Tommy Carmichael: “Audience favourite” will play Jangles in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal
YORKSHIREMAN Tommy Carmichael will head back to York Theatre Royal for this winter’s pantomime season, following up his 2024-25 comic role as Charlie in Aladdin by playing Jangles in Sleeping Beauty.
The “audience favourite” joins the already confirmed CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam and dame returnee Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie in creative director Juliet Forster’s cast.
“Tommy was such a hit with audiences last year in Aladdin and we are delighted to have him back with us for Sleeping Beauty,” she says. “We have lots of fun and hilarity planned, so don’t miss your chance to see the show this winter.”
Tommy Carmichael: From Charlie to Jangles at York Theatre Royal
Doncaster-born Carmichael’s theatre credits include Timternet in Big Strong Man (national tour); Silly Willy in Robin Hood and Buttons in Cinderella (both at The Maltings, Ely); Chief Weasel in The Wind In The Willows (national tour); Himself in Big Strong Man (CAST, Doncaster); Queen of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland (national tour) and Bagheera in The Jungle Book (national tour).
Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal’s sixth pantomime collaboration with perennial award winners Evolution Productions, will be written once more by Evolution director Paul Hendy, who previously penned The Travelling Panto, Cinderella, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and Aladdin.
Forster’s production will run from December 2 to January 4 2026. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Family tickets are available for all performances with savings of up to £64.50 on bookings of four tickets.
Tommy Carmichael’s cheerful Charliein Aladdin at York Theatre Royal
Nicholas Carter: Leaving his post as Micklegate Singers’ musical director after November’s concert
LONG-STANDING York conductor Nicholas Carter is to hang up his baton after 25 years as musical director of the Micklegate Singers.
Applications for the post are welcomed until Friday, July 18, with full details available at www.micklegatesingers.co.uk. Interviews and auditions will be held on September 25 and/or October 2.
The choir began in 1964, becoming a key part of the York music scene. Since 2000, its characteristic programming of exciting new choral music, alongside masterpieces from the 16th century, has been curated carefully by Mr Carter.
On reaching his silver jubilee with the choir, however, he has decided to bow out after November’s winter concert, hence the search for a new director to start in January 2026.
Applications are encouraged from enthusiastic musicians of all backgrounds with experience of directing adult choirs.
Nicholas Carter, centre, with the Micklegate Singers choir members
The Micklegate Singers are an auditioned, mixed-voice chamber choir, whose 30 to 36 members rehearse weekly on Thursday evenings during school terms and perform three or four times per year in York.
The choir sings an ambitious repertoire of mostly 16th century and 20th/21st century works, usually unaccompanied, ranging from Tallis, Byrd and Guerrero, via Stanford and Parry, to Eric Whitacre, Cecilia McDowell, Paweł Łukaszewski and Laura Mvula, complemented by works commissioned from new composers.
“We’ve been so lucky to have a musician of Nick’s calibre leading us for such a long time,” says Micklegate Singers’ chair, Sarah Sketchley. “He will be a hard act to follow, but we are excited to see who might come along and take us on the next part of our journey.
“We are a friendly bunch, and we love getting our teeth into really rewarding choral repertoire, so this is a great opportunity for the right person.”
The choir has been in the public eye with a set of commissions by young composers from the University of York, leading to a performance and panel discussion chaired by Nicola LeFanu at the 2024 York Festival of Ideas.
The poster artwork for Micklegate Singers’ July 5 concert, The Eye Of The Beholder, at All Saints’ Church, North Street, York
Mr Carter, formerly director of music at Queen Mary’s School, Topcliffe, near Thirsk, has cherished his time with the choir: “I am always impressed by the sheer variety of music that I can face the choir with and the standard that they reach in performance despite being amateurs,” he says.
“The composer William Byrd was a keen advocate of the health benefits of singing, and I always find that I leave the rehearsal feeling younger than I did at the beginning!”
The choir’s next concert, The Eye Of The Beholder, takes place at All Saints’ Church, North Street, York, on Saturday, when the 7.30pm programme comprises works by Britten, Roth, Shaw, Whitacre, Dove, Maw, Ravel and the world premiere of David McGregor’s Clown In The Moon. Admission is £7.50 on the door; free for those in full-time education or children.
Former Micklegate Singers members are invited to join Mr Carter’s silver anniversary celebrations after the choir’s winter concert on November 29.
JUSTIN Panks tops Saturday’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street, York.
Tony Vino and Liam Bolton will be performing too, introduced by promoter and regular master of ceremonies Damion Larkin from 8pm.
Comedian and podcaster Justin Panks combines a skewed observational eye with the ability to approach seemingly ordinary subjects from extraordinary angles, striking a balance between the relatable and the outrageous.
His tales of relationships, parenthood and life in general are raw, honest and above all humorous, as heard on his weekly podcasts, The Pranks & Firth Show and 3 Speech Podcast.
He prides himself on his ability to adapt to any room, be it rowdy and crowded, a large theatre or an intimate comedy club setting such as The Basement, and he tours internationally, in demand in New York, Valencia, Ibiza, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Menorca, Sweden and Denmark.
Tony Vino bills himself as “the only half-Spanish, half-Scottish hybrid working comic in the world”. Born in Malaga, he was subsequently raised in the Costa Del Preston, Lancashire. When he was only a toddler, his father looked around, saw the sea, the sand and the sunshine of the Andalucian coast and thought “we need to be nearer Wigan Pier”.
Comedian and compere Vino has been touring the UK and international comedy circuit since early 2005, mixing observational humour with audience interaction and quick-witted responses.
He hosts festivals and corporate events, called on to entertain for charities such as Christian Aid, Oxfam, Fairtrade Foundation and TearFund, as well as once being the warm-up comedian for BBC One’s Songs Of Praise – a low point in his career, he says.
Experimental comedian Liam Bolton favours a bewildering, train-of-thought approach to unpredictable stand-up comedy.
He co-wrote and featured in the comedy webseries Danger Precinct, starring alongside big names from the UK comedy circuit, such as Mick Ferry and, against his better judgement, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s big cheese, Damion Larkin (“semi-famous in Stoke only”). The show was considered an “underground success”, drawing praise from none other than Jonny Vegas.
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or on the door.
Illyria in Oliver Grey’s adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In The Willows at Ripon Racecourse on July 5 at 5.30pm
RIPON Theatre Festival returns from July 1 to 6 with a line-up of shows, stories and community spirit that promises to light up the North Yorkshire city.
Drama, storytelling, puppetry, street theatre, circus and dance feature in more than 100 performances of 60 different events, backed by the festival’s first Arts Council funding, with a developing outreach programme too.
Festival director Katie Scott says: “Ripon Theatre Festival continues to grow, and we’re so excited to bring our biggest and boldest programme yet to the city. With the support of Arts Council funding, we can reach even more people and create a festival full of joy, creativity and unforgettable performances.
“Whether you’re a theatre enthusiast, a family looking for free entertainment, or someone who loves great stories, there’s something for everyone. We can’t wait to welcome audiences old and new to experience the magic of live theatre in Ripon.”
The best of British touring theatre Performances from top-quality touring companies, such as festival favourites Illyria bringing The Wind In The Willows to life in the leafy setting of Ripon Racecourse on July 5 at 5.30pm.
Unforgettable outdoor theatre experiences From Breadcrumbs, Hansel & Gretel with a difference from Leeds company Wrongsemble, on the Family Day on July 6 (10am to 4pm), to open-air Shakespeare in Three Inch Fools’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Old Deanery gardens on July 6 at 7pm, Ripon becomes the stage for magical performances under the summer sky.
Buzzing city vibe Ripon will be alive with street performers from across the UK, pop-up stages and 25 local groups showcasing their talents. The festival creates a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere across the city, using the streets and historic buildings as a unique backdrop.
Opportunities to be involved From storytelling workshops and community art installations to the chance to try out Flamenco or join in circus skills, there are plenty of ways for all ages to participate.
Something for everyone From classic theatre and cutting-edge new writing to comedy, and family-friendly fun, the packed programme is for all ages and tastes.
World-class storytelling International storyteller-in-residence Peter Chand will bring tales of love, loss and separation inspired by his British Punjabi heritage to the atmospheric Leper Chapel, St Mary Magdalen’s, in Mangoes On The Beach, on July 2 at 3pm.
Free family entertainment Two days packed with free performances and activities make Ripon a destination for families looking for affordable fun. The Spa Gardens are turned into a Family Theatre zone for Festival Sunday with a rolling programme of theatre, puppetry, music, dance and walkabout acts.
City-wide offers for festival-goers Ripon’s independent businesses will be participating too. The city’s cafés, restaurants, and shops are joining the celebration with offers for ticket holders.
Bringing theatre to every corner The festival’s outreach programme ensures that care homes and community spaces are part of the action, spreading the joy of theatre across the city.
Spoilt for choice on opening night The festival kicks off on Tuesday (1/7/2025) with two very different shows. Audiences can choose from stand-up with rising comedy favourite Larry Dean and Lou Conran in the Hilarity Bites Festival Special at Ripon Arts Hub at 8pm or visit Ripon Cathedral for the gripping one-man theatre of Murray Watts’s The Beloved Son at 7.30pm.
Look out for: Third Class: A Titanic Story, Ripon Arts Hub, July 2, 8pm
Russell Lucas in Third Class, his one-man show about Titanic survivor Edward Dorking. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
THIRD Class – A Titanic Story is the latest project by writer, director and performer Russell Lucas, who specialises in staging new works.
Past projects include creating his one-man show The Bobby Kennedy Experience and Sarah Louise Young’s hit cabaret An Evening Without Kate Bush.
Now he presents Third Class, a well-known story, but one with an unknown hero, Titanic survivor Edward Dorking: one of the estimated 172 of the roughly 709 passengers who travelled in Steerage on the stricken luxury liner lucky enough to emerge unscathed. To do so, he swam for 30 minutes towards an already full collapsible lifeboat.
“Edward was gay. Openly gay, and on Wednesday April 10th, 1912, he set sail on a ticket bought for him by his parents in the hope his American family could put him ‘right’,” says Russell.
Using music, projection and movement, interwoven with historical fact, Third Class charts Edward’s journey of survival and how, on arriving in New York, he toured the vaudeville circuit, re-creating the stories for a fact-hungry public.
“Edward Dorking was a poverty-stricken gay man, travelling to the US to be ‘fixed’, who became a vaudeville curiosity and an angry campaigner against the injustices of the shipping disaster,” says Russell, who promises a “thrilling new perspective on what feels a familiar tale”.
“Edward didn’t want fame; he wanted revenge. When everyone was talking about the deaths of millionaires and society figures, few were discussing the people who took the lion’s share of the losses that night: the third class. Edward was coming for the upper classes.”
Wednesday’s 70-minute performance will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Russell. Third Class also plays Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on July 12 at 3pm (box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk).
Further Ripon Theatre Festival theatre highlights
Louise Geller in Almost Austen at Ripon Arts Hub on July 5
ANDREW Harrison, stalwart of York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company, performs fellow Riding Lights luminary Murray Watts’s The Beloved Son at Ripon Cathedral on July 1 at 7.30pm.
Dutch Catholic priest and psychologist Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) abandoned academia for a new calling, caring for people with intellectual disabilities in a challenge to church and society. Hope and longing, family dynamics, sexual and emotional crisis and the profound insights of a spiritual writer inform Harrison’s solo performance, peppered with multiple characters played with dizzying speed.
LIZ Grand, who portrayed crime writer Agatha Christie at the 2023 Ripon Theatre Festival, returns with Mrs Churchill – My Life With Winston at Ripon Arts Hub on July 3 at 7.30pm.
Churchill once said: “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.” Here Grand offers a sensitive, informative portrayal of Clementine, Winston’s wife for 56 years.
IN Norwich Theatre and Albert Cabbage’s Edinburgh Fringe hit Spy Movie: The Play!, at Ripon Arts Hub on July 4 at 8pm, Agent Blonde has 24 hours to save the world. The only thing standing in her way are dastardly villains, an outrageous plot and a lack of funding.
When Hollywood rejects her script, a frustrated screenwriter invites you, an audience of producers, to a one-night-only presentation of The Greatest Spy Movie (n)Ever Made, in an homage to Bond films and Fringe theatre from the stars of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
SINGER Louise Geller brings her delightful musical theatre show Almost Austen to Ripon Arts Hub on July 5 at 8pm with its 60-minute story of Catherine, a modern girl in love with Jane Austen’s world who cannot believe her luck when she meets her very own Mr Tilney.
Through passages from Northanger Abbey, songs from musicals and operatic classics, Geller relates Catherine’s romantic ups and downs as real life and fantasy collide in a meeting of Bridget Jones and Northanger Abbey.
Olly Murs: Returning to familiar turf at York Racecourse’s first Summer Music Saturday meeting this afternoon
AS the outdoor concert season awakens, a festival goes to heaven and hell and a koala tries something new in Charles Hutchinson’s list for the upcoming week.
Back on track: Olly Murs, York Racecourse, Summer Music Saturday, today, first race at 1.55pm; last race, 5.25pm, followed by concert
ESSEX singer, songwriter, actor and television personality from Olly Murs completes his hat-trick of appearances at York Racecourse this weekend, having played the Knavesmire track in 2010 and 2017.
Performing after today’s race card, his set list will draw on his seven albums and 25 singles, including the number ones Please Don’t Let Me Go, Heart Skips A Beat, Dance With Me Tonight and Troublemaker. Race day tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Marcelo Nisinman: Argentinean bandoneon player, performing Martin Palmeri’s Misatango at York Guildhall today
Reverence and rhythm of the week: Prima Choral Artists presents Scared Rhythms: From Chant To Tango, York Guildhall, The Courtyard, Coney Street, York, tonight, 7.30pm
ARGENTINEAN bandoneon maestro and composer Marcelo Nisinman performs Martin Palmeri’s Misatango as the finale to director Eve Lorian’s Sacred Rhythms – From Chant To Tango concert.
He joins the 60-strong Prima Choral Artists choir, pianist Greg Birch, Yorkshire mezzo-soprano soloist Lucy Jubb and the New World String Quintet for tonight’s journey through sacred and spiritual choral music. Box office: primachoral.com.
Justin Moorhouse: Giving two of the greatest performances of his life at Pocklington Arts Centre this weekend
Comedy gigs of the week: Justin Moorhouse, The Greatest Performance Of My Life, Pocklington Arts Centre, today, 3pm and 8pm
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE comedian, radio presenter and actor Justin Moorhouse covers subjects ranging from pantomimes to dreams, how to behave in hospitals, small talk, realising his mum is a northern version of Columbo, and how being a smart-mouthed child saved him from a life of continually being beaten up. Funny, interesting, perhaps it will warm the soul too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Bluebird Bakery: Makers’ Summer Fair on Sunday in Acomb
Arts and crafts of the week: Makers’ Summer Fair, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, Sunday, 10am to 3pm; The Fox Summer Craft Market, The Fox Inn, Holgate Road, York, Sunday, 1pm to 5pm
ARTISAN baker and cafe Bluebird Bakery plays host to York artists and makers’ craft, jewellery, print, ceramic, plant, candle and woodwork stalls under one roof. Meanwhile, The Fox Inn holds its second annual Summer Craft Market, featuring live music, handmade gifts, craft stalls and street food vendors.
Swift service: Xenna pays homage to Taylor in Miss Americana at York Barbican
Tribute gig of the week: Miss Americana: The Eras Experience, A Tribute To Taylor Swift, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
STEP into Step into world ofTaylor Swift and her Eras experience in Xenna’s homage to the Pennsylvania pop sensation’s music, style and stage presence, from her country roots to such hits as Love Story, Blank Space and Shake It Off. Cue replica costume changes, storytelling and dancers too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Dawn Landes: Amplifying the voices of women who fought for equality at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Country gig of the week: Dawn Landes, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, July 2, 8pm
AMERICAN country roots singer-songwriter Dawn Landes showcases The Liberated Woman’s Songbook, her March 2024 album that re-imagines music from the women’s liberation movement.
Inspired by a 1971 songbook of the same name, Landes breathes new life into powerful songs spanning 1830 to 1970, amplifying the voices of women who fought for equality throughout history. Box office: seetickets.com/event/dawn-landes/rise-bluebird/.
James Sheldon’s Mr Darcy and Rosa Hesmondhalgh’s Lizzy Bennet in Pride And Prejudice at the SJT, Scarborough
Introducing America’s most performed living playwright to North Yorkshire: Pride And Prejudice, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, July 3 to 26, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
LOTTE Wakeham directs American writer Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s story of love, misunderstandings and second chances, staged with music, dancing, humour aplenty and a cast led by Rosa Hesmondhalgh’s Lizzy Bennet (CORRECT) and James Sheldon’s Mr Darcy in a whirl of Regency parties and courtship as hearts race, tongues wag and passions swirl around the English countryside. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Koala Who Could: Up a tree at York Theatre Royal for three days next week. Picture: Pamela Raith
Children’s show of the week: The Koala Who Could, York Theatre Royal, July 3, 1.30pm; July 4, 10.30am and 4.30pm; July 5, 11am and 2pm
JOIN Kevin the koala, Kangaroo and Wombat as they learn that “life can be great when you try something new” in this adaptation of Rachel Bright and Jim Field’s picture book, directed by Emma Earle, with music and lyrics by Eamonn O’Dwyer.
Danny Hendrix (Wombat/Storyteller 1), Sarah Palmer (Cossowary/Storyteller 2) and Christopher Finn (Kevin/Storyteller 3) perform this empowering story of embracing change – whether we like it or not. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Richard Hawley: Playing Coles Corner with strings attached at Live At York Museum Gardens on July 5. Picture: Dean Chalkley
Open-air concerts of the week: Futuresounds presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3; Nile Rodgers & CHIC, July4; Richard Hawley, July 5; gates open at 5pm
LEEDS promoters Futuresound Group’s second summer of outdoor concerts in York begins with Bury band Elbow’s sold-out show next Thursday, when Ripon singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution support.
New York guitarist, songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers and CHIC revel in Good Times, Le Freak, Everybody Dance and I Want Your Love next Friday, supported by Maryland soul singer Jalen Ngonda. Sheffield guitarist and crooner Richard Hawley revisits his 1995 album Coles Corner with a string section on its 20th anniversary next Saturday, preceded by Leeds band English Teacher and Manchester-based American songwriter BC Camplight. Box office: seetickets.com.
Le Consort: French orchestral ensemble, making York debut with Vivaldi concert at National Centre for Early Music on July 6
Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival, Heaven & Hell, July 4 to 11
EIGHT days of classical music adds up to 19 concerts featuring international artists such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, viol consort Fretwork & Helen Charlston and the York debut of Le Consort, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “but not quite as you know it”.
Directed by Delma Tomlin, the festival weaves together three main strands: the 400th anniversary of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, the Baroque music of Vivaldi and Bach and reflections on Man’s fall from grace, from Heaven to Hell. Full programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.
In Focus: Harry Baker, Wonderful 2.0, The Crescent, York, Sunday (29/6/2025)
Poet, mathematician and world slam champ Harry Baker
YOUNGEST ever World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker’s two Wonderful 2.0 shows at The Crescent , York, tomorrow have sold out. Wonderful news for Harry; not so wonderful if you were yet to book for either bite of the poetic cherry, the 3.30pm all-ages matinee or 7pm evening event.
Enough negativity. Let this preview be suffused with positivity. “One thing that I know that I will always find amazing is what a thing it is to live a life,” posits Maths graduate Harry, who always looks for plus signs. “P.S. Let’s also do this loads before we die.” Good, because that means Baker will be back and next time you can be quicker off the mark.
Baker, the 34-year-old poet, mathematician, writer and comedy turn from Ealing, London, first spread his Wonderful wings from April to August 2024, visiting The Crescent on May 20 with poems about wellies, postcodes and his favourite German wheat beer Schöfferhofer on his sold-out 40-date itinerary.
At the time, the “Maths-loving, TED-talking, German-speaking, battle-rapping, happy-crying, self-bio-writing unashamed human” said: “After the mental health struggles I shared in my last show, this time around the plan was to have a fun time touring a fun show full of fun poems to celebrate coming out of the other side. But it hasn’t quite worked out like that.
“For the first time ever I have been to more funerals than weddings in the last year. I have hit the age where everyone around me is either having babies or talking about having babies or definitely not having babies, and found out first-hand how complicated and painful that can be. And yet I am more fascinated and amazed by the world around me than ever before.”
Harry added: “From the transformational power of documenting moments of everyday joy to the undeniable raw energy of performing a garage song about Greta Thunberg, I am learning more than ever that life can indeed be incredibly hard sometimes, but that doesn’t make it any less incredible.
“If anything, it is the darkness that helps us to appreciate the light, just as it is the puddles that help us to appreciate the wellies. And what could be more wonderful than sharing all of this with the glorious folk who come along after reading about it here.”
Now he returns with a new message to accompany his poems about “all the important stuff, like hope, dinosaurs and German falafel-spoons”. “May one thing match the gravity of all you’ve ever done. This wonderful reality: The best is yet to come,” Harry pronounces.
“More full of wonder than ever”, he will celebrate wellies and postcodes once more, funerals and fertility journeys too, in his trademark amalgam of the playful, the vulnerable and the hopeful.
How would he sum up Wonderful 2.0? “I like ‘Wonderfuller’. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but I like the connotation,” he says.
“Wonderful 2.0 hopes to make you cry with laughter, laugh through tears, or, dream scenario: both. The show will contain old faves as well as brand new work, celebrating what a thing it is to live a life.”
“What I ended up doing was I started writing a poem a day for the first 100 days of my son’s life, though ‘poems’ would be a generous description of the first ones,” says Harry
For all his popularity on TikTok and Instagram, Baker’s favourite place to be is still on stage in front of an audience, sharing his words in person. “By its very nature, I don’t think it makes sense for poetry to go viral,” he says.
“It is all about taking the time out of your day-to-day to stop and pay attention to the world and the wonder it contains, which it feels like so many of us are too busy to be able to carve out time to do. And yet I think it is precisely this reason why people have been able to connect with my work so much.
“From the vulnerability of sharing my own personal struggles with trying to conceive a baby, to the power of making list of requests in advance of what I would like to happen when I die (an obnoxious amount of sunflowers and negronis all round, please), or even just a stupid (yet subversive?) poem about how great my knees are, there is a playfulness and poignancy that has changed the way others look at the world too.”
Harry continues: “I have been performing for 15 years now and last year’s tour was my favourite by far, because of the openness audiences were willing to bring and share in, so that we could all have a cry and a laugh and go away feeling slightly more connected to one another and the world, and I am so excited for a chance to do this all over again.”
Assessing where he fits in as a performer, Harry decides: “I think I fall somewhere in between a band (where you hope they will do your favourite songs) and a stand-up (where you expect new material!). So, as well as keeping in the classics, I have updated the show with new poems about everything that has happened in the meantime, including (finally and joyfully) having a baby.”
Wonderful 2.0 picks up where Wonderful left off, knowing his “whole life was about to change but not knowing how he would feel”. It turns out that becoming a father, and experiencing a deep love for his child, has heightened his connection with the world around him, rather than numbed it.
“What I ended up doing was I started writing a poem a day for the first 100 days of my son’s life, though ‘poems’ would be a generous description of the first ones!
“People say ‘it’s the best thing in the world’ or that ‘you’re going to lose everything you’ve enjoyed’, so I thought to be able to have all these snapshots in the poems means you can have days where you were in the moment, thinking how fragile and precious life is, but also have days where it doesn’t feel like that, especially in those early days, when if feels like ‘this is it, it will never change’.
“But having written these things, less than a year later, I look back and feel like ‘I think you’re being a bit dramatic’…but that’s fine because some of it felt amazing, sometimes it felt raw and spiky.
“Hopefully these poems will feel precious to me and my wife, and by sharing them, anyone who has recently has a baby will connect with them, or, like my parents, they can relate with them, and those who haven’t had a kid can connect with these basic emotions.”
Harry’s aim was to “capture the newness, the helplessness and the tenderness, not to create a parenting manual”. To detach from the practice of finding punchlines to jokes felt important in his writing. “I wanted to lean into the emotional side of it and that’s something that changes from day to day,” he says.
“This is the point in between where you can say ‘life can be difficult but also amazing, and if anything, one heightens the other’,” says Harry
Harry had written candidly about how long it took the couple to become pregnant. “To be so honest about that painful experience gave permission to connect with that, and now these new poems feel like an evolution,” he says.
“People have thanked me for ‘saying things they couldn’t’. I’ve been trying to open up in a way that is safe for me and safe for others, and having honed those skills, or muscles, I was ready to apply it to the new poems.
“It’s also trying to acknowledge that just because I have this child and this joyful outcome, it doesn’t negate the experience I’ve been through.”
The sequel to his Wonderful poetry collection will be published by Canongate next March. “This is the point in between where you can say ‘life can be difficult but also amazing, and if anything, one heightens the other’. If you can share the hard times with people, just as you share the joyous times, they’re more bearable for that.”
Poems have an intensity that suits the combative nature of slams. “When I started out, I was entering these poetry slams where you have to say everything in three minutes, win over the audience, be funny, get them on board, deliver a message, wrap it up and send it off into the sunset,” says Harry.
“That was such a good training ground because you have to convey things in such a short space of time. That’s why these Wonderful shows are such a joy to do, particularly when the poems can feel vulnerable and heartfelt, and it’s up to you where you take it next.”
Next year’s poetry collection, Tender, will reflect that. “Why ‘Tender’? I think it was that thing of wanting to lean into the feeling of vulnerability, but as well as the connotation of being tender where you feel bruised, there’s the ripeness and readiness too.”
Did you know?
HARRY Baker’s honest, heartfelt and hopeful poems have reached more than ten million people on TikTok and Instagram.
Raised in a Christian community, Baker is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause For Thought.
He tours the UK in comedy-rap-jazz duo Harry and Chris Baker, also appearing on The Russell Howard Hour.
Baker released his third poetry collection, Wonderful, in May 2024, featuring fan favourites Wellies, Sunflowers and Sticky Toffee Pudding. Published by Burning Eye, copies are available at gigs, all good bookshops and www.harrybaker.co.
Katie Cole’s fawning courtesan Giuletta in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann. Picture: David Kessel
YORK Opera is alive and kicking. Not content to fall back on one of its favourites, it is breaking new ground with Offenbach’s opéra fantastique. But in another sense it is building on the legacy of one man who gave well over half a century to this company as singer, set designer and director: Clive Marshall, who died in March at the age of 88.
A protegée of Clive’s, Liz Watson now takes the reins in this lively production, assisted by John Soper. Clive would have been equally pleased that the chorus includes a dozen new members, a sure sign that he left the company in good health.
In largely modern dress, it uses an older edition than is nowadays usual, in an English translation by Edward Agate, omitting most of the spoken dialogue and almost all of the recitatives inserted after the composer’s death.
Ian Thomson-Smith’s evil genius in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann: “His first-class diction and forthright baritone carried continuing menace”. Picture: David Kessel
This sensibly cuts the show down to a reasonable two and a half hours. Alasdair Jamieson’s orchestra is reduced to two dozen, in Tony Burke’s version, which is more than adequate for this theatre, given the expertise of the players involved, led by Claire Jowett.
Hamish Brown fashioned a steady Hoffmann, sympathetically unveiling the character’s ups and downs with the opposite sex if without much change in vocal tone. He was at his best in the Legend of Kleinzach. He certainly curried sympathy for his unfortunate predicaments along the way. His alternate (for June 26 and 28) is the equally experienced Karl Reiff.
Watson reminded us of Nicklausse’s origins as Hoffmann’s muse with a subtle change from dress to suit in the prologue. Alexandra Mather’s stage presence offered ample reassurance of Nicklausse’s value as friend to Hoffmann, with an admirable mezzo to boot.
Stephanie Wong: “Brought delightful coloratura to the mechanical Olympia, carrying off her aria with wit and charm” in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann
Understandably, three different sopranos covered Hoffmann’s would-be conquests. Stephanie Wong brought delightful coloratura to the mechanical Olympia, carrying off her aria with wit and charm, not least when she had to be rewound.
Ione Cumming’s strong tone as Antonia ensured this was the most dramatic of Hoffmann’s affairs, singing herself to death persuasively. As the fawning courtesan Giuletta, Katie Cole made the most of the famous Barcarole, duping Hoffmann in their duet before sugaring off with a gondolier.
Hamish Brown’s Hoffmann in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann: “Curried sympathy for his unfortunate predicaments along the way”
The evil genius behind all three of these deceptions – variously Coppélius, Dr Miracle and Captain Dapertutto – was excellently embodied by Ian Thomson-Smith, in a variety of pseudo-mystical costumes. His first-class diction and forthright baritone carried continuing menace.
Several smaller roles were well characterised. Mark Simmonds as Hoffmann’s perpetual opposition Lindorf, Leon Waksberg as the inventor Spalazani, Molly Raine as his assistant, and Rebecca Smith as the ghost of Antonia’s mother, all caught the eye.
Alexandra Mather: “Her stage presence offered ample reassurance of Nicklausse’s value as friend to Hoffmann, with an admirable mezzo to boot”. Picture: David Kessel
With John Soper’s perpetual set covering the full width of the stage, it was a smart idea to limit the chorus choreography to only ten singers, whose movements largely echoed the trials of the three principal ladies. The chorus, clearly well drilled, threw itself wholeheartedly into the fray when required without too much action off the ball.
It almost goes without saying that Alasdair Jamieson sustained a firm grip on all his forces. The orchestra responded with particular enthusiasm, to the point of occasionally overpowering a couple of soloists. But these were brief misdemeanours and the overall spirit of the evening was unaffected. A tricky opera smoothly negotiated and another feather in York Opera’s cap.
York Opera in The Tales Of Hoffmann, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.15pm; tomorrow, 4pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ione Cummings’ Antonia and Karl Reiff’s Hoffmann in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann. Picture: David Kessel
Dawn Landes: Playing York for a fifth time next Wednesday
AMERICAN country roots singer-songwriter Dawn Landes will showcase The Liberated Woman’s Songbook at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, on July 2.
Arriving on the back of making her Glastonbury debut on Sunday, she will be performing in York for the first time since her November 2018 gig with keyboardist husband Creighton Irons at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, where she contemplated the “big themes of midlife” in mid-tempo songs of heartbreak, youth fading into the distance and love lost and found.
Playing with Irons once more, this time Landes will interweave songs from her seven previous albums with her celebration of women’s voices of activism, freedom and equality, rooted in her March 2024 album that re-imagines 11 folk songs spanning 1830 to 1970s’ Women’s Lib.
The project began when Landes stumbled on the 1971 collection The Liberated Woman’s Songbook at a thrift store during the pandemic. Following the 2022 overturn of the Roe v. Wade case in the United States, the songs took on an even greater urgency, she says. “We’re suddenly back in 1971 all over again,” Dawn reflects. “I know we’re in for a long fight, and it helps to find solidarity where you can.”
Recorded in Upstate New York and and her home of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, The Liberated Woman’s Songbook features contributions from Emily Frantz (Watchhouse), Kanene Pipkin (The Lone Bellow), Rissi Palmer, Charly Lowry, Annie Nero and Lizzy Ross (Violet Bell).
“A lot of work went into the album,” says Dawn, 44. “I still feel I’m learning because I never took a course in women’s history, so it’s been an initiation into feminism for me.
The cover artwork for Dawn Landes’ album The Liberated Woman’s Songbook
“I did a lot of research and I continue to do that research. I just wanted to share with people what I’d learned because the important thing was to see how much progress there had been. Like how it took 100 years for women to get the vote – and it feels like we’re going backwards now.”
Dawn’s learning curve continues. “I didn’t intend to say I know everything about feminism [with this album]. There are 77 songs in the original 1971 songbook and I’ve only done 11 on the album,” she says. “But I do more in the full-length concerts, two hours, with costumes and projections, like I played at the [London] Barbican last year – and there are more songs that I’ve discovered.
“I really enjoy doing the full performances because it’s a more theatrical show in theatres, with the characters coming through, and I feel it works best in that setting, even more than as a double album.”
Finding the songbook was a light-bulb moment for Dawn. “I don’t remember which book store I was in, but I travel a lot, and wherever I go, I like to find a good cup of coffee and a good bookshop,” she says.
“I used to work in one, and I love second-hand bookshops in particular. When I found the book, I loved the cover and I was curious about the songs. Stuck at home in the pandemic, I unearthed the book and learned a song a day as my daily medicine when I was thinking, ‘how am I going to get through this day?’“
She felt connections with “female singers, who maybe I didn’t know and like-minded activist poets, when there’s not a lot of space for that to happen, where you can feel part of a community.
“I still feel I’m learning because I never took a course in women’s history,” says Dawn Landes
“I do feel that sense of community, which otherwise I feel I’m lacking, though even when I do the songs solo I still feel a connection to the women of the past,” she says. “A lot of people have come up to me at shows to say they had family members who had worked in the mills of North Carolina in poor working conditions, in the heat, in full skirts and black dresses.”
Looking ahead, without giving too much away, Dawn says: “I have some plans to do something this summer, so hopefully I’ll have something out soonest. I started on it in the spring.” Watch this space.
First comes her UK tour, where playing the Bluebird Bakery could not be more apt for Dawn. “I have an album called Bluebird, of course,” she says, recalling her 2014 release and its title track, sure to feature in Wednesday’s set list. “There’s a Bluebird Theater (CORRECT) I’ve played in Denver, Colorado, and my goal is to play all the Bluebirds in the UK.”
Dawn Landes, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, July 2, doors 7.30pm for 8pm start; box office: https://www.seetickets.com/event/dawn-landes/rise-bluebird/3372912?aff=id1bandsintown. Also Hebden Bridge Trades Club, July 3, 7.30pm; thetradesclub.com.
Did you know?
DAWN Landes was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on December 5 1980. She spent many years living and performing in Brooklyn, New York, where she studied at university, then in Nashville. Now she is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
In York, she played Fibbers twice in 2006, supporting The Earlies in May and Fionn Regan in September, then opened a five-date UK and Irish tour at Fibbers, Toft Green, in January 2015 and performed at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, in November 2018.
South Bank Singers performing at their Of All The Birds – A Winter Chorus concert in January
SOUTH Bank Singers perform Her Music We Sing, a celebration of choral music by female composers across six centuries, from Renaissance madrigals to Baroque sacred compositions and contemporary works, at St Clement’s Church, Scarcroft Road, York, tomorrow, 3pm, and Holy Trinity Church, Micklegate, York, July 1, 7.30pm.
Works by Maddalena Casulana and Sulpitia Cesis feature alongside the rich romanticism of Fanny Hensel; the expressive lyricism of Amy Beach; the bold contemporary soundscapes of Stef Conner, Louise Drewett and Sarah Ann Marze, the lyrical beauty of Priscila Vergara and hopeful introspection of Victoria Benito, complemented by madrigals arranged by group member Marian Smales.
The York chamber choir’s summer concerts will be directed by Chilean-born composer and conductor Carlos Zamora, who works in the Royal Academy of Music’s composition and contemporary music department.
Since 2021, Carlos has directed South Bank Singers with passion and precision, shaping their sound and expanding their repertoire with his artistic vision. His music has been performed on five continents and has been recorded widely.
“These concerts are a celebration of the outstanding choral music created by women across the centuries right up to the present day,” says the musical director. We’re thrilled that several of the featured UK-based composers will be joining us for the concert on June 28. Among them are a teacher of composition and a student of composition, both at the Royal Academy of Music in London.”
South Bank Singers musical director Carlos Zamora
Admission to both concerts is free with a collection in aid of the York charity Kyra Women’s Project. South Bank Singers chairman Duncan Wills explains: “The choir has always aimed to combine music making and performance with good causes. We nominate a different charity for each concert and are delighted to be supporting the valuable work of Kyra on this occasion.”
Established in 2011, the 30-strong choir rehearses on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at St Clement’s Church to perform a diverse repertoire of less traditional, mostly a cappella choral music from the Renaissance period to contemporary works, in beautifully curated themed concerts.
Anyone who is considering joining a small chamber choir is welcome to contact the choir. “If you’re musical, have a voice that blends well with others and are keen to be part of an ensemble where every voice matters, South Bank Singers could be the perfect fit for you,” .
“The choir has openings in all voice parts, particularly tenors and basses. Please visit the website for further information at southbanksingers.co.uk.”
Annabel van Griethuysen’s hostess Marlene Cabana vamping it up in York Light Opera Company’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe. All pictures: Matthew KitchenPhotography
EUROBEAT is essentially Eurovision by another name, and if you love the campery, pageantry and “political” shenanigans of Eurovision, then you will love Eurobeat.
Presented in York its third iteration (after 2008’s Eurobeat…Almost European and 2016’s Eurobeat Moldova), this affectionate send-up is the work of Aussie composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie, a Eurovision devotee whose love of the annual song contest pre-dates Australia’s inclusion since 2015’s special guest appearance.
Should you still be wondering why the faraway land of Oz is involved, apparently Aussies have a long-standing affection for Eurovision and the nation is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Emma Swainston’s Astrid Lungstomberg waving the flag for Swedish entry Semaphore Of Love
Christie updates his show with each re-telling, tongue pushed further into cheek, politically and culturally savvy to the world’s woes, and steeped in Eurovision’s tropes, gauche jokes and awkward silences, while keeping the distance of a mischievous onlooker.
In the words of York Light director Neil Wood, “it’s fun”. “It ends up as more of an event, though it’s still a theatre show, and from the audience point of view, it’s a blast!” he says. “If you want to come in costume, you’re more than welcome to do so. We’ll have slash curtains, glitter and haze, everything you’d expect from Eurovision, but without the big budget.”
No-one took up the costume invitation at Wednesday’s press night: auditorium conditions were too hot and airless for that, but a Portuguese flag was waved enthusiastically from the front row, probably doubling as a cooling fan too.
Zander Fick’s punctilious martinet, Master of Protocols “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe
Welcome to Lichtenstein, hosts apparently by default of Eurobeat 2025. Up on the mezzanine level are Joy Warner’s Fanny Feuberger and Simon Kelly’s Kevin Kupferblum, starchy Cultural Ambassors with their regal airs and cod European accents.
They look over everything and, in turn, tend to be overlooked by show-off show hostess Marlene Cabana (Annabel van Griethuysen), glamorous Lichtenstein singing star, who has a costume change for every song and a putdown quip or three for every contestant and national stereotype. She is as much the mouthpiece for Christie as an echo of Terry Wogan and Graham Norton’s mickey-taking.
Annabel Van Griethuysen (could the lead actress have a more pan-European name?) is fabulous from start to finish. Her five-star Marlene is an irresistible, irrepressible force, with no time for woke sensibilities, and an Alpine European accent befitting a Bond Girl of Connery days. She takes the demands of direct address in her sassy stride, always accompanied by eye contact.
This Is How I Dance (by not dancing): Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe) in statuesque form for Lithuania in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe
As well as parading her operatic prowess in her singing, especially in Act Two, Van Griethuysen does pretty much all of the script’s heavy lifting, aided occasionally by the staid Cultural Ambassadors and Zander Fick’s Master of Protocols, “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, a moribund martinet whose every energy-draining interjection is begrudged by Marlene as unnecessary competition for her limelight-hogging.
Trained in opera and jazz singing, Fick has been carving a niche for himself on the York stage in a series of impressively understated yet bang-on performances since moving here from South Africa in April 2023.Once again he favours less is more as he blossoms on the arid terrain of the humourless killjoy, making being “boring” highly watchable.
The importance of being Earnestasia: Emma Rockliff performing Romanian entry Listen
In Act One, somewhat reluctantly on each occasion, hostess Marlene has to make way for the ten acts (nine European, plus the United Kingdom, she quips), looking to upstage them on each costume change. The songs must do their talking for them.
Christie plays on each nation’s Eurovision history and characteristics, kicking off with the infectious, over-calculated melody hooks of Sweden’s Semaphore Of Love, sung by Emma Swainston’s Agnetha-blonde Astrid Lungstomberg.
Poland’s Obwody Wirujące (Kit Stroud, Sophie Cunningham and Chloe Branton), all hard hats and robotic movements, clash for attention with three maids in traditional dress, their song pulling in different directions too. Romania’s Earnestasia (Emily Rockliff) throws in every outdated Eurovision cliché, boom-bang-a-bang style, in Listen.
Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) at odds with each other in the United Kingdom’s typically unloveable Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore
The United Kingdom’s Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) are akin to a washed-up cabaret act from a bygone era on a crash course to nil points with Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore. Or more accurately, why don’t you love us anymore, post-Brexit?
Representing Lithuania are Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe), seriously Eastern European yet delightfully, cutely devoid of self-awareness (unlike hostess Marlene) in singing This Is How I Dance, statuesque to a T, eschewing dance steps in the best moment of Wood and Sarah Cragg’s amusing choreography.
Greece is the word: Chloë Chapman’s Persephone performing Oh Aphrodite, a song she also choreographed
On song for Greece is Persephone (Chloë Chapman), tapping into Greek tragedies in the highly theatrical Oh Aphrodite. Portugal’s Mateus Villela (boy band looker Cain Branton) lives up to the lonesome title Guy With The Guitar, ushering off violinists while stoically declining to play his allotted instrument until the last note in one of Christie’s titular best jokes.
Vatican City (rather than Italy) gives Christie the chance to take pot shots at the Catholic church before Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony (Evie Latham, Lizzie Kearton, Sophie Cunningham and Emma Swainston) catch the Sixties girl group habit in Good Girl – throwing in a Bucks Fizz costume “strip” for good measure.
Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony: Vatican City’s answer to a Sixties’ girl group
Christie’s best pastiche goes to France’s Estelle LaCroix (Amy Greene), in red beret and matching lipstick, with a mime artiste to one side and a cyclist with baguettes and string of garlic to the other, as she sings the Gallic ballad Je Vous Deteste Tous, resolutely in French bien sur, her disdain writ large.
Norway closes the contest with Hammer Of Thor (Daniel Wood and Matt Tapp) hammering out the heavily metallic The Vikings, wherein an accountant sheds his day-job skin to join the Nordic warrior beside him as if on a Jorvik Viking Festival weekender in York.
Time for an interval break, one where audience members must pick their top three, either by utilising a somewhat resistant QR Code or resorting to time-honoured pen and paper.
Pulling the heart strings, but not playing the guitar ones: Cain Branton’s Mateus Villela holds back on his fret work in Portuguese entry Guy With A Guitar
Van Griethuysen’s hostess comes even more into her element as the Eurovision send-ups continue, the tension rises and the forced jollity of a Euro party takes over. Martin Lay’s band has fun; costumier Carly Price has even more fun.
Who wins? That’s up to you each show, but you’re on to a winner here if Eurovision is your guilty pleasure.
York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until July 5.Performances: 7.30pm, tonight and July 1 to 4, plus 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Who wins at Eurobeat? You decide in the audience vote
Lee Mead: Leading Barnum as circus showman P.T. Barnum in Bill Kenright Ltd’s touring production
LEE Mead will lead the cast as legendary circus showman, businessman and politician P. T. Barnum in Bill Kenwright Ltd’s tour of Barnum, visiting the Grand Opera House, York, from February 24 to 28 next year.
West End performer and television star Mead, who will turn 44 on July 14, made his breakthrough in winning the BBC One reality show Any Dream Will Do in 2007, going on to star in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, bringing him to the York theatre in 2010, and later Wicked and Legally Blonde.
Broadway musical Barnum first took the UK by storm at the London Palladium in 1981, when Michael Crawford made theatrical history with a death-defying nightly tightrope walk across the stage.
He would go on to perform the role of the 19th century American showman throughout its West End run of 655 performances and subsequently on tour from 1984 to 1986. Now Southend-on-Sea actor Mead will step into Barnum’s shoes and onto the tightrope.
Jenny Seagrove, chairperson at Bill Kenwright Ltd, says: “I was captivated when I saw Barnum at the Watermill Theatre last year and knew immediately that this was a show I wanted to bring to audiences across the country.
The tour poster for Barnum, The Circus Musical, bound for the Grand Opera House, York, in February 2026
“Our spectacular new staging will feature an extraordinary ensemble cast of more than 20 actor-musicians playing 150 instruments, acrobats and amazing international circus acts, led by the wonderful Lee Mead playing the title role.”
The touring production will be directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, whose credits include Picture You Dead and The Last Five Years, and choreographed by Oti Mabuse, from Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice judge duties and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here.
The musical invites audiences to “step right up and enter the dazzling world of P.T. Barnum, where imagination and ambition know no bounds”. Hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum finds his life and career twisting and turning as he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights”.
Come follow the band with the glorious music of multi-award-winner Cy Coleman, Michael Stewart’s lyrics and Mark Bramble’s book in a show that features Join The Circus, Colours Of My Life, Come Follow The Band and Love Makes Such Fools Of Us All.
The creative team includes set and costume designer Lee Newby; lighting designer Jai Morjaria; sound designer Tom Marshall; musical supervisor George Dyer (arrangements and orchestrations); circus director Amy Panter; associate choreographer Matt Nicholson and associate sound designer Nick Lodge.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
