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Why York city centre is all at sea as Tom Lewis’s neon art takes over coffee shop

Tom Lewis’s Neon Beasts: Adding a Splash Of Colour to the corner of Feasegate and Market Street, York, in Art Of Protest Projects’ latest city-centre installation

SOMETHING fishy is happening to York city centre.

The reason is Splash Of Colour: Neon Beasts, a street art installation that is making waves amid the throng of Christmas shoppers and night-time party people.

York urban art team Art Of Protest Projects has curated this “exciting space for residents and tourists to come and soak up” at the corner of Feasegate and Market Street.

Commissioned by the York Business Improvement District (BID), the installation features artist Tom Lewis’s Neon Beasts in a project designed to bring animation and theatre to the streets, together with footfall and smiles to a deprived part of the city centre.

Before: The empty former coffee shop

Art Of Protest Projects director Jeff Clark says: “The high streets have suffered in the UK since the Covid pandemic hit and many businesses have struggled to stay open. By targeting a specific area in York with a concentrated amount of empty shop-front windows, our mission was to uplift the streets and breathe new life into them, making the space an interesting place to walk past, even if people cannot walk inside.

“The result has been fantastic as the tired and unused streets have been transformed by an infusion of colour and energy, but also with a deeper meaning behind the art.” 

Splash of Colour: Neon Beasts utilises multiple forms of artistic media and aquatic features, designed to navigate people from Coney Street to Parliament Street in a curiously colourful way.

After: Tom Lewis’s shop-frontage conversion into a street art installation

The Art Of Protest Projects team asked whimsical Lewes artist Tom Lewis to bring” iconic scenery into focus that relates back to York’s history and relationship with its waterways”, using vibrant colours and imagery to create a modern piece of street art.

On the frontage of a former coffee shop, the team has covered the space from top to bottom with a mural wrap, painting the adjacent pillars to reveal ocean waves and applying floor art and colourfully painted benches, providing a place for people to stop and take in the beautiful scenery.

Look out for an information board that gives details of the individual sea creatures for passers-by, complemented by a QR code that leads to more info on the project and also connects it to the charity Blue Marine Foundation, acting as a call to action for people to learn more about the crisis brought on by overfishing.

Installation artist Tom Lewis

At night, the installation takes on an added radiance with ultraviolet lighting, illuminating the space and transforming the Neon Beasts into an even brighter and more impactful feature.

At first, the installation’s aquatic, underwater theme may seem unusual to residents and tourists alike, but Art Of Protest Projects communication director Brenna Allsuch says: “Almost every street that you walk down in the city of York is somehow linked to the history of the seas. The waters have provided a source of food, a pathway to reach foreign lands, a boundary divide to separate during war, and a travel network to expand the globe as we know it.

“York has had a plethora of historical importance, from its strong ties to the Romans where it saw incredible prosperity, to the years of struggling through the plague. Whether it be the Romans, the Saxons, the Vikings or during the mediaeval era, through to the more recent years of the Industrial Revolution, York has taken much of its trade and wealth from the seas.”

The information board for Tom Lewis’s installation

Jeff adds: “It’s always a wonderful feeling to be able to create a successful project, from concept and planning to full-scale delivery – and to see the instant effect that urban art has on people’s facial expressions and moods is a real privilege.

“We’ve done so many projects over the years with the intention of uplifting people’s spirits, including our last project with the York BID, the Guardians Of York, during the Covid pandemic, so to help bring a little bit of colour and joy to what was becoming quite a sad and unused thoroughfare in York was a really exciting opportunity to deliver on.

“We took an interesting concept, and by utilising the talent of artist Tom Lewis, we brought it to life. We’re super-proud of the result and the new space for people to come sit and relax.”

“We’re super-proud of the result and the new space for people to come sit and relax,” says Art Of Protest Projects director Jeff Clark

York artist Rosanna Johnson enthuses: “The high-street makeover by Art Of Protest Projects and Tom Lewis has done wonders for the street’s atmosphere. It’s so great to see it revamped and lit up with neon colours and aquatic shapes. I think young people especially will enjoy the feature. York needs more of this.”

Brenna concludes: “Intended for all ages and demographics, Splash Of Colour is a place to stop, to ponder, to laugh, to photograph, to share, to enjoy.” The installation will remain in place for several months. 

“Full-scale delivery”: A shark in the dark in Tom Lewis’s Neon Beasts installation
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Batman and The Queen, art and politics collide in Heath Kane’s Art Of Protest debut

Topical, political and convention-challenging artist Heath Kane: Making his Art Of Protest Gallery debut in York

ART Of Protest Gallery’s Christmas Hang is up and glistening in Walmgate, introducing a new name to York’s exhibiting walls.

Born in Australia, Heath Kane has spent much of his life in England; first in London and now in the market town of Saffron Walden, Essex, where he has his studio.

“In the first part of Heath’s career, he was a designer and art director for London advertising agencies, and a strong sense of graphic structure still sits at the heart of his art,” says gallery curator Craig Humble. “He specialises in simple, iconic and memorable pieces that have the ability to tell stories and are linked to a larger narrative.”

Heath Kane’s artwork on display at Art Of Protest Gallery

One of Heath’s breakthrough collections was Rich Enough To Be Batman, the superimposing of Batman’s mask on The Queen’s face, in his response to what he calls “the increasing disparity in wealth that I was seeing”.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the world around me: particularly where life, art and storytelling collide,” says Heath. “After decades of working in advertising and design, it dawned on me that there was more to life than selling people sh*t they don’t need.

“Having worked with clients in the luxury goods market for quite a while, I found it hard to understand how some individuals had more wealth than entire countries. And so I created Rich Enough To Be Batman. I knew then that I wanted any art I made to be topical, political and to challenge the conventions of our lifestyles and the world we live in today.”

“I want people to look at my art and talk about the issues we face, both individually and as a community,” says Heath Kane

Heath has always made art in response to what he sees happening in the world. “Each of my collections explores a different political or social narrative,” he explains. “I want people to look at my art and talk about the issues we face, both individually and as a community.

“When politics seems to be moving backwards (and while right-wing governments continue to be in power), we need to be more active than ever in moving forwards. In creating art, I now have a voice that can help to bring about change. And through buying my art, perhaps you can join in that choir.”

Heath vows to continue to create more art that brings awareness to the societal rifts that politics creates. “I hope to ridicule these divisions while trying to create more tolerance and understanding for each other,” he says. “Let’s work together in making the world better. Not just for ourselves, but for everyone.”

Gallery opening hours are: Monday to Friday, 11am to 6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

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‘That’s why there’ll be no retirement,’ vows Dame Berwick as Old Granny Goose steps up for adventures at Grand Opera House

Dame Berwick Kaler, playing Mrs Plum-Duff in The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose at the Grand Opera House. Picture: David Harrison  

GRAND dame Berwick Kaler will step on a York stage on Wednesday for the first time since Covid ruled him out of the last week of his comeback show, Dick Turpin Rides Again, last December.

Last winter had marked his crosstown transfer to the Grand Opera House after four decades at York Theatre Royal, bringing his trusty cohorts, vainglorious villain David Leonard, spring-heeled comic stooge Martin Barrass, golden principal gal Suzy Cooper and “luverly Brummie” AJ Powell, along for the ride.

Roll on a year, and all the team are back once more after protracted contract negotiations for 49 performances of The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose, Dame Berwick’s 42nd York panto.

Some things have not changed: at 76, and five years on from his double heart bypass operation and having his pacemaker fitted – or “Gerry” as he calls it – Dame Berwick is still directing the show, as well as performing the dame’s role, Mrs Plum-Duff this year.

He completed writing the script at 6am last Thursday, as close to the “deadline” as ever for rehearsals at a new location for 2022, Theatre@41, Monkgate.

“I have to say the management has been as good as gold,” says Dame Berwick. “I’ve ended up by concentrating on what I consider good old-fashioned pantomime values, so I’ve put the emphasis on the verbal exchanges.”

Other things have changed, however. Last year’s partners in the Grand Opera House pantomime, Qdos Entertainment/Crossroads Live, have made way after only a year for UK Productions, whose musical theatre shows and pantomime play across Britain and Ireland, London’s West End, mainland Europe, Turkey, Malta, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Berwick, meanwhile, has suffered the loss of his partner, David Norton, after 40 years together. “It’s the loneliness. Suddenly you’re alone,” he says of the grief he has experienced. “We couldn’t have got this show on if I didn’t have the team around me. There’s no way I could have done it otherwise.

“I’ve lost a way of life,” he reflects. “I have to do everything now. There are two dogs [spaniels, should you be wondering]; they’d go out two or three times a day with David, so they were always looked after during my pantomime commitments.

“Now I’ve had to bring my sister and her husband up from Ilkley to look after them, let them out, during Old Granny Goose, and they’re in their 80s.”

Berwick’s weight has dropped to nine and a half stone, his face and legs thinner at 76. “I’d always been around 11 stone. That was my fighting weight for pantomime,” he says. “I can’t afford to lose any more.”

High fives: Berwick Kaler, centre, reunites with regular partners in panto Martin Barrass, left, AJ Powell, Suzy Cooper and David Leonard on stage at the Grand Opera House. Picture: David Harrison

He once said he lost as much two stone during those long, long pantomime runs at York Theatre Royal, an endurance test of heavy costumes and even heavier workloads when three performances a day were not uncommon over weekends and the festive holidays in bygone days.

The fighting spirit still burns inside, coupled with the need to entertain, to savour the roar of the crowd. “If I can get through this year, then I can get through anything in life,” says Berwick.

He may have vowed to retire at 70 or after 40 years of pantomimes, settling for the second route out, but he quickly regretted that decision. “I still think I can give people a laugh, and I think this show will be a laugh,” he says.

“I’ve always worked, and anything I’ve got, I’ve always worked for. I’ve just worked and worked from the age of 15 [when he headed from Sunderland to London to be a painter and decorator]. I still need that fix of performing every year – and I’m feeling fit.”

As for the content of The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose, Dame Berwick says: “I hope you think the humour is all natural. I take the mick out of myself about my age, like when I do this Barbie Girl number – I’m calling it ‘Barmy Girl’ – where I collapse at the end.

“The good thing is that we can all take the mick out of each other on stage after all these years, and audiences love that.

“But there’ll be no mention of Covid or the hardships that people have had to go through. They don’t want that right now.

“Mind you, it’s so difficult, especially now in these woke times, when I’ll write something that I don’t think will offend anyone, but then someone says, ‘you can’t say that’. Though I’m all for woke progress, it’s suffocating comedy.”

Slapstick will still play its part. “I can do some lovely slapstick, like a decorating scene, making Martin do all the physical stuff!” says Dame Berwick. “But I can’t throw buckets of water. That’s just not practical anymore.  When you ‘move house’ [to the Grand Opera House], you have to adjust.

“But I’ve still got sections in the script where I’ll go down the steps to the stalls to banter with the audience. That was something we really missed under Covid restrictions.”

Dame Berwick wants to continue tapping into the inner child, the one devoid of a sense of embarrassment when throwing off the shackles of English reserve in pantoland.  “That’s why there’ll be no retirement. I’ve had one very big retirement and that’s it,” he says. The boots with one yellow lace, one red, are not ready for hanging up.

Berwick Kaler in The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose, Grand Opera House, York, December 10 to January 8 2023. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.

Copyright of The Press, York

The poster for Berwick Kaler’s second pantomime at the Grand Opera House, The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose
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The Ebor Singers to celebrate Christmas with Handel and Britten carols at St Olave’s

The Ebor Singers: Christmas concert at St Olave’s Church

THE Ebor Singers serve up a double festive treat of Part One of Handel’s Messiah and Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols in A Christmas Celebration in York on Sunday, December 18.

This is the second of the York choir’s Christmas concerts, wherein the 7.30pm programme will be performed in the intimate surroundings of St Olave’s Church, Marygate.

The choir will be joined by a string quartet and organist Keith Wright for Handel’s work; harpist Rachel Dent for Britten’s carols. Solos will be taken on by choir members.

“Part One of Handel’s Messiah takes us from prophecy to the birth of Jesus, and Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols takes up the story of the nativity,” says musical director Paul Gameson. “Although 200 years separate these two works, they both speak with similar directness and freshness.

“Handel draws on the most popular musical genres of the day for his Messiah: part-German passion, part-Italian opera, part-English anthem. Britten followed a trend of his contemporaries, exploring medieval poetry, but his music – scored for female voices and harp – established the new quintessential ‘sound’ of Christmas music.

A Christmas Celebration also showcases pieces from The Ebor Singers’ new album of American Christmas music, Wishes And Candles.

Tickets (£15, concessions £12, students aged 16 plus £7, children free) are available from eventbrite.co.uk or on the door.

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REVIEW: All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal, until January 2 2203 ****

Hook, line and singer: Paul Hawkyard’s Captain Hook in his big nuumber in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan. All pictures: Pamela Raith

York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions present All New Adventures Of Peter Pan at York Theatre Royal. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk 

THE show title signifies changes afoot and freshness, but York Theatre Royal knows continuity is important too.

In the third year of the pantomime partnership with Evolution Productions – with a fourth year already rubber stamped for Jack And The Beanstalk next winter – Juliet Forster remains the director, Paul Hendy, the writer, and Hayley Del Harrison, the choreographer.

Children’s favourite Faye Campbell returns too, alongside the double-the-trouble double act of Paul Hawkyard and Robin Simpson, Cinderella’s award-nominated Ugly Sisters last year and now villainous Captain Hook and dame Mrs Smee respectively.

Ship-shape and bristling fashion: Robin Simpson’s dame, Mrs Smee

Having a CBeebies TV presenter to the fore last year in Andy Day proved a hit, and so science whizz Maddie Moate fronts the poster and flyer campaign this time as a feisty, fearless, even fractious Tinkerbell.

What’s new? The story for a start, still rooted in JM Barrie, but for the next generation. Wendy Darling is now Wendy Sweet (Theatre Royal newcomer Francesca Benton-Stace), mum to single-minded Elizabeth (Campbell), who craves her own flight to Neverland with Peter Pan (Jason Battersby). Elizabeth is more of a feminist, never attracted to Peter in the way Wendy was, but very much a dab hand at the “Lizzie Mother” role to the Lost Boys and Lost Girls.

There’s a new Newfoundland nanny dog in the house too, Nana being replaced by Minton, who leaves a mark on the show in more than one way. Naughty, Minton.

The father of the house, Hawkyard’s Mr Sweet, still turns into Captain Hook; Simpson’s dame makes a rather smaller leap for pantokind from home help Mrs Smee to Hook’s henchperson Mrs Smee. Likewise, Jonny Weldon, actor since childhood and social media comedy-sketch phenomenon since Covid lockdowns, switches from butler Mr Starkey to Hook’s other henchman, Starkey.

Balancing act: The Black Diamonds in acrobatic mode in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

The double act becomes a mischief-making trio, Hawkyard’s dandy, intemperate Hook still ridiculously vainglorious but the butt of multiple jokes as shock-haired cheeky chappy Weedon and Simpson’s savvy dame conduct a pun fight to the last.

Oh, how writer Paul Hendy loves a pun, no matter how convoluted the set-up, and when it is combined with visual gags in a fish-name routine, reprising the magazine-title routine from 2020’s Travelling Pantomime, the jokes really get their skates on, faster, funnier, fishier.

Act One hits its stride amid the mayhem of Hawkyard, Simpson and Weldon struggling to manoeuvre a boat across the stage, dangerously close to the orchestra pit, reducing fourth occupant Moate’s to fits of laughter on the stern. This scene, already ripe for improvisation, will grow ever more chaotic as the run progresses.

Moate’s beaming Tinkerbell had made her first entry from above, flying high over the stage. Soon Battersby’s Pan, a magical, mysterious yet damaged perennial child, will lead Campbell’s Elizabeth across the London night sky to a duet of Take That’s Rule The World and onwards to Neverland in a gorgeous video projection by Dr Andy.

Drop in. centre: Maddie Moate’s Tinkerbell makes her entry as Faye Campbell’s Elizabeth and Jason Battersby’s Peter Pan look on

Later, in Act Two, Simpson’s Mrs Smee will emerge from on high too to the accompaniment of the James Bond theme, now playing flipper-clad Caroline Bond on a hoist that stubbornly refuses to touch the ground despite Simpson’s increasingly desperate pleas. Comic timing is exquisite here, and again, for all Simpson’s self-sacrificing physical discomfort, this scene is sure to expand.

Hendy and director Juliet Forster love the magic of pantomime as much as the comic mayhem rendered by haughty Hawkyard and co. This applies equally to Helga Wood, Michelle Marden and Stuart Relph’s set design, for London house, island and aboard the Jolly Roger, and to Harrison’s fizzing and fun choreography, and they are never happier than when magic and mirth elide in the Mermaids, beautiful and shimmering at first, but then turning into gossipy fish wives.

Benton-Stace’s scene-stealing Myrtle the Mermaid gives the outstanding vocal performance under Benjamin Dovey’s musical direction, run close by Hawkyard’s riotous Guns N’ Roses number, Neil Morgan guitar solo et al.

Cultural references play their part, from departing Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock to departing Dr Who Jodie Whittaker; Moate is granted a brief science bit about the sun; Campbell’s Elizabeth turns on the girl power and dance captain Emily Taylor drives on her troupe of Lost Boys and Girls with boundless energy.

Jonny Weldon’s Starkey, piratical mischief maker in chief

Big, big cheers go to the show’s speciality act, East African acrobats Teddy, Muba and Mohamed, alias The Black Diamonds, who defy the compact space to pull off dazzling feats of athleticism.

“All New” these adventures may be, but the increasingly tedious Sweet Caroline is an unimaginative choice for the song-sheet singalong. Not so good, so good, alas. Far better is the impact of Duncan Woodruff’s fight direction for Hook’s clashes with magic-powered fairy Tinkerbell, Elizabeth and Pan alike.

Michael J Batchelor and Joey Arthurs’ beautiful but bonkers costumes for Simpson’s dame keep topping the last one, and it is lovely to see the Theatre Royal walkdown scene in full pomp once more in gold, cream and white.

Something of the darkness of Barrie’s original story is lost in pursuit of pantomime frolics, but York Theatre Royal and Evolution unquestionably have found their groove, their own schtick, that appeals to children and adults alike.Simpson’s convivial dame is already confirmed for next year, another sign of continuity in this new age for the Theatre Royal pantomime.

“Lizzie Mother’s” storytelling sit-down: Maddie Moate’s Tinkerbell, left, and the Lost Boys and Girls listen to Faye Campbell’s Elizabeth. Jason Battersby’s Peter Pan prefers to keep watch
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James celebrate 40 years with orchestral tour & double album. York Barbican sold out

James on stage: Next spring their ranks will swell by 30 when joined by an orchestra and gospel choir

ENDURING Manchester band James will play York Barbican on April 28 on next spring’s James Lasted Orchestral Tour.

Led as ever by Boston Spa-born singer Tim Booth, this 40th anniversary celebration will come loaded with a 22-piece orchestra and eight-strong gospel choir conducted by Joe Dundell.

The tour title is presumably a nod to both James’s longevity and to the orchestral music once synonymous with James Last, the German composer, jazz double bassist big band leader of the James Last Orchestra.

All 15 dates on the 2023 orchestral tour have sold out already, including Sheffield City Hall on May 4 as well as Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and a Royal Albert Hall finale in London.

That itinerary will be accompanied by a double album of new versions of James’s greatest hits, fan favourites and deep cuts, plus one new composition, as yet untitled. Full details including release date, tracklisting and formats are to be announced soon.

The poster for the James Lasted Orchestral tour in 2023

Recorded at Blueprint Studios, Manchester, the album was arranged and conducted by Duddell – whose credits include Elbow and New Order – working in tandem with Orca, the orchestra assigned to the tour too, and a gospel choir.

Since playing as James for the first time when supporting Big Country at Manchester’s Hacienda on November 17 1982, they have released 16 studio albums, sold 25 million records, and enjoyed an Indian summer renaissance with a run of Top Five albums with Girl At The End Of The World, narrowly missing out on the top spot in 2016 to Adele’s 25, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Times and 2021’s The Colours Of You.

Last December’s arena tour, taking in Leeds First Direct Arena with fellow Mancunians Happy Mondays in support, was their biggest selling and most successful to date.

Looking ahead to the 2023 tour and double album release, Booth, 62, says: “There are a number of great bands who have been around for 40 [years]. But to get here and to be having the best time of our lives. To be part of a supportive loving family that still has something to say and new ways to say it. To be turned on by every gig and song. To fall in love over and over again, Groundhog Day, with our bandmates and audience. Damn. That’s time well spent.

James, at Broughton Hall, near Skipton, in May 2021, when gathered for rehearsals and promotional duties for 16th studio All The Colours Of You. Picture: Lewis Knaggs

“We should have recorded the orchestra tour first time round, as many of you have reminded us. Well, we’ve done it now. And here comes the tour. The orchestra and gospel singers expand our palette, heighten the tenderness, heighten the celebration and, despite their numbers, somehow leave us feeling more naked and raw. It will be different, probably each night, because we are James and Joe [Duddell] knows how to dance with us. And because you are different, each night.”

Bassist Jim Glennie, 59, adds: “Has it really been 40 years? In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others, many lifetimes. A family of brothers and sisters, willing to support each other musically and emotionally. Uniquely challenging, always pushing ourselves into the new and taking risks collectively and individually, looking for transcendence.”

Joining Booth and Glennie in the tour line-up will be Saul Davies, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Chloe Alper and Deborah Knox-Hewson.  

Marking diaries for next summer’s outdoor concert season, James are booked in to play Live At The Piece Hall 2023 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, on July 7 and a hastily added second show on July 8, due to “phenomenal demand”.  

Already confirmed for The Piece Hall in 2023 are Madness on June 16 and 17; The War On Drugs, June 21; Rag’n’Bone Man, June 23; Embrace, July 1; Sting, July 3, and The Lumineers, July 9, with plenty more acts yet to be announced.  Box office: thepiecehall.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Rowntree Players in Babes In The Wood, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ****

Double the fun: Graham Smith’s Dame Harmony Humperdinck and Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester in Babes In The Wood

Babes In The Wood, Rowntree Players, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight until Friday, 7.30pm (last few tickets for first three, limited availability for Friday); Saturday, 2pm (last few) and 7.30pm (limited). Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

HOWARD Ella reckons this is the best of the 13 Rowntree Players pantomimes under his writer-directorship. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he, but he does have a point. This is a case of 13th time, luckier still, for family audiences at the York community theatre.

For a start, Babes In The Wood is two shows for the price of one: weaving Robin Hood and his merry band, Sherwood Forest and the Sheriff into the fairy tale of those two poor orphans abandoned in woodland by their wicked uncle.

Don’t be hood-winked by the show title. It is rather more Robin’s story and characters that dominate,including distaff variations on a theme, while accommodating the misfortunes of Hansel (Henry Cullen/Fergus Green) and Gretel (Maddie Chalk/Ayda Mooney) in their Gingerbread House, cooked sweeter and cuter than in the dark fable of yore.

Now, Robin (Hannah King) takes on not only a rescue mission to free Maid Marion (Marie-Louise Surgenor) from the tower and the clutches of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Jamie McKeller) and sidekick Will Snatchell (Joe Marucci), but also vows to find Hansel and Gretel.

Double the trouble: Joe Marucci’s Will Snatchell and Jamie McKeller’s Sheriff of Nottingham 

For Friar Tuck, read Freya Tuck (Meg Badrick), and so on through the Merry Band of Alana Dale (Keelie Newbold) Georgie Green (Erin Willis), Jill Scarlett (Mollie Surgenor/Eva Howe) and Little Joan (Libby Roe/Charla Banks).

Put them together with King’s traditional, thigh-slapping yet somehow girl-power principal boy Robin Hood and suddenly they are aping SIX The Musical in Six, a musical number that makes great play of the sisterhood buzz musical of the decade (already booked in for June 27 to July 2 return to the Grand Opera House next summer, by the way).

Musicals are a running theme to the song-and-dance numbers in Ella and musical director Jessica Viner fast-moving show, from the opening Hairspray ensemble routine (Good Morning Sherwood Town) to Dirty Rotten’s echo of Something Rotten.

Best of all is Musical, all singing, all dancing and all seven minutes of it, led by Gemma McDonald’s cheeky, chipper, cartoonesque Kurt Jester, who lost her voice at Friday’s dress rehearsal but thankfully called on Doctor Theatre to see her through two shows on Saturday.

Howard Ella: Rowntree Players’ pantomime writer-director

The comic (bubble-haired McDonald) and the dame (Graham Smith’s slightly grumpy but lovable ‘Humpy’, alias Dame Harmony Humperdinck) are no longer chained to working in the Sheriff’s castle, but freelance travelling actors instead.

One is the greatest Shakespearean actor of her age, with an ego to match; the other is a comic extraordinaire in the daft jester tradition. Both have a licence to be loose cannons and pretty much run the show in their unruly way.

King’s Robin and Surgenor’s Maid Marion deliver a knockout Without Love in the tower by the No Exit sign, after Marion knocks back Robin’s demand to do a Rapunzel with her hair, whereupon Robin recourses to a ladder entry through the open window. Physical comedy in the classic English tradition.

Ella loves a pun, a political dig (for example, “Party?”. Correction: “Work gathering”) and partnerships too: not only the regular double act of Smith & McDonald and principal boy and girl King and Surgenor, but also a new combination of McKeller and Marucci, actors with previous form for Rowntree Players, but now venturing into the dark side, albeit to self-delusional comic effect as the topically tax-hiking Sheriff and the dimwitted, snatch-all Snatchell.

Hannah King’s Robin Hood and Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Maid Marion

McKeller is particularly inspired casting. Now making his name on the streets of York as ghostwalk host Doctor Dorian Deathly, he returns to his former stamping ground to make a big imprint with his gleefully dastardly Sheriff, eyebrows arched, voice arch, stage walk swaggering. “There’s still a touch of showbiz lurking behind the venom,” as Ella puts it and he’s spot on.

The comic and the dame nail the slapstick sludge scene; Viner’s musical band are as merry as Robin’s band; the senior chorus and young Blue/Red Team (Red on Saturday night) lap up every ensemble scene, and Ami Carter’s choreography is all dash, nothing slapdash.

Ella and his fellow set designers Paul Mantle and scenic artist Anna Jones have excelled too for the tower and forest alike. Andrea Dillon and Claire Newbold have fun with the costumes, for the pink-fixated dame as ever, but doubly so for the Merry Band in the Six pastiche.

You will love the all-action songsheet number too in a production that comes with genuine icing on the cake: a snow-topped roof from a past panto now repurposed to the dame’s mocking as the Gingerbread House.

Knocked for Six: The Merry Band mirroring SIX The Musical in Babes In The Wood 
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Dawn French to make a “huge Twat” of herself at York Barbican one-woman show

“I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist,” says Dawn French. Picture: Marc Brenner

DAWN French is adding a new leg for 2023 in response to demand for more performances after all her 2022 one-woman comedy shows sold out.

Dawn French Is  A Huge Twat will play York Barbican on September 16 next year on an autumn itinerary taking in 23 venues from September 7 to November 26, including a further Yorkshire gig at Sheffield City Hall on October 8 and a London Palladium run from September 21 to 24.

Tour tickets are available from dawnfrenchontour.com; York tickets, also at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.

A statement on Dawn’s website proclaims: “Attention all Twats! We grossly underestimated just how many glorious Twats are out there, wanting this show, so here I come, the second leg of the tour. Wooohoo!

“I couldn’t be more chuffed if I were a chough. So now, stop nagging me on social media about the fact we missed your town…and get booking. I’m bringing my Twat to a theatre near you, it’s futile to resist.”

Dawn French: Deep-diving into the countless times she has demonstrated – in her own words – ‘a spectacular display of twattery’. Picture: Marc Brenner

In Dawn French Is A Huge Twat, the Holyhead-born actor, novelist, comedian and one half of French & Saunders invites audiences to join her on a whirlwind journey through some of the most embarrassing, misguided and undignified moments of her personal and professional life, deep-diving into the countless times she has demonstrated – in her own words – “a spectacular display of twattery”.

The show is written by 65-year-old French and directed by Michael Grandage, with a set and costume design by Lez Brotherston, as was the case for her last York Barbican show in July 2014, Dawn French in 30 Million Minutes: a  frank French confessional, rooted in her 2008 memoir Dear Fatty, transferred into a night of comedy, theatre monologues and shards of tragedy too.

Did you know?

A CHOUGH is a black Eurasian and North African bird of the crow family, with a downcurved bill and broad, rounded wings, typically frequenting mountains and sea cliffs.

According to legend, the soul of King Arthur exited stage left in the form of a chough, its red feet and bill signifying Arthur’s violent and bloody end.

A scene from Lez Brotherston’s set design for Dawn French Is A Huge Twat. Picture: Marc Brenner
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Heaven guides new York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust interpretation of A Nativity for York at Spurriergate Centre

Heaven’s above: Alan Heaven directing a rehearsal of A Nativity for York. All pictures: John Saunders

A NATIVITY for York returns to the Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, on Thursday after a two-year enforced break, under the direction of the divinely named Alan Heaven.

Mounted by York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust (YMPST), the production will run for eight performances, preceded by an open dress rehearsal at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

After directing the Last Judgement plays in the York Mystery Plays Wagon cycles on the city streets in 2018 and 2022, Heaven has created a new interpretation of the Nativity, combining “music, dance, sorrows and joys and some audience participation”.

It may be unlucky to open an umbrella indoors, as the saying insists, but York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust cast members, led by Mark Comer, take their chances in the rehearsal room. All pictures: John Saunders

Billed as a fresh, vibrant and magical retelling of the Nativity, based on the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, A Nativity for York features actors, dancers and musicians drawn from a wide range of community volunteers, in keeping with the YMPST productions of A Nativity for York in 2019 and A Resurrection for York in 2021.

Work began on the production in October, and although Covid among nine of the 16-strong cast has disrupted rehearsals in recent weeks, preparations are almost complete for the hour-long performances on Thursday and Friday at 7.30pm, then Saturday and Sunday at 3pm, 5pm and 7.30pm.

“The story is quite familiar but, in order to keep the play dynamic, we have focused on the cast putting every ounce of their energy into their parts, so that they engage with the audience,” says Alan.

“Keeping the play dynamic”: Anastasia Crook’s Mary rehearses a scene that testifies to the movement skills of director Alan Heaven

“Hopefully, as they work together – and most have multiple roles – through all 12 scenes, the result will be a positive and community-minded experience.” 

Heaven, an experienced director specialising in Early Modern theatre practice, community theatre, street theatre, movement and puppetry, is also a playwright, actor, musician, artist, illustrator and film maker.

He first worked with the York Mystery Plays in 2008 and has done so regularly since then, as well as adapting and staging the entire York Mystery Plays corpus for families. 

A restful moment for Michael Maybridge’s Joseph during rehearsals

Delighted to be working with the YMPST on this week’s new Nativity, he says: “It’s a real honour to be entrusted with these texts, which are such a vital part of York`s heritage. I hope to deliver a production that develops the rich and vibrant contrasts of the originals.

“There’ll be comedy and celebrations along with music, dance and song, next to the savagery of Herod and the struggle to escape his reach. This is a wonderful and exciting journey that will involve the audience and thrill and delight everyone involved.”

Tickets are on sale at £10, students and under 18s £6, on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on University of York Choir & Baroque Ensemble’s Christmas concert

Robert Hollingworth: Conductor of the University of York’s largest choir

University of York Choir & Baroque Ensemble, Central Hall, University of York, November 30

CHRISTMAS music of the Baroque and the 20th century were contrasted here in the five sections of Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit and four carol-anthems by Howells.

Interwoven with these were five extracts from A Child’s Christmas In Wales by Dylan Thomas. It was an ingenious idea, although none of these strands had much in common beyond the seasonal message.

Robert Hollingworth, who is now conductor of this choir, the university’s largest, read the passages from Thomas’s nostalgic view of a childhood Christmas, blanket-wrapped in an armchair and adopting an impressive Welsh lilt (that softened a bit towards the end). It was cosy, fireside stuff, with larger-than-life characters springing from the pages.

Charpentier’s late-17th century mass is almost balletic in its attempt to appeal to popular taste. The Baroque Ensemble, with guests leading three of its string sections, responded stylishly, with keen rhythm and taut ensemble.

The choir did not catch quite the same sense of urgency, perhaps feeling that Hollingworth’s baton was directed more at the players. That said, the tempo changes in the middle of the Credo were well managed. Alexander Kyle took over conducting for the final two sections, including a surprisingly jaunty Agnus Dei.

Variety came with several passages from a semi-chorus that additionally supplied soloists, who were at their most appealing when sopranos intertwined with recorders. A choir this size ranged on three flanks is always going to have difficulties with blend, especially in the very dry acoustic of Central Hall.

So, it was a pity that the least-known – and most recent – of the Howells pieces, Long, Long Ago, came first, before the choir had found its feet.

Here Is The Little Door, conducted by Kyle, was the best-shaped of the Howells. In contrast, A Spotless Rose was a little too fast for there to be no feel of the bar-line and the crunchy harmonies at the end, symptomatic of icy winter, were fudged. Bo Holten’s First Snow made an effective finisher.

Hollingworth is deservedly recognised as a first-class choir trainer. He will need just a little longer to stamp his mark on this choir. Watch this space.

Review by Martin Dreyer