The arch cynic returns: Romesh Ranganathan adds a third York Barbican gig: Picture: Rich Hardcastle
HE may be a cynic, but Romesh
Ranganathan knows when he’s on to a good thing.
Having sold out his two November gigs at York Barbican, the deadpan Crawley comic, actor and television presenter has wasted no time in adding a third night of The Cynic’s Mixtape next spring.
Ranganathan will complete his hattrick
of Barbican performances on May 10 2020, when the 41-year-old star of Asian Provocateur,
The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan, The Reluctant Landlord and Judge
Romesh will deliver “a carefully curated selection of all the things he has
found unacceptable since his last tour”.
Let the cynicism begin again: Romesh Ranganathan will have plenty more to moan about by next May
On his mind will be why trying to
save the environment is a scam, why none of us is truly free,
and his suspicion that his wife is using gluten intolerance to avoid
sleeping with him.
Ranganathan ditched his burgeoning career as a Maths teacher – maybe it
just didn’t add up to much – in his early 30s to focus on comedy, with plenty
to moan about in such subsequent shows as Rom Com, Rom Wasn’t Built In A Day
and Irrational.
Agent provocateur Ranganathan and his Rob & Romesh Meet co-star Rob Beckett hosted the 2019 Royal Variety Performance on Monday at the London Palladium, to be aired on ITV in December. This was the first time that two comedians had hosted the event together in more than 30 years.
Tickets for Romesh Ranganathan: The Cynic’s Mixtape are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk, on 0203 356 5441 or in person from the Barbican box office.
Flour power: Katy Federman as Mum and Giles Cooper as Nigel in Nigel Slater’s Toast. Picture: Piers Foley
Nigel Slater’s Toast, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, November 23. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
HERE is the
challenge facing director Jonnie Riordan. “Think about how long it takes to
actually make a piece of toast, and then how do you do that on stage when
you’re trying to keep the audience engaged?” he says.
It brings a new meaning to pop-up theatre in York after the summer Elizabeth version at Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, and Riordan and writer Henry Filloux-Bennett have made a wonderful job of adapting cookery writer Nigel Slater’s coming-of-age memoir for the stage.
Like Jonathan
Watkins for Matt Haig’s Reasons To Stay Alive, on tour at the Theatre Royal
only two weeks ago, Riordan is both director and choreographer. However, whereas
Watkins’s show took time to find its footing on a somewhat strange-looking set
– was it a crater or a cracked cloud egg? – Toast is sure footed, even light on
its feet from the start.
Nigel, meet Nigel!: Cookery writer Nigel Slater meets Giles Cooper, who plays his younger self on stage. Picture: Simon Annand
Nigel, our
narrator, guides us through his story like Slater’s lovely writing leads you
through his recipes and epicurean thoughts in his mellifluous books. Played by
the delightful Giles Cooper in schoolboy tank top and short trousers, Nigel is
nine and already drawn to the one cookery book in the Slaters’ Wolverhampton
home: Marguerite Patten’s ground-breaking Cookery In Colour, a full-colour
Sixties’ bolt out of the cordon bleu after the grey gravy of before.
From within
the cream and brown Sixties’ kitchen of Libby Watson’s design, Cooper’s Nigel
likes to orchestrate all the storytelling, stepping in and out of a scene to
converse with the audience, but such is the skill of Filloux-Bennett’s writing
that the events of his young life have a habit of pulling the rug from under
him. At one point, his mother stops him in his tracks and tells him to re-trace
his steps to relate the true, darker version of events.
There is
abundant humour, absolutely true to Slater’s own tone in his books, but the
darkness has to break through too, given what happened to Slater in his childhood
and teenage years.
Table manners: Blair Plant’s Dad, left, Stefan Edwards’ waiter, Giles Cooper’s Nigel, Samantha Hopkins’ waitress and Katy Federman’s Mum in Toast
His love of
food is omnipresent, and yes, we see toast popping up in real time and later
Nigel making mushrooms on toast with a chef’s flair and precision in one so
young. We enjoy the culinary sensations, and when Nigel is regaling us with the
delights of sweets – amid his father’s insistence that certain sweets are for
boys, others for girls – bags of sweets are passed around the audience. The
real Nigel Slater had a bag by his feet as he sat in the dress circle, by the
way!
Food is at
the heart of Toast, glorious food and not so glorious food in the case of
Nigel’s father’s first attempt at making spaghetti bolognaise, mountains of
“sick-smelling” Parmesan dust et al. Part of the joy here is having our own recollections of mishaps around
our own kitchen tables.
Through
food too, we see the difference between Nigel’s relationship with his Mum (Katy
Federman), pretty much tied to the apron strings, such is their bond, and his
abusive Dad (Blair Plant, back at his old Theatre Royal stamping ground).
What’s that on the plate? Nigel (Giles Cooper) nervously scans the spaghetti bolognaise served up by Dad (Blair Plant) as Mum (Katy Federman) looks on
Into the
story comes the dreadful Joan (Samantha Hopkins) and assorted characters played
by Stefan Edwards, as the first stirrings of Nigel’s sexuality play out.
Brilliant performances, a superb choice of soundtrack from La Mer to Dusty, and a finale as warm and toasty as toast make Toast a five-star treat, both measured and deeply flavoured like a Nigel Slater recipe.
Kim Wilde’s poster for next year’s Greatest Hits tour
EIGHTIES’ pop star Kim Wilde will play
York Barbican on September 17 next year on her Greatest Hits 2020 Tour.
Wilde, 59, last performed there on her
Here Come The Aliens tour in April 2018, her first on home soil in almost 30
years, after releasing a studio album that year inspired by a real-life close
encounter in the gardening expert’s back garden in 2009.
Wilde subsequently released the live
album Aliens Live, and next year she will be marking her 40 years in pop that
began as “the voice of a generation of rebellious youth” with Kids In America.
Her Greatest Hits Tour will take in
further hits such as Chequered Love, Water On Glass, View From A Bridge, You Keep
Me Hangin’ On, Cambodia, You Came, Never Trust A Stranger and Four Letter Worn, complemented the
less often aired A Million Miles Away and Love Is Holy. As in 2018, her band
will include two drummers.
Her special guests will be fellow
Eighties’ chart act China Crisis, best known for Wishful Thinking, King In A
Catholic Style, Black Man Ray and African And White.
Tickets go on sale from Friday at 9am on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or from the Barbican box office in person.
“I make her a bit of fun to play with,” says Vicki Michelle of her role as the Wicked Queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Picture: David Harrison
‘ALLO, ‘Allo! sitcom star Vicki Michelle will spend her
winter being booed at the Grand Opera House, York, even on her birthday.
Fondly remembered for a decade of waitress service as French
dish Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC wartime comedy from 1982 to 1992, she will
play the Wicked Queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs from December 12 to
January 4 2020.
Her 69th birthday falls on December 14 as she
settles into the Three Bears Productions’ pantomime run in a role she knows
only too well. “I’ve done lots of wicked queens,” says Vicki, in full regal
attire at the panto launch.
“I haven’t counted, but it’s probably 30 years now [in fact
Snow White will be 27th panto]. I love it, because panto is magical
for children, their parents and their grandparents, and it’s a genre where you
think, ‘thank you, we still have this each year’…with people really believing in
what they see on stage!”
Vicki relishes the audience interplay. “I’ll stamp my feet,
I’ll react to them standing up to the Wicked Queen, not in a comical way, but I
make her a bit of fun to play with,” she says
“I have to be evil - and the Wicked Queen is truly evil – but
l love doing it. I just love performing. The audience have paid to see the
show, they want to see you giving 200 per cent, and I know I’m working with
people who can do that.”
Commercial pantomimes are never slow to remind audiences of
their stars’ biggest successes. “Probably there’ll be a few lines about ‘Allo,
‘Allo!,” says Vicki, knowingly. “I was in this amazing series that’s still
shown on TV and has been sold to 80 countries. South Africa. Bulgaria. Romania.
Lithuania. Sweden…”
Even Germany? “The Germans said they would never buy it, but
they did!” says Vicki with glee. “How amazing is that! ‘Allo, ‘Allo! Is still
funny. It makes you laugh out loud and there aren’t many comedies that do that
today.
“That’s the mark of good comedy: if they can make you laugh
out loud. That should be revered.”
David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd’s long-running comedy, set in Rene’s Café in a German-occupied small French town, was recorded live to audiences of 200 to 300. “The laugh would come on the second line and grow on the third line. That’s what worked. Like in panto: audiences want the old jokes. I want the old jokes!” says Vicki. “But a lot of shows try to change things, and they don’t work.”
Louise Henry, left, Jonny Muir, Steve Wickenden, Vicki Michelle, martin Daniels and Mark Little in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: David Harrison.
‘Allo, ‘Allo! gave Vicki the chance to say hello, hello to
plenty more work. “It didn’t spoil things, because afterwards you’re typecast,”
she says. “What I did was loads of theatre: playing Miss Hannigan in Annie; Salad
Days; Miss Mona in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas; Don’t Dress For Dinner;
loads of Ray Cooney farces.”
You can add to that list Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of
Being Earnest, a 2008 tour of ‘Allo, ‘Allo! and more television too, from
playing Patricia Foster in the Yorkshire soap Emmerdale to competing in
Celebrity Master Chef in 2009 and heading into the Aussie jungle for the 2014
series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!.
Vicki returns to the Grand Opera House after earlier
appearances as Jacqueline in Marc Camoletti’s
boulevard comedy Don’t Dress For Dinner and, in June this year, the
humorous three-hander Hormonal Housewives, a no-holds barred romp through the
joys of being a fabulous 21st century woman.
The tour schedule left room for only two days off in a
68-show run, but Vicki loved the script and ended up delighted she said yes to
the invitation to join Hormonal Housewives co-writer Julie Coombe and Josephine
Partridge on the road.
“It went fabulously well, doing a show, then a four to
five-hour drive, but the show was such a joy to be in,” she says. “I’d never heard
such howls of laughter.”
There was another benefit from Hormonal Housewives too. “People
would come up afterwards and say they’d lost someone, and this was the first
show they’d come out to since then as they wanted some laughter,” reveals Vicki.
Returning to York for a wicked winter in pantoland, Vicki
has plans for Christmas Day. “I want to get home for Christmas, which is always
at my place; three sisters and their families,” says the Essex-born actress,
who has Snow White performances on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day either side of that
family celebration. “Christmas morning is always something sparkly and a salmon
and a smoked cheese bagel.”
What may 2020 bring Vicki? “There are a few things that are
bubbling under, but first I’ve got this panto to enjoy,” she says.
Vicki Michelle stars in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,
Grand Opera House, York, December 12 to January 4 2020. Box office: 0844 871
3024 or at atgtickets.com/York
Charles Hutchinson
Did you know?
Vicki Michelle calls herself “Vix Mix” on her social
media.
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is heading for Pocklington Arts Centre
ONLY the last few tickets are left for An Evening With Simon Armitage, the new Poet Laureate, at Pocklington Arts Centre on November 28.
The Huddersfield-born poet, playwright and novelist, 56, was appointed to his post for ten years earlier this year, succeeding Carol Ann Duffy.
In October 2017, he became the first Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds; in 2018, he received The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and an Ivor Novello Award for song-writing in the BAFTA-winning film Feltham Sings.
“It’s such a privilege to be able to welcome the UK’s new Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, to our stage,” says Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer.
“He’s such a celebrated poet of his times, so a chance to spend an evening in his company, within the intimate settings of our auditorium, to hear some of his live poetry and for a Q&A, is a unique opportunity for lovers of literature and poetry.
“But tickets have almost sold out, so I would urge you to book yours quickly or risk missing out .”
After studying geography at Portsmouth Polytechnic and writing an MA thesis at the University of Manchester on the the effects of television violence on young offenders, Armitage gained a social work qualification and became a probation officer, like his father before him. He worked in the Greater Manchester probation service until 1994, apparently once being introduced with the words: “By day he reads them their rights, by night he writes them their reads.”
He has published 28 collections of poetry, his first entitled Human Geography in 1988 and his latest, Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic. He writes extensively for television and radio, as well as penning three memoirs, All Points North, Walking Home and Walking Away, and he is the lead singer of The Scaremongers too.
Tickets for Armitage’s 7.30pm show in Pock cost £12.50 or £7 for under 21s on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk. He will be on hand to sign books in the foyer afterwards.
Amir Beymanesh and Kamran Hoss: Iranian musicians now settled in Yorkshire . Picture: Jess Rooney
NORTHERN Broadsides will stage a festive fundraiser, Christmas
Broadsides, at The Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough. Halifax, from December 13 to
15.
This concert is based around Broadside Ballads; song lyrics published
from the 1600s onwards, featuring popular songs of scurrilous dealings,
thwarted love and ginormous geese.
For this combination of folk song and storytelling, Amir Beymanesh and Kamran Hoss, two Iranian musicians who arrived in Yorkshire recently, will join Ripponden folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Alice Jones.
West Yorkshire actors Catherine Kinsella and Tom Shaw complete the Halifax company’s line-up for this celebration of festive cheer and reflection on Christmases past, present and future.
Alice Jones: taking part in Northern Broadsides’ festive fundraiser
Broadsides’ artistic director, Laurie
Sansom, says: “We are thrilled to be celebrating this Christmas with old
friends and new, welcoming Amir and Kamaran to Halifax in this extraordinary
collaboration with the multi-talented Alice Jones.
“It’s a chance to share together ridiculous
festive songs of comic extravagance, whilst also thinking of those who may be
far from home this Christmas.
“We look forward to welcoming regular
supporters and new friends who want to support the work of their local theatre
company, and our collaborators at St Augustine’s Centre, who support refugees
and asylum seekers.”
Looking ahead to 2020, Sansom’s debut production as Broadsides’ artistic director, a new take on J.M. Barrie’s regency romantic comedy Quality Street, will open at Dean Clough from February 14 to 22.
Catherine Kinsella: performing at Christmas Broadsides
Broadsides will collaborate with workers from the Halifax Quality Street
chocolates factory by developing contemporary
tales of hapless love that will frame the action
of Barrie’s tale.
Barrie’s play was so popular in its day that it gave the
chocolates their name. Its story revolves around Phoebe Throssel, who lives on
Quality Street, the bustling hub of a quaint northern town where she runs a
school for unruly children.
Ten
years since a tearful goodbye, an old flame returns from fighting Napoleon, but
the look of disappointment on Captain Valentine’s face when he greets a more
mature, less glamorous Phoebe, spurs the determined heroine to action.
She becomes the wild and sparkling Miss Livy, a younger alter-ego
who soon entraps the clueless Captain. As their romance is rekindled, can she
juggle both personas? Or will her deception scandalise the town and wreck any
future with the man she loves?
Tom Shaw: part of the company for Christmas Broadsides
Now, as well as providing a modern lens through which to view Barrie’s
story, Broadsides also aims to build long-lasting relationships between the Halifax
employees and their local theatre company.
Broadsides’ tour of Quality Street will
take in Leeds Playhouse from April 21 to 25; Stephen Joseph Theatre,
Scarborough, May 12 to 16; Harrogate Theatre, May 19 to 23; Hull Truck Theatre,
June 2 to 6, and last stop York Theatre Royal, June 9 to 13.
Christmas Broadsides will be performed at The Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax, at 7pm on December 13 and 3pm and 6pm on December 14 and 15. Tickets are on sale on 01422 849227 or at northern-broadsides.co.uk.
Yes: lining up to play Relayer and Yes classics at York Barbican next May
YES are to play York Barbican next spring, but no, not the ‘Yes’ that
performed there in June 29018 under the name Yes featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor
Rabin, Rick Wakeman, as they now have to call themselves.
No, this Yes is the one that officially tours as Yes, with Steve Howe
on guitars, Alan White on drums, Geoff Downes on keyboards, Billy Sherwood on bass
guitar and backing vocals, Jon Davison on vocals and Jay Schellen on additional
drums and percussion.
This Yes are booked into the Barbican for May 29 2020 as part of an
eight-date May and June itinerary for The Album Series 2020 Tour, when the
prog-rock veterans will perform 1974’s Relayer in its entirety, preceded by a set
of Yes classic cuts. Expect “full production and a high definition video wall”.
Released on Atlantic Records in late 1974, Yes’s seventh studio album
marked a slight change in direction as Patrick Moraz replaced Rick Wakeman on
keyboards, bringing “an edgier, avant-garde feel” to the recordings.
The opening Gates Of Delirium, almost 22 minutes in length, battle scene
et al, featured Moraz’s keyboard jousting with Howe’s guitar before the battle
gave way to the ballad Soon, a prayer for peace and hope.
Further
highlights on an album that reached number four in the British chart and number
five in the US Billboard chart were Sound Chaser, a prog rock/jazz fusion experiment heavily influenced by
Moraz’s style, and To Be Over, the calm and gentle closer, based on a Howe melody.
Yes’s poster for The Album Series Tour 2020
“We’re really looking forward to playing all of
the Relayer album,” says Howe. “Having premiered The Gates Of Delirium
this year, we continue by expanding our Album Series with all the tracks: The
Gates Of Delirium, Sound Chaser and To Be Over.”
Howe adds: “During the first half of the evening, we’ll be performing a
refined selection from Yes’s enormous 50-year repertoire. See you there.”
Drummer Alan White says: “I always enjoy coming home to England, so
I’m especially looking forward to Yes’s upcoming Album Series 2020 tour. Relayer,
I believe, is one of the most creative and interesting musical compilations in
the band’s repertoire.
“Challenging and extremely enjoyable to play, I’m happy to be bringing
this music back to live stages throughout Europe. I hope all who attend our
shows will enjoy these cuts as much as we like performing them for our
audiences.”
Tickets for Yes’s 8pm show are on sale on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
Did you know?
ROGER Dean, designer of Yes’s iconic album artwork, will attend every
show of the 2020 British and European dates. An exhibition of his work will be
on show, and Dean will be available to chat with fans front of house, sign
merchandise and take part in VIP meet and greets.
Uplifting: The Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival in York
THE second weekend of the 2019 Yorkshire Schools Dance
Festival will be held at Central Hall, University of York, on Saturday and
Sunday from 3pm.
As many as 1,200 children aged four to 19, from 57 primary
schools, secondary schools, colleges and community dance groups, are taking
part in this annual non-competitive event.
Spread over two weekends, the festival celebrates the
region’s young creative talent and raises the profile of dance provision within
schools and the wider community, while showcasing a range of abilities and
dance styles. For the vast majority, this is the first time they will have
danced in public.
For the four days of dancing, groups are travelling from as
far afield as Ingleton, Hull, Thirsk and Barnsley to take part after developing
their performances through after-school clubs, during curriculum time and as
part of examination courses.
A festival theme is set each year, and for the past few
months schools and groups have been deciding how best to interpret this year’s theme,
Reflections. Performances vary from reinterpretations of the Snow White story,
through to a consideration of the physics of reflection, to support work within
science lessons.
Laura Brett, class teacher at Naburn CE Primary School,
York, says: “Our dance piece tells the story of a Grandma and Grandad
reflecting on their lives as children, watching as visions of their younger
selves relive some of the happier days in their lives.
“The children have had great fun choreographing this –
prompting some discussion about the lives we lead and the mark we want to make
on the world.”
Taking part from Keighley, Emma Pease, Class 3 teacher at
Cowling Primary School, says: “We thought about how social media affects us and
our mental health. The group then modelled how we could reflect this negativity
away from us, realising our strength together and becoming more resilient as a
result.”
The festival is produced by York arts education specialists Creative Learning Partnerships, whose director, Colin Jackson, says: “Dance is an art form that is central to our heritage and culture. It’s celebrated increasingly on our TV screens through shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent.
Let’s dance: Dancers enjoying the schools festival in York
“The sad state of affairs in schools, however, is that it is
quickly disappearing from the curriculum, despite the overwhelming evidence of
its positive impact on physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
“Dance is a collaborative process that develops teamwork,
resilience, communication skills, creativity and a sense of pride. Why
shouldn’t our children be afforded these opportunities?”
Across the two weekends, the 1,200 dancers will be performing
to 2,000 people, who will see how schools have interpreted the theme in
different ways.
In an extension to the 2019 festival, through funding from
Arts Council England, Engage & Inspire will be giving participating children
the chance to work with professional artists from Yorkshire and the North.
Northern Rascals and Hawk Dance Theatre are presenting
specially commissioned performances, Casson & Friends and TenFoot Dance are
hosting interactive workshops while Brink & Howl Creative are delivering an
innovative digital dance installation combining music, dance and digital
projections. Two hundred children will have the opportunity to achieve an Arts
Award to reward their efforts.
Jon Beney, associate artist at Hull Truck Theatre and co-artistic
director at TenFoot Dance, says: “The Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival is a
great opportunity for the young dancers of Yorkshire to come together and
celebrate everything dance.
As a kid, I was inspired by many people that shaped my
journey and it feels nice to have stories and skills to help inspire others.”
Tickets are available at yorkshireschoolsdancefestival.co.uk,
priced at £7 for adults, £6 for children, plus a booking fee.
Blair Plant, centre, with Giles Cooper and Katy Federman in Nigel Slater’s Toast. Picture: Piers Foley
ACTOR Blair
Plant is touring for the first time in 20 years in Nigel Slater’s Toast. By a happy coincidence, the show brings him back to a theatre he
knows very well, York Theatre Royal, from tomorrow.
He first worked
on the stage crew 34 years ago while studying at York St John College (as the
university was called then).
“I’ve done regional theatre but only in one specific theatre, not
touring,” says Blair. “Over the last six or seven years I’ve done a lot of work
in the West End.
“Now I’ve
changed agents for the first time in 15 years and my new agent said I’ve got to
put myself about a bit more and perhaps take less comfortable jobs than the
West End work I’ve been doing. Basically, to get out and get back on the road
and be seen by more people.”
Toast has been adapted for the stage from food writer Nigel
Slater’s book recounting his childhood and cooking ambitions. Blair knew
“nothing at all” about the show and Slater’s life before the job came along,
although they do have one thing in common: both come from Wolverhampton.
He plays Nigel Slater’s father, so when Slater watches the play,
that understandably adds to Blair’s nervousness. “He had a complicated
relationship with his father,” he says. “His father makes the children laugh
and is a nice dad sometimes but then just flips and switches. You never know
when that’s going to happen. He’s not a violent man but is unpredictable, short
tempered”
Slater attended rehearsals. “He’s lovely. He baked a cake and
brought it in for us,” recalls Blair.
Blair Plant, left, with Stefan Edwards, Giles Cooper, Samantha Hopkins and Katy Federman in Nigel Slater’s Toast, at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow. Picture: Piers Foley
Talking of things to eat, the actor is required to demonstrate how
to eat a Walnut Whip at every performance, but don’t ask why! When you see the
play, you will understand.
After eating so
many in rehearsal, Blair “went off” Walnut Whips. A similar thing happened
during his student days in York when he was an ice cream seller: he swiftly stopped wanting to eat ice cream.
The York St John course that young Blair took was billed as
“dance, drama, movement, film and television”. His ambition was to act, but his
parents, who were funding him through university, preferred him to take an
academic degree.
However, he saw
working on the Theatre Royal stage crew during his student days as a means of
gaining entry into theatre.
He began as a follow-spot operator and LX technician before
joining the stage crew. His break came when the touring company run by actors
Kate O’Mara and Peter Woodward opened a show in York and the Theatre Royal
stage crew built the set.
“I persuaded
them to take me on tour with them as their touring carpenter. I did that for 13
weeks and touring all over the country was a wonderful experience,” he says.
He was back at York when the same company asked if he would like to return as an acting assistant stage manager, an opportunity that enabled him to gain the all-important Equity union card. He toured with the company for four years, each time bringing a production to York, where he lived for 15 years after falling in love with the city during his student days.
Blair Plant, centre, with Giles Cooper and Samantha Hopkins. Picture: Pierce Foley
He can also claim some responsibility for Damian Cruden becoming
artistic director at York Theatre Royal. Blair had been directed by the
Scotsman in John Godber’s Bouncers at Hull Truck Theatre and suggested him to
theatre bosses. The rest, as they say, is history. Damian was artistic
director for 22 years until he left earlier this year.
Blair worked with him several more times, including in The Railway
Children at both Waterloo and King’s Cross venues over a four-year period.
“Damian sent me the script before it went on at the Railway Museum in York. I’m
terrible at lifting a story off the page and didn’t get it at all and said it
wasn’t for me. I didn’t realise how immense the show was going to be,” he
recalls.
When the award-winning production, which featured a real steam
train, transferred to London, Blair wanted to be part of it. He spent four
years playing first the dissident Russian intellectual, Mr
Szczepansky, then
the Father in York playwright Mike Kenny’s adaptation of E. Nesbit’s book. “I
really, really loved it. It was a really lovely job,” says Blair.
He names his most challenging role at York – and of his career –
as Lenny in Alan Bleasdale’s comedy Having A Ball, where he had to strip on
stage and perform a six-minute monologue totally naked. “That was difficult to
do in the rehearsal room, but by the time we got on stage, I’d got over being
naked and so had the other actors. It was the audience who had to get over it.”
The most fun he has had was in Bouncers. “The buzz from that gig –
you couldn’t sleep until three in the morning because as an actor you are so
high and very fit,” he says.
Now Blair is
popping up in Toast on his latest return to York.
Nigel Slater’s Toast, York Theatre Royal, November 19 to 23,
7.30pm, plus 2pm, Thursday, and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or
at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“We love the work Forestry England does, so we’re glad to be back again ,” says Will Young of next summer’s co-headliner with James Morrison at Dalby Forest
WILL Young and James Morrison will co-headline a Forest Live concert at
Dalby Forest, near Pickering, on June 27 as one of six fund-raising concerts
for Forestry England next summer.
Tickets for the two BRIT award winners go on sale at £49.50 plus booking
fee at 9am on Friday, November 22 on 03000 680400 or at forestryengland.uk/music.
Young, 40, won the inaugural series of Pop
Idol in 2002, since when he has notched up seven top five albums, four reaching
number one, as well as four chart-topping singles, his debut, Anything Is
Possible/Evergreen, Light My Fire, The Long And Winding Road with Pop Idol
rival Gareth Gates and Leave Right Now.
Jealousy was his last top five single
success in 2011 and he released his latest album, Lexicon, in June after a
four-year hiatus.
Young branched out into film and
musicals, starring on screen alongside Dame Judi Dench in Mrs Henderson
Presents in 2005 and appearing as Emcee in Cabaret at Leeds Grand Theatre in
October 2017.
Morrison, 35, first made his mark with
his million-selling, chart-topping debut album, Undiscovered, in 2006 and has
had top ten hits with You Give Me Something, Wonderful World, You Make It Real,
Broken Strings with Nelly Furtado and I Won’t Let You Go, like Young, his last top
five entry in 2011.
” I think our sets will complement each other in a special way,” says James Morrison
This year’s album, You’re Stronger Than
You Know, was preceded by Higher Than Here in 2015, the number one success The
Awakening in 2011 and Songs For You, Truths For Me in 2008.
Young, who performed at York Barbican
last month, played previously at Dalby Forest in 2012; Morrison likewise in
2007. Next summer, they will present individual sets, but who will “co-headline”
first? Wait and see in sets that will combine greatest hits with selections
from this year’s albums.
Young says: “Both James and I have fond
memories of appearing as part of Forest Live as solo artists in the past. We
love the work Forestry England does, so we’re glad to be back again in what
promises to be a fantastic double-header of a show.”
Morrison adds: “For the last 20 years,
Will has been at the forefront of British popular culture. That’s a massive
achievement. I think our sets will complement each other in a special way and
I’m really looking forward to our shows together. It’ll be a great night out.”
Forest Live’s series of concerts is
held each summer by Forestry England at Dalby Forest; Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury,
Gloucestershire; Bedgebury Pinetum, Tunbridge Wells, Kent; Thetford Forest, Brandon,
Suffolk; Cannock Chase Forest, Rugeley, Staffordshire, and Sherwood Pines
Forest, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Among past performers at Dalby Forest
are Paul Weller four times; Blondie; Bryan Ferry; Simple Minds; Pulp; Status
Quo twice; UB40; Simply Red; McFly; George Ezra; Tom Odell; Elbow; Paul Heaton
& Jacqui Abbott twice; Madness; M People; Paloma Faith twice; Guy Garvey; Kaiser
Chiefs; Embrace; Keane; Erasure; James Blunt; Rick Astley; John Newman; Plan B;
Travis and The Zutons.
Funds raised from ticket sales go to forest
sustainability for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and trees to grow.
