

“This is a pivotal moment in the history of Opera North as we develop our strategic priorities and re-build our way out of the impact of the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.

“Henry will be a key part of the leadership of Opera North into the future, bringing with him significant experience of business planning, budgetary and financial forecasting, programming, stakeholder management, commercial strategies and food and beverage hospitality. I am thrilled to be able to welcome Henry to the Opera North team and look forward to our collaboration as colleagues.”

Opera North, a national opera company based in Leeds since 1977, tours opera and musical theatre to theatres and concert halls across the north of England, including regular appearances in Leeds, Greater Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead, Nottingham and Hull.

The company’s wide-ranging education and community partnerships work brings music and performance into the lives of communities across the region.

Opera North also operates and programmes the Howard Assembly Room, a 300-seat performance venue within the Leeds Grand Theatre building that offers an eclectic programme of world music, jazz and folk, classical, talks, film screenings and family events.

Opera North’s new restaurant and bar, Kino, opened last year on New Briggate, adjacent to the Howard Assembly Room and Grand Theatre.

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BBC award winner Naomi Simon to perform at York Community Choir Festival finale

BBC Young Chorister of the Year Award winner Naomi Simon: Singing at the York Community Choir Festival on March 11

NAOMI Simon, 2022 winner of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year Award, has agreed to sing at her home city’s Community Choir Festival on March 11 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

Naomi, 16, was a chorister at York Minster before taking up a scholarship at Rugby School to pursue her love of music. She is the daughter of JoRo Theatre patron Frances Simon, a speech and drama coach in York.

Joining Naomi will be a fellow BBC finalist, soprano-singing Bootham School pupil Sam Brophy. Each will sing solos before they perform a duet together.

From the age of seven, Sam has sung in choirs across the country, and now that his family lives in York, he sings in the York Minster Choir. Last December, he was the soprano soloist for Walking In The Air at the York Minster performance of Carrot Productions’ The Snowman.

York Community Choir Festival was started by JoRo trustee Graham Mitchell seven years ago. From small beginnings, the event has grown to a format of 33 choirs of all ages and singing styles performing in eight concerts over seven days.

“In a little coup for the event, the organising group is absolutely thrilled that Naomi and Sam are able to perform a short set for us on the final Saturday of the week-long festival,” says Graham, the Jo Ro’s community engagement director.

“Naomi’s performance in the BBC live final displayed a wonderful maturity and understanding of the carol that she chose to sing, Mary, Did You Know?, which wowed the three judges.

“Naomi has a busy schedule and we’re extremely fortunate that she can be in York when the festival is on. The festival itself is a celebration of music making regardless of age, ability or genre.

“Any choir based in the York area can apply to join in. This year, in addition to the vast range of adult choirs, we’ll have two primary school choirs performing in different concerts and about 100 pupils from Huntington School will sing in four different choirs run by the school – all on the Thursday night alongside three adult choirs. “

Graham adds: “The variety of song, genre and singing styles is absolutely marvellous and there’ll be no repetition in any concert. To confirm the variety of music on offer, on the night Naomi and Sam will be singing, we’ll have the York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, ladies’ close harmony group Track 29, the mixed voices of The Celebration Singers and Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy.”

“The whole world of music will be on stage with at least four choirs performing in every concert. Show tunes, pop, folk, world music, classical, gospel, close harmony, blues and jazz will all feature.

“From primary school choirs to young adult choirs, adult choirs to pensioner-only choirs, singing in male, female or mixed voice choirs, the festival is a celebration of how people come together to make music and have fun.

“Pensioners choir The Rolling Tones and York Wellbeing Choir, for example, are both aimed at enjoyment and combating loneliness.” 

Tickets for this fundraising event for the JoRo Theatre’s Raise The Roof appeal are available at £6 to £10 at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935 during opening hours.

“The festival is a celebration of how people come together to make music and have fun,” says organiser Graham Mitchell

Who is singing and when at the York Community Choir Festival

Sunday, March 5, 5pm

  • The Lakesiders Children’s Choir
  • The Rock Choir
  • Community Chorus
  • Singphonia

Monday, March 6, 7.30pm

  • Euphonics
  • Tadcaster Community Choir
  • The Abbey Belles
  • Supersingers

Tuesday, March 7, 7.30pm

  • The Daytones
  • Jubilate    
  • Dunnington Community Choir
  • Main Street Sound

Wednesday, March 8, 7.30pm

  • Sounds Fun Singers
  • In Harmony
  • Garrowby Singers
  • Community Singers with Jessa

Thursday, March 9, 7.30pm

  • Huntington School Choirs
  • Spirit of Harmony
  • Acomb Community Choir
  • York Military Wives Choir

Friday, March 10, 7.30pm

  • Aviva Vivace!
  • York Wellbeing Choir
  • York Phoenix Harmonies
  • Bishopthorpe Community Choir

Saturday, March 11, 2.30pm

  • Headlands School Choir
  • The Elysian Singers
  • Eboraca    
  • The Rolling Tones    

Saturday, March 11, 7.30pm

  • York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir
  • Track 29 
  • The Celebration Singers
  • Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy
  • Guest soloists Naomi Simon and Sam Brophy
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Drama at Grand Opera House as aliens take over box office. Lincoln Lightfoot is at large

Creature From The Bottom Of The Ouse, by Lincoln Lightfoot

ALIENS, dinosaurs and King Kong invade the Grand Opera House box office as York artist Lincoln Lightfoot explores surrealist concepts reminiscent of the absurdist poster art for the Fifties and Sixties’ B-movie fixation with comical science-fiction disasters.

Depicting unusual happenings with large beasts, staged in familiar settings and on iconic architecture, from York Minster to the Angel of the North, Lightfoot’s artwork escapes from everyday problems to tap into the fears perpetuated by the news media and politicians alike in a post Covid-19 world.

Lightfoot’s paintings parody religious apocalyptic scenes circa 1800, such as the work of John Martin, while his storybook illustrations explore detailed pen work and bright block colour.

Lightfoot’s journey into the fantastical began while studying Fine Art at York St John University. After achieving a PGCE in art, craft and design and leading an art & design department in a north-eastern school, he is pursuing his love for art and the surreal full time, showcasing his work in such York exhibitions as Under Siege and Revelation. Now his paintings are just the ticket for theatregoers in Cumberland Street.

York artist LIncoln Lightfoot with his alien artwork at his 2022 exhibition, Revelation, at Micklegate Social, York. Now his creatures from beyond are moving into the theatre world

As past and future collide in Lincoln Lightfoot’s art for today, CharlesHutchPress heads out into the maelstrom to track down the visionary artist among the marauding T-Rex

What inspired such nightmare visions of York and the north in your paintings, Lincoln?

“During the late B-Movie era, the Cold War kept us in perpetual fear of extinction from nuclear Armageddon until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.

“Today we have growing similarities re-emerging due to the conflict in the Ukraine, which threatens to spill over into the wider world.  Through engagement with art, we can deal with these nightmares.

“Children confront and make sense of a dangerous world through stories and rhymes and are taught of danger through the safe spaces of literature and illustration, which deal with anecdote and myth.”

How does your art respond to that world?

“My artworks attempt to highlight these fears through a safe and comical lens. Juxtaposed with scenes of our storybook city, it’s not hard to imagine incredible things happening in this part of the world because they already have. 

“Walking through York’s streets and passageways, our past heritage resonates in the present. Popular with shoppers and scholars alike, high art co-exists with popular culture.”

How did this Grand Opera House exhibition come about?

“I was fortunate enough to be approached by Allie Long, who works for the Opera House. She invited me to exhibit. She has a collection of my work at home, and when the opportunity arose to fill the box office with artwork, she thought my work would be a good fit. On show is a collection of three large oil paintings from my Revelation exhibition that showed at Micklegate Social last May.”

Close Encounters, by Lincoln Lightfoot

Do you go to the theatre…or are you more of a movie man, given that your images have a cinematic quality?

“As a child I attended a lot of theatre productions. My dad was heavily involved in theatrical groups and my brother and I attended Stagecoach, where we would have drama, dance and singing lessons.

“It opened many doors for me and I had the opportunity to perform as one of the Snow Children in Carousel at the Darlington Hippodrome Theatre and did some smaller production too.

“Unfortunately, it failed to make any sort of long-term impact, but I do still enjoy going to the theatre. I would say that I’m probably more of a movie man, but this may be down to the accessibility and what can be achieved in film. I still really enjoy the theatre and intend to attend more.”

What exhibitions are coming up for you in 2023?  York Open Studios, perhaps?

“Yes, I’ll be taking part in York Open Studios 2023! This should be an opportunity for visitors to my studio, in Brunswick Street, to engage with some new large paintings!

“I’m hoping to have a large solo exhibition in the summer, which will debut a new series, alongside some old favourites and potentially some 3D pieces. I’m toying with a couple of venues but need a large space. Any one of the empty buildings in town would be amazing, so if anyone has any venue ideas, please get in touch via lincoln.lightfoot@hotmail.co.uk.

“I also have work exhibiting alongside two more York artists in The Arthouse [fellow artist Sharon McDonagh’s holiday let in a Victorian terraced house in Railway Terrace, Holgate, York].”

You are developing a new series of works created in oil on circular boards. What do you like about this design shape?  

“I’ve chosen to pursue creating circular pieces as initially this was something new and exciting that I haven’t attempted before. I feel that the circle has certain biblical connotations and hope that it will lend itself to a heightened sense of mystery.

Land Of The Lost, by Lincoln Lightfoot

“I’m even toying with the idea of incorporating gold leaf into those sickly yellow skies but am yet to experiment with this. A lot of these pieces will involve writhing tentacles and the circular shape should complement the rhythm created within.

“I initially came up with the idea when studying Caravaggio’s Medusa’. I’m hoping to replicate some of the style without the violence. Any violence would merely be suggested. I’m still hoping to suggest science-fiction comedy.

“I’ve fallen in love with the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea poster and now have the French version hanging in my bathroom. I’m sure this will inspire some of the imagery.”

How does the circular differ in impact from the rectangular? 

“The use of circular boards breaks away from the expected. You’re immediately dealing with different rules of composition. What is aesthetically pleasing in a rectangle may not be in a circle and vice versa, for example.”

Will the design influence the subject matter too?

“I’m intending to return to and improve a successful line of illustrations, which I’ve informally entitled the ‘It Came From…’ series. So, there’ll be some familiar ideas and imagery but hopefully executed in a more compelling way. There’ll also be some new ideas too.”

Under what title will you exhibit these new works?

“I’m hoping to show them under the title ‘Encircled’ (inspired, I know!) this summer. I do have a number of venues in mind. I love the space in the Den at Micklegate Social and feel it fits the vibe of my work extremely well.

“It may be that these circular pieces make their debuts as Encircled and that my entire collection is exhibited in a large gallery setting alongside illustration, large murals and 3D pieces.”

Lincoln Lightfoot is exhibiting in the Grand Opera House box office, in Cumberland Street, York, until May 31. The box office is open 90 minutes before each show.

NEWSFLASH: 20/4/2023

LINCOLN Lightfoot will present a 90-minute Grand Opera House Creative Learning artist talk and workshop on May 4 at 6pm. Tickets can be booked at: atgtickets.com/shows/artist-talk-and-workshop-with-lincoln-lightfoot/grand-opera-house-york/.

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Iphigenia In Splott hits the spot as Livy Potter plays a young woman spiralling into an abyss of drugs, drink and drama

“As soon as I read the play, I knew I had to accept the challenge,” says Livy Potter of playing Effie in Gary Owen’s Iphigenia In Splott

GREEK myth meets modern reality in Gary Owen’s “horribly relevant” one-woman drama Iphigenia In Splott at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from Wednesday to Saturday.

Under the direction of Jim Paterson, York company Black Treacle Theatre presents Livy Potter in a 75-minute monologue about Effie, whose life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night, and a hangover worse than death the next day, until one incident gives her the chance to be something more.

Set in contemporary Cardiff, Owen’s play is rooted in the ancient tale of Iphigenia being sacrificed by her father to placate the gods. Effie, in turn, is the kind of woman to avoid eye contact with in the street when she is drunk at 11.30am in the morning.

“Iphigenia In Splott is a play about our country right now,” says director Jim Paterson

Named by the Guardian in its list of the 50 best plays of the 21st century, on account of being a “shattering modern classic that distils all our troubles”, Iphigenia In Splott is both a portrait of a woman whose life is turned upside down by the events of one night and a broader picture of the brutal impact of austerity on communities across Britain.

Director Paterson says “Iphigenia In Splott is a play about our country right now. It was originally written in 2015, but remains horribly relevant when we consider the state of our public services, the cost-of-living crisis and what this means for those already struggling to get by – who are too often forgotten or ignored by those in power.

“What makes it such a brilliantly rich play is the unforgettable character of Effie, and the poetry and lyricism in the language that Gary Owen has written for her. This gives it an emotional heft and weight that I think will be incredibly cathartic for an audience.”

Livy Potter and Jim Paterson in the rehearsal room

Livy Potter, the sole actor on stage throughout, says: “It’s such a privilege to be given the chance to play Effie. As soon as I read the play, I knew I had to accept the challenge; it’s poetic, emotional, witty and riveting.

“I can’t wait to share this story with York audiences. It’s been great to work with Jim again, having been directed by him in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Christopher Durang’s comedy  Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike last November. To be back performing at Theatre@41 is fantastic too.”

Paterson is joined in the production team by lighting designer Ivy Magee and set designer Richard Hampton with technical support from Sam Elmer.

Black Treacle Theatre in Iphigenia In Splott, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

“I can’t wait to share this story with York audiences,” says Livy Potter
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REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, York Theatre Royal, until March 4 ****

Razor sharp: Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd conducting his sharp practice as Julie Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett hovers in York Light’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen

LIGHT and dark combine for the tale of Sweeney Todd, York Light’s heavyweight production to mark both the company’s 70th anniversary and last November’s passing of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim at 91.

In 2016, Robert Readman favoured going dangerously up close at 41, Monkgate. In 2023, director-choreographer Martyn Knight returns Sondheim’s knife-edge musical thriller to a gothic grand scale, large ensemble et al, while adjusting the setting from venal Victorian to gory Georgian at York Theatre Royal.

Costume designers Suzanne Ayers and Jean Wilkinson and wardrobe co-ordinator Carly Price pull out all the stops, aided by Ellie Ryder’s wigs, hair and make-up, and sewing, wardrobe and make-up teams in big numbers. Fantastic work all round.

Full of foreboding: Clare Meadley’s harrowing Beggar Woman

Under conductor Paul Laidlaw, keyboardist Simon Kelly’s organ swells to unnerving, edge-of-the-seat effect, forewarning of the terrible deeds to come in an opening that establishes how important the 30-strong ensemble will be throughout this murder-is-meat musical, whether as feral harbingers, boozy pie eaters or mental asylum incumbents.

The grave mien and embittered baritone of Neil Wood’s ponytailed Sweeney Todd further concentrates the mind on the serious business ahead as he flees Australia to return to East London after 15 years of wrongful exile at Botany Bay, vowing vengeance on the corrupt Judge Turpin (Craig Kirby, reprising his Pick Me Up role with even more insufferable judicial arrogance).

The self-flagellating Judge is the abusive ward to Sweeney’s daughter Johanna (Madeleine Hicks), keeping her like a caged bird: a revelation that brings even more of a cutting edge to Sweeney’s resumption of his demon barbershop business above the worst pie gaff in London town.

Clinging on to love amid the wreckage: Maximus Mawle’s Anthony Hope and Madeleine Hicks’s Johanna

Mrs Lovett (Julie Anne Smith) needs an upgrade from the grit and gristle in her pies; Sweeney is up for a slice of the action, when she turns out to be as manipulative as Lady Macbeth.

Mrs Lovett may be devoid of humanity, but now that there is 100 per cent humanity in her pies, they turn out to be bloody good, celebrated heartily in God, That’s Good, the ensemble high point of a consistently impactful performance as London’s exposed underbelly.

Behind dark eyes and a bustling air, add Smith’s humour, love-a-duck London accent and top-notch singing, and hers is a best-in-show performance, relishing Sondheim’s devilish wit and snappy turn of phrase.

Pie high: Jonny Holbek’s Tobias Ragg, furthest forward to the right, leads the euphoric singing in God, That’s Good!

As the bodies pile up, deposited down the shoot from Sweeney’s barber’s chair with a rumble in the tumble each time he shortens life rather than hair, gradually a macabre darkness of humour permeates the audience response, all the more so for Wood’s Sweeney not changing his countenance . And yet vulnerability courses through his inner turmoil.

Praise too for Maximus Mawle’s Anthony Hope and Hicks’s Johanna in the young love roles, as up against it as Romeo and Juliet, plus a treat of a camply comic turn from Richard Bayton as henchman Beadle Bamford and Clare Meadley’s damaged bird of a harrowing prophetess, the homeless Beggar Woman. Martin Lay has great fun with his faux Italian accent as preposterous, twinkling rival barber Adolfo Pirelli.

Any York production is always better for the presence of Jonny Holbek, and his Tobias Ragg, assistant first to Pirelli then kitchen aid to Mrs Lovett, is a scene stealer here: humour and tragedy, light and darkness, hope and desperation, naivety and madness, all at play in his performance.

Gritty encounter: Julie Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett entreats Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd to try the worst pie in London town

Paul Laidlaw’s wind and brass players, together with Kelly’s keyboards and Francesca Rochester and Laurie Gunson’s percussion, bring out all the drama and rich musicality in Sondheim’s score, sometimes luscious, other times juddering and jagged.   

Martin Knight’s choreography matches that musical diversity, adding to the deliciously dark delights of this juicy psychological drama. Make sure to grab a bite of this very tasty pie.

Performances: 7.30pm,  tonight (27/02/2023) until Saturday plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee.  Box  office: 01904 623 568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

By Charles Hutchinson

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York Ceramics Fair returns in ‘bigger and better’ space for 60 exhibitors at York Racecourse on March 4 and 5

York ceramicist Emily Stubbs: Taking part in the 2023 York Ceramics Fair, where she will demonstrate her skills in a 3.30pm session on March 5

FOR next weekend’s York Ceramics Fair, the Craft Potters Association has curated artworks from 60 prominent British ceramicists and potters, hailing from Cornwall to Scotland.

Returning after a short break, the 2023 fair – the fourth so far – will be held in a “bigger and better space” indoors at York Racecourse, Knavesmire Road, York, on March 4 and 5 from 10am to 5pm each day.

Among the Yorkshire makers will be Ruth King, Loretta Braganza and Emily Stubbs, from York, Katie Braida, from Scarborough, and Penny Withers, from Sheffield.

Anna Lambert: Exhibitor and York Ceramics Fair chair, at work in her studio. Picture: Ben Boswell, copyright of Craft Potters Association

York Ceramics Fair is selected and run by and for the makers, who aim to provide an affordable platform that nonetheless showcases the finest makers working in clay today, all seeking to attract seasoned collectors, enthusiasts and home ornament seekers alike.

From porcelain to earthenware, vivacious to tranquil, minimal to complex, abstract to realism, traditional pots to contemporary designs, these hand-crafted artefacts come in all forms, media, shapes and sizes. No commission is taken on sales in this chance to buy directly from the maker.

Anna Lambert, Keighley ceramicist and fair chair, says: “We’re very happy to welcome new and returning visitors and collectors to our new larger venue, with more than 60 selected potters and ceramic artists from across the UK.

RAMP creative collaborators Roop Johnstone and Alice Hartford: Demonstration at 1.30pm on March 4

“York Ceramics Fair outgrew its original home in the Hospitium [Museum Gardens], and after spending some time looking for the right space, we’re happy to say it will be hosted at the iconic York Racecourse. This bright and open venue ticks all the boxes, with a broad range of ceramic artwork at all prices, ease of access and plenty of space for exciting demos, activities and trade stands to browse. Plus for the first time we can offer parking to guests.”

The exhibitors will be: Kirsty Adams; Justine Allison; Julie Ayton; Dee Barnes; Natalie Bell; Steve Booton; Fiona Booy; Loretta Braganza; Katie Braida; Ben Brierley; Jane Cairns; Rebecca Callis; Roger Cockram; Johanne Coker; Dianne Cross; Anthony Dix; Dennis Farrell; Lesley Farrell; Doug Fitch; Miche Follano; Laura Gibbs; Sharon Griffin; James Hake; Jaroslav Hrustalenko; Ruth King; Anna Lambert; Tony Laverick; Roger Lewis and Francis Lloyd-Jones.

Taking part too are: Sophie MacArthy; Juliet Macleod; Hannah McAndrew; Colin Milnes; Sara Moorhouse; Jenny Morten; Eric Moss; Sue Mundy; Stephen Murfitt; Jeremy Nichols; Patrick O’Donohue; Simon Olley; Rachel Peters; Adela Powell; RAMP; Elizabeth Renton; Micaela Schoop; Yuta Segawa; Tokes Sharif; Emily Stubbs; Hiro Takahashi; Joanna Terry; Iona Crawford Topp; Carolyn Tripp; Shirley Vauvelle; Josie Walter; Paul Wearing; Andrea Welsh; Douglas White; Richard Wilson; Penny Withers and Rachel Wood.

Katie Braida: Demonstrating hand-building techniques at 11.30am on March 4

Over the weekend, in the centre of the fair space, informal demonstrations will be held by exhibitors, showing techniques important to their work. On Saturday, at 11.30am, Katie Braida will demonstrate the hand-building techniques she uses for creating her sculptural vessels, as well as how she refines and textures the forms.

At 1.30pm, the slip-decorated earthenware and porcelain-making collaboration of RAMP duo Alice Hartford and Roop Johnstone will work on making and decorating their taller forms to become lamp bases.

Alice will demonstrate her slip decorating techniques, painting thin layers of slip, application of paper stencils and scraffito work. Roop will demonstrate making taller forms on the wheel, using a combination of assembling separate forms and throwing large coils to build a form.

Steve Beeton: Demonstrating how to facet a large moon jar on March 5 at 11.30am

At 3.30pm, Lake District ceramicist James Hake will show how to make a square vase on the wheel. His stoneware is embellished with oriental glazes made using natural materials gathered from the Cumbrian landscape. The firing process creates fluid and dynamic surfaces that draw together his experiments with colour and texture.

Steve Booton will open the Sunday sessions in an 11.30am demonstration that will cover texture and faceting small pots and a large moon jar. At 1.30pm, Hannah McAndrew will show how she slip-trails a piece of flatware while discussing her slip trailers and the way she lays out her designs.

The demonstrations will conclude at 3.30pm with York ceramicist Emily Stubbs, who draws inspiration from her 2D paper collages and sketches. She will demonstrate how she translates these into clay, building up layer upon layer of slips and glazes, using various decorating techniques in clay, such as under-glazing, sgraffito, mono-printing and mark making.

York ceramicist Ruth King: Dedicated more than 40 years to the art and process of making ceramic vessels

Her finished vessels have a similar graphic quality to them, with bold colour, strong line and intuitive mark making. Make a note to visit Emily’s studio in Ambrose Street during the 2023 York Open Studios, open on April 15, 16, 22 and 23, from 10am to 5pm.

Throughout the York Ceramics Fair weekend, a free shuttle bus service will run every 40 minutes from the Memorial Gardens coach stand on Leeman Road, close to the railway station, from 9.30am each day.

Tickets cost £5, under 16s free, at eventbrite.co.uk/e/york-ceramics-fair-2023-tickets-474142331477. For a full list of exhibitors and further details, head to: yorkceramicsfair.com.

Loretta Braganza: York hand-built sculptural potter
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Angie Millard’s York theatre collective make debut with still shocking Sixties’ Orton farce

York Actors Collective director Angie Millard, left, and stage manager Em Peattie

YORK Actors Collective, the like-minded group set up by theatre director, critic and theatre and film studies tutor Angie Millard, will make their debut with Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane next month.

Premiered in the West End in 1964, Orton’s controversial farce still has the power to shock almost 50 years later with its story of Kath bringing home a lodger: the amoral and psychopathic Mr Sloane.

Her father recognises him from his past life and challenges Mr Sloane’s honesty, but when her brother Ed arrives, everything turns more complicated. A tense sexual struggle for Mr Sloane ensues as he plays one sibling off against the other while their father is caught in the crossfire.

The roles at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from March 15 to 18 go to Victoria Delaney as Kath, York St John University student Ben Weir as Mr Sloane, Chris Pomfrett as Ed and Mick Liversidge as the father, Dada Kemp.

“Victoria and Chris have been involved with the new group since last summer,” says Angie. “We talked about so many plays, plays that would have audience appeal but also be challenging for the performers.

A troublesome triangle: Ben Weir’s Mr Sloane, left, with Victoria Delaney’s Kath and Chris Pomfrett’s Ed in Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. Picture: John Saunders

“Entertaining Mr Sloane was one. Joe Orton died too young [aged 34 on August 9 1967], so there aren’t that many plays and they’re not performed that often. I think people are a bit frightened of him, but the thing I love about him is the way he takes a theatrical form and updates it totally to his time, the Sixties. The language is brilliant; the writing is so funny.”

Angie continues: “The other big thing about Orton is that he was writing at a time of censorship, and the innuendo in the play is there to help him get away with things – and he did! He got away with murder! Especially when the censors were looking for homosexuality without recognising it.”

Controversy still surrounds Orton. “I find his treatment of women difficult in his plays, like his treatment of Kath. He makes her grotesque, and finally when she gets her revenge, in a way he had to do that for the shape of the play,” says Angie.

“Left to his own devices, he wouldn’t have done it, but he was such a master of theatrical form, though not of detail. It means I have to work very hard to work out how to get props on and off because he’s forgotten about them.”

Orton’s savagely sharp, confrontational dramas present challenges to director and cast alike. “I like to look at a play and see what you can do with it, and then you make your decisions about it. Orton’s estate are keen that you don’t change words, but rather than Kath having to be naked [as denoted in the play], Victoria is making her look seductive, clothed,” says Angie.

Ed-lock: Chris Pomfrett’s Ed and Mick Liversidge’s Dada Kemp in York Actors Collective’s debut production of Entertaining Mr Sloane. Picture: John Saunders

“We’re playing it in the period setting – the 1960s – and there are things like racist references in there, but because Kath takes a non-racist attitude, it works.

“There are lots of times where her brother Ed treats her shabbily too – they have a very unhappy, complex relationship – and you realise he could easily be transported to 2023 and still behave like that in the home.”

Looking back to the Sixties and the prevailing attitudes towards women at the time, Angie says: “I was a young student in London, at college doing drama and then going to university after that, and men treated you in a certain way; they all did, but that was the culture of the time. When I hear women complain now, I understand, but I also think, ‘you should have been there in the Sixties; that behaviour was the norm’.”

From Sheffield originally, Angie and her husband Clive moved to York ten years ago, since when she has played her part in the arts world, whether directing Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind for York Settlement Community Players or writing reviews for York Calling. 

Now, she has formed her own troupe. “I don’t know if any other group would have put on this play, saying ‘it’s too shocking. No-one will come’. But York deserves to be shocked! If you fall shy of that, then you don’t see the theatre you deserve,” she says.

“I find his treatment of women difficult in his plays,” says director Angie Millard of Joe Orton. Here Ben Weir’s Mr Sloane attacks Victoria Delaney’s Kath. Picture: John Saunders

“I’m putting my own money into this project. People have hobbies that they put their money into, and I’m equating what I’m doing with that. I’d like to break even, and if people come along, we shall continue and do another play.”

Should you be wondering why the York Actors Collective is so called, Angie says: “I wanted to call it a ‘cooperative’ but everyone else wanted ‘collective’, and I thought ‘fair enough’! But whatever the name, it’s a passion project that I really wanted to do, where like-minded actors aim to produce entertaining and thought-provoking theatre.

“I don’t think Entertaining Mr Sloane is Orton’s best play. That would be What The Butler Saw, but by not doing this play you would be losing out on what is superb about it: it’s an actor’s play, a character play, where you really get into those characters’ situations.”

And so, the York Actors Collective is born.

York Actors Collective in Entertaining Mr Sloane, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 15 to 18, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Did you know?

ENTERTAINING Mr Sloane lead actress Victoria Delaney also will be appearing in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing at York Theatre Royal Studio from April 5 to 15. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York

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York Art Gallery revels in young rebels of book world in marvel of a mischievous show

Author, illustrator and 2017-2019 Children’s Laureate Lauren Child at the opening of Marvellous & Mischievous: Literature’s Young Rebels at York Art Gallery. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

PIPPI Longstocking. Jane Eyre. Zog. Matilda. Dennis the Menace. A doodling Latin student. All feature in the British Library’s touring exhibition Marvellous and Mischievous: Literature’s Young Rebels, booked into York Art Gallery until June 4.

Showcasing around 40 books, manuscripts and original artwork, this family-friendly show shines a spotlight on rebels, outsiders and spirited survivors from children’s literature spanning more than 300 years.

Drawn from the British Library’s vast collection, Marvellous and Mischievous celebrates cherished characters who break the rules and defy conventions in an invitation for young and old alike to rediscover their storybook favourites and meet new ones in their homes, schools and on journeys.

Bright idea: A child enjoying the activity room at the Marvellous and Mischievous exhibition. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

Among the exhibition highlights are the first British edition of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne Of Green Gables; the first version of George Cruikshank’s coloured illustrations for Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, along with artwork for Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker (by Nick Sharratt), Lauren Child’s What Planet Are You From, Clarice Bean?, Julia Donaldson’s Zog (by Alex Scheffler), Judith Kerr’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and Sarah Garland’s Azzi In Between.

Lucy Evans, the British Library’s lead curator for this exhibition, says: “Marvellous And Mischievous is a fun, interactive exhibition all about exploring what makes a young ‘rebel’ in children’s stories.

“They could be a character that resists authority or breaks away from convention. Children’s literature over the past 300 years has shown that rebels come in all shapes and sizes, including children who may struggle to actually rebel and so their quest is more one of survival; these resilient characters are very much part of our story.”

An activity room with a sensory area and play kitchen complements the exhibition, with opportunities for young visitors to create their own rebel tales by dressing up as the Rebel of The School and reflecting on which cause they might back. In addition, they can enjoy a selection of books in a dedicated reading area.

Charlotte Bronte’s original manuscript for Jane Eyre, on display at York Art Gallery. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Fiona Burton, public engagement manager at York Museums Trust, says: “Marvellous and Mischievous is a fun-filled and interactive exhibition, perfect for the whole family. There’s a variety of books on display, and we hope visitors enjoy and feel inspired by their favourite characters, as well as any new ones that they’ll meet along the way.”

Alongside the exhibition, York Art Gallery is offering events and workshops tailored to all ages. Families can unleash their creativity through workshops and activities run in collaboration with Gemma Curry’s Hoglets Theatre, Curious Arts and Cassie Vallance and Janet Bruce’s Story Craft Theatre, purveyors of Wicked Wednesday interactive story-theatre workshops. Make a note, den building with recyclable materials will take place on Earth Day, April 22.

Adults may take part in events such as illustration masterclasses and storytelling workshops, suitable for those looking to develop new skills.

Reading time: A quiet moment with a book amid Literature’s Young Rebels at York Art Gallery. Picture: Antony Chappel-Ross

“York Art Gallery won the [Kids In Museums] Family Friendly Museum Award in 2016 after reopening [following its £8 million refurbishment], and post-pandemic we’re keen to encourage families back into the gallery,” says senior curator Morgan Feely. “For this exhibition, for example, we’re placing the plinths and the labelling lower, with captions for smaller children too.

“Marvellous and mischievous young rebels really appeal to children, and I can’t think of a better young rebel for our times than climate activist Greta Thunberg.”

The exhibition is divided into three sections, each denoted by a colour, yellow for Home, blue for School and green for Journeys. Home, for example, expresses how rebellion often begins in the home, where children may face the challenge of standing up to nasty grown-ups or the need to try to change their circumstances.

Look out too for cut-outs of tropical trees and flying ducks, seats stuck to the walls and bold wallpaper prints, courtesy of the British Library design team.

Act of rebellion: A chance to dress up in the school changing room as a favourite rebel at York Art Gallery. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Myriad rebels are to be spotted from Peter Pan to Heinrich Hoffmann’s The English Struwwelpeter (Shock-headed Peter), David Walliams’s The Midnight Gang to David Roberts’s Dirty Bertie.

In the School Room can be found a John Aggs illustration for Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses; an animated Dennis the Menace; Charlotte Bronte’s manuscript for Jane Eyre in the most immaculate handwriting and a page from Roald Dahl’s hand-written first version of Matilda, accompanied by one from the type-written sixth version. 

[We await the red pen version from the “sensitivity readers” at Dahl’s publishers with all their huffin’ and Puffin over removing language deemed to be offensive to 2023 sensitivities!).

Dahl goes from a nascent Matilda’s “very naughty and not at all nice” hatching of a plot to put itching powder in her classmates’ pants to version six’s more recognisable characteristics of facing up to headmistress Miss Trunchbull and playing pranks on her horrible parents as she challenges adults in charge.

“Dare to be a shining light!”: An inspirational illustration for putative young rebels in the Home room at the Marvellous and Mischievous exhibition. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

For the “tiniest” act of rebellion, seek out the 17th century Latin school textbook with a child’s doodle in the margin.

In the Green Room, journeys in books range from Robert Sabuda’s pop-up design for J M Barrie’s Peter Pan to a Japanese version of Alice In Wonderland in fashionable 1920s’ attire; Yu Rong’s illustration for Qin Wenjun’s Mulan to biographies of Eminent Chinse Woman from George III’s collection.

“What is a rebel?” the exhibition asks. “Is it someone who stands up for their beliefs or likes breaking the rules? Someone who is brave, trying to survive a difficult situation, or just enjoying some mischief?”

All of them, rebels with a cause and applause, as witnessed by diversity of stories writ large on York Art Gallery’s walls and floors.

Marvellous And Mischievous: Literature’s Young Rebels, York Art Gallery, Exhibition Square, York, until June 4. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk. Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.

The green room at the Marvellous and Mischievous exhibition: Full of stories of journeys, from Peter Pan to refugees. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

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