Mark Hadfield’s Hercule Poirot: Immaculate investigations in Death On The Nile. Picture: Manuel Harlan
WE know of Agatha Christie’s monumental achievements, but what of Ken Ludwig, whose contribution to Fiery Angel’s European premiere of his adaptation of Death On The Nile is of equal significance?
Born in York – of the Pennsylvania, not Yorkshire, variety – he is “America’s preeminent comic playwright”, as well as author, screenwriter and director, whose work has been performed in 30-plus countries in more than 20 languages.
Screwball comedies are a specialism, but he has carved out a niche too in putting his stamp on Christie’s thrillers, working in tandem again with director Lucy Bailey and producers Fiery Angel after their sold-out collaborations on And Then There Were None in 2023 and Murder On The Orient Express in 2025.
Death On The Nile is his most humorous yet. Par example, if you have never seen Belgian detective Hercule Poirot wiggle and jiggle with his cane while talking of rumpy-pumpy, now is your chance in a play as full of punchlines as suspense and murder.
Indeed, Ludwig even branches out into meta-theatre as Mark Hadfield’s Poirot and Bob Barrett’s Colonel Race form not only a partnership in crime-solving but also a comic double act.
When Colonel Race reveals his exasperation at the tradition of Poirot rounding up everyone to deliver his whodunit verdict, Hadfield’s Poirot counters: “I love it!” We love it too, of course, hence the typically packed audience on Wednesday night, none more excited than young Charlie in the stalls row in front, as the next generation joins the Christie fan club.
Mark Hadfield’s Hercule Poirot, left, Esme Hough’s Jacqueline De Bellefort, Nye Occomore’s Simon Doyle and Libby Alexandra-Cooper’s Linnet Ridgeway in Death On The Nile. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Bailey, Ludwig and Hadfield make for a playful, yet also serious triumvirate at the heart of Death On The Nile, the balance just right, so that the tension still cranks up but the humour works a treat too, serving as comic relief rather than being irreverent.
Death On The Nile is later-days Poirot when everything is turning as grey as his little cells of logic and brain power, as he contemplates retirement and his luxury paddle steamer cruise beneath the Egyptian sun is for rest and recuperation in the affable company of Colonel Race.
Bailey’s productions opens with the familiar silhouette of Hadfield’s Poirot in dapper hat and coat on a railway platform as Esme Hough’s Jacqueline De Bellefort is mid-clinch with Nye Occomore’s Simon Doyle. It will not end well, his instinct lets us know.
Whoosh, the plot thickens at a meet-the-cast party at the British Museum to mark the imminent return of a sarcophagus to Egypt on board the SS Karnak. Mike Britton’s superbly adaptable set now transforms into the two decks of the steamer, from which no-one can escape in transit.
His use of sliding slatted doors facilitates creating differing bedroom cabins, with connecting balconies, while Oliver Fenwick’s lighting then shines through the slats to add to the air of mystery (along with Bailey’s further use of figures in silent silhouette, or even whispering in an ear while moving furniture in scene changes). Mic Pool’s sound design is vital to the rising sense of claustrophobia too.
Further scenes take place to the front of the sliders, culminating in the aforementioned Poirot dressing-down. On the subject of dressing, everyone is dressing up the max in Britton’s gorgeous designs for the women and elegant suits for the men.
Double act: Bob Barrett’s Colonel Race and Mark Hadfield’s Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile
If one triangle – Bailey, Ludwig and Hadfield – is crucial to the style and interpretation of content, then another is the play’s fulcrum. Hough’s Jacqueline, by now jilted by Occomore’s Doyle in favour of heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Libby Alexandra-Cooper) has followed their every honeymoon step and now on to the steamer, where her choice of colour (red) spells danger.
Alexandra-Cooper’s neurotic Linnet has every right to be nervous, and not only because of Jacqueline’s unwanted presence. What happens next, your reviewer will not divulge, but only the sarcophagus is not under suspicion when the inevitable murder takes place.
Bailey’s cast has so many performances to enjoy, from Alexandra –Cooper’s haunted Linnet to Nicholas Prasad’s shy doctor Ramses Praed, topped off by the comic interplay of Terence Wilton’s veteran theatre darling Septimus Troy and Glynis Barber’s chameleon society butterfly Salome Otterbourne.
Above all else, Hadfield’s Poirot may have a limp from a wartime injury but he has a spring in his impish step, yet he is still fastidious and stern in conducting his investigations, capturing the overlapping tones of Ludwig’s script. Poirot has a closing point to make too: the importance of love and how it should not be cheated.
It would be a crime to miss Fiery Angel’s Death On The Nile, so full of style and wit.
Fiery Angel in Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Mark Britton’s slatted set design for the paddle steamer in Death On The Nile. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Rob Rouse : Comedians’ comedian of the year. Picture: Karina Lax
ROB Rouse takes to the roads from today, bringing his Funny Bones stand-up tour to Pocklington Arts Centre on March 12, buoyed by winning Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025.
Determined exclusively via a poll of comedians on the UK circuit, the award recognises the Cheshire-born comedian’s standing after more than 25 years on the circuit. “I’m thrilled and absolutely knocked over by it,” says Rob, 52, of his January honour.
“It’s taken me completely by surprise. I’m very grateful and genuinely touched to receive this. We all love making audiences laugh and we all love the feeling of getting a laugh from our fellow clowns at the back of the room. It’s one of the things that encourages us to keep going and keep writing.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and to be acknowledged by your peers, who truly understand the highs and lows of this crazy job, feels deeply moving and humbling.”
Rob further reflects: “It made me really quite emotional. I’ve never believed that showbusiness is competitive in any way, shape or form . It isn’t, and the more time you spend doing it, you realise that, even those who are at the top of the tree, even they can feel there’s something not quite in place or something they’ve never got right.
Rob Rouse: Comedian, actor, podcaster and comedy club host
“The essence of creativity is that you’re always searching, and this award was like lots of my friends and colleagues saying ‘we really like you, Rob’, just as I love them. We’re all part of this ragbag of clowns, and what we all share is standing on stage and just mucking around, making people laugh and having fun.”
He will be doing exactly that when his “lap of honour” travels with Funny Bones take in further Yorkshire gigs at Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21; Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, March 26; Richmond Georgian Theatre Royal, March 27; Leeds Glee Club, April 12, and Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, April 17, further boosted by Rob taking home the Best Act prize from the 2025 Yorkshire Comedy Awards.
We all know of the benefit of laughter, how it triggers the brain to releaseendorphins that act as “feel-good chemicals”. Does that make Rob smile? “I wholeheartedly believe it’s good for us, as the world is very complicated – though, despite what you might think, statistically we’re living in the safest time in history. These are immutable facts.” (Footnote: Rob was speaking before the unfolding of this week’s events in Iran and the Middle East.)
When putting together a new show, such as Funny Bones, he applies this modus operandi: “I just try to do on stage what I’d like to watch myself, so I’ll try stuff out at gigs and if it works, I keep doing it; if it sort of works, I keep doing it; if it doesn’t work, I stop doing it,” says Rob, who topped the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at York Barbican last March.
He recalls being inspired by the surrealist work of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. “They were the ones who lit a fire in me as a teenager, thinking, ‘this is fun, I love this’. What I really love about them is that they didn’t ask anyone’s permission to do what they do. They had the essence of punk about them,” says Rob.
“I love Fry & Laurie, Eddie Izzard, Fawlty Towers, Tommy Cooper, The Young Ones, but there was something about Vic and Bob that felt celebratory. Their comedy was a lightning bolt.”
One man and his skeleton dog: Rob Rouse in Funny Bones. Picture: Karina Lax
Yet he could not have foreseen his comedy career. “If anything, I was a shy child, and the thought of stepping out on stage frightened me,” he says.
So much so that, filled with nerves about performing at a primary school assembly, he accidentally placed his foot in a crate, cutting his head open on the corner of a table as he fell, and duly needed stitches. “I remember thinking, ‘that’s good, I don’t have to go on stage now,’” says Rob.
Rob studied Geography at Sheffield University “when it was just about escaping the world”. “A good friend of mine was in the university drama group; I’d split up with my girlfriend and was moping around the place, and they said ‘you should get off your backside and do an audition’,” he recalls.
On the first night of the subsequent production, when the stage ‘flats’ collapsed, Rob was the only one on stage. “I ended up talking to the audiences on my own, and the laughs I got from that felt different from the laughs I got in the play,” he says. “It made me think, ‘oh, that’s interesting’, so the bulb had been planted.”
Rob then performed a ten-minute set at a charity gig at the Fox & Duck, Sheffield. “I remember being nervous, even puking before the show, but it was also an absolute rush,” he says.
“I’ll try stuff out at gigs and if it works, I keep doing it; if it sort of works, I keep doing it; if it doesn’t work, I stop doing it,” says Rob Rouse. Picture: Karina Lax
Moving to London, he booked open-mic spots through Time Out and went on to win Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny Award at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe with his combination of joyous silliness, infectious energy and storytelling craft.
He has since starred in the BBC’s Upstart Crow, playing manservant Ned Bottom to David Mitchell’s William Shakespeare, as well as appearing on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and The Friday Night Project, touring all over the world, clocking up 12 Edinburgh Fringe shows and performing in two sold-out West End runs of Upstart Crow The Play
Now living in the Peak District, he is resident host of The Comedy Village at the Crookes Social Club in Sheffield, where he bills himself as the “comedy village idiot”.
Funny Bones marks his return to solo touring in a high-spirited show built on craftily spun tall tales, eerily convincing characters, bucketfuls of manic energy, daft flights of fancy and a barrage of one-liners in a celebration of comedy and being alive.
“I purchased the skeleton suit online for the photo-shoot, but it had a boil-in-the-bag effect on me! It’s made of plastic, completely unbreakable, but it’s just too hot to perform in,” says Rob. “I wouldn’t inflict that on the audience. After three nights, I’d have to hand out nose pegs!”
Tickets are on sale at: Pocklington, 01759 301547or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Sheffield, thecomedyvillage.com; Richmond, 01748 825252 or georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, 0871 472 0400 or glee.co.uk; Huddersfield, 01484 430528 or thelbt.org.
“We’re all part of this ragbag of clowns, and what we all share is standing on stage and just mucking around, making people laugh and having fun,” says Rob Rouse of the life of a comedy performer. Picture: Karina Lax
Rob Rouse: back story
Television and film work
STARTED his career in television as a “warm-up” on the hit BBC sitcom Coupling, where he entertained the studio audience between filming.
Rouse starred in the first series of the BBC Three sitcom Grownups and Guilty Pleasures, a new chat show that he hosted. Played uncredited role in Penelope, Mark Palansky’s feature film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006.
In 2005, Rouse co-presented Channel 4 entertainment show The Friday Night Project, now known as The Sunday Night Project. Starred in Channel 4 sketch show Spoons.
Acting work took in a role in ITV comedy-drama Tunnel Of Love and starring role in BBC3 sitcom The Bunk Bed Boys. Cast member for E4’s The Pilot Show.
Panellist on 8 Out of 10 Cats and Bognor Or Bust.
In 2007, he starred as Robert Thornton in ten episodes of Paramount Comedy shorts The Former Ambassador Robert Thornton. Starred in Mad Mad World on ITV1 since Spring 2012.
Plays Ned Bottom in BBC Two’s Shakespeare sitcom Upstart Crow, written by Ben Elton, appearing alongside David Mitchell, Harry Enfield, Mark Heap and Liza Tarbuck.
Other work Rouse and his wife, comedy writer and performer Helen Rutter, present comedy self-help podcast Rob And Helen’s Date Night, charting a series of odd dates including horse riding, life-drawing in front of a fire, and the couple recording Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name, live in their garage.
Rouse and Rutter starred in Rutter’s play The Ladder, premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, based on an accident when Rutter’s hand became stuck in a ladder at home, necessitating Rouse’s attempts to help her.
Specialising in self-aware collaborative comedy focusing on their real-life relationship, they presented Funny In Real Life at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe.
JAPANESE prints, a Belgian detective, a Tudor queen and a West Riding pioneer are all making waves in Charles Hutchinson’s early March recommendations.
Exhibition of the week: Making Waves, The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print, York Art Gallery, until August 30, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm
MAKING Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print presents Japanese art and culture in more than 100 striking and iconic works from renowned artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro, among many others.
At the epicentre of this intriguing insight into the history and development of Japanese woodblock printing is the chance to see Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, one of the most recognisable and celebrated artworks in the world. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.
York Community Choir Festival 2026: Showcase for choirs aplenty at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival 2026, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
THE annual York Community Choir Festival brings together choirs of all ages to perform in a wide variety of singing styles on each bill. Across the week, 43 choirs are taking part in nine concerts, making the 2026 event the largest yet. Concert programmes feature well-known classical and modern popular songs, complemented by show tunes, world music, folk song, gospel, jazz and soul. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Death On The Nile: European premiere of Ken Ludwig’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Murder mystery of the week: Fiery Angel presents Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
AFTER tours of And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express, Death On The Nile reunites director Lucy Bailey, writer Ken Ludwig and producers Fiery Angel for the European premiere of a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.
On board a luxurious cruise under the heat of the Egyptian sun, a couple’s idyllic honeymoon is cut short by a brutal murder. As secrets buried in the sands of time resurface, can Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield), untangle the web of lies? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Nick Patrick Jones’s Henry VIII and Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn in Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: John Saunders
Historical drama of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Anne Boleyn, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Black Treacle Theatre presents Howard Brenton’s account of one of England’s most important and intriguing historical figures: Tudor lover, heretic, revolutionary, queen Anne Boleyn (played by Lara Stafford).
Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King’s bed, or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – re-emerges in a very different light in Brenton’s epic play, premiered by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in 2010. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as Anne Lister, rehearsing for Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack. Picture: Colleen Mair
Dance premiere of the week: Northern Ballet and Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Gentleman Jack, Leeds Grand Theatre, Saturday to March 14, except Sunday and Monday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on March 12 and 14
THIS groundbreaking new ballet marks a trio of ‘firsts’: the first time the story of Anne Lister has been told through ballet, the first large-scale commission for Northern Ballet since 2021 and the first under artistic director Federico Bonelli.
Yorkshirewoman Anne, the “first modern lesbian”, lived, dressed and loved as she desired, not as 19th century society expected of her. Northern Ballet’s interpretation of her life is choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, leading a female artistic team that includes Sally Wainwright, writer of the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for the Merely Players’ Fakespeare exposé at Helmsley Arts Centre
The Great Shakespeare Fraud of the week: Merely Players, Fakespeare, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
THERE are two problems with deception: being found out and not being found out. In 1794, noted antiquarian Samuel Ireland is delighted when his son William brings him unknown documents in the hand of Shakespeare, obtained from an anonymous source. However, scholars question their authenticity and denounce Samuel as a forger. The household is thrown into turmoil and family skeletons come tumbling out of cupboards.
Roll forward to 2026, when Samuel, William and their housekeeper Mrs Freeman meet again to sort out the truth of it all, if such a thing is possible. So runs Stuart Fortey’s tragicomic, scarcely believable, deceptively truthful tale of 18th century literary fraud and family deceit. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Very Santana: Celebrating Carlos Santana’s songs and guitar mastery at Milton Rooms, Malton
Tribute gig of the week: Very Santana, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm
VERY Santana’s musical time travel experience celebrates the beautiful guitar melodies and creatively diverse, challenging songs of Carlos Santana, performed with room for extra improvisation.
The set list spans the Santana legacy, from the Abraxas album early peaks of Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and Samba Pa Ti, through the late 1970s’ hits such as Europa and She’s Not There, to the modern-era Grammy winners Smooth and Maria-Maria. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Harry Enfield: No Chums but a cornucopia of comical characters at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy gig of the week: Harry Enfield And No Chums, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
FROM the meteoric rise of Loadsamoney, a Thatcherite visionary, to the fury of Kevin the Teenager, satirical comedian and self-styled “stupid idiot” Harry Enfield reflects on 40 years in comedy, bringing favourite characters vividly back to life on stage.
Then comes your chance to ask how it all works for the former University of York politics student (Derwent College, 1979 to 1982), discover what makes him most proud and find out what would he say to the many who ask, “You wouldn’t be allowed to do your stuff today, would you?”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Elvis Costello: Revisiting his 1977-1986 back catalogue in Radio Soul! at York Barbican in June. Picture: Ray Di Pietro
Gig announcement of the week: Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Radio Soul!: The Early Songs Of Elvis Costello, York Barbican, June 17
ELVIS Costello will return to York Barbican for the first time since May 2012’s Spectacular Singing Book tour, joined by The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton.
Costello, 71, will focus on songs drawn from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate in 1986, complemented by “other surprises”. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/elvis-costello/.
Singer-turned-artistCandie Payne. Picture: Chris Morrison
REDHOUSE Gallery, in Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, introduces ART, its inaugural fair dedicated to contemporary art, prints and archive editions, on Saturday from 10am to 6pm.
This weekend’s debut edition celebrates some of the finest young and emerging artists working today and has a focus on creatives from Harrogate and beyond.
Harrogate’s reputation as a destination for artists to thrive and create has grown to the point where many live and work in the spa town, Schoph, Christopher Kelly, Candie Payne and Thomas James Butler among them.
Since 2008, RedHouse Gallery has welcomed numerous prestigious visiting artists such as Sir Peter Blake, Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves), rock’n’roll photographer Gered Mankowitz and Danny Larsen.
Saturday’s pop-up air fair, running for one day only, features original art, prints and sculpture, with several pieces created for the event.
ART participantSiena Baines. Picture: Barry Adamson
Florence Blanchard. Picture: Helena Dolby
Many of the exhibiting artists will attend the launch event in person, offering an opportunity for visitors to meet and connect with artists and art lovers alike.
Richard McTague, of RedHouse Gallery, says: “Artists bring a vibrant and positive impact to any area, and as a gallery we are privileged to work with so many talented creatives. It wasn’t a conscious decision to show so many artists from Yorkshire; the exhibition came together naturally, but the region has so much to offer, and clearly an incredible heritage in terms of art history.”
Contributors from across the region include Pete McKee (Sheffield), Florence Blanchard (Sheffield), Alfie Kungu (Hebden Bridge), Gareth Griffiths (Leeds), Dudley Edwards (Richmond), David Rusbatch (Leeds) and Siena Barnes (Haworth).
London-born sculptor Sir Antony Gormley, a pioneer of art in local spaces and a champion of artists, once said: “We can make our cities diverse, inspirational places by putting art, dance and performance in all its forms into the matrix of street life.”
RedHouse Gallery bears witness to that sentiment, not least this weekend when admission to ART will be free.
Who’s taking part in ART?
Dan Baldwin · Siena Barnes · Florence Blanchard · Peter Blake · Adam Bridgland · Thomas James Butler · Dudley Edwards · Christian Furr · Jill Furmanovsky · Gareth Griffiths · Gareth Halliday · Christopher Kelly · Alfie Kungu · Danny Larsen · Sharon Latham · Pete McKee · John Middleton · Horace Panter · Candie Payne · David Rusbatch · Seen · Schoph · Ian Skelly · Nick Walker · Joy Yamusangie.
Hebden Bridge artist Alfie Kungu. Picture: Lily Brown
Among the artists:
Alfie Kungu
BORN in Hebden Bridge in 1993, contemporary artist Alfie Kungu is best known for his vibrant and energetic paintings. Inspired by his Kenyan roots, Kungu draws on nostalgic memories of carnival and celebrations inherent within the diaspora.
He has collaborated with notable fashion brands and designers, including North Face, Selfridges, Folk Clothing, Carhartt, House of Vans, Nike and Liam Hodge at London Fashion Week.
Candie Payne
BORN in Liverpool in 1981, Payne moved with her family to New York at the age of four. These formative years were vital in shaping her inspiration, and her artwork is informed largely by her love of fairytales and dance.
Payne first came to prominence as a singer and lyricist in 2007 with the release of her debut album I Wish I Could Have Loved You More on Deltasonic/Sony BMG. Collaborations with David Byrne, Mark Ronson, Kevin Ayers and Paul Weller followed.
In 2016, Payne relocated to Yorkshire and now shares a studio with her partner, artist Thomas James Butler.
Thomas James Butler
BORN in Knaresborough in 1982. His paintings celebrate the natural world, drawing inspiration from a variety of cultural reference points and innovators.
20th century painters Robert Rauschenberg and Hans Hoffman are equally as relevant to his practice as filmmakers and writers Stanley Kubrick and Charles Bukowski. Now preparing his next solo exhibition in Spring 2026.
Knaresborough-born artist Thomas James Butler. Picture: Robin Clewley
PAUL Sinha, Morgan Rees and Bethany Black form the triple bill for Candlelit Comedy at Carlton Towers, near Selby, on Saturday.
For one night only, the Picture Gallery in this Grade I listed country house will play host to a brace of stand-up bills by candlelight at 7pm and 9.15pm.
Luton-born doctor, quizzer and comic storyteller Sinha is best known as The Sinnerman, one of six Chasers on ITV quiz The Chase, as well as for his appearances on Taskmaster and once played Abanazar in the Grand Opera House pantomime in York, playing opposite Debbie McGee and Suzanne Shaw in Three Bears Productions’ Aladdin in 2016-2017.
Rees is a BBC New Comedy Award finalist with an offbeat style and self-deprecating charm, while Black is a trailblazing voice in British comedy with a darkly humorous, fearless manner.
Morgan Rees
Set against the dramatic backdrop of Carlton Towers’ Victorian interiors, the night offers a fresh way to experience the house: blending heritage, atmosphere and live comedy in a new format. Drinks will be available throughout the event, which is curated by HeritageXplore, a new platform set up to celebrate British independent heritage houses through imaginative cultural programming.
By bringing bold, modern events into historic spaces, HeritageXplore seeks to connect new audiences with the stories, spaces and character of these family homes.
Jimmy Bryant: First name out of the pirate’s hat to be confirmed for The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan at Grand Opera House, York
COMEDY turn Jimmy Bryant will brew up a storm of laughter on his return to the Grand Opera House, York, in UK Productions’ swashbuckling pantomime The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook.
After shining as Buttons in Cinderella, the Cumberland Street theatre’s most successful panto ever, Bryant will take to the high seasas Smee from December 5 to January 3 2027 with his combination of comic timing, glorious chaos and heart-warming mischief.
“I’m absolutely pixie-dust levels of thrilled to be sailing back to the Grand Opera House, York!” says actor, comic performer and immersive theatre enthusiast Jimmy. “Last year’s audiences were honestly unforgettable, and the thought of stepping back onto that stage gives me goosebumps.
“Smee is such a brilliantly bonkers character – loyal, chaotic, always in the wrong place at the wrong time – and I promise we are going bigger, bolder and sillier than ever before.
“This show is packed with spectacle, surprises and so much heart. York, get ready, because this Christmas we’re not just going to Neverland…we’re going to blow the roof off it!”
Grand Opera House theatre director Allie Long enthuses: “Cinderella was our most successful pantomime to date, and that was due in no small part to Jimmy’s brilliant and hilarious turn as Buttons.
“We’re thrilled to have Jimmy returning, and we can’t wait to welcome him — along with the rest of The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan cast — to the stage for what promises to an unforgettable pantomime season at the Grand Opera House.”
It’s Smee: Jimmy Bryant in the poster for UK Productions’ 2026 pantomime at the Grand Opera House, York
UK Productions producer Martin Dodd adds: “We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Jimmy Bryant back aboard at the magnificent Grand Opera House, York, for this year’s panto, which is going to be to be a ship-shape riot!
“Jimmy’s Smee will be a masterclass in comic chaos, the perfect first mate to mischief, mayhem and a certain ticking crocodile lurking in the wings. There’ll be pirates, planks and plenty of hooks, but the biggest catch this Christmas is your ticket. So, hoist the mainsail, gather your crew and hook your tickets now!”
Bryant’s theatre credits include Cockfosters (Southwark Playhouse), Costard in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Cockpit Theatre), Al Capone in Peaky Blinders: The Rise, Herr Kutte in Jack & The Beanstalk (Cheltenham Playhouse), In The Dead Of The Night(UK tour), Doctor Who: Time Fracture (BBC/Immersive Everywhere) and The Immersive Wolf Of Wall Street (Stratton Oakmont Productions).
Among his film credits are Morris in PINKY! (ESA Films) and ROBBED The Movie, written and directed by Bryant.
Uniting leading UK pantomime producer UK Productions with the Grand Opera House for the fifth time, The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan is designed to appeal to families, offices, families and friendship groups alike.
Audiences are invited to “race to book before the best seats walk the plank”. “In panto land, it’s never too early to secure your spot, because once tickets start flying, they’ll be gone quicker than Peter Pan with a sprinkling of pixie dust. Grab your seats now before they’re swallowed by the crocodile,” reads the press release.
Further casting will be announced. Tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
Mark Hadfield as Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from March 3 to 7. Picture: Manuel Harlan
MARK Hadfield arrives at the Grand Opera House, York, next Tuesday to play legendary private detective Hercule Poirot in the European premiere of a new stage version of Death On The Nile, carrying the approval of none other than Sir Kenneth Branagh.
The two actors are friends. “He’s been incredibly encouraging,” says Mark of his conversations with Sir Kenneth, who has played Agatha Christie’s fastidious puzzle solver in three film outings marked by his moustache topiary.
Encouragement came from Michael Maloney too, another actor friend who took on the role of the Belgian sleuth in the tour of Murder On The Orient Express that visited York last March.
As with the UK and Ireland tour of Death On The Nile, that Fiery Angel production combined Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of a Christie novel by Ken Ludwig with direction by Lucy Bailey.
“They both encouraged me to do this because they said, ‘you will have so much enjoyment in bringing him to life’,” says Mark of Branagh and Maloney. “And I think Death On The Nile is one of Christie’s best stories, so that also drew me in.
“Poirot’s journey within it is fascinating to play, because he goes from being on what he thinks is a relaxing holiday to having to solve a murder.”
The killing in question happens in 1937 when Poirot is holidaying on a luxury steamer on the River Nile in Egypt, where a couple’s idyllic honeymoon is cut short by a brutal murder. Once secrets buried in the sands of time resurface, can the world-famous detective untangle the web of lies to solve the case?
On tour from last October in Salford to May 23 in Plymouth, Mark is following in the orderly steps of Maloney, Branagh, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet in playing Poirot, a familiar character that has elicited myriad interpretations. “The challenge is to try and incorporate people’s expectations but also to bring in a few surprises,” he says.
“I’m not expecting people to say, ‘oh my God, that was the most original Poirot I’ve ever seen’ by giving him a punk hairdo or what have you. But I hope to find that balance of pleasing people while leaving them going, ‘we haven’t seen that before’.”
After solving a murder on the Orient Express, Poirot is heading into his later years. “He may even be thinking of retiring,” suggests Mark. “He talks about old age and life having passed him by. There’s more of a hint of melancholy than people might be used to from him.”
Mark hopes next week’s audiences will find Death On The Nile to be “delicious, like opening a two-tray box of chocolates where you enjoy the first layer so much that you have to have the second layer too.
Christie’s story combines escapism with a timeless theme. “It’s gloriously evocative of travel in that time, but it’s also about how we should nurture love and try to be as kind as we can,” says Mark. “That’s something we could learn from with everything that’s going on at the moment.”
Mark has performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Sheffield’s Crucible and Lyceum theatres but never in York previously. “York’s theatres have eluded me, though I have visited the city. This will be my first time on a York stage, so I’m really looking forward to it,” he says.
Most memorably on a Yorkshire stage, “I did the original West Yorkshire Playhouse production of The 39 Steps with Fiery Angel in June 2005,” says Mark, who played myriad roles in the guise The Clown in Patrick Barlow’s adaptation, directed by Fiona Buffini.
In another first for Mark, “Death On The Nile is the first time I’ve worked on a production with Lucy [Bailey], though I’ve known her for a long time and I’ve done workshops with her on other projects.
“Very kindly Lucy was very keen for me to do it, and it does help a great deal that the director has seen you have the capability for the part, especially one as illustrious as Poirot.”
Mark continues: “I was desperate to do it, and knowing that Lucy was keen, I didn’t need much convincing, though I had an elderly mother to think about – when ruminating over whether I could do the tour.
“That’s why I met up with Kenneth [Branagh] and Michael [Maloney], the previous Poirots. We met up at a Tottenham match, as Kenneth is a devoted Spurs fan – I’m a Manchester United fan – and he said ‘you have to do it’. That helped with the decision because it was nice to have that support.
Mark Hadfield – with grey moustache – at the publicity photographic shoot for Fiery Angel’s tour of Death On The Nile. Picture: Jay Brooks
“When we met up again, Kenneth shared his research for the role, where he said the thing that struck him most about Poirot was his kindness – when there are so many facets you could pick out: his meticulous attitude, his aloofness. So that was something that stayed in my mind.”
As for Michael Maloney, “he said he loved creating characters and that Poirot had been a joy,” says Mark. “I’ve been finding that too, and I keep finding more, little things where I think, ‘I’ll try that’ as he’s a multi-faceted character and an absolute pleasure to play.”
Mark’s research had included reading film historian Mark Aldridge’s 2020 book Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective In The World, covering the character’s evolution across novels, stage, radio and screen from 1920 to 2020, the centenary of his debut.
This informs his playing of a role that combines familiarity with flexibility. “I know all the performances that have been done on screen, apart from John Malkovich [in BBC One’s The ABC Murders in 2018],” he says.
“I’ve not ignored the likes of Peter Ustnov and Albert Finney, as well as David Suchet. Peter and Albert were so memorable, partly because they each had a very different look, like Albert going for Poirot’s vanity, whereas Peter’s Poirot was very charming and avuncular. With David Suchet, it was the precise, physical aspect.”
Mark’s research also took in reading Christie’s first detective novel, Poirot’s debut in The Mysterious Affair At Styles. “As it’s his first appearance, you get a bit of background, how he came over from Belgium in the First World War, in which he served and was injured, arriving here as a refugee, like Kenneth showed in Murder On The Orient Express.
“I’ve gone for the physicality of Poirot being in his sixties, with a slight limp, using the cane as a necessity, rather than as a fashion accessory. By Death In The Nile, he’s been through a lot, where he’s got to the point where, if he could, he would retire.
“The script backs this up, where he’s reflecting on his life and growing old, where the lovers on board seem incredibly young, whereas he’s an older man who’s seen too much and grown tired.”
Mark continues: “It’s a great leap for the audience to see this man who, in the first half, is looking forward to the trip with the colonel [Colonel Johnnie Race], going up the Nile for rest and recuperation, but then the murder occurs, and he has to revert to being the Poirot everyone expected him to, with him finding this murder particularly distasteful.”
Mike Britton’s set design opens at the British Museum before the luxurious paddle steamer takes centre stage. “It’s a two-tier set with the lover dying on the upper deck,” says Mark. “What we want to achieve is a very claustrophobic feeling, where Mark creates such spaces as a cabin and a saloon by using sliders.
“Theatrically, you have to keep cranking up the tension until the denouement, where you know that everyone on board is a suspect and the intrigue builds as to who’s done it, as everyone has a back story in relation to the character who’s murdered. Everyone has a motive for committing the crime.
“The theatrical setting heightens that tension and suspense, as do the sound effects of Mic Pool, who I worked with previously at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.”
Britton’s set looks “absolutely gorgeous and sumptuous”, says Mark. “He’s done the fabulous costume designs too. He’s done a lot of research to capture the socialite world aboard the steamer in 1937. Everybody looks immaculate.”
Ludwig’s script is vital too. “He’s basically a writer of comedies, doing that very successfully, but here he’s managed to create the suspense and tension while making it witty too, with a nice strain of humour, even at the end,” says Mark.
“It’s a risk, but it works, as the audience goes through the excitement of wondering ‘whodunit’ and we can relieve all that tension with humour.”
Mark’s Poirot will, of course, have a moustache. “It’s quite a challenge as moustaches are mentioned a lot with Poirot, though I know there were films made in the 1930s where Poirot didn’t have a moustache, which caused confusion [Irish actor Austin Trevor’s Poirot in 1931’s Alibi, Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies],” he says.
“I haven’t gone for the severity of Kenneth or David’s moustache. I’m greying quite rapidly, and when we did the photos for the press releases, you can see mine is quite grey, but that doesn’t have a dynamic look on stage, where it has to be darker – and I did read that Poirot dyed his hair and moustache.
“I’m letting my moustache grow – so, yes, it’s genuinely attached! – and it’s become a smart, reverent gesture towards moustache twiddling . My wife complains ‘Will you stop playing with your moustache’, but I just can’t stop! It will grow even more, so it does have its own character.”
Glynis Barber’s romantic novelist Salome Otterbourne in Fiery Angel’s Death On The Nile. Picture: Jay Brooks
AMONG those joining Mark Hadfield’s Poirot on the steamer on the Nile will be flamboyant romance novelist Salome Otterbourne, played by Glynis Barber. “In the play, she’s very different to how she is in the book and in the various films – and she’s quite a character, which makes her fun to play,” she says.
“She is larger than life and she brings a lot of energy to the stage. She’s the loudest, bubbliest and most theatrical character, that’s for sure.”
A further draw for Glynis was the team behind Death On The Nile. “Lucy [Bailey] is a fabulous director and Fiery Angel is an amazing company. Plus this one hasn’t been done on stage before in the UK, so that makes it exciting,” she says.
A version of the play was staged in Washington, but now Ken Ludwig has rewritten it for its European premiere. “And the response has been phenomenal,” says Glynis. “I’ve had so many messages from people I know – and people I don’t know- going, ‘I definitely want to see that’. I’ve even got one friend who is flying in from Spain to Edinburgh to see it.”
Death On The Nile is her first theatre work since The Best Man in 2018 in London’s West End. “After the pandemic, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to return to it, because, after being isolated for all that time, I’d gotten cold feet,” says Glynis.
“But the fact that it’s a scary prospect is a good reason to do it, and I thought, ‘if I am going to go back to theatre, this is a really good play to do so with.”
Glynis understands the lure of a Christie story on stage. “The plots keep you guessing and they’re a very good way to escape the world for a couple of hours,” she says. “Who doesn’t want a bit of that, especially these days?”
Highlighting the central theme, Glynis says: “It’s about love, which is deeply pertinent for every age, and in this story it’s a very profound theme. Unless we all become AI bots, love is universal and that is something that will never change.”
Mark Hadfield’s Hercule Poirot in a scene from Fiery Angel’s production of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile. Picture: Manuel Harlan
One last question for Mark Hadfield
How did you settle on your voice for playing Hercule Poirot?
“I worked with a lovely voice and dialect coach, Edda Sharpe. I did a Zoom meeting with her for an hour before rehearsals started, where I did the voice and she said, ‘it’s not far off’.
“All we had to do was make it more Belgian, where the French mouth is tighter and the Belgian mouth is more smiley, so whereas the French say ‘Ze’, the Belgian says ‘de’.
“I also worked with Edda in rehearsals, where she would give me little things to think about. Lucy [director Lucy Bailey] said the focus was to find the tonal range, which makes it interesting.
“That’s been a good challenge, bringing Poirot alive. All these things, we’ve looked at, worked on and reflected on on a daily basis – in case we go to Belgium!”
Fiery Angel presents Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, circa 1829-1832, from Making Waves at York Art Gallery. Picture: courtesy of Maidstone Museum
JAPANESE prints, a Belgian detective, a Tudor queen and a West Riding pioneer are all making waves in Charles Hutchinson’s early March recommendations.
Exhibition launch of the week: Making Waves, The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print, York Art Gallery, until August 30, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm
MAKING Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print presents Japanese art and culture in more than 100 striking and iconic works from renowned artists, such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro, among many others.
At the epicentre of this intriguing insight into the history and development of Japanese woodblock printing is the chance to see Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, one of the most recognisable and celebrated artworks in the world. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.
Phoenix Dance Theatre in Interplay, premiering at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Drew Forsyth
Connectivity of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre, Interplay, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm and 7.30pm
LEEDS company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s world premiere tour of Interplay opens at York Theatre Royal, featuring dynamic works by Travis Knight and James Pett (Small Talk), Ed Myhill (Why Are People Clapping?!) Yusha-Marie Sorzano & Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis (Suite Release) and Willis’s Next Of Kin.
Across duet and ensemble works, Interplay explores themes of duality and shared authorship, revealing how distinct artistic voices can intersect to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Each piece offers a unique perspective, united by a bold physicality and a deep curiosity about human relationships, rhythm and collective experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Death On The Nile: European premiere of Ken Ludwig’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Murder mystery of the week: Fiery Angel presents Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
AFTER tours of And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express, Death On The Nile reunites director Lucy Bailey, writer Ken Ludwig and producers Fiery Angel for the European premiere of a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.
On board a luxurious cruise under the heat of the Egyptian sun, a couple’s idyllic honeymoon is cut short by a brutal murder. As secrets buried in the sands of time resurface, can Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield), untangle the web of lies? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn, with the masked ladies of the Tudor court behind her, in rehearsal for Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: Paul Hutson
Historical drama of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Anne Boleyn, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Black Treacle Theatre presents Howard Brenton’s account of one of England’s most important and intriguing historical figures: Tudor lover, heretic, revolutionary, queen Anne Boleyn (played by Lara Stafford).
Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King’s bed, or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – re-emerges in a very different light in Brenton’s epic play, premiered by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in 2010. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as Anne Lister, rehearsing for Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack. Picture: Colleen Mair
Premiere of the week: Northern Ballet and Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Gentleman Jack, Leeds Grand Theatre, March 7 to 14, except March 8 and 9, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on March 12 and 14
THIS groundbreaking new ballet marks a trio of ‘firsts’: the first time the story of Anne Lister has been told through ballet, the first large-scale commission for Northern Ballet since 2021 and the first under artistic director Federico Bonelli.
Yorkshirewoman Anne, the “first modern lesbian”, lived, dressed and loved as she desired, not as 19th century society expected of her. Northern Ballet’s interpretation of her life is choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, leading a female artistic team that includes Sally Wainwright, writer of the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Obert String Quartet: Opening York Late Music’s 2026 concert programme at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate. Picture: Drew Forsyth and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (top left and bottom left)
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music, Obert String Quartet, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, March 7, 7.30pm
SALFORD’S Obert String Quartet explores themes of transformation, spirituality, and mortality in a celebration of performers and composers from the North of England, pairing Schubert’s Death And The Maiden (String Quartet No. 14 in D minor) with new miniature works written in response by Northern Composers Network members Jenny Jackson (Flex), Hayley Jenkins (Give Me Your Hand), Ben Gaunt (Skulls, Various), James Cave (Rouffignac) and James Else (Still Movement).
The first half comprises Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, curator Else’s On The Wind and Bradford-born Steve Crowther’s String Quartet No. 2. Violinist Lisa Obert, Jackson, Gaunt, Cave and Else take part in a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm. Box office: latemusic.org.
Del Amitri’s Justin Currie, left, and Iain Harvie: Cherry-picking from four decades of songs at York Barbican in November
Gig announcement of the week: Del Amitri, Past To Present UK Tour 2026, November 16
GLASGOW band Del Amitri will open their 17-date Past To Present autumn tour at York Barbican, where core members Justin Currie and Iain Harvie will mark four decades of songs, stories and live shows.
The career-spanning set list will chart their early breakthroughs, classic singles such as Nothing Ever Happens, Always The Last To Know and Roll To Me, fan favourites and recording renaissance after an 18-year hiatus with 2021’s Fatal Mistakes. Box office: www.gigsandtours.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.delamitri.info.
York Community Choir Festival 2026: Showcase for 43 choirs at Joseph Rowntree Theatre
In Focus:Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival 2026, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 1 to 7
THE annual York Community Choir Festival brings together choirs of all ages to perform in a wide variety of singing styles on each bill. Across the week, 43 choirs take part in nine concerts, making the 2026 event the largest yet.
Concert programmes feature well-known classical and modern popular songs, complemented by show tunes, world music, folk song, gospel, jazz and soul. Performances start at 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow; 7.30pm, March 2 to 6; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, March 7.
Sunday, March 1, matinee
Stagecoach York Show Choir, Singing Communities Poppleton, Selby Youth Choir, Aviva Vivace! and The Stray Notes.
Sunday, March 1, evening
Easingwold Community Singers, Some Voices, Supersingers, Harrogate Male Voice Choir and Heworth Community Choir.
Monday, March 2
Huntington School Choirs, Tadcaster Community Choir and Community Chorus.
Tuesday, March 3
York Military Wives Choir, Jubilate, Sing Space York Musical Theatre Choir, Garrowby Singers and The Abbey Belles.
Wednesday, March 4
Elvo Choir, Sounds Fun Singers, In Harmony, Euphonics and Stamford Bridge Community Choir.
Thursday, March 5
Track 29 Ladies Close Harmony Chorus, Cantar Community Choir, York City Harmonisers, Stamford Bridge Singers and York Rock Choir.
Friday, March 6
Ryedale Voices, Eboraca, The Wellbeing Choir, Bishopthorpe Community Choir and Harmonia.
Saturday, March 7, matinee
The Leveson Centre Choir, Fairburn Singers, The Bridge Shanty Crew,The Rolling Tones and York Celebration Singers.
Saturday, March 7, evening
Pocklington Singers, Sound Fellows, Stonegate Singers, Main Street Sound and York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir.
Tickets are on sale on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; proceeds go to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn and Nick Patrick Jones’s Henry VIII rehearsing for Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: Jim Paterson
MOVE over Six The Musical with its six wives of Henry VIII competing in song for the right to be the queen of queens.
The focus falls on only one of his brides, his second pick, Anne Boleyn, in Howard Brenton’s play of that title, to be staged by York company Black Treacle Theatre at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from March 3 to 7.
Anne Boleyn, you will recall, was the first beheaded one, exiting stage left on May 19 1536, when charged with adultery and incest, her execution conducted by a skilled French swordsman inside the Tower of London, where she was she was forced to kneel in the French style to be given the chop.
So much for the history. Brenton’s play, premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in 2010 to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, presents the story of “one of England’s most important and intriguing historical figures”.
“Lover, heretic, revolutionary, queen, Anne Boleyn has been a figure of fascination ever since her momentous courtship with Henry VIII that led to the English Reformation and Henry’s break with the Catholic Church,” says Black treacle director Jim Paterson
“Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King’s bed, or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – are seen in a very different light in Brenton’s epic play.”
Anne Boleyn director Jim Paterson
Winner of Best New Play at the Whatsonstage.com Awards in 2011, the play has a dual focus, both on Anne’s life from her arrival at court and on James I’s attempts to bring warring religious factions together as the ripples of her marriage and death continue to reverberate through England decades later.
Whereupon Anne comes alive for him, a brilliant but reckless young woman, whose marriage and death transformed the country forever.
“This is a dynamic, dramatic and often very funny play that helps us look at both Anne Boleyn and the birth of the Church of England in a new way,” says Jim. “The reign of Henry VIII and establishment of the Church of England is one of England’s ‘creation myths’, which shapes how we think about the country and the moments and actions it is built on.
“Brenton’s play asks us to reconsider this outside of the history books, particularly through the clever juxtaposition of the early days of James I’s reign, as he grapples with clashing religious factions, and the intrigue and politics of Henry’s court and Anne’s attempts to forge her own path through it.”
Jim continues: “In fact, this year marks 500 years since Henry’s courtship of Anne began in earnest in 1526. So it felt like serendipity to stage this play, which makes us reconsider who Anne was, and what an important figure she is in our history.”
Taking the role of protagonist Anne Boleyn and antagonist Henry VIII will be Lara Stafford and Nick Patrick Jones. “I’m playing a woman in a lead part in a play and neither of those has happened since The House Of Bernarda Alba in 2009,” says Lara, who worked as an actor, including at York Dungeon and, for a while, in Hindi films in India, before retraining as a physics teacher.
Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn, with the masked ladies of the Tudor court behind her, in rehearsal for Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: Paul Hutson
“It’s fascinating because, how often does a woman, in her early 40s, who can’t belt out a tune, get a chance like this to play a lead role? That chance has come with Black Treacle.”
Anne Boleyn appears as both wife and ghost. “She gives the opening scene from the perspective of having been through it all,” says Lara. “It’s interesting what she looks back on in a light-hearted way here.
“For Anne, the most upsetting part of her life were her pregnancies [she is believed to have fallen pregnant three or four times in her marriage from 1533 to 1536]. It’s a big part of her journey, whereas she’s quite flippant reflecting on getting her chopped off.
“There are moments of almost cheekiness, bawdy humour from James 1, where the play starts off light and playful, but then grows darker and darker, like Anne’s life.”
Nick chips in: “The second half is quite brutal, and Brenton doesn’t shy away from that.” Indeed not, as Nick plays a regal role for the third time. “I was the Earl of Richmond in York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III in 2023, then a folkloric King Henry from the tenth century in a devised piece that Skald Theatre did at Rise@Bluebird Bakery in Acomb last year, and now Henry VIII.
Nick Patrick Jones’s Henry VIII to the fore in a scene with Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn in rehearsal for Jim Patterson’s production of Anne Boleyn. Picture: Jim Paterson
“There’s a particularly iconic image of Henry being incredibly large both physically and metaphorically – this larger-than-life character – but you have to create the real person underneath, rather than a caricature. Brenton has done a lot to make that happen by giving the actor a living breathing human being to play, rather than just spouting political statements.”
Lara rejoins: “For almost the first time, he’s written it as Anne’s story, whereas previously it was written by men trying to make their place in history, where she is just ‘wife number two’.”
“She’s the chosen one, or actually she chooses him,” says Nick. “She’s the most significant one in that although four came after her, they were all in her shadow.”
“Exactly, it could only be that she set the tone,” says Lara. “I had no idea until doing this play just how much she drove their relationship.”
Nick concludes: “There’s a strong sense of them as potential equals, but the political structure doesn’t allow them to be equals in court, thus preventing her from fulfilling her potential.”
Black Treacle Theatre presents Anne Boleynat Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Paul Osborne’s Thomas Cromwell, left, and Ian Giles’s Cardinal Wolsey in Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: Paul Hutson
Who’s in Black Treacle Theatre’s cast for Anne Boleyn?
Anne Boleyn – Lara Stafford
Henry VIII – Nick Patrick Jones
Thomas Cromwell – Paul Osborne
Cardinal Wolsey/Henry Barrow – Ian Giles
Lady Rochford – Abi Baxter
Lady Jane – Rebecca Jackson
Lady Celia – Isabel Azar
Simpkin/Parrot – Harry Summers
Sloop – Paul Miles
William Tyndale – Maurice Crichton
James I – Katie Leckey
Robert Cecil – Paul Stonehouse
George Villiers – Cameron O’Byrne
Dean Lancelot Andrewes – Sally Mitcham
John Reynolds – Martina Meyer
Katie Leckey’s James I, right, rehearsing a scene with Cameron O’Byrne’s George Villiers. Picture: Paul Hutson
Who’s in the production team?
Director – Jim Paterson
Lighting designers – Sage Dunn-Krahn and Kathryn Wright
Lighting technicians – Emma Jones and Dave Robertson
Set and prop designer – Richard Hampton
Costume designer – Julie Fisher and Costume Crew
Black Treacle Theatre: back story
YORK company has produced Constellations (March 2022); Iphigenia In Splott (March 2023); White Rabbit, Red Rabbit (November 2023); Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (October 2024) and The Watsons (July 2025, co-production with Joseph Rowntree Theatre).
Elvis Costello: Playing with The Imposters and Charlie Sexton on June 17 return to York Barbican. Picture: Ray Di Pietro
ELVIS Costello will return to York Barbican for the first time since May 2012 in the first of six new additions to his Radio Soul! Tour, alongside Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Paris and Dublin.
Last time, Costello wheeled out his gigantic vaudevillian contraption for his Spectacular Singing Book show, where The Imposters’ three-hour set list was decided by the spinning of a wheel with myriad song titles displayed on it.
Now, in the company of The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton, the focus will be on Radio Soul!: The Early Songs Of Elvis Costello.
As the playful billing suggests, Costello’s show will feature numbers drawn from record releases from My Aim Is True in 1977 to Blood & Chocolate in 1986, complemented by “other surprises”.
Those nine years saw the first appearance of such renowned Costello compositions as Watching The Detectives and I Want You, along with songs that have remained in The Imposters’ live repertoire for 20 or more years, Alison, Man Out Of Time and Brilliant Mistake, among them.
“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to 50years ago. Among them, Radio Soul, the first draft of what eventually became Radio Radio,” says Costello, now 71.
“You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure. Don’t forget this show is ‘Performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters’, an ensemble which includes three people who first recorded this music and two more who bring something entirely new.
“They are nobody’s tribute band. The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, swinging, kicking and screaming rock-and-roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises.”
These dates follow the Autumn 2024 release of King Of America & Other Realms, a six-CD anthology that tells the story of his 1986 album, recorded with The Confederates, and the music to which it led.
The King Of America songs are expected to be heard in the mid-show interlude, along with songs written as long ago as 1975 and even some of those “pretty ballads” that Costello has promised.
In September 2024, Costello brought his career-spanning presentation, 15 Songs From 50 Years, to Leeds City Varieties Music Hall for four unique performances over two days with regular Attractions and Imposters’ sidekick Steve Nieve by his side once more.
Costello selected from each of the five decades of his songwriting, whether solo or in the company of Flip City; American country rock band Clover; The Attractions; Squeeze’s Chris Difford; The Coward Brothers, with T-Bone Burnett; the Confederates; Paul McCartney; the Brodsky Quartet; The Imposters; Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint or the Roots.
Chris Difford, by the way, will be his special guest at June 17’s show.
