Paul Chowdhry in the poster artwork for Englandia, on tour at York Barbican tomorrow
PAUL Chowdhry, Britain’s most successful British Indian stand-up comedian, brings his Englandia tour to York Barbican tomorrow night.
Now extended to 41 dates between March 3 and September 25, this tour is the London-born Punjabi Sikh humorist, actor and podcaster’s biggest ever itinerary in a career stretching back to 1998, with such highlights as hosting Channel 4’s Stand Up For The Week and being the first British act to perform at the Caribbean Comedy Festival in Trinidad in 2003.
Englandia, his follow-up to his 20121-2023’s Family-Friendly Comedian tour, returns him to the road “after more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages”.
Why pick comedy for a living, Paul? “The term ‘certified mad’ would be politically incorrect, but I think people realise that being a comic and being confronted by a room full of strangers, there has to be a chemical reaction in the brain, an imbalance, to make you want to do it!” he says.
Now 50, his stand-up career has taken such experiences as performing to music audiences at festivals such as Glastonbury and Latitude and the “weird environment” of playing in nightclubs where the stage is a sofa or chair at 1am in the morning. “I’ve come through the trenches,” says Paul.
Englandia, a conflation of England and India, addresses his experiences as a British Asian. “In the show, I talk about the cultural clashes I’ve experienced between the two cultures, and what I’ve lived through,” says Paul.
“I’ve come through the trenches,” says Paul Chowdhry of his rise through the comedy world
“I’m British, born in London in 1974 [August 21 to be precise] after my family emigrated to England in the 1960s, when my dad came to Southampton on his own, with his brothers and sisters joining him later,” says Paul.
“He was in his early 30s at the time; a very different time. You look back to what people went through, with Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. It wasn’t unlike that in the Seventies too, growing up against a backdrop of racial tension, though times have changed.”
Englandia looks back to that history and at the impact of social media platforms today. “All that toxicity, all that right-wing outpouring, on what was formerly known as Twitter; if I was young, I’d be influenced by it.
“Language has changed a lot since the Seventies, but if you look at what is happening now, it reminds me of then.”
Paul contrasts the impact of comedians with politicians or social media influencers. “First and foremost I am a comic, so first and foremost what I say should be taken as a joke, but in parliament or a place of power, Nigel Farage and Andrew Tate are not comedians. That’s not a platform for comedy,” he says.
“Comedy is essentially linguistics, the use of language and twists and turns, but when Boris Johnson cracks a joke, it’s not a joke. Those people are politicians, not jokers. They are a person of influence, as I am, but I’m not making political points. I’m a comedian and I definitely shouldn’t be a politician – they say politics is showbusiness for narcissists!”
“Comedy is a more endangered artform now that you barely see on TV,” says Paul Chowdhry, standing up for stand-up comedy
Paul may be playing his biggest tour yet, but he notes: “Though I’m in a fortunate position of selling tickets, [stand-up] comedy is a more endangered artform now that you barely see on TV. Entertainment has changed and the way we consume media has changed, especially how we consume information online.”
Paul has appeared in the international TV series Devils and on Taskmaster; his social media videos have chalked up millions of views, and he hosts The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcast, interviewing celebrities on life’s turning points, but live comedy still tops his bill.
“I can’t believe the number of people who come out to the shows. Comedy is a risk; audiences never know what to expect,” he says.
True, but Paul draws the crowds home and abroad. “I took the last tour to Canada and the USA. It costs you £10,000 for an AE visa,” he says. “That’s Alien of Extraordinary Ability.
“I’ve still got a little time left on my visa, so I can go back – if he [President Trump] doesn’t change the rules!”
Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, tomorrow (23/5/2025), 7.30pm. Tickets update: still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mikron Theatre Company actor-musicians Catherine Warnock, left, Georgina Liley, James McLean and Robert Took in Harvey Badger’s debut play Operation Beach Hut. Picture: Robling Photography
First published on May 17 2025
MIKRON Theatre Company will tour to 138 venues by van and narrowboat in 2025, none more outdoor than Scarcroft Allotments, their regular fertile ground for quirky comedy, song and enlightenment in York.
The travelling players from the Pennine village of Marsden, West Yorkshire, are on the canal, river and road for a 53rd year from April 4 to October 18 with the world premiere of Mikron acting alumnus Harvey Badger’s debut play, Operation Beach Hut, setting up base camp amid the Scarcroft Road flowers and vegetable plots on Sunday afternoon.
As is their custom on their pop-up theatre travels to halls, community centres, pubs and village greens , Mikron will pop back to York in the autumn to present a second world premiere, Hush Hush!, wherein Lucie Raine infiltrates the clandestine world of wartime code-breaking to expose the vital contributions of the unsung heroes of Bletchley Park, whose ingenuity and unwavering resolve helped secure victory. More on that world of secrets, cyphers and song later.
First, let’s dig into Operation Beach Hut at the allotments. Badger’s musical will whisk Sunday’s inland audience off to the golden sands of Fiddling-On-Sea for the annual Best Beach Hut competition when stressed-out city dweller Holly seeks solace by the sea.
As the competition draws closer, the history of the seaside floats to the surface, washing up a host of characters and stories from centuries gone by, delivered by Marianne McNamara’s quartet of actor-musicians: Georgina Liley, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and familiar face James McLean.
Soon Holly realises far more is at stake than merely a prize for best beach hut in a play that combines Mikron’s signature bright and brisk storytelling with original songs (composed by musical director Amal El-Sawad with lyrics by Badger).
Guaranteeing you will have a “whale of a time” in Badger’s slice of seaside nostalgia, Marianne says: “This production is a celebration of British seaside culture, filled with heart-warming stories, catchy tunes and plenty of laughter. We’re excited that we have integrated audio description at every performance too.”
Harvey Badger is delighted to be making his Mikron bow as a playwright after touring on board Mikron’s narrowboat Tyseley as part of the cast for the 2023 productions of Poppy Hollman’s Twitchers and Amanda Whittington’s A Force To Be Reckoned With.
“I was at the opening night, packed out with Mikronites in Marsden, and it’s been lovely to hear how well the play’s going down,” he says.
“This is my first experience of opening a play where I’ve been the one working on it and then handing it over to the director and actors. That was a lovely moment.”
Harvey had studied on the actor musicianship course at Rose Bruford College, in London.“They really push you to try our your own work there,” he recalls. “I wrote music, did little play projects, bits and bobs, nothing that you would call professional, but enjoyable to do.
“Then while I was on tour in 2023, Mikron did a call-out for new writers, and I felt I had the gist of what they’d be looking for. I submitted an initial application with an idea for a potential show and a sample of the first ten pages – and it’s pretty much ended up as that play!”
His submission involved two rounds: those opening pages to show his writing style, the patter between characters, the dialogue. “But I still had to show I could handle three acts. So the second round was more of the structural side, showing how I would develop the character arcs,” says Harvey.
Mikron has a structured way of commissioning plays, where the first two months are given over to research. “I knew the play was always going to be about an out-of-towner, from London, but I’m from Brighton originally, which is where the drive to write this play came from,” says Harvey.
“Having lived in London for eight years now, it’s been lovely to revisit Brighton – I’m getting married this year and we went to The Lanes in Brighton to get our rings.
“My parents now live in St Leonards on Sea, my grandparents live In Brighton, and I think the love of the sea is embedded in all of us because we’re a small island, where the sounds of the sea and our beaches are inherently part of our culture. It’s a big part of who we are.
“I grew up on the sea front, looking out of the window, seeing the sea every day, so I find a big sense of calm standing by the sea, feeling very grounded there.”
Harvey decided it would be important in Operation Beach Hut to represent both those who live all year round by the sea and those who visit. “They are two different communities, and I’m aware of the gentrification of some places that has led almost to ghost towns being created, when people only come for three months of the year when the weather’s good.
“I wanted to show the difficulties but also that if the two communities could support each other, they can create the magic that these places can be. There are no perfect answers, and I don’t think plays are meant to provide answers but to ask lots of questions.”
Mikron Theatre Company in Operation Beach Hut, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (18/5/2025), 2pm to 4pm. No tickets required; a pay-what–you-feel collection will be taken post-show.
Nikita Kuzmin in his debut solo dance spectacular, Midnight Dancer, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
First published on May 15 2025
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s Ukrainian star dancer and choreographer Nikita Kuzmin leaps into the Grand Opera House, York, on May 20 in Midnight Dancer, his debut British and Irish solo tour.
The Kyiv-born holder of six Italian Championship Latin and Ballroom titles invites you to “a fairytale ball like no other and a night full of music, sequins and world-class dancing” in the company of fellow dancers Sophie Baker, Thomas Charles, Lowri Hamilton, Samuel Lake, Charlotte Lee, Zara Liu, Seamus Mcintosh, Daniel Rae and Andreea Toma.
Joining 27-year-old Kuzmin too will be singer Rebecca Lisewski, who has appeared in Mamma Mia! and Cabaret in the West End and the UK tour of The Spongebob Musical.
Follow the highs and lows of a classic romance story as two star-crossed lovers meet only to be torn apart. Will they reunite at the masked ball or will real life put an end to their fairytale fantasy?
Presenting 2024 Celebrity Big Brother runner-up Kuzmin “like you’ve never seen him before”, Midnight Dancer promises a modern-day Cinderella story with “all of your favourite dancefloor anthems, dazzling costumes and explosive dancing”.
“Whenever I create my shows, I want them to be different, so every detail matters about the narrative,” says Nikita. “I need a narrative, as a dancer, as a creative person, otherwise I don’t see the point if they don’t have a story.
“When I see other shows without a narrative, I feel they get lost. A show can only resonate with me if it has meaning.”
Explaining the roots of his debut solo show, Nikita says: “It was always quite clear to me, I knew where I wanted to go with it, after many years of prepping it, making the show with creative director Tom Jackson Greaves, who I’m working with for the first time.
Nikita Kuzmin in the poster artwork for Midnight Dancer, heading for York on May 20
“We started at the beginning of last year’s Strictly season, and I’ve spent every single day for the last eight months working on it. It’s been a lot of work.”
In putting the show together, “being in my position, you do have the final say, but I do like to listen to other opinions, and we chose what we’re doing as a collective of me, the [creative] director and the company – though I always have quite a say!” says Nikita.
When picking the company of dancers, “I look for characters; I look for different movement, distinguishing one from the other; I look for the sparkle in the eye; the intensity inside the body,” he says.
“It needs technique but I love individuality and to see people move in a way that I wouldn’t necessarily do. To find people who embrace that quality, it’s fantastic.
“I think my job and Tom’s job is to ask ‘when do we want to see the individual, when do we want to see the collective?’, and it should be like ocean waves that have their individual course but are also collective – and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of doing that.”
The tour opened on March 8 in Bromley. “It’s gone so much better than I expected. It’s a dream come true,” says Nikita. “I think it’s surprising the audience in how we’ve created something that is very different from other Strictly [off-shoot] shows, by not following the usual course but by going our own way and exploring feelings in a deep way, like a movie that starts well, then goes badly and then all is well again at the end.”
Selecting one word to describe Midnight Dancer, Nikita chooses “drama”. “That’s my favourite word,” he says. “It’s a very dramatic show, but you know what, I love how deep, how fast paced, it is,” he says of a show with 53 songs and 120 costumes.
Nikita Kuzmin in Midnight Dancer, “a classic romance story where two star-crossed lovers meet only to be torn apart”
“The most important thing is to have fun. I think audiences are in for the best night ever. If not, let’s make them feel better, with plenty of banter from me as well. I always try my best.
“I think we’ve done the show in such a way that it’s very clear when we’re doing the story and when we’re breaking off from that to have a chat, and I’m really proud of that.”
Nikita’s own performance draws on “a combination of things”. “I have a certain character on Strictly, and I do play to that, but I also like to be honest on stage. I’ll discuss my feelings in a very honest way, being funny or talking of sometimes feeling a bit scared performing on my own,” he says.
“Being honest makes the audience feel we’re all together in this show because I can be honest with them, they can be honest with me.”
Midnight Dancer will be on the road until May 24. Looking ahead, Nikita’s return is confirmed already for his fifth season as a Strictly professional. “I’m so excited. I can’t wait. You never know how it will go,” he says.
“I would say the year I reached the final [with Layton Williams in 2023] was my favourite, but I would take every year I’ve done it because I love to be partnered with different personalities. You always try to make sure they have the best time ever and enjoy every bit of it.”
Before then, “I’m looking to have a little vacation, a little break, before Strictly,” says Nikita. “Exciting projects” are in the pipeline too. Watch this space.
Nikita Kuzmin in Midnight Dancer, Grand Opera House, York, May 20, 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s Sister Act The Musical
First published on May 15 2025
YORK Musical Theatre Company will perform Sister Act The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, next Wednesday (21/5/2025) to Saturday under the direction of Kathryn Addison with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.
As you will recall from Emile Ardolino’s 1992 film, the story is centred on club singer Deloris, who witnesses her partner, nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, forcing the police to hide her in a convent where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah!
“The company chose this show, and they did ask me for my thoughts,” says Kathryn of Alan Menken’s musical with its 1970s-inspired score. “I think it’s a super piece of theatre that’s even better than the film. It’s ideal for this company. It has everything in it you want in a musical.
“There’s a real depth to it, beyond the music, with real emotion to Deloris’s story, but it’s also fun and the music is fabulous. The voices are phenomenal. It has a beautiful original score for a show that needs the right style vocally and physically to retain the essence of the movie’s jukebox musical hits.”
Deloris Von Cartier will forever be associated with Whoopi Goldberg’s tour-de-force movie performance and was played by Cleopatra girl group singer, I’d Do Anything finalist and West End musical actress Cleopatra Rey in York Stage Musicals’ York premiere at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre: a September 2014 production on which Kathryn worked.
Sister Act The Musical director Kathryn Addison
Explaining her choice of Hayley for the role, she says: “Hayley never stops. From the moment she rocks up, it’s an absolute powerhouse performance.
“We had some amazing auditions for the part, and they all really delivered. I had no preconceived ideas about who should play Deloris, but I needed a special spark and that’s what Hayley brought to the room. That energy.
“It’s an instinct. You can’t necessarily say what it is, but there’s a combination of things that strike you. It’s about having the right style and being able to adapt to the demands of this part, understand what you have to do, and Hayley has done that.”
Singer, children’s party entertainer and Hay Jays Disco boss Hayley has long contemplated auditioning for Deloris. “I saw that production at the Opera House, and had considered doing the show with Ripon Operatic Society,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’d love to audition for it’, but the timing wasn’t right, but now it’s come about naturally for me to do it in York, as if it was meant to be.”
Hayley auditioned last autumn and began singing rehearsals in January, followed by floor rehearsals since March. “It’s been such good fun to do,” she says. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve toyed with it for some time now, because I’ve had it in my mind that Deloris is played by a very famous black actress [Whoopi Goldberg].
Hayley Bamford, front, centre, with fellow cast members for York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical
“But when John [musical director John Atkin] said it wasn’t written specifically for a black actress, but was first offered to Bette Midler, then I could see Deloris as just a club singer where you have to put your own take on it.
“Deloris is a woman with dreams, and she has her ups and downs as we all do, but it’s what she learns from her experience that’s important.”
Hayley has loved the challenge of playing Hayley. “I played Morticia in The Addams Family a few years ago, but it wasn’t as big a role as this. It’s been good for my brain. Teaching myself things again. Like Deloris, we all have dreams to fulfil to work in theatre.
“Luckily my voice is naturally quite a low voice, the Whoopi Goldberg level, so I can do the American voice like that, but I think I’m camper than Whoopi – and you don’t want to be a copycat.”
Kathryn concludes: “What Hayley is very good at is being able to use her physicality in scenes, and it’s very definitely not like Whoopi! It’s Hayley’s interpretation; we get the whole character because she gets the movement right. Hayley is tall with long limbs and that brings individuality to her performance.”
York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, May 21 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for her lead role as Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical
FROM Holmes & Watson to Wright & Grainger, a play told two contrasting ways to funny nun business, Charles Hutchinson fills diaries for arty times ahead.
Nun better musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Alan Menken’s American musical with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.
When club singer Deloris witnesses nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, the police hide her in a convent, where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah! Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Improv show of the week: Unwritten, The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm, show 8.30pm
EVER wondered what Whose Line Is It Anyway? would be like with a literary twist? The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games, then infuse them with storytelling flair. Every show is unique, shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. An evening of humour, surprises and plot twists awaits. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Dominic Goodwin, left, and Thomas Frere in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, the play told as comedy and then seriously seriously
Role-swapping play of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Post-show discussion, Friday. Also Helmsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm
TOM Needham’s play Switcheroo is based on the simple premise that “it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. Presented by Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, the story follows three siblings who, when it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down.
The first act is a full-blown, larger-than-life comedy, whereupon the actors swap characters to repeat it as a serious drama. Paul Birch directs a cast of Thomas Frere (Alex/Sam), Clap Trap co-founder Cal Stockbridge (Sam/Pat) and Dominic Goodwin (Pat/Alex). Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheratreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster artwork for ACT’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale play of the week: ACT in Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7pm
SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson are back on the case as ACT (Ampleforth College Theatre) presents Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, an investigation into the Bohemian king’s stolen letters that cascades into an international mystery filled with spies, blackmail and intrigue.
Faced with world peace at stake, Holmes and Watson join forces with American actress Irene Adler to take down cunning criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty and his network of devious henchmen. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Paul Chowdhry: Heading for York Barbican with his Englandia show
Comedy gig of the week: Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
PAUL Chowdhry, the most successful British Indian stand-up comedian in British history, heads to York on his 41-date itinerary. “After more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages, it’s time for my biggest tour ever,” says The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcaster.
“I hope to see you there. If not, I’ll be in massive debt and doing benefit gigs for the foreseeable future.” To help Chowdhry avoid that scenario, book tickets at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Dunwells: Returning to Pocklington on Friday
The boys done well: The Dunwells, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm
LEEDS duo The Dunwells continue their working relationship with Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy, who has promoted brothers Joe and David’s indie-folk/Americana band across Yorkshire, not least at the market town’s Platform Festival and Pocklington Arts Centre, where he worked for many years. Box office: thedunwells.com.
Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Helmsley Arts Centre
Storytelling show of the week: Wright & Grainger present Helios, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. Welcome to Wright & Grainger’s story of the son of the god of the sun that transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.
“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build into it, and the little things that leave big marks,” say friends since Easingwold schooldays Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger. “Join us in a little room with a tape player and a delicate tale to tell.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Jed Potts: Playing with The Hillman Hunters at the Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 29,
EDINBURGH guitarist and vocalist Jed Potts fronts Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters and Under-Volt and also plays with The Katet, The Blueswater, Nicole Smit and occasionally with American blues artist Brandon Santini too. This time he has The Hillman Hunters for company.
Potts first picked up a guitar at nine and performed his first gig at 16.”Blues is my musical first language and it infuses everything I play,” he says. “Even when I’m playing with The Katet or Thunkfish, the blues is always there. I don’t think I could hide it even if I wanted to.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Tucking in: Becky Heslop’s Molly and Charlie Blanshard’s Joe with George Green’s Mum in Next Door But One’s How To Be A Kid. All pictures: James Drury
First published on May 16 2025
YORK community arts collective Next Door But One has been touring How To Be A Kid to primary schools and Out Of Character at York St John University this week, bookended by public performances at York Explore and Friargate Theatre.
CharlesHutchPress was among the audience of adults and children at the first of two shows in the Marriott Room, a regular, wood-panelled location at York Explore for NDB1’s work.
Sarah McDonald-Hughes’s hour-long play for seven to 11-year-olds and their grown-ups has its roots in a Paines Plough premiere in London, but as ever with NDB1, associate director Kate Veysey’s production has been informed, indeed influenced and rubber-stamped by working with communities with lived experience of the subject. In this case, young carers, young people in care and the Out Of Character theatre group, whose members have experience of mental health issues.
Hence NDB1 has teamed up with Our Time Charity to raise awareness of mental health, young carers and those in care. A play can go only so far. Our Time Charity can go further.
Becky Heslop’s Molly and George Green’s Taylor in How To Be A Kid
McDonald-Hughes’s story of family, friends and fitting in certainly plays its part in highlighting the work of a group that often goes unspoken, maybe even unknown: young carers. Young carers such as Molly (played by Becky Heslop).
She is 12 years old; her dinosaur-fixated dreamer of a kid brother, Joe (Charlie Blanshard), is six. When, spoiler alert, Nan (George Green) dies, Mum (Green again) is so grief stricken, she becomes house-bound, even bed-bound.
Molly must cook, do the dishes, make sure Joe brushes his teeth, get him ready for school, find time for homework and look after Mum. How can she still be a child under such duress?
At one point, Joe is packed off to live with his dad; Molly, meanwhile, is placed in a care home for six weeks, where she befriends Taylor, soon her bestie with a mutual love of dancing.
Charlie Blanshard’s Joe lets out a dinosaur roar in How To Be A Kid
Scenes are short, likewise sentences are snappy, to make revelations even more startling. Character changes are no less swift, with the impressively diverse George Green being the quintessence of multi-role-playing: at the last count, nine! Namely, Taylor/Abby/Mum/Nan/bus driver/social worker Michelle/teacher Miss Johnson/monosyllabic McDonalds worker/swimming pool cleaner. Everything’s gone Green, to borrow a 1981 New Order song title.
And yes, you read that right: swimming pool cleaner. Under Kate Veysey’s direction, How To Be A Kid enters a world of magic realism where Molly is at the wheel of a car, Joe beside her, in his dinosaur top, as they head off to the baths, closed at night to the public, yet magically open to them.
Veysey, whether working with Youth Theatre Royal Youth Theatre or now with NDB1 and Out Of Character, has a way of making theatre work for young and older alike, and here she elicits delightful performances from the chameleon Green, Heslop’s resourceful Molly and Blanshard’s ever-imaginative Joe, as full of wonder and humour as pathos and bewilderment.
Why should we see How To Be A Kid, CharlesHutchPress asked the cast. “Because it’s a beautifully epic, hilarious adventure rooted in reality,” said Blanshard.
“It’s fun, it’s honest and it’s playful,” says How To Be A Kid actress Becky Heslop
“It’s fun, it’s honest and it’s playful. They are the three words to describe it – and there’s lots of cake and dinosaurs and dancing,” said Heslop. “It turns a light on grief, mental health and carers in a positive way.“
“I think it’s fun that means something, an hour of escapism, where you learn something, but not in a preachy way,” said Green.
Your reviewer couldn’t have put it better, so take their word for it. How To Be A Kid is child’s play with a serious message, one that states how everything can be changed by communication. In this case by talking with mum, not staying mum.
Make that two messages, because McDonald-Hughes places great store in the power of imagination and creativity in pursuit of joy and hope. In a nutshell, the tools of theatre.
THE return of Sons Of Town Hall is always something to be celebrated. Come fair winds or foul, this acoustic duo, who have built a whole world around their fictitious adventures travelling by raft, have a soft spot in their hearts for Ripon, once Britain’s northernmost canal point.
Having seen the pair many times, it’s fascinating how much people care about them, despite never courting popular appeal. Kind folk everywhere, including the Thompsons of Ripon, give them a berth, feed them, then invite them back.
A sold-out Arts Hub was only too ready to welcome them again, just as they had in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The pair may also have spent time in the Ripon Workhouse. You can tell by the way they manage a crowd that they would have no issues controlling a ship’s crew. With just a smile and a look, they can tame a crowd (although Ripon needed very little restraint). It is these warm moments of connection with the audience that summon the goosebumps.
Sons Of Town Hall: “Even William Tell couldn’t split their voices and they had us all singing”
While the songs are full of depth and emotion, it is the theatre and stories that really set them apart from most of their peers. With a hundred years of exploits to draw on, they will hopefully be spinning these yarns for many years to come.
Their tall tales between numbers are well travelled and really set up the songs. From experience, they were perhaps not at their absolutely best. Their jokes have landed better and the repartee has been both warmer and sharper, but their harmonies remain flawless and the guitar rang crisp and clear. Even William Tell couldn’t split their voices and they had us all singing.
We find our heroes at an interesting time. With two strong albums and a world-class talent, they could justifiably look to take their act to bigger stages and leave these homely halls behind.
“On their day, Sons Of Town Hall are the finest acoustic duo touring these rocky shores,” says reviewer Paul Rhodes
Their ambitious podcast, Madmen Cross The Water, shows them embracing our digital age. You wonder if they would want to. Or it might all go south, with Ben Parker becoming a Japanese axeman and David Berkeley free to run the hills of Santa Fe singing for his supper. Hopefully, the former.
Showcasing songs from their second album, Of Ghosts And Gods, the 90-minute set saw the old giving way to the new. Poseidon gave up its spot for the wonderful airborne New Orleans and St Christopher was supplanted by mutiny. There were a number of standouts. Wild Winds’ chorus blew hard, while Whalebone built slowly towards its crescendo.
On their day, Sons Of Town Hall are the finest acoustic duo touring these rocky shores. You’d be mad to miss them.
Island Movements at Tang Hall Library in 2024. Picture: David Harrison for Explore York
EXPLORE York invites you to celebrate the untold stories of Britain’s black ballet dancers, brought centre stage for the first time in a new touring exhibition at York Explore Library.
The exhibition is free to view with no need to book, so just come along. In addition, during the May school half-term, it will be accompanied by a workshop programme, including dance, storytelling, photography, VR and more.
Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Into The Light: Pioneers Of Black British Ballet is the result of a partnership between creative agency Oxygen Arts and Libraries Connected.
The exhibition bring together archive photography, film, newspaper articles and posters, alongside new video and audio interviews, to trace the history of black British ballet from the 1940s to the present day.
Into The Light showcases these dancers at the height of their careers, performing across Europe, Asia and North America during a time of profound global change—including the civil rights movement, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Dave Fleming, Explore York’s lead for innovation, creativity and learning, says: “Last year’s ballet performance, Island Movements, was a sell-out with an enthusiastic audience from five-year-olds to 80-year-olds packed into Tang Hall Library.
Black British Ballet exhibition, on display at York Explore. Picture by permission of Libraries Connected
“That was such an inspiring and unforgettable occasion. This exhibition and the accompanying events programme will offer people another chance to connect with the remarkable history of black British ballet. It’s an absolute pleasure to bring the Into the Light exhibition and events programme to York.”
The story of black dancers in British ballet is rich, complicated and inspiring. Its history stretches back to 1946, when Berto Pasuka, who had trained in classical ballet in Jamaica, founded Europe’s first black dance company, Les Ballet Nègres, alongside fellow Jamaican dancer Richie Riley.
Nothing forced about Adrian Hood’s “Rhubarb” Eddie in Richard Bean’s To Have And To Hold at Hull Truck Theatre
TO Have And To Hold began life at the Hampstead Theatre in London in November 2023 with a cast led by Alun Armstrong and Maria Bailey as an aged East Riding couple bickering more than ever after 60 years.
It is only right , however, that Hull playwright Richard Bean’s tragic-comedy should find its way back to his home city, with director Terry Johnson still at its helm. For like a gardener knows his scallions from his shallots, Bean knows his Wetwang (“wet land”) from his Driffield (“dry land”).
The theme of ageing, of passing on, and passing on the family baton, is universal, but planting To Have And To Hold on home soil makes it more fertile. Likewise, the sight of Hull Truck stalwart Adrian Hood filling a doorway reprising his Hampstead role back on familiar terra firma feels even more right.
Hoody is playing “Rhubarb” Eddie, and on his first entry we recognise him as much from the oversized sticks of Yorkshire’s champion vegetable, clasped to his midriff, as from Hood’s formidable frame, head still out of view.
Bean is as much a master of physical comedy as verbal wit, the two combining delightfully in the opening scene as Florence (Paula Wilcox, yes, Paula Wilcox, from Man About The House, Emmerdale and Driving Miss Daisy at York Theatre Royal) chugs up and down on a Stannah stairlift, torn between answering the voice at the door and the voice from the bedroom. The snail-slow build-up to the punchline makes it all the better.
Florence and former copper Jack (Ian Bartholomew) are as well worn as their Wetwang house in Dawn Allsopp’s design, with its faded wallpaper, black-and-white photographs and service hatch, through which Florence will pop her head like a cuckoo clock, forever offering to make cups of tea.
Into their nineties, forgetful Florence and the ailing yet mentally sharp Jack are at that Vladimir and Estragon stage in their relationship, finding each other endlessly irritating, yet inseparable, but not so much waiting for Godot as the creeping shadow of death. Such is the witty observation of Bean’s writing that they are very good company for the audience, their grouchy point scoring mirroring the spats of a double act.
Bean ekes comedy out of the stasis and foibles of an acrimonious relationship in a geriatric groove rather than a rut, and the erosion of memory that has Florence confusing names, whether calling Rob “Tina” or reaching for the elusive name of a movie director. You find yourself joining in the hunt under your breath.
Bean is far harsher on their offspring, just as middle-aged son and daughter are harsher too in their judgements, albeit with a residue of fondness and amused bemusement, even cringing, at the behaviour of their parents, who nevertheless continue to show unconditional love in absentia, albeit with head scratching aplenty at what has become a north-south divide.
Rob (Stephen Tompkinson) and Tina (Rebecca Johnson) visit only rarely – almost to the point of neglect – having long migrated from the family nest to pursue ambitions fuelled by education beyond their parents. Malcontent Rob is a TV and book writer of detective dramas, his time divided between London and Los Angeles; career-driven Tina is a private health care entrepreneur, living the Somerset lifestyle.
Whereas Florence and Jack trade harmless barbs, Rob and Tina drop bombs with damaging results for the parents’ regular visitors, odd-job man “Rhubarb” Eddie, and chippy cousin Pamela (Sara Beharrell), who both come under scrutiny over missing money as Bean weaves a mystery thread into his blistered domestic drama.
Bean worked as a psychologist and stand-up comedian before play writing took over, and comedy is always his first instinct, be it in one-liners or putdowns, or Florence referring to Jack’s “enlarged prostrate”. Yet amid the quips with everything, the psychologist is at work, exploring the impact of strained relationships and wounding words, accusations and recriminations.
The sudden insurgence of Covid has a transformative impact too. Bean’s plays often have pulled the rug from under the comedy with shards of darkness that echo the works of John Godber and Alan Ayckbourn. Here, instead, a redemptive rainbow follows that hail storm, involving the stories of his days on the beat that Jack has been recording secretly through the play. Bean now adds a gift for storytelling to his repertoire of combative comedy and cultural commentary.
Under Johnson’s finely tuned direction, Tompkinson’s irascible Rob, Wilcox’s frustrated yet perky Florence and Bartholomew’s physically frail but still assertive Jack excel, with impactful support from Johnson and Beharrell. Hood, the perennial scene stealer, once again is the comic apotheosis of less is more, dipping into pathos too. He puts you in mind of a northern Tommy Cooper, physically funny but with instinctive timing too.
Just as he did for Martin Barrass,when writing the elderly waiter Alfie in One Man, Two Guvnors expressly for his fellow son of Hull, so Bean has given Hood the ideal role for his deadpan delivery and comedic candour.
To Have And To Hold, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Pease in our time: John Pease tops bill at Patch’s new Funny Fridays comedy forum at the Bonding Warehouse
A NEW comedy night in a bygone location and Shakespeare on a council estate stand out in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for cultural exploration.
Laughter launch of the week: Funny Fridays, Patch, Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, May 9, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start
LIVE comedy returns to the Bonding Warehouse for the first time since the days of the late Mike Bennett presenting the likes of Lee Evans and Ross Noble under the Comedy Shack banner. Stand up for Funny Fridays, hosted by York humorist Katie Lingo (alias copywriter Katie Taylor-Thompson) with an introductory price of £6.50.
On her first bill will be Kenny Watt, Tuiya Tembo, BBC New Comedy Awards semi-finalist Matty Oxley, Saeth Wheeler and Edinburgh Fringe Gilded Balloon semi-finalist John Pease. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets.
Sean Heydon: Magical sleight of hand at the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club tonight
Magical comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Sean Heydon, Big Lou, Oliver Bowler and MC Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
LAUGH Out Loud headliner Sean Heydon has performed to A-list celebrities and blue-chip companies, as well as at comedy clubs, with his combination of madcap comedy, sleight-of-hand magic and illusions for more than 15 years.
Big Lou offers a modern twist on old-school joke telling in the Les Dawson style; comedian, actor and writer Oliver Bowler discusses life experiences on the mean streets of Bolton; regular host and promoter Damion Larkin keeps order. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Anastacia: Playing York Barbican on her Not That Kind 25th anniversary tour
Anniversary tour of the week: Anastacia, Not That Kind Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.45pm
CHICAGO singer-songwriter Anastacia , 56, heads to York on her European tour marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album Not That Kind and its breakthrough hit I’m Outta Love.
Further singles Not That Kind, Paid My Dues, One Day In Your Life, Left Outside Alone and Sick And Tired charted too, as did 2001 album Freak Of Nature (reaching number four) and 2004’s chart-topping Anastacia, 2005’s Pieces Of A Dream, 2008’s Heavy Rotation, 2014’s Resurrection and 2015’s Ultimate Collection Her special guest will be Casey McQuillen. Box office: for returns only, yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Newton Faulkner: Unveiling new songs from his upcoming Octopus album at The Crescent, York
“No technological funny business” of the week: Newton Faulkner, Feels Like Home Tour 3, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
LET Reigate singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner describe his York gig: “Folks, I give you the Feels Like Home Tour 3. We’re talking no technological funny business in my set-up. I love switching my focus back to just playing and singing. I also cannot wait to introduce you properly to the new material and my new head.”
Often Faulkner has found himself in his home studio working solo, but not for this next record, nor for this tour. His new phase is full of collaboration, one where “seeing these songs come to life on stage is going to be nothing short of joyous” ahead of the September 19 release of Octopus. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape on his return to York Theatre Royal after 45 years. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17
OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.
“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York musician Steve Cassidy: Once he worked with John Barry and producer Joe Meek, now he plays with his mates on regular nights at the JoRo
Return of the week: Steve Cassidy Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
YORK singer, songwriter, guitarist and former head teacher Steve Cassidy will be joined by special guests when he lines up as usual with John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele, guitar and vocals, Brian Thomson on percussion and George Hall on keyboards.
Expect rock and country songs, as well as instrumental pieces, selected especially for this evening. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Mark Holgate’s Oberon and Suzy Cooper’s Titania, centre, with Sam Roberts’s Demetrius, left, Amy Domeneghetti’s Helena, Will Parsons’ Lysander and Meg Olssen’s Hermia in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Reinvented play of the week: York Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees
YORK pantomime golden gal Suzy Cooper turns Fairy Queen Titania opposite York-born Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mark Holgate’s Fairy King Oberon in Nik Briggs’s debut Shakespeare production for York Stage.
In his first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs relocates the Bard’s most-performed comedy from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s bumpy path is played out to a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw and Nineties and Noughties’ dancefloor fillers, sung by May Tether. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Katherine Toy in rehearsals for AKA Theatre’s The Flood, on tour in York, Hull and Leeds. Picture: Cian O’Riain
Premiere of the week: AKA Theatre Company in The Flood: A Musical, Friargate Theatre, York, May 9 and 10, 7.30pm; Godber Studio, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, May 13, 7pm; Leeds Playhouse Burton Studio, May 14 and 15, 8pm
AKA Theatre Company’s premiere of Lucie Raine and Joe Revell’s musical The Flood blends live music and heartfelt storytelling based on true accounts of facing up to disaster in West Yorkshire in 2015.
“This is a story about what it means to come together when everything falls apart,” says writer-director Raine, who uses a cast of five actor-musicians. “It’s not just a play. It’s a tribute to resilience and creativity, inspired by Hebden Bridge and its people. It’s a celebration for all communities who have faced adversity and emerged stronger.” Box office: York, ticketsource.co.uk; Hull, hulltruck.co.uk; Leeds, leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Putting the retro into today’s hits at York Barbican
Nostalgia for today: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Magic & Moonlight Tour 2025, York Barbican, May 7, doors 7pm
AFTER chalking off their 1,000th show, retro collective Postmodern Jukebox are on the British leg of their Moonlight & Magic world tour. Enter a parallel universe where modern-day hits are reimagined in 1920s’ jazz, swing, doo-wop and Motown arrangements. Think The Great Gatsby meets Sinatra At The Sands meets Back To The Future. Dress vintage for the full effect. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
In Focus: York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi, today at 1pm; Trio Agile and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, today at 7.30pm
Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi
YORK Late Music plays host to two concerts today, the first featuring bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Marianna Cortesi this afternoon as Sounds Lyrical presents settings of poets Hugh Bernays, John Gilham, Richard Kitchen and Alan Gillott by composers Thomas J Crawley, Robert Holden, Jenny Jackson, Katie Lang, Dawn Walters and James Else.
The concert comprises: Elizabeth Lutyens’ Refugee Blues (Auden); David Blake’s Morning Sea (CP Cavafy); Dawn Walters’ Pre-dawn (Richard Kitchen); Jenny Jackson’s Collecting Stones (Richard Kitchen); Robert Holden’s Flaneur (John Gilham) and Katie Laing’s Maker (Richard Kitchen).
Then come Thomas J Crawley’s Leather Heart (Hugh Bernays); James Else’s Retras IV (Alan Gillott); Tim Brooks’s Jeer (Lizzie Linklater); David Blake’s Voices (CP Cavafy) and Stephen Dodgson’s Various Australian Bush Ballads, 2nd Series. The programme also includes music by David Blake and Elizabeth Lutyens.
Northern School of Contemporary Dance dancer Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma: Performing with Trio Agile tonight
TONIGHT’S concert marks a first collaboration between York Late Music and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Trio Agile and NSCD’s Freedom Dances programme.
Bringing together the freedoms of dance, music and rhythm, Trio Agile combine their experimental flair and improvisatory talent with four dancers from the Leeds school, Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma, Darcy Bodle, Genevieve Wright and Maya Donne.
The 7.30pm performance blends a range of styles from across the globe in a shared expression of the power and joy of the arts, including new works from Indian composer and performer Supriya Nagarajan, Angela Elizabeth Slater, David Lancaster, Steve Crowther, David Power, Athena Corcoran-Tadd and James Else.
Curated by James Else in partnership with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, the programme comprises: Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Prelude; Angela Elizabeth Slater, Weaving Colours; Paul Honey, Une Valse Assez Triste; James Else, Freedom Dances and David Lancaster, The Compendium Of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.
Then follow Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Pas de Deux; Tom Armstrong, Aunt Maria’s Dancing Master; Paul Honey, Pizzìca; Athena Corcoran-Tadd, To You; Supriya Nagarajan, Mohanam Raga; Steve Crowther, Once Upon A Time Harlequin Met His Columbine; David Power, Something In Our Skies; Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Light Dances and Athena Corcoran-Tadd , Hope Is A Boat.
The musicians will be: Susie Hodder-Williams, flutes; Chris Caldwell, saxophone and bass clarinet; Richard Horne, vibraphone and percussion; Supriya Nagarajan, voice, and Paul Honey, piano.
Chris Caldwell, Susie Hodder-Williams and composer James Else will give a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with a complimentary glass of wine or juice.
Tickets are on sale at latemusic.org or on the door.
