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
IT was a huge relief to find this admirable orchestra back at their spiritual home, their last outing not being a particularly rewarding experience. So, let’s begin this review with the performance of the seriously challenging Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
As we know, this great work hardly received the most welcoming of baptisms. The music critic Eduard Hanslick said that “the violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, shredded” and derided the concerto itself as “music that stinks”. Lovely.
Leopold Auer, who gave the first performance, had reservations about the idiomatic nature of the violin writing and the great Yehudi Menuhin cut 250 bars out of the score in one recording.
I don’t know if violinist Jacob George found the technical demands beyond the reasonable, but it sounded almost the opposite; the soloist seemed to positively relish the challenge and the performance was exhilarating.
Right from the opening recitative the soloist signalled intent: a fast rollercoaster drive with outrageously clean articulation – fierce pizzicato and razor-sharp attacks, swaggering spiccato, and the trills had a metallic, steel-like quality.
To be sure, the orchestra played their part with excellent string and woodwind playing. Lovely tone. The blistering movement closed with an outrageous cadenza. The impression was that of experiencing a high-velocity musical train ride recalling the wonderful themes along the way.
The central Canzonetta marks a transition from the virtuosic ridiculous to the song sublime. The performance glowed, the beauty quite simply irresistible. The movement is surely a tender song offering to his lover and former pupil Joseph Kotek. Tchaikovsky was intending to dedicate the work to him but decided it best to “avoid gossip of various kinds”.
I’d like to think that the snarling opening recitative of the Cossack finale is the great man’s response, but I think it unlikely. Anyhow it does trigger a hedonistic, vodka-soaked dash for the finishing line.
It was an impressive performance by the orchestra as well, the music being deceptively demanding, but it was Jacob George’s playing that stayed long in the memory.
Robert Schumann famously said that Beethoven’s 4th Symphony was “like a slender Greek maiden between two Norse giants”, and I feel the same way about his 8th Symphony. Apart from the fact that it doesn’t sound like an image of a “slender Greek maiden”, plus I’m not sure what one of them is anyway.
Hearing this work performed live reminds you how radical the 8th Symphony is on almost every level. Beethoven has once again inverted expectations: the huge symphonic landscape is dispensed in favour of concision – the second movement Allegretto scherzando is only four minutes long.
John Hastie RIP: Musical director of Academy of St Olave’s, 1997 to 2009
Formal contradictions too: there is no slow movement; almost primal energy; the first movement recapitulation is marked fore-fortissimo (fff). Loud enough to blow those aristocratic wigs off.
The forceful first movement opening, which happens to be the closing one too, was suitably explosive. It demanded attention. Standouts: the solo bassoon passage, ominous pulsating viola passage and that most dramatic, forceful recapitulation convincingly delivered by the bassoons, cellos and basses.
The short, rhythmically driven second movement was very good too. Woodwind staccato passages and extreme dynamic contrasts – fortissimo then suddenly pianissimo blocks of sound. Radical or what! And then the seductive Minuet, really well delivered.
I thought, perhaps understandably, that the finale sounded a little off the pace, a little tired. Having said that, the blistering signing off was unforgettable.
Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks was and remains a regal crowd pleaser. As this performance admirably demonstrated it is, quite simply, wonderful music. The opening extensive Ouverture simply bristled with military pomp and circumstance – festive, bright and confident.
The dotted rhythmic passages were cleanly articulated followed by snappy brass and string exchanges. The horns were a little off the mark, but the strings and trumpets in particular were excellent.
There was fine string and oboe plus bassoon playing in the Bourée. The Largo Alla Siciliana had a seductive perpetuo rocking motion. Then back to a fanfare for brass and timpani, finishing with two minuets concluding with stirring drum rolls and resounding brass. Splendid stuff.
This was an ambitious programme and a thoroughly enjoyable one too. Alan George brought the very best out of the players, directing the concert with clarity, insight and his usual musical authority.
I should really leave the review here, but I won’t. The concert interval was not only marked by the traditional Academy of St Olave’s hospitality of complimentary refreshments but also one accompanied by a charming brass fanfare.
The second half was prefaced by a touching tribute to the composer of the work, John Hastie, who had died in June. John was the musical director of the Academy of St Olave’s from 1997 to 2009 and founder of York Guildhall Orchestra.
John Hastie enriched the musical, cultural and educational life in York immeasurably. He was a very good composer too, his music, like the man, understated and impressive. I met him on a number of occasions and can honestly say that on each one I came away that little bit richer.
One of James Jessop’s works on show in Rise Of The Vandals in the disused office block at 2, Low Ousegate, York
GRAFFITI writ large, an American rock musical, G&S and afternoon tea, a theatre festival and a football play find Charles Hutchinson in tune with the joys of June.
Exhibition/installation of the week: Bombsquad, Rise Of The Vandals, 2, Low Ousegate, York, today, tomorrow, then July 5 to 7, 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.
Johnny Marr: Playing songs from The Smiths to Electronic to his solo career (compiled on his Spirit Power collection) at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gigs of the week: Johnny Marr and The Charlatans, tonight; Gregory Porter, Monday, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, gates 6pm
JOHNNY Marr, The Smiths and Electronic guitarist, superstar collaborator and solo artist, cherry-picks from all eras of his career, right up to his November 2023 compilation Spirit Power in his headline set. First up on this north-western double bill on the East Coast will be The Charlatans, as full of indie rock swagger as ever after 22 Top 40 hits.
Grammy Award-winning Californian jazz vocalist and songwriter Gregory Porter performs songs from Liquid Spirit, Take To The Alley, Nat King Cole & Me, All Rise and more besides on Monday night. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.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, July 3 to 6, 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 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, July 3 to 6, 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
Musical of the week: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 4 to 6, 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.
The bootiful game: Long Lane Theatre Club in The Giant Killers at the Milton Rooms, Malton
Football alternative to England at the Euros: Long Lane Theatre Club in The Giant Killers, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 4, kick-off at 7.30pm
THE Giant Killers tells the story of how Darwen FC came to the public’s attention in 1870s’ Lancashire to proclaim Association Football as the people’s game and not only the preserve of the upper classes.
Andrew Pearson-Wright & Eve Pearson-Wright’s play recounts how a ragtag bunch of mill workers in Darwen took on the amateur gentlemen’s club of the Old Etonians in the FA Cup quarter-final in 1879, rising up against prevailing social prejudice and the might of the Football Association to earn a place in history as the first real ‘‘giant killers’’ in English football. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
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, July 5 and 6 (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 July 5 only: thecrescentyork.com.
In Focus: Shepherd Group Brass Bands, Best Of Brass, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
The poster for Shepherd Group Brass Bands’ Best Of Brass at York Theatre Royal
TONIGHT’S Shepherd Group Brass Bands concert features all of the Shepherd bands playing individually and then a mighty ensemble piece, when all 170 players perform a specially composed piece by Liz Lane to mark 20 years of the bands’ sponsorship by the Shepherd Group.
Liz’s celebratory work represents the bands – Brass Roots, Academy Brass, Youth Band, Concert Band and Shepherd Group Brass Band – and the company support that provides first-class rehearsal facilities and has enabled the band organisation to grow.
Liz has led several workshops, where she has worked with each band, “ storyboarding players’ feelings about the band, what we get from it as players and as a band family as a whole”.
She has been allowed to visit the Portakabin production site too, where she drew inspiration from the machinery used in the production of product lines.
On May 21, players from each band gathered in the band room for the first full run-through in Liz’s presence. Afterwards she went away with a couple of ideas for final tweaks. Now comes the premiere performance with “a few real surprises in store for the audience”. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In Focus too: Festival of the week: Ripon Theatre Festival, July 2 to 7
Barrie Rutter: Presenting Shakespeare’s Royals in Ripon Cathedral on July 4 at 7.30pm
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.
In all, 109 events and activities will be crammed into five days and six nights. Among the highlights will be Barrie Rutter’s Shakespeare’s Royals, The Adventures Of Doctor Dolittle, Red Ladder’s Miners’ Strike musical comedy We’re Not Going Back, the Family Day on July 7 and Folksy Theatre’s open-air As You Like It.
Opening the festival on Tuesday at 11am and 2pm, Andrew Bates’s Brother Aidan brings heritage crafts, history and storytelling to his new home at Fountains Abbey. In Hazelsong Theatre’s interactive event for adults, he creates an Anglo-Saxon book, interwoven with stories of his life as a monk, with his demonstration including parchment and ink making, bookbinding and calligraphy.
On the first night, the Hilarity Bites Festival Special comedy bill will be hosted by Ripon favourite Lee Kyle at Ripon Arts Club on Tuesday at 8pm. Taking part will be sketch supergroup Tarot, musical comedy duo Black Liver and 2023 BBC New Comedian of the Year Joe Kent-Walters in the guise of his outrageous comic creation, Frankie Monroe, the MC of a working men’s club that provides a portal to hell.
York company Pilot Theatre and One To One Development Trust present daily screenings of Monoliths, an immersive, digital theatre experience that interweaves three northern landscapes – a moor, a city and a coast – with sweeping soundscapes and poetic monologues at Ripon Cathedral.
Written by Hannah Davies, from York, Carmen Marcus, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, and Asma Elbadawi, from Leeds, the stories are an arresting testament to the inextricable link between person and place. Directed by Lucy Hammond, each performance lasts 11 minutes and can be experienced by three visitors at a time, wearing XR headsets. Times: 1.30pm to 3.30pm, July 2 to 5; 10.30am to 3.30pm, July 6.
Nicola Mills is joined by pianist Maria King for A Spoonful Of Julie, an hour-long tribute to Julie Andrews, full of charming stories of her life, songs, singalongs, medleys and favourite things, at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday from 1pm to 2pm.
In Look After Your Eyes, at Ripon Arts Club at 8pm that night, Yorkshire theatre-maker, performer and physical comedian Natalie Bellingham reflects on the pain and beauty of love: what it is to both connect and unravel.
Performed by a clown “delving into the space inside us left behind by loss”, her show celebrates being human in all its banality, sprinkled with joy and ridiculousness.
Natalie Bellingham in Look After Your Eyes
Thursday opens with Stand Up Stories, presented by Ripon Theatre Festival storyteller in residence Ilaria Passeri at the Storehouse Bar. Describing herself as the product of a bold Scottish mother, an errant Italian father and a little sister with the vocabulary of a truck driver, Ilaria has found herself in more than a few scrapes, situations and silly scenes.
In a whistlestop twilight tour through the confusing comedy of errors of her life, her tales introduce her family, friends, pets and one very peculiar clown.
From 7.15pm, Ripon Museum Trust guides lead the Ripon Heritage Ghost Walk from the Market Place. At 7.30pm, Northern Broadsides founder Barrie Rutter OBE celebrates the Bard’s Kings and Queens, their achievements, conquests and foibles, in Shakespeare’s Royals at Ripon Cathedral. Cue anecdotes and memories from a globe-spanning career of playing and directing Shakespeare.
Ilaria Passeri returns on Friday morning from 10.30am to 11am for Storytime for pre-schoolers at Ripon Library, featuring Derek the Dragon, Rita the skateboarding Mouse and Brian the Chicken’s messy bedroom. A short-story writing workshop for adults follows from 11.30am to 1pm; bring a pen and notepad.
At 2pm at Ripon Cathedral, Redheart Theatre presents Rupert Mason in Mr Owen’s Notebook, an exploration of Wilfred Owen’s experience of war through his poetry and the works of his contemporaries.
Written and directed by Justin Butcher, Mason’s one-man performance recalls how Owen lived his last summer in Ripon, where he spent his last birthday in the cathedral, now the backdrop to this sold-out show.
Mason charts how an officer travels from the Allied HQ to the Western Front one week before the Armistice and discovers the pocketbook of a young lieutenant killed that day: Wilfred Owen.
In a marquee at The Ripon Inn, in Park Street, Tell Tale Hearts serve up the teatime entertainment Trunk Tales, wherein a well-travelled lady arrives with her trunk of tales that tell of boastful toads, magical fish and fearsome beasts.
Using only the contents of her magical luggage, she creates Arabic seas, epic mountains, fields of turnips and the tallest trees in her interactive stories from around the world for four-year-olds and upwards.
Paulus the Cabaret Geek in Looking For Me Friend
Paulus the Cabaret Geek’s tour of Looking For Me Friend, The Music Of Victoria Wood arrives at Ripon Arts Hub on Friday at 8pm, accompanied by Fascinating Aida pianist Michael Roulston for an hour of songs and stories.
In telling Wood’s story, Paulus unfolds his own in a relatable account of a 1970s’ childhood and what it really means to find your tribe.
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.
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.
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.
George Stagnell, playing D-Day veteran Dennis “Hank” Haydock, in a scene from In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, filmed in Duncombe Park woodland
EVERWITCH Theatre will stage Bomb Happy D-Day 80: Hank & Smudger’s Stories, an evening of film and wartime spoken word, for a second time tonight.
First presented at Helmsley Arts Centre on June 1 in the lead-up to the 80th anniversary commemorations in Normandy, France, on June 6, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park and Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat will be presented at Shepherds Hall, Lealholm, near Whitby, at 7pm when a full house will attend.
Looking ahead, Everwitch writer and director Helena Fox says: “After putting on the Helmsley and Shepherds Hall performances as our preview showings, we’re in the process of planning a tour next year to venues in the North to commemorate VE Day 80.
“We anticipate from the interest shown so far for these to include atmospheric non-arts venues, for example, historic Bamburgh Castle and the Second World War-themed Eden Camp Modern History Museum. The film is being entered into international festivals too.”
The premiere at Helmsley Arts Centre drew a full house too, including York actor George Stagnell, making a quiet entrance after travelling up from his London home to watch his film role.
He had first appeared in the 2017 tour of Helena Fox’s Bomb Happy, a play inspired by the playwright’s conversations in 2016 with Yorkshire Normandy veterans. She had since returned to those conversations to create two new pieces for the 80th anniversary, opening the Helmsley show with Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat, a live performance of verbatim spoken word and nostalgic a cappella song, presented by Fox in tandem with singer Natasha Jones.
They brought to life anew the first-hand accounts of D-Day veteran Private Ken “Smudger” Smith, from Armley, Leeds, those words echoing down the years as they charted the lifelong impact of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and sleep trauma.
The first showing of black-and-white images from Ken Smith’s personal photo collection that followed his journey during an equally traumatic time in the Middle East after victory in Europe made Smith’s observations all the more resonant. Can a soldier ever find peace after the atrocities of war?
There followed, for that one night only, a new short story of an act of reconciliation for the 80th anniversary of D-Day: Our Mum, Our Dad, And A Door Handle, written and performed by Dorothy Bilton, daughter of Bomb Happy D-Day veteran Bert Barritt, whose experiences had featured in Bomb Happy.
Helena Fox, left, and Natasha Jones
George Stagnell had played Private Ken “Cookey” Cooke, from York, in Fox’s play. Cookey, the last of the Bomb Happy veterans still alive, had hoped to make the Helmsley performance, but in the end his energies were poured into attending the D-Day commemorations, where his television interviews were as poignant and lucid as ever.
For In the Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, he switched to Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock, conscripted at 18 from Sheffield to serve as a Sherman tank gunner in the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards.
Written and directed by Fox, her debut 30-minute film was shot by Jay Sillence of York company InkBlot Films on location in the woodland of Duncombe Park, near Helmsley, in July 2022. On the hottest day of the year. Pretty much in one continuous take, re-takes kept to a minimum with film stock running low.
Stagnell has previous form for wartime memoir, performing a remarkable one-man adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful at the John Cooper Studio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York in March 2017 and later at the Edinburgh Fringe. Next came Bomb Happy and later, in 2021, a performance piece about Hank Haydock at Duncombe Park, where the young conscript had trained.
Stagnell is not an experienced film actor, but he has the attributes of stillness, presence, focus, in his understated yet weighted performance, allied to a mellifluous voice and mesmeric eyes, made for the big screen.
He looks the period part too, and he serves the words of Hank Haydock wonderfully well, especially when filmed in close up, as well as when striding through the woodland, looking skywards, as rueful as truthful in his demeanour.
As Robert Laurence Binyan wrote in his poem For The Fallen, published in The Times on September 21 1914, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning/We will remember them.” Now, the archivist works of Helena Fox, the profound performance of George Stagnell, will do likewise in honouring those that served, ensuring their words, their foreboding, yet their camaraderie too, shall live on.
Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, Hank & Smudger’s Stories, Shepherds Hall, Lealholm, near Whitby, 7pm. For returns only: 01947 897011. All the Shepherds Hall hosting fee will be donated to the Royal British Legion.
Utopia: Making their York Early Music Festival debut at the NCEM, at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York
YORK Early Music Festival is launching a cultural partnership celebrating the musical heritage of Flanders at next month’s event.
Two world-class ensembles from northern Belgium, Utopia and Cappella Pratensis, will be performing in York as part of the new collaboration, organised in association with the Alamire Foundation, in Leuven, and AMUZ, a thriving arts centre in a disused baroque church and former Augustine monastery in Antwerp, with support from the Flanders government.
“The partnership celebrates the historic ties between York and Flanders from the medieval period, built on the trading of wool by enterprising merchants, through to the present day,” says festival director Dr Delma Tomlin, the first woman governor in the 660-year history of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.
“The York Early Music Festival has worked with our partners in Flanders for 25 years and we have a similar mind-set to supporting and developing Early Music ensembles, with a willingness to provide opportunities.
“We are particularly delighted to be part of this exciting new partnership, the beginning of a new collaboration with artists and colleagues based in Flanders in what is a considerable investment on their part. I would like to say a huge thank-you to the Almire Foundation, AMUZ and the Flanders Government for their support.
“This marks a very important moment in this city’s musical history and highlights York’s historical relationship with Flanders, giving us the opportunity to celebrate our cultural heritages. We look forward to building on this partnership in the future with the embassy to fly the flag for York and Flanders.”
Both concerts will take place on July 12, firstly Flemish vocal ensemble Utopia – “hot favourites in Antwerp,” according to Delma – making their York debut at the festival’s home, the National Centre for Early Music, in a 6pm programme entitled Salve Susato: Treasures from Antwerp’s Golden Age.
Cappella Pratensis: Returning to York for July 12 concert in the Quire of York Minster
“Utopia invite you to meet Tielman Susato, a composer known today mostly for his instrumental works but who flourished in 16th-century Antwerp as a publisher of vocal music by Josquin, Lassus, Gombert, Crecqillon, Clemens non Papa and Susato himself,” says Delma. “His Missa [mass] In Illo Tempore and motet Salve Quae Roseo will sit at the heart of this programme.”
At 9pm, in the Quire of York Minster, Cappella Pratensis and I Fideli will be directed by Stratton Bull in a hour-long programme of Jacob Obrecht and Jacobus Barbireau works.
“Obrecht and Barbireau were two prominent representatives of Franco-Flemish polyphony with connections to the Church of Our Lady – today’s Antwerp Cathedral – around 1500,” says Delma.
“In his masses and motets Obrecht was an innovative user of the cantus firmus technique in which polyphonic fabric weaves around an existing melody, as in his celebratory Missa, Sub Tuum Praesidium. Osculetur Me, Barbireau’s only surviving motet, will complete the programme.”
Delegates from Flanders will host a reception in York Mansion House to welcome the artists and celebrate this new partnership on July 11 – aptly Flanders National Day – in the presence of York’s Civic Party and representatives of York industries with links to Flanders.
Bart Brosius, General Representative of Flanders in the United Kingdom and Ireland, says: “Flanders and York share historical connections through several key aspects of their heritage and centuries of cultural and economic exchanges. We share bustling medieval markets, elegant Gothic architecture, entrepreneurship and academic excellence.
“We are celebrating this connection in York in July through Early Music. We are delighted to work with the local authorities, the University of York and the renowned York Early Music Festival. We also look forward to welcoming our friends from York later in the summer for the Flanders Festival Antwerp.”
“This marks a very important moment in this city’s musical history and highlights York’s historical relationship with Flanders,” says York Early Music Festival director Delma Tomlin
Established in 1977, York Early Music Festival celebrates music from the medieval to the baroque within an array of historic venues across the city, attracting an array of world-class artists and audiences from all over the world.
Among the 2024 highlights will be the festival climax on July 13, the York International Young Artists Competition, a groundbreaking event held every two years where young ensembles compete for a professional recording contract with Linn Records, a £1,000 cheque and opportunities to work with BBC Radio 3 and the National Centre for Early Music.
The competition also offers prizes supported by the Cambridge Early Music Festival, the European Union Baroque Orchestra Development Trust and Friends of York Early Music Festival.
Presented by keyboard musician Steven Devine at the NCEM from 10am to 5pm, the 2024 competition final will feature Rubens Rosa, Ensemble Bastion, (Hanse) Pfeyfferey; Ayres Extemporae; Apollo’s Cabinet; Pseudonum; Trio Altizans and Friedrichs Nebelmeer Ensemble.
Swiss-based ensemble Brezza also were selected for the final but have since had to withdraw from the competition.
The finalists will spend time in York performing informal concerts and learning from experts before the July 13 final, when festivalgoers will discover who will follow in the footsteps of such past winners as Protean Quartet, L’Apothéose, Barroco Toutand Sollazzo Ensemble.
The 2024 festival has the theme of Metamorfosi for eight days of concerts and illustrated talks focusing on the human voice and song, with The Gesualdo Six, Concerto Soave, Vox Luminis and The Sixteen among the vocal specialists taking part.
Among the sell-outs are Florilegium on July 7 and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on July 8, both at the NCEM. BBC Radio 3 will be recording Florilegium, Cubaroque (July 7, NCEM), The Gesualdo Six (Chapter House, York Minster, July 9), Apotropaik (Holy Trinity, Micklegate, July 10) and the International Young Artists Competition for later broadcast. The competition final will be streamed live too.
For the full programme and ticket details, head to: ncem.co.uk.
Who’s who in Beauty And The Beast: from left, Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, Jen Caldwell’s Belle, Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon, Leon Craig’s Polly la Plonk, Samuel Wyn-Morris’s The Beast and Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk
WHO will play the lead roles – the last to be announced – in the Grand Opera House pantomime, Beauty And The Beast, in York?
Producers UK Productions have confirmed that SIX The Musical star Jen Caldwell will be heading back to the Cumberland Street theatre after her fun-loving Yorkshire-voiced minx Anne Boleyn was head and shoulders the stand-out in Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s pop concert musical in October 2022.
“I am so excited to be returning to York and the beautiful Grand Opera House after having a wonderful time there with SIX back in 2022,” says Jen. “I can’t wait to meet all the wonderful panto audiences and spread some festive joy.”
Welsh actor Samuel Wyn-Morris, whose role as Enjolras in Les Miserables brought him to Leeds Grand Theatre in November 2022, will be The Beast in the December 7 to January 5 2025 run.
New addition: Jen Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast
“I am thrilled to be returning to Beauty And The Beast and to pantoland this Christmas,” says Samuel, who starred in the Sunderland Empire’s version last winter. “To be in beautiful York over the festive period is exciting and I’m looking forward to it greatly.”
Caldwell and Wyn-Morris will be joining the previously announced Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon, Phil Atkinson’s villainous Hugo Pompidou, Leon Craig’s dame, Polly la Plonk, comedian Phil Reid’s Louis la Plonk and David Alcock’s Clement, the villain’s sidekick.
Martin Dodd, UK Productions’ managing director and producer, says: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Samuel and Jen to the company of Beauty And The Beast. Both are amazing West End musical theatre talents and bring a wealth of experience to what we can promise will be the most musical, and magical, of all pantomimes.”
Heading for a beheading: Jen Caldwell’s Anne Boleyn in SIX The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, in October 2022. Picture: Pamela Raith
What lies in store in the first pantomime since the final curtain for Dame Berwick Kaler’s three-year residency at the Grand Opera House? “This year’s panto brings a larger-than-life range of characters together with side-splitting comedy, stunning sets and costumes, and with an award-winning script by Jon Monie, this will be a magnificent must-see musical adventure,” says the publicity machine.
“With additional morning performances for schools and suitable for all ages, this is not to be missed, with tickets from just £15.”
Laura McMillan, the Grand Opera House theatre director, says: “From the West End to York, this year our pantomime is set to be like nothing seen before at the Grand Opera House. We can’t wait to welcome families and friends to join us for this festive spectacular and I know the talented cast will wow our audiences and create memories for years to come.”
Credits include: Cover/resident director in Kathy & Stella Solve A Murder (West End); Emmeline Pankhurst in Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World (UK tour); Anne Boleyn in Six The Musical (UK, Ireland & Korea tour & West End); alternate Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard in Six The Musical (UK & Ireland tour),
Swing/cover Heather/resident director in Green Day’s American Idiot (UK and Ireland tour); swing/cover Emily in Knights Of The Rose, (Arts Theatre); Flick in The Rhythm Method workshop, (The Bush Theatre and The Landor Space); Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet (Indian tour); cover Dyanne/resident director/resident choreographer in Million Dollar Quartet (UK and Ireland tour); cover Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical (UK and Ireland tour) and cover Sophie and Ali in Mamma Mia! (Prince of Wales and Novello Theatres).
Samuel Wyn-Morris: the back story
Samuel Wyn-Morris in his role as The Beast
TRAINED at Guildford School of Acting.
Best known for his role as Enjolras in Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Miserables.
Theatre credits include: Beauty & The Beast (Sunderland Empire); Frederick Fleet in Titanic The Musical (China tour); Enjolras in Les Misérables (UK tour); Feuilly/Understudy Jean Valjean & Enjolras in Les Misérables (Sondheim Theatre); Feuilly/Understudy Enjolras in Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (Sondheim Theatre); Ensemble in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Divide (Old Vic Theatre).
Alexandra Kidgell: Soprano soloist for The Creation at York Minster
AS tradition decrees, the concert was introduced by the Dean of York Minster, the Very Reverend Dominic Barrington.
I only mention this because, in the midst of all the usual ‘great music, please switch off mobile phones and the loos are over there’, was a joke. In case of the fire alarm going off, it will not be a practice and therefore can I ask you to remain in your seats. Well, it made me chuckle.
The opening Representation of Chaos of Haydn’s oratorio is utterly unexpected in that it is so radical. The York Musical Society Orchestra superbly caught the haunting evocation of chaos, putting down a marker of excellence that they displayed throughout.
Baritone Thomas Humphreys sang the weighty opening narrative with a lovely clean tone (good lower register) and apposite nobility. The spine-tingling blast of C major enlightenment gets me every time, and here was no exception.
Nathan Vale has a lovely lyrical tenor voice, although I did lose some of the lowest register, but his aria Now Vanish Before The Holy Beams, complemented with assured string support, was right on the money.
The choir delivered an infectious A New Created World chorus, embracing the music’s almost child-like innocence. The balance wasn’t quite right for The Marvellous Work Beholds, the orchestra obscuring much of soprano Alexandra Kidgell’s singing.
This was quickly remedied in the later With Verdure Clad The Fields Appear where this fine soprano was allowed to deliver the aria with both clarity and infectious charm.
Conductor and musical dirtector David Pipe: “Directed the performance with an assured, understated authority”
As ever, in an impressive performance of a truly great work, there are fresh moments of insight. For example, the gorgeous window illuminated during Nathan Vale’s singing of With Softer Beams And Milder Light. It came across as so gentle, so unexpected.
Then there was the ghost of Mozart I hadn’t noticed before: With Flying Mane And Fiery Look (The Magic Flute) and On Thee Each Living Soul Awaits (The Marriage Of Figaro). Maybe it’s just a senior moment.
The closing The Heavens Are Telling (Part One) chorus was splendid. The string playing at the opening of the aria On Mighty Pens Uplifted Soars was delivered with crisp, clean articulation. There were also lovely flute (Della Blood) and clarinet (Andrew Cavell) solo contributions.
Haydn clearly relished the musical tone-painting opportunities; for example the musical depiction of the merry larks and cooing doves. In The Scream (Cave Birds), Ted Hughes said that the worms in the ground were doing a good job. Well, not here they’re not, and as for the outrageous raspberry tart signing off the heavy beasts, the contrabassoon pitch seemed to emanate from the very bowels of Hell itself.
Back in the heavenly spheres, the love duet By Thee With Bliss, sung by Thomas Humphreys and Alexandra Kidgell, was simply divine and the soaring oboe (Jane Wright) angelic.
The closing The Lord Is Great, with its monumental double fugue, brought the best out of a very good choir. There was fine work throughout the orchestra, the violins in particular, along with Shaun Turnbull (organ continuo), while Oliver Bryant (contrabassoon) should get a pay rise for that one low note alone.
Finally, conductor David Pipe had mercifully decided against the irritating musical windmill-on-speed approach, choosing instead to direct the performance with an assured, understated authority.
Let us pray…for laughs: The Little Sisters of Hoboken and Ben Wood’s Brother Timothy in York Light Opera Company’s Nunsense: The Mega-Musical! Picture: Matthew Kitchen
BLACK box theatre. Thick walls. No air conditioning, beyond a smattering of cooling fans. Then add nuns’ habits and wimples and the hottest night of the year.
No wonder, in the last breaths of her climactic big number, Clare Meadley’s Sister Mary Hubert suddenly exclaimed: “God it’s hot in here.”
The stultifying heat made the opening joke of Act 2 even more apt. “How do you make holy water?” “Boil the hell out of it!”. Theatre@41 boiled the hell out of us all, actors, Martin Lay’s band up high on the mezzanine level, and audience members alike, some improvising impromptu fans from programmes.
Good news – if not for sun worshippers – lies in the weather forecast. Lower temperatures for the rest of this week, even lower next week. Hallelujah, as the Little Sisters of Hoboken might well sing.
Or at least the last 12 still standing – and dancing, singing, acting, and telling jokes, too – after Sister Julia, Child of God’s dodgy Vichyssoise put paid to 52 of the sisters in a culinary catastrophe. Forty-eight have been buried but, heaven forbid, Reverend Mother Mary Regina (Joy Warner) has chucked money at buying a plasma TV, leaving the final four in limbo in the convent freezer.
Now the Little Sisters must stage a revue and talent show to raise the necessary funds, taking over the set for the 8th grade’s production of Grease at the neighbouring Mount St Helen’s School, James Dean & Marilyn Monroe posters, Fifties’ jukebox et al.
Cue the out-of-touch Reverend Mother mistakenly thinking the high-school musical was called Vaseline, but otherwise Grease references are not milked in Dan Goggin’s 1985 off-Broadway musical comedy.
Inspired by attending a school run by the Marywood Dominican Sisters that first spawned his line of greetings cards of a nun’s funny quips, Nunsense grew from a cabaret show into a full-scale production and later the Mega-Musical version with an expanded cast, more characters and more comic mayhem that Neil Wood is directing for York Light. In a nutshell, more fun per nun.
See Emily play: Emily Rockliff’s scene-stealing Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
No nun pun is knowingly resisted by Goggin, from the song title Nunsense Is Habit Forming to the sisters’ vow that “on our way to heaven, we’re here to make some hell”, all in the cause of proving that “nuns can be fun”.
Five principal nuns each have a story to tell in both song and tale, enabling nuns and York Light alike to parade “triple threat” skills, whether Emma Craggs-Swainston’s Sister Mary Leo’s ballet dancing on point, or Emily Rockliff’s restless Sister Robert Anne, desperate to outgrow her “understudy” role, the convent equivalent of rising from chorus line to lead, as she parades her gift for mimicry with her wimple.
Kathryn Addison has fun with Sister Julia’s life-endangering cooking, Warner’s Reverend Mother maximises the comedy pratfalls in inhaling a mind-altering substance, and best of all is Annabel van Griethuysen’s forgetful but unforgettable Sister Mary Amnesia, parading her operatic voice, comic timing in eye contact and vocal delivery, even hammy ventriloquism with grouchy nun puppet “Maryonette”, all topped off by a country cowgirl song.
The humour is broad in range and style, occasionally smutty, sometimes slapstick, never subtle, and Goggin’s songs are similarly varied, from gospel to Andrews Sisters’ close harmonies, familiar musical theatre tropes to an ensemble tap-dancing dazzler, choreographed joyously by Rachel Whitehead.
Wood’s cast adheres wholly – and holy – to Goggin’s advice to “play nuns trying to be showgirls and not the other way round”, to the betterment of the show’s hearty comedy.
For added entertainment, the role of Father Virgil will be played in The Play What I Wrote guest turn tradition by a different actor at each performance. First up was Richard Bayton, setting the bar high in his good-natured cameo.
After The Sound Of Music and Sister Act The Musical, once more nuns are making a habit of entertaining in song and dance and unguarded humour in Nunsense. And that habit is catching: even stage manager Sarah Craggs is in nun’s clothes.
York Light Opera Company in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, running until July 6, 7.30pm (except June 30, July 1 and July 6); 3pm, June 29 and 30 and July 6. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster
SCREENWRITER, novelist and playwright Anne-Marie Casey’s adaptation of Little Women will lead York Theatre Royal’s autumn season. Tickets for a special fundraising gala on October 2 go on sale today.
Running on the main stage from September 21 to October 12, Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster’s production will offer a fresh take on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 coming-of-age novel set in Massachusetts, New England, where headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy grow up during the American Civil War.
“We are thrilled to be staging an adaptation of such a much-loved classic,” says Juliet. “Louisa May Alcott’s story of Jo and her sisters finding their way in the world is so relatable to modern audiences and Anne-Marie Casey’s brilliant adaptation really brings to life the wonderful characters. We have such a great cast lined up and I can’t wait to get started later this year!”
Leading the cast as Jo March will be Freya Parks, who this year starred as bass-playing record shop worker Fiona in the BBC television series This Town and played Logan Somerville in an episode of the ITV detective drama Grace.
Ainy Medina will play Meg, after appearing in ITV’s Archie, and Helen Chong, from Cassie And The Lights, will be Amy.
Easingwold-raised Laura Soper, once a member of York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre before training at Bristol Old Vic, will return to the stage where she appeared in Hetty Feather and Swallows And Amazons, Damian Cruden’s last Theatre Royal production in 2019 after 22 years as artistic director. Fresh from touring with Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), she will take the role of Beth.
Returning to the Theatre Royal too will be York actress Kate Hampson, playing Marmee after taking the title role in the August 2022 community production of Maureen Lennon’s The Coppergate Woman. Her other stage roles include Mother/Mrs Perks in The Railway Children at Hull Truck Theatre in 2021.
A third returnee will be Caroline Gruber, linking up again with Juliet Forster to play Aunt March after appearing as Vashti in her York Theatre Royal Studio production of E M Forster’s The Machine Stops in 2016. Nikhil Singh Rai’s Laurie completes the casting by Ellie Collyer-Bristow.
The Theatre Royal show is presented in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, by arrangement with Lee Dean, and is designed by Ruari Murchison.
The October 2 gala performance will raise vital funds for York Theatre Royal’s continued work as a producing theatre and for the development of future community projects.
Members’ priority booking for the rest of the performances will open on July 3; tickets will go on general sale on July 8 at 1pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Did you know?
ANNE-MARIE Casey’s stage adaptation of Little Women premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in November 2011.
Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott: Wild swimmers, alt-folk duo and organisers of Open Swim on The Arts Barge
YORK’S floating venue, The Arts Barge, will be flowing with music and words at a special river-theme themed gig on Friday night at Foss Basin.
“The barge, alias Selby Tony, has woken up from its winter sleep and is ready for action,” says Arts Barge coordinator Hannah West. “It’s all aboard for Open Swim – but with no swimming allowed!”
In a joyous “aquatic feast of lush music, wild stories, wise words and all-round exquisite vibes”, the 7pm to 11pm bill comprises alt-folk duo Adderstone; multi-instrumentalists White Sail; storyteller and hypnotherapist Lara McClure’s strange tale of aquatic beasts, York slam champ Hannah Davies’s riverside poems; Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen’s poem invoking York’s rivers and Amy-Jane Beer’s stories of paddling along Britain’s rivers.
Poet Hannah Davies by the riverside in York
Ticket sale proceeds from Open Swim will go to Right to Roam, a charity that campaigns for better access to wild spaces. On the night, there will be the chance to buy a signed copy of Right to Roam’s hot-off-the-press new book, Wild Service, featuring a contribution by nature writer Beer.
“Rivers should be safe and accessible for swimmers, paddlers and other water users, both human and wild,” says the Right to Roam campaigner. “But only three per cent of the UK’s rivers have an uncontested right of access, and as we know, sewage and agricultural pollution mean that most of those are in poor health.
“Our own wellbeing is dependent on theirs. We need to reconnect with our rivers, to be able to care for them and fight for them. That’s why the book is called Wild Service, and this gig is an act of wild service.”
Kai West’s poster artwork for Friday’s Open Swim on The Arts Barge
Sewage…agricultural pollution…rivers in poor health: no wonder Open Swim is not a swimming invitation! Catherine Heinemeyer, one half of gig organisers Adderstone, comments: “It’s wonderful to imagine a time when water companies have cleaned up their act and York’s rivers are beautiful clean places to swim – but alas, that’s not the case right now!
“As wild swimmers ourselves, we wanted to host an event to highlight the wild watery spaces we all love. And what better place to host a water-themed gig than the river itself?
“The Arts Barge is a wonderful local project that York is very proud of and we’re so excited to see it move closer to its full potential. Please come along and be enchanted by the wonderful line-up of musicians and artists we have put together, but please don’t bring your cossie!”
Richard Kitchen: Poet, artist and Navigators Art & Performance’s co-founder
All artists have agreed not to take a fee, thereby maximising the gig proceeds, with donations and bar takings going to The Arts Barge. “We’re totally reliant on volunteers and donations, and this summer we’re aiming to build the long-awaited deckhouse to create a covered area on the deck to finally stop the rain getting in,” says Hannah
“This will be a big step forwards towards becoming the fully accessible community arts space York has imagined and come to love. See the story and look out for future events this summer at www.artsbarge.com.”
Running /swimming order
Part 1: 7.30pm, Amy-Jane Beer and Adderstone , intertwined . 8.15pm, short break.
Part 2, Spoken word. 8.35pm, Richard Kitchen; 8.45pm, Lara McClure; 9.05pm, Hannah Davies. 9.25pm, short break.
Part 3: 9.45pm, White Sail; 10.25pm, The Parting Glass (all performers). 11pm, goodnight.
