THE Grand Opera House, York, plays host to two tribute shows this week, first hitting the high notes with The Best Of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons on Friday.
The Simon & Garfunkel Story follows on Saturday in a return visit to the Cumberland Street theatre.
From the creators of The Barricade Boys comes the Frankie Valli show, a high-pitched celebration of the career of four New Jersey boys, who started singing under a streetlamp.
Sherry, My Eyes Adored You, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Walk Like A Man and December 1963 (Oh, What A Night) all feature in a show performed by cast members from Jersey Boys and other West End shows.
The Simon & Garfunkel Story
After a run at London’s Vaudeville Theatre and a worldwide tour, the tribute show to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is back on the road with Adam Dickinson’s Simon and Cameron Potts’s Garfunkel.
Using projection
photos and original film footage, the 50th anniversary celebration features a
full band performing Cecilia, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mrs Robinson et al.
Tickets for the two 7.30pm performances are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Annie Donaghy, Big Ian Donaghy, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay and Jess Steel at A Night To Remember in 2019 at York Barbican. Picture: Karen Boyes
AS New Year’s resolutions wane and gym memberships become a direct debit, a group of York musicians start their boot camp of rehearsals for A Night To Remember.
Now in its eighth year, the annual fundraising event helps good causes in the city to make a difference.
Organiser and host Big Ian Donaghy brings together “the finest musicians and singers for a gang show like no other” at York Barbican.
“This year’s show is so jam packed with quality that we’ve had to create another day to fit it in: Saturday, February 29, in the leap year of 2020!” says Big Ian.
Heather Findlay performing at last year’s A Night To Remember fundraiser. Picture: David Harrison
Unlike other shows, A Night To Remember has all the singers performing as an ensemble exceeding all of its constituent parts.
“When you have a dream team on the stage, it seems a shame to not use them, so everybody sings on everybody else’s songs,” says Big Ian.
“It’s become a big musical family – and there’s some range on stage! For example, festival superstar Kieran O’Malley, on fiddle, could power the entire night with his energetic performance leading the crowd like a pied piper,” says Big Ian.
A Night To Remember lets singers take on their favourite songs. “In previous years, no song has been off limits. Last year saw the cast rise to the challenge of Bohemian Rhapsody in its entirety, something not even Queen tackled!
Jess Steel: taking on “near-impossible demanding songs” at York Barbican. Picture: David Harrison
“Soulful Jess Steel will take on a Dusty Springfield classic, as well as other near-impossible demanding songs that she’ll deliver in the manner she’s now well known for.
“Heather Findlay, fresh back from a sell-out UK tour, brings her class into the mix, performing two of her favourite songs.
“Overall, you should expect showbiz, expect boundless energy, expect the unexpected.”
The gig’s house band will be led by York music stalwart George Hall, joined by powerhouse duo Rob Wilson and Simon Snaize on guitar duty.
The poster for A Night To Remember 2020
Look out for Beth McCarthy, who made her debut at the Mount School when Big Ian ran a School of Rock concert there. “I still call him ‘Mr D’ as he was my teacher,” says Beth, who will be stepping out of her comfort zone to rock the Barbican foundations.
Graham Hodge will “venture into very different areas as he celebrates his 70th birthday”. Gravel-voiced Boss Caine, alias Dan Lucas, will tackle a country favourite that nobody would ever guess.
Hope & Social’s Gary Stewart will play the congas, as well as singing a Paul Simon rouser.
York singer Jessa Liversidge will bring her fully inclusive Singing For All choir, a group with members aged up to 98.
Beth McCarthy: “Stepping out of her comfort zone to rock the Barbican foundations”
“This choir is all about bringing people together to combat loneliness and celebrate a love of music with rehearsals that are very tea and cake heavy,” says Jessa.
“I love Jessa’s passionate, positive approach to bringing the community together, so it was an obvious fit to raise the choir’s profile and show the city just how fantastic they are,” says Big Ian.
“So much, so we’ll have them singing The New Seekers’ I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing.”
Annie Donaghy will put her spin on a George Michael classic on a night when the set list will feature covers of Dusty Springfield, Shania Twain, Simple Minds, Paul Simon, Michael Buble, Guns N’ Roses, Barbra Streisand, Peter Gabriel, Elton John and Marvin Gaye classics, as well as a few surprises.
Oh, what A Night To Remember as singers and musicians gather at the finale of last year’s fund-raising concert at York Barbican. Picture: Ravage
“This year, the show has a bigger, brassier feel with a 12-piece brass section, made up of Kempy, Pete, Stu and Chalky from my band Huge, being joined by funk horns and brass players from York Music Forum, ranging in age from 13 to 18, led by Ian Chalk,” says Big Ian.
“We’re celebrating the young talent in the city within the brass section and putting them alongside singers up to 98 years old. Music has no age limit. It is for all of us!”
Possibly the most important man on the night will be sound engineer Craig Rothery, who has the unenviable task of mixing this leviathan of a line-up.
“Craigy is a phenomenal sound engineer, who mixed the launch event for the Tour de France at Leeds First Direct Arena that was viewed by millions. Craig is so much more than a safe pair of hands; he’s the cement that holds us together,” says Big Ian.
Graham Hodge in action at last year’s A Night To Remember concert
He also promises “ground-breaking, heart-warming and heart-breaking films” to raise dementia awareness. “Watch out for surprise appearances, as previous years have included messages from Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, The Hairy Bikers, Rick Astley, Nick Knowles, Anton du Beke and Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson,” he says.
“But the real reason these musicians come together is to help St Leonard’s Hospice, Dementia Projects in York, Bereaved Children Support York and Accessible Arts & Media.”
Jo Cole, of Bereaved Children Support, says: “As well as helping us fund one-to-one counselling, A Night To Remember has raised our profile, so families who desperately needed us to help now know where we are.”
Working the crowd: A Night To Remember host Ian Donaghy
Emma Johnson, of St Leonard’s Hospice, says: “Big Ian and the team have provided invaluable help for years, making such a difference in the city.”
Big Ian, who speaks all over Europe about dementia care, concludes: “Dementia awareness and the difference we can make by bringing community together is the envy of many cities around the UK.
“We throw everything into this evening. It takes months of hard work and phenomenally talented people working tirelessly. I’m so proud to be part of this team.”
Tickets are available at £17.55 and £15 on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
The 7.30pm show is being sponsored by Haxby Group and Care Shop.
Singers, musicians and the York Barbican audience pose for a group selfie after last year’s concert
Robert Pickavance as Dr Janusz Korcza in rehearsals for Dr Korczak’s Example. All pictures: Zoe Martin
LEEDS Playhouse regular Robert Pickavance, Gemma Barnett and newcomer Danny Sykes will star in Dr Korczak’s Example, the first 2020 production in the new Bramall Rock Void.
Artistic director James Brining directs David Greig’s powerful
and moving play in a Leeds premiere timed to coincide with Holocaust Memorial
Day on January 27.
Set in the shadows of the Warsaw Jewish ghetto in 1942, Dr Korczak’s Example
examines life in an orphanage where escapism is key to survival, and where the
children’s shared sense of community is the only barrier against the wave of
hatred approaching their haven of solidarity.
Director James Brining at work in the Leeds Playhouse rehearsal rooms
Greig’s play highlights the work of Polish educator and children’s
author Dr Janusz Korczak, who championed the voices of young people and
whose influence led to the creation of the United Nation’s Convention on the
Rights of the Child in 1989.
Director James Brining says: “Dr Janusz Korczak was an incredible
individual whose beliefs and teachings helped to redefine how we think about
the way we bring up our own children and the part we have to play within
society to achieve that.
“I commissioned the play and first directed it in 2001. It’s such a
powerful, moving and timely story and I’m so looking forward to returning to it
in the new Bramall Rock Void and particularly to working with Hebden Bridge
designer Rose Revitt, winner of the Linbury Prize for theatre design.”
Gemma Barnett rehearsing her role as Stephanie in Dr Korczak’s Example
The Bramall Rock Void forms part of the £15.8 million redevelopment of
Leeds Playhouse, completed last autumn. “What we have already discovered about
our new theatre is that its raw intimacy can create a powerful environment for
powerful stories and Rose’s vision for Dr Korczak’s Example does just that,”
says James. ”I’m honoured to be
directing this [play] again with such a brilliant company.”
Brining
commissioned Greig to write the play 20 years ago when he was running
TAG, a children’s theatre company in Glasgow, Scotland. Now looking forward to
introducing it to a new audience in his home city of Leeds, he says:“I’ve
done quite a few things more than once, but I never intended to go back to this
piece again.
“I was
really happy with the original production. Then, a year or so ago, I came
across a statistic that showed quite a high number of people – maybe 18 to 20
per cent – thought the Nazi holocaust was exaggerated, with a slightly smaller
number saying it was completely fabricated. I was really struck and shocked by
that because when I grew up it was a very present thing.”
Leeds actor Robert Pickavance during rehearsals for Dr Korczak’s Example
Brining
continues: “On a very personal level, revisiting the play has made me ask if
I’m the same person I was 20 years ago. Having children has changed the way I
see the play and, perhaps, explains why I was so moved when I read it again.
I’m not saying that having children gives you more of a profound understanding,
but it does give you a different perspective. And I’m just older, so I can now
align myself quite strongly with Korczak.
“I think
that’s the measure of a really great piece of theatre: it speaks to you
differently according to who you are and where you are. Having children, being
older, the world being a slightly different place, even having more distance
from 1942, all of these things affect the way you engage with it. But as I’ve watched
rehearsals, I’ve been really moved. The power of the play is still very
potent.”
The role of Dr Janusz Korczak will be played by Leeds
actor Robert Pickavance, who starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in A
Christmas Carol and Sava in David Greig’s Europe as part of
the Leeds Playhouse Ensemble during its Pop-Up Season.
Newcomer Danny Sykes rehearsing his role as Adzio
He will be joined by Gemma Barnett, fresh from starring as Hermia
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare In The Squares, as well as
Rory in A Hundred Words For Snow at Trafalgar Studios and Lola
in Lola at The Vaults, both in London.
Danny Sykes will make his first professional stage appearance after
graduating with a BA in Acting from Arts Ed in 2019.
This Playhouse production is supported by the Linbury Prize for Stage
Design, funded by the Linbury Trust. This biennial prize, the most important of
its kind in Britain, brings together the best early
career designers with professional theatre, dance and opera companies.
Joining Brining and Revitt in the creative team are lighting designer Jane Lalljee, sound designer and composer David Shrubsole, movement designerRachel Wise.
Dr Korczak’s Example runs at Bramall Rock Void, Leeds Playhouse, January 25 to February 15. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
York artist Gerard Hobson with his wren installation beneath the Clock Tower at Beningbrough Hall, near York. Pictures: Sue Jordan
YORK linocut artist Gerard Hobson is exhibiting
for the first time at Beningbrough Hall, Beningbrough, near York.
His Winter Wildlife In Print show at the
National Trust property combines prints for sale in the Hayloft gallery with 14
sculptural
scenes in the outbuildings, gardens, grounds and parkland, inspired by
creatures that make Beningbrough their winter home.
Throughout
winter until March 1, they can be seen only on Saturdays and Sundays, from 11am
to 3.30pm, and additionally during the February half term.
Hedgehog in winter, by Gerard Hobson,
Created out of linoprints, cut out and mounted to make Hobson’s
3D installations, birds are swooping, climbing or nesting among the trees, from
owls and robins to cuckoos, wrens and swifts.
Eyes should
be kept peeled for the naughty magpies with their stolen ring. Do look out,
too, beyond the ha-ha to the parkland to spot a pair of boxing hares, better
seen close-up should anyone be carrying binoculars.
Bang goes the common knowledge, by the way, that boxing hares
are a brace of males scrapping over a female. Apparently, as a sign reveals,
the fights involve a male and a female, not welcoming his persistent attention.
Who knew, the lady hares are effectively saying “Do one” or “Get yourself a
better chat-up line”!
Hare, by Gerard Hobson, one of the linoprints in the Hayloft gallery at Beningbrough Hall
These outdoor
installations are the first time Gerard Hobson has used his work in this way,
and in creating the exhibition, he has made many new pieces especially for the
Beningbrough garden.
Not only birds, but other animals too make an appearance in
unexpected places, searching for food and preparing to hibernate or sleep,
whether bats, mice, stoats or a hedgehog.
Make sure to head upstairs in the stables to
the Hayloft for an indoor exhibition showcasing more of Gerard’s printed work,
all for sale. Visitors also can create a feeder in the bothy and pick up
one of the special colouring-in sheets in the walled garden restaurant, while
in the laurel den a dawn chorus soundscape is a reminder of warmer days to
come.
Here Charles Hutchinson puts the questions on
the art of the matter to artist Gerard Hobson.
You have a background as a zoologist and botanist. What draws you
to depicting nature and wildlife, Gerard?
“One of my earliest recollections was collecting a set of bird cards
given away with PG Tips tea (I would love to do a set for Yorkshire Tea).
“This moved on to sets of animals both native and around the world,
which then grew into a love of nature.
A bird collage by Gerard Hobson
“At the age of about 16, I had a ten-minute chat with a careers adviser,
who asked me what my interests were. I said ‘nature and art’ and he said ‘there’s
no money in art, go down the science route’, hence the zoology.
“My first job after graduating was with the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and
this is where my knowledge of plants developed.”
In this age of climate change concern and the extinction of creatures,
your art can make a powerful statement …but at the same time, in the short
film shown in the Beningbrough Hall bothy, you talk of your art being fun.
Discuss…
“People who buy my prints tell me they’re bright and cheerful and have a
sense of fun about them. I’m pleased they get that response but I also hope
that my images might create a greater interest in wildlife.
“I think most people are aware of the loss of habitat and species and
the impact of global warming on our environment, but people feel the problem is
so great that their small contribution isn’t going to make any difference.
“I hope my art may stir people to become more interested in the wildlife
around them, to feed the birds and join their local wildlife trust. To share
this with their children and their children’s children and hopefully
generations of young people will become more interested in the birds and woodlands
around them. Maybe some will go on to be environmental campaigners – who knows!”
Gerard Hobson at work in his York studio
Your past work often has been of individual creatures. How did
you come up with the idea of doing installations and sculptural scenes for
the Beningbrough exhibition?
“When I was asked to do an exhibition at Beningbrough, they told me they
wanted me to do something outdoors but they wanted me to use my linocuts.
However, I knew this was going to create several problems.
“Life-size birds outside would just disappear into the great outdoors,
so I had to do everything twice its normal size.
“I wanted the work to be original because somehow, once you reproduce
art, it seems to lose its essence, but trying to make my paper linocuts
waterproof also proved challenging.
“I felt each installation needed some sort of narrative. So, my
vision for the exhibition was not just about the art but for each one to be
linked with some related fact or folklore.”
How does the impact of a group of birds/hibernating animals/etc
contrast with those past works?
“I think the outdoor display at Beningbrough challenged me artistically
as I have never done an outside exhibition before and I wanted to come up with
something a little bit different and quirky: a seek and find concept.
Pheasant, one of the linoprints by Gerard Hobson, at Beningbrough Hall’s Hayloft gallery
“As an artist you are looking at ways to develop, but not lose your
style. Before the offer at Beningbrough came about, I’d been considering doing
some framed images of my linocuts in naturalistic settings using fake plants,
branches, mosses etc.
“When I was about 12, I started collecting taxidermy and had quite a
large collection, but over the years it has become less fashionable. However,
taxidermy still interests me as an art form, hence the thought of putting my
linocuts in cases.”
What influence did the Beningbrough Hall outbuildings and grounds have
on your work. Furthermore, did the task of creating work for the outdoors present
different challenges?
“When I was asked to do the exhibition, the brief was very broad and
they basically gave me carte blanche on the spaces around the grounds, which
was fantastic!
“I obviously wanted to do something that was on a circuit so I around a few times, identifying my favourite
trees and possible places to put things.
“Many of the themes for the installations came from the spaces
themselves. The stumpery led to the creation of a group of mushrooms and the
tool shed looked like a good setting to put animals and birds for sheltering
away from the cold winter weather.”
A close-up of the wrens, one of 14 sculptural scenes by Gerard Hobson at Beningbrough Hall this winter
What impact did the winter season have on the work?
“The winter weather has created a few problems. When we were installing
the exhibition, it seemed to be constantly raining, which made the installation
a very cold and wet experience!
“Once the exhibition was up, we had a couple of weeks where various pieces
were coming away from their metal dowel. (I’m not sure if it was the persistent
rain or the wrong sort of glue being used.)
“Added to which, very high winds brought down the swallow installation
twice and the boxing hares were blown over. There has also been a problem with
the thrush installation being attacked by what we think is the resident jackdaw
population! “However, through it all, the gardeners and volunteers at
Beningbrough have been fantastic at helping put things right.”
What will happen to the installation pieces after the exhibition ends on
March 1?
“Good question, no idea. Some of the pieces have weathered, which gives
them a look of an old loved toy. I don’t think they’ll last outdoors
permanently. I’m open to suggestions.”
Bird And Mistletoe, a winter linoprint by Gerard Hobson
What do you like most about linocuts as an artform?
“I went on a printmaking course at York College about ten years ago and
I was particularly taken with producing linocuts.
“Carving away on lino has a very therapeutic feel to it, and it was through
this medium that I developed my own style. Prior to this, I’d been quite good
at art technically, but didn’t have a particular look to my art, so this
technique seemed to release me into something I’d been trying to do for years.
“When you produce a piece of art, you can feel quite attached to it, and
it can be quite difficult to part with. With a linocut, because it’s one of a
limited edition, you can always hold one back for yourself or a loved one.”
What are you working on next? York Open Studios 2020 on April 18, 19, 25
and 26, perhaps?
“My exhibition in the Hayloft gallery at Beningbrough is running until
the beginning of March, with the sales from this keeping me quite busy at the
moment, and I want to keep refreshing this part of the show, so that returning
visitors get to see something a little different each time.
“Also, I need to crack on with some new work for York Open Studios,
which I’m very excited about this April.”
Gerard Hobson’s Winter Wildlife In Print exhibition and
installations are on show at Beningbrough Hall, Beningbrough, near York, until
March 1. To plan a visit, go to nationaltrust.org.uk/beningbrough for
more information.
Hare leap: one of Gerard Hobson’s linocut prints at Beningbrough Hall
Did you know?
SINCE childhood, Gerard Hobson has had a love for birds, animals
and art. His fascination with wildlife saw him qualify as a zoologist from
Bangor University in 1984 and he then worked for a couple of years for
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust as a botanist. Later he became an illustrator for the
trust, working on leaflets and sign boards.
After relocating up north, Gerard worked for Yorkshire Wildlife
and continued to develop his work on a freelance basis. In more recent years,
he has turned his hand to woodcarving and these days focuses his attentions on
print making, having studied the art form in York.
Standing up against a huge corporation: Jennie Wogan as Rita O’Grady in Made In Dagenham. All pictures: Simon Charles
THE
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company will present the York premiere of Made In
Dagenham from February 5 to 8 to raise funds for the community theatre in Haxby
Road, York.
Directed
by Kayleigh Oliver, this will be the third such musical production after Mel
Brooks’s The Producers in 2018 and Cole Porter and Bella and Samuel Spewack’s Kiss Me,
Kate in 2019.
David Arnold, Richard Thomas and Hull playwright Richard Bean’s Made In Dagenham is
inspired by the remarkable true story of a group of women, working in Ford’s
Dagenham car plant, that stood tall against a huge corporation and won the
fight for equal pay, a battle still raging all over the world.
Jenny Jones as Sandra in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Made In Dagenham
Rita
O’Grady, a working wife and mother, has her life changed forever when the girls
in Ford’s stitching room are told their pay is to be dropped to an “unskilled”
grade. It falls to Rita to lead her friends in the fight against Ford and the
corruption of the union.
Along the
way in their inspiring journey, they learn the value of friendship, solidarity and
the importance of fighting for what’s right, as told in a funny, touching and
timeless musical that remains as relevant today as ever.
Jennie Wogan, latterly seen in Scrooge, King Lear
and Kiss Me, Kate, takes the role of Rita, joined by talent from the York
amateur theatre scene, such as Helen Singhateh, from Little Shop Of Horrorsand the UK/European tour of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!, as Beryl; Nick Sephton, from Patience and Pirates
Of Penzance, as Eddie O’Grady, and
Martyn Hunter, from Brassed Off and Calendar Girls, as Prime Minister Harold
Wilson.
Jennie Wogan in rehearsal for her lead role as Rita O;Grady
Malton
actor, singer and now producer Scott Garnham starred in the original West End
production. “It’s a great show and I’m delighted that someone is presenting it
in York, where I started my career,” he says.
“The York
premiere really is an event,” says lead actress Jennie Wogan. “It’s a story
about love, family and doing what’s right, all told with humour, honesty and
some wonderfully written songs.”
Oliver is joined in the
production team by assistant director Alex Schofield, producer Tom Diar
Davey=Rogerson, musical director Tim Selman, choreographer Lorna Newby and
costume designer Karen Brunyee.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
are on sale on 01904 501935, at
josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or in person from the JoRo box office. Please note,
Made In Dagenham features some very strong language and may be unsuitable for
children.
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s poster for next month’s Made In Dagenham
Cast List
Rita O’Grady – Jennie Wogan
Beryl – Helen Singhateh
Sandra – Jennifer Jones
Clare – Izzy Betts
Cass – Riffat Rizvi
Rachel/Club Singer – Clare Meadley
MC – Hannah Ainscough
Connie Riley – Rosy Rowley
Lisa Hopkins – Karen Brunyee
Barbara Castle – Kayleigh Oliver
Sharon O’Grady – Ella Meadley
Helen Singhateh as Beryl in Made In Dagenham
Eddie
O’Grady – Nick Sephton
Graham O’Grady – Ben Wood
Sid/Stan – Tom Diar Davey-Rogerson
Bill/Stan – Cam O’Byrne
Monty – Richard Goodall
Barry – Joe Hesketh
Mr Hopkins – Mark Simmonds
Chubby Chuff – Ben Huntley
Tooley – Chris Gibson
Mr Hubble – Nick Jackson
Mr Macer – Gary Bateson
Wilson’s Aide 1 – Alastair Bush
Wilson’s
Aide 2 – Cam O’Byrne
Wilson’s Aide 3 – Ben Huntley
Harold Wilson – Martyn Hunter
Mr Buckton – Gary Bateson
Buddy Cortina – Ben Huntley
Chris Gibson as Tooley in rehearsal for Made In Dagenham
Gillene Butterfield as Rose Maurrant and Alex Banfield as Sam Kaplan in Opera North’s Street Scene. All pictures: Clive Barda
Opera North in Street Scene; LeedsGrand Theatre. Box office: 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com
KURT Weill’s “American opera” is actually a hotchpotch of styles from both sides of the pond. Opera, both serious and light, musicals, jazz, and dance all jostle in song, speech and melodrama to reflect a cosmopolitan tenement in Manhattan.
It is also an ensemble piece, with a multiplicity of small roles that offer an ideal opportunity to showcase in depth the talents of Opera North’s chorus. It requires a director with wide-reaching experience, prepared for painstaking attention to detail. Though set in stifling heat, Matthew Eberhardt’s production is so far only luke-warm; it may yet come to the boil.
Francis O’Connor’s network of metal stairs and walkways in the midst of a beehive of apartments augments the bustle of life, allowing just enough space for dance. There is only a single exit from this ghetto on ground level, compounding the claustrophobia. So far, so good.
Giselle Allen as Anna Maurrant in Street Scene
His costumes are more debatable. Most of the cast are wearing far too much for the alleged heat – T-shirts, anyone? – nor is it likely that pantsuits would have been common currency in a down-at-heel 1940s neighbourhood.
There are two main story-lines to Elmer Price’s book, which is based on his 1929 play of the same name: the adultery and eventual death of Anna Maurrant, and the ultimately doomed, cross-faith puppy love between her daughter Rose and studious Sam Kaplan. Everything else is atmosphere.
Eberhardt does little to elucidate Anna’s dalliances with the milkman – admittedly Weill is not much help here – so that when her husband shoots them both, we are left relatively unmoved. Similarly, so little electricity illuminates the friendship between Rose and Sam that it seems bound to remain platonic from the word go.
Claire Pascoe as Emma Jones, Byron Jackson as Henry Davis, Amy J Payne as Olga Olsen, Richard Mosley-Evans as George Jones, Miranda Bevin as Greta Fiorentino, John Savournin as Carl Olsen, Christopher Turner as Lippo Fiorentino and Robert Hayward as Frank Maurrant, with children in Opera North’s Street Scene
The evening has plenty of compensations, however. There are several self-contained numbers that show Weill at his best. The Ice-Cream Sextet joyously led by Italian airman Lippo (Christopher Turner); a song-and-dance jitterbug by Rodney Vubya and Michelle Andrews; the raucous children’s game to open Act 2, superbly danced (choreography by Gary Clarke); the trenchant wit of the Nursemaids’ Lullaby (Lorna James and Hazel Croft, pushing prams) – all these are beacons of humour and entertainment.
The orchestra under James Holmes is especially alive to jazz styles and the rhythm section has a field-day. Act 2 has its longueurs after the children’s game and some of his tempos here are on the sluggish side. But colour anyway seems temporarily to drain out of the action, as if Eberhardt’s inspiration is flagging.
Giselle Allan as Anna makes the most of the work’s biggest aria, Somehow I Could Never Believe, a vivid picture of marital frustration. Less three-dimensional is Robert Hayward as her abusive husband Frank, who rarely takes leave of drink and anger, though forceful enough in Let Things Be Like They Always Was.
Michelle Andrews as Mae Jones and Rodney Vubya as Dick McGann in Street Scene
Gillene Butterfield is an engaging Rose, ploughing a difficult furrow between distance and engagement with Sam, and fending off the unwanted attentions of her Lothario boss (Quirijn de Lang). Sam is persuasively drawn by Alex Banfield: we feel his pangs for Rose in We’ll Go Away Together.
Among any number of good cameos, two stand out: Claire Pascoe’s Bronx-accented Mrs Jones, the ghetto gossip, and Byron Jackson as the janitor. Both are vivid and distinctive. American accents come and go, mirroring the way the action fades in and out of focus. There is much potential here. Things may well settle down as the run progresses.
Further performances on January 25, February 12, 20 and 28, then on tour.
Architects Page Park’s redevelopment design for the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds
THE Hyde Park Picture House, Britain’s last remaining gas-lit cinema, is to close its doors next month for a major redevelopment of the Grade II listed cinema in Brudenell Road, Leeds.
Work will begin at the end of February after a £2.3 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant was secured for the Picture House Project, enabling the iconic building to undergo essential repair and restoration work, alongside the creation of new accessible facilities and a second screen.
From mid-February, the cinema will go On The Road for a film programme that will run throughout 2020, presenting screenings of new independent films, documentaries, cult classics and family favourites, working in tandem with such Leeds venues as Leeds University Union, Heart in Headingley, The Brunswick and the Brudenell Social Club.
On Tuesday this week, Hyde Park’s head of cinema, Wendy Cook, and Mark Johnston, of project architects Page Park, delivered an update to partners and stakeholders, detailing the ways in which the cinema’s unique heritage features will be repaired, most significantly the nine gas lights.
Architects Page Park’s design for the new second screen in the Hyde Park Picture House basement
Wendy Cook
said: “Hyde Park Picture House’s story has been over 100 years in the making,
shaped by hundreds of thousands of film lovers. Having the opportunity to
safeguard the cinema for another 100 years is both a privilege and a
pleasure.”
At Tuesday’s
event, Francis Lee, the BAFTA-nominated writer and director of the 2017 Yorkshire
film God’s Own Country, was confirmed as the Hyde Park’s inaugural patron.
Lee, who grew up on his family’s farm at Soyland, Calderdale,
is an avid supporter
of the Leeds cinema. His new film, Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse
Ronan, is set for release later this year.
“I’m delighted to be the patron of Hyde Park Picture House,” he said. “It’s a huge honour. The Picture House team have been very supportive of me from the beginning of my career as a film maker; our association beginning in 2012 when they screened my very first short film.
How the Hyde Park Picture House entrance foyer will look after the Page Park redevelopment
“Hyde Park Picture
House is a vital part of the cultural identity of not just Leeds, but the
surrounding area too, offering an incredible mix of cinema, community
involvement and support to local film makers. I’m very excited to see how the
Picture House continues to evolve and grow.”
Meanwhile,
sponsors Kirkstall Brewery will brew an exclusive beer with the cinema this
spring as part of the Hyde Park’s community fundraising campaign, with 20
per cent from all sales going towards the project.
Under the Picture House Project, the 1914 cinema will undergo essential conservation work to the façade and existing auditorium, alongside the creation of new facilities, including a larger foyer space and the aforementioned second screen, to be located in the basement.
The project will allow the cinema’s rich history to be explored and celebrated through archival screenings, heritage tours and educational workshops, helping to tell the story of film making and film watching in the region.
Hyde Park Picture Picture House at night in architects Page Park’s redevelopment designs
In addition to
the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, the project has received “significant
backing” from Leeds City Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation, alongside funding
support from Film Hub North, Leeds Inspired, the Pilgrim Trust, the Gwyneth
Forrester Trust, the Co-op Community Fund and Friends of the Hyde Picture
House.
The project continues to welcome match-funding contributions and will embark on a crowd-funding campaign when the redevelopment work begins. Individuals or businesses interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Wendy Cook at wendy@hydeparkpictutrehouse.co.uk.
Councillor
Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “The Picture House is a rare
cultural gem in our city and Leeds City Council is delighted to play a vital
part in securing its future.
“With work on the
Picture House Project set to coincide with Channel 4’s move to Leeds and the
opening of Screen Yorkshire’s new film office, it has never been a more
exciting time for film and television in our city.
How the ground-floor extension will look at the Hyde Park Picture House
“Collectively,
this brings us another step closer to making Leeds a truly innovative city, one
that uses culture to shine a light on what is possible.”
Paul Scholey, chairman of the Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House board, said: “As custodians of three of Leeds’s most historic cultural venues [Leeds Grand Theatre, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and the Hyde Park Picture House], we’re very proud of the important role Hyde Park Picture House plays in making our city so special.
“Finding a way
to preserve historic buildings, which is both true to the story of the building
and of value to the community who enjoy it, is a challenge. But with the
support of the many fantastic partners we’ve had on this project, we feel more
confident than ever that we have found that way forward, and as a result, the
future of this wonderful gas-lit cinema is secured at last.”
The Hyde
Park cinema will remain open as normal until the end of February with a programme
of the latest independent releases, such asJojo Rabbit, 1917, Waves, The
Lighthouse and Parasite.
The entrance to the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, built in 1914
Did you know?
OPENED in
1914, the Grade II listed Hyde Park Picture House, in Leeds, is
one of Britain’s oldest cinemas.
Beginning its
life shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, it gained popularity
by screening patriotic dramas and newsreels to boost morale during the action.
The Picture
House survived the advent of “talkies” in the 1920s and continues to screen independent,
art house and classic films from around the world, as well as special live
events with filmmakers, artists and academics.
The auditorium seating, from the stage, at the Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
Did you know too?
The 12-month On The Road programme of pop-up screenings across Leeds from mid-February will have six strands, each linked with a specific venue:
New Indies at Leeds University Union
(luu.org.uk);
Hyde & Seek at Heart and
other venues (heartcentre.org.uk);
Creatures of the Night at The
Brunswick (thebrunswick.co.uk);
Docs & Artists’ Moving Image at
42 New Briggate;
Memory Matinees at Heart.
The full programme of screenings and
events will be available to view from hydeparkpicturehouse.co.uk in the coming
days.
Daniel Healy, left, as Guy, Emma Lucia, as Girl, and Samuel Martin, as the Bank Manager, in Once The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next month. Pictures: Mark Senior
ONCE seen, never forgotten, but you won’t have seen Once like this before, except in…Ipswich or Hornchurch.
First a cult, micro-budget Irish film written and directed by John Carney in 2007, then a Broadway, West End and Dublin show, Once The Musical embarks on its first British tour in January, playing the Grand Opera House, in York, from February 3 to 8.
Telling the uplifting yet yearning story of the hopes and dreams of two lost souls, a Dublin street busker and a Czech musician, who unexpectedly fall in love, Once is being directed by Peter Rowe with musical supervision by his regular cohort Ben Goddard.
The cast will be led by Scotsman Daniel Healy as Guy and Emma Lucia, from Durham, as Girl, reprising their roles from 2018’s premiere at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch.
The company invited press and media to meet them three weeks into rehearsal at Toynbee Hall in London’s East End: a question-and-answer session introduced with rousing performances of Irish ceilidh songs and the show’s opening scene, leading to Healy and Lucia’s performance of the Oscar-winning signature song Falling Slowly, with all the actor-musicians playing their part around them, “leaning into the story” in the pub setting.
“This production is very different to the West End,” says Ben. “We very much started, as we would do with any story, any musical, by taking it off the page and then basically trying to get as many people as possible into the story we present on stage.”
Peter says: “What’s particular about this production is that everyone on stage is telling the story and that gives it a real charge. We have skilled actor-musicians trying to re-create the acoustic sound of Irish pub songs, and rather than trying to make it a bigger razzmatazz production, we want to draw people in.”
Emma Lucia as Girl in Once The Musical
This reflects the song-writing of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová that frames Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh’s story of the Guy and the Girl’s relationship across five short Dublin days.
“Glen is a singer-songwriter who writes thoughtful songs from the heart, and so our production is an extension of that,” says Ben. “That’s the difference from other musicals: the music really does the job for you.”
Peter says: “You can feel that the band are impressed by this man, his voice and his music, and they become part of the flowering of his songs.”
He and Ben have worked regularly in the actor-musician world of theatrical performance. “That’s pretty much what we done with all the work we’ve done together, but putting the band together for this show has been very challenging, bringing together the right collection of people,” says Ben.
“Not just how they each play, but how they play together and work together, so that we have a combination of people to make the story work.”
Peter concurs: “Seeing an ensemble of 16 with all that skill, swapping instruments, will be a pleasure for the audience.” Ben rejoins: “I think we’ve found a combination where the levels of performance are pretty much at a peak, which is hard to find, with everyone showing their powers of musicianship and their acting chops.”
Peter’s research took him to Dublin for the “terrible task” – said with his tongue in his cheek – of visiting as many pubs as possible, combining the pleasures of an Irish pint with taking photographs of the pub interiors and the musicians playing there, and now bringing that atmosphere to the stage.
“It’s an unrequited love story, the most painful of all love stories, and that’s why Once really gets to people,” says director Peter Rowe of Guy’s plight in the Irish musical
At its heart, Once is a love story. “But it’s also an unrequited love story, the most painful of all love stories, and that’s why Once really gets to people,” says Peter.
“It’s the lives that you don’t live that you think about: if only you had turned left rather than right, and everyone recognises that story in the songs. And these are not musical theatre songs where people get to the point where they can’t say anything more without bursting into song.
“Here it’s a different convention. The songs in Once stand alone; they’re mostly solo songs or duets that are being sung in the street or Billy’s music store, so they have a naturalistic place in the story.”
Ben adds: “The story in Once came from an already written collection of songs, and with those songs being strong, a very strong story followed. At the start, the Guy seems quite repressed when he talks to the Girl, but then all the passion he felt in his failed relationship comes pouring out in his songs.”
Working in tandem with their regular choreographer, Fran Jaynes, Peter and Ben have made a point of changing the way musicians were used in past productions of Once The Musical. “When we saw it in London, they were on stage, to the left and to the right, watching what was going on, but, for me, they never really felt part of it,” says Ben. “But we’ve been involved in actor-musician work for a long time, and we’ve found it really potent to take their involvement further.”
Peter adds: “We could see the show’s potential as an actor-musician piece, and we just felt we could do more with it, making the most of the ensemble.”
In what way? “Using everybody on stage at all times, it’s like a European troupe of actors, where they all tell the story,” says Ben.
“But we also spent a long time trying to get the right chemistry in the whole cast, though the two leads, Daniel and Emma, had to come first.”
Once The Musical runs at Grand Opera House, York, from February 3 to 8 2020. Box office: 0844 871 3024, at atgtickets.com/York or in person from the Cumberland Street theatre.
Night Of The Living Dead – Remix in rehearsal at Leeds Playhouse. All pictures: Ed Waring
INNOVATIVE Leeds company Imitating The Dog
are linking up with Leeds Playhouse for a unique shot-for-shot stage re-creation
of George A. Romero’s 1968 zombie movie Night Of The Living Dead™ “for
today’s theatre audiences”.
Directed by Imitating The Dog’s co-artistic directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, Night Of The Living DeadTM – Remix will run in the Courtyard Theatre from January 24 to February 15 before a British tour.
In 1968, Night Of
The Living Dead started out as a low-budget, independent,
politically charged horror movie, telling the story of seven strangers taking
refuge from flesh-eating ghouls in an isolated farmhouse. As the night draws in, their
situation becomes desperate, hope turns to despair and the picket-fence
American dream is smashed apart.
Fifty years on, seven performers enter
the Courtyard stage armed with cameras, a box of props and a rail of costumes.
Can they recreate the ground-breaking film, shot-for-shot before our eyes,
using whatever they can lay their hands on?
Meeting the challenge of 1,076 edits
in 95 minutes will be a heroic struggle. “Success will require
wit, skill and ingenuity and is by no means guaranteed” for the cast of Laura Atherton; Morgan Bailey; Luke
Bigg; William James Holstead; Morven Macbeth; Matt Prendergast and Adela Rajnović.
“Success will require wit, skill and ingenuity and is by no means guaranteed” : the challenge facing Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse
Playing a key role too will be Quick
and Brooks’s production team of Imitating The Dog’s projection
and video designer Simon Wainwright; designer Laura Hopkins; lighting designer
Andrew Crofts and composer James Hamilton.
George A. Romero’s 1968 film presented
an apocalyptic vision of paranoia, the breakdown of community and the end of
the American dream. In 2020’s stage production, digital theatre practitioners Imitating
The Dog compose a love-song to the cult movie in a re-make and remix that “attempts
to understand the past in order not to have to repeat it”.
The new Leeds-stamped version is in
turns humorous, terrifying, thrilling, thought-provoking and joyous. Above all,
in the retelling, it becomes a searing
parable for our own complex times.
Imitating The Dog’s
Andrew Quick says: “Looking at the state of the world today, it seems so
appropriate that we are going back to this seminal story, the original zombie
movie. Rehearsals have been great fun so far and it’s amazing how scary
and relevant Romero’s Sixties’ vision still seems.”
“A searing parable for our own complex times”: Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse’s co-production of Night Of The Living Dead – Remix
Playhouse artistic director James Brining enthuses:“We’re thrilled to be working with Imitating The Dog for this momentous
project. They’re a fantastic local company who brilliantly fuse together
technology with live action. I can’t wait for us to work with them to be able
to breathe new life into this well-known classic that has been celebrated for
many years.”
Russ Streiner, who
produced and appeared as Johnny in Romero’s film, says: “Before Night Of
The Living Dead™ became the classic film it is, it started as a
collection of ideas and story points; story points that are timeless in their
reflection of the human condition.
“The common link
between [film production company] Image Ten long ago and Imitating The Dog and
Leeds Playhouse today is a genuine love of the productions we present to the
public, and we’re absolutely thrilled
that they have teamed up to present their own authorised fresh and exciting
retelling of the story that began over 50 years ago for us.
“This retelling goes back to the roots
of where ‘Night’ started with experimental ideas and a new imagining of the
story – this time coupled with the dynamic of live actors performing to a live
audience.”
Tickets are on sale on 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
The horror, the horror: Imitating The Dog in Heart Of Darkness in 2019
Did you know?
LEEDS company Imitating The Dog have
been making ground-breaking work for theatres and other spaces for 20 years,
fusing live performance with digital technology. Among their past productions
are A Farewell To Arms, Hotel Methuselah and Heart Of Darkness, the latter two
playing York Theatre Royal in 2010 and 2019 respectively.
Earning their stripes: Mikron Theatre Company’s poster for this summer’s tour of Amanda Whittington’s Atalanta Forever
MIKRON Theatre Company kick off their
2020 tour of Amanda Whittington’s new women’s football play, Atalanta Forever,
on April 18.
Waiting in the wings is the Marsden company’s
York performance at Scarcroft Allotments on June 2 at 6pm.
From the writer of Ladies Day, Ladies
Day Down Under and Mighty Atoms for Hull Truck Theatre and Bollywood Jane for
the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Atalanta Forever tells the story of pioneering
women footballers in 1920.
In post-war Britain, women’s football
is big news. Across the country, all-girl teams are pulling huge crowds in
fund-raising games for wounded soldiers.
Huddersfield amateurs Ethel and Annie
take a shot at the big time. Teammates at Atalanta AFC, they are soon
tackling new football skills, mastering the offside rule and kicking back at
the doubters.
This summer’s audiences are invited
to “come and cheer for Atalanta as our plucky underdogs learn how to play the
game, take on the legendary teams of the era and find the toughest opponent of
all is the Football Association”.
Whittington’s play is based on the true story of
one of three women’s football teams in Huddersfield in post-war Britain. As told
through the lives of two young women, Atalanta Ladies Football Club was formed
in 1920 to “provide games for the women of Huddersfield, to foster a sporting
spirit, and a love of honour among its members”.
During the Great War, several women’s football
teams had sprung up around the country, usually based in factories or munitions
works, and proved a great success in raising money for hospitals, war widows
and so on.
The popularity of the women’s game may be measured
by the estimated 25,000 crowd that packed Hillsborough, Sheffield, for the
Huddersfield team’s next game with the Dick, Kerr Ladies FC of
Preston on May 4, when they lost 4-0 to their much more experienced
opponents.
In the wider football world, the growing popularity
of women’s football was now causing concern. The FA even saw it as taking
support away from the men’s game and on December 5, 1921, they banned women’s
teams from using FA affiliated grounds.
Before folding in 1924, the pioneering Huddersfield
Atalanta Ladies FC had raised more than £2,000 for various charities.
“I still feel the injustice and the sense of shame for wanting to do something I wasn’t meant to,” says playwright Amanda Whittington, recalling her own experiences of playing football
Writer and co-lyricist Whittington says
of her new play: “I was an 11-year-old footballer in the 1980s, the only girl
who played in the boys’ village tournament, and I vividly remember being
‘advised’ to stop because it wasn’t appropriate.
“I still feel the injustice and the
sense of shame for wanting to do something I wasn’t meant to.
“It brings joy to my heart to see
football’s now the biggest team sport for girls in Britain. I wanted to
write about the battle the women’s game has fought to survive and prosper – and
perhaps to tell the 11-year-old me she was right?”
Atalanta Forever is directed by Mikron
artistic director Marianne McNamara, who is joined in the production team by composer
and co-lyricist Kieran Buckeridge, musical director Rebekah Hughes and designer
Celia Perkins. Casting will be announced in the coming months.
Explaining why Mikron chose to tackle
the subject of the fight for women’s football, McNamara says: “Women’s football
is making a comeback and not before time. We are thrilled to pay homage to the
trailblazing Huddersfield women that paved the way against all odds.
“Just like the great game itself,
this will be an action-packed play of two halves, full of live music, fun and
laughter with no plans for extra time!”
Mikron’s 49th year of
touring will open at the National Football Museum, Manchester, on April 18 and
then travel nationally by road and canal on a vintage narrowboat until October
24.
Atalanta Forever will be touring
alongside Poppy Hollman’s new play, A Dog’s Tale, a celebration of canines
past and present that explores the enduring love between people and their dogs.
As ever, Mikron will be putting on
their shows in “places that other theatre companies wouldn’t dream of”, whether
a play about growing-your-own veg, presented in allotments; one about bees performed next to
hives; another about chips in a fish and chips restaurant, as well as plays
about hostelling in YHA youth hostels and
the RNLI at several lifeboat stations around the UK.
For more information and tour dates and locations for Atalanta Forever, go to mikron.org.uk/shows/atalanta-forever.
