Four go into three: Cast members James Aldred, Peter Long, Lucy Chamberlain and Charlotte Horner of The Three Inch Fools
OPEN-AIR theatre specialists The Three Inch Fools will head to Scampston Hall, Scampston, near Malton, on July 20 with their rowdy reimagining of the story of a troublesome Tudor king, The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII.
Further North Yorkshire performances will follow at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, on July 23, and Helmsley Walled Garden on August 6.
Founded in Cumbria in 2015 by the Hyde brothers, producer James and writer, composer and director Stephen, the company combines fast-paced storytelling with uproarious music-making as their modus operandi for their contemporary spin on the traditional touring troupe.
The Secret Diary finds a young Henry VIII attempting to navigate his way through courtly life on a tour that will visit heritage sites with Tudor links to transport audiences back in time, albeit with a different take on history than the one told by the great houses.
Stephen Hyde’s new work provides an “essential guide” to how to keep your head in the Tudor Court when unexpectedly thrust into the limelight, as Henry navigates the ups and downs of courtly life, all while fighting the French (again) and re-writing religious law. Cue a madcap take on Britain’s most epic monarch and those infamous wives.
Operating from their rehearsal residency at the National Trust property of Eastbury Manor House in Banbury, the Fools are touring 80 venues this summer with two shows, the second being their innovative twist on Shakespeare’s shortest, wildest farce, The Comedy Of Errors, with its tale of long-lost twins, misunderstandings and messy mishaps.
Directed by The Play That Goes Wrong’s Sean Turner, The Comedy Of Errors will play Helmsley Walled Garden on July 19.
In the Three Inch Fools cast will be James Aldred, Lucy Chamberlain, Charlotte Horner and Pete Long, while the production team includes fight director and choreographer Marcello Marascalchi, movement director Claire Parry and costume & props designer Aoife Hills.
The Three Inch Fools in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII, Scampston Hall & Walled Gardens, Scampston, near Malton, July 20; Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, July 23, and Helmsley Arts Centre, August 6, all at 7pm. The Comedy Of Errors, Helmsley Walled Garden, July 19, 7pm. Gates open at 6pm. Age guidance: 6+. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
The Gesualdo Six: Performing in the Chapter House at York Minster on July 9 as part of the 2024 York Early Music Festival. Picture: Ash Mills
A CELEBRATION of the voice, the truth behind Dracula, flying doctors and grim tales lead off Charles Hutchinson’s tips for jaunty July trips.
York festival of the week: 2024 York Early Music Festival, Metamorfosi, today until July 13
IN an eight-day celebration of music from the medieval to the baroque under the title of Metamorfosi, York Ealy Music Festival will focus on the human voice and song with performances by Concerto Soave, The Gesualdo Six, festival newcomers Vox Luminis and Cappella Pratensis & I Fedeli, The Sixteen, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rose Consort of Viols and Gawain Glenton’s Ensemble In Echo.
Taking part too will be mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, the Consone Quartet, Cubaroque, Apotropaïk and Utopia, climaxing with the biennial York International Young Artists Competition. Full festival programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.
Princess locked up in the castle: Freckle Productions in Zog & The Flying Doctors
Children’s show of the week: Freckle Productions in Zog & The Flying Doctors, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 10.30am and 1.30pm
ZOG, super-keen student-turned-air ambulance, still lands with a bang-crash-thump. Together with his Flying Doctor crew, Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout, they tend to a sunburnt mermaid, a unicorn with one too many horns and a lion with the flu.
However, Pearl’s uncle, the King, has other ideas about whether princesses should be doctors, and soon she is soon locked up in the castle. Can her friends and half a pound of cheese help Pearl make her uncle better and prove princesses can be doctors too in this Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler story with music and lyrics by Joe Stilgoe? Suitable for age three upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Carnival time in Copmanthorpe
Carnival of the week: Cop’ Carnival, Copmanthorpe Recreation Centre, Barons Crescent, Copmanthorpe, York, today, 11.30am to 7pm
IN its 55th year, Cop’ Carnival features live music acts and dance troupes on the main stage, an inflatable assault course, fairground rides and attractions, street food vendors, free children’s entertainment, stalls and more besides. No dogs are allowed on site, apart from assistance dogs. Tickets are on sale at copcarnival.org.uk/tc-events/the-cop-carnival-day/; under-14s are admitted free of charge.
Sam Johnson: Playing with his jazz trio at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Jazz gig of the week: Sam Johnson Trio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow (7/7/2024),
THE Sam Johnson Trio, led by pianist Sam Johnson with Georgia Johnson on bass and James Wood on drums, bring a mid-20th century jazz vibe to their performance, in the style of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, Oscar Peterson Trio and vintage Blue Note and Verve Records artists.
Combining original material with jazz standards from the past seven decades, the trio will be joined by guest soloists and frequent collaborators Richard Oakman (saxophone) and Kirsty Hughes (vocals). Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Macabre: Killian Macardle, left, Annie Kirkman and Chris Hannon in Dracula: The Bloody Truth at the SJT. Picture: Pamela Raith
Comedy drama of the week: Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to July 27
THE Stephen Joseph Theatre teams up with Bolton’s Octagon Theatre to stage physical theatre comedy exponents La Navet Bete & John Nicholson’s Dracula: The Bloody Truth, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s story.
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs Chris Hannon, Annie Kirkman, Alyce Liburd and Killian Macardle as vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing reveals the real story behind the legend of Dracula, the one with the Whitby connection. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Paul Weller: Reflecting on turning 66 at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gigs of the week: Fatboy Slim, today; Paul Weller, tomorrow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, gates open at 6pm
NORMAN Cook has come a long way, baby, since he played bass in Hull band The Housemartins. Now the BRIT award-winning, Brighton-based DJ, aka Fatboy Slim, heads back north to fill Scarborough with big beats and huge hooks in Rockafeller Skank, Gangster Trippin, Praise You and Right Here Right Now et al tonight.
The Modfather Paul Weller showcases his 17th studio album, 66, full of ruminations on ageing, in Sunday’s set of songs from The Jam, Style Council and his solo years. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Here wig go: Sarah-Louise Young in I Am Your Tribute at Theatre@41 Monkgate, York
Fringe show of the week: Sarah-Louise Young, I Am Your Tribute, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 11, 7.30pm
AFTER An Evening Without Kate Bush, the Julie Andrews-focused Julie Madly Deeply and The Silent Treatment, Sarah-Louise Young returns to Theatre@41 with her Edinburgh Fringe-bound new show, I Am Your Tribute.
In her “most ambitiously interactive performance yet”, she invites you to help her create the ultimate tribute to an act of your choosing. Along the way she will teach you the tricks of the trade, share her greatest hits and uncover the occasionally darker side of living in someone’s else’s shadow. Expect music, wigs and wonderment. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Rowntree Players cast members rehearsing for Grimm Tales
Fairy tales of the week: Rowntree Players in Grimm Tales, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 11 to 13, 7.30pm
AMI Carter directs Rowntree Players in Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of Grimm Tales, dramatised by Tim Supple, with Chris Meadley in the role of the Narrator.
The cast of 15 takes a journey through a selection of delightfully bizarre stories from the Brothers Grimm collection to reveal their true origins and to discover that the path to a happy ending can, indeed, be a little grim. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
In Focus: Weekend events at Ripon Theatre Festival, July 6 and 7
The Tea Cosies: Street entertainment with Kitch’n’Sync today
PUPPETS, stories, dance, drama, circus and street entertainment pop up in new and surprising places alongside more familiar venues, such as Newby Hall, The Old Deanery, Ripon Cathedral, Ripon Arts Hub and Fountains Abbey, as Ripon Theatre Festival returns for its third year.
Saturday keeps festivalgoers on the move in a day of Pop-Up Events at various locations from 9.30am to 6pm. Ilaria Passeri hosts a morning of adventures for four-year-olds and upwards in Tales From Honeypot Village, featuring Rita the Mouse and the Tidy Trolls in the front room of The Unicorn Hotel at 9.30am and the back room of The Little Ripon Bookshop at 11.30am.
Puppeteers Eye Of Newt open their magical miniature suitcase for Ayla’s Dream, a captivating tale of night skies, light and counting sheep for three to ten-year-olds at Ripon Library at 10.30am (accompanied by a puppet workshop) and Ripon Cathedral from 12 noon to 12.30pm (performance every ten minutes).
York performer Tempest Wisdom takes a journey down the rabbit hole in the family-friendly Curiouser & Curiouser, a show for age five + packed with Lewis Carroll’s whimsical writings, inspired by Ripon Cathedral’s nooks and crannies. Free performances take place at Ripon Cathedral at 11am, 12.30pm and The Little Ripon Bookshop at 2.30pm.
Join the Master and Matron on the front lawn for an interactive game of giant Snakes And Ladders At The Workhouse Museum. Learn how life then, as now, is as precarious as a shake of the dice; slither down the snake to a shaven head and defumigation or ascent to a life out of the ashes from 11am to 12.30pm or 1pm to 3pm.
Festival favourites Lempen Puppet Theatre return with the free show Theatre For One in Ripon Cathedral from 10.45am to 11.30pm and Kirkgate from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and 3pm to 4pm. In a micro-theatre experience for one at a time, plus curious onlookers, a mini-performance of The Belly Bug or Dr Frankenstein will be staged every five minutes.
Tempest Wisdom: Taking a journey down the rabbit hole in Curiouser & Curiouser
Members of the Workhouse Theatre Group invite you to experience justice 1871 style in The Trial Of John Sinkler in a case of poaching and threatening behaviour from 2pm to 3pm at The Courthouse Museum.
Ensure justice is seen to be done or perhaps take a more active role in a lively scripted re-enactment led by Mark Cronfield, formerly of Nobby Dimon’s North Country Theatre company.
The festival fun continues in Kirkgate with buskers, bands and more from 3pm to 6pm, while Street Entertainment will be spread between Market Place, Minster Gardens and city streets with a fiesta of free events from 10am to 4pm.
Mark Cronfield and Tom Frere invite you to hail down the ultimate in Georgian transport for Sedan Chair Stories. Be carried above the hoi polloi as your footmen pass on their scurrilous stories from Ripon’s scandalous past.
Bearded Belfast multi-manipulator and circus performer Logy will be juggling danger and excitement in Logy On Fire, a show of full of raw rock’n’roll comedy. Look out for the beautiful birds of The Bachelors Of Paradise parading their glorious wingspans and beautiful tailfeathers.
In Stone Soup, a suitcase show performed from a travelling cart with music and comical puppets, Hebden Bridge company Eye Of Newt ask this question: can you really make soup with only a stone? The secret to making a delicious soup rests with a wandering stranger.
Street performers and fatal fools Medieval Maniax promise to amuse and bemuse with their historical hysterics, music and illusions. Kitch’n’Sync, from Wales, invite you to have a natter with their colourful crochet trolley dollies, Dorothy Dunker, Tippy Teapot and Barbara Bourbon, alias The Tea Cosies.
Logy On Fire: Multi-manipulator and circus performer
A friendly team from Casson & Friends will connect you with the childlike joy of play in their interactive games, set to a bouncing electronic soundtrack, in Arcade.
Playing their part in the day too will be Yorkshire Voices, Medusa, Ripon City Morris Dancers, 400 Roses And Thorns, Ripon Drum Circle, The U3A Folk Group, The Wakeman Mummers, Ripon Rock Choir and Workhouse Walkabouts.
Weekend community performers contribute to the festival on Sunday too in the form of Lily Worth, Trinity Singers, Freddie Cleary, Ripon Goes To Bollywood, Henshaws Performing Arts Group, Danceability, Passion For Movement, Cricket On The Hearth, The U3A Ukulele Group and Ripon Walled Garden Performers.
Open-air theatre specialists Illyria present Oliver Grey’s adaptation of Hugo Lofting’s The Adventures Of Doctor Doolittle in the Newby Hall Gardens at 5.30pm (gates 5pm). In this new family musical, performed with wit and flair, Doctor Doolittle leads a simple life as a village doctor until one day, with the help of his wise old parrot Polynesia, he makes an extraordinary discovery: he can talk to animals.
Radical Leeds troupe Red Ladder Theatre Company return to the festival to with We’re Not Going Back, Boff Whalley’s Miners’ Strike musical comedy about 75 mines, three sisters, one cause and a six-pack of Babycham at Ripon Arts Hub at 7.30pm.
In early 1984, the everyday squabbles of sisters Olive, Mary and Isabel collide with a strike that forces them to question their lives, their relationships and their family ties.
Sunday has a couple of Pop-Up Events, led off by Opera Brunch with down-to-earth diva Nicola Mills, from Huddersfield, whose song menu at Valentino’s Ristorante ranges from Italian arias to crossover classics, served with sweet or savoury pastries and Bucks Fizz or a hot drink from 10.30am to 12 noon.
From 3pm to 4.30pm, in the Guardians’ Room of The Workhouse Museum, Fellfoss Theatre present a rehearsed reading and workshop performance of Fate And The Warrior, Mark Cronfield’s new play about the troubled and prolific Guyana-born author Edgar Mittelholzer, a pioneer of Caribbean culture. Join Cronfield and his scratch team of actors for a dark and intriguing tale in atmospheric surroundings.
Thingumajig Theatre in Kit And Caboodle
Ripon Spa Gardens and Market Place will play host to Sunday’s Family Day from 10am to 4pm. Look out for the Hedge Heads, suspicious-looking shrubbery lurking in the bushes; Henshaws Performing Arts Group’s The Golden Tree, fairy tales of heroes, villains, royalty and fools, and Open The Books’ The Story Of Daniel, a distillation of all the best bits in 20 minutes, dreams, lions et al.
In Wrongsemble’s epic new adventure The Not So Big Bad Wolf favourite tales are re-spun and woven by Little Red, adventurer, heroine and True Grimm podcaster, on a mission to debunk the myths around her so-called nemesis, with the help of a few storybook staples, her red cloak and a basket full of music, mayhem and magic tricks.
Thingumajig Theatre, from Hebden Bridge, return to Ripon with their big, beautiful, rolling mule packed with miniature puppet shows, full of stories and songs of remarkable journeys and refugees. Struzzo and Maxim, stalwarts of street theatre for many decades, promise music, magic and their famous ostrich.
Three quirky characters are waiting for a train but how will they pass the time in Grantham company Rhubarb Theatre’s show The Three Suitcases? Three Marie Antoinettes take to the street to feed the public their tasty treats in Let Them Eat Cake. Expect a right royal ruckus wherever these comedy pompous poodle-haired queens of comedy go.
Three courageous airmen, Roger, Reggie and Rupert, are caught in a freak storm in The Bombardiers. Armed only with their wits and extremely good looks, who knows where they will end up!
In The Fireman Dave Circus Skills Drop-In, Dave Ford, from Hebden Bridge, invites you to have a go at juggling, plate-spinning, diabolo, hula-hooping and more at Ripon Spa Gardens from 1pm to 2.30pm.
The 2024 festival concludes with Scottish company Folksy Theatre’s open-air production of Shakespeare’s leafy tale of banishment, love and disguise, As You Like It, at The Old Deanery at 7pm. Cue comedy stuffed with music, bold characters and audience interaction. Bring something to sit on, pack a picnic and come prepared for the weather.
“We believe that theatre should be for everyone,” says festival director Katie Scott. “Our varied and accessible programme of events provides real theatrical treats for seasoned theatre-goes, but also lively and low-cost opportunities for first-timers and families. We love bringing events to non-theatre spaces and working with local businesses and other partner organisations to create a buzz in the city which all can enjoy.”
For full festival details and tickets, head to: ripontheatrefestival.org. A preview of further events at Ripon Theatre Festival on July 6 and 7 will follow.
Folksy Theatre in As You Like It in the open air at The Old Deaneryon Sunday
Victoria Brazier, left, Stacey Sampson and Claire O’Connor in Red Ladder’s We’re Not Going Back, on tour at Ripon Arts Hub tomorrow. Picture: Lian Furness
RADICAL Leeds troupe Red Ladder Theatre Company return to Ripon Theatre Festival tomorrow with a reboot of Boff Whalley’s We’re Not Going Back, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike.
75 mines, three sisters, one cause and a six-pack of Babycham go into Chumbawamba founder Whalley’s musical comedy, on a tour supported by Unite the Union that visited the former pit town of Selby for a Town Hall performance last night.
We’re Not Going Back is set in the midst of the Miners’ Strike, but no miners feature. Instead, the focus falls on the fortunes of three South Yorkshire pit-village sisters – Olive, Mary and Isabel – hit hard by the Government’s war against miners and determined to fight back with their own branch of Women Against Pit Closures.
In a celebration of the resilience of working communities, the make-and-mend fabric of family, and the power of sticking two fingers up to a government hell-bent on destruction, the sisters’ everyday squabbles collide with a strike that forces them to question their lives, their relationships and their family ties.
“I find writing women’s voices is much easier than writing men’s voices,” says Boff. “In terms of telling a story, men are not good at going into depth. My observation is that if you see two men together and one says ‘I like your shoes’, the other will say just say ‘oh’, whereas women will enjoy taking that conversation much further.”
Stacey Sampson, left, as Mary, Claire Marie Seddon (now Claire O’Connor), as Isabel, and Victoria Brazier, as Olive, in the original Red Ladder production of We’re Not Going Back ten years ago
His setting is February 1984, when the rumour mill stirs with news of impending pit closures as the coal miners’ unions anxiously prepare for the imminent confrontation with the government.
Forced into unemployment, miners and their families take up the fight and become part of a battle that will change the course of history. Through music, comedy and grit, the three sisters embrace the values of the strike and underline the empowerment, determination and vulnerability communities were faced with during the toughest of times.
Originally commissioned by Unite the Union in 2014 to mark the 30th anniversary of the strikes, this rebooted version brings together all four original cast members, Victoria Brazier, Claire O’Connor, Stacey Sampson and musician Beccy Owen, who reprise their original roles.
Boff says: “It remains an important story to tell, and instead of focusing on the battle between miners, police and government – the fighting, the scabs, the police waving fivers – we shine a light on the thousands of women who organised and rallied in support the strike.
“For me, the strongest part – the heart of the miners’ strike – was always the family support, specifically the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. Despite the outcome of the strike, all the hardship and poverty, the main memory of that year for the women was of laughter, fun and surprise – a big adventure. How to take on the machinery of the capitalist state and have a good time doing it.”
Making a stand: A Garston Women Against Pit Closure umbrella with Stacey Sampson’s Mary in the background. Picture: Lian Furness
Boff’s play seeks to highlight the deep-rooted social impact of the mining community’s anger. “The focus is on what it was like in the living room,” he says. “That’s a huge part of any historic moment in history that gets overlooked, so the first thing that happened when Rod [former artistic director Rod Dixon] got the chance to do the play was I said, ‘yes, but I don’t want it to be police and pickets, with verbal and physical clashes, but instead we should meet the women who were so resilient, and the stories poured out of them as they talked in their kitchen over cups of tea.”
For this 40th anniversary revival, the new factor is the vision of director Elvi Page. “I was the newbie to the team, when everyone else came back with so much love for it as it was such a special project,” she says.
“So much of it was already there, in terms of the text and the richness of the female experience, and it felt right that if a new director was coming in ten years on, the new addition should be a female voice.
“We could really dig deeper into focusing on the women’s experience, with the men becoming less and less important to the framing. It was the women’s resistance that needed to be told.”
Boff may have jested that Elvi “slashed and burned” his text, but rather than imposing draconian changes, she took a collective approach. “Everyone is creative, all of the actors, the writer, as well as the director, so you revisit the story to find the best way to tell what we needed to say,” she says.
Coal Not Dole: Victoria Brazier’s Olive and Claire O’Connor’s Isabel in We’re Not Going Back. Picture: Lian Furness
“It’s now shorter as we acknowledge that people’s appetite for watching films and theatre is all about pace, if we want to appeal to new audiences as well as to those who loved it last time, and it doesn’t feel like it has lost anything.
“The other thing that’s gone is the set. Now there’s no set at all, which makes it more nimble for touring, but it’s still so rich as a piece of theatre. It’s all about telling the story, where a set was almost slowing it down. We were thinking, ‘how would these women tell their stories’? Just chairs around a table.”
Boff notes one difference from ten years ago. “The history of the miners’ strike has changed. It’s become a big historical fact, like how the demand for a public inquiry into what happened at Orgreave has not stopped but grown,” he says.
“Now it’s part of history that young people know about. My daughter had to do an essay entitled ‘Did Mrs Thatcher engineer the miners’ strike’. I wanted her to say ‘yes’, but she wrote an evenly balanced answer, though she then concluded, ‘considering all the facts…’!”
Boff draws comparison with how the Suffragettes of the early 20th century were treated by the media. “If you go back and look at what the Daily Mail and Telegraph wrote, they were as hate-filled and bigoted as they are today, and you could not have imagined that the Suffragettes would become the heroes that they are today,” he says.
Red Ladder Theatre Company’s tour poster for We’re Not Going Back
“So maybe we can get to the day where we have a sculpture of Anne Scargill [NUM president Arthur Scargill’s wife Anne Harper, activist and co-founder of the National Women Against Pit Closures movement, from Barnsley].”
Reflecting on the importance of Red Ladder’s tour, Elvi says: “I would hope that the appetite for this play continues to be as hungry as it was ten years ago, and in this 40th anniversary year, it feels vital that it reaches as many people as possible.
“You think about how it mirrors the strike situations we see now. It’s harder now, as hard as it’s ever been, when unions are weaker and people’s opinions of people going on strike is volatile.
“But one of things that people find when looking for a message to digest in this play is that when we mull over events from the past, a little distance helps people come to clearer, balanced conclusions.”
Red Ladder Theatre Company in We’re Not Going Back, Ripon Arts Hub, All Hallowgate, Ripon, Ripon Theatre Festival, July 6, 7.30pm. Box office:ripontheatrefestival.org.
Outstanding; Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells in York Opera’s The Sorcerer. Picture: Allan Harris
THE Sorcerer is a two-act Gilbert & Sullivan opera based on an earlier Sir William Schwenck Gilbert Christmas story, The Elixir Of Love, and is a typical poke in the eye satire on Victorian England’s class-ridden society.
It is the third operatic collaboration, and certainly not their best – much of the second half is dramatically pretty dull – but there is no denying that York Opera’s production of The Sorcerer is absolutely wonderful. And with a company led by John Soper (stage director and set design), Maggie Soper (costume design) and musical director Alasdair Jamieson, it just had to be, didn’t it.
The opening orchestral overture is pretty much spot on: crisp, articulate playing, generating a quiet confidence for the singers to draw from. And they do. The double chorus Ring Forth, Ye Bells is rhythmically tight and full of joie de vivre.
And why not. Love is in the air and the common villagers of Ploverleigh are preparing to celebrate the betrothal of Alexis Pointdextre (Hamish Brown, tenor), Grenadier Guards, son of local baronet Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre (Ian Thompson-Smith, baritone) and a total bore to boot, to the blue-blooded Aline Sangazure (Alexandra Mather, soprano), daughter of aristocratic Lady Sangazure (Rebecca Smith, contralto). A match made in heaven.
Constance (Emma Burke, soprano) is not a happy bunny as she is secretly in love with the local vicar Daly (Christopher Charlton-Mathews, baritone). However, after the first sighting of said vicar chasing butterflies with a butterfly net – a brilliantly comic scene that could have been choreographed by Sir Ed Dave – one did have to question why?
Anyway, that’s enough of the introductions. Emma Burke’s When He Is Here, I Sigh With Pleasure is simply delightful: lovely tone, crystal-clear diction. It is just a pity that there are so few opportunities here for Ms Burke to shine.
Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells, left, Hamish Brown’s Alexis Pointdextre and Alexandra Mather’s Aline Sangazure in The Sorcerer. Picture: Allan Harris
The response from Mr Charlton-Mathews – a sweet, melancholic The Air Is Charged With Amatory Numbers and Time Was When Love And I Were Well Acquainted – are terrific. His comic timing and mannerisms are infectious. As indeed they prove to be throughout.
Following a crisply choreographed dance and a touching female chorus With Heart And With Voice, we arrive at the vocal high point, literally. Alexandra Mather (Aline) delivers a powerful Happy Young Heart with relatively eyewatering high notes.
Enter Sir Marmaduke – with a lineage going back to Helen of Troy, he claims – and Lady Sangazure. They clearly have history, not as far back as Homer’s Iliad, as revealed in their tender love duet, Welcome Joy, Adieu To Sadness.
Enter Alexis, who tells his blue-rinsed fiancée that love has the power to unite all classes and ranks (“without rank, age or fortune…”) in a passionate Love Feeds On Many Kinds Of, I Know. He decides to implement this musical ‘levelling-up’ policy via an elixir or love potion from the entirely respectable London firm, J.W. Wells & Co, Family Sorcerers.
And it is just as well he does as it introduces a show-stealing Anthony Gardner (baritone) in the form of John Wellington Wells. Mr Gardner’s spiky, animated and wonderfully sung My Name Is John Wellington Wells, followed by the theatrical incantation Sprites Of Earth And Air (with Alexandra Mather, Hamish Brown and Chorus) is the opera highlight. Of course it is. His pantomime villain is reminiscent of the incomparable David Leonard, infused with a dash of Del Boy.
What follows is A Midsummer Night’s Dream gone nuts. The potion is administered via a cup of tea from a giant teapot and, following hallucinatory experiences (Oh, Marvellous Illusion) and the village falls into a drug-infused sleep.
Act II begins at midnight, as tradition decrees, when the villagers wake up and instantly fall in love with the person next to them. Of the opposite sex, obviously! If the village people had an inkling of what was to come, they might have positioned themselves into a more advantageous position.
Ian Thomson-Smith’s Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre and Rebecca Smith’s Lady Sangazure. Picture: Allan Harris
As it is, all the matches made are both highly unsuitable and comical. The best of these by far is Constance (Emma Burke’s) duet with the ancient, ear-trumpeting notary Adrian Cook (bass, with a clear lower register).
During the brilliantly performed Dear Friends, Take Pity On My Lot it is implied that his heart, so full of joy, is likely to be one ending in heart failure. There is a delightful vocal quintet, I Rejoice That It’s Decided, with Alexandra Mather, Amanda Shackleton, Hamish Brown, Christopher Charlton-Mathews and Ian Thompson-Smith. The balance is spot on.
But there is no way of getting away from it, the star is Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells. He catches both the eye (big time) and the ear throughout; his performance is outstanding. Although why the villagers vote to do away with him and not the son of Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, Alex, is beyond me. No offence meant Mr Brown, you are very good indeed.
Not all of the production is flawless; at times the orchestra and singers aren’t completely in sync and not all of the singing is pitch perfect. But this was the first night for goodness’ sake.
But let’s finish with a collective role call for the superb John and Maggie Soper, Pauline Marshall, Clare Bewers (stage manager) and Eric Lund (lighting) and all the hard-working creative team involved. Take a bow. The Sorcerer orchestra, excellent throughout. Take a bow. And lastly, but not least, musical director Alastair Jamieson, who conducts the whole comic opera with clarity, authority and musical insight. He must have been delighted. Take a bow. Hang on, you already have done.
York Opera, The Sorcerer, York Theatre Royal, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Victoria Brazier, left, Stacey Sampson and Claire O’Connor in We’re Not Gouing Back at Selby Town Hall. Picture: Lian Furness
IN the former pit town of Selby, radical Leeds troupe Red Ladder Theatre Company conclude Selby Town Hall’s spring & summer season tonight with a reboot of Boff Whalley’s We’re Not Going Back, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike.
Created by Chumbawamba founder Whalley and supported by Unite the Union, this musical comedy is set in the midst of the strike, but no miners are featured.
Instead, the focus is on the fortunes of three South Yorkshire pit-village sisters – Olive, Mary and Isabel – hit hard by the Conservative Government’s war against miners and determined to fight back with their own branch of Women Against Pit Closures.
The setting is February 1984, when the rumour mill stirs with news of impending pit closures as the coal miners’ unions anxiously prepare for the imminent confrontation with the government.
Forced into unemployment, miners and their families take up the fight and become part of a battle that will change the course of history. Through music, comedy and grit, the three sisters embrace the values of the strike and underline the empowerment, determination and vulnerability communities were faced with during the toughest of times.
Originally commissioned by Unite the Union in 2014 to mark the 30th anniversary of the strikes, this rebooted version of the show brings together all four original cast members, Victoria Brazier, Claire O’Connor, Stacey Sampson and Beccy Owen, who reprise their original roles.
Writer Boff Whalley says: “It remains an important story to tell, and instead of focusing on the battle between miners, police and government, we shine a light on the thousands of women who organised and rallied in support the strike.
“For me, the strongest part – the heart of the miners’ strike – was always the family support, specifically the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. Despite the outcome of the strike, all the hardship and poverty, the main memory of that year for the women was of laughter, fun and surprise – a big adventure. How to take on the machinery of the capitalist state and have a good time doing it.”
Directed by Elvi Piper, We’re Not Going Back is a reminder of the resilience of working-class communities; the make-and-mend fabric of family life and the power of sticking two fingers up to the government. All seasoned with song, good humour and a six-pack of Babycham!
“Red Ladder are one of the most highly regarded national touring companies around” says Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones. “Their work is always imaginative, impactful and full of heart. The remake of We’re Not Going Back has played at some big theatres this year, so we’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting the original cast here in the intimate surroundings of Selby Town Hall.”
Red Ladder Theatre Company in We’re Not Going Back, Selby Town Hall, July 4, 7.30pm. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Julia Bullock’s Geraldine Granger receives a frosty reception from Grahame Sammons’s parish council chairman David Horton on introducing herself as the new vicar. Oliver Clive’s Hugo Horton looks on rather more admiringly. Picture: Joe Coughlan
WHEN The Vicar Of Dibley was suggested for 1812 Theatre Company’s summer show, director Julie Lomas “had some reservations”. Who could follow comedy icon Dawn French and the rest from Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew- Archer’s beloved BBC series, she wondered.
Allaying those concerns, she found all her players in her first round of auditions, combining company debutants with familiar faces from Helmsley Arts Centre’s resident company, including Richard Noakes in his 51st appearance “in some way or other” at the Old Meeting House.
Two new members feature, led by Julia Bullock, from the Harrogate theatre scene, making “chocoholic sex kitten” Reverend Geraldine Granger her own, albeit with the Dawn French bob.
Beaj Johnson is stepping up for his stage debut at 60 as no, no, no, yes, Jim Trott, after many years as a photographer in the theatre world, taking portraits of Rik Mayall, Julian Clary, Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton and…Dawn French (as featured with a flower in the 1812 programme). Not so much no, as yes, yes, yes, such is the comic joy of his terpsichorean turn as the dithering, rumbustious Jim.
Julie Lomas not only directs but also has credits for sound design (with John Lomas), set and lighting design, set decoration (with Pauline Noakes and Becca Magson), wardrobe (with Bullock and Magson) and programme design.
All in favour: Mike Martin’s Owen Newitt, left, Julia Bullock’s Geraldine Granger, Oliver Clive’s Hugo Horton, Grahame Sammons’s David Horton, Richard Noakes’s Frank Pickle, Sue Smith’s Sue Cropley and Beaj Johnson’s Jim Trott at a Dibley Parish Council
Hats off to such a hands-on contribution, but that’s not all. She has adapted the original Curtis & Mayhew-Archer script too, retaining the 1990s’ setting, with references to William Hague, Norma Major and Anne Robinson, but ostensibly moving the location from the south to Yorkshire, although only the vicar of Dibley dabbles in pronounced northern vowels, enhancing Bullock’s distancing from the French style.
The rest mirror the accents of the TV originals, adding to the mist of nostalgia that had seen this week’s evening performances all but sell out in advance. (N.B. Two tickets are still available for Saturday night, more for the matinee).
The play starts where else but at the Dibley Parish Council meeting where misogynistic, autocratic chairman David Horton (Grahame [CORRECT] Sammons, stuffed of shirt, acid of mouth) announces the need to replace the departed Reverend Pottle.
All the favourites are there: the pedantic/fastidious parish clerk Frank Pickle (a steadfast Richard Noakes); Mrs Cropley (stoical Sue Smith), with her waste-not but not-wanted nibbles; geeky, quirky Hugo Horton (Oliver Clive); the aforementioned Jim (Johnson, as much a nod to Wilfrid Brambell and Ade Edmondson as to Roger Lloyd Pack ) and the late-arriving Owen Newitt, (a bucolic, West Country, hangdog Mike Martin), struggling with his latest bowel affliction.
Lomas quickly establishes economy of scene and speed of scene change with an open plan set that combines the Horton mansion with the village hall and the vicarage, topped off by a stained-glass window that will come into play late on as Barry Whitaker’s Bishop of Mulberry makes his mark.
At last! Julia Bullock’s Geraldine Granger celebrates as Oliver Clive’s Hugo Horton and Jeanette Hambidge’s Alice Tinker finally have their Rodin sculpture moment. Picture: Joe Coughlan
All gather at Horton HQ for the arrival of the new vicar, Horton handing out the cheap sherry. Not a woman, he prays. Enter Bullock’s Geraldine Granger, the answer to the village’s prayers as it turns out. Immediately drawing attention to her bust, and instantly demanding whisky, she is frank, fearless, forthright, funny. She loves Sean Bean, she loves a naughty joke, she loves chocolate, she loves love, what’s not to love?
Crucial too is the vicar’s relationship with Alice Tinker, the verger, so maddening, unpredictable, pedantic, sometimes as thick as clotted cream, yet as lovable too. Here Lomas has cast superbly in Jeanette Hambidge for a role that demands a multi-faceted performance, and Bullock and Hambidge duly bring out the best in each other.
In her programme notes, Lomas had highlighted not only nostalgia but poignancy too, a characteristic that applies to both the slow-to-blossom romance of Hugo and Alice – beautifully, tentatively, tenderly played by Clive and Hambidge – and to the emotionally parched Horton developing feelings for Geraldine. Sammons plays these scenes particularly well, full of delusion, then the drain of reality and sudden generosity of spirit, bringing a lump to the throat.
Lomas wrote too of the “comedy still being fresh”, despite the period setting, the absence of mobile phones, and it is to her cast’s huge credit that they have all made it fresh anew, episodic in structure, but complete in a way that a sitcom episode cannot be. How else could it finish but with Geraldine and Alice on different wavelengths in a kitchen conversation.
1812 Theatre Company in The Vicar Of Dibley, Helmsley Arts Centre, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Killian Macardle, left, Annie Kirkman and Chris Hannon in Dracula: The Bloody Truth at the SJT. Picture: Pamela Raith
THE truth behind Dracula, wall-to-wall graffiti, vicar irreverence and a blast of brass bring variety to Charles Hutchinson’s tips for jaunty July trips.
Comedy drama of the week: Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to July 27
THE Stephen Joseph Theatre teams up with Bolton’s Octagon Theatre to stage physical theatre comedy exponents La Navet Bete & John Nicholson’s Dracula: The Bloody Truth, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s story.
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs Chris Hannon, Annie Kirkman, Alyce Liburd and Killian Macardle as vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing reveals the real story behind the legend of Dracula, the one with the Whitby connection. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Hamish Brown’s Alexis, left, Alexandra Mather’s Miss Aline Sangazure and Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells in York Opera’s The Sorcerer. Picture: John Saunders
Everything stops for tea: York Opera in The Sorcerer, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
JOHN Soper directs York Opera in The Sorcerer, Gilbert and Sullivan’s first full-length comic opera, wherein Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre (Ian Thomson-Smith) hosts a tea party in the Ploverleigh Hall gardens to celebrate the betrothal of his only son, Alexis (Hamish Brown) to Miss Aline Sangazure (Alexandra Mather), daughter of Lady Annabella Sangazure (Rebecca Smith).
When a love-at-first-sight elixir is mixed into the celebration tea by a sorcerer, John Wellington Wells (Anthony Gardner, in the role played by Soper for York Opera in 2001), mayhem follows as the assembled guests fall under his magic spell. What could possibly go wrong? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Julia Bullock’s Geraldine Granger, Oliver Clive’s Hugo Horton, centre, and Grahame Sammons’s David Horton in 1812 Theatre Company’s The Vicar Of Dibley
Religious conversion of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in The Vicar Of Dibley, Helmsley Arts Centre, untilSaturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
JULIE Lomas directs Helmsley Arts Centre’s resident company in a stage play adapted from the original BBC television series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. When Reverend Pottle dies, much to the surprise of the Dibley Parish Council, his replacement is Geraldine Granger, a vicar who is also a chocoholic sex kitten.
Follow the antics of David Horton, his son Hugo, Jim, Owen, Frank and Mrs Cropley as they adjust to working with the witty and wonderful Geraldine, assisted by her verger, Alice Tinker. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot: York premiere at Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
York musical of the week: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
NORTH Yorkshire company Bright Light Musical Productions make their JoRo debut in the York premiere of punk rock opera Green Day’s American Idiot with a cast of 14 directed by Dan Crawfurd-Porter and a seven-piece band under Matthew Peter Clare’s musical direction.
Inspired by the Californian band’s 2004 album, American Idiot tells the story of Johnny (Iain Harvey), “Jesus of Suburbia”, and his friends Will (William Thirlaway) and Tunny (Dan Poppitt) as they attempt to break out of their mind-numbing, aimless suburban existence. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
For those about to rock: Live/Wire take the highway to hell with AC/DC classics at The Crescent
Tribute show of the week: Live/Wire, The AC/DC Show, The Crescent, York, Friday and Saturday (sold out), doors 7.30pm
LIVE/WIRE, The AC/DC Show pays tribute to the Aussie heavy rock band, replete with a wall of Marshall amps for two hours of high voltage rock’n’roll. Podge Blacksmith, a double take for frontman Brian Johnson, revels in a set taking in everything from Highway To Hell and Whole Lotta Rosie to Back In Black and latest album Rock Or Bust. Box office for Friday only: thecrescentyork.com.
One of James Jessop’s works on show in Rise Of The Vandals at the disused office block at 2, Low Ousegate, York
Exhibition/installation of the week: Bombsquad, Rise Of The Vandals, 2, Low Ousegate, York, Friday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm.
SPREAD over four floors in a disused Low Ousegate office block, York art collective Bombsquad showcases retrospective and contemporary spray paint culture, graffiti, street art and public art in three galleries, a cinema room, a Wendy house and art shop, in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes).
Taking part in Rise Of The Vandals are York graffiti archivist Keith Hopewell, James Jessop, Bristol legend Inkie, Chu, Rowdy, Kid Acne, Remi Rough, Prefab77, SODA, Replete, Jo Peel, Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot, Anonymouse, Boxxhead and live DJs in SODA’s booth. Free entry; donations are encouraged. Dog friendly.
Fatboy Slim: Cooking up the beats at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. Picture: fatboyslim.net
Coastal gigs of the week: Fatboy Slim, Saturday; Paul Weller, Sunday, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, gates open at 6pm
NORMAN Cook has come a long way, baby, since he played bass in Hull band The Housemartins. Now the BRIT award-winning, Brighton-based DJ, aka Fatboy Slim, heads back north to fill Scarborough with big beats and huge hooks in Rockafeller Skank, Gangster Trippin, Praise You and Right Here Right Now et al on Saturday night.
The Modfather Paul Weller showcases his 17th studio album, 66, full of ruminations on ageing, in Sunday’s set of songs from The Jam, Style Council and his solo years. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Paul Weller: Reflections on hitting 66 at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Brass Band Summer Showcase of the week: Swinton & District Excelsior Brass Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 2pm
AS part of Brass Band Week, the Summer Showcase features the Swinton & District Excelsior Brass Band with trumpet and cornet soloist Sean Chandler. Taking part too will be the Swinton Training Band and The Workshop Band, including members from Swinton, Stape, Malton and Kirkbymoorside Brass Bands. Entry is free; tickets are available from 01653 696240, themiltonrooms.com or ticketsource.co.uk.
On the boulevard of broken dreams: Dan Poppitt’s Tunny, left, Iain Harvey’s Johhny and William Thirlaway’s Will in Bright Light Musical Productions’ York premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
BRIGHT Light Musical Productions will stage the York premiere of punk rock opera Green Day’s American Idiot at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre from tomorrow to Saturday.
Producer/director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s high-octane, politically driven production opens on American Independence Day and General Election Day in the United Kingdom, while marking the 20th anniversary of Green Day’s groundbreaking album American Idiot.
Produced by North Yorkshire company Bright Light with support from York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions, the Tony Award-winning show with music by Green Day, lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong and book by Armstrong and Michael Mayer “promises an electrifying experience that captures the spirit and energy of Green Day’s influential music”.
Boasting a cast of 14 and an eight-piece rock band, Bright Light’s production is propelled by the vision of producer/director Crawfurd-Porter, musical director Matthew Peter Clare and choreographer/assistant director Freya McIntosh.
“This show is a powerful statement about a world that remains unchanged since the original album’s release in 2004,” says Dan. “Its relevance to young people today is as strong as ever, with its commentary on America and politics resonating deeply this year, especially on July 4th.”
Inspired by the Californian band’s chart-topping album, American Idiot tells the story of Johnny the “Jesus of Suburbia” (played by Iain Harvey), and his friends Will (William Thirlaway) and Tunny (Dan Poppitt) as they attempt to break out of their mind-numbing, aimless suburban existence.
Their journey embodies the youthful struggle between passionate rebellion and the search for love, echoing the punk voice of their era. From Boulevard Of Broken Dreams to Holiday, Wake Me Up When September Ends to 21 Guns, American Idiot brings the “soundtrack of a generation” to the stage with the promise of captivating and energising audiences with early 2000s’ nostalgia.
Director Dan Crawfurd-Porter
“Personally, the issues it tackles have affected me profoundly, as they have many others. The aim is to give a voice to those who feel unheard, just as it has given one to me,” says Dan, 25.
“American Idiot is talking about America, but the issues reach across the world – war, drugs, depression and longing for a better world – and they resonate everywhere. Twenty years on, in Britain, those issues are still completely relevant, even if the world is in a different place, but there are still wars going on.
“Obviously, in an ideal world, this musical would no longer be relevant, but the reality is that will keep on being relevant – and Green Day’s songs still resonate too. I was among 50,000 people watching them at Old Trafford [the Lancashire cricket ground) on June 21.
“Those songs speak to anyone who was a teenager or young adult, in the Nineties or 2000s, and they appeal to the teenagers and young adults of today as much as they ever did. ”
Why does American Idiot work so well in its transfer from studio album to stage musical, Dan? “Because it has a defined story,” he says. “It was the producer/director who saw its potential, starting the process of turning the album into a show by having to convince Green Day.
“There’s a brilliant documentary called Broadway Idiot that charts that process, taking the band from the concept to eventually Billy Joe Armstrong starring on Broadway in the lead role.
“The show takes those great songs, where there are only three of them in the band, playing with so much energy, and then adds five more instruments, multiple characters and an ensemble to give those already powerful songs extra oomph.”
Mickey Moran’s St Jimmy, centre, with Tiggy-Jade, Diane Wilkinson, Rebecca Firth, Charlie Clarke, Jack Fry and Josh Woodgate. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Assessing those songs’ impact, Dan says: “Green Day’s songs, particularly in this show, are full of life, and with a running time of one hour 45 minutes, non-stop, no interval, it’s almost designed like a rock concert that tells a story, with guitars and strings to the fore.
“There’s a lot of emotion behind it as well as energy, so it’s not just shouting! Like Billy Joe writing Wake Me Up When Saturday Comes after his dad had passed away. Seeing Green Day play last month, you could tell Billy Joe was singing about himself, and the songs were so real because they were written from personal experience.”
Green Day’s American Idiot forms the first York production for Bright Light after making their debut in 2023 in Ripon. “When I founded the company in 2022 with William Thirlaway, at the time we were doing shows with RAOS [Ripon Amateur Operatic Society], and we did our first Bright Light show, Tick, Tick…Boom!, as an independent production at Ripon Arts Hub,” says Dan, who lives at Killinghall, near Harrogate, where he works as head of design and innovation for Clevershot, utilising his video and photography skills in content-led marketing.
“Tick, Tick…Boom! was the show Jonathan Larson wrote before Rent, and after seeing the film version on Netflix, it seemed like a good choice for us to do, with a cast of four doing eight shows, where we could learn how to put on a show, working with Black Sheep’s experienced Matthew Peter Clare as our musical director.”
Explaining the choice of the Joseph Rowntree Theatre for Bright Light’s York debut, Dan says: “Matthew was my introduction to York, playing Whizzer in his production of Falsettos and appearing in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Musicals In The Multiverse, when he was the MD, both at the Rowntree theatre.
“It was a move up from a black-box theatre in Ripon to doing shows in York, where I found there were many companies already, but I thought ‘why not add another one’?! Having performed Falsettos and ‘Multiverse’ there, the Rowntree theatre seemed like a very accessible space for a company new to York.
“It’s an achievable theatre to perform in, and I immediately realised on contacting them that they’re a really helpful theatre – helping with all aspects of putting on a show.”
Giving it the finger: Charlie Clarke, left, Ellie Carrier, Chloe Pearson, Tiggy-Jade and Rebecca Firth in Green Day’s American Idiot.Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
The JoRo is a suitable size too, says Dan. “It’s big, and a show like this needs a big set, with a scaffold design. We needed room for 14 people on that set, to go with all the resources the theatre offers.”
Looking ahead, “it seems like Bright Light are going to transition to York and potentially stay there, but we haven’t decided yet,” says Dan.
Watch this space. In the meantime, “join us for a memorable and high-energy performance that promises to be both a tribute to a seminal album and a resonant voice for today’s issues,” advises Dan.
“It will be interesting to see who comes, but I expect a passionate audience, who will probably already know the show or at least the album, so it could be quite a specific group that forms a large part of the audience. There’ll be Green Day fans but there’ll also be a crossover with musical fans.”
Bright Light Musical Productions present Green Day’s American Idiot, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow (4/7/2024) to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Who’s in the cast?
IAIN Harvey as Johnny; Dan Poppitt as Tunny; William Thirlaway as Will; Mickey Moran as St Jimmy; Chloe Pearson as Whatsername; Ellie Carrier as Heather; Rebecca Firth as Extraordinary Girl/Dance Captain and Richard Bayton as Favourite Son/ensemble. Jack Fry, Kailum Farmery, Tiggy-Jade, Charlie Clarke, Josh Woodgate and Diane Wilkinson will be on ensemble duty.
Rehaearsals began on March 15 and have since been held on Friday nights and Sundays each week. “The casting didn’t come without its challenges,” says Dan. “I had to pull in Richard Bayton as a replacement. I’d worked with him at the National Centre for Early Music in Black Sheep’s Cages Or Wings? and you could see what he could do with a specific role for him in this show. He’s been an exceptional addition to the cast.”
Richard Bayton, as Favourite Son, with Charlie Clarke (red), Ellie Carrier (silver), Tiggy-Jade (blue) and Rebecca Firth (gold). Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Rowntree Players cast members rehearsing for Grimm Tales
ROWNTREE Players will stage Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of Grimm Tales, dramatised by Tim Supple, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from July 11 to 13.
Ami Carter’s cast will take a journey through a selection of delightfully bizarre stories from the Brothers Grimm collection to reveal their true origins and to discover how the path to a happy ending can, indeed, be a little grim.
Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals, on behalf of Samuel French, Grimm Tales will be narrated by Chris Meadley, joined by Geoff Walker as Male 1; Graham Smith, Male 2; Joe Marrucci, Male 3; Fergus Green, Male 4; Abbey Follansbee, Female 1; Hannah Wood, Female 2; Meg Badrick, Female 3, and Annie Dunbar, Female 4.
In the ensemble will be Henry Cullen, Jess Whitehead, Britt Brett, Jess Dawson, Libby Roe and Ella Lofthouse.
Alongside Carter in the production team are production and technical manager Mark Lofthouse, scenic painter Anna Jones and Lena Ella, who is in charge of marketing and costumes.
Tickets for next week’s 7.30pm performances are on sale on 01904 501395 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk
Rowntree Players’ poster artwork for Grimm Tales at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Lynda Burrell, left, and Catherine Ross, founders of Museumand and curators of 70 Objeks & Tings at York Castle Museum, Picture: Gareth Buddo
70 OBJEKS & Tings, a celebration of 75 years of Caribbean culture, showcases 70 items that connect us to the Windrush Generation at York Castle Museum until November 4.
Billed as an “extraordinary exhibition of the ordinary”, in keeping with the philosophy of museum founder Dr John Lamplugh Kirk, it features objects that combine familiarity and practicality and have been passed down the generations.
The “small but powerful” show is being brought to York by Museumand, the National Caribbean Heritage Museum, founded by mother-and-daughter team Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell, whose research began by interviewing 184 Caribbean elders, asking them to share stories and objects.
These inspiring women have created this unique travelling exhibition as a “fun and informative” way to share more about the Windrush Generation and their descendants, shown first at the Streetlife Museum in Hull in 2021, at the invitation of Karen Okra, then Nottingham Castle last year. Now York, where one room, York Voices, focuses on Yorkshire Caribbean stories from 80-year-olds to 20-year-olds.
70 Objeks & Tings is a chance to explore their experiences and lives through cooking and household goods, food packaging and beauty supplies, funeral items, music, games, books, newspapers, Caribbean sayings, riddles and songs and more, displayed in wooden furniture that echoes the design of Caribbean sound systems.
One of the exhibition displays at 70 Objeks & Tings based on a Caribbean sound system design
Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech features, so does Claudia Jones (1915-1964), the “Mother of the Caribbean carnival” in the UK as the organiser of Notting Hill Carnival. Both appear in a hardback “coffee table” book by Catherine and Lynda, available in the York Castle Museum shop.
Museumand co-founder Catherine Ross says: “We are so elated to bring 70 Objeks & Tings to York. As aspects of Caribbean culture are so entwined with British culture and Yorkshire’s cultural traditions especially, this leg of our tour across the UK is particularly exciting for us.
“We hope to eke out more stories from people of the Caribbean diaspora and others that know about the islands and their peoples. Together, with York Museums Trust, we hope from our time in York, we will be able to add new stories and information from people of the Caribbean diaspora in York and the surrounding areas to the growing archive of the Caribbean presence and contribution to British life.”
Lynda Burrell says: “When people say ‘there is no Caribbean connection in York’, inevitably there is the African and Caribbean connection in Yorkshire through the slave trade. Then came the Windrush Generation.
“Mum came to Nottingham from St Kitts at the age of seven, and like Leeds, where I was born, there is a strong Kittish community. In fact the very first Carnival was held in Nottingham in response to rioting in 1957, looking to bring communities together.”
Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell, of Museumand, with Philip Newton, community participation manager at York Museums Trust. Picture: Gareth Buddo
Lynda is driven by a desire for change. “I’m tired of people just taking from our culture, where they think we are cool; they sexualise our women; they want to be as physically strong as our men, and they love our music, but they can still treat us as lesser,” she says.
“I don’t want conversations, I want action, and by doing this exhibition, I hope they understand our culture more, hopefully changing how people think of us, but it will be a slow process.
“That’s why it’s important that museums are working with Museumand, because we’re more than a museum. We make films, we write books, we make plays, and host the Objeks & Tings podcast. In series two, I’m going to invite guests to my home to cook for them and discuss Caribbean culture and objects.”
Philip Newton, community participation manager at York Museums Trust, says: “The trust doesn’t have any items of Caribbean culture in its collections, but we always want to learn about cultures that are in York and beyond, and that’s why we wanted to work with a Black-led organisation.
“Museumand first contacted us during the pandemic, when the timing wasn’t right, with everything that was going on, but then got back in touch last November, after they’d done the shows in Hull and Nottingham.
Culinary “objeks & tings” from 70 Objeks & Tings, on display at York Castle Museum
“What sold it to us was that it featured everyday objects with interesting histories, so although it’s Caribbean culture, a lot of these items are familiar to everyone, and it’s not a separate history but a connected history.”
Philip continues: “What an insight into the lives of this generation this exhibition gives us. Little pieces of the Caribbean, which arrived on the landing of SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on June 22 1948, carrying passengers from the Caribbean who had been invited by Britain to help with post-war construction.
“These items continued to play a part in the new lives that this generation embarked upon, passing them down to their children and incorporating into British identity too. The title, and interpretation, has a nod to patois, a traditional form of language for many Caribbeans, with ‘objeks and tings’ referring to the things that Caribbeans, especially those of the Windrush Generation, hold dear and are important to them.
“We are really proud to collaborate with Museumand and delighted to bring this gem of an exhibition to York Castle Museum, where its ethos and inspiration fits well within our displays. This exhibition will allow us to develop our collection and stories to ensure that in the future Caribbean lives and experiences are reflected by York Museums Trust.”
70 Objeks & Tings runs at York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York, until November 4. Opening hours: Monday, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk
