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York Open Studios: Who’s taking part…and who’s missing from list of 150 artists at 107 venues on April 18 & 19 and 25 & 26?

Rug weaver Jacqueline James with her loom at home in Rosslyn Street, Clifton, York

YORK Open Studios artists and makers are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios, ready to welcome visitors across the next two weekends.

This annual event will run within a ten-mile radius of the city of York on April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26 from 10am to 5pm each day, providing an opportunity to gain a sneak peek into where 150 artists work, their methods and inspirations, at 107 locations.

York Open Studios provides the chance to acquire work by established artists or to discover emerging artists, with 27 names new to the showcase, including two York St John University final-year students.

All manner of media will be represented, from traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing and ceramics, to mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography.

Charmian Ottaway, committee member and exhibiting contemporary designer jeweller says: “As an artist myself, I just love to show visitors how I work and also hear what they might be looking for.

Dodo, by 2026 York Open Studios sculptor Joanna Coupland

“As artists, we are all very proud of what we produce and hearing visitors’ responses and finding potential buyers can be really uplifting, especially if you often work alone and don’t directly meet your buyers. For visitors, it’s also a unique chance to see the city with pops of creativity along the way.”

Among  the regular artists taking part are wire and paper sculptor Joanna Coupland; linocut printmaker Michelle Hughes;  hand-woven textile artist Jacqueline James; illustrator Marco Godfrey-Murphy (MarcoLooks); ceramicist Ben Arnup; B-movie parodist illustrator Lincoln Lightfoot; digital illustrator Elliot Harrison (York 360); collage/mixed media artist Donna Maria Taylor; seascape artist Carolyn Coles; printmaker Susan Bradley; porcelain geometric sculptor Kate Buckley;  Lauren’s Cow artist Lauren Terry and linocut printmaker Jane Dignum.

So too are: wood lino and riso printmaker Nic Fife; collage/mixed media artist Adele Karmazyn; hand-cut paper artist Anna Cook; photographer Simon Palmour; wildlife and landscape printmaker Michelle Hughes;  ceramicist Ruth King; ceramicist Chiu-I Wu; wildlife linocut printmaker Gerard Hobson; botanical, geological and landscape artist  David Campbell;  land and seascape artist Freya Horsley; ceramicist Emily Stubbs; illustrator Ric Liptrot; memory, nostalgia and identity artist Leo Morey;  collage/mixed media artist Sarah K Jackson and ceramicist Jill Ford.

Look out too for  jewellery designer Evie Leach; printmaker Lesley Shaw; abstract expressionist Jo Walton; collagraph printmaker Sally Clarke; jewellery designer Jo Bagshaw;  industrial, urban and rural landscape artist Adrienne French; linocut and collagraph printmaker Jen Dring;  travel poster-inspired gouache artist Leon F Dumont; landscape artist Kate Pettitt; collage/mixed media artist Tim Pearce; linocut printmaker Carrie Lyall; plein-air oil painter Malcolm Ludvigsen; printmaker Rachel Holborow and digital photographer Lucinda Grange.

So many familiar names to be seen, but not Hearld, alas. Despite applying, York’s most successful artist, Mark Hearld, is bizarrely absent from this year’s runners and riders.

Prachi Bhatnagar: Making her York Open Studios debut at her Ouse Lea studio

His rejection is all the more bewildering given his high-profile month-long solo show, Collage Can Brio!, last December in his “most ambitious project to date” with The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, where  “dogs leapt, birds circled and colour burst from every surface” of his dynamic paper constructions in a celebration of the rhythm and vitality of life, full of curiosity, movement and brio.

Inspired as ever by nature, the seasons and the everyday, his collages and prints were complemented by the unveiling of a tapestry created with Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. Hey ho, now you know what York will be missing over these two weekends.

In his shock hiatus, make sure to venture out to artists new to the event:

Em Doodles Doodles: Hand-drawn pen and ink doodles of labradoodles, cockerpoos and other poodle-related poodles, inspired by Layla, Emma Brassington’s Australian labradoodle; Venue 6, 44 Beech Avenue, Bishopthorpe, York.

Paul Pavuk: Macro and minimal photography, expressed through an abstract lens, transforming textures, light and space into compositions that reveal unseen worlds; Venue 11, 13 Vincent Way, York.

Marcus Chapman’s wildlife photography: On view in St John’s Street, York

Dan George: Atmospheric, representative oils and pen and watercolour pencil sketches; Venue 20, 78 Albermarle Road, South Bank, York.

Amelia Donohoe: Handcrafted jewellery in gold and silver, using precious and semi-precious stones; Venue 24, 43 Nunthorpe Crescent, York.

Clare Stringer: Throws porcelain, then decorates it with a variety of mixed media, taking inspiration from nature and contrasting pure white clay with more messy additions; Venue 26, 80 Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Melanie Hill: Printmaking in multi-media designs combining wood and metal letterpress typography, lino printing, hand illustration and digital graphic design that gives a nod to the city of York; Venue 29, 47 Moss Street, York.

Chloe Heffernan:  Entwining ancient Neolithic artwork and Irish folklore  with modern identity, her work combines jewellery and illustration to tell stories and explore colloquial identities; Venue 31, The Workshop,  5a, The Crescent, York.

Walk The Walls York, by Moss Street printmaker Melanie Hill

McKinley & Moth: Designer/maker Shona works predominantly in sterling silver with basic hand tools and traditional craftsmanship, producing bold and original jewellery inspired by nature; Venue 35, 60 Hob Moor Drive, York.

The Spoonery:  Transforming overlooked vintage cutlery into innovative wearable art, such as rings and necklaces; Venue 41, 31 Wetherby Road, Acomb, York.

Janie Stevens: Carves natural materials (stone and wood), now joined by steel, that she turns into flowing sculptural forms that invite exploration; Venue 46, Greenthwaite, Chantry, Main Street, Upper Poppleton, York.

Nicola Harper: Textile artist who uses free-motion machine embroidery, repurposed fabrics and fibres to create landscapes and seascapes inspired by North Yorkshire and beyond; Venue 53, 15 Kensington Road, Rawcliffe, York.

Prachi Bhatnagar: Using oils, pastes and pastels in bold colours and textures, her fluid, expressive work evokes the sensations, beauty and energy of being connected to nature; Venue 60, 78 Ouse Lea, York.

Prachi Bhatnagar: “Evoking the sensations, beauty and energy of being connected to nature”

Georgie Britton:  Paintings exploring the colour relationships through the medium of acrylic paint, representing landscapes in expressive and abstracted forms; Venue 62, The Whitestone Gallery, St Peter’s School, York.

Katie Isaac: Hyperrealist oil paintings inspired by nature and idiosyncratic urban pen drawings that strive to bring what might be overlooked, or unseen, into sharp relief; Venue 67, 16 Feasegate, York.

Esme Mai: Photographic study of nature that explores the delicate beauty and transience of botanical forms; Venue 69, Rogues Atelier Artist Studios, Franklin’s Yard, 28a Fossgate, York.

Lucy Coultert, student: Collage & mixed media artist who creates abstract marks and textures to celebrate the beauty of imperfections; Venue 70, Creative Centre, York St John University, Lord Mayor’s Walk, York.

Alley Scout Art, student:  Work focuses on wildlife and nature, from layered collage sculptures to wildlife prints and animal-themed tarot deck; Venue 70, Creative Centre, York St John University.

Photographer Marcus Chapman

Marcus Chapman Photography: UK wildlife photography, focusing on birds, plus landscape & travel; Venue 71, 42 St John’s Street, York.

Nigel Joesbury: Works mainly in soft pastels or acrylic paints, tending to paint what excites him, whether music, pop culture or the natural world; Venue 75, 21 Muncastergate, York.

Mountain & Molehill: Lighting designer Elizabeth creates lampshades and homeware, using vintage animal illustrations with a collage-style approach, suitable for classic and modern spaces; Venue 78, 20 Hempland Lane, Heworth, York.

Sinead Barker Textile Artist: Stitches detailed wildlife art with appliqué fabrics on dyed canvas, exploring connection to animals and her wellbeing through her process, producing decorative animal portraits; Venue 77, 17 Hempland Lane, Heworth, York.

Danny Aitken: His wheel-thrown ceramic vessels and urns incorporate elements of prehistoric artistic expression from the European Neolithic  and Neolithic, fired with custom ash glazes; Venue 79, 31 Forest Way, Heworth, York.

Lewis Sand Art: Lewis Sand Art: Creating sculptures using only sand and water

Lewis Sand Art: Mark creates sculptures using only sand and water. When not sculpting a sandcastle, he likes to create quirky or whimsical sculptures, often of oversized everyday objects; Venue 86, 88 Millfield Lane, York.

Adrian P Layter: Illustrations that use poetic words and watercolour images to create beautiful and thought-provoking art. “Trees, fruit and Greek Muses all have their story to tell you,” he says; Venue 99, 29 Windmill Lane, York.

Abigail Gingele: Creates vibrant and highly detailed pet and wildlife portraits using coloured pencils in a style that emphasises realism and rich colour; Venue 102, 3 Moorland Road, York.

Sketchy Robot: Portraits and maps drawn by self-designed and built drawing robots. Visitors can have portraits or maps drawn live during York Open Studios, subject to capacity; Venue 106, 14 Heslington Lane, Fulford, York.

Kareem Baqai: Visual articulation and reactions to the rhythms and challenges of today’s world in paint, exploring the cyclic nature of the human condition through mark making, colour, form and composition; Venue 107, 19, Main Street, Fulford, York.

Kareem Baqai: Debut participation in York Open Studios in Main Street, Fulford

A public preview evening will take place tonight from 6pm to 9pm at various locations; check artists’ individual listings to find out who is taking part.

For more information on York Open Studios, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; to access the interactive map, download https://yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map/. Alternatively, a free printed directory is available from assorted tourist hubs and artist locations throughout York and the wider city region. When visiting studios, look out for bright yellow signage and balloons marking the venues.

To find out which artists are planning to give demonstrations during the event, look for the DEMO symbol in the artist listing in the brochure.

York Open Studios 2026: back story

RUN by artists and volunteers, this annual not-for-profit event represents the best of artists and makers living or working within a ten-mile radius of the city, chosen from the applications by the independent selection panel of arts and museums consultant Kate Brindley, sculptor Simon Gudgeon, ceramicist Wendy Lawrence, jewellery designer  Mari Thomas and consultant Alex Woodall.

Artists open their doors to invite the public into their workspaces; some artists will share venues or exhibit their work in other spaces. Artists who are not in their own workspace may display a selection of tools and materials or even demonstrate their skills to provide a more ‘Open Studio’ experience for visitors.

The website (yorkopenstudios.co.uk) provides full information on the event, illustrating details of participating artists, including their medium and a map of York and its surrounding areas that highlights where visitors will be able to visit. These can be found in libraries, shops and galleries all over York.

Check out all the 2026 artists and makers at: https://yorkopenstudios.co.uk/artists-makers/.

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REVIEW: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, ends Saturday ****

Chris Pomfrett’s Tony, left, Victoria Delaney’s Maggie, Clare Halliday’s Hazel, Darren Barrott’s Marek, Joy Warner’s Sylvia, Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne, Daniel Wilmot’s Uncle Pete and Neil Vincent’s John in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come. Picture: John Saunders

FOUNDER and director Angie Millard has an eye and an ear for picking a play for York Actors Collective.

Already in place for October 28 to 31 at York Theatre Royal Studio is Stephanie Jacob’s three-hander The Strongbox, winner of the 2018 VAULT Origins Award for outstanding new work  for its story of domestic servitude and abuse of power, wherein authoritarian Kat, her ageing mother, Ma, and their teenaged slave, Maudie, jostle for power and affection in their dilapidated London home.

This week, Millard is staging the York premiere of another contemporary British domestic drama, Beth Steel’s Olivier Award-nominated Till The Stars Come Down, premiered at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre as recently as January 2024.

She did not see that production, choosing it because she “liked the sound of the play”, and subsequently being impressed by its frank, earthy comedy, its pathos and home-and-away truths – and by its central structure of three sisters, matching her own upbringing in South Yorkshire.

Steel had set her play in a former mining village in Nottinghamshire, where the scars of the “scabs” who broke the picket lines when Margaret Thatcher took on the National Union of Mineworkers are still tender to the touch.

Those scars are no less raw in Yorkshire’s former mining communities, and so Millard, whose education began in a Catholic school in a pit village, has re-located Steel’s family conflagration further north.

Till The Stars Come Down is set on a single day, charting the pre-match, the match and the post-match discussions of Sylvia’s nuptials with Polish immigrant Marek, who now runs his own business.

Weddings make for heightened drama, for love’s blossom and blisters, for too much drinking, too much talking, leading to confessions, fall-outs, “inappropriate” behaviour, the exposure of prejudices and the re-opening of old wounds.

It could be the posh world of London society and country houses in Four Weddings And A Funeral or, in Steel’s case, the turbulence of a working-class family where “long-held secrets, passions, tensions and social changes transform the celebration into a chaotic blend of humour and tragedy”.

It opens with the three sisters, Clare Halliday’s bigoted Hazel, Victoria Delaney’s oft-married loose cannon Maggie (in riotous red) and Joy Warner’s phlegmatic Sylvia preparing for the big day – the routine of make-up, hairspray, dresses and endless cups of tea – alongside Lucinda Rennison’s ever-indiscreet, aspirational Aunty Carol and Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne, Hazel’s 16-year-old daughter, whose gaze is solely for scrolling her mobile phone.

The men will make their entries: the sisters’ father Tony (Chris Pomfrett), still grieving for his late wife; his brother Uncle Pete (Daniel Wilmot), Carol’s partner, who has never forgiven him for crossing the picket line, and Neil Vincent’s John, who has lost interest in wife Carol on account of his obsession with the woman in scarlet, Delaney’s Maggie.

The only man who is happy rather than dischuffed with his lot in life is Darren Barrott’s (CORRECT) Marek, but a can of worms marked “zenophobia” will be opened as the wedding day progresses.

Steel writes with observational wit, social commentary and, above all, a telepathic understanding of the relationship of sisters. Warner’s Sylvia is the solid, reliable one who has looked after mother and father alike; Delaney’s Maggie and Halliday’s Hazel are the ones at war, and together they deliver a brilliantly kinetic finale, reaffirming their status as two of the supreme actresses on the York circuit.

Delaney’s performance is all the more remarkable for her taking on the role at less than three weeks’ notice. Haynes-Bury impresses with her deadpan demeanour and Rennison rises to the challenge of drunken acting with aplomb.

Barrott, in his YSP debut after catching the eye with York Settlement Community Players, is outstanding as “outsider” Marek; Pomfrett’s Tony wears that hangdog expression he has made his trademark; Vincent’s John plays the villain’s hand well and Wilmot’s Uncle Pete is all bonhomie on the surface until the gripes of the past boil over anew.

Millard directs with admirably flowing movement and quick scene changes, while ensuring her cast lets the full flavour of Steel’s clashing, dysfunctional family flood out, bringing out the rising stress to the max and emphasising the power of the sisterhood too.

York Actors Collective presents Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 14, from The York Press

Amabile Clarinet Trio: Playing innovative programme at York Late Music concert

HAMLET on a sinking ship, family politics on a calamitous wedding day and artists’ studios opening on two weekends are the headline acts on Charles Hutchinson’s latest bill of arts delights.

Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents Amabile Clarinet Trio, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm

THE Amabile Clarinet Trio – York clarinettist Lesley Schatzberger, cellist Nicola Tait Baxter and pianist Paul Nicholson – presents an innovative programme featuring two premieres plus Thea Musgrave’s Canta Canta!, patron Nicola LeFanu’s Lullaby and Nocturne, American composer Robert Muczynski’s rarely played Fantasy Trio and the first York performance ofAlexander von Zemlinsky’s Trio in D minor.

The UK premiere of David Lancaster’s Canzone Sospesoand a world premiere from composer David Power will be complemented by a set of Morris newly transcribed by York composer Steve Crowther. Lancaster gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, to be enjoyed with a complimentary glass of wine or juice. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

Lesley Jones and Steve Coates: Teaming up for the last time for Swing When You Sing

Farewell concert of the week: Steve Coates Music Productions present Swing When You Sing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 12, 7.30pm

BEV Jones Music Company and The Jubilee Celebration Singers producer Lesley Jones bids farewell to the York stage after 20 years of mounting shows with Swing When You Sing, presented with Steve Coates Music Productions.

Alan Owens’s 16-piece big band will be joined on stage by singers Ruth McNeil, Annabel van Griethuysen, Hayley Bamford, Johanna Hartley, Adele Barlow, Larry Gibson, Terry Ford, Stephen Wilson, David Hartley and Geoff Walker to perform Rat Pack, Minnie The Moocher, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Under The Sea, Cheek To Cheek, Sway (Latin), Fever, Mr Bojangles, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Sing, Sing, Sing (with Bob Fosse-style dancing). “Varied? Yes! Upbeat? Yes! Emotional? Yes!” says Lesley. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for the launch of Bishy Road Community Choir 

Start-up of the week: Bishy Road Community Choir, Stables Yoga Centre, Nunmill Street, York, from April 13

THE Stables Yoga Centre and Rachel Davies are setting up the Bishy Road Community Choir to run on Mondays from 5pm to 5.50pm at £5 a session from April 13. This welcoming, musically accessible group will use song to promote happiness, wellbeing and community. No experience or musical skills are needed; only enthusiasm to try feel-good singing. To book a place, visit stablesyoga.co.uk/timetable.

Wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott’s Marek and Joy Warner’s Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Family politics of the week: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday

PREMIERED at the National Theatre in 2024 and now receiving its York premiere, Beth Steel’s contemporary British family drama is set on the wedding day of Sylvia and Marek in a South Yorkshire mining town.

Directed by Angie Millard, Till The Stars Come Down explores the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family in a changing world of economic  decline and political shifts as long-held secrets, passions, and tensions surrounding class, immigration, and social change spill over into chaos and tragedy. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, on tour at York Theatre Royal

Titanic anniversary event of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to 18, 7pm plus 1.30pm, April 16 and 2pm, April 18

LET director Rupert Goold introduces the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, starring Ralph Davis, as the tour sets sail for York on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s descent to the depths. “Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” he says.

“Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. This production asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jan Brierton and Henry Normal: Poetic humour at Milton Rooms, Malton 

Poetry at the double: Edge Street Live presents Henry Normal and Jan Brierton, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 16, 7.30pm

WRITER, poet, television & film producer and Manchester Poetry Festival founder Henry Normal is joined by Dubliner Jan Brierton for an evening of poetry and humour. Normal, whose credits include co-writing The Mrs Merton Show and the first series of The Royle Family, will be reading from his new book A Quiet Promise.

Brierton riffs on modern life, love and friendships, wellness and ageing, rage and domestic exasperation in her poetic reflections on being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and retired raver, plus plenty of stuff about tea, lipstick and biscuits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Aggers & Tuffers: The chatter of cricket and the clatter of wickets at York Barbican

Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell in An Audience With Aggers & Tuffers, York Barbican, April 16, 7.30pm

TEST Match Special commentator-and-pundit duo Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell take to the road for more cricket chat from beyond the boundary. Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler and three-decade BBC cricket correspondent Aggers teams up anew with record-breaking former England spin bowler and crowd favourite Tuffers, who gives his spin on his maverick playing days and second wind as a media personality on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and A Question Of Sport. Box office update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Maureen Onwunali: Slam champ spinning words at Say Owt 

Slam champ of the week: Say Owt presents Maureen Onwunali, The Crescent, York, April 17, 7.30pm

YORK spoken-word collective Sat Owt’s guest poet for April’s gathering will be Dublin-born Nigerian poet and two-time national slam champion Maureen Onwunali.

Rich with political observations and carefully crafted verse, her work has been featured by musicians, radio shows and organisations, such as the British Film Institute, Penguin, BBC, Roundhouse, Apples and Snakes, Obsidian Foundation and the Poetry Society. Box office: seetickets.com/event/say-owt-slam-featuring-maureen-onwunali/the-crescent/3588134. 

 Jacqueline James: Demonstrating her hand-woven rug-making in Rosslyn Street, Clifton, at York Open Studios

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm

ARTISTS and makers involved in York Open Studios are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios within York and a ten-mile radius of the city, in readiness to welcome visitors across two weekends.

This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular participant or the 27 newcomers, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.

Book launch event of the week: Michelle Hughes, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, The Harriet Room, York Cemetery, York, April 15, 6.30pm

Michelle Hughes at work on a linocut. Picture: Jackson Portraiture

YORK printmaker Michelle Hughes is holding a special evening to celebrate the launch of her book Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut and her upcoming tenth anniversary in business.

Published in February, Michelle’s beautifully illustrated book shares how to design, carve and print birds and wildlife using traditional linocut techniques, guiding readers from simple one-colour prints through to more advanced multi-colour methods, including jigsaw, reduction and multi-block printing.

“Whether you are completely new to linocut or already exploring printmaking, the book offers clear step-by-step guidance, practical tips and creative inspiration for capturing birds and wildlife in this rewarding craft,” says Michelle.

She started her creative business on June 1 2016 in the wake of her fourth redundancy. After a 25-year career in design, she decided to take a leap by working for herself.

The cover artwork for Michelle Hughes’s book Printings Birds and Wildlife in Linocut

What began with freelance graphic design and a few linocut prints has grown into a thriving creative practice. Today, Michelle creates limited-edition linocut prints, teaches in-person workshops, runs online courses for students around the world and produces commissions for organisations, including the National Trust.

What to expect at the event:

  • A short talk about Michelle’s journey to becoming a professional printmaker
  • Behind-the-scenes insights into how the book was created
  • The chance to see original prints and lino blocks featured in the book
  • A Q&A session about linocut printmaking
  • Book signing
  • Opportunity to buy signed copies

“Come and celebrate wildlife, printmaking and the joy of carving and printing by hand,” says Michelle, who will be participating in York Open Studios 2026 at Venue 37, in St Swithin’s Walk, Holgate, York, on April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 15, from Gazette & Herald

Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

HAMLET on a sinking ship, family politics on a calamitous wedding day and artists’ studios opening on two weekends are the headline acts on Charles Hutchinson’s latest bill of arts delights.

Titanic anniversary event of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7pm plus 1.30pm, April 16 and 2pm, April 18

LET director Rupert Goold introduce the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, starring Ralph Davis, as the tour sets sail for York on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s descent to the depths. “Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” he says.

“Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. This production asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott’s Marek and Joy Warner’s Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Family politics of the week: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm, tonight to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday

PREMIERED at the National Theatre in 2024 and now receiving its York premiere, Beth Steel’s contemporary British family drama is set on the wedding day of Sylvia and Marek in a South Yorkshire mining town.

Directed by Angie Millard, Till The Stars Come Down explores the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family in a changing world of economic  decline and political shifts as long-held secrets, passions, and tensions surrounding class, immigration, and social change spill over into chaos and tragedy. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Aggers & Tuffers: The chatter of cricket and the clatter of wickets at York Barbican

Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell in An Audience With Aggers & Tuffers, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

TEST Match Special commentator-and-pundit duo Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell take to the road for more cricket chat from beyond the boundary. Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler and three-decade BBC cricket correspondent Aggers teams up anew with record-breaking former England spin bowler and crowd favourite Tuffers, who gives his spin on his maverick playing days and second wind as a media personality on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and A Question Of Sport. Box office update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Patricia Veale School of Dance: Showcasing young talent in Show Dance

Dance show of the week: Patricia Veale School of Dance in Show Dance, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm, and Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

IN an exciting celebration of dance, the Patricia Veale School of Dance showcases its talented dancers in their very first Show Dance, drawing inspiration from classic musicals on film  and Broadway, complete with top hats, flair and razzle-dazzle. Expect a vibrant mix of ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap and much more besides. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rainey’s Revue: Evoking A Night In Harlem in….Helmsley

Jazz gig of the week: Rainey’s Revue: A Night In Harlem, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

LED by Richard Exall on tenor saxophone and clarinet and musical director Dom Barnett on piano, Rainey’s Revue presents meticulous arrangements of Ma Rainey’s songs while capturing the essence of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. 

Sam Kelly, on drums, and Marianne Windham, on double bass, set the rhythmic foundation for the enchanting voices of Chrissie Myles and Emily Windham, whose vocals evoke the jazz clubs of yesteryear. Box office: 01439 771700 or  helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club presents David Eagle, Anth Young and Nicola Mantalios, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

HILARITY Bites headliner David Eagle has performed on BBC Radio 2’s topical comedy series The Now Show, supports Boothby Graffoe on tour frequently and is one third of three-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winning band The Young’uns. Being blind, his comedy often explores how his disability means the most ordinary, commonplace events are turned into surreal and convoluted dramas.

Fellow north eastern act Anth Young finished runner-up in the Great Yorkshire Fringe New Comedian of the Year competition in 2017 in York. Completing the bill, Greek-Geordie bisexual comedian Nicola Mantalios won the 2025 Funny Women Stage Awards, hosts weekend shows at Newcastle Stand and runs her own gigs, such as Queers and Beers, in Newcastle. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Rollin Stoned: Covering the hits and deeper cuts from The Rolling Stones’ 1960s’ catalogue at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: The Rollin Stoned, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

THE rock’n’roll circus rolls into Malton for a tribute to The Rolling Stones that focuses on the Brian Jones years from 1964 to 1969.  Now in its 27th year, in The Rollin Stoned show the costumes are shamelessly camp, gaudy and fabulous, the instruments vintage, the wit irreverent, the trademark tongue never far from the cheek, but never to the detriment of the music.

As Keith Richards’ late mother, Doris, once remarked of the line-up featuring Mick Jaguar, Byron Jones, Keith Retched, Bill Wymandy, Charlie Waits and pianist Nicky Popkins: “Phenomenal…I can’t wait to tell Keith and  Mick that you could easily stand in for them.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Prachi Bhatnagar: Making York Open Studios debut at her Ouse Lea studio in York

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm

ARTISTS and makers involved in York Open Studios are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios within York and a ten-mile radius of the city, in readiness to welcome visitors across two weekends.

This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular participant or the 27 newcomers, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.

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The Bard heads to the bar as Love’s Labours Lost hits Nineties’ club scene in Anna Gallon’s slice of nightlife for YSP

Cassi Roberts, left, Grace Scott and Vicky Hatt rehearsing for York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost. Picture: John Saunders

ANNA Gallon is directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in Love’s Labour’s Lost as Shakespeare meets the 1990s’ club scene in an exciting new take on the Bard’s early comedy.

Her immersive production, set in the heat and heighted passions of urban nightlife, will run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from next Wednesday to Saturday as part of the 2026 York International Shakespeare Festival.

 “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Anna as our director,” says YSP chair Tony Froud. “She emerged from an outstanding group of applicants, since when she has brought energy and excitement into the rehearsal room. This promises to translate into a totally memorable and entertaining show.

“York is very fortunate to have so many outstanding young directors. This production will show Anna as a key member of that group.”

Anna is co-founder and artistic director of York theatre company Four Wheel Drive, perhaps best known for its 2023 production of The Trial Of Margaret Clitheroe in the Guildhall. She also appeared as Lucetta in YSP’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, directed by Tempest Wisdom in 2024.

Love’s Labours Lost director Anna Gallon: “I want this comedy of discipline versus desire to play out not in a palace, but in a bar, where vows are as fragile as your morals after one too many tequila shots,” she says

 “I’m thrilled to be directing Love’s Labour’s Lost for YSP,” she says. “It’s a dazzling, witty play about language, love and self-discovery – and I can’t wait to bring it to life in a way that feels vibrant and connected to the world we live in today.”

Set firmly in the here and now, Anna’s Love’s Labour’s Lost will re-imagine Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy of wit, wordplay, vows and romantic mischief on the nocturnal tiles. Her playful reinvention promises to mix verse, rhythm, dance and striking visuals to create a fresh and contemporary celebration of love, temptation and folly.

The King of Navarre and his three companions are re-imagined by Anna as the DJs who once ruled York’s club scene but have now renounced the wild world of drink, dance and late nights, committing themselves instead to a retreat of abstinence: no women, no drink and definitely no dance floors.

However, when the Princess of France and her entourage arrive, their solemn vows begin to unravel, as Anna explores with mischievous glee. “I want this comedy of discipline versus desire to play out not in a palace, but in a bar, where vows are as fragile as your morals after one too many tequila shots,” she says.

Ben Reeves Rowley: Progressing from Summer Sonnets to principal role in York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost. Picture: John Saunders

“My interpretation uses Shakespeare’s original language but finds playful, recognisable parallels for modern audiences: ageing players try to resist temptation, while nightlife culture collides with wellness culture and the irresistible force of love.”

As a key element of Anna’s production, the audience will find Theatre@41’s John Cooper Studio transformed from black box into a nightclub. “The bar setting will place Shakespeare into a familiar social space,” she says. “Instead of watching from a distance, theatregoers will find themselves inside the comedy: vows made across tables, love confessions unfolding on dance floors. It will be a shared night out for all.”

Anna’s cast features many faces familiar to York audiences, such as Ian Giles as Don Adriano de Armado, Tempest Wisdom as his page Moth, Harry Summers as Longaville and Nick Patrick Jones as Berowne, complemented by six actors new to YSP, Nason Crone’s Dumaine, Vicky Hatt’s Katherine, Helen Clarke’s Boyet, Elizabeth Duggan’s Costard, Stephen Huws’ Holofernes and Sarah McKeagney’s Sir Nathaniel.

Tony enthuses: “We are very excited that Anna’s production has attracted so many actors who are working with us for the first time. Only three of this cast appeared in our last show, Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, at Theatre@41 last October. It’s a very healthy and invigorating mix.

Ian Giles rehearsing the role of Don Adriano de Armado

“In a very strong cast, it’s particularly pleasing to YSP to see Grace Scott and Ben Reeves Rowley in the central parts of Rosaline and the King of Navarre. Both first appeared in our annual Summer Sonnets show and it’s great to see them progressing to major parts in a full production.”

Love’s Labours Lost is the latest staging post in York Shakespeare Project’s 25-year programme to perform all 37 plays, plus plays by his contemporaries, in innovative and engaging ways from 2023 to 2048. Coming next will be the autumn production of The Comedy Of Errors, Shakespeare’s shortest play, the chaotic one with two sets of identical twins separated at birth that accidentally end up in the same city.

More immediately, why should you see YSP’s Love’s Labours Lost? Let veteran cast member Ian Giles entice you: “Off the scale for daring entertainment, one of Shakespeare’s most verbal comedies is set in King’s Night Spot in 2005 with a soundtrack of Nineties and Noughties’ belters – what could possibly go wrong (or should that be right)? Come and find out.”

York Shakespeare Project presents Love’s Labour’s Lost, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tempest Wisdom’s Moth in rehearsal for Love’s Labours Lost

Who’s in the cast for York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost

BEN Reeves Rowley, Ferdinand, King of Navarre; Nick Patrick Jones, Berowne; Harry Summers, Longaville; Nason Crone*, Dumaine; Charlie Barrs, The Princess of France; Grace Scott, Rosaline; Cassi Roberts, Maria; Vicky Hatt*, Katherine; Helen Clarke*, Boyet; Ian Giles, Don Adriano de Armado; Tempest Wisdom, Moth; Elizabeth Duggan*, Costard; Stephen Huws*, Holofernes; Sarah McKeagney*, Sir Nathaniel; James Tyler, Dull/Marcade; Pearl Mollison, Jaquenetta, and David Lee, Forrester

* New to York Shakespeare Project

York Shakespeare Project’s mirror-ball poster for Love’s Labours Lost

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Royal Shakespeare Company sends Hamlet to the icy seas as Ian Hughes returns to York Theatre Royal 38 years since debut

Depths of despair: Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, docking at York Theatre Royal from April 14 to 18. Picture: Marc Brenner

THE Royal Shakespeare Company’s visit to York Theatre Royal with Rupert Goold’s production of Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, will coincide with the 114th anniversary of RMS Titanic’s demise on the night of April 14-15 in 1912.

Around 1,500 people perished at sea that night from the estimated 2,240 on board. Death stalks Shakespeare’s tragedy too, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Queen Gertrude, Laertes, King Claudius and Hamlet himself joining his already dead father,  King Hamlet.

“Hamlet is a play about the inevitability of death:  the death of fathers, the death of kings, the mortality facing each and every one of us, but it is also a play about how to live, what makes a good life and a just one too, however brief our allotted time,” says Goold.

“Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” says Goold. “Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. It’s a production that asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.”

Among those joining Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in Goold and revival director Sophie Drake’s touring cast in Shakespeare’s epic family drama of deceit and murder is Royal Shakespeare Company regular Ian Hughes in the roles of King Hamlet’s Ghost and the Player King.

From April 14 to 18, he will be returning to York Theatre Royal, 38 years since he made his professional debut in the 1988 pantomime Peter Pan, in the days when Frank Barrie played the dame. “Frank had made his debut there too in 1959 in Henry IV, Part 2, the play that marked my debut for the RSC in the 1990s – and I’ve  learned that Frank had played Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in [March] 1974,” says Ian.

Ian Hughes, front, in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet. Picture: Marc Brenner

“In another Yorkshire connection, Harrogate Theatre artistic director Andrew Manley saw me in Peter Pan and said afterwards, ‘do you fancy joining my Harrogate rep company?’. “I was a Kit Kat Girl in Cabaret; we also did Mrs Warren’s Profession, the regional premiere of Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money, Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On and the panto.

“Because I didn’t go to drama school, those Harrogate shows  with Andrew were effectively my  drama school after  starting with the Theatre Royal panto, when I played John Darling, the boy with the top hat and the round glasses – and we got to ‘fly’!

“The Theatre Royal was beautiful, and it was so lovely to play there, when Frank made me so welcome. He was marvellous, dry-humoured company with his wonderful anecdotes of who he had worked with as an actor from an earlier time, when he had performed with [Laurence] Olivier.”

Ian was born in the South Wales Valleys, growing up in Merthyr Tydfil and joining the National Youth Theatre of Wales at 16 to work under director Alan Vaughan Williams, who nurtured the talents of Rob Brydon, Michael Sheen and Ruth Jones too. “Alan took no prisoners, treating us like professionals,” he recalls. “It was invaluable for me. I loved it.”

Only seven years later, Ian would be understudying Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet in Adrian Noble’s production at the RSC. “I was 23, so I have a long connection with the play. I had to learn every line of the Second Quarto version, which runs to more than four hours [making Hamlet the role with the most lines in Shakespeare’s 37 plays] – and I never went on once!

“Kenneth kept saying ‘people are flying in to see me, I have to go on’, so I never had the chance, despite learning all those lines.”

That sinking feeling: The Royal Shakespeare Company staging Hamlet on a ship in 1912. Picture: Marc Brenner

Instead, Ian had to content himself with playing Polonius’s servant  Reynaldo and Fortinbras. “Part of the reason that I joined the RSC was because I’d just won the inaugural Ian Charleson Award for my [title] role in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Torquato Tasso at the Lyric Hammersmith,” he says.

“I didn’t know anything about the award. I got asked to go to the National Theatre and found I was up against Simon Russell Beale in the RSC’s Edward II, thinking ‘I’m just this young actor from South Wales’. I won £5,000 and was presented with the award by Sir Alec Guinness. What a wonderful start to a career.”

Ian has gone on to play multiple parts for the RSC, most recently appearing in The Merry Wives Of Windsor two summers ago. Now he returns as the Ghost and Player King. “These parts appealed to me as a character actor,” he says. “I thought, ‘I fancy a go at these’, because of the interest in Hamlet, and the short tour appealed too.”

Analysing the impact of setting Hamlet on a ship,” Ian says. “In a nutshell, it brings out the claustrophobia. That exacerbates Hamlet’s feeling of frustration that he can’t escape. The sinking of the ship is effectively the metaphor of Denmark being a prison for Hamlet,  and I think that works very well. Shakespeare’s plays are open to reinterpretation, and this reinterpretation is very powerful, with all its technical accomplishments too.

“Because Hamlet has so many water and sea references, you could be drowning in the play.”

Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to 18, 7pm plus 1.30pm, Thursday, and 2pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Stage in Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, until April 18 ****

Jacqueline Bell’s Captain Beverley Bass in York Stage’s Come From Away. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg

“WELCOME To Gander,” reads the sign, pictured in the York Stage programme. “Crossroads To The World”. 

As an accompanying note explains, Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada,  was once a major refuelling stop for transatlantic flights, its airport built to handle large aircraft, giving it the capacity to receive multiple unexpected landings.

In its heyday, Gander International Airport hosted The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Queen Elizabeth II, Frank Sinatra, Neil Armstrong and Muhammad Ali. In later years, on a normal day, six planes would pass through, but September 11 2001 was anything but normal.

Suddenly, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, under Operation Yellow Ribbon, it received 38 unexpected but now essential landings in only two and a half hours.

On board and now grounded on the runways were 7,000 international passengers, their fear, confusion and suspicion exacerbated by the information blackout. Gander’s population would almost double in that instant, and how that community responded is the stuff of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Tony Award-winning 2015 musical, now receiving its York premiere.

 Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah, awaiting news of her New York firefighter son, in York Stage’s Come From Away

“Come from away” is the term Newfoundlanders use for someone who is visiting there or lives on the island but was born elsewhere. For five days, Gander welcomed those “come from away” strangers to this temporary new-found land. Here are the facts: 10,000 meals were prepared daily; clothing donations were sorted and distributed, counselling services provided and entertainment arranged to lift spirits (such as the Kiss The Cod drinking game).

The political world was in turmoil, but at such times the best of humanity comes through too, times where we find common ground – in acts of kindness – amid the threat of heightened global division.

Come From Away is billed as a “life-affirming, uplifting celebration of hope, humanity and unity”: characteristics ripe for the musical format, but no less vital is the storytelling, rooted in Sankoff and Hein’s research visit to Gander and interviews with residents and passengers.

That gives the musical its narrative drive, one that encapsulates connection and communication between town and world, grounded as much in humour as the desperate uncertainty of what may have befallen loved ones in New York or Washington DC that morning.

Directed, produced and designed by Nik Briggs and choreographed by Danielle Mullan-Hill, Come From Away is first and foremost an ensemble piece, its 19-strong cast omnipresent, all pulling together to mirror the big-hearted story with its balance of comforting comic relief and sadness, rousing spirit and silent shock, good deeds and grief.

Gander’s residents singing Welcome To The Rock in York Stage’s Come From Away

Within that collective structure, Sankoff and Hein weave the individual tales of the resolute, stout, stentorian town mayor Claude (superb York Stage debutant Richard Billings); the first female American Airlines captain (Jacqueline Bell’s pilot Captain Beverley Bass, full of leadership steel); the mother of a New York firefighter (Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah); the young local news reporter thrown in at the deep end (Megan Day’s resourceful Janice) and an animal welfare devotee (Claire Morley’s Bonnie, as bonny as her name).

Love plays its part too: blossoming in the case of York Stage regular Stu Hutchinson’s typically stiff Englishman Nick and Lana Davies’s Diane; fracturing, however, for Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T and Faisal Khodabukus’s Kevin J. Both relationships, one burgeoning, the other dissolving, are played with just the right chemistry, the dialogue being typical of why it could be argued that Sankoff and Hein’s book is stronger than their songs.

The opening ensemble number Welcome To The Rock sets the musical and choreographic tone, with its high-energy, righteous fusion of Irish and folk vibrancy under Stephen Hackshaw’s muscular musical direction, with band members in view in the wings and later bursting into the well-deserved limelight for a party hoedown.

Against the backdrop of a map of Newfoundland and a red You Are Here neon sign, Briggs moves his cast  around on chairs and tables on wheels that are reassembled and reconfigured constantly, even combining to form the cockpit and cabin of a plane.

This further enhances the relentless pace of Briggs’s well-drilled direction and Mullan-Hill’s thrilling choreography, putting the motion into commotion, albeit with the welcome breathing space of ballads for reflection for Bell’s Beverley (Me And The Sky) and trauma for Gardham’s Hannah (I Am Here). Everything initially is a rush, a scramble of emotions, a need for instant practical measures, but then countered by the agony of awaiting dreaded news.

Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T trying on a Newfoundland lumberjack’s shirt for size in York Stage’s Come From Away

That sense of unnatural haste in unnatural circumstances is heighted still more by a running time of only 100 minutes with no interval, compounded further by the regular drum beat of the bodhran.

The songs tend to rush by, full of zest and zing in the moment without having an X Factor hit among them, but the combination of Hackshaw’s band (keys, accordion, whistle, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, percussion, drums and even a Newfoundland ‘ugly stick’) and Briggs’s unerring ability to find outstanding singers give them greater impact than in the touring version that landed at Leeds Grand Theatre in May 2024.

Emily Hardy’s teacher Beulah, multi-rolling Traitors’ alumnus Theo Mayne, especially his Captain Bristol, and Chris Wilson’s quartet of roles, in particular Oz, all add strong characterisation, ably supported by Emily Davis, Adam Gill, Sarah Jackson, Adam Thompson, Rebecca Stevenson, Eleanor Grady and Kelly Kiernan.

Come From Away does Gander proud, York Stage does Come From Away proud, as “kindness, resilience and human connection in times of crisis” remind us of our humanity. How important that is, amid each new dawn’s screeching vitriol on Truth Social.

York Stage presents Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, until April 18, 7.30pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 4pm Sunday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The ‘ugly stick’, far left, makes its bouncy, percussive appearance in the party scene in York Stage’s Come From Away

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REVIEW: Gorillaz, The Mountain Tour, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, 25/3/2026

Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn with Argentinian rapper Trueno at Leeds First Direct Bank Arena. All pictures: Matt Eachus (The Manc Photographer)

THE last occasion CharlesHutchPress attended a Damon Albarn concert had been so different. York Minster, December 2 2021, 6.30pm, Damon in studious glasses on grand piano, with all-female strings attached and Covid masks re-attached among the 600-strong audience after a new Omicron variant reintroduced caution and uncertainty.

Albarn would play for 45 minutes precisely, to be followed by a second performance that night at 8.30pm, both hushed and wintry in tone, lit by candlelight, showcasing songs of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth from that November’s pandemic-shadowed solo release, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, in the first ever York shows of his then 32-year career.

Roll forward to 2026, when fragility and, in particular, loss frame The Mountain, Gorillaz’ ninth album in 25 years – and third number one – in the wake of the death of Albarn and Gorillaz co-pilot Jamie Hewlett’s fathers within ten days of each other in July 2024.

“You know the hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love,” sings Albarn, on the sombre song of that title and the one that follows, immediately and irresistibly: Orange County. The one with the whistling and the cheeriest tune of all, the obvious single, the one with Anoushka Shankar on sublime sitar and American singer-songwriter Kara Jackson on divine vocals. The one that stood out among last season’s musical interludes on the Graham Norton Show.

As Orange County and On Melancholy Hill testify, Albarn never settles on the obvious path, unlike former Britpop sparring partners Oasis. Already whispers are surfacing that he is at work on a new opera project. Right now, The Mountain tour finds Gorillaz at their creative peak, embracing everything at odds with the rise in nationalism, intolerance, online poison and war-mongering.

Idles’ Joe Talbot performing The God Of Lying with Damon Albarn

Out of step with our grim political times, yet tellingly, Gorillaz pull in a crowd of all ages, the younger drawn to the cartoon band, the wit and anti-war imagery of Hewlett’s videos, others to Albarn’s chameleon pop skills, from Blur to The Good, The Bad And The Queen, who played Leeds Irish Centre in January 2007 with a line-up of Albarn, The Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the anthemic Nineties’ psychedelia of  The Verve guitarist Simon Tong  and  the Afrobeat drumming  of Tony Allen. 

Gorillaz are even more expansive: multicultural, multiracial, multilingual, bursting with a panoply of colours, textures, moods, possibilities and blue skies, a feast for ear and eye alike, energised by the ebb and flow between live performance and the restless commotion and compassion spread over three kaleidoscopic screens.

Throughout, guitars, keyboards, percussion, tabla and Albarn’s melodica fuse English and Indian pop. Then add a constantly rotating roster of guests, beckoned to the already crammed stage by Albarn, the avuncular master of ceremonies, albeit in the somewhat ramshackle manner of The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus TV special in 1968. The effect is dazzling, dizzying, delightfully diverse and daring: the apotheosis of what a concert can be in 2026.

From the Indian mysticism of the opening The Mountain, accompanied by Hewlett’s pastiche of Mowgli’s initiation in The Jungle Book, the screens flash with comic-book imagery, mixed with live footage, and the faces of Anoushka Shankar, Sparks (for The Happy Dictator) the late Dennis Hopper, The Fall’s Mark E Smith (Delirium) and Bobby Womack (The Moon Cave), and The Roots’ Black Thought (The Empty Dream Machine, The Moon Cave, The Sad God) in a set list dominated by the new album.

All the while, the spinning top of guest vocalists and rappers keeps whirling, first up the bleached blond Joe Talbot of Idles (The God Of Lying); then Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def, for Stylo and Damascus; powerhouse backing singer Michelle Ndegwa for Kids With Guns; Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde, for Dirty Harry; Kara Jackson, glory be, for Orange County, and Trueno, from Argentina, for the Hispanic word-spinning of The Manifesto.

Gorillaz in a state of Delirium at Leeds First Direct Bank Arena with the trademark stare of the late Mark E Smith on screen. Smith’s recorded vocals feature on the song

Posdnuos, from De La Soul, urges the full house to their feet for the first time for encore fireworks of Feel Good Inc, before Trueno returns for more breathtaking, breathless improvised free-styling in Clint Eastwood.

A certain grouchy President would have given Gorillaz the “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” verdict that he bestowed on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX half-time performance.

Instead, the future is indeed comin’ on in Gorillaz’ glorious, beatific vision of a better world. Albarn does not proselytize or preach or reach for polemic. Rather, he and his band adorn their military fatigues with CND badges, and when the Leeds crowd boo his mention of playing Bradford (in the tour warm-up gigs), he says, “No, there’s no need for that!”. Peace and love, indeed.

The perfectionist in Albarn still burns, in a sudden chuck of the microphone and dissatisfied demand to re-start a song, but that is testament to his drive at 58 for The Mountain to take Gorillaz to  new heights.

All that’s missing is a closing credits list of the night’s cast to match the opening of The Mountain book in Hewlett’s first image.

Damon Albarn and Kara Jackson meet in Orange County at Gorillaz’ Leeds First Direct Bank gig

Gorillaz’ set list, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, 25/03/2026

THE MOUNTAIN

THE HAPPY DICTATOR

TRANZ

Intro Dark Pop

TOMORROW COMES TODAY

19/2000

THE GOD OF LYING (featuring Joe Talbot, from Idles)

THE MOON CAVE

EL MANANA

Intro Madam

ON MELANCHOLY HILL

THE EMPTY DREAM MACHINE

CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

DELIRIUM

ANDROMEDA

STYLO (Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def)

DAMASCUS (Yasiin Bey)

KIDS WITH GUNS (lead vocal Michelle Ndegwa)

Intro

DIRTY HARRY (Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde)

THE SHADOWY LIGHT

THE SAD GOD

THE HARDEST THING

ORANGE COUNTY (featuring Kara Jackson)

THE MANIFESTO (lead vocal, Trueno

FEEL GOOD INC (Posdnuos, from De La Soul)

CLINT EASTWOOD (featuring Trueno)

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30th anniversary Operation Halifax exhibition opens at Yorkshire Air Museum

The poster for the Operation Halifax exhibition at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington

THIRTY years ago, a remarkable ten-year restoration project was completed at the Yorkshire Air Museum near York.

After a decade of tireless work, a Handley Page Halifax bomber – the type that flew from the site at Elvington in the Second World War – was unveiled to the public.

To mark the 30th anniversary of this milestone, the Yorkshire Air Museum has launched a new exhibition and theme for the year that honours the project and looks at the work done during the war to build thousands of Halifax bombers.

Operation Halifax also tells the story of the most famous Halifax of them all, Friday the 13th, dubbed ‘the plane they couldn’t kill’.

A new Halifax fuselage section being transported. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

The museum stands on the site of RAF Elvington, home to three squadrons of RAF Bomber Command during the war, when crews flew perilous missions over Germany and occupied Europe. Almost half the aircrew did not survive.

After the war, every remaining Halifax bomber was scrapped, but that did not deter volunteers at the Yorkshire Air Museum. When the museum was opened in the 1980s, they realised that to make it complete, it would need a Halifax.

As none remained, they hatched a plan to rebuild one using parts from crashed aircraft, components donated from similar planes and entire sections rebuilt from scratch. One length of fuselage was from an aircraft that had crashed on the Isle of Lewis and had been used as a hen house.

Halifax fuselage on the Isle of Lewis. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

It took a decade to complete the project, carried out by museum volunteers,many of them RAF veterans.

The new exhibition is based in the museum’s main hangar, under the nose of the Halifax, and includes displays, videos and an animation that shows where each part of the reconstructed aircraft came from. It will run for at least a year.

Yorkshire Air Museum communications manager Jerry Ibbotson said: “Rebuilding the Halifax was a staggering project 30 years ago, and it’s easy to forget just how much effort was involved.

A Second World War female factory worker building a Halifax. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

“Operation Halifax will shed light on what was achieved, as well as showing how Halifaxes were built during the war – often using bus and coach factories that were requisitioned for the task.

“We have some stunning photos from this time, showing how many of the workers were young women who stepped up to fill roles taken by men who had gone off to fight.”

Operation Halifax is included in the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial admission price. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm, last admission, 4pm, seven days a week. Tickets: yorkshireairmuseum.org.

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York Actors Collective stages York premiere of Beth Steel’s mining family drama Till The Stars Come Down at Theatre@41

Newly wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott as Marek and Joy Warner as Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

YORK Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard moved quickly to acquire the amateur performing rights for Beth Steel’s Till The Stars Come Down.

“The West End run only closed at the end of last September, after transferring from the National Theatre,” she says as she prepares to present this contemporary British family drama at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from April 14 to 18.

“I applied very early, because I liked the sound of the play, but didn’t think I’d get the rights, but no touring company jumped on it, so my application was successful.”

Premiered at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre from January 2024, the Olivier Award-nominated Till The Stars Come Down is set at the wedding of Sylvia and Marek in a former mining town in Steel’s exploration of the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family.

Long-held secrets, passions, tensions and social changes transform the celebration into a chaotic blend of humour and tragedy in a play with “themes of racism and xenophobia, reference to suicide, scenes of a sexual nature and depictions of mild violence”.

“When I started reading the play, it resonated with me, because not only am I one of three sisters – like in the play – but also there’s very little I haven’t come across at weddings or funerals, such as deciding who should sit at the top table,” says Angie. “So, in one rehearsal, I did a game of ‘Status’, asking each of the cast to say what they thought their character’s status was.

“The other thing that resonated the most was the emotional problems that happen in the family – and I’ve encountered all of them in the emotional conflicts of sisters.”

Clare Halliday in the role of eldest sister Hazel – the bigoted one- painting her toe nails in Till The Stars Come Down

Angie continues: “There are a lot of things to think about in this play, and as everything in set out in the first half, the audience will have plenty to reflect on in the interval.

“There is stress throughout, which is covered by the humour that the cast are finding ever more ways to express, but because Sylvia is marrying a Polish man, it brings out racial issues.

“They are a dysfunctional family, though they think they’re not, but the sisters come together at the end, turning their back on their relationships to put the sisters first, which makes it even more dysfunctional. It’s a little bit like Alan Ayckbourn in style because it embraces farce as well as the clever use of language.”

Angie did not see the London production – “I purposely never do that,” she says – but was aware that it was staged in the round with a revolving stage. “I thought, ‘put that to one side, look at the text’. That was my first job.

“I wanted to do it with a rake stage, with everyone looking in the same direction, as frankly I’ve been to too many productions where I haven’t been able to see all the actors’ faces, seeing them with their back to you or in profile. I wanted to do it ‘old style’ and make it work that way.

“I thought, why should how it was done in the West End stop me from doing such a well-written play?’. I was determined to see the play staged my way, starting with getting ready in the house for the wedding, with one door for that, then the pub for the wedding breakfast, in the middle, and then Hazel’s house at the end, with two doors because you can get to the kitchen via the sitting room.”

Three sisters: Clare Halliday’s Hazel, left, Joy Warner’s Sylvia and Victoria Delaney’s Maggie lining up for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Angie adds: “I also had to re-think some of the characterisation as Beth [who grew up in the colliery town of Shirebrook, near Mansfield] set the play in Nottinghamshire but we’ve moved it to Yorkshire, because I’m from Sheffield originally and went to a Catholic primary school in a mining village, Spinkhill, and found myself speaking two languages, one at school, one at home. So I’ve set it in South Yorkshire, 30 years on from Thatcher’s dispute with the miners.”

Angie’s cast includes three actors new to the company: Laura Haynes-Bury as Leanne, Leeds actor Darren Barrott as Marek and Daniel Wilmot as Uncle Pete. “Laura has just finished her drama degree in York and she’s so dynamic,” says the director.

“This is the first time she’s worked with non-student adults and she brings so much to this play. I’ve never worked with someone so young and so talented. She has this wonderfully expressive non-expressive face, if you know what I mean.

“Darren caught the eye in Settlement Players’ Party Piece last October. We’re seeing an actor who’s just open to trying anything and his own personality doesn’t come into it at all. He’s fitted in very well with us.

“Daniel is a York actor and writer who has his own company, Baron Productions,  and he’s joining us to play the small role of Uncle Pete, a miner who didn’t cross the picket line.”

Together they add to expanding roster of York Actors Collective in Angie Millard’s fifth production, one that she will mine to its deepest seam.

York Actors Collective presents Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Lucinda Rennison’s Aunty Carol and company debutante Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Who is in York Actors Collective’s cast for Till The Stars Come Down?

DARREN Barrott, as Marek; Victoria Delaney, Maggie; Clare Halliday, Hazel; Laura Haynes-Bury, Leanne; Chris Pomfrett, Tony; Lucinda Rennison, Aunty Carol; Neil Vincent, John; Joy Warner, Sylvia, and Daniel Wilmot, Uncle Pete.

Victoria, last seen in York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills at York Theatre Royal Studio in February, has taken over the role of Maggie in a late change of cast. “As always, Vic has proved to be a wonderful replacement,” says director Angie Millard.

York Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard, left, with stage manager Em Peattie

Angie Millard: Back story

INVOLVED with theatre since her teens, this continued as a drama student at Warwick University and at Jim Haine’s Arts Lab in Drury Lane, London.

Worked in Theatre in Education groups at Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, and Greenwich Theatre,  London.

After moving north 20 years ago, she joined the casts of many York Theatre Royal community productions and the York Mystery Plays. Then, via York Settlement Community Players, she returned to directing, launching York Actors Collective in 2023.

This independent group has come together to perform plays and to offer thought- provoking and entertaining theatre, staging Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 2023, Alexander Zeldin’s Beyond Caring in 2024 and Nina Raine’s Tiger Country last year at Theatre@41, Monkgate, as well as J. M. Barrie’s Mary Rose at York Theatre Royal Studio in Autumn 2024.