Echo & The Bunnymen celebrate ’40 years of magical songs’ with Leeds and Sheffield concerts and album reissues on vinyl

Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant: 44 years and counting…and still too cool to be called a heritage act

ECHO & The Bunnymen are heading out on their spring tour, opening with two Yorkshire gigs at Sheffield City Hall tomorrow (1/2/2022) and Leeds O2 Academy on Wednesday.

Billed as “celebrating 40 years of magical songs” – although the Liverpool band formed in 1978 – the 20 dates book-end the February 18 vinyl reissue of the Bunnymen’s first compilation, 1985’s Songs To Learn & Sing.

Available on heavyweight black vinyl and a special-edition splatter vinyl, complete with an exclusive seven-inch pressing of debut single Pictures On My Wall/Read It In Books, the resurrected compilation follows last October’s vinyl re-issue of their first four studio albums, Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine and Ocean Rain, also on black or limited-edition coloured vinyl.

“It’s about making the albums look good,” says guitarist Will Sergeant, who remains at the core of the Liverpool post-punk legends with singer Ian McCulloch. “There’ve been versions out there, like the ones with hard cardboard sleeves a couple of years, that I did some liner notes for. I just got a few copies…with a bit of scrounging!

“There’s loads of Bunnymen records I haven’t got. I never get sent anything! People come up to you and ask you to sign records, and you think, ‘I’ve never seen that one before’.”

Echo & The Bunnymen at Gullfloss, southern Iceland, on the cover of third album Porcupine

Sergeant notes the resurgence in buying vinyl, but says: “I’ve never given up on vinyl. You wouldn’t throw out old photo albums, so why throw out your vinyl? I’d never sell them.

“There was this bloke with all the original Beatles albums on mono, selling them for nothing at a car-boot sale, and I said to him, ‘what are you doing, selling them for that’, and he ended up putting them back in his car!“

He is delighted by the Bunnymen’s ongoing reissue programme, “I’m made up that they’re being brought out on vinyl, as I love it, though all I know is that they’re being re-released. I’ve not really been consulted, though I’m sure they’ll have been tarted up a bit!”

The album sleeves, revelling in their return to the 12-inch canvas, bring back memories for Sergeant, now 63. Like the freezing-cold day in 1982 they shot the cover for 1983’s Porcupine at Gullfoss, the ‘Golden Falls’ waterfall in southwest Iceland.

“It was 30 degrees below! I think Bill Drummond had been there as a kid, going to Iceland on a fishing boat. We just went there to do the album cover. It was the middle of winter, and we had to get up at two in the morning, setting off across the tundra in these four-wheelers. It took all of three hours to get to the end of this glacier.

Echo & The Bunnymen at Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, Cornwall, in Brian Griffin’s artwork for Ocean Rain, billed as “the greatest album ever made”

“I was wearing a parka and some boots, and Ian had some ‘ladies’ slippers from with little knots on them and fur inside. He used to call them his banana boots ’cos they went yellow.”

The sleeve image looks spectacular, but doing the shoot was “mental”, says Sergeant. “There was a 200ft drop just two feet away on this ice cap. If we’d slipped, we’d have been down in this chasm,” he recalls. “But I’m glad we did it. The great thing is that it’s real. It’s not photoshopped. We really had to go to these places.”

Next came Ocean Rain, the 1984 masterpiece trailered by McCulloch’s advert boast proclaiming it to be “the greatest album ever made”. “We shot the cover in an old slate mine in Cornwall. Jake Riviera, the big cheese on Stiff Records, had this cave on his land at the bottom of his garden, and the photographer, Brian Griffin, had worked with Jake and knew this place,” says Sergeant.

“We were always looking for natural settings. We’d done the sea, we’d done the woods, we’d done the glacier, so we said, ‘let’s do a cave.”

Once in the cave, at Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, they decided to use the rowing boat in there. “It’s naturalistic, but the way Brian lit it makes it look likes the water curves round the tunnel. Beautiful.”

“It’ll be pretty much the greatest hits and maybe a couple of new ones,” says Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen’s set list for their spring tour

Sergeant has always loved the look of vinyl, the size of the album sleeve, that all contributes to the iconic status of classic albums. “The good thing about records, if you have a collector’s spirit, is that you want all of it: all of The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, so it’s great that vinyl’s coming back. Not just for the old collectors, but the young hipsters.”

Looking ahead to the tour, Sergeant says: “It’ll be pretty much the greatest hits and maybe a couple of new ones. We’ll decide the day before.

“We did start recording new stuff, but the pandemic put the kybosh on that, so the momentum was lost. We’ll see.”

He did use lockdown, however, to bring his book, Bunnyman: A Memoir, to the finishing line for publication last July (and subsequently in the United States in November on Fairman Books, musician Jack White’s publishing house).

Sergeant’s memoir recounts how he grew up in Liverpool in the 1960s and ’70s, “when skinheads, football violence and fear of just about everything was the natural order of things, but a young Will Sergeant found the emerging punk scene provided a shimmer of hope amongst a crumbling city still reeling from the destruction of the Second World War”.

From Read It In Books to writing books: Echo & The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant pens his memoir, Bunnyman

“I’d already started writing it, in 2019, I think, but the first lockdown helped me to concentrate on it, doing it every day for nine months, then it took time to find the photos – there aren’t a lot, as the book focuses on my time as a kid, growing up, and the first year of the band before Pete [drummer Pete de Freitas] joined, when we had a drum machine. The next book will be about what happened after that,” says Sergeant.

Reflecting on his back story, he says: “I remember a lot of things from when I was a kid, because we had a bit of a tumultuous childhood, with a lot of violence and heaviness in the house because my parents didn’t get on.

“I didn’t keep a diary, but with the Bunnymen, every day is a diary day because people keep details and lots of it has stayed in the memory – and it’s the bits that you remember that are important.

“My big thing is truth. I don’t like people who lie. That’s why there are lots of truths in the first book that some people would have left out.”

Echo & The Bunnymen play Sheffield City Hall tomorrow (February 1) and Leeds O2 Academy on Wednesday. Box office: gigsandtours.com/tour/echo-and-the-bunnymen.

Podcast interview special: Heath Common on Kerouac Lives cabaret at Hebden Bridge

Heath Common: Podcast guest discusses Kerouac Lives

TWO Big Egos In A Small Car arts podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson interview Heath Common, poet, publisher, journalist, presenter and musician, about his Kerouac Lives project.

As part of Independent Venues Week, this cabaret night will celebrate the life, work and impact of legendary Beat writer Jack Kerouac at Wadsworth Community Centre on February 4 at 7.45pm (doors, 6.45pm).

Heath Common will be joined by Simon Warner and John Hardie for an evening of conversation, key readings and a specially composed soundtrack to mark the centenary of the Massachusetts writer’s birth.

Kerouac Lives contends that Jack Kerouac is a voice like no other, transcending his era. “His works become a symbol of change in an increasingly conformist system, leading the iconic Beat movement,” the event blurb states.

“It also inspired the next generation of rebels for decades to come. He was a champion of freedom, individuality, and authenticity.” Tickets are selling fast on 07731 661053 and 07890 205890.

Episode 75 of Two Big Egos In A Small Car concludes with Chalmers & Hutch’s discussion on the impact of the freezing – and potential easing out – of the BBC licence fee.

To listen: head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9967773

The poster for Kerouac Lives

New chapter for York One-Day Book Fair opens today, organised for first time by Pitch 22 Books’ John Cox at racecourse

BRITAIN’S largest one-day book fair returns to York today after a brief hiatus, running from 10.30am to 4.30pm in the Knavesmire Suite at York Racecourse.

Only the second such fair of the year, this Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) event is well attended by those with a passion for books, amateur collectors, avid readers and trade alike.

Organisers of the PBFA York One-Day Book Fair 2022 are bringing more than 100 booksellers from across the country to “one of the friendliest rare, antiquarian and out-of-print book fairs in the UK” , between them offering an array of books, maps, prints and ephemera.

Modern first editions, antiquarian masterpieces and everything else in between is for sale at prices ranging from a few pounds to several thousands, providing something for every budget and every area of interest.

After a Covid-enforced year off, organisers are looking forward to welcoming visitors once more in what they promise will be a safe and comfortable environment.

John Cox, the fair’s new organiser, from Pitch 22 Books, in Fishergate, says: “After a difficult couple of years, it will be great to see people amongst the books again this year. With more than 100 booksellers from the four corners of Yorkshire and beyond, we’re sure that visitors to the 2022 event will be delighted with what they find.

“Please be assured that huge efforts have been made to make sure the event is Covid safe while remaining as friendly and appealing as ever.”

Johns adds: “Anyone interested in books and reading is encouraged to come along to this brilliant fair. This isn’t just an event for members of the trade, but is open to everyone young and old, and is a great place to start collecting or to add to your collection.”

Organisers say the book fair venue is easy to reach, with unlimited free parking. A free shuttle bus will be running to York Racecourse from the Memorial Gardens bus stop – just north of York railway station – every 20 minutes, dependent on the traffic!

Entrance to the event is £1 on the door. Alternatively, FREE tickets can be downloaded from yorkbookfair.com/one-day-complimentary-ticket/.

Why January 1 is the day to start reading Alex Johnson’s Art Day By Day almanac

Author and journalist Alex Johnson with his latest book, Art Day By Day. Picture: Vincent Franklin

LOOKING for a cultural book to read one day at a time in 2022? Look no further than Art Day By Day, 366 Brushes With History, edited by Alex Johnson, freelance journalist, writer, design and lifestyle blogger and half-decent snooker player, formerly of this parish.

Published by Thames & Hudson, Alex’s daily almanac presents a selection of historical art events for every day of the year, from the momentous and headline-grabbing to the intimate, amusing, and illuminating; from Donatello to Dennis the Menace, Fabergé to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Spain to Senegal.

As Alex puts it, by taking a novel approach to the history of art, Art Day By Day “aims to change the pace at which the story is told”. Hence CharlesHutchPress’s advice to browse it in daily instalments.

Educated in York at Bootham School and trained in print journalism at the Yorkshire Evening Press, as it then was, this polymath of the written form contributes regularly to the Independent, Fine Books magazine and The Idler (on snooker, sheds and microarchitecture) from his St Albans home.

He runs the blogs Bookshelf (on creative bookcase designs) and Shedworking (a term he coined about garden offices) and has now added to that list his sites on tiny houses and “pubworking” (whose day is yet to come, he says). Oh, and he co-created the two The Writers Game games, Classic Authors and Modern Authors, with Laurence King.

Already he has written and edited such books as Bookshelf, Improbable Libraries, A Book Of Book Lists, Book Towns, Shelf Life, The Haynes Shed Manual, Edward Lear And The Pussycat (The Adventures Of Famous Writers And Their Pets), Menus That Made History, How To Give Your Child A Lifelong Love Of Reading and A Soundtrack For  Life (Classical Music To Take You Through The Day) for Scala Radio.

Now he has edited Art Day By Day, “snapshots of the most exciting, unusual and noteworthy art events from around the world and throughout history, told through direct testimonies, eyewitness accounts and contemporary chroniclers”.

“I’ve always been interested in dates and almanacs,” says Alex, who studied Modern History at The Queen’s College, Oxford. “I’d done a couple of books with Thames & Hudson before, so they were perfect for this one.

“The truth is, with nearly all my book covers, I have no input. The publishers send me the cover, saying ‘everyone really likes it’, and I can’t really say ‘No’!” says Alex Johnson. “I think this one works really well”

“Lockdown was a good time to be able to sit down and research it, and like my other books, it’s a book about something I’d like to read about.

“I did lots of arts modules at university as part of my history studies, from Anglo-Saxon art to Renaissance art. Most Oxford History degrees weren’t very flexible but by chance they had several good art modules.”

How did Alex select the subject matter for each day? “There were some things I knew I wanted to write about and some things that jumped out as I looked through the dates; or going through letters and thinking, ‘I want to do something on that’,” he says.

“I wanted it to be as broad as possible, taking in film, comic strips, photography, architecture, even album covers, as well as those things you might expect, like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling and Edvard Munch’s The Scream being stolen, because I didn’t want it to be too highbrow.

“At first it was a case of narrowing it down for each day, then getting down to the last few dates and thinking, ‘nothing happened on that day’, but I was determined to try to avoid too much ‘this or that artist was born or died on this day’, which I thought I could just put at the bottom.”

Comedian Tony Hancock is among the eye-catching entries, for the London premiere of his first leading film role in The Rebel on March 2 1961. “I’ve always been a big Hancock fan, and that was one of the ones I wanted to shoe in, where he played an appalling, childish, inept artist in Paris,” says Alex.

He likes the thought that going down “interesting rabbit holes” could lead readers to other places. “I really hope that they will have the same feeling as I did when they read about the first Fabergé egg and then want to read something far more interesting than those 400 words that will lead them somewhere else,” he says.  “Likewise, by reading condensed versions of some of Van Gogh’s letters, I hope they will seek out more of his letters.”

Artwork – save for the cover design – does not feature in the book. “It’s a shame, but it would have made the book even bigger than its 464 pages, but it’s not like the art is hidden away. If I can find it, then other people can!” urges Alex.

The cover for Alex Johnson’s next book, Rooms Of Their Own

Summing up his philosophy behind Art Dy By Day, he says: “Art is all around us, whether a Woodstock festival poster, a Superman comic or Dennis the Menace’s 1951 debut in The Beano, so that’s why it’s art in the broadest sense, and in many ways, the book is not about art but creative production.

“It would be easy just do something that just features the Great Masters, but there’s no point in doing that, just repeating what we already know, with nothing new added, but this book pinpoints moments of inspiration, when something happened, rather than highlighting great trends.

“It’s about the human side of it all, as things happen to people doing their job, rather than just sitting and pondering!”

Alex has two more books in the pipeline. First up is Rooms Of Their Own: Where Great Writers Write, whether beds, sheds, cafés bathrooms, basements or libraries, published by Frances Lincoln (Quarto) in April with illustrations by James Oses.

The second will be one of Alex’s list books, this one for the British Library, The Book Of Book Jokes, coming out in June. “The trouble with a joke is that you look at it and think, ‘is that still funny?’!” he says. “Some of them are appallingly corny, some are highfalutin. Some are in French or German.”

In the meantime, this is the day when you should buy Alex Johnson’s Art Day By Day. After all, it was included in the arts section of Guardian Bookshop Christmas gift guide.

What features on the Leap Year day of February 29 in Art Day By Day? Sculptor Augusta Savage is born, 1892.

Alex Johnson’s Twitter profile at @shedworking: Writer. Books (art, sheds, food, music, bookish subjects). Columns (@finebooks + @idler). All sorts (@Independent since 2007). Coined term ‘shedworking’.

Where does Alex write and edit? “I used to work from a shed but now removed temporarily to the cellar.”

What’s the Story? Mourning glory? Podcast duo Chalmers & Hutch discuss Spielberg’s divisive re-make of West Side Story

WHY re-tell West Side Story? Culture podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson mull over Spielberg’s musical in Episode 69 of Two Big Egos In A Small Car.

Plus Christmas singles competing for the top spot; Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the American Dream; and cult band I Like Trains’ live comeback in Leeds.

That gig promptied this question: Is swaggering Manchester’s music scene really that much better than self-deprecating Leeds?

Catch the debate at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9744141

What was blues legend BB King’s favourite tipple on a night in Harrogate?

Wave goodbye to jilted Brexit festival, say hello to Unboxed festival’s alternative celebration of these Blighty/blighted isles

YORKSHIRE arts and culture podcasters Chalmers & Hutch reveal all about BB’s choice of thirst quencher in their latest wide-ranging episode of Two Big Egos In A Small Car.

Under discussion too are a ViP night watching Kristen Stewart’s Spencer with a string quartet at Cineworld, Jack Kerouac’s road to Hebden Bridge, and exit Brexit festival, enter Unboxed festival, but what is it?

To listen, head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9616189

What hasn’t yet been written about The Beatles that still needs to be said?

FIND out in Episode 61 of Two Big Egos In A Small Car, when arts podcasters Chalmers & Hutch make room for a special guest.

Let it be Knaresborough DJ, author and Beatles buff Rory Hoy, who discusses his new book, The Beatles Acting Naturally: Obscure, Rare, Unfinished And Abandoned Film And TV Projects Of The Fab Four.

Just enough time too to squeeze in Adele’s return and The Rolling Stones leaving Brown Sugar out of their American tour set list.

Head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9409115

Book ahoy: Rory Hoy holds The Beatles Acting Naturally aloft

More Things To Do in and around York, as Levelling up, peas and wickedness this way come. List No. 54, courtesy of The Press

Ben Moor and Joanna Neary: Mini-season of stand-up theatre and comedy at Theatre@41

MOOR, Moor, Moor and much more, more, more besides are on Charles Hutchinson’s list for the week ahead.

Surrealist stand-up theatre of the week, Ben Moor and Joanna Neary mini-season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today until Saturday

BEN Moor and Joanna Neary combine to deliver five offbeat comedy shows in three days in their Theatre@41 debut.

Moor contemplates performance, friendship and regret in his lecture about lectures, Pronoun Trouble, tonight at 8pm. Tomorrow, at 7.30pm, Neary’s multi-character sketch show with songs and impersonations, Wife On Earth, is followed by Moor’s Who Here’s Lost?, his dream-like tale of a road trip of the soul taken by two outsiders.

Saturday opens at 3pm with Joanna’s debut children’s puppet show, Stinky McFish And The World’s Worst Wish, and concludes at 7pm with the two-hander BookTalkBookTalkBook, a “silly author event parody show”. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Gunpowder Guy in Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain. Picture: Frazer Ashford

Alternative history lesson of the week: Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain, Grand Opera House, York, today at 1.30pm, 7pm; tomorrow, 10.30am and 7pm; Saturday, 3pm, 7pm; Sunday, 11am, 3pm

WHAT if a Viking moved in next door? Would you lose your heart or head to horrible Henry VIII? Can evil Elizabeth entertain England? Will Parliament survive Gunpowder Guy? Dare you stand and deliver to dastardly Dick Turpin?

Questions, questions, so many questions to answer, and here to answer them are the Horrible Histories team in Barmy Britain, a humorously horrible and eye-popping show trip to the past with Bogglevision 3D effects. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

Hannah Victoria in Tutti Frutti’s The Princess And The Pea at York Theatre Royal Studio

Reopening of the week: York Theatre Royal Studio for Tutti Frutti’s The Princess And The Pea, today to Tuesday; no show on Sunday

YORK Theatre Royal Studio reopens today with a capacity reduced from 100 to 71 and no longer any seating to the sides.

First up, Leeds children’s theatre company Tutti Frutti revive York playwright Mike Kenny’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, set in a place where what you see is not what it seems: the Museum of Forgotten Things.

Three musical curators delve into the mystery of how a little green pea ended up there in an hour of humour, songs and a romp through every type of princess you could imagine. Box office and show times: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Artist Anita Bowerman and Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen at Dove Tree Art Gallery and Studio

Open Studios of the week: Anita Bowerman, Dove Tree Art Gallery and Studio, Back Granville Road, Harrogate, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

HARROGATE paper-cut, watercolour and stainless steel artist Anita Bowerman opens her doors for refreshments and a browse around her new paintings of Yorkshire and Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen, prints and mugs. 

“It’s a perfect chance for inspiration before the Christmas present-buying rush starts,” says Anita, who has been busy illustrating a new charity Christmas card for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance featuring the Yorkshire Shepherdess.

Rachel Croft: York singer-songwriter performing at Drawsome! day of activities at Spark:York as part of York Design Week on Saturday

York Design Week gig of the week: Drawsome!, Mollie Coddled Talk More Pavilion, Spark:York, Saturday, from 3pm

AS part of Drawsome’s day of workshops and an Indy Makers Market to complement MarkoLooks’ print swap exhibition of illustrators and printmakers, York’s Young Thugs Records are curating a free line-up of live music.

Taking part will be The Hazy Janes, Kell Chambers and Rachel Croft, singer, songwriter and illustrator to boot.

Breabach: First touring band to play Selby Town Hall in “far too long”. Picture: Paul Jennings

Welcome back of the week: Breabach, Selby Town Hall, Saturday, 8pm

GLASGOW folk luminaries Breabach will be the first touring band to play Selby Town Hall for almost 20 months this weekend.

“Leading lights of the Scottish roots music scene and five-time Scots Trad Music Award winners, they’re a really phenomenally talented band,” says Chris Jones, Selby Town Council’s arts officer. “It’s an absolute thrill to have professional music back in the venue. It’s been far too long!” Box office: 01757 708449, at selbytownhall.co.uk or on the door from 7.30pm.

Levelling up in York: Jazz funksters Level 42 in the groove at York Barbican on Sunday night

Eighties’ celebration of the week: Level 42, York Barbican, Sunday, doors 7pm

ISLE of Wight jazz funksters Level 42 revive those rubbery bass favourites Lessons In Love, The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up), Something About You, Running In The Family et al at York Barbican.

Here are the facts: Mark King’s band released 14 studio, seven live and six compilation albums, sold out Wembley Arena for 21 nights and chalked up 30 million album sales worldwide. 

This From Eternity To Here tour gig has been rearranged from October 2020; original tickets remain valid. Box office for “limited availability”: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Writes of passage: Musician and now author Richard Thompson

Guitarist of the week:  Richard Thompson, York Barbican, Monday, doors 7pm

RICHARD Thompson plays York Barbican on the back of releasing Beeswing, his April autobiography subtitled Losing My Way And Finding My Voice 1967-1975.

An intimate memoir of musical exploration, personal history and social revelation, it charts his co-founding of folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention, survival of a car crash, formation of a duo with wife Linda and discovery of Sufism.

Move on from the back pages, here comes Richard Thompson OBE, aged 72, songwriter, singer and one of Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 20 Guitarists of All Time. Katherine Priddy supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

That clinches it: Emma Scott’s Macbeth leaps into the arms of Nell Frampton’s The Lady in rehearsals for York Shakespeare Project’s Macbeth. Picture: John Saunders

Something wicked this way comes…at last: York Shakespeare Project in Macbeth, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 26 to 30, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

THE curse of Macbeth combined with Lockdown 1’s imposition to put a stop to York Shakespeare Project’s Scottish Play one week before its March 2020 opening.

Rising like the ghost of Banquo, but sure to be better received, Leo Doulton’s resurrected production will run as the 37th play in the York charity’s mission to perform all Shakespeare’s known plays over 20 years.

Doulton casts Emma Scott’s Macbeth into a dystopian future, using a cyberpunk staging to bring to life this dark tale of ambition, murder and supernatural forces. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ballet Black dancers Marie Astrid Mence, left, Isabela Coracy, Cira Robinson, Sayaka Ichikawa, Jose Alves, Ebony Thomas and Alexander Fadyiro in Mthuthuzeli’s The Waiting Game

Dance show of the week: Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday, 7.30pm

ARTISTIC director Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black return to York with a double bill full of lyrical contrasts and beautiful movement.

Will Tuckett blends classical ballet, poetry and music to explore ideas of home and belonging in Then Or Now; fellow Olivier Award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November contemplates the purpose of life in The Waiting Game. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

From Limpsey Gate Lane, August, by Sue Slack

Exhibition of the week: Fylingdales Group of Artists, Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, until November 30

TWELVE Fylingdales Group members are contributing 31 works to this exhibition of Yorkshire works, mainly of paintings in oils, acrylics, gouache and limonite.

Two pieces by Paul Blackwell are in pastel; Angie McCall has incorporated collage in her mixed-media work and printmaker Michael Atkin features too.

Also participating are David Allen, fellow Royal Society of Marine Artist member and past president David Howell, Kane Cunningham, John Freeman, Linda Lupton, Don Micklethwaite, Bruce Mulcahy, Sue Slack and Ann Thornhill.

The Moor the merrier as Ben books mini-season with Joanna Neary at Theatre@41

Ben Moor and Joanna Neary: Mini-season of comedy shows at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Natalie Shaw

MOOR, Moor, Moor is in store when Ben Moor takes over Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, for a mini-season of offbeat comedy with Joanna Neary from October 21 to 23.

Ben presents Pronoun Trouble, A Comedy Lecture, on Thursday at 8pm; then he and fellow writer-performer Joanna team up for an unconventional comedy double bill on Friday at 7.30pm.

Neary’s Wife On Earth, a multi-character sketch show with songs and impersonations, will be followed by Moor’s Who Here’s Lost?, his dream-like tale of a road trip of the soul taken by two outsiders, a melancholy, uninspired artist and a mute architect, as they seek an understanding of what they have made with their lives while visiting some quirky landmarks.

Saturday opens at 3pm with Joanna’s debut children’s puppet show, Stinky McFish And The World’s Worst Wish, and concludes at 7pm with the two-hander BookTalkBookTalkBook, a “silly author event parody show” wherein Moor and Neary portray a pair of writers trapped inside a book festival. As the event spins beyond their control, it degenerates into an absurdist comedy about authorship, artificial intelligence and washing-up.

In the first of the 55-minute, Edinburgh Fringe-length shows, Pronoun Trouble, a lecturer takes to the stage and begins an analysis of The Hunting Trilogy at a symposium on the subject of Looney Tunes.

This series of Chuck Jones shorts features Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, and their ongoing argument as to whether it is now Duck Season or Rabbit Season. “As she delves deeper into the alternate reality of the characters’ world, her talk goes off the rails and into the woods,” says Ben.

“Meanwhile, an attendee makes notes, not just on the subject matter but also on the lecturer, on things he sees in the room, and the other students. His favourite words, his favourite mugs and T-shirts, and the schism on London’s high streets between the spellings of launderette and laundrette, all cross his mind.” 

Eventually the two strands of thought twist together, and the piece concludes with a contemplation of performance, friendship and regret.

Ben Moor and Joanna Neary: Presenting their comedy double bill of Who Here’s Lost? and Wife On Earth

“Pronoun Trouble is a lecture about lectures, the intricacies of passion, and how we should be there for each other. The Powerpoint uses the cartoons to go into ridiculously unnecessary depth – and a swathe of invented academia – to dissect hidden meanings, secret stories and unconsidered relationships with other works,” says Ben. “Likewise and concurrently, the audience member scrutinises parts of his own life and output.” 

Pronoun Trouble is typical of Moor’s “stand-up theatre” pieces wherein he places universal themes in bizarre and funny landscapes, with his writing drawing comparisons with authors as diverse as Lewis Carroll and Thomas Pynchon.

“First performed in 2017, the response to Pronoun Trouble has been overwhelmingly positive,” he says. “Audience members have described it variously as brilliant, hilarious, wonderful, clever, surreal and very, very, very silly. It is, hopefully, all of those things.”

In Neary’s Wife On Earth, Brief Encounter-inspired Fantasist-housewife Celia and friends take their Cosmic Shambles Network podcast on the road with their wife-based gang show. 

“They’ll be asking ‘what on earth is a wife? And why?’,” says Joanna, who creates character comedy shows in the vein of Victoria Wood and Vic Reeves.

“From the history of wifery, to the wiles and wherefores of when to wife; a dozen wives (ex-wives, future wives, non-wives and anti-wives) wait in the wings at a village hall near you, ready to share their startling stories, while bickering and drinking wine out of a teapot. Please note, some non-wives and wives will be expressing themselves in dance form.”

Summing up Wife On Earth, Ben says: “Joanna performs her brilliant buffet of characters as a gang of wives and non-wives go on tour to raise funds to re-lead the church roof with lead-free lead. New faces (wigs) plus old favourites such as Bjork, Kate Bush on sexy housework and Celia hosting and dancing.”

In the cryptic, melancholic, surreal, mind-expanding and heart-felt Who Here’s Lost?, Moor asks: “What do we make with our lives? An artist worries his work has lost its way. An architect wants to see her buildings for a final time. A changing landscape searches for itself.  

“This is a story about what we value as we go along, and how we present it to others. It features bubble-wrap, party games, museums, ants and ice cream – and a gorgeous score by Suns Of The Tundra – so so if you’re lost, just think about the ice cream.”

The poster for Ben Moor and Joanna Neary’s comedy theatre double bill when presented in Farsley, West Yorkshire earlier in the tour

Neary’s 40-minute puppet show, Stinky McFish And The World’s Worst Wish, is suitable for ages four to eight but is accessible to all. “Stinky The Crab longs to be human; Lucy would love her very own pet. Can they make each other’s dreams come true? Or should Stinky be careful what he wishes for?” asks Joanna.

“With original music and a cast of colourful characters, Marina Fishwife tells the tale of how the tiny brave creatures of the rock pools work together to make life in the rock pools good again for everyone.”

BookTalkBookTalkBook’s send-up of a very serious author talk going bizarrely off the rails introduces Jenny Nibbingley and Burton Mastrick, who need no introduction. As two of Britain’s most published – although least read and most widely ignored – novelists, it is no surprise they have been invited to today’s book festival.

Their event’s moderator, Tim Timminey, likewise significant, should be turning up soon, but until then, Jenny and Burt agree to read sections from their books, Wretched Lawns and The Exceptions. Bad decision.

“As an ex-couple, their writing seems mainly to consist of ongoing digs at the other’s character and work,” says Ben. “But is that all that is going on? Might this all be a reading from another book about a book talk going horribly wrong? Or is that also part of something else?

“BookTalkBookTalkBook combines a parody of awkward live author events, an exploration of artificial intelligence and the creative process, a Beckettian live theatre experience and an experiment in the limits of patience regarding card tricks.”

Layer folds into layer; story reflects story in a piece that changes direction constantly, challenging the audience while still being entertaining.

“If you’ve ever been to a literary event and thought somehow it needed to be even more awkward, hoped for confusing card tricks and/or wondered why the writers aren’t obsessed with washing up, this basically might just be the show for you,” says Ben.

Tickets for Ben Moor and Joanna Neary’s mini-season of shows are on sale at 41monkgate.co.uk.

Ben Moor: “A natural storyteller who blurs the boundaries between comedy, theatre and performance art,” says fellow humorist Stewart Lee

AFTER all that info, here is a burst of CharlesHutchPress quick questions for quick answers from Ben Moor.

How did the York run of shows come about and when did you and Joanna hit on the idea of sharing such blocks of performances?

“I’d worked with Alan Park [Theatre@41 chair] on a mentoring project in London called Scene and Heard, and when he said he was looking for shows for Theatre@41, I got in touch.

“All the shows were originally planned for the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe, but when that was cancelled, they were put into storage and now seems a good time to get them up and running again.”

Should more performers combine to mount shows this way?

“Of course! It’s a good way to present a mini-season and spend time in lovely York.”

How do you and Joanna know each other and what makes for a good combination of shows on the road?

“We first worked together on a project at the National Theatre Studio in 2005 and I’ve long been a fan of Joanna’s writing and performances. Neither of us fits particularly easily into the stand-up circuit and it’s great to learn that there’s a comedy audience who want something a bit out of the mainstream.”

You call your offbeat comedy “nonsense”. That seems very harsh on yourself, especially as comedian, author and newspaper columnist Stewart Lee says: “Ben Moor, for my money, is the Ken Campbell/Spalding Gray of my generation, a natural storyteller who blurs the boundaries between comedy, theatre and performance art”. Discuss…

“All comedy is nonsense to some degree. My work doesn’t discuss the world as it is, it’s a glimpse into a universe a step or two either side of ours. I love theatre of the absurd and surreal humour too.”

Do you enjoy lectures?

“I do. Pronoun Trouble was partly inspired by a day of interesting talks and it was fascinating to watch the speakers “perform” and get their enthusiasm across to their audiences.”

Why are author events just so awkward and as stiff as an old green room sofa?

“There is a certain way of doing them that confines them – and in fact that is what appeals to their audience. They expect a reading or two, some questions from a moderator, questions from the audience and a signing.

“BookTalkBookTalkBook plays with those expectations and undermines them constantly.”

The poster for Ben Moor and Joanna Neary’s BookTalkBookTalkBook, Saturday’s two-hander at Theatre@41

The tour of your latest piece, Who Here’s Lost?, was delayed by the accursed pandemic. Did the piece change over those months that found many of us on “a road trip of the soul” as we couldn’t go anywhere and felt lost and disconnected?

“I first presented it at the Port Eliot Festival in Summer 2019 and it hasn’t changed much since. I’m sure there are going to be lots of shows about the last couple of years and they’ll be great, but no, it’s very much a piece in its own world.”

Apparently “Ben Moor’s shows aren’t easy to describe, but are impossible to forget”. Explain yourself, please!

“My work mixes comedy with storytelling and theatre and while that sounds like it’s caught between stools, I find the freedom to explore the space between the stools very liberating.

“I mix lines that are meant to be funny with ones that are poetic with others that are melancholy and it’s the task of an audience to follow all the threads to create their own pictures.”

What gets you up in the morning?

“The delight of sharing this wonderful world and the adventure of what might come next.”

After Moor, Moor, Moor in York, what might come next for you?

“Joanna and I are performing our Comedy Double Bill again in Aldershot in December, and we hope to have the other shows on the road next year too.”

Did you know?

BEN Moor has been producing offbeat solo comedy shows for nearly three decades, winning a Herald Angel Award for his show Coelacanth. As an actor, he has appeared in The Queen’s Gambit, A Very English Scandal and The IT Crowd. He created the series Undone and Elastic Planet for BBC Radio and is the author of More Trees To Climb.

JOANNA Neary produces character comedy shows such as Inbox – The Art Of Now and Before The Room Next Door, with Michael Spicer, both for BBC Radio 4.She has TV and film credits for Darkest Hour, Miranda, Ideal and Man Down and played Miss Jones in CBBC’s So Awkward. Wife On Earth is a live version of her podcast for the Cosmic Shambles Network.

Ben Moor in an episode of the hit Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit