Ryedale Festival: Siân Dicker/Krystal Tunnicliffe, Looking West,All Saints’ Church, Hovingham, and Church of St Peter & St Paul, Pickering, July 30
THE penultimate day of Ryedale Festival was mainly concerned with voices.
The mid-morning song recital in Hovingham by the soprano Siân Dicker and the pianist Krystal Tunnicliffe was A Tale Of Two Cities, while the evening in Pickering featured the world premiere of a “concert-theatre” work, Looking West, with music by Julian Philips to a libretto by Rebecca Hurst.
The recital flitted back and forth between London and Paris, cities that clearly excited both performers as they explained early on. Dicker sang in both English and French, clearly enunciating and distinguishing her tone between the two, and Tunnicliffe stayed with her every step of the way. We relished their relish.
Poulenc’s enthusiasm verged on the frenetic, but had its moments of thoughtfulness, and he was touching too about the lovers carrying on while the preachers in Hyde Park were on their soap boxes.
We dipped into Butterworth’s song cycle, Love Blows As The Wind Blows, as we imagined the lover travelling up to Kew from Richmond, and enjoyed Madeleine Dring’s evocation, via Betjeman, of business girls enjoying a hot soak in Camden Town, one of five settings she made of the poet in the year before her death (1977).
We had Debussy evoking beautiful Parisiennes, balanced by Weill’s lament over the hidden depths of the Seine. Walton’s pomp and circumstance at the Lord Mayor’s table was countered by Errolyn Wallen’s pensive London’s Burning.
Mezzo soprano soloist Rebecca Afonwy-Jones. Picture: Robert Workman
Finzi’s jovial setting of Hardy’s Rollicum-Rorum, plus an encore of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Let’s Go And Live In The Country (where the grass is not necessarily greener), rounded off a happy divertissement that was enhanced by four poems, well projected, including James Fenton’s In Paris With You. Dicker has a versatile charisma that should take her a very long way.
The 150th anniversary of the birth of Vaughan Williams was celebrated with the commission of Looking West by the Nova Music Trust and the Presteigne Festival. The latter will show the Welsh premiere but the world premiere was Ryedale’s honour.
The story exists on three historical levels, primarily the life of Saint Bega, an Irish princess who escaped marriage by crossing to St Bees and eventually settling in Northumbria as an anchorite, probably in the mid-9th century. Interest in her was revived by Melvyn Bragg’s novel Credo (1996), based on her life.
A second strand deals with the work of the Cumbrian artist Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981), who apparently left some memorable paintings of St Bees Head. The story is given contemporary relevance by a young pilgrim who makes his way across country starting from there, sharing his travails with the audience. “The spiritual enrichment we can find in the natural world” – a theme dear to the heart of Vaughan Williams – lies at the heart of Philips’ work.
In Nova Music Opera Ensemble’s production, directed by Sally Ripley, the actor Alexander Knox stole the show as the traveller, charting his day-to-day progress in various rambling outfits in an engaging, Jack-the-lad manner.
St Bega was cleanly, smoothly and spiritually sung by mezzo Rebecca Afonwy-Jones, clad in a purple habit tied with a rope, while soprano Rebecca Bottone, in a white smock, played the artist, not quite so clearly which was understandable given the high tessitura of many of her lines. Maddie Purefoy had a less clearly defined role speaking from the pulpit.
The orchestra of eight players played their hearts out under George Vass. Cello and double bass had important roles in some darker textures, but the upper strings came into their own near the end in something like folk style when our traveller danced in jubilation at having completed his journey.
At regular intervals we heard a tape of crashing waves streaked with the cries of seabirds. But the most affecting, intimate moment was a mezzo solo over cello and harp, especially when the instruments turned to pizzicato. The dramatic content was not as powerful as it might have been: most of the drama was left to the orchestra. But the influence of Vaughan Williams was undeniable.
Tony Blackburn: BBC Radio 2 presenter and host of Sound Of The 60s Live at York Barbican. Copyright: BBC
YORK Barbican has five new concerts in the diary for autumn and early 2023.
York Guildhall Orchestra are booked in for October 15 and February 11; the York Community Carol Concert for December 12; The Classic Rock Show for March 14 and Tony Blackburn: Sound Of The 60s Live for March 23.
The first concert of York Guildhall Orchestra’s 42nd season will welcome back Will Clark, who played with the orchestra as a youngster, to perform as the soloist for the Vaughan Williams centrepiece. Returning too will be old friends Leeds Festival Chorus for works by Lambert and Fauré, and the finale will be Marquez’s Danzón No. 2.
The Guildhall Orchestra’s February concert will feature Leeds Festival Chorus in an all-Beethoven programme comprising a show-stopping symphony, two overtures and a setting of two Goethe poems, Meeresstille und Glückliche Farht (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage).
The Leeds choir will join the orchestra for the Hallelujah Chorus from Beethoven’s oratorio, Christ On The Mount Of Olives.
The York Community Carol Concert continues to draw full houses after 64 years. Hosted by the Reverend Andrew Foster and BBC Radio York presenter Adam Tomlinson, the festive event for all ages will bring together York choirs and musicians to perform favourite carols and Christmas songs under the musical direction of Mike Pratt.
Concert proceeds will be shared by the Lord Mayor of York and Sheriff of York’s Christmas Cheer Fund and Martin House Children’s Hospice, The Press’s nominated charity.
The Classic Rock Show vows to be “bigger and even better in 2023” when paying tribute to such favourites as Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, The Who, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Queen, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and many more.
Performed with note-for-note precision, the show brings era-defining recordings back to life on stage, with a sound and light show to match, culminating in a show-stopping guitar duel.
Next March, veteran BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn, 79, will host an evening of 60s’ classics performed live by the Sound Of The 60s All Star Band and singers. Songs by The Everly Brothers, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Otis Redding, The Beatles and The Who will be to the fore.
Tickets are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.
The Wild Murphys enjoy the pub songs of One Night In Dublin on September 29
TICKETS go on sale today for the Joseph Rowntree Theatre’s autumn and winter season of musicals, dance performances, pantomime and one-night shows.
Theatre trustee and volunteer director Barbara Boyce says: “Everyone loves a musical show and we have a great selection to delight you this season. I’m thrilled to see such incredible talent performing on our beloved stage.
“We’re proud to showcase such a wonderful array of talented performers and to bring joy to theatregoers. We hope the people of York and the surrounding areas will enjoy our new season of shows, with stories of adventure, drama and song.”
After a pandemic-enforced two-year wait, York Light Youth’s production of Fame will go ahead at last from October 26 to 29. Set in 1980s’ New York, the show follows the highs and lows of High School for the Performing Arts students, sharing their struggles, triumphs and often tempestuous relationships with each other and their teachers.
Complex issues such as prejudice, drug abuse and sexual exploitation are tackled as the young performers experience the realities of striving for a career and chasing fame in showbiz.
York Stage’s York premiere of Broadway hit Bring It On The Musical will invite audiences to channel their inner cheerleader in this highly energetic musical adaptation of Peyton Reed’s 2000 film starring Kirsten Dunst.
Back flipping into York from November 2 to 5, the story of the challenges and surprising bonds forged through the thrill of extreme competition is told by Tony Award winners Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and Tom Kitt (Grease: Live).
York School of Dance and Drama in a double bill of Survivors and Cinderella on October 22
NE Musicals York will follow up their summer show Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical by serving up Oliver! from October 16 to 19 and 22 to 26. Based on Charles Dickens’s story of crime, poverty, friendship and fate, Lionel Bart’s musical is set on the darkest streets of London, where young, orphaned Oliver has to navigate an underworld of theft and violence as he searches for a home, a family, and – most importantly – for love.
Written as ever by Howard Ella, Rowntree Players’ rollicking romp of a pantomime, Babes In The Wood, will enjoy a Christmas run from December 3 to 10 (no show on December 5). Expect the usual festive cocktail of slapstick comedy, drama, adventure, song, dance and cheeky gags aplenty.
The Victoria Rooke School of Dance and Drama will present The Nutcracker Story on September 24; Wyrley Music and Promotions will celebrate the hits of Billy Fury and Cliff Richard in Billy Meets Cliff on September 25; Irish band The Wild Murphys will return to the JoRo with One Night In Dublin, revelling in Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, Dirty Old Town, The Irish Rover, Brown Eyed Girl and Seven Drunken Nights on September 29.
October will open with It’s Dance Time 2022, Barbara Taylor School of Dancing’s festival of song and dance, climaxing with excerpts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!, on October 1.
The UK Ultimate Physiques fitness, physique and bodybuilding competition is booked in for October 9, when athletes will seek to qualify for that month’s 2022 UKUP British finals.
Vibe With Perform will showcase versatile dance, acting and singing talent from Emma Bassett’s school on October 15; JoRo regular Steve Cassidy & Friends will return with more rock, country and classic ballads on October 16, and York School of Dance and Drama will present two performances for the price of one in Survivors and Cinderella on October 22.
21st Century Abba: the old hits combined with the latest technology on December 18
Survivors is a new choreodrama designed to help children to overcome major trauma experienced during the pandemic in a story of learning to survive when a boarding school collapses. Innovative dance and American tap will feature. Cinderella will follow with all the fun and pathos of British pantomime.
Christmas Showtime with Don Pears & Company will feature the vocal talents of Singphonia in a selection of warming seasonal favourites, from solos and duets to trios and ensemble numbers, on December 11.
The Shepherd Group Brass Band’s Christmas Concert on December 16 and 17 will bring together myriad musicians, from their Brass Roots beginners through to their championship section Senior Band, playing Christmas and winter music with plenty of audience participation.
21st Century Abba will re-create the super-Swedes’ greatest hits for a new generation, using the latest technology, combined with that unforgettable sense of Seventies and Eighties’ fashion, in this Wyrley Music & Promotions tribute show on December 18.
Confirmed for 2023 already is A Gala Night Of Musical Theatre to blow away the post-Christmas blues, hosted by White Rose Theatre on January 14 with contributions from the Katie Ventress School of Dance, York Musical Theatre Company and guest soloists.
Under the musical direction of John Atkin, songs from Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anything Goes and plenty more favourite shows will feature in this fundraiser for the JoRo’s Raise the Roof campaign.
For full show details, performance times and tickets, including special offers, head to josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on. Tickets can be booked on 01904 501935 too.
Robert Smith of The Cure at Edinburgh Playhouse in 1985. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
ALISON O’Neill has never exhibited her photographs of 1980s’ rock musicians until now.
What took her so long? “Shyness,” says the North Yorkshire photographer and language services translator, whose Trapped In The Light exhibition of Robert Smith, Ian McCulloch et al is running in the Sky Lounge – the upstairs corridor – at City Screen Picturehouse, York, until September 10.
“Being in the right place at the right time takes luck and a bit of determination, and in the ’80s I had both, when I got to know The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen,” she says. “The opportunity this gave me yielded photos that show a fan’s eye view of bands both on and off stage.”
After studying Film & Literature at Warwick University, Alison moved to Berlin for a few years and then back to Yorkshire, where she became a freelance translator of German and Dutch into English.
Her black-and-white photographs remained filed away since those Eighties’ days, most seen only by Alison’s friends, until the drive to exhibit them was finally sparked by attending exhibitions by a friend in Berlin and rock photographer Richard Bellia in London.
On show at last – the exhibition was delayed by the pandemic – are photos taken between early 1982 and 1989 at locations from London to Edinburgh, featuring The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Cramps, Wilko Johnson, Alan Vega and local bands.
“If you want a link between them, I think all the acts bar the Hastings band – seen on a weekend away – featured on John Peel’s Radio One show. But that’s as strong a link as it gets,” says Alison.
In the frame now: North Yorkshire photographer Alison O’Neill
Here CharlesHutchPress puts photographer Alison O’Neill in focus in a question-and-answer session about Trapped In The Light.
What is your connection with Yorkshire? Were you born here?
“I can’t claim to be a Yorkshire native, because I was born down south (oh, the shame!).
“But I was brought up in Yorkshire from an early age, Hull, then Pickering, so I have many friends here and my mother was still in the region, so I came back here after years away in the Midlands and Germany.”
How come the exhibition is at City Screen?
“When I asked around, City Screen were the first people to say yes to an exhibition – and it’s a brilliant space. Originally it was due to happen in May 2020 [before Covid intervened], and so the last two years’ wait has been worse than the 30-plus before.”
Alison O’Neill, pictured in 1984. “I was a Cure fan, not a Goth,” she says. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
When did you start taking photographs and what was your first camera?
“I got an Instamatic when I was eight. By the time I was 19, I seriously needed a better one, because the old camera wasn’t up to it.”
Why rock photography?
“I fell in love with music in my teens. And when I started photographing musicians, I realised that as they were engrossed in what they were doing, they aren’t (usually) self-conscious about photos being taken.”
Were you subjected to the long-standing “First three numbers and No flash” rule for concert photographers?
“Not in relation to the pictures in this exhibition. I was an amateur photographer, so often I couldn’t get my camera in at all, but in some cases the bands gave me passes, other times the venue wasn’t as strict. I didn’t use flash much anyway.”
Echo & The Bunnymen at Lancaster University in 1984. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
How did you get to know The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen?
“Long stories! But I will say it was a lot easier to meet bands in those days. And they were very friendly and open and generous with passes. The Cure, in particular, often hung around after the show to sign stuff for anyone who wanted, so you could get to talk to them then.”
What drew you to those bands: the hair, the coats, the lips, the lipstick, the darkness…the music?!
“The emotion. The passion.”
Were you ever a Goth?
“No, I was a Cure fan! But there was a time when the way The Cure fans dressed was like a prototype for Goths.”
Audience at hardcore gig, 1986. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
Which is your favourite 1980s’ album by The Cure and why? Likewise, Echo & The Bunnymen?
“I can’t do these! Years ago, I decided that I’d have to have Desert Island Bands, because I can’t choose between their albums.”
How did you gain access to photograph bands, both on stage and particularly off-stage?
“I’d ask, if I caught them going in. And once they knew me – and presumably I didn’t upset anyone – they were willing to let me hang around.”
Was your rock photography a hobby or were your works printed at the time in publications/magazines/fanzines?
“It was a hobby, although I would have liked to have worked professionally, but I lacked the confidence to sell my work. A few of my pictures have been used in the local press (Leamington), fanzines and once in a CD booklet for Nikki Sudden’s Groove (not one that’s in this exhibition).”
Thee Wylde Things at Hastings, 1987. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
You say: “Being in the right place at the right time takes luck and a bit of determination”. Discuss…
“Well, I’ve sneaked in back doors at venues in my time, and bluffed security guards. At a venue in Prague where I expected to be on the guest list (but wasn’t, at least they didn’t find my name), I talked to a doorman in English – which he clearly didn’t understand – for so long that he just took my arm and pulled me inside.”
Was it more difficult, being a female photographer?
“It certainly was to be taken seriously. I imagine it still is. I could dine well on the number of people, including friends, who, learning about my music fandom go ‘oh, so you’re a groupie’. Cue Paddington death stare.”
Did you photograph any bands in York in the 1980s? If so, who, where and when?
“I did get to see TX82 – the last embodiment of Teardrop Explodes – at York Uni, but it was seated and I was near the back so I didn’t get anything good.”
Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant backstage. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
Do you have a favourite among your photos?
“It’s a close thing between Robert Smith in profile seated backstage and Will Sergeant having just drawn a cartoon on a blackboard backstage.”
Why focus on black-and-white photography in this exhibition?
“Simply to give coherence to the selection. Likewise keeping it to a set period.”
When you look back at your work from the 1980s with a 2020s’ eye, what strikes you about your work?
“How lucky I was with the timing. So many exciting artists working in wildly differing styles, and the openness to outsiders (such as me) coming along.”
Wilko Johnson at Warwick University Students’ Union, 1985. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
What makes a good rock photographer and who is your favourite?
“I think you need a lot of patience. Anton Corbijn is my absolute favourite, but I’m lucky to have a print by Richard Bellia. I was a real photographer nerd back in the glory days of the NME and Melody Make, so I could list several more…”
Might you look to produce an accompanying book?
“I have put together a small photo book as a memento under the same title, Trapped In The Light. It’s my first try, so I’ve been waiting with bated breath to see how it’s worked out.
“My copy has arrived in time for the exhibition opening, which is rather impressive, given I only ordered it last Sunday.
“I can see a few things that need tweaking if I were to offer it for sale. The printer has a sale on, so for orders placed by August 14,I’ll be asking £34.95 plus postage and packaging. After that, the price would depend on what offers are available.”
The Cramps at Warwick Arts Centre, 1986. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
Final question, Alison. Do you still take photographs? If so, what do you now photograph and with what camera?
“I still have a film camera, but I don’t take it out that often. I did photograph The Murder Capital when they played The Crescent, but that was in 2019. And like everyone I use my mobile for shots of varying quality.”
Trapped In The Light, 1980s Music Photos by Alison O’Neill, runs at Sky Lounge, City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street, York, August 7 to September 10. Admission is free, open daily. Limited-edition framed prints can be ordered at £195 to £395, depending on size.
The Cure’s Robert Smith backstage, by Alison O’Neill, from her debut exhibition of 1980s’ music photos at City Screen, York. Copyright: Alison O’Neill
FROM The Cure’s Eighties’ photos to Ayckbourn’s lies, folk, riverside and walls festivals to folk’s future, Charles Hutchinson picks his highlights of the week ahead and beyond.
Exhibition launch of the week: Trapped In The Light, 1980s Music Photos by Alison O’Neill, Sky Lounge, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday to September 10
ALISON O’Neill loved photographing The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain and The Cramps in the 1980s, but those black-and-white concert and backstage images have been in hibernation for more than three decades, never exhibited until now.
Why? “Shyness,” she says, but with the encouragement of a photographer friend in Berlin, she is letting those nocturnal photographic encounters see the light of day at last at City Screen.
Play of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s All Lies, Esk Valley Theatre, Robinson Institute, Glaisdale, near Whitby, until August 27
When the little white lies start:Luke Dayhill and Saskia Strallen as the young couple in Alan Ayckbourn’s All Lies at Esk Valley Theatre. Picture: Steven Barber
FOLLOWING its initial run at the Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, in May, Esk Valley Theatre presents the world premiere production of writer-director Alan Ayckbourn’s 86th full-length play.
The setting is 1957/1958, when a when a chance meeting elicits love at first sight! The person of your dreams! But will they feel the same? Once you tell the truth about yourself, will you even be worthy of them? Do you take the plunge and reveal all? Or choose the dangerous alternative and tell them…All Lies?!
Questions, questions, so many Ayckbourn questions, in a play where it may be all lies but the truth is in there somewhere. Box office: 01947 897587.
Inside a tipi at the Boatyard York Festival
New festival of the week: The Boatyard York Summer Festival, Ferry Lane, Bishopthorpe, York, today, 11am to 7pm
THE Boatyard plays host to its first summer riverside festival this weekend, featuring live music from York bands and musicians, such as Up In Smoke, and an array of street food to suit meat eaters and vegetarians alike.
Organised by Eva Brindley, this family-orientated day promises a Punch & Judy show, face-painting, fare stalls and games, ping pong and volleyball, plus canoe, kayak and day boat hire. Look out for the Bosun’s Oven café, wood-fired pizzas and summery drinks from the horsebox bar. Dogs are welcome; entry is free.
Lewis Capaldi: First visit to Scarborough Open Air Theatre since 2019
Outdoor gig of the week; Lewis Capaldi, supported by Wild Youth and Aine Deane, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Thursday, gates 6pm. CANCELLED
UPDATE: 10/8/2022
LEWIS Capaldi has pulled out of his August 11 gig at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. The reason? Illness.
Ticket holders will be reimbursed fully.
SCOTTISH singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi spent ten weeks at the top of the charts with his May 2019 debut album, Divinely Inspired To A Hellish Extent. Alas, the wait goes on for the follow-up, and all the while you will find such questions as “Is Lewis Capaldi quitting?” and “What has happened to Lewis Capaldi” on the internet.
In July, the 25-year-old Glaswegian told his Latitude festival audience “I have no new music to play you”, calling himself “horribly lazy” when faced with “needing to finish my new album”. Looks like you will have to make do with Before You Go, Grace, Hollywood, Bruises et al once more on Thursday; the heartbeat of his first visit to Scarborough OAT in 2019 . Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Much ado about Nothing & Everything Else…and Z Is For Zelda at Theatre@41
Double bill of the week: Black Sheep Theatre in Nothing & Everything Else/Z Is For Zelda, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, August 10 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
SHOWCASING the work of playwright and director Bethany Shilling, the first play is an offbeat comedy about a young woman performing at her very first stand-up comedy open-mic night where she uses the time to check in with herself mentally.
The second is an attempt by Zelda Fitzgerald to share her life story. In doing so, she flits between her polished, performed self and the obscure ramblings that consume her mind. Is she mad or is this the final act of Zelda’s undeniable character? Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Seth Lakeman: Next Saturday’s main-stage headliner at The Magpies Festival. Picture: Tom Griffiths
Folk festival of the week: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, August 12, music from 6pm; August 13, music from 12.30pm
THE Magpies Festival has expanded from one day at last summer’s inaugural event to two in 2022, hosted again by The Magpies’ transatlantic folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Kate Griffin and Holly Brandon, ahead of this autumn’s release of their new album, Undertow.
Next Friday’s line-up will be: Jaywalkers; Elanor Moss; John Smith; Chris Elliott & Caitlin Jones and headliners Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra. Next Saturday presents Honey & The Bear; Dan Webster Band; Katie Spencer; The People Versus; David Ward Maclean; The Jellyman’s Daughter; Rory Butler; The Magpies plus guests; The 309s; The Drystones and main-stage headliner Seth Lakeman. Look out too for the food market and craft fair. Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets
The poster for York Walls Festival 2022
Heritage event of the week: York Walls Festival 2022 Summer Weekend, August 13 and 14
THE Friends of York Walls will be partnering with York organisations and community groups to tell stories and promote “our shared community, history and heritage” next weekend.
The Friends look after the 500-year-old Fishergate Postern Tower on behalf of City of York Council and it is sure to feature in the festival, along with the Bar walls and Red Tower. For festival updates, head to: yorkwallsfestival.org.
Joshua Burnell & Band: Autumn tour takes in The Crescent in his home city of York. Picture: Elly Lucas
The future of folk: Joshua Burnell & Band, The Crescent, York, October 16, 8pm
JOSHUA Burnell & Band will play a home-city gig at The Crescent on his nine-date folk-fused baroque’n’roll autumn tour.
Multi-instrumentalist singer Burnell will be joined by globe-trotting violinist Frances Archer, guitarist Nathan Greaves, multi-instrumentalist Oliver Whitehouse, drummer Ed Simpson and vocalist Frances Sladen. “Think The War On Drugs meets Seth Lakeman on Ziggy Stardust’s spaceship,” he suggests. Tickets: joshuaburnell.co.uk/tour or ticketweb.co.uk.
Kristy Matheson: New creative director of Edinburgh International Film Festival
EDINBURGH International Film Festival marks its 75th anniversary with a return to a full programme from August 12 to 20 under the leadership of a new creative director.
Back in tandem with the Scottish capital’s myriad festivals this month, the world’s oldest continually running film festival presents 87 new features, 12 short film programmes and two retrospectives in a resumption of a full-on, in-person event after the restrictions and challenges of the pandemic.
Newly at the helm is Kristy Matheson, a creative director looking to make her mark as she follows a raft of artistic directors that established and grew Edinburgh International Film Festival’s global clout.
Among those who contributed to the festival’s long-running success since its foundation in 1947 were journalist and film critic Hannah McGill, artistic director from 2006 to 2010; Mark Cousins, who made a big impact in all-too-brief tenure from 1996 to 1997 before blossoming into an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and Jim Hickey, who steered a golden era from 1981 to 1988.
Before that came Linda Myles, who ran EIFF with remarkable success on a small budget from 1973 to 1980, when she was first woman to occupy such a role at any film festival worldwide.
Not only did she pioneer screenings of the cream of the “New Hollywood” filmmakers of the day, such as Martin Scorsese, but Myles also initiated reappraisals and new viewpoints, most notably “The Women’s Event”, organised in tandem with Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey at the 1972 EIFF.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the women’s film festival presented by Myles to showcase films made by female directors. In recognition of this ground-breaking event, this summer’s EIFF will play host to Reframing The Gaze, a retrospective programme curated by Kim Knowles.
Kristy Matheson, previously director of film at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, is thrilled to be propelling EIFF’s milestone anniversary year. “For our 75th anniversary, we’ve embraced the very essence of cinema: from its production to its exhibition, it’s a truly collective pursuit,” says the creative director.
“Working alongside a talented team of programmers and festival producers to craft our 2022 programme has been joyous. I look forward to welcoming audiences back to EIFF this August.”
The opening gala screening on August 12 will be a home-made product: Aftersun, the debut from Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells starring Normal People’s Paul Mescal, that heads homewards buoyed by prize-winning success at Cannes Film Festival.
Further highlights to note are Armağan Ballantyne’s comedy Nude Tuesday, picked for the inaugural Central Gala on August 16, and After Yang, an American metaphysical science-fiction drama written and directed by Kogonada, starring Colin Farrell and Jodi Turner-Smith in the closing gala on August 20.
Look out too for Peter Strickland’s latest work, Flux Gourmet, featuring Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie in the darkly comic tale of a performance art trio participating in an artist residency at the Sonic Catering Institute.
Screenings will take place at the festival’s home on Lothian Road, the Filmhouse, the Cameo Picturehouse, Everyman Edinburgh and Vue Edinburgh Omni.
The second major retrospective will focus on the work of performer and film director Kinuyo Tanaka (1909-1977), who played a key role in the history of Japanese cinema.
Further recommendations are Still Working 9 To 5, a documentary wherein Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin reunite to investigate the fight for women’s rights they kickstarted half a decade ago, and Nothing Compares, Kathryn Ferguson’s documentary about iconoclastic Irish singer Sinead O’Connor.
Renowned for its commitment to internationalism and cultural engagement, EIFF embraces more than film screenings, taking in performances and industry dialogues too.
Presented as a special live performance, The Ballad Of A Great Disordered Heart is a new collaborative film by Lau folk musician Aidan O’Rourke, Becky Manson and former EIFF artistic director Mark Cousins about Edinburgh’s Old Town and the Irish communities who have called it home.
The 2022 festival sees the return of Film Fest In The City in St Andrew’s Square, where the open-air programme offers classics such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Shrek and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This year’s programme has been brought together by a team of programmers led by Matheson, working alongside Manish Agarwal, Anna Bogutskaya, Rafa Sales Ross, Kate Taylor; animation programmer Abigail Addison; short film programmers Jenny Clarke (narrative) and Rohan Crickmar (non-fiction); black box programmer Lydia Beilby and retrospective curator (2022 Theme) Kim Knowles.
Edinburgh International Film Festival is supported by Screen Scotland; the PLACE Programme (a partnership between the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Festivals); the Scottish Government, through the Festivals Expo Fund and the PLACE Resilience Fund; City of Edinburgh Council; EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, and the BFI Audience Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
Two Big Egos In A Small Car culture vulture podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson will preview the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival in the next episode before squeezing their egos into that compact automobile to head to Scotland next week.
Radiant: Kate Hampson’s Coppergate Woman sees the light in The Coppergate Woman. Picture: : Jane Hobson
THIS is the first York Theatre Royal community play in five years and, more significantly, the first since pandemic restrictions were lifted, although the cloud of Covic hangs all too heavy over Maureen Lennon’s storytelling drama.
There is a sense of relief that we can gather again, perform together, build plays from scratch with faces old and new, but The Coppergate Woman is not a drama suffused with joy until its finale’s promise of a post-apocalyptic green new world.
Such a vision is ushered in with composer and musical director Nicolas Lewis’s most upbeat song, hand claps and all, but given all that is going around us, from higher and higher temperatures to higher and higher living costs and fuel prices, it is sung on a wing and a prayer.
The harsh realities of these times have seen cast members pull out through not being able to afford the travel costs or having to commit to working extra shifts to make ends meet, and therefore no longer being available for the heavy rota of rehearsals.
Ancient meets modern in The Coppergate Woman at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Jane Hobson
That said, community spirit bursts out of the 90 performers and plentiful choir members, as they build on the legacy of Blood + Chocolate (on York’s streets in 2013), In Fog And Falling Snow (at the National Railway Museum in 2015) and Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes (by the Minster and at the Theatre Royal in 2017 ).
All three were rooted in York history, and so, to an extent, is The Coppergate Woman, albeit she is as much a woman of mystery as Viking history. Her bones were found in a shallow grave in an excavation by the River Foss and she has since lain encased in glass at Jorvik Viking Centre.
Research revealed she had moved to Jorvik (York) from either South-West Norway or northernmost Scotland, was robustly built, had a pronounced limp from a degenerative joint disorder, consumed a heap of herring in her lifetime and died at 46.
Hull playwright Maureen Lennon’s number one haunt as a child was Jorvik, where she was drawn to those bones and to the model of that woman in blue. Now she puts flesh on those bones, and after the choir, ensemble and assorted principals set the play in motion on Sara Perks’s open-plan, uncluttered set with a backdrop of David Callanan’s audio-visual designs, professional actor Kate Hampson’s Coppergate Woman emerges in her glass case in that familiar blue.
Breakout moment: Kate Hampson’s Coppergate Woman emerges in her glass case. Picture: Jane Hobson
She duly smashes the case – as denoted by the sound of breaking glass and accompanying visuals – and sets about smashing the scientific facts as she re-awakes in modern-day York, charged with uncovering the answers as to why we are where we are.
She was 44, she corrects with a smile, probably a weaver, and now certainly a weaver of stories. Now let’s get down to business. She will be the conduit between past and present in Lennon’s world of myth and modern reality, but first she sets the scene, with a humorous observant eye, one that made your reviewer crave for rather more of this then-and-now contrasting York detail.
Coppergate Woman comments with amusement on Jorvik Viking Centre’s infamous stinking smell, but then sniffs 2022 York air for the first time. It smells of metal, she says, chemicals and cleaned surfaces: a triple-whammy discomfiting reminder of pollution, climate change and Covid.
Later, reference is made to King’s Square now being the place of buskers: another wry observation that plays well to the home crowd filling the Theatre Royal auditorium.
Sigyn (Catherine Edge) catches venom to protect her imprisoned husband Loki (Edward Hammond). Picture: Jane Hobson
Past and present constantly interweave in Lennon’s dense construction as she asks: “In an ever-changing world, how do we hang on to who we are when the grounds are shifting beneath our feet? How do we look forward and rebuild, when the End Times feel ever more real?”
Coppergate Woman sheds the rudimentary clothing to be revealed as a Valkyrie, a shepherd of the dead and dying, a servant of Odin, whose duty is to guide lost souls to the halls of Valhalla. Why? Because Ragnarok is coming, “when the gods will perish, fire will triumph, and only then will the world will rise again, made anew”.
In other words, Hell on Earth is nothing new, as Lennon mirrors four stories of ghastly, grim, abominable Norse legend with torrid tales of toiling, struggling people in York today.
As old gods do battle with new, Lennon favours an epic scale for the past, the world of Odin (Paul Mayo Mason), Frigg (Jessica Murray), Baldr (Andy Williams), thunderous Thor (Andrew Isherwood), cunning Loki (Edward Hammond), wife Sigyn (Catherine Edge) and Fenrir, the wolf (portrayed by a swaying sextet of bodies, superbly choreographed by movement director Xolani Crabtree).
York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, left, and playwright Maureen Lennon with the model of the Coppergate Woman at Jorvik Viking Centre
Modern York’s stories are more in keeping with soap opera or kitchen-sink drama: from Nicola Wild’s Sarah to Val Burgess’s Nana, Joanne Rule’s Fern to community play debutant Darren Barrott, constantly kicking out in frustration.
The voice of the future, the herald of hope, is young Liv (Hannah Simpson on Wednesday, sharing the role with Ilya Cuthell), driven by her predilection for painting in the rain (and if she didn’t start off with watercolours, they would be by the end).
Lennon does not shy away from the blood and guts of Norse legend, for example Loki being bound in chains made from the stretched entrails of his son. Those entrails are red, a virulent colour motif that runs throughout the play, used to powerful effect both by designer Perks and movement director Lewis.
Hampson, in her belated Theatre Royal debut in the city where she has lived for three decades, leads with a performance that glows: she can be gravely serious, frustrated, questing, comforting, resolute, but also delights in shards of humour and a narrator’s permission to step outside the action.
Hammer to the Thor: Andrew Isherwood enjoys delivering another blow in The Coppergate Woman. Picture: Jane Hobson
Isherwood’s Thor, hair extensions et al, has something of the Marvel comic-book about him; Barrott and Hammond stand out too, but this is a team show, from ensemble to choir, musicians to a multitude of costume makers and the hair and make-up crew.
Hazel Jupp’s costume designs are worthy of a carnival, and praise too for Craig Kilmartin’s lighting and Mike Redley’ sound (making light of having so many voices on stage).
Nicolas Lewis’s largely earnest compositions would benefit from more oomph and greater contrast, characteristics essential to community singing that demands rather more fun and coloratura. Too much had to weigh on that last number.
Directors Juliet Forster and John R Wilkinson pull the strings of such a large-scale enterprise with a passion for community theatre writ large, spectacle aplenty and more than a nod to in-vogue gig theatre. The joy here, however, rests more in that return after five years than in a troubling play for the End of Days that feels a bit of a drag when we need an uplift.
The Coppergate Woman, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight until Saturday; 2.30pm matinees, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
The end: Composer and musical director Nicolas Lewis, centre, leading the finale to The Coppergate Woman. Picture: Jane Hobson
Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Helen Bauer in Madam Good Tit at Theatre@41 in October
NEW partnerships, returning performers, comedy acts aplenty and community theatre regulars make up the autumn and winter season at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.
One year on from throwing open its doors post-pandemic, the black-box studio will play host to Yorkshire and national companies and artists alike.
“We’re doing all right, whether by chance or design!” says chair Alan Park. “In the year since we took over the programming, there’s been a nice balance between comedy, music and theatre, with a focus on new writing, as well as continuing our relationships with York Stage, Pick Me Up Theatre, White Rose Theatre, York Settlement Community Players and York Musical Theatre Company.
“The mailing list has gone up from 40 to 2,000 and we feel that people are invested in the building, our charity status, the work we present, and want us to do well. There are plenty of people who run theatres, but we want to run a ‘movement’ and we think we’re getting there.”
Colin Hoult in The Death Of Anna Mann. Picture: Linda Blacker
Looking ahead to the new season, one new partnership finds Theatre@41 linking up with York promoter Al Greaves’s well-established Burning Duck Comedy Club, complementing his programme at The Crescent (and previously at The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse).
“Maggie Smales, one of our trustees, reached out to Al,” says Alan. “Initially, comedy promoters were contacting us directly, and we were doing maybe two comedy shows a season, but we got in touch with Al to say ‘we don’t want to tread on your toes, but we’d love to work with you’, and so now we have six shows this autumn through linking up with Al.”
Among those shows will be Lauren Pattinson’s It Is What It Is on September 16; Colin Hoult, from the Netflix series After Life, presenting The Death Of Anna Mann on October 8; the returning Olga Koch, star of her own BBC Radio 4 series, in Just Friends on October 15 and fellow Edinburgh Festival Fringe Best Newcomer nominee Helen Bauer’s Madam Good Tit, on October 22. Look out too for Taskmaster winner Sophie Duker next April.
Returning to Theatre@41 will be Dyad Productions, following up the sold-out I, Elizabeth with Christmas Gothic, adapted and performed by Rebecca Vaughan, on November 26 and 27, and Sarah-Louise Young, building on the sold-out success of Alan’s favourite show so far, An Evening Without Kate Bush, by presenting her charming yet cheeky West End and Off-Broadway cabaret hit Julie Madly Deeply, a tribute to Julie Andrews.
Sarah-Louise Young in her Julie Andrews tribute, Julie Madly Deeply. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
Further returnees will be East Riding company Other Lives Theatre Productions in Landmarks, Nick Darke’s environmentally topical story of a farming family feud, and Nunkie Theatre’s Robert Lloyd Parry with two more gripping MR James ghost stories by candlelight in Oh, Whistle on November 25.
“We’ve had a lot of good feedback from artists, such as Olga Koch’s agent,” says Alan. “We know there’s paint peeling off walls, the roof is leaking, but we believe in making the artists welcome, like giving them a little York Gin pack on arrival. We try to be a friendly venue where everyone will want to come back.”
Endorsements for Theatre@41 are spreading, leading to debut visits by Mark Farrelly in his Quentin Crisp show, Naked Hope, on September 7 and Olivier Award-winning actor and director Guy Masterson, staging his one-man adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol on November 24.
Seven York companies and performers are booked in. Robert Readman’s Pick Me Up Theatre will stage Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical Jr from September 23 to October 2 and The Sound Of Music from December 16 to 30 in the Christmas slot. York Settlement Community Players will perform Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning Broadway comedy Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike from November 3 to 5.
Rebecca Vaughan in Dyad Productions’ Christmas Gothic. Picture: Ben Guest
White Rose Theatre will deliver The Last Five Years, an emotionally charged musical full of upbeat numbers and beautiful ballads by Jason Robert Brown that tells the story of two lovers over the course of five years, with Cathy starting her tale at the end of the relationship and Jamie telling his story from the beginning. Directed by Claire Pulpher, it will run from November 9 to 12.
Barnstorming country-rock band The Rusty Pegs will play Rumours (Again!) in a 45th anniversary celebration of the Fleetwood Mac nugget on October 9, after giving Theatre@41’s re-launch gig post-Covid; Jessa Liversidge will sing Some Enchanted Sondheim on October 9, and York Musical Theatre Company will mark their 120th anniversary with A Musical Celebration on October 13 and 14.
Spookologist and ghost-botherer Doctor Dorian Deathly, a winner in the 2022 Visit York Tourism Awards, will make his Theatre@41 debut with his Halloween show, A Night Of Face Melting Horror!, from October 26 to 31.
“Each night, Dorian will be hot-footing over here after doing his Deathly Dark ghost tour for a cabaret evening with a bar of the dead and cocktails,” says Alan. “He came to us with the idea, and we thought, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. He has a huge following, so we’re delighted he wanted to come here.”
The horror! The horror” The poster for Doctor Dorian Deathly’s Halloween show, A Night Of Face Melting Horror!
Paul Birch, one of the stand-outs in York Theatre Royal’s Green Shoots showcase for new work in June, will bring his improv group, Foolish, to Theatre@41 for the third time. On September 15, he will host a night of ad-hoc comedy improvised from suggestions written in chalk on the stage floor under the title of Cobbled Together.
Seeking to foster a growing relationship with The Groves community, Theatre@41 will play host to the inaugural Groves Community Cinema: a weekend of classic films old and new right on residents’ doorsteps when visitors will be invited to “pay what you feel”, with support from an ARG Events and Festivals Grant in partnership with Make It York and City of York Council.
“Historically, we’re on the edge of The Groves, and maybe The Groves has never quite felt this is The Groves’ theatre, but we hope that putting on a community cinema weekend will make it feel more like it’s part of their community, rather than people just walking past our doors,” says Alan.
Olga Koch: Returning to Theatre@41 to present Just Friends
September 10 will offer Encanto Singalong at 2.30pm and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind at 6pm; September 11, Kes at 2.30pm and Nomadland at 6.30pm.
Three more new additions add to the sense of momentum at Theatre@41. Firstly, £5,000 funding from City of York Council and the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation will ensure the lighting rig “no longer wobbles”; secondly, the theatre will resume being a polling station for elections.
Last, but not least, the Monkgate building will be turned into the rehearsal rooms for veteran dame Berwick Kaler’s Grand Opera House pantomime, Old Granny Goose. “We’re giving them multiple rooms, including the dance studio,” says Alan. “They’ll have the run of the building basically.”
For performance times and to book tickets for the new season, head to: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Copyright of The Press, York
Pantomime dame Berwick Kaler and daft-lad sidekick Martin Barrass will be rehearsing Old Granny Goose at Theatre@41 ahead of its run at the Grand Opera House, York
Jay Osmond with the principals from The Osmonds: A New Musical, Jamie Chatterton, left, Danny Nattrass, Alex Lodge, Ryan Anderson and Joseph Peacock, by the River Ouse
SLADE, Marc Bolan & T. Rex, David Bowie, Sweet, er, Gary Glitter, Gilbert O’Sullivan, even David Cassidy, who shared a birthday, were early Seventies’ favourites in the Hutch household.
The Osmonds, however, were not, save for the somewhat bizarre presence of nine-year-old Little Jimmy’s excitable Long Haired Lover From Liverpool in 11-year-old Hutch’s Christmas stocking in 1972. Today it would pass as a guilty pleasure. Back then, well, the Osmonds were everywhere. Osmondmania, as it was called.
“We want The Osmonds,” went the chant. “We want The Osmonds”. Ah, but do we still want The Osmonds? On the evidence of Tuesday night’s audience, there are plenty who still do: mainly women of a certain age who were taken back to all their yesterdays, whether waving Osmonds flags rescued from the attic or hearts a’flutter anew when Joseph Peacock donned Donny’s trademark peaked cap for Puppy Love.
This was the moment when this show truly took off: just like when young brother Donny first became the number one pin-up. And they still call it puppy love on August 2 2022.
Early steps: Osian Salter as Young Donny and Alex Cardall as Andy Williams in The Osmonds: A New Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
The Osmonds: A New Musical is the Osmonds’ story, or rather it is Jay Osmond’s story, filtered from his 2010 autobiography, Stages, now on stage as the family drama from the family drummer. Jay, played so handsomely by Alex Lodge, is the narrator, the guide, through the lives of the American boy band from Ogden, Utah, from their milk-teeth days singing barbershop on The Andy Williams Show (days when Jay once sat on Walt Disney’s knee).
Faith, first, then family, then career, was the motto of these clean-cut, clean-living boys, as espoused by their disciplinarian father George (Charlie Allen), who controlled the Mormon family music-making operation with military precision. The boys called him sir, saluted him, showed respect at all times, to everyone, just like Elvis did in all his early black-and-white interviews.
Faith, first. Well, ‘Mormon’ was name-checked only once; the ‘Church of Latter-day Saints’ not at all, but there were references to “mission” and “faith”. This was a polite, respectful musical, one that showed the influence of their faith without hammering home their Mormon roots.
Father George Osmond, who wears the same suit throughout to emphasise his unchanging ways, imposes his will. Mother Olive (Nicola Bryan) is more comforting, a listening ear, but she too preaches the collective good, the cause of faith and family.
Country girl: Georgia Lennon as Marie Osmond, Picture: Pamela Raith
What Julian Bigg and director Shaun Kerrison’s book for this Osmond celebration does do is show what made The Osmonds unique: a family boy band, who all could sing lead vocals, play any number of instruments, grew into writing their own songs, and kept adding new members, from Donny to country-loving sister Marie (Georgia Lennon) and, yes, Little Jimmy (Austin Riley) with his five-week chart topper.
It doesn’t matter who is singing the lead vocal, as long as it is an Osmond, was the other family motto, but as with all bands, gradually individual needs percolate through the shiny surface. Merrill (Ryan Anderson) starts to struggle with his mental health; Jay talks of always being stuck in the middle, the drummer holding things together from the back; Wayne (Danny Nattrass) tends to be the one in the back seat until darkness consumes him.
The brothers, suddenly expected to be Donny’s backing band and to play second fiddle on the Donny & Marie TV shows, deem his hit songs to be lightweight froth.
Alan (Jamie Chatterton), picked by his father to be the leader, takes that to the point – in tandem with Merrill – of plunging the family into financial crisis with one disastrous business decision.
Keeping it clean: The Osmonds performing under their parents’ watchful gaze in The Osmonds: A New Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
Jay’s story and Bigg and Kerrison’s stage adaptation achieve the right balance of nostalgia and exhilaration, knowing humour and candour, full of concert, TV studio and recording session detail, topped off by an off-stage vocal cameo by Elvis Presley, offering the brothers advice on their next step and fashion tips. Letters sent to Jay by Wendy (Katy Hards), his number one fan from Manchester, weave a British thread through the story to amusing effect.
If this feels a clean-cut version, then this is the one band for whom that is entirely warranted. This is not a story of sex and drugs and rock’n’roll, unlike the jukebox musicals for Marc Bolan, The Kinks and The Small Faces that have passed through York previously.
It is, instead, a story of many highs, an almighty crash, and a reunion resurrection in the 2008 finale. The hits keep coming, first with the cutesy children’s cast with their immaculate harmonies and matching attire, then One Bad Apple, Let Me In, Marie’s Paper Roses, et al.
Songs feed into and off the story, especially for Merrill and Wayne’s frustrations; Lodge’s Jay breaks down theatre’s fourth wall with rosy charm, and the principals’ performances grow as the story progresses. Knock-out singers, good movers, equally adept in their dialogue, they honour the Osmonds to the max. As do Lucy Osborne’s set design, Bill Deamer’s snappy choreography, Sam Cox’s wigs, hair and make-up design, the ensemble cast and band.
Ouse-mond! Jay Osmond stands by the River Ouse on his visit to York. Picture: Aaron McCracken
Love Me For A Reason and Crazy Horses are held back, perfectly judged to bring the standing ovation. If you were never a fan, or found many of the songs too sugary, nothing can change that, but The Osmonds: A New Musical will delight all those ‘Osmondmania’ devotees once more and may well draw new converts too with its froth and fun, spirit and smiles, American good cheer and Seventies’ style.
Jay Osmond, pictured in York this week with the show’s principals, will be there again tonight, watching his family’s story unfold once more, still taking care of business. Faith, family, career, discipline, devotion and no bad apples.
The Osmonds: A New Musical, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm, tonight until Saturday; 2.30pm matinees, Thursday and Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york
Bristol singer-songwriter Lady Nade. Picture: Joseph Branston
AMERICANA folk singer-songwriter Lady Nade will return to Pocklington Arts Centre on October 15 after supporting Spiers & Boden there in October 2021.
This summer, the Bristol musician has played such festivals as Glastonbury, Latitude and Black Deer in the wake of releasing her third album, Willing, in June 2021.
Pocklington Arts Centre manager Dave Parker says: “Lady Nade’s last appearance here last October created a real buzz amongst our audience, with many coming away from the show blown away by her performance as the special guest of Spiers & Boden.
“So, we’re incredibly excited to be welcoming her back to the venue and putting her centre stage for what we know will be a fantastic night of live music in a unique intimate setting. Snap up your tickets fast or risk missing out!”
The forced stillness of the pandemic led to a prolific outpouring of creativity and words by Lady Nade, resulting in Willing, a collection of stories about love and friendship, both regular subjects in her work. Her songs explore self and loneliness, emotions that she brings to audiences with a sense of finding and losing these feelings during such strange times.
Tickets for this 8pm concert cost £14 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
