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Lost in time, mysterious Punch Porteous finds new home at Friargate Theatre

Punch Porteous writer Robert Powell and creative practitioner Ben Pugh

WRITER Robert Powell and creative practitioner Ben Pugh are reviving Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! at Friargate Theatre, York, from tomorrow to Saturday as part of York Literature Festival.

Originally commissioned by All Saints North Street for its October 2023 premiere with support from York Theatre Royal, Powell’s poetic multi-media experience depicts Punch Porteous, a mysterious and ordinary man with an extraordinary predicament, lost in time in York, where he is catapulted unpredictably into different eras from c.70 to c.2025 while the city shape-shifts around him.

“He keeps waking up at various points of the city’s past, dazed and confused, but also with a disturbing knowledge that he’s been there before,” says Canadian-born Robert.

Punch seems to remember Romans, Vikings, Saxons, seeing Henry VIII and meeting Dick Turpin. Now a prophecy says he is to appear at the site of an ancient Friary to find his lost wife Eve – and tell all in Powell and Pugh’s imaginative journey in words, music, film and sound featuring the recorded, “disembodied”  voice of York poet Kitty Greenbrown, as well as Powell as Narrator, Nicholas Naidu as Alistair and Imogen Wood as Beatrice.

Nicholas Naidu, as Alistair, and Imogen Wood, as Beatrice, in Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! Picture: Ben Pugh

Inspired by the history of York, Robert first recounted a story of Punch in his poem Punch Porteous Goes To York Races, with further poetic stories in his 2023 commission for York Civic Trust, Time Town, Some Poems Of York.

“We’re totally delighted to be bringing Punch back,” says Robert. “I thought Punch had some more breath left in him after All Saints and we had the sense that there was more of an audience to see it.

“Friargate Theatre is an artistic asset to York with new management, and what better place could we find to stage it: a theatre space, rather than a church, though it was the church [All Saints North Street] that commissioned it, and the church provided a rich, deeply resonant space.

Kitty Greenbrown: Lending her voice to this week’s performances of Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!

“We’re also delighted to be taking part in York Literature Festival, which I was part of for a long time. We talked to Friargate Theatre first, absolutely the right place for it, and then approached the festival about featuring a piece based on poetry, and they responded very positively, especially when you consider they don’t usually have plays.”

Robert has re-written his drama to take in the history of the Friargate Theatre site as a friary. “We now have Punch ‘predicting’ that it was friarage from the tenth century up until Henry VIII’s boys tore it apart, leaving only the wall along the river. We will now be reopening the Friarage, with Punch determined to get there from Baile Hill.”

How will the audience experience differ from the All Saints premiere? “I think that being in a theatre space, rather than a church, the audience will need to use their imagination more, and we will need to work their imagination more to imagine the historic buildings of York, whereas previously we had the incredible prop of the church building,” says Robert.

Robert Powell in his role as Narrator for Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! Picture: Ben Pugh

“Now we have to use our ‘prop’ box to bring to life this semi-visible everyman who had bumped into some famous people but mainly lived among the ordinary people of York, creating that sense of Punch being grounded and having a working man’s sensibilities.”

Describing Punch’s character, Robert says: “He’s comic but serious; he gets drunk but is very philosophical. He’s seen a lot and suffered a lot, as the people of York have.

“With Dick Turpin, for example, what happens is that he becomes like a fairytale figure, but in Punch Porteous, Punch remembers attending Turpin’s public execution, seeing the horror of his feet turning in the air, so I’ve tried to bring the harsh reality to folk tales. Turpin’s death would have been horrendous.

“In Punch Porteous, I’m conveying the friction between the heritage myth and the darker reality that people have had to live with in York over the centuries.

The poster for Punch Porteous – Lost In Time at Friargate Theatre, York

“It’s a story told in a somewhat different way from the historical, heritage way that the story of the city is so often told. So, in a sense, without being too heavy about it, I wanted to disrupt that norm, to think about history from the ‘ordinary’ perspective that most of us experience it from.

“Writers can bring an understanding of history where I think there’s a role for the imagination that runs parallel with the facts. It’s not enough to have the testimonies and the photographs. You need your imagination to bear witness. Hilary Mantel thought a lot about this, about the role of fiction to engage with people, as opposed to documentary evidence. Where documentary leaves off, the imagination takes over, but rooted in experience.”

Robert loves the experience of walking through York, “passing through veils, where one minute you are in the 21st century, and then in the past”. “As a Canadian boy, from an early age, I had a hunger for what York offered,” he says. “Here I am, this little kid in Ottawa, digging in the fields next door, hoping to find Roman remains, so I had to come to York to do that. It’s been a very personal journey for me, and York gives you that in a very intense way.

“What is a Canadian doing fooling around with York’s precious history? To me, from that perspective, as a writer, it’s a heavenly place to be, and as a writer, I’m fascinated by time. Punch Porteous is a great opportunity to have someone who slips and slides through York and time, and so though I’m not originally from York, I hope it has resonance for true Yorkists.”

The cover to Robert Powell’s latest poetry collection, Time Town, Some Poems of York

Punch Porteous may have further life beyond this week’s performances. “I’ve had this niggling thought that might bring a further bit of spark to the exercise,” says Robert. “Was Punch Porteous a real person?

“Since my tales of Punch were inspired by a story told to me about an actual York man called Punch Porteous in the 1920s, who won a small fortune at York Races, it would be fun to ask The Press readers if they’ve ever heard of such a person. I would love to hear from you and I can be reached at https://www.rjpowell.org/.

“I would love Punch Porteous to become one of the urban myths of York and hopefully we are moving in that direction.”

York Literature Festival presents Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, tomorrow until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

For Ben Pugh’s film trailer of Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, head to:  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ky2ym8uovcqisjmyahpjt/Punch-Trailer-1.mov?rlkey=0twzzrbektny13v2tu3oe2hkz&dl=0

Robert Powell: Writer, curator and cultural consultant with background in the arts, place-making, photography and journalism. Picture: Owen Powell

Robert Powell: the back story

WRITER, curator, and cultural consultant with more than 40 years’ experience in the arts, built environment, community engagement and media in England, Scotland and his native Canada.

Director of Stills Gallery of Photography in Edinburgh from 1986 to 1989. Worked for Canada Council for the Arts from 1989 to 1997.

Director of Beam, arts, architecture and education charity in Wakefield, from 1997 to 2015, working with many leading artists, architects, and urban designers.

Established Wakefield Lit Fest, festival of reading & writing, in 2012. Made Honorary
Fellow of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) in 2017.

Robert’s creative writing has been published widely in Canada and UK. Since 2007, produced five poetry collections, plus performances and film-poems inspired by buildings, rivers and other places.

In 2018, artist in residence with Kone Foundation at Saari, Finland. In 2019, undertook community-based artistic project on Irish border during Brexit negotiations.

In 2023-24, writer in residence with York Civic Trust. Wrote and performed in Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, poetic drama inspired by history of York, at All Saints North Street.

Resident in York for ten years, based in South Bank. Latest publication, Time Town, Some Poems of York, features poetry about a Georgian museum and a man lost in time from his York Civic Trust residency.

The first knock-out Punch poem by Robert Powell: Punch Porteous Goes to York Races

ONE Saturday afternoon, in summer 1930,
at York Races, Punch won a fortune, £17,
tramped back into town, bought a tin hip bath
and took it to the Red Lion, where Uncle John’s wife Rose
was publican and the boatmen-gypsies supped;
required of John to fill it full with drink, then
helped him and two others lurch it, slopping
on cobbles in the early evening light,
to the tram stop, calling on all and sundry
Come take wine with me!
though in truth it was ale;
and cupping its contents for free
to drivers, passengers, passers-by;
and the bath, once emptied,
by a drunken Punch
tossed into the Foss.
Gaze down from the bridge, they say,
in certain light, on certain days,
in the shallows, in the depths,
you can still see it,
among the vagrant
shopping carts,
the swans.

© Robert Powell

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Horrible Histories author Terry Deary treads Grand Opera House boards in Birmingham Stage Company’s Terrible Tudors

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary comes face to face with a Tudor peasant from Terrible Tudors at the Grand Opera House, York

TERRY Deary, author of the world’s best-selling children’s history series, Horrible Histories, will make a special appearance on stage during March 15’s 11am and 2.30pm performances of Terrible Tudors at the Grand Opera House, York.

The morning show has been added in response to popular demand, to the delight of Birmingham Stage Company founder, manager, director, writer and actor Neal Foster.

“We are thrilled to have the writer and creator of Horrible Histories, Terry Deary himself, appearing in Terrible Tudors,” he says. “Terry started his career as an actor, so we can’t wait for the fun to start when he joins the company for these two special shows.”

Birmingham Stage Company, regular visitors to the Grand Opera House, whether with myriad Horrible Histories shows or stage adaptations of David Walliams’s books, will be back in York from March 13 to 15 to perform both Terrible Tudors and Awful Egyptians.

Billed as “history with the nasty bits left in”, Horrible Histories shows combine multi-role-playing actors with eye-popping Bogglevision 3D special effects that bring historical figures and events to life  on stage as they “hover at your fingertips”.

History makers: Birmingham Stage Company in Terrible Tudors. Picture: Mark Douet

Quick revision course: Terrible Tudors spans the horrible Henries to the end of evil Elizabeth in a show full of legends and lies about the torturing Tudors. Discover the fate of Henry’s headless wives and what happens in his punch-up with the Pope. Meet Bloody Mary and see Ed fall dead in his bed. Survive the Spanish Armada as it sails into the audience.

From the fascinating Pharaohs to the power of the pyramids, Awful Egyptians reveals the foul facts of death and decay with the meanest mummies in Egypt. Are you ready to rumble with Ramesses the Great? Dare you enter through the Gates of the afterlife?

“Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians were the first Horrible Histories stage adaptations we did, in 2005, and we had never envisaged we’d be celebrating Terrible Tudors’ 20th anniversary,” says Neal. “It’s the longest run of any show we’ve ever had [Foster set up the company in 1992]. It’s been a major part of my life, and I can’t imagine what my life would have been without the Horrible Histories.

“I studied History and Ancient History at A-level, covering Greek and Roman history and mediaeval British and European history – and I absolutely loved it! So, to get the chance to combine my two loves, acting/comedy and history, has been wonderful.”

Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories stories remain the perfect vehicle for Neal. “All this history of homo sapiens is very strange and hasn’t got any better. Never mind the Terrible Tudors, there will now be the Terrible Trumpings,” says Neal.

Neal Foster: Birmingham Stage Company founder, manager, director, writer and actor

“I think we did actually nail it with our first performances, which was a great feeling, gaining the trust of the publishers and of Terry Deary. The reaction of the children was amazing, and though some things change, some things don’t , and kids still love the 3D Bogglevision.

“Bogglevison was pioneering 3D when we started using it and had an amazing impact, but I was worried that films would overtake us when they decided to create 3D worlds with great depth, but it went in and out of fashion again in only three years. With our shows, I’m confident our audiences won’t have experienced anything like we do in the cinema, whether it’s Egyptian mummies reaching out to grab you or Spanish cannonballs being fired at you!”

Twenty years on from Terrible Tudors’ debut, Neal continues to train Birmingham Stage Company actors to “react to what the audience has just seen, where you have to let them calm down before you start again, because the reaction is is so great, and that’s still the case after all these years,” he says.

“I remember The Times doing a two-page spread on it with theatre critic Benedict Nightingale being asked to give his opinion on it and dismissing it as a cheap stunt. Then BBC Radio 4 invited me and Benedict on to discuss it. I said, ‘you haven’t seen it, have you?’, and he had to admit he hadn’t.

“He then came to see the show and he loved it – and we still use his quote where he says ‘it’s the best use of technology in a show’!”

Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Egyptians, bound for the Grand Opera House, York, next week. Picture: Mark Douet

Neal admits to feeling “very jealous”when he sees the lead actor “playing my part, as I still regard it” in Terrible Tudors. “I still want to do it myself, having directed it,” he says. “Like doing shows to 2,000 people at the Manchester Opera House. You’re there, feeling every moment of the show, when it’s, funny, tense, or pure slapstick, and you’re taking the audience on that journey for one hour 45 minutes.

“That’s the difference with cinema. On stage, it can change with each performance. How the audience reacts is what makes it an exciting experience, keeping it alive and fresh, like when we first did it.

“Plus we have updated sequences, one about Elizabeth I, after I read a great new book about Hampton Court [The Palace by Gareth Russell], which addressed a few myths about her.

“We’ve always said her teeth went black and that she went bald, which is why she wore wigs, but one of the ambassadors talked about how her hair  went grey, so that’s why she wore wigs, and her teeth went yellow, not black, though many were missing.

“I keep reading history books – I’m always excited when a new Dan Jones book comes out – and they do inspire me by putting a new angle on it, which I’m quick to incorporate in the productions.”

Although Birmingham Stage Company did address the First and Second World Wars in its Barmy Britain shows, Neal has a theory why Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series is yet to address the 20th century.

“It’s not the subject but the fact that what these shows do is take an anarchic look at history and maybe 20th century history is still too close with parents and grandparents still alive who experienced something horrible, whereas with the Terrible Tudors, the pain has gone,” he says. “For the 20th century, it’s more difficult to give it a Horrible Histories spin.”

Looking ahead to the Saturday performances with Terry Deary, Neal says: “It’s not often that he does it, but every so often he does, if he’s free, and he particularly loves Terrible Tudors as he co-wrote that production.

“I’ve given him quite a lot to do, with a good running joke, so we’ll be getting together to rehearse next Friday and he’ll be doing both the morning show and afternoon show. He’s 79 now  but he doesn’t look it!

“The actors [Jack Ballard, Rob Cummings, Megan Parry and Stuart Ash] are very excited because they’ve never met him  – and I’ll be doing the shows too as I can’t resist working with Terry when we get the chance.”

Birmingham Stage Company in Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors, March 13, 10.30am; March 14, 6.30pm; March 15, 11am (extra performance) and 2.30pm. Awful Egyptians, March 13, 6.30pm; March 14, 10.30am; March 15, 6.30pm. Age guidance: Five plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Birmingham Stage Company’s poster for next week’s visit to the Grand Opera House, York

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More Things To Do in York and beyond, from drag bingo to dandy giant tales. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 5, from The York Press

Nina Gilligan: Headlining today’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club gig at The Basement

CHEEKY drag fun and games, a dandy giant, outsider art, folk luminaries aplenty and a terpsichorean comedian light up Charles Hutchinson’s early February diary.

Afternoon gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Nina Gilligan, Ryan McDonnell, Adam Anwar and Damion Larkin MC, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, 4pm to 6.30pm, doors 3.30pm

2021 Leicester Mercury Comedy Award winner Nina Gilligan tops this afternoon’s comedy bill with an act described by Scottish culture magazine The Skinny as “a bolshier Mrs Merton”.

Belfast’s Ryan McDonnell interjects wit and Irish charm into his observation of everyday life. “Sometimes bizarre, often dark, he’ll guide you on a unique journey through the world as he sees it,” says master of ceremonies and club promoter Damion Larkin. Third act Adam Anwar’s stand-up material draws on themes of identity, race, and social issues. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

The Isolation Creations: Bingo meets drag in The Old Paint Shop

Looking for an evening of fun, games, bingo and daft prizes with a party atmosphere? Haus Of Games with The Isolation Creations, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm

CHEEKY comedy drag double act The Isolation Creations host a variety show to leave you blushing, giggling and maybe even holding a “crappy prize or two”. “Don’t come expecting RuPaul’s Drag Race,” they say. “We’re here to remind you that drag can be a bit saucy, rough around the edges and a whole lot of fun! Step into our world where the heels are a bit lower, the banter is a lot cheekier and the wigs have a delightful hint of nostalgia.”

Inspired by Les Dawson, Dame Edna, Dick Emery and Lily Savage, and begun in the pandemic lockdown, Alan and Jamie’s characters embody the spirit of classic British drag. Think of cheeky barmaids, seaside B&B landladies and your Nanna’s gossipy friends. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Untitled 7, by Neil Bunting, from Art Of Protest’s Outsider Inside York exhibition

Exhibition of the week: Outsider Inside York – An Exhibition of Words and Pictures, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, today until February 16

OUTSIDER Inside York celebrates the diverse voices of five artists who have used creativity to reshape their lives and challenge the status quo, revealing art’s transformative power in overcoming adversity.

Taking part will be Boxxhead, alias York mixed-media artist Kevin McNulty; former British Army soldier and PTSD sufferer Kevin Devenport, who began painting as a form of self-expression while in prison for drug offences; Peter Stapleton, who discovered a gift for painting in oils after 22 years behind bars, and late neurodivergent  artist and musician Neil Bunting, who died last year, having struggled with mental health issues and personal loss throughout his life and never exhibiting his work in his lifetime. Their works are complemented by poems by Geoff Beacon, whose latest collection, Foreboding, engages with activism and politics in York.

Meet The Smartest Giant In Town in Little Angel Theatre’s show at the Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gig of the week…and next spring too: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, Monday (3/2/2025) and May 17 2026

AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland returns to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026. He has added a second York date after selling out the first. Meanwhile, virtuoso ventriloquist Nina Conti’s Whose Face Is It Anyway? show on February 7 has sold out too. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Jennifer Jones’s Belle in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Beauty And The Beast at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Fairytale of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Beauty And The Beast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 4 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

THE Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company presents the timeless tale of Belle (Jennifer Jones), a young woman in a small provincial town, and the Beast (Adam Gill), a prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. The Beast must learn to love and be loved in order to break the spell, but time is running out.

Further principal roles in Kathryn Lay’s cast go to Jim Paterson as Gaston; Tom Mennary,  Lumiere; Paul Blenkiron, Maurice; Helen Barugh, Madame de la Grande Bouche; Heather Stead, Babette, and Anthony Gardner, Cogsworth. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Meet The Smartest Giant In Town in Little Angel Theatre’s show at the Grand Opera House, York

Children’s show of the week: Little Angel Theatre in The Smartest Giant In Town, Grand Opera House, York, February 5, 1pm and 4pm, and February 6, 10am and 1pm

GEORGE wishes he were not the scruffiest giant in town. When he sees a new shop selling giant-sized clothes, he adopts a new look: smart trousers, smart shirt, stripy tie, shiny shoes. Now he is the smartest giant in town…until he bumps into some animals that desperately need his help – and his clothes!

So runs Little Angel Theatre’s latest puppet-filled stage adaptation of a typically heart-warming Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler picture-book tale of friendship and helping those in need. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The good folk of the Transatlantic Sessions, bound for York Barbican on Wednesday

Folk and Americana gig of the week: Transatlantic Sessions, with Loudon Wainwright III, Julie Fowlis, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams and Niall McCabe, York Barbican, February 5, doors 7pm

TRANSATLANTIC Sessions 2025 celebrates 30 years since the original television series. Taking to the stage will be the all-star, virtuoso house band, led as ever by Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, plus guest vocalists Loudon Wainwright III, Julie Fowlis, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams and Ireland’s Niall McCabe.

Joined by Phil Cunningham, John Doyle, Michael McGoldrick, Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh and Daniel Kimbro, they will interweave original material with age-old tunes and songs as they explore shared roots and find new common ground, celebrating the rich musical traditions that connect Scotland, Ireland and the United States. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Beverley Beirne: Fronting her trio at The Old Paint Shop on Friday

Jazz gig of the week: The Beverley Beirne Trio, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 7, 8pm

BEVERLEY Beirne sings songs of hope, passion, of living life to the full, of day dreaming, regret, love lost and love found and ultimately of dancing through the game and rhythm of life from Dream Dancer, long-listed for a Grammy Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Listen out for interpretations of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Let’s Face The Music And Dance and a bluesy take on The Clash’s Should  I Stay Or Should I Go. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Craig David: Parading his singing, MC and DJ skills at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer

Gig announcement of the week: Craig David Presents TS5, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 19

SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this summer. Expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.

“I cannot wait to bring my TS5 show to Scarborough and the beautiful Yorkshire coast in July,” enthuses David, 43. “2025 is a massive year for me as it’s the 25th anniversary of my debut album [Born To Do It] and my debut number one single (Fill Me In]. What better way to celebrate than bringing the party to Scarborough this summer.” Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com. 

In Focus: What’s the line-up for Futuresound Group’s first York Comedy Festival in York Museum Gardens? ADDED ON 3/2/2025

Dara Ó Briain

THE inaugural York Comedy Festival will take place on Sunday, July 6 in the finale to Futuresound Group’s second season of Live At York Museum Gardens shows.

Irish comedian, broadcaster and writer Dara Ó Briain and Canadian comedian, writer, presenter, actress and singer Katherine Ryan will co-headline the open-air bill of nine acts, also featuring  Maisie Adam, Joel Dommett, Clinton Baptiste, Angelos Epithemiou, Vittorio Angelone, Scott Bennett and host Stephen Bailey.

York exclusive postcode presale (YO1 | YO10 | YO19 | YO23 | YO24 | YO26 | YO30 | YO31 | YO32) tickets will go on sale from 9am on February 5 at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/york-comedy-festival/york-museum-gardens/3288662?pre=postcode; general sale from 10am on February 9 at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/york-comedy-festival/york-museum-gardens/3288662.

Ó Briain will be playing York for a second time this year: his 2025 tour show Re:Creation is heading for a sell-out at York Barbican on May 14 with tickets on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk. He hosted 21 series of Mock The Week from 2005 to 2022 among myriad TV appearances on such shows as Have I Got News For You, Robot Wars, Dara And Ed’s Big Adventure, Dara Ó Briain’s Science Club and Three Men In A Boat.

Katherine Ryan

Ryan is a team captain on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and has appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, A League Of Their Own, Mock The Week, Would I Lie to You?, QI, Just A Minute, Safeword and Have I Got News for You.

Maisie Adam, who grew up in Pannal, Harrogate, is an award-winning stand up, podcaster and comedy panellist; whip-smart stand-up, broadcaster and author Joel Dommett hosts ITV’s The Masked Singer.

Also taking part in the first comedy festival in York since Martin Witts’s Great Yorkshire Fringe (2015-2019) will be Phoenix Nights’ resident clairvoyant, Clinton Baptiste; cult surrealist comedian Angelos Epithemiou, from Shooting Stars; Italian-Irish offbeat comic, podcaster and rising star Vittorio Angelone and the brain behind viral hit Stand Up From The Shed, Scott Bennett. Comedian and presenter Stephen Bailey will be on compere duty.

York Comedy Festival will follow Futuresound’s three Museum Gardens concerts, headlined by Elbow on July 3 and Nile Rodgers & CHIC on July 4, with one more name to be announced for July 5.

Maisie Adam. Picture: Matt Crockett

Andy Smith, of Futuresound Group, said: “We’re thrilled to be introducing York Comedy Festival this July as part of our second series; building on our collaborative offering with a wider variety of entertainment beyond music.

“Our inaugural sell-out concert series last summer gave us the opportunity to see the lasting cultural impact that these large-scale outdoor events have on the city so this year we’re really excited to be bringing world-class comedy to York Museum Gardens alongside some incredible live music”

Richard Saward, head of operations at York Museums Trust, said: “The introduction of a comedy festival as part of Live at York Museum Gardens is a fantastic addition to the programme and York Museums Trust is delighted to be hosting this special evening. We are looking forward to welcoming these amazing comedians to York.”

For more information, visit https://www.york-comedy-festival.com/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 3 from Gazette & Herald

The Steelers: Re-creating the songs of Steely Dan at Helmsley Arts Centre

FROM a residents’ free festival to a Steely Dan tribute, the return of The Old Paint Shop cabaret to the Poet Laureate’s foray into music, Charles Hutchinson welcomes signs of 2025 gathering pace.

Tribute show of the week: The Steelers, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm

THE Steelers, a nine-piece band of musicians drawn from around Great Britain, perform songs from iconic Steely Dan Steel albums Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, AJA and Goucho, crafted by Walter Becker and Donald Fagan since 1972. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Lyrical musicianship at York Theatre Royal: Poet Laureate and LYR band members Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson. Picture: Katie Silvester

The language of music: An Evening With Simon Armitage and LYR, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

UK Poet Laureate, dramatist, novelist, broadcaster and University of Leeds Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage teams up with his band LYR for an evening of poetry (first half) and music (second half), where LYR’s soaring vocal melodies and ambient instrumentation create an evocative and enchanting soundscape for West Yorkshireman Armitage’s spoken-word passages. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ned Swarbrick: Debut headline gig at The Crescent at the age of 16

Headline debut of the week: Ned Swarbrick, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm

AT 16, York singer-songwriter Ned Swarbrick heads to The Crescent – with a couple of band mates in tow – for his debut headline show after accruing 40 gigs over the past two years. Penning acoustic songs that reflect his love of literature and pop culture, he sways from melancholy to upbeat, sad to happy, serious to tongue in cheek.

The first to admit that he is still finding his feet, in his live shows Ned switches between Belle & Sebastian-style pop numbers and intimate folk tunes more reminiscent of Nick Drake. Check out his debut EP, Michelangelo, featuring National Youth Folk Ensemble members, and look out for him busking on York’s streets. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Frankie Monroe: Transforming The Old Paint Shop into the Misty Moon working men’s club at York Theatre Royal

Beyond compere: Frankie Monroe And Friends, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm

BBC New Comedy and Edinburgh Fringe Newcomer winner Frankie Monroe hosts an evening of humour,  tricks and mucky bitter in The Old Paint Shop. Join the owner of the Misty Moon – “a working men’s club in Rotherham that also serves as a portal to hell” – in his biggest show yet with some of York’s finest cabaret performers. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Clifford’s Tower: Taking part in York Residents’ Festival this weekend

Festival of the week: York Residents’ Festival, Saturday and Sunday

ORGANISED by Make It York, this annual festival combines free offers, events  and discounts for valid York Card, student card or identity card holders that proves your York residency. Among the participating visitor attractions will be Bedern Hall, Clifford’s Tower, Yorkshire Air Museum, Merchant Taylors Hall and, outside York, Beningbrough Hall and Castle Howard. For the full list of offers, head to: visityork.org/offers/category/york-residents-festival.

Scott Matthews: Wolverhampton singer-songwriter plays the NCEM, York

Folk gig of the week: The Crescent and Black Swan Folk Club present Scott Matthews, National Centre for Early Music, York, Saturday, doors 7pm

ON a tour that has taken in churches and caves, Wolverhampton singer-songwriter Scott Matthews plays St Margaret’s Church, home to the NCEM in Walmgate, next weekend.

Combining folk, rock, blues and Eastern-inspired song-writing, he has released eight albums since his 2007 debut single,  Elusive, won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. His most recent recording, 2023’s Restless Lullabies, found him revisiting songs from 2020’s New Skin with a stark acoustic boldness. Box office: seetickets.com/event/scott-matthews/ncem/3211118. Please note, this is a seated show with all seating unreserved.

The Cactus Blossoms: In harmony at Pocklington Arts Centre

Harmony duo of the week: The Cactus Blossoms, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 31, 8pm

THE Cactus Blossoms’ brothers, Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, are modern practitioners of the magical art of harmony duo singing, as heard on their August 2024 album Every Time I Think About You. Like any great magician, they cannot or will not fully explain the illusion they create. See if you can work it out at Pocklington Arts Centre.

Support act Campbell/Jensen features the late Glen Campbell’s banjo-playing daughter Ashley Campbell, who performed in her father’s band on several world tours, including at York Barbican. The duo combines Campbell’s country and Americana with New York guitarist and songwriter Thor Jensen’s rock and gypsy jazz. Box office: 01759 301547 or  pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Snow Patrol: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer

Gig announcement of the week: Snow Patrol, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 27

THE Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band Snow Patrol are to return to the Scarborough coast for the first time since July 2021, led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time lead guitarist Nathan Connolly and pianist Johnny McDaid.

Emotionally charged anthems such as Chasing Cars, Run and Open Your Eyes will be complemented by selections from 2024’s The Forest Is The Path, their first chart topper in 18 years. Tickets go on sale today (24/1/2025) at 9am at ticketmaster.co.uk and scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond, two for a Yorkshireman’s favourite price. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 3, from The York Press

Holly Taymar: Fresh air and fresh sounds

FROM a free outdoor gig to the biggest free festival of the year, the return of The Old Paint Shop cabaret to the Poet Laureate’s foray into music, Charles Hutchinson welcomes signs of 2025  gathering pace.

Free gig of the week: Holly Taymar at Homestead Park, Water End, York, today, 11am to 12 noon

YORK “acoustic sophistopop” singer-songwriter and session-writer performer Holly Taymar heads out into the winter chill for a morning performance, supported by Music Anywhere, with the further enticement of a pop-up cafe.

 “I’ll be playing songs in this most beautiful setting, surrounded by nature, all for free!” says Holly. “There’s a coffee van and some seating available, so come along and take in the fresh air and fresh sounds from me.” 

Man In The Mirror: Celebrating the music of Michael Jackson at York Barbican

Tribute show of the week: Entertainers presents Man In The Mirror, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

MICHAEL Jackson tribute artist CJ celebrates the King of Pop in Man In The Mirror, a new show from Entertainers featuring a talented cast of performers and musicians in a Thriller of an electrifying concert replete with Thriller, Billie Jean, Beat It, Smooth Criminal, Man In The Mirror, dazzling choreography, visual effects, a light show and authentic costumes. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: New Orleans meets Hacienda 90s’ club classics at The Crescent

“Revolutionary genre bashers” of the week: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm

IN New Orleans, funerals are celebrated in style with noisy brass bands processing through the streets. The main section of the parade is known as First Line but the real fun starts with the parasol-twirling, handkerchief-waving Second Line.

Welcome to Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, where “New Orleans meets 90s’ club classics in a rave funeral without the body” as a rabble of mischievous northerners pay homage to the diehard days of Manchester’s Hacienda, club culture and its greatest hero, Mr Tony Wilson. Stepping out in uniformed style, they channel the spirit of the 24-hour party people, jettisoning funereal slow hymns in favour of anarchic dance energy. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Ania Magliano: Triple threat at play in Forgive Me, Father at The Crescent

Comedy gig of the week: Burning Duck Comedy presents Ania Magliano, Forgive Me, Father, The Crescent, York, January 23, 7.30pm

IN the first Burning Duck gig since the sudden passing of club promoter Al Greaves, London comedian and writer Ania Magliano performs her Forgive Me, Father show.

Describing herself as a triple threat (bisexual, Gen Z, bad at cooking), she says: “You know when you’re trying to wee on a night out, and you’re interrupted by a random girl who insists on telling you all her secrets, even though you’ve never met? Imagine that, but she has a microphone.” Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Mica Sefia: Future-soul singer fuses alt. soul, jazz and soft rock in The Old Paint Shop

The 2025 Old Paint Shop cabaret season opener: CPWM presents Mica Sefia, York Theatre Royal Studio, January 23, 8pm

BORN in Liverpool, based in London, future-soul singer Mica Sefia “prefers to keep her lyricisms and narrative open to interpretation”, applying a “balanced approach to songwriting, in which her music remains subjective, but retains its emotive sensitivity” in songs that lean into alt. soul, jazz and soft rock to create atmospheric sounds and textured layers. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Lyrical musicianship at York Theatre Royal: Poet Laureate and LYR band members Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson. Picture: Katie Silvester

The language of music: An Evening With Simon Armitage and LYR, York Theatre Royal, January 24, 7.30pm

UK Poet Laureate, dramatist, novelist, broadcaster and University of Leeds Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage teams up with his band LYR for an evening of poetry (first half) and music (second half), where LYR’s soaring vocal melodies and ambient instrumentation create an evocative and enchanting soundscape for West Yorkshireman Armitage’s spoken-word passages. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ned Swarbrick: Debut headline gig at The Crescent at the age of 16

Headline debut of the week: Ned Swarbrick, The Crescent, York, January 24, 7.30pm

AT 16, York singer-songwriter Ned Swarbrick heads to The Crescent – with a couple of band mates in tow – for his debut headline show after accruing 40 gigs over the past two years. Penning acoustic songs that reflect his love of literature and pop culture, he sways from melancholy to upbeat, sad to happy, serious to tongue in cheek.

The first to admit that he is still finding his feet, in his live shows Ned switches between Belle & Sebastian-style pop numbers and intimate folk tunes more reminiscent of Nick Drake. Check out his debut EP, Michelangelo, featuring National Youth Folk Ensemble members, and look out for him busking on York’s streets. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Frankie Monroe: Transforming The Old Paint Shop into the Misty Moon working men’s club at York Theatre Royal

Beyond compere: Frankie Monroe And Friends, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, January 24, 8pm

BBC New Comedy and Edinburgh Fringe Newcomer winner Frankie Monroe hosts an evening of humour,  tricks and mucky bitter in The Old Paint Shop. Join the owner of the Misty Moon – “a working men’s club in Rotherham that also serves as a portal to hell” – in his biggest show yet with some of York’s finest cabaret performers. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The show poster for The Deadpan Players’ Robin Hood – Making Nottingham Great Again

York debut of the week: The Deadpan Players in Robin Hood – Making Nottingham Great Again, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 24 and 25, 7.30pm and 2pm Saturday matinee

THE Deadpan Players, a not-for-profit community group from just outside York that raises money for charity through their performances, will visit the JoRo for the first time with their fifth pantomime, a unique take on Robin Hood, original script et al.

Join Robin, Maid Marian and the Merry Men, along with a handful of friends, as they brainstorm some “ongoing achievables” and work towards a win-win situation that will deliver Nottingham from the Sheriff’s evil grip and “Make Nottingham Great Again”. Next steps never felt so good. Better bring a quill, there’s going to be admin aplenty.

All proceeds will go to Candlelighters and the Farming Community Network, in memory of Nick Leaf, a fellow Deadpan Player and North Yorkshire farmer. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Clifford’s Tower: Taking part in York Residents’ Festival next weekend

Festival of the week: York Residents’ Festival, January 25 and 26

ORGANISED by Make It York, this annual festival combines free offers, events  and discounts for valid York Card, student card or identity card holders that proves your York residency. Among the participating visitor attractions will be Bedern Hall, Clifford’s Tower, Yorkshire Air Museum, Merchant Taylors Hall and, outside York, Beningbrough Hall and Castle Howard. For the full list of offers, head to: visityork.org/offers/category/york-residents-festival.

Scott Matthews: Wolverhampton singer-songwriter plays the NCEM

Folk gig of the week: The Crescent and Black Swan Folk Club present Scott Matthews, National Centre for Early Music, York, January 25, doors 7pm

ON a tour that has taken in churches and caves, Wolverhampton singer-songwriter Scott Matthews plays St Margaret’s Church, home to the NCEM in Walmgate, next weekend.

Combining folk, rock, blues and Eastern-inspired song-writing, he has released eight albums since his 2007 debut single,  Elusive, won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. His most recent recording, 2023’s Restless Lullabies, found him revisiting songs from 2020’s New Skin with a stark acoustic boldness. Box office: seetickets.com/event/scott-matthews/ncem/3211118. Please note, this is a seated show with all seating unreserved.

In Focus: Stewart Lee at the double in York as Theatre Royal comedian for five nights and NCEM narrator for one afternoon

Mark Reynolds’s poster illustration for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf at York Theatre Royal

COMEDIAN Stewart Lee will play five nights in a row at York Theatre Royal from January 28 and squeeze in a Saturday matinee of an entirely different experimental performance, Indeterminacy, at the National Centre for Early Music too.

Lee, 56, who deadpanned his way through three nights of Basic Lee on his last Theatre Royal visit in March 2023, explains the length of run for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, a show that has been playing London’s Leicester Square Theatre since December 3 before opening its tour on January 19.

“Yeah, well, the theatre must have thought they could sell it!” says Stewart, who loves playing the Theatre Royal. “For me, once you get much above 2,000 seats, my kind of comedy becomes hard to do because you can’t interact with the audience and you can’t hear audience responses, so I’m always happy to do smaller venues.”

He has dates in his diary until November 19 with his website promising “more to be added” for a show that he presages by declaring he is “in danger of being left behind”. As his tour publicity puts it, “He’s approaching 60 with debilitating health conditions [worsening hearing], his TV profile has diminished, and his once BAFTA award-winning style of stand-up seems obsolete in the face of a wave of callous Netflix-endorsed comedy of anger, monetising the denigration of minorities for millions of dollars.

“But can Lee unleash his inner Man-Wulf to position himself alongside comedy legends like Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais and Jordan Peterson at the forefront of side-splitting,stadium-stuffing s**it-posting?,” he asks.

“The problem I’ve got is that the act is about a man who feels undervalued and not given enough credit, but I am really popular! I play to a quarter of a million people on each tour; I’m on TV every two and a half years when a show is finished – and young people are coming to the shows, so the audience is replenishing.

“Suddenly I’ve gone from someone starting out in the dying days of alternative comedy to someone still writing long-form shows when people now tend to make bitty work that’s packaged up.”

In Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, Lee shares his stage with a “tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity”, where the Man-Wulf “lays down a ferocious comedy challenge to the culturally irrelevant and physically enfeebled Lee”. “Can the beast inside us all be silenced with the silver bullet of Lee’s unprecedentedly critically acclaimed style of stand-up?” he ponders.

Is this “conceptual comedy”, Stewart? “Well, you can call it that. It’s not for me to say, but I think it’s very much that. I know what it is,” he says. “I like to read local reviews and student reviews as they seem to get it more than the national press.

“This is a show about taste and responsibility in comedy, which suddenly has a real resonance that it didn’t have even three weeks ago. What responsibilities do Elon Musk [X] and Mark Zuckerberg [Facebook] have in relation to telling the truth, like Musk lying about someone like Jess Phillips…and what is our place in that if we don’t do something about it.

“I was worried it was just a show by someone who was thinking about it, but now it seems prescient – and the worse the world gets, the better the show is. Three weeks ago it was like, ‘well, where is this going’’? Now they know where it’s going, so weirdly they might have been thinking, ‘oh, he’s being a bit pessimistic’, but sometimes it turns out you’re a bit ahead of the curve and then the world catches up.”

One of the joys of a Stewart Lee show is how he plays with the form, boundaries and possibilities of comedy. “In this one, I try doing the same material three times in three ways: first, liberal material told in a liberal way; next, reactionary material, in a reactionary way; then reactionary material, in a liberal way,” he says.

Stewart has found his comedy changing through the years, in part in response to Jerry Springer: The Opera [the musical comedy he wrote with Richard Thomas] “becoming literally a matter of life or death for someone”. “I thought what an amazing privilege it is to be able to write and perform, and you have to think about the implications of that,” he says.

“As I get older I increasingly appreciate how difficult it is to afford tickets and get a babysitter to come to a show. My comedy becomes more high concept and thoughtful, but at the same time it’s also more old-school comedy, being both philosophical and thinking about how Frankie Howerd or Kenneth Williams would sell this idea of becoming more pretentious and vaudevillian simultaneously.

“I do feel we have a sense of responsibility to deliver a night out that makes sure something happens that night that only happens that night. You also have to send people away with a bit of hope, when a lot of people like me feel they have lost the battle for the things they are concerned about, like environmental issues.”

Such environmental matters, and more specifically sewage in the River Derwent in Malton and Norton, triggered Ryedale arts promoter and Malton town councillor Simon Thackray to ask The Shed regular Stewart Lee to take part in the first Shed show since 2015 to “’encourage’ Yorkshire Water to go the extra mile’.

Narrator Lee will team up with pianists Tania Chen and Steve Beresford to perform John Cage’s Indeterminacy at the NCEM on February 1 at 3.30pm. “Make sure people know it’s not a comedy show, though it’s quite funny in its way,” he says.

Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal, January 28 to February 1, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. The Shed presents Indeterminacy, NCEM, York, February 1, 3.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

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Author Rob Chapman to discuss Syd Barrett & Nick Drake book at Vinyl Sessions at Starling Independent bar, Harrogate

The cover artwork for Rob Chapman’s book, Unsung: Unsaid, Syd & Nick In Absentia

ROB Chapman, one of Britain’s premier music writers, will make an exclusive visit to Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen, Oxford Street, Harrogate, for a Vinyl Sessions event co-hosted by Charm on January 22 at 7.30pm.

Author Chapman will participate in an evening of conversation and music focused on two legends, Syd Barrett, who was responsible for Pink Floyd’s first Top Ten hit See Emily Play, and singer-songwriter Nick Drake.

Chapman, who has written regularly for Mojo and Uncut magazines, as well as The Times and the Guardian, will take part in a Q&A about these seminal enigmas of the 1960s’ and 1970s’ rock world with Graham Chalmers, of the Harrogate Advertiser, and his Charm colleague James Littlewood.

Chapman also will discuss his two bestselling books, Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head, published by Faber & Faber in 2010, and his latest groundbreaking work, Unsung: Unsaid – Syd And Nick In Absentia.

The cover to Rob Chapman’s 2010 book Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head


The evening will feature two all-time classic albums in the shape of Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) and Nick Drake’s Pink Moon (1972).

The event will be helmed by Vinyl Sessions founder Colin Paine and will include an accompanying video slide show by Jim Dobbs.

Vinyl Sessions and Charm present An Exclusive Evening with Rob Chapman on Pink Floyd & Nick Drake,Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen, Oxford Street, Harrogate, January 22; doors open at 7pm for the 7.30pm start.

Tickets must be booked in advance at £10 each plus booking fee at eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-rob-chapman-plus-pink-floyd-nick-drake-on-vinyl-tickets-1127910934969. Every penny goes to Harrogate Hospital Community Charity.

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Feargal Sharkey to interview author wife Elizabeth on last night of Why Britain Rocked tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

The cover artwork for Elizabeth Sharkey’s Why Britain Rocked, featuring an image of The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan

FEARGAL Sharkey, former frontman of The Undertones, will join his wife, author Elizabeth Sharkey, for Why Britain Rocked at Pocklington Arts Centre on February 13.

This will be the only night on her book tour when the Amazon best-selling Elizabeth will be accompanied by her Northern Irish punk and soul singer, fisherman and environmental campaigner husband, now 66.

Together they will explore the history of British pop music, as charted in her debut book, Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll And Took Over The World, wherein she re-writes the established history by uncovering the untold stories behind Britain’s musical evolution and challenges the American claim to have invented rock’n’roll.

From the influence of the Celts and Quakers to groundbreaking figures such as Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson, Why Britain Rocked redefines the narrative of British pop history and reveals the diverse roots of the 20th-century musical explosion.

Described by Classic Rock magazine as “a treasure trove of exploration, academic rigour and a welcome, bold attempt at re-framing the history of British pop music,” the book has received high praise from readers and critics alike.

This evening promises a captivating mix of live music, fiery discussion, thought-provoking debate, intrigue and very special guest Feargal, who will step into the role of interviewer for one night only in the finale to the tour. 

As the Pocklington Arts Centre website puts it: “As it’s the final date of her national tour, her husband Feargal Sharkey has decided to join Elizabeth on stage and interview her. He’s promised not to talk about s***e.”

To complement  the Sharkey duo’s insightful discussion, folk musicians Phil Simpson, Phil Ball and Roy Wild will perform live.

Why Britain Rocked: Elizabeth and Feargal Sharkey, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 13, 7.30pm. Box office: Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk/events/why-britain-rocked.

Elizabeth Sharkey: the back story

Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll And Took Over The World author Elizabeth Sharkey. Picture: Elizabeth Sharkey website

Music historian, author, columnist and media commentator.

“Growing up, music was everything to me: my home, my thrill, my escape and my understanding of the world,” she says. “If you love certain songs or pieces of music to the very core of your soul – then you might, as I was, be curious to look a little deeper into just why, how, such magic came to be.” Hence her first book, Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll And Took Over The World.

Regular contributor to the culture and current affairs magazine Perspective, providing historical insight and comment on subjects as diverse as the 17th century origins of feminism, Britain’s gothic scene and the lost art of the story song.

A trained actress, Elizabeth’s previous career was working extensively in television and film. She is a voice-over artist too.

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How did Richard III sound? Find out at Sunday’s world premiere at York Theatre Royal when avatar comes to life on film

Meet the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism: the world premiere of the “living and speaking” Richard III at York Theatre Royal on Sunday

IMAGINE if you could see and hear King Richard III speaking his own words. Imagine experiencing him breathing, thinking and effectively being “brought back to life”’.

On Sunday, in a six-hour conference-style launch event at York Theatre Royal, state-of-the-art technology will reveal for the first time a moving, “living” face of the long-dead king enunciating in the tongue of his Plantagenet time. More Yorkshire than pucker, apparently.

What began  for Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, voice teacher, vocal coach and project originator, more than a decade ago as an after-dinner entertainment to compare Shakespeare’s character with what we know of the real man, developed quickly into a research project.

The focus would be unique: to “explore the possibility of creating a literal voice for a long-dead historical figure”. Fast forward ten years to November 17 2024 when this international launch event will cover how the pieces of a complex puzzle came together using primary evidence.

This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism, one that uses an avatar of the person, based on the reconstruction of their head, to provide an entirely new way to learn of the past. In this instance, we can understand more about the last Plantagenet king of England, who reigned from June 26 1483 to August 22 1485, while also paving the way for other historical avatars.

Sunday’s “reveal” comes against the background of the endless controversy surrounding this besmirched monarch, Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, and the questions raised over his actions and personality: was he a good man or a murderous psychopath, the maligned, malignant Crookback of Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Richard the Third?

Now King Richard III will speak for himself after experts from across the United Kingdom and abroad joined in this pioneering collaboration. Some will share presentations during Sunday’s international launch event, booked into York Theatre Royal from 12 noon to 6pm, climaxing with the final “reveal” at 5.30pm.

Taking the rostrum along with Yvonne Morley-Chisholm will be the key collaborator, cranio-facial identification expert Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her Face Lab team, from Liverpool John Moores University, and Professor David Crystal OBE, linguist and specialist in Original Pronunciation.

Dr Bridget Foreman: York playwright and lecturer in playwriting at the University of York

Joining them will be playwright Dr Bridget Foreman, lecturer in playwriting at the University of York; Matthew Lewis, author, historian and History Hit podcaster; Philippa Langley MBE, author, historian and film producer, who led the search for Richard III’s remains under a Leicester car park, and actor Thomas Dennis, whose vocal performance and facial movements were chosen to animate the avatar made from King Richard III’s facial reconstruction.

As well as exploring the true history of King Richard III, the event will feature discussions on a range of topics including Medieval History, Linguistics, Original (Historical) Pronunciation, Craniofacial Reconstruction, Forensic Psychology, Voice and Dialect, Historical Human Reconstruction, Postmortalism, CGI and Motion-Capture, among other specialisms.

Yvonne Morley-Chisholm said: “It’s been the greatest privilege to work with Professor Caroline Wilkinson. Her team at Face Lab are working towards animating the face of King Richard III from real-time motion capture.

“Professor Wilkinson’s work provides the physical nucleus while mine provides the vocal nucleus in this ‘world first’. This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism, using an avatar of the real king based on the reconstruction of his head.

“I am also deeply honoured to be working with Professor David Crystal, who is the internationally recognised, leading expert in Original Pronunciation. He has created a reconstruction of the king’s pronunciation using personal letters and documents. The result is as close as anyone can get to King Richard III’s speech from the time in which he lived and reigned.

“I am grateful for the many others who have helped to shape each piece of the puzzle in this pioneering and unique collaboration. The project has achieved more than I ever dared to imagine it could.

“We are bringing a long dead king back to a kind of ‘life’. We are learning more about the real man in doing so. With state-of-the-art motion-capture technology, CGI animation and the like, I hope that – for those who find history a little dull – we are making it ‘cool’.”

Professor Caroline Wilkinson said: “Since we produced the facial reconstruction of Richard III in 2012, we have dreamt about bringing him alive, to see him move and speak his own words. With the help of advanced digital avatar technology and Yvonne’s voice team, we have been able to realise this dream.

“The result has exceeded our expectations and represents the most authentic and realistic portrait of this great king, based on all the evidence available.”

Philippa Langley MBE: Author, historian and film producer, who led the search for Richard III’s remains

Professor David Crystal said: “I think people will be surprised to hear a kind of speech that is a fascinating mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar. English pronunciation has changed a lot since the 15th century, but it’s still very intelligible to modern ears.”

Matthew Lewis said: “We live in an age experienced and digested through media. We’re surrounded by the images and voices of all kinds of people. Yet not so long ago, we have no images beyond portraiture, which often comes years after a person’s death. We have no recordings of their voices to hear them, and in an age before diaries were commonplace, little hope of piercing beyond public personas.

“The Voice For Richard Project is a stunning example of how science, technology and history can come together to help bridge the distance of time that separates us from those we have heard of but could never have heard.

“This is as close as we can get to being in the room in the 15th century when a king speaks. I can’t wait for the world to see the culmination of ten years of hard work and innovation.”

Philippa Langley MBE said: “To help bring Richard to life, research into his character focused on contemporary descriptions from his own lifetime. These included private letters and a diary. The results corresponded directly with similar public descriptions offering a probability bordering on certainty of his recognised character from his lifetime.

“The results, to be premiered in York, will be a technological, scientific and historic break-through in aiding our understanding of the past and this important historical figure.

“It’s been the most incredible honour to be part of this cross-platform research over its ten years and I would like to thank Yvonne Morley-Chisholm for inviting me to be a part of her team. The world premiere in York promises to be extraordinary.”

Tickets: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii/. Further information: avoiceforrichard.co.uk. Sunday’s event will be live-streamed too at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii-livestream/.

The 16th century portrait of Richard III, by an unknown artist, that went on show at the Yorkshire Museum, York, from July to October 2021 as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Coming Home project. Measuring 25 ins by 18ins, the artwork known as “the Red Portrait” was painted years after his death but is believed to be based on an original painted in Richard’s lifetime

Richard III: the (hunch)back story

BORN on October 2 1452, he grew up at Middleham Castle in the Yorkshire Dales. Visited York several times during his short reign as King of England from June 26 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, aged 32.

Last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth was the penultimate battle in the Wars of the Roses and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The last battle? The Battle of Stoke Field, June 16 1487.

His remains were discovered in 2012 under a car park in Leicester by University of Leicester Archaeological Services and Philippa Langley MBE, of the Richard III Society, through her original Looking For Richard Project.

Philippa’s search for the king’s grave was the subject of the award-winning TV documentary Richard III: The King In The Car Park. The remains were identified using scientific disciplines including DNA analysis and are now interred at Leicester Cathedral.

A Voice for Richard III international launch event schedule, York Theatre Royal, Sunday

12 noon to 1.30pm: First session: From the myths to the man, presented by Dr Bridget Foreman, Matthew Lewis and Philippa Langley. 1.30pm: Lunch break.

2.30pm to 4pm: Second session: The experts speak: Historical Human reconstruction, presented by Prof Caroline Wilkinson, Prof David Crystal and Yvonne Morley-Chisholm. 4pm: Break.

4.30pm to 6pm: Third session: Continuation and culmination: the reveal (5.30pm). Documentary excerpts from History Hit, followed by Yvonne Morley-Chisholm talking with Thomas Dennis, the actor chosen to be the face and voice of the king, leading to film of King Richard III’s face speaking his own words in his own pronunciation.

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What’s on in Ryedale, York and beyond, from highwayman high jinks to brass blasts. Hutch’s List No 41, from Gazette & Herald

Gerard Savva: Leading the York Stage cast as Bobby in Company at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

LOOK out for Godber at the double, Sondheim sophistication, a ground-breaking Black pioneer and Hull humour in the week ahead, recommends Charles Hutchinson.

Musical of the week: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married? Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold, sophisticated and insightful revolutionary musical comedy follows Bobby as he navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily (and unhappily) married friends, exploring the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind.

Nik Briggs directs a York Stage cast featuring Gerard Savva as Bobby, Florence Poskitt, Julia Anne Smith, Alexandra Mather, Joanne Theaker, Dan Crawfurd-Porter and Jack Hooper, among others. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster for Lightning Seeds’ show at Scarborough Spa Grand Hall tonight

Pure and simply joyful every time: Lightning Seeds, Tomorrow’s Here Today, 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, Scarborough Spa Grand Hall, tonight; The Welly, Hull, December 4; Leeds Beckett Students’ Union, December 6

TO mark their 35th anniversary, Liverpool singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie leads Lightning Seeds on their Tomorrow’s Here Today tour to accompany a new greatest hits album.

Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions et al and many more. Tonight doors open at 7pm; Casino play at 8pm, Lightning Seeds at 9pm. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk; Hull, giveitsomewelly.com; Leeds, leedsbeckettsu.co.uk.

Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch

Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they are expecting four days of hill running and total de-stressing. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.

The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling 1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The Highwayman cast of Dylan Allcock, left, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Matheea Ellerby and Jo Patmore in John Godber’s new historical play. Picture: Ian Hodgson

New play of the week: John Godber Company in The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday, sold out

AFTER more than 70 plays reflecting on modern life, John  Godber goes back in history for the first time in The Highwayman. “It’s 1769 and Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull is thriving, and the Spa towns are full,” he says.

“Everyone is flocking north. Yorkshire is the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation is great.” Enter the highwayman, John Swift and his partner, Molly May. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Paterson Joseph and Charles Ignatius Sancho: Storyteller and subject in Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal

Story of the week: Paterson Joseph, Sancho & Me, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm, with post-show discussion

CHARLES Ignatius Sancho, born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729, became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected man of letters in 18th century London – the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain.

Actor, author and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University Paterson Joseph tells his story, accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park, built around his book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Joseph explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with his own story of growing up Black and British. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Irish band Adore: Headlining at The Crescent tomorrow. Picture: Fnatic

Indie gig of the week: Road Less Travelled presents Adore, Fuzz Lightyear and Tom Beer, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

RISING stars of the Irish music scene, Adore are a three-piece garage punk band from Galway, Donegal and Dublin, who refract surf, disco and pop through punk sensibilities, grounded in crunchy guitar, drum and bass.

Leeds four-piece Fuzz Lightyear, freshly signed to independent label Nice Swan Records, match the intensity of Idles and Gilla Band while applying wit and a lyrical openness to their songs. Bull frontman Tom Beer kicks off the triple bill with a solo set. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

New York Brass Band: Bringing New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz from old York to Milton Rooms, Malton

Jazz night of the week: Acorn Events presents New York Brass Band and The Ryedale Stray Notes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 7pm

NEW York Brass Band, from York, perform with a seven or eight-piece line-up of sax, tuba, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone in the New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz band tradition. Formed by James Lancaster in 2010, they are inspired by Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, Hot 8, Youngblood and Brassroots.

They have played at Glastonbury for the past eight festivals and at celebrity parties and weddings for Danny Jones, of McFly, Ellie Goulding, comedian Alex Brooker, Liam Gallagher and Jamie Oliver. Support act The Ryedale Stray Notes feature 25 talented young musicians “ready to raise the roof”. Proceeds go to Acorn Community Care to support vulnerable adults with physical and learning disabilities. Tickets: acornevents.org.uk or phone Ali on 07891 3889085.

Paddy Young: Topping the Rye Humour bill at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Lucas Smith

Variety night of the week: Rye Humour, Comedy vs Climate Change, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

RYE Humour’s variety bill of up-and-coming comics will be headlined by Chortle Best Newcomer winner Paddy Young, a stand-up with Scarborough roots. The 2023 BBC New Comedy Awards finalist and Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nominee has attracted 100 million views online for his sketches with Ed Night. His comedy special, filmed by American record label 800 Pound Gorilla Records, will be released shortly. 

This gig has been developed in collaboration with the Ryevitalise Landscape Partnership scheme, as part of a project that uses humour to explore environmental issues based around North Yorkshire’s rivers. Any questions about the evening, or accessibility, will be answered at events@comedyvsclimatechange.org.uk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Lucy Beaumont: Off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gig of the week: Lucy Beaumont Live, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 8pm

HULL humorist, BAFTA nominee and Taskmaster star Lucy Beaumont is determined to let loose and let slip on her rollercoaster world with off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood.

From the co-host of the chart-topping podcast Perfect Brains with Sam Campbell and creator of Meet The Richardsons comes a look at life through the Lucy lens. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when a rebellious sea dog makes the news. Hutch’s List No. 44, from The Press

The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

FROM a motley crew all at sea to Eighties’ pop and rock stars, a beehive buzz of a campaigning American teen to a boy with a stammer, Charles Hutchinson’s week promises both adventure and misadventure.

World premiere of the week: The Whitby Rebels, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until November 2, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

IN Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.

This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. Bea Roberts’s new play tells their true story, boat on stage et al. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.

Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Songs For A New World

Song cycle of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm  

ON the heels of last week’s The Last Five Years, Black Sheep Theatre perform another Jason Robert Brown work, 1995’s Songs For A New World.

Defying conventional musical theatre formats, Brown and original director Daisy Prince say the non-linear show is “neither musical play nor revue”, but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle” that explores such universal themes as hope, faith, love and loss in its emotionally charged songs. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.

While & Matthews: Playing Hunmanby on closing night of 30th anniversary tour

Folk gig of the week: While & Matthews, Hunmanby Village Hall, near Filey, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of the longest-lasting female folk duo, singer-songwriters Chris While and Julie Matthews, concludes this weekend at Hunmanby Village Hall, where they sold out two years ago. Together they have played more than 2,500 gigs, appeared on 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.

Chris (vocals, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and percussion) and Julie (vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki) released their 13th studio album, Days Like These, on Fat Cat Records last month. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Arthur Smith: Grumpy old man of comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre

Comedy turn of the week: An Audience With Arthur Smith, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm

COMPERE, playwright, panellist, performer and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart Arthur Smith worked previously as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher and teacher. He even advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.

A career in stand-up comedy was the only one that could follow a build-up like that, he decided, since when he has appeared on quiz shows and Loose Ends, been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith and presented BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Chrissie Hynde: Fronting The Pretenders at a sold-out York Barbican on Thursday

What an Eighties’ week at York Barbican: The Cult, Tuesday, sold out; Adam Ant, AntMusic 2024, Wednesday, limited ticket availability; The Pretenders, Thursday, sold out

THE Cult’s 8424: 40th Anniversary Tour brings Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy’s band to York with their pioneering fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and experimentalism. Pop icon Adam Ant performs his chart-topping hits and personal favourites in his AntMusic 2024 show on his return to the Barbican.

Chrissie Hynde leads The Pretenders in York, one of three additions to their extended 2024 tour,  combining new tracks with classics such as Brass In Pocket and Back On The Chain Gang. Last year they released their 12th studio album, Relentless. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Katie Brice’s Tracy Turnblad and Neil Hurst’s Edna Turnblad in Hairspray The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Musical of the week: Hairspray, Grand Opera House, York, October 28 to November 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BASED on cult filmmaker John Waters’ 1988 American movie, Hairspray The Musical follows the progress of  heroine Tracy Turnblad, with her  big hair, big heart and big dreams to dance her way on to national television and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.

When Tracy (Katie Brice/Scarborough actress Alexandra Emerson-Kirby in her professional debut) becomes a local star, she uses her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance, and interracial unity in Baltimore. Look out for Yorkshireman Neil Hurst as Tracy’s mum, Edna, and Strictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton as villainous Velma Von Tussle. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.

Ciaran O’Breen as Captain Chatter and Hilson Agbangbe as Sonny in Wonder Boy, on tour at York Theatre Royal

Children’s story of the week: Wonder Boy, York Theatre Royal, October 29 to November 2; evenings, 7.30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; matinees, 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, next Saturday

OLIVIER Award winner Sally Cookson directs Bristol Old Vic’s touring production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s exploration of the power of communication, told through the experiences of 12-year-old Sonny and his imaginary friend Captain Chatter.

Playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music combine in this innovative show that uses live creative captioning on stage throughout as Sonny, who lives with a stammer, must find a way to be heard in a world where language is power. When cast in a school production of Hamlet by the head teacher, he discovers the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Victoria Delaney and Tony Froud in J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, next week’s production by York Actors Collective. Picture: Clive Millard

Theatre Royal debut of the week: York Actors Collective in Mary Rose, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 30 to November 2,  7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees

YORK Actors Collective make their York Theatre Royal debut with a revival of Peter Pan and Quality Street playwright J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, adapted and directed by Angie Millard.

“Barrie uses dimensions of time to great effect,” she says. “His treatment of love, loss and unwavering hope draws in an audience and gives it universality. I’ve adapted the script to appeal to modern thinking but his themes are intact. The strange and ghostly atmosphere fits beautifully into our autumn slot, which includes Halloween and is a time for considering other worldliness.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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