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Graham Smith finds new home for dame duty in Shiptonthorpe pantomime Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood

Graham Smith: Playing Dame Nellie Nickerlastic in his first pantomime since 2022

GRAHAM Smith, once the doyen of Rowntree Players pantomime dames in York, is moving on to panto pastures new with Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre after a three-year hiatus from the frocks and quips.

Yorkshireman Graham, who lives on farmland near Wilberfoss, will revel in the moniker of Dame Nellie Nickerlastic in Richard Waud’s production of Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood at Shiptonthorpe Village Hall in two clusters of performances from tomorrow to Sunday, then next Friday and Saturday.

“It came about by accident,” says Graham, who lives 11 minutes from Shiptonthorpe.  “I put some left-overs from a building project on Nextdoor [the neighbourhood app], and this guy got in touch and said he’d have them.”

The conversation led on to a recollection of Graham’s days in the Rowntree Players panto and a suggestion that he should contact the Shiptonthorpe group. “I thought it would be too late for this year’s show, but I rang Richard [Waud] anyway and I think he thought I might see it as beneath me, but it certainly isn’t,” he says.

“Over the years I’ve done touring pantomimes; I’ve done school-hall pantomimes; I’ve even done a convent in North Wales. They were days spent in and out of a van, doing maybe two shows a day.

“I said to Richard, ‘all I’m concerned about is making sure I do my best and that everyone does theirs – happy days’. I offered to play in the comedy duo, the baddie, whatever, but for the first scene in the auditions Richard asked me to read for the dame…then the second scene, then the opening to Act Two!

“Then Richard asked, ‘Does anyone else want to have a go?’, and someone said, ‘What? After that!’. When I got home, there was a message on my phone from Richard to say, Graham, we’d love you to do it’. He must have contacted me within ten minutes of finishing the auditions.”

Graham first played the dame for Rowntree Players in 2004, appearing as Dottie Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, after two years in the panto’s comedy duo, and retained the role until 2022.  

On resuming pantomime’s most celebrated part, he says: “I think the dame is a specialist role. I’m fortunate enough to be fairly quick-witted, so if anything unexpected comes up, rather than ‘corpsing’ [the theatrical term for an actor breaking out of character into uncontrollable, unscripted laughter on stage], I’ll usually have a quick response.

“That’s why I played dame for Rowntree Players for so many years and why Shiptonthorpe were keen for me to do it this time.”

Graham, who has worked in the York hospitality trade for almost 30 years as proprietor of the Georgian House & Mews in Bootham, had first donned the dame’s dresses away from a theatre stage. “Bizarrely, it was at a friend of mine’s hair salon called Balta in York,” he recalls. “They did a pantomime for charity as one of his workforce was theatrical and would put on a show for four of five nights for customers and friends at the salon, which he wrote and directed.

“I believe we did three of them, and I took to the dame like a duck to water. I’m very comfortable in my own skin being camp on a stage  – and the bizarre thing is that, as the dame, I find I can flirt equally with the men and the women in the audience.

“I was only thinking about this the other day: how the dame can have women giggling just as easily as making the blokes feel embarrassed!”

Joining Graham in Waud’s cast will be Neil Scott, Shiptonthorpe’s former “beloved and renowned dame”, now taking on a regal new role as King Richard; Toby Jewsen as Robin Hood; Chris McKenzie, Little John; Henry Rice, Will Scarlett; Paul Jefferson, Friar Tuck; Alison Rosa, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Chloe Jensen, Maid Marion.

Further roles in the Alan P Frayn-scripted show will go to Robbie Howe as Snivel and Phil Featherstone as Grovel; Sienna Cayton, Ella; Pelham Dennis, Sam; Carolyne Jensen, Poet; Sarah Burnell, Minstrel, and Shirley Rice, Lady Guy.

“For a village-hall show, the set looks fantastic, the digital lighting system, sound and mixing desk are all of a high standard and all the cast will have radio microphones,” says Graham.

“In rehearsal, Richard has been quite a laidback director about making little changes. For the way I speak, as a Yorkshireman, some of the lines don’t work, sometimes the words jar, so Richard has been happy for me to make adjustments.”

 Discover the results from tonight when Graham is dame for a laugh once more.

Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre in Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood, Shiptonthorpe Village Hall, Shiptonthorpe, near Market Weighton, tomorrow, 7pm; Saturday, 3pm and 7pm; Sunday, 2pm; February 6 and 7, 7pm. Tickets are available from Richard Waud on 07922 443639 or by emailing richardwaud@yahoo.co.uk.

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Lisa Faulkner makes stage return after two decades in updated psychological thriller Single White Female at Grand Opera House

Gunning for her: A tense moment for Lisa Faulkner’s Allie as Kym Marsh’s Hedy reaches trigger point in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

LISA Faulkner is returning to the stage for the first time in 21 years to appear in Rebecca Reid’s re-imagining of 1990s’ psychological thriller Single White Female, now re-booted for the social media age.

Next stop on the world premiere’s six-month British and Irish tour will be the Grand Opera House from February 3 to 7 in her first visit to York since enjoying the delights of Bettys tea rooms with her grandparents when she was very young.

Actor, television presenter, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, cookery book author, chef and mother Lisa will play recently divorced mum Allie, balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up.

When Allie decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, the delightful Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences.

Taking the role of Hedy on the road from January 9 to June 13 is Coronation Street, Waterloo Road and Abigail’s Party actor, TV presenter and Hear’Say pop singer Kym Marsh, who last appeared at the York theatre as villainous Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024.

“I’m delighted to be returning to the stage playing opposite the utterly fantastic Kym Marsh,” says Lisa. “I got chills watching Single White Female in the cinema back in 1992, so it’s a real thrill to be part of this bold new production. I cannot wait to bring this fascinating story to life and keep audiences around the UK on the edge of their seats!”

Kym concurs: “I remember being totally gripped by the movie when I first saw it in the cinema and could never have imagined back then that I’d be starring in the world premiere of its life on stage. Get ready to be thrilled, shocked and entertained – and watch out for those stiletto heels!”

The new stage play, adapted by author, journalist and broadcaster Rebecca Reid, reworks the story from John Lutz’s novel and Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 film (scripted by Don Roos), with Allison and Hedra now named Allie and Hedy, but still bringing dark humour and suspenseful storytelling to the updated tale of ambition, obsession, and the desperate need for belonging in an isolated world.

“It’s been a long time since I was on stage,” says Lisa. “The rehearsals and first couple of weeks were like, ‘oh my god, I’m doing this’, but it’s lovely to be back. I’m so full of joy to be taking on another challenge at 53. I feel very lucky.

“I really think this [opportunity] came from the sky. I have so many wonderful things I do, but there was a sense of timing to doing this. My daughter [Billie] is 19 and doing her own thing, so I don’t necessarily need to be at home, and also I had a conversation in the late summer with my two best friends about doing a theatre show.

Back in the kitchen, but this time Celebrity MasterChef winner Lisa Faulkner is on stage in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

“Angela [Waterloo Road actor and director Angela Griffin], suggested I should do a tour, though I didn’t say anything to my agent. But two or three weeks later I received the script for Single White Female.”

At first, Lisa felt reticent to read it. Once she did, however, she “really liked it”. “I said to John [husband John Torode], ‘I think I should do this’,” she recalls.

“I think Rebecca has done a very good job bringing it into the modern age, though also if someone has seen the film, there are some big nods to it, but it’s very different. You don’t have to have seen the film to enjoy the play.”

Describing Allie’s character in Reid’s version, Lisa says: “She’s recently divorced from a really rubbish husband and has moved into her best friend Graham’s apartment with her 15-year-old daughter, Bella. She needs a flatmate – enter Hedy, who answers her social media advert, and that’s when it starts unravelling.

“Bella is on social media too, so there’s a new storyline there, but the stilettos are still there, and so is the lift. Listen out for the screeching lift noise.

“It’s a really fun night out. There are a few jump scares but it’s much more of a ‘popcorn’ scare , and now there’s a message to it about thinking about what you put online, which is something we all have to think about. What’s great about it is that you now have Allie’s story, Hedy’s story, Bella’s story and Graham’s story too.”

Single White Female promises to captivate, shock and explore “just how far we would go to find – and keep – a family together”. “I just think there’s so much depth to it, especially a depth of character. Hedy is less one-dimensional now; she has her reasons for being how she is, and she’s very dark, whereas Allie is the light.”

Lisa is performing with Kym Marsh for the first time. “We’ve both been in Waterloo Road but at different times,” she says. “Angela [Griffin] has directed her in Waterloo Road and said ‘you will love working with her’. Kym’s been such a joy and a real support too.”

Lisa conducted this interview on Tuesday while travelling to Cardiff Millennium Centre with husband John Torode [the former MasterChef presenter], and the couple are as busy as ever with their culinary commitments.

“We launched our cooking channel, John And Lisa’s Kitchen And Home, just before Christmas on You Tube, doing the filming for that on my days off, and we have some other stuff coming up,” she says. “We have a John and Lisa cookery range coming out – some lovely pots and pans and utensils – that I’m really excited about.”

Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Nish Kumar to play York, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield and Scarborough on Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy tour

“Inequality is widening, autocracy is rising and political parties are collapsing,” says political comic Nish Kumar. That’s why the time is right for his Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy tour

POLITICAL comedian Nish Kumar will play the Grand Opera House, York, on September 23 on his Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy tour.

Tickets go on general sale at 10am tomorrow (29/1/2026) at https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/nish-kumar-angry-humour-from-a-really-nice-guy/grand-opera-house-york/.

“The world is in chaos,” laments Kumar. “Inequality is widening, autocracy is rising and political parties are collapsing. In these divided times, what this country desperately needs is Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy. (In many ways it’s actually the last thing this country needs, but it’s what it’s getting, so tough luck).”

Pod Save The UK podcast co-host, former host of axed BBC Two show The Mash Report and Late Night Mash, and one of Taskmaster’s greatest losers to boot, Wandsworth-born Kumar has entered his 40s (birthdate August 26 1985). His mind is breaking, his body is worse, “but audiences can still expect existential angst and political disquiet from comedy’s cheekiest boy”.

After blending his trademark high-energy with more personal reflections on mental health and modern life on his Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe tour, now Kumar  will “tackle big, uncomfortable questions in a bold, fast-paced and unflinchingly smart new show, delivered with fury, intelligence and warmth”.  

Kumar says: “I looked out of the window and the world was ending. Stand-up comedy was the only thing that made sense to me – then it was co-opted by charlatans in service of autocrats. I’m going back on tour to try and reconnect with the thing I love more than anything else. I promise the show will be funnier than this.”

Kumar has appeared on such TV shows as Live At The Apollo, QI, Have I Got News For You, The John Bishop Show, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Russell Howard’s Stand-Up Central, Drunk History and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order.

Nish’s Your Power, Your Control tour show was released as a special on Sky Comedy in 2023 and he made a Netflix special as part of the Comedians Of The World series, as well as joining fellow comic Joel Dommett for Comedy Central’s 12-part travelogue Joel & Nish Vs The World and Josh Widdicombe in Sky Max’s Hold The Front Page. On the radio, he has hosted BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Newsjack.

His 2026 tour will take in further Yorkshire gigs at Leeds Playhouse, October 3, Hull Truck Theatre, October 9, Octagon Centre, Sheffield, November 13, and Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 14. Box office: www.nishkumar.co.uk from tomorrow morning.

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REVIEW: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday ****

Kara Tointon’s “eloquent and elegant” Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. All pictures: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller

OLIVIER Award winner Laura Wade and Royal Shakespeare Company co-artistic director Tamara Harvey open up W Somerset Maugham’s 1926 comedy of well-heeled manners for re-examination in 2026, upping the female ante while retaining the elegant period setting.

First staged at the RSC’s Swan Theatre last June, Wade’s sparky, sparkly adaptation chimes with her hit play Home, I’m Darling’s focus on gender roles, feminism, relationships and life choices while echoing the in-flagrante shenanigans of her Disney + television take on Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster novel Rivals.

All while staying true to the sceptical satire of Somerset Maugham, such a perceptive observer of human behaviour, exposing our foibles and failings, our uncontrolled urges, in the mire of the moral maze, where deceit and deception play out in different ways.

Philip Rham’s Bentley at the piano in The Constant Wife

He does so with a mischievous air, lighting the touch-paper, then stepping back and watching the fireworks fly, his input mirrored by Philip Rham’s immaculate, piano-playing butler, Bentley, ever alert, ever on hand with the right word or action, yet stoically detached as the heat rises around him.

Bentley remains unflappable, unhurried, a quality shared by Harvey’s direction that lets Wade’s dry-witted dialogue breathe to maximum comic effect, revelling in the chess game of words that fizz like an Alka-Seltzer in water.

Wade’s impact is more reinvigoration (like Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors update of Goldoni’s Italian farce) than reinvention. Whether using “kid” rather than “child”, or “dot dot dot”, she sometimes veers towards modern idioms, but her take on Somerset Maugham’s characters still exudes the high-society 1920s as much as the Art Deco designs and colours of Anna Fleischle’s set for the London flat of Harley Street doctor John Middleton (Tim Delap) and his wife Constance (Kara Tointon, last seen on a York stage in Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight at the Grand Opera House in 2017).

Gloria Onitiri’s gloriously carefree Marie-Louise Durham in The Constant Wife. Picture:

Through gauze, movement on stairways and corridors can be seen, informing the audience of who will be entering, and keeping us one step ahead in the tradition of French farce, although the comedy style is more akin to the drawing-room dramas of Noel Coward (and Oscar Wilde too), played out to Jamie Cullum’s jagged new jazz score.

The year is 1927; Constance’s impetuous interior designer sister, Martha Culver (Amy Vicary-Smith, in height-of-Twenties’ fashion Russian boots) is in heated discussion with their cynical mother, Mrs Culver (Jane Lambert understudying gamely – good voice, but stooped demeanour – for Sara Crowe).

We learn that Constance is deeply unhappy. “Nonsense,” counters her mother in Lady Bracknell mode. “She eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances.”

Tim Delap’s John Middleton and Kara Tointon’s Constance Middleton not seeing eye to eye in The Constant Wife

Should they tell Constance that they suspect John is being unfaithful? Enter Tointon’s flapper-dressed, poised, gliding Constance and next her best friend, the whirlwind Marie-Louise Durham (Gloria Onitiri), as Wade front-loads the women in Somerset Maugham’s story.

Spoiler alert, it turns out that Constance already knows of cocksure John’s affair, as the play takes a time-out to go back 12 months to when she walked in John and carefree Marie-Louise without them knowing.

That transition is played out with a directorial and design sleight of hand, as the fireplace, wallpaper and door change to before Martha’s interior re-design (topped off with ‘wallpaper’ rolling down to reveal ‘One Year Earlier’). This is typical of the wit of Harvey’s direction.

Sisters doing it for themselves…in different ways: Amy Vicary-Smith’s Martha and Kara Tointon’s Constance in The Constant Wife

Vicary-Smith’s Martha, by the way, is a fusion of two Somerset Maugham characters, the sister and an interior-designer friend, and it works a treat, as Constance takes up an invitation to join her business (hence the re-decoration).

In Wade’s most striking interjection, she plays an ace card with her use of that very fashionable device, meta-theatre, (first by having Constance and still-besotted former beau Bernard Kersal (Alex Mugnaioni) heading off to watch a play called The Constant Wife, then by Martha recapping what unfolded and unravelled  in Act One at the outset of Act Two.

Aside from Bentley at the very start, the men have been held back until the play’s conceit has been established. We judge them through Wade, Harvey and the women’s filter, but they are still given a fair hearing, each tall, dapper, buttoned up and not as clever as they think, whether over-confident John, malleable Bernard or Jules Brown’s cuckolded Mortimer Durham.

Jules Brown’s thoroughly duped Mortimer Durham

Fleischle and Cat Fuller’s costume designs, especially for Constance, Martha and John’s suits, delight as much as the central performances as Somerset Maugham/Wade posit the question of what happens when a wronged woman does not react in the expected way, so much so that everyone else then objects to how Constance has responded (not least in confiding only in Bentley, who has a secret of his own) as she seeks her route to freedom and fulfilment against the conventional tide.

At the RSC production’s core is an outstanding performance by Tointon on her return to the stage after moving to Norway. Her Constance is elegant, eloquent, quick of wit and mind, mischievously humorous, yet serious, a woman in a relationship where they still have love for each other but are no longer in love.

David Pugh & Cunard present the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

By Charles Hutchinson 

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on The Gesualdo Six & Concert Theatre Works in Death Of Gesualdo, National Centre for Early Music, York, January 19

The Gesualdo Six and Tableaux Vivants in Death Of Gesualdo

WE are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Bill Barclay’s “theatrical concert”, which he both created and directed, is by no means his first in this area – The Secret Byrd was seen here two years ago – but it is becoming a solid fixture in programmes worldwide.

Carlo Gesualdo flourished at the very moment when opera was beginning to take shape in Florence, although he had no direct contact with it, and wrote no operas himself. But the Baroque era loved theatrics and it makes sense to cloak Gesualdo’s colourful life in even more drama than is available through his music alone.

Gesualdo is regularly defined by the murder of his first wife and her lover, which he probably instigated, although may not have carried out personally. In his aristocratic circles it was classed as an ‘honour killing’ and he escaped punishment.

But it stained the remainder of his life and he descended into near-permanent melancholy and introversion – states of mind that may be heard in much of his later music, amply represented here.

His second marriage, into the musically adventurous Ferrara court, did nothing to improve his disposition, indeed it reinforced his penchant for extremes of harmonic dissonance.

Barclay uses six unaccompanied male voices and six Tableaux Vivants mute actors to convey the essence of the composer’s life, not only his death. He also works with a life-size child puppet, created by Janni Younge, through which he hints that Gesualdo’s boyhood was far from ideal.

The action was a series of tableaux, elegantly held but broken intermittently by sweeping gestures and even the occasional dance to Will Tuckett’s choreography. With rich costumes by Arthur Oliver straight out of the era – again, the very start of opera – the various scenarios evoked nothing so much as oil paintings, with poses just slightly exaggerated for effect.

Barclay’s own lighting, especially eerie during Gesualdo’s descent into drugs and women, often came from torches held by the cast themselves.

Deliberately jarring with the theatrical smoothness was Gesualdo’s music, some 30 extracts from his motets and madrigals, interleaved and distinguishable only by the Latin or Italian texts, with tingling harmonies that defied all the normal conventions: impossible dissonances that kept aural nerve-endings on edge until eventual resolution brought catharsis all the sweeter for being delayed.

None of this would have worked had the singers not maintained incredibly accurate tuning. Gesualdo’s chromatic lines are notoriously difficult and littered with pitfalls, but the Six – with two countertenors often extremely high in the range and all underpinned by director Owain Park’s sterling bass – took it all in their considerable stride.

The show was jointly commissioned and produced by St Martin-in-the-Fields, the NCEM and New York’s Music Before 1800. It proved beyond doubt that Barclay’s new genre is here to stay.

Let us hope that next time there will be printed programmes – ‘carbon footprint’ is a lame excuse for posting everything on-line – and that there is at least a skeletal synopsis (the five ‘acts’ had no stated setting). None of which detracts from what was a supremely memorable 75 minutes. I would gladly see it again. Others should be given the chance.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 4, from Gazette & Herald

A scene from Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Tristram Kenton

CUBAN dance luminary Carlos  Acosta’s Havana reinvention of The Nutcracker tops  Charles Hutchinson’s latest selection of cultural highlights.

Dance show of the week: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

CAST illness has put paid to tonight and tomorrow’s performances, but dance superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana will still turn up the heat in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet on Friday and Saturday. Built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to modern-day Havana.

More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Cuban company Acosta Danza perform the familiar story of a young girl transported to a magic world, but one newly incorporating the culture, history and music of his home country. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Tim Delap’s John Middleton and Kara Tointon’s Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller

Play of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday , 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

SET in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”. 

Played by Kara Tointon, she is the perfect wife and mother, but her husband is equally devoted to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend. Tamara Harvey directs the new adaptation by Home, I’m Darling playwright and Rivals television series writer Laura Wade. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry: Easing worries at NCEM, York

Family show of the week: Mishmash: Ruby’s Worry, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, Saturday, 11.30am and 2.30pm

RUBY had always been happy, perfectly happy, until one day she discovered a worry. The more she tries to rid herself of that worry, the more it grows and grows. Eventually she meets a boy who has a worry too. Together they discover that everyone has worries, and that if you talk about them, they never hang around for long! Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry is told through live music, song, puppetry and physical theatre, taking the audience on a delightful musical adventure. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Talent showcase of the week: HAC Studio Bar Open Mic Jan 2026, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

THIS social evening in Helmsley Arts Centre’s Studio Bar offers the opportunity to hear Ryedale musicians and artists perform. The bar will be open serving beer from Helmsley Brewery and Brass Castle Brewery, an assortment of gins, wines from Helmsley Wines and more. There is no need to book to listen or participate, just turn up.

Mountaineer Simon Yates, of Touching The Void fame, has sold out his My Mountain Life talk on Friday at 7.30pm. Box office for returns only: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Femme Fatale Faerytales: Telling Mary, Mary’s contrary tale

A homecoming, a haunting, a holy rebellion: Femme Fatale Faerytales present Mary, Mary, Fossgate Social, Fossgate, York, February 1 and 2, 8pm (doors 7pm)

MARY, Mary quite contrary, wouldn’t you like to know how her garden grows? Step into the fairytale world of Femme Fatale Faerytales as Sasha Elizabeth Parker unveils a dark, lyrical, feminist re-telling of an age-old classic. Part confession, part ritual, part bedtime story for grown-ups, Mary, Mary invites you to meet the woman behind the nursery rhyme in all her wild, untamed, contrary glory.

In her York debut, expect enchanting storytelling, poetic prophecy and a subversive twist on the tales you thought you knew on two intimate, atmospheric nights in one of York’s cult favourite haunts. Box office: wegottickets.com.

Packing in the acts for PAC Comedy Club line-up at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: PAC Comedy Club, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 5, 8pm

RICH Wilson, winner of the New Zealand Comedy Festival Best International Act award, tops the PAC Comedy Club bill next Thursday. He has performed at all the major UK comedy clubs, as well in New York and Las Vegas and at the Perth Fringe, Melbourne International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe.

Supporting Wilson will be Jonny Awsum, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent with his high-energy musical comedy, and Yorkshireman Pete Selwood, who specialises in observational material with killer punchlines, introduced by surrealist compere and BBC New Comedian of the Year regional finalist Elaine Robertson. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective: In full swing at Milton Rooms, Malton

Jazz gig of the week: The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 7, doors, 7.30pm

THIS gypsy jazz supergroup with musicians from all around Yorkshire plays music inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of the Quintette du Hot Club de France. 

The collective of Lewis Kilvington and Martin Chung, guitars, James Munroe, double bass, Derek Magee, violin, and Christine Pickard, clarinet, remains true to Django and Stephane’s spirit while pushing the genre of gypsy jazz forward into a modern sphere. Expect fast licks, burning ballads and even some Latin-inspired pieces. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Liz Foster: Exhibiting at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, from February 12

Exhibition launch: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10

YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.

Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.

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Friargate Theatre to play host to inaugural Jorvik Comedy Award competition. 36 Yorkshire entrants confirmed for four heats

Step this way: Jorvik Comedy Award search for champion comedian starts on February 12

FOUR heats, 36 hopefuls, one ultimate Viking comedy champion. Who wil ltake the crown in the Jorvik Comedy Award 2026 competition in York?

Presented by Fair Laughs and hosted by veteran Get Up Stand Up comic Tony Vino, the search for York’s funniest comedian will be supported by Indie York and the JORVIK Viking Centre, with Heat 1 as part of JORVIK Viking Festival Fringe pre-event.

Thirty-six of Yorkshire’s sharpest new comedians will descend on Friargate Theatre, in Lower Friargate. Across the four heats, nine feisty acts each will perform a tight, gag-filled ten-minute set, with only two winners per heat going through to the June 11 final.

The line-up for Heat 1

Quick-witted Tony Vino will invite the hopefuls to the stage as they try to impress the panel of esteemed judges. No safety nets. No sympathy laughs. Only jokes that land or die trying. One title. One year. One winner.

Who is taking part?

Heat 1: Thursday, February 12, 8pm

Marty Riley, Ben Robinson, Stuart Thomas, Fil Milton, Alex Camp, Graeme Rayner, Robby T, Louis Etienne and Diane Fitton.

The line-up for Heat 2

The line-up for Heat 3

Heat 2: Thursday, March 12, 8pm

Liam Alexander, Daniel Colbeck, Josh Sedman, Wendy King, Jake Breeze, Edi Johnson, Laurence Tuck, Rex Purnell and Mikey Milligan.

Heat 3: Thursday, April 9, 8pm

Alfie Carter, Henning Nilsen, Ravi Saini, Jonathon Kiernan, Fred Carver, Stephen Catling, Bobby Jethro, Maxine Wade and Lewis Howard.

The line-up for Heat 4

Heat 4: Thursday, May 14, 8pm

Charlie Lewis, Tim Biglowe, Michael Carter, Benny Shakes, Halls of Ridiculous, Matt Wheelwright, Dom Hutchins, Kie Carson and Debra Holt.

Further comedy events at Friargate Theatre include the monthly home-grown Right Here Right Now improv comedy show (audience participation optional but encouraged!) and monthly Get Up Stand Up live comedy acts hosted by Tony Vino.

Look out too for Alfie Moore: Fair Cop Live – Radio Warm-Up on July 9, when he brings a new show to York ahead of recording his BBC Radio 4 comedy series It’s A Fair Cop. 

For tickets for the Jorvik Comedy Award and Friargate Theatre comedy events, call 01904 655317 or go to https://friargatetheatre.co.uk/.

The poster for the Jorvik Comedy Award heats and final at Friargate Theatre

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Jools Holland to play York Barbican on December 16 with Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. Special guest? Roachford

Jools Holland. Picture: BBC Photo Archive, Michael Leckie, Loftus Media

BOOGIE-WOOGIE pianist Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra will return to York Barbican on December 16 on his 2026 Autumn & Winter Tour.

Tickets go on general sale from 10am on Friday (301/1/2026) via  https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/jools-holland-2026/

Joining the Later…With Jools Holland host on his 31-date itinerary will be special guest Roachford, the London soul singer and songwriter, now 61.

Since his chart-topping breakthrough hit Cuddly Toy in 1988, Andrew Roachford has recorded ten studio albums, been sought after as a songwriter by Michael Jackson, Joss Stone and Chaka Khan and built a reputation as an outstanding live performer.

Awarded an MBE for services to music, latterly Roachford has released Twice In A Lifetime and Then & Now.

Opening each night on tour will be Welsh jazz pianist and improviser Joe Webb, who has guested with Holland on several occasions and appeared on his latest BBC Two New Year’s Eve Jools’ Annual Hootenanny. His piano playing blends the flavour of Britpop with classic jazz idioms.

Holland’s exuberant live shows are built on the power and finesse of his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra as he delivers an evening of blues, swing, boogie-woogie and ska, packed with musical virtuosity and joyful spontaneity.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be heading out again with our big band,” says Holland, 68. “Having Roachford join us for every night of the tour is a real joy. He’s one of the great soul voices this country has produced, and every time he sings the room lights up. With the mighty orchestra, our wonderful boogie-woogie singers, and the brilliant Joe Webb opening the shows, we’re in for some very special evenings of music.”

Holland devotees will be delighted that boogie-woogie queen Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall, and Sumudu Jayatilaka will be on vocal duty again from October 29 to December 20. Further tour dates include Sheffield City Hall on November 18 (https://www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk) and Bradford Live (trafalgartickets.com/bradford-live-bradford) on December 18.

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Steve Pratt, journalist and press officer, 1948-2026. Charles Hutchinson’s tribute

Steve Pratt on duty at the York Theatre Royal pantomime press night in December 2018. Picture: York Theatre Royal

THE funeral of York journalist, columnist and theatre, film and television critic and press officer Steve Pratt will be held tomorrow (28/1/2025) at York Crematorium, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Steve, 77, of Monk Avenue, York, passed away at York Hospital on January 15.  

Born in Watford on April 22 1948 in Watford, he was educated at Garston Primary School and Bushey Grammar School, where he met Lesley when she was 16, Steve two years older.

The childhood sweethearts were married on June 24 1972 at Christ Church, Watford, by the same vicar that married Lesley’s parents.

Steve went straight from A-level studies to taking out indentures at Watford Post, where, as a junior, he was tasked with collecting death notices from undertakers.

He went on to work for the Herts Advertiser, Watford Observer, Northern Echo, in Darlington and Portsmouth News, before returning to the Northern Echo from 1999 to 2014, winning two Tom Corder awards for best arts writer.

“His passion for writing goes back to his early years and he used to cut up magazines and create his own version,” recalled Lesley, who “bounced up and down the country with Stephen before we finally landed in York, where we felt at home”.

“There were so many famous people he interviewed as he covered lots of press junkets for films and television.”

Steve Pratt in his treasured picture with film actress Angelina Jolie, from his journalism files at home, where box upon box of theatre programmes are in need of a new home, says widow Lesley

Among those celluloid star interviewees were Tom Cruise, Arnold Scharzenegger, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Phillips and Angelina Jolie. “He always went on about his photo with her,” recalled Lesley.

One knight of the realm eluded him, however. “Stephen was refused twice by Sir Alec Guinness for an interview, once in 1997 and again in 1999,” said Lesley. “I have the original handwritten cards Sir Alec sent him: very polite but a ‘No’ nevertheless.”

Nigel Burton, editor of York Press, who worked with Steve on The Northern Echo, said: “He was a superb features writer, someone who would always tackle any job – no matter how outlandish – with a smile and good humour.

“He was an internationally respected critic and his reviews were eagerly awaited by film distributors and theatres alike. Most of all, I will remember him as a much-missed colleague and a lovely human being.”

Peter Barron, former editor of The Northern Echo, said: “I was so sorry to hear of Steve’s passing. He was a gifted writer of a national standard and I always considered The Northern Echo to be very lucky to have him.

“He brought great quality to the paper, with a wry, humorous style and his passion for the arts always shone through. It is also telling that the arts community knew him and respected his opinion.

“A positive review from Steve Pratt in The Northern Echo really meant something, while a scathing review was to be feared. He was prolific, loved his craft, and the many awards he won were testament to his talent.”

Chris Lloyd, features editor at the Northern Echo, who was Steve’s manager for many years, said: “When I worked with Steve, he was so passionate and knowledgeable about all forms of visual entertainment, but especially about his great loves of television and theatre. He knew the stars, he interviewed them all, usually cheekily, and they remembered and respected him. 

Steve Pratt in his Northern Echo days. Picture: Northern Echo

“He was, I think, a great ally of the region’s theatre community, forever supporting and promoting it, and I was in awe of the way he wrote so quickly, so cleanly, and always with a humorous glint in his words.”

Wise Eye Films/ITV Studios creative director and The Yorkshire Shepherdess producer Mark Robinson, who started his career at the Echo with Steve, said: “He was exceptionally kind to me when I moved over from the newsroom to the features desk in the late 1980s, and he became my boss.

“Steve was unbelievably patient and encouraging and gave me the space to grow as a journalist finding his own voice for the first time. It was impossible not to be inspired by his love and passion for TV and the arts in general – and he sent me on many glamorous jobs interviewing celebrities across the UK.

“His impact on my career was so significant that we remained friends long after I left the Echo and I enjoyed our get-togethers in York.”

Viv Hardwick, fellow former Echo television and entertainment editor, said: “Steve always seemed to know the best way of doing things work-wise. His awesome ability and in-depth entertainments knowledge made him one of the most memorable men in journalism.”

On leaving The Northern Echo in 2014, Steve switched to the other side of the Press desk as press officer at Leeds Playhouse and later York Theatre Royal.

Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster said: “The whole team here are incredibly saddened by the news of Steve’s death. His relationship with YTR goes back such a long time, both as a reviewer and staff member and then as a freelancer.

“His dedication and passion to unearthing the stories of this theatre and championing the arts in Yorkshire was truly outstanding. Press nights will not be the same without his sparkly shoes and fabulous sense of humour. We will miss him very much.”  

Nun better: Steve Pratt entering into the spirit of a photoshoot in sisterhood habit

Chief executive officer Paul Crewes added: “Steve’s death is such a terrible loss to York’s theatre community and his YTR family are all devastated by this news. He was a much-loved friend and colleague and we will miss him.

“Steve was a first-class journalist and press officer who cared deeply about, and was very successful at, shining a light on the arts in York and beyond.”

Latterly, Steve took up the publicity officer’s post for York company NE Theatre York, whose chair and creative director, Steve Tearle, said: “Steve became involved with us over the past several years by supporting the publicity of our shows. He crafted and created press releases for the company perfectly, like only Steve could do. 

“He was a wonderfully gifted, talented man, with time for everyone, and had such a fantastic personality. He was such an asset to the team and totally believed in what we stood for. 

“I really valued Steve as a person and his passion for theatre. It’s with such a heavy heart I say this.  We spoke last November at length about 2026 and as usual he was so excited to be supporting us. He will be sadly missed by the NE Theatre York team.” 

From his days at Leeds Playhouse, Steve’s brighter-than-Hawaiian shirts became his trademark. “As a child he was dressed very soberly, but when he found his feet at Leeds, the flamboyant side came out, but he did need guidance, so I have to admit it was my fault,” said Lesley, recalling his collection of 30 such shirts. “Please feel free to come to the funeral in bright colours.”

One last memory from Lesley defined his role as a critic. “Getting Stephen to give you a verbal opinion was not easy,” she said. “He would always say ‘read the review’.” We did, line after line, time after time.

Copyright of The York Press and The Northern Echo

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s review of The Academy of St Olave’s, St Olave’s Church, York, January 24

Academy of St Olave’s conductor Alan George

SATURDAY’S concert opened with a focused, effervescent performance of Emil von Reznicek’s Overture: Donna Diana.

The first violins set the tone for the work, delivering a bubbly opening theme followed by a graceful lyrical secondary melody with the woodwinds – clarinet and oboe – and brass adding colour and dialogue to this musical party piece.

Not for the first time, this performance suggested echoes of English rustic, pastoral music: the country dance-like articulation, folk-like decorations of the woodwind and the slightly old-fashioned, genial humour – Eric Coates?

Maybe it’s just a senior thing. Nevertheless, the performance danced with joy as the couple in front of me could testify, bouncing away throughout.

This was followed by Delius’s rarely heard tone poem, A Song Before Sunrise. The playing was finely shaded in atmosphere, a real evocative sense of dawn. The woodwinds – oboe, flute and clarinet – deftly produced the characteristic ‘birdsong’ figures, which evoked the musical dawn chorus. Does the clarinet welcome the sunrise with a musical rooster call? Anyhow, the strings provided a lush background – warm violin and viola colours.

I love Delius, and I loved the way the piece had this searching quality that doesn’t actually seem to arrive at a particular destination, it just meanders beautifully. Again, the performance was very assured, convincing in fact.

I thought the performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s Symphony No. 2 in C major was utterly engaging. Although the opening Allegro is the most symphonically ambitious movement, it did feel like a kind of mini wind concerto.

The oboe tended to shape the lyrical themes with the bassoon active as a melodic partner. The fanfare- like horn calls were delivered neatly, but these seemed to add colour rather than any hint of heroics. The strings, carrying their fair share of the musical discourse, would retreat to allow the winds to shine.

The intimate lyricism of the Adagio came across as more chamber music in tone, rather than the customary symphonic rhetoric. Again, the oboe tended to stand out, Alexandra Nightingale playing the main cantabile melody beautifully.

There were delicate counter-melodies on bassoon – Isabel Dowell – and firm cello and flute contributions, while the strings provided a warm cushion of support.

The Menuetto was an all-round dryly comic experience, especially in its brevity. Here the rustic horns were rhythmically assertive, underpinning the dance character.

The issue for my ears was that the closing Finale, while engaging and driving, was simply too short to properly rebalance the symphony – the opening Allegro is about as long as the other movements in total. Indeed, you could feel the audience reaction ‘is that it’?

There is no doubt that where Haydn, Mozart, and earlyBeethoven aim for architectural balance, Weber pours nearly all the symphonic ‘argument’ into the first movement, leaving the rest as lighter dramatic appendices.

But an interval rethink suggested the work would make more sense when heard as early Romantic theatre dressed in symphonic clothing. Anyhow, the absence of the clarinet was also very noticeable, particularly as we associate the clarinet with Weber. But around the 1800s the core symphonic wind choir was two oboes,  two bassoons and two horns. So there you go.

The second half belonged to Schubert’s Tragic Symphony No. 4 in C minor. And the performance was quite remarkable. I can’t really say I get the full majesty of tragedy when I hear this superb symphony, despite the forebodings suggested in the opening Adagio.

The orchestra’s dark, weighty C minor chords were followed by an almost funereal, inward-looking bassoon solo – well played by Isabel Dowell. But, after an assured tempo gear change into the Allegro, the movement does not embrace Beethoven’s sense of a heroic struggle.

What clearly came across in performance was a movement fuelled by restless energy rather than heroics: driven rather than confrontational, with quick tonal shifts providing moment. These were very well performed under the direction of conductor Alan George, as was the programme as a whole.

Further, Schubert transforms the woodwind-string relationship from conversation to commentary. The strings typically propelled the movement with flowing figures and rhythmic energy while the clarinets, Lesley Schatzberger and Andrea Hayden, and oboes, Ms Nightingale and Christina Young, echoed and subtly re-coloured the material. This is radically different from Beethoven.

Strong oboe and clarinet were also prominent in the Andante, a movement shiningwith lyrical grace. When the flute – an impressive Becky Jobling – takes over the line, often echoing the clarinet, the melody rises into a higher register and subtly changes character: what was warm and intimate on the clarinet becomes lighter and more distanced, with a hint of detachment replacing the clarinet’s warmth. Very rewarding.

The Menuetto bristled with energy, quirky off-kilter rhythms, pointed folk-like dialogue, orchestral shifts, and a convincing relaxation of tempo for the central section. Incisive woodwind writing: oboes and bassoons frequently stepped out of the texture with dry, slightly nasal interjections that sharpened the rhythmic outline, while the horns added a rustic edge in the Trio, reinforcing its dance-like, almost outdoor quality.

The pacing of the closing Allegro was pretty much on the money, with chamber-like sections dovetailed seamlessly; indeed, this sense of careful knitting together made the symphonic argument work coherently.

Brief woodwind and horn contributions –dry-edged bassoon figures, oboe-shaped phrase endings, and subdued horn colour – seemed to complement the familiar string–clarinet exchanges, acting more as timbral changes than as overt solos, while maintaining the movement’s momentum.

For a Winter Concert, it left me unexpectedly warm inside.

Review by Steve Crowther