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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 5, from Gazette & Herald

Two into one won’t go: Lisa Faulkner’s Allie, left, and Kym Marsh’s Hedy in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

AN update of a Nineties’ psychological thriller and a panto dame’s transformation into a dog top Charles Hutchinson’s  cultural picks for early February and beyond.

World premiere tour of the week: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today and Saturday

SCREEN actress, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, TV presenter, chef and cookery book author Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage for the first time in 21 years in Rebecca Reid’s darkly humorous stage adaptation of psychological thriller Single White Female, now updated to the social-media age.

Faulkner’s recently divorced mum Allie is balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up. When she decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, Kym Marsh’s Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Viking illumination: Colour & Light celebrates Eric Bloodaxe at York Castle Museum. Picture: David Harrison

Illumination launch of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, today to February 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings will be illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for a fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show will bring York’s historic characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

Musical of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

HELEN Gallagher’s tough talkin’, gun-totin’ heroine ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s former peace-officer ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok lead director Sophie Cooke’s cast for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s musical Calamity James.

Deadwood’s citizens are content with their ways of life: supporting their fort of soldiers and socialising at the beloved Golden Garter saloon. However, when a new face blows in from the Windy City to create a stir, friendships will be formed, long-time loyalties tested and perhaps even secret love revealed. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Ancient & modern drama of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EASINGWOLD theatre-makers Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger begin their new partnership with Theatre@41 by re-visiting Helios, wherein a lad lives half way up a historic hill, a teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car and a boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.

In Wright’s story of the sun god’s son, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city. “It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” he says. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Robin Simpson in rehearsal for Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, premiering at York Theatre Royal Studio

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to February 14, except February 8, 7.45pm, plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, directed by John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Simeon Walker: Inviting his audience to gather around the piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Pianist of the week: Simeon Walker, An Evening Around The Piano, Helmlsey Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

LEEDS modern classical pianist and composer Simeon Walker performs in Great Britain and Europe, while notching 50 million streams across online platforms and having his music played on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.

Walker, who has a keen interest in jazz, folk and ambient music too, has collaborated on interdisciplinary work with artist Mary Griffiths, Portuguese choreographer Sara Afonso, writer Emma White and filmmakers Will Killen and Ben Cohen, plus BBC Radio 4 and University of Leeds. His concerts span moments of quiet, gentle solitude to boisterous, flowing exuberance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Julie Carter: Addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature in The Dreamtime Fellrunner

Wellbeing on the run: Julie Carter, The Dreamtime Fellrunner, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 12, 7.30pm

IN her first theatre show, poetry and creative non-fiction author Julie Carter charts her running exploits on the Lakeland fells in this moving and humorous account of being an athlete with a physical disability in the form of a developmental disease of the spine.

Presenting fell running as a type of land art and spiritual practice, Carter emphasises body-mind-spirit-place connections while addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature, in a 60-minute immersive performance supported by original music, topped off by second-half opportunities for discussion and reflections on wellbeing and the ways we inhabit our environments. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Mark Stafford: Solo performance at the double in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Helmsley Arts Centre

Split personality of the month: Mark Stafford in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21, 7.30pm

PUBLISHED in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic mystery tale of the timeless conflict between good and evil is performed by Mark Stafford in his compelling and faithful adaptation.

In fog-bound Victorian London, respectable lawyer Gabriel Utterson is concerned by a strange clause in his friend Henry Jekyll’s will, whereupon he investigates the sinister Edward Hyde, Jekyll’s unlikely protégé. Convinced that Jekyll and Hyde’s relationship is founded on blackmail, Utterson finds the truth to be far worse than he could have ever imagined. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest’s day of equine films at Helmsley Arts Centre

In Focus: EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, Block 1, 12 noon to 2.16pm; Block 2, 3.30pm to 5.07pm; Block 3, 7pm to 9.45pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre, in collaboration with Ryedale Bridleways Group, presents the first British screening of the EQUUS UK Film & Arts Festival this weekend. 

Founded in 2013 by Illinois equestrian Lisa Diersen, who has spent her life in the company of horses, EQUUS aims to show the world how horses can bring everyone together regardless of race, age, gender, abilities or disabilities. 

Saturday’s event comprises two afternoon blocks of short films, exhibitions from Ryedale artists and an evening showing of the 96-minute feature film Big Star, The Nick Skelton Story.

Showing from 12 noon will be Horse & Human Connection, featuring Wings Of Angels, Healing Horses In Mongolia, Heart Of Compton and My Life Between The Reins.

The Wild Horse Collection, from 3.30pm, presents American Mustang (music video), Wild Heart  Mustang Book Project, Wild Horse Refuge “Dahtetse”, A Mustang Story promo, Okanagan Wild, Hellbent, Evoke and Renegade.

The Big Star Collections opens at 7pm with Healing In The Open, followed by Inside The In Gate and Unstable. After a 15-minute interval, Big Star will close the event.

Tickets for single blocks or the whole day are available on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.

An equine photograph from Valerie Mather’s 2025 trip to the USA

AMONG the exhibitors at Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest event will be Yorkshire lawyer-tuned- portrait, documentary and travel photographer Valerie Mather.

“After a successful career in law, I retired early to pursue a lifelong passion for photography,” she says. “I learned to ride (English style) as a child but was brought up watching Western movies on television and longed to see for myself the real cowboys and cowgirls of the American West.

“That dream came true in 2025 when I visited the United States and spent time at the McCullough Peaks wild horse area and the Shoshone National Forest ranchlands in Wyoming. “

Another of Valerie Mather’s McCullough Peaks photographs on show at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday

Did you know?

RYEDALE Bridleways Group (RBG) covers the Ryedale district and North York Moors National Park. Activities include fundraising events, such as equestrian talks and films. RBG works with local authorities to seek to resolve issues on bridleways and Countryside Access Service Unsurfaced Unclassified Roads, as well as carrying out practical work such as bridleway clearances and  surveys.

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Allie Long returns to York to take up post of theatre director at Grand Opera House

Grand Opera House theatre director Allie Long

ALLIE Long is the new theatre director at the Grand Opera House on her return to the York theatre.

Allie joined ATG Entertainment in 2017 while studying at the University of York, starting in the front-of-house department before progressing through marketing, operational and management roles across the UK.

She completed ATG’s venue management graduate scheme, with placements in London, Glasgow and Stockton-on-Tees, before returning to the Grand Opera House in 2022 as theatre manager.

This was a pivotal year for the Cumberland Street venue that saw capital investment into the building, a venue re-brand and a re-launch that enabled a new trajectory to bring the best of the West End into York, such as Six The Musical, Dear Evan Hanson, Pretty Woman The Musical and Heathers The Musical.

After a year as theatre director at Richmond Theatre, Surrey, Allie took a year of maternity leave when she and husband Joe had a baby boy in 2025.

Now she has returned home to York to take over the leadership in a year when the Grand Opera House will next present Here & Now – The Steps Musical, Lee Mead in Barnum, The Circus Musical, Jodie Comer in a sold-out February 17 to 21 run of Prima Facie and Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.

Returning to where her career in live entertainment began, Allie is looking forward to leading one of North Yorkshire’s most cherished theatres. “A theatre like the Grand Opera House is more than a venue,” she said. “It’s a place where careers, like mine, can begin, local talent have a stage to showcase themselves, and stories and theatre craft are shared live on stage.

“I’m proud to champion career pathways in the creative industries here in York and to share a programme that has something for everyone.”

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Andrew Carter, York choir trainer and composer: a tribute by classical music critic and university tutor Martin Dreyer

Andrew Carter RIP

ANDREW Carter, choir trainer and composer, has died at the age of 86.

He was born and grew up in Leicester. He first came to Yorkshire to take a degree in music at the University of Leeds, then put down roots in York when he joined the choir of York Minster as a bass songman (lay clerk).

He also began to teach at the Bar Convent School, where by all accounts he maintained a strict regime and achieved excellent results, particularly with his choirs.

But it was when he founded the Chapter House Choir in December 1965, initially as a one-off venture to raise funds for the Minster, that he began to emerge as a serious choir director. So successful was the first concert that demand quickly mounted, from singers and audience alike, for the choir to continue.

It went on to win several awards, not least in the Let The Peoples Sing choir contest on BBC Radio, and is still a force to be reckoned with, several conductors later, a sure sign of the powerful foundations built by Andrew.

Apart from its regular concert season, the choir became known for its annual Carols By Candlelight, which, despite at times being given on three consecutive nights, was constantly sold out.

Queues for tickets would form outside the Minster at 6a.m. on a Saturday morning in early December, often in the freezing cold. Many of Andrew’s early carol arrangements were made for this event, before beingpublished, first by Banks Music Publications of York and later by Oxford University Press (the latter has published more than 50 of his works, including seven for choir, soloists and orchestra).

These concerts always included several works for handbells, a legacy of his mother’s influence as a handbell ringer herself.

His choral compositions and arrangements grew in popularity to the point where he was only able to fulfil all the commissions he was receiving by devoting himself full time to composition. Choirs in North America were particularly keen to commission and perform new works by Andrew as soon as they were written. He became a regular visitor to the United States as both composer and choir director.

A Maiden Most Gentle, the first of his carols to be sung at King’s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, is rightly highly prized. He also wrote two carols including solo soprano lines for Lynne Dawson, an early member of the Chapter House Choir: Spanish Lullaby and Spanish Carol, making use of her linguistic skills. His carols take pride of place in my own collection of Christmas music.

On a more personal level, I enjoyed encountering Andrew at concerts on many occasions, when he was always kindly solicitous of my own and my wife’s good health. Our meetings were full of laughter, with his deep bass chuckle ever infectious. I shall miss him. But his music will certainly live on.

Martin Dreyer

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Big Deal mark 40th anniversary with biggest ever line-up for charity barn dance gigs for Outreach EMR and Two Ridings Community Foundation at De Grey Rooms

The poster for Big Deal’s 40th anniversary charity concerts. Picture: taken last summer outside the barn where the band first performed in 1986

THE Big Deal Band will be at their biggest ever – 16 musicians in all – when they mark their 40th anniversary with a brace of reunion Barn Dance, Buffet & Musical Extravaganzas in York on Friday and Saturday.

The 7pm and 11pm charity fundraisers will be held at the De Grey Rooms, St Leonard’s Place, York, 30 years exactly since the country/folk collective celebrated their tenth anniversary there, when founder Richard Hunt first lived in York.

“We couldn’t have known it at the time, but soon after that splendid night we split up into several ‘mini–Big Deals’ in far-flung locales, including New Zealand, Mexico and Chicago,” says Richard, band founder, leader and fiddle and mandolin player – and software company owner to boot – who returned to York with his family in 2015 after spending 20 years in Chicago.

“We’ve hunted down 16 past band members from around Britain, America and New Zealand and successfully bribed them with new straw hats to reunite and play on Friday and Saturday. Now we’re encouraging you, our friends and faithful foot-tapping audience, to turn the evenings into huge celebratory flings.”

The Saturday shindig, in aid of York-based medical charity Outreach EMR, has sold out, with dozens on the waiting list, but tickets are still available at £30 for Friday’s gig for the Two Ridings Community Foundation, marking the foundation’s 25th anniversary. To book, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/tworidingscommunityfoundation/1933063.

Each night will include buffet catering provided by Florencia Clifford and Hugo Hildyard’s Brancusi and Partisan, in Micklegate, plus a bar and raffle, to complement hoedown dancing to Gaelic, American, and Cajun tunes. Rest assured, newcomers, that absolutely no barn-dance experience is needed as caller Jo Howard leads barn dancers through the steps to the stomping hillbilly band.

“It’s definitely NOT black tie. Dress casual, dress down, dress gingham style,” says Richard, who will be meeting up with some players for the first time in 25 years.

Forty years ago, he formed the band with university friends Dave Williams, Adrian Hollis, Mike Evans and Mike’s girlfriend (now wife) Claire, performing their first folk-flavoured gig in the barn at the Warwickshire house of Richard’s parents.

They went on to support Hank Wangford and play the college and university circuit,  and although they never made the big time, music-making continued as a hobby.

Now comes the concert reunion weekend for two charities with roots in the York area, one supporting the welfare of people globally, the other supporting hundreds of York, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire charities.

Set up by retired GP Peter Smith and led by retired York-area doctors, Outreach EMR supports 23 medical clinics in some of the poorest countries in the world, designing and building desperately needed Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software packages for laptop computers that enable staff in remote clinics to keep a record of patients’ medical histories.

These are being installed and supported for free in Africa and many other places around the world, including Haiti, Nicaragua and the Philippines, where medical workers are forced to rely on outmoded paper records.

Outreach EMR’s work is saving the lives of thousands of children and other vulnerable people every year. A suggested donation of  £20 per head can be made at https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/donation-form/dig-deals-push-for-electronic-medical-records. Food, entertainment and venue costs have all been underwritten by Big Deal so that 100 per cent of your gift can reach the charity.

The Two Ridings Community Foundation provides grants to charities and community groups throughout York and North and East Yorkshire. Last year alone it awarded 509 grants totalling £2.4 million.

All money raised from Friday’s ticket sales, bar and raffle will be match funded and go directly to Two Ridings’ 25th Anniversary Appeal with a target of £10,000 on the night. In addition, donations to the Barn Dance Fundraiser 25th Anniversary Appeal can be made for match-funding on the night.

Already, Big Deal band members Tim Crusher, Dave Williams, Drew Crawford and Richard Hunt have busked in the King’s Square rain in York city centre on January 17 for Two Ridings. The full band will be out in York on Saturday busking for Outreach EMR.

Assembling for the two concerts will be Adrian Hollis, from Muscat, Oman, on guitar; Mike Zecchino, from  Tucson, USA, on guitar; Richard Hunt, on violin and mandolin; Jo Howard, Richard’s sister, on barn-dance caller duty; Andy Howard, on washboard; Mike Evans, on mandolin, guitar and violin; Claire Evans, on double bass; David Webster, on guitar and banjo; Kate Hunt, Richard’s sister, on percussion.

So too will Chris Aston, from New York City, on guitar and bass; Alasdair Baxter, from  Auckland, New Zealand, on vocals, banjo and guitar; Tim Crusher, from Whitby, on accordion; David Williams, from Sheffield, on double bass, guitar and mandolin; Jez Fish and Nigel Peet, on saxophone, and Nigel Holmes, on electric bass.

“We have 16 members returning for the two concerts this week,” says Richard. “I’ve not seen Alasdair Baxter and Mike Zechinno for over 25 years. In the audience, we’ll have a dozen people who were there 40 years ago for the start and many who were there at the De Grey Rooms 30 years ago. A couple of friends, Dawn and Bill, are coming from Pittsburgh specially for the gig.”

The Big Deal Band: back story

Big Deal founder Richard Hunt, of Tadcaster Road, York

“I STARTED busking in 1982 while at Huddersfield University to help supplement my grant, along with my good friend Mike Evans,” recalls Big Deal founder Richard Hunt. “We got an early train every Saturday morning, at 6am, to get the most coveted busking spot in Leeds, outside C&A.

“After university, we formed a band, Big Deal, and the first concert was 40 years ago at my parents’ soon-to-be- converted barn in the Warwickshire countryside at Beausale. Publicity photos were taken in the barn behind.”

The conversion never went ahead. “We used exactly same location for our re-union photo shoot in August last summer, but we had to take out a 40-year build-up of nettles, brambles and old machinery,” says Richard.

For Big Deal’s first proper concert, a few months after their barn debut, they supported Hank Wangford, playing to an audience of 1,000 at Birmingham University. “We combined our own compositions and songs interspersed with barn dancing,” recalls Richard.

“For ten years we were predominately on the college tour, including playing all the May Balls in Oxford and Cambridge, occasionally three in a night! We shared line-ups, stages and sometimes dressing rooms with bands such as The Commitments, The The, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, The Farm, Aswad, Desmond Decker, Bad Manners and Voice Of The Beehive.

“In June 1991 we went on stage just after the Manic Steet Preachers had played only four songs,” says Richard. “They then proceeded to smash their instruments and throw them around the hall at Downing College, Cambridge: a publicity stunt, with journalists at the ready to record.

“For the record, Big Deal never intentionally smashed instruments, but we once dropped the miked-up double bass in a bad hand-off, making a spectacular bang.”

Richard was known to play and dance. “I’ve fallen off the stage a few times, once breaking my violin scroll in two and one time my bow,” he says. “I had to have knee surgery two years ago, which I’m pretty sure was caused by these antics.

Big Deal Chicago band members Elaine Moore, Tim Crusher, centre, and Richard Hunt in 2011

“Our most famous barn-dancer at one of our gigs was Stephen Hawking, who did a fine job of a do-si-do in his wheelchair.”

Big Deal failed to make the big break through. “There was no Irish band part in the Titanic film for us, but we did have our share of disasters. Once we were on the John Peel Road Show, when, after performing, I asked John what he thought. He told me not to give up my day job. I told him I hadn’t got one!

“We also auditioned for Opportunity Knocks, singing one our original songs, Cowboy In The Wild West Midlands, at the Birmingham Ballroom. Everything went spectacularly wrong during the performance. Then the two bales of straw we’d brought in as props fell apart onto the thick, red shag carpet as we were trying to make quick exit.”

Guitarist Dave Williams has a framed rejection letter from presenter Huey Green. “I did, however, make a Super 8 film of the song that was used as part of the highlight reel, which included filmmaker Derek Jarman, for the Leicester Super 8 festival and UK tour in 1986,” says Richard.

Big Deal performed to 2,000 mostly screaming Barry Manilow Fan Club members at the Birmingham NEC. “At the time, we had Charlie, a band member with a striking similarity to Barry Manilow. We almost brought the house down.”

Accordion player Tim Crusher and Richard formed a new Big Deal band with Elaine Moore as their first American recruit in Chicago. “Elaine is the reason for me meeting my wife/her best friend Laura, but that’s another story!” says Richard.

“The authorities once stopped our set. We were on the first floor of a huge Irish pub, Fados, where hundreds of people were jumping up and down together in time with the music with the potential for the floor to collapse.”

In 1998, on St Patrick’s Day, the American Big Deal band played at the Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza (30 Rock), New York. “We shared the venue with The Chieftains, together with Michael Flattery and all the Lord of the Dance ensemble, who were celebrating the end of their tour,” says Richard.

“After our set, we gatecrashed their private party next door. A memorable night of dancing ensued with the full dance troupe, Riverdance style, with the band returning to the hotel at 7am.”

Later that year, Richard travelled with a monitor and mixing deck in a large suitcase from Chicago to Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Tim [Crusher] had recently moved from Mexico City to Argentina’s capital and the two of us had been booked for the first four opening nights of Guinness’s first pub in the country,” he recalls.

“Our set lasted from 12 midnight to 6am, at which time many of the wild punters headed directly to work! I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much Guinness being drunk by such stylish people.”

Big Deal assembled for a tenth anniversary gig at the De Grey Rooms on February 6 1996. “After that, we split up,  heading in different directions. Of the York-based band members, Tim Crusher, had already left to go to Mexico; banjo player Alastair Baxter went to Auckland, New Zealand, and I departed for Chicago, USA,” says Richard. “Only Nigel Holmes, the bass player, stayed in York.

Big Deal member Chris Aston plays bass in Brooklyn-based Fugue State Fair, whose concept album The Coming War Between the States imagines an alternative reality where America is at war with itself, again. Across 14 original songs, it tells stories of those involved in all aspects of this contemporary conflict, through its genesis, escalation and ultimate armistice.

After Alasdair Baxter emigrated to Auckland in the 1990s, he began playing his banjo and guitar in Irish pub bands before writing and performing as part of indie-folk band Hoop, who host the Ministry of Folk events in Auckland. Latest album Wrap Me Up In Winter was released to rave reviews.

Tim Crusher and David Williams are members of Rudolf Rocker, formed by very tall brothers Mark and Steve Goodall. Other members include the League Of Gentlemen writer Jeremy Dyson.

Elaine Moore is a professional guitar player in Chicago, where she teaches at the Old Town Folk School.

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Wright & Grainger perform Helios at outset of partnership with Theatre@41, Monkgate, ahead of Australia & NZ tour of SELENE

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios

EASINGWOLD theatre-makers Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger re-visit the Greek tragedy of Helios on February 5 at 7.30pm as part of their new partnership with Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

In Wright’s tale of the sun god’s son, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.

In a nutshell, a lad lives half way up a historic hill, a teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car and a boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.

“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” says Alexander.

Theatre@41 has teamed up with Wright & Grainger to co-produce their new show SELENE, an intimate theatre experience with cinematic score and striking storytelling, rehearsed at the Monkgate theatre in December before touring internationally in 2026, ahead of exclusive summer performances in York.

Theatre@41 is an intimate independent theatre, run almost entirely by volunteers, and this partnership with Wright & Grainger is the first of its kind for the organisation.

Wright & Grainger’s Alexander Flanagan Wright, left, and Phil Grainger with Australian theatre maker Megan Drury. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Theatre manager Tom Bellerby says: “We are delighted to be collaborating with Wright & Grainger on SELENE. A key part of our mission at Theatre@41 is supporting the creation of exceptional new work by artists from York and Yorkshire, and we can’t wait for audiences both here at the theatre and around the world to see this new show.

“Throughout the year Wright & Grainger will also be contributing to Create@41, our new artist development programme, supporting emerging artists in the city by sharing their skills and experience.”

The award-winning, globe-travelling Wright & Grainger’s work re-tells stories from Greek mythology as if they were happening today, bonding Wright’s spoken word with Grainger’s music.

Billed as a sibling show to Helios, SELENE is a radical explosion of an ancient myth, wherein a young girl is watching the moon landings on repeat, entranced by those astronauts’ weightlessness. A bunch of teenagers is swimming under a lunar eclipse, lost in what might happen next. A mismatched couple is watching a horror film at a drive-in cinema, soon to step into all the next stuff.

“It’s a story about the Goddess and the dark side of the moon,” says Alexander. “It’s about how we grow up defined by our bodies. It’s about the light sides of us and the dark sides of us. And it’s about the stuff inside us. All the wild stuff inside of us.”

Welcoming the new partnership, Alexander says: “What a treat to be producing a brand-new show with Theatre@41. We make shows that tour around the world and we spend a lot of time on the road. To be making a new show hand in hand with one of our favourite places in our home city is an absolute dream.

Wright & Grainger’s artwork for SELENE

“Theatre@41 is rapidly becoming a flagship venue in the north of the UK as a home for new artists, acclaimed touring work, the offbeat shows, the wilder ideas. We’re so chuffed to be part of that.”

Alexander continues: “We’re making SELENE with Megan Drury, a really amazing and well-respected performer and theatre maker from Australia, and the show will start its life on the other side of the world.

“We’ll be touring SELENE for five months across Australia and New Zealand [produced by A Mulled Whine Productions]  before heading back home and, importantly, back here to Theatre@41. The team at Theatre@41 have just opened up a whole new chapter – we’re damn proud to be working with them, making with them, carving out new ideas and new projects with them.

“We’re excited to take the show out on the road, and then really excited to bring it home. There’s a lot of love and trust and respect in all of it. And there’s a lot of joy in being stood here, at the start of it!”

SELENE will be performed at Theatre@41 as part of the Summer 2026 season on dates yet to be announced. Tickets for Helios are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Megan Drury in the poster image for Wright & Grainger’s SELENE

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Kym March takes shine to the dark side in run of villainous roles, playing Hedy in updated Single White Female after Cruella

Kym Marsh’s Hedy clasping Lisa Faulkner’s Allie in Rebecca Reid’s updated Single White Female, playing Grand Opera House, York, from tomorrow. Picture: Chris Bishop

“THIS is my villain era,” proclaims Kym Marsh on the eve of her return to the Grand Opera House, York, in Rebecca Reid’s update of Single White Female for the social-media age.

Last time, the former Hear’Say pop singer and Coronation Street soap star took to the dark side as Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024, having earlier played Alex Forrest – the Glenn Close role in the 1987 film – on the UK tour of Fatal Attraction in 2022.

Now, in the world premiere tour of Reid’s London tower-block re-boot of the 1992 New York psychological thriller, Kym cuts a more complex figure as Hedy, where the audience will be less sure whether she is friend or foe.

When recently divorced mum Allie (Lisa Faulkner in her first stage role in 21 years) advertises for a lodger to help make ends meet as she juggles childcare with starting a new tech business, enter Kym’s seemingly delightful Hedy, only for the new friendship to take a sinister turn.

“The last few roles I’ve done have been pretty villainous and I love it,” says Kym, whose back story also takes in 13 years as Michelle Connor in Corrie, partnering Graziano Di Primas on the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing, a 2023 to 2025 stint as school canteen worker Nicky Walters on Waterloo Road and presenting BBC One’s Morning Live.

Kym Marsh’s Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, in November 2024. Picture: Johan Persson

“It’s so easy to play the typical moustache twiddler, but I want to make Hedy a little bit more layered and actually have people be a bit taken aback, unsure if she’s good or bad right up to the last minute and even feeling sorry for her, particularly near the end. So, it is a bit more complex and nuanced than you might imagine.”

After her Fatal Attraction role as obsessed, mentally unstable editor Alex, Kym began discussions over potential further projects. “We came up with the idea of Single White Female because it had never been done before [on stage],” she says.

“It was also within that kind of genre of those epic, classic films that had a real impact on people at that time. So I’ve been attached to it from the start and it’s really exciting: the character of Hedy is so interesting and challenging to play.

“Without giving too much away to anyone who hasn’t seen the film, the character is very complex and, from an acting point of view, it gives me an opportunity to explore so many different places that you don’t necessarily really go to normally.”

Author, journalist and broadcaster Reid’s new stage version of Single White Female is designed to appeal to a new generation, while giving a new perspective to fans of Barbet Schroeder’s original film, refracted once more through the themes of ambition, identity and isolation.

Kym Marsh’s Hedy raises a glass to Jonny McGarrity’s Sam in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

Reid applies more than a contemporary spin, suggests Kym. “There obviously wasn’t social media back in the ‘90s, but if you know the essence of the plot and what it’s about, it works very well because we see people trying to imitate people’s lives online all the time,” she says.

“We hear about these stories of people ‘catfishing’ and so on, and I think there are elements of that within Single White Female that make it feel up to date, and its themes are even more relevant today than they were then.

“I think the world of social media is a wonderful place, but it’s also to be handled with care, because there is always that element of danger about it. And when you have a character like Hedy, and then you put social media into her hands, it can be tricky to the point of dangerous.”

Will devotees of the Bridget Fonda-Jennifer Jason Leigh screen clash still recognise the Single White Female they know and love – and will they be treated to the iconic stiletto moment – now that Reid has moved the location from a neo-Gothic New York building to a stark apartment tower block near Elephant & Castle in London?

 “The essence is very much still the same,” says Kym. “But the story is slightly changed: as well as being more up to date, it’s based in the UK rather than being in America. So there are differences, but the big, important, epic moments are still in there, and it’s very much still a thriller with a real shock factor. We want to have people on the edge of their seats.

Kym Marsh and Single White Female co-star Lisa Faulkner. Picture: Seamus Ryan

“I think people will still very much love the story whether they’ve seen the film or not. As for the iconic stiletto moment, you’ll have to wait and see!”

Her run of stage roles – not least a northern take on tyrannical hostess Beverly Moss in Mike Leigh’s satirical Seventies’ suburban comedy of manners Abigail’s Party in her Royal Exchange Theatre debut in Manchester in April and May – has given Kym a love of the stage while continuing to enjoy her television career.

“I’m so lucky that I am able to enjoy both being in front of the camera and on stage,” she says. “Obviously on stage you get an instant kind of reaction, which is very rewarding. You immediately know how much people are enjoying what you’re doing when you are on stage.

“Television can be very different from that. But there is a real buzz being on stage, you get that atmosphere straight away. And I really like travelling around, seeing different places and some beautiful theatres.

“It’s interesting that everywhere you go, the audience reacts differently to different parts. Then again, in front of a camera you always get to go again.”

Does Kym experience nerves? “Of course I do!” she admits. “Theatre is way more nerve wracking, that’s for sure. My dad passed away last year and I have found myself standing in the wings before I go on stage saying, ‘Come on Dad, come on Dad’.

“I make mistakes and hold my hands up and I think that gives me a girl-next-door feel,” says Kym Marsh. Picture: Nick James

“Because you want to feel that someone is helping you out when you are out there. You really hope that nothing’s going to go wrong, that you give a great performance and people enjoy it.”

Now 49 – she will turn 50 on June 13 – Kym has not stopped working since she auditioned for the TV show Popstars 25 years ago, duly joining the band Hear’Say. “I feel very fortunate and very lucky that I’ve been allowed to have the career that I’ve had and to have been received in the way that I have,” says the Merseyside-born mother of three and grandmother of two.

“I think maybe it’s because I come across as a sincere individual. I’ve never tried to hide anything. I make mistakes and hold my hands up and I think that gives me a girl-next-door feel. Perhaps everyone knows someone a bit like me.

“I was brought up by a family who are very caring and open. My family means everything to me. I absolutely adore my kids and my grandchildren. I think I try to only ever be caring and open, too, when I’m being interviewed or meeting new people, because, to be honest, I don’t know how to be anything else!”

Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/single-white-female/grand-opera-house-york/.

The poster for Single White Female, adapted by Rebecca Reid and directed by Gordon Greenberg on its premiere tour

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REVIEW: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today ***

Let it snow, let it snow in Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana. Picture: Snow Johan Persson

THE storm-swelled waters were beginning to recede but the barrier was still in place on the Kings Arms’ door on King’s Staith on Friday night: a weather hazard of the York riverside down the flooded centuries.

That same night – after Wednesday and Thursday’s performances fell foul to cast illness – it was snowing in Havana in Carlos Acosta’s relocation of The Nutcracker to modern-day Cuba.

Snow in Havana? Official records state the only time snow fell in Cuba was in February 1900 in the Sierra Maestra mountain range around Pico Turquino. Not even climate change might change that, but the power of theatrical imagination can.

Cuban-British dance luminary Carlos Acosta CBE, former Royal Ballet favourite, now director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, also directs Acosta Danza in his homeland, where he trained at the National Ballet School of Havana.

His Cuban company is on tour in the dreek UK from October 31 to February 11, turning up the heat on Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov’s Russian  ballet, premiered at the the Mariinsky Theatre,  in St Petersburg, Russia, in December 1892.

The story, characters, Christmas setting and transition from house to frosted winter wonderland remain the same, but from set and video designer Nina Dunn’s opening projections of Havana’s Spanish-colonial architecture to Angelo Alberto’s costume designs, from the lush green vegetation to composer and arranger Papa Gavilondo Peon’s Cuban re-boot of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta’s Nutcracker evokes Cuba as much as rum, cigars, vintage 1950s’ cars and the Buena Vista Social Club.

For all that Havana detail – even the flamboyantly moustached mask when the  Nutcracker comes alive – Acosta’s  choreography is essentially classical ballet, rather than modern, making it  the least Cuban transition in the show.

Alexander Varona’s mysterious, magical toymaker Drosselmeyer is the ringmaster, conducting Clara’s wide-eyed journey with sleight of hand and a toreador’s sense of dramatics, as familiar scenes play out in new ways, maybe restricted by the Grand Opera House’s narrow stage, but with humour in toys’ movements and enchantment too.

However, the spectacle (aside from the snowfall scene) and drama fall short of Northern Ballet’s celebrated Christmas staple at Leeds Grand Theatre  and  Act Two loses momentum.

Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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How Robin Simpson is switching from pantomime dame to dog for The Last Picture at York Theatre Royal Studio

Director John R Wilkinson and actor Robin Simpson in the rehearsal room for York Theatre Royal’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture: James Drury

IN the first York Theatre Royal production to be made for the Studio since 2019, associate director John R Wilkinson directs Robin Simpson in The Last Picture from February 5 to 14.

After his sixth season as the Theatre Royal pantomime dame in Sleeping Beauty – and confirmed already for a seventh winter in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs – Robin will swap the dame’s frocks and puns for the role of a dog in YTR, ETT and An Tobar & Mull Theatre’s world premiere co-production.

Robin will play an emotional support dog in Catherine Dyson’s 75-minute solo play, first performed in a reading at the Theatre Royal as one of 37 winning scripts selected from more than 2,000 entries by the Royal Shakespeare Company for its 37 Plays competition in 2023.

“We were given three of the plays to do in book-in-hand readings,” recalls John. “Juliet [creative director Juliet Forster] did  one about MeToo ; Mingyu [resident artist Mingyu Lin] Lin directed one about immigration and diaspora. Then, by default, I was given this one – and I lucked out because The Last Picture was the best play.

“Part of the deal is that the writer comes up to see the reading. Catherine is an actress from Swansea – one of her main roles was playing the ‘woman in black’ in The Woman In Black, the role that’s never credited in the programme! – and she’s branched out into writing plays.

“She and I really connected over my love of European theatre – bare-bones abstract  work – that leans into a storytelling in collaboration with the audience, where there’s very little in terms of set and design elements and instead the audience is encouraged to conjure the play for themselves.”

Dyson’s monodrama invites you to imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam will be by your side to look after you and keep everyone safe in a play built around empathy, its power and limits and what it asks of us.  In a nutshell, The Last Picture explores our shared past, our present,  and the choices we face today.

“For context, Catherine has Jewish heritage,” says John. “Her grandfather escaped persecution just before everything happened in Poland, escaping over the Tatra Mountains, so there’s a personal connection with this story.”

In a novel theatrical conceit, “Catherine was interested in telling the story through the eyes of a dog”, says John, in a device where Robin does not come on dressed as a dog but gives voice to what the dog is seeing and experiencing.

Robin says: “Pretty much straightaway it’s made clear that it’s being told by a dog, where we’re asking the audience to go on a journey of the imagination, when the story is told through a series of pictures created in language.”

John rejoins: “There are only one or two, very clear, stage directions by Catherine, but one was that there should be no actual pictures: they should all be created in the audience’s imagination.”

The production will lean into folklore and ritual. “The play is really fascinating in that we’re operating on several different levels. Firstly, I’m telling a story where I’m asking the audience to accept that I’m a dog, who’s part of a group of Year 19 pupils – aged 13, 14 – as their emotional support on a museum visit,” says Robin.

“Then I ask the audience to be the pupils, so they’re very much part of the story, sometimes in the story with me, and at other points we’re asking them to empathise with the people  in the pictures created through language, because it’s a play about empathy and humanity.”

Robin continues: “I think the reason Catherine chose the dog’s point of view is that the dog can say dispassionately what’s going on in the pictures without having that human connection to the story, so the audience can make up their own mind.

“In finding the voice for the dog, it has to be about a balance between telling the story and colouring the story with emotion without performing it.”

John adds: “It’s such a clever form of storytelling that Catherine has leant into. One thing we said is that it’s not an animal study, but the dog gives the storytelling comfort and warmth.”

At the beginning, there is a description of how dogs have the ability to absorb human emotions without understanding them. “The dog picks up on the children’s emotions of being affected by what they’re seeing without the dog understanding why,” says Robin.

“What Catherine has done really cleverly is that there a lot of sticky political situations going on in the world that she doesn’t directly refer to,” says John. “But in terms of what she’s asking the audience to do, she doesn’t give a political viewpoint but she lets you sit and reflect on how it relates to what’s happening now.”

The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, February  5 to 14, except February 8, 7.45pm plus 2pm, February 7, 11 and 14. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in and around York as Colour & Light illuminates winter nights. Hutch’s List No. 4, from The York Press

Dame for a laugh anew: Graham Smith returns to the pantomime stage with Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre

A PANTO dame’s return and another’s transformation into a dog top Charles Hutchinson’s  cultural picks for early February and beyond.

Pantomime of the week: Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre in Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood, Shiptonthorpe Village Hall, Shiptonthorpe, near Market Weighton, today, 3pm and 7pm; Sunday, 2pm; February 6 and 7, 7pm

GRAHAM Smith, Rowntree Players’ pantomime dame from 2004 to 2022, pulls on the frocks once more after a three-year hiatus in the York guest house proprietor’s debut for East Riding company Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre.

He plays Nellie Nickerlastic in Richard Waud’s production of Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood, joined in principal roles by Neil Scott’s King Richard, Toby Jewsen’s Robin Hood, Chris McKenzie’s Little John, Henry Rice’s Will Scarlett, Paul Jefferson’s Friar Tuck, Alison Rosa’s Sheriff of Nottingham and Chloe Jensen’s Maid Marion. Tickets: 07922 443639 or email richardwaud@yahoo.co.uk.

Femme Fatale Faerytales: Dark feminist re-telling of age-old classic

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. Box office: wegottickets.com.

Kym Marsh’s Hedy, left, and Lisa Faulkner’s Allie in Rebecca Reid’s updated version of Single White Female, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

World premiere tour of the week: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

SCREEN actress, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, TV presenter, chef and cookery book author Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage for the first time in 21 years in Rebecca Reid’s darkly humorous stage adaptation of psychological thriller Single White Female, now updated to the social-media age.

Faulkner’s recently divorced mum Allie is balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up. When she decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, Kym Marsh’s Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Colour & Light: Illuminating Clifford’s Tower and York Castle Museum from February 4

Illumination launch of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, February 4 to 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings will be illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become a combined stage for a fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show will bring York’s historic characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

Musical of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 4 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

HELEN Gallagher’s tough talkin’, gun-totin’ heroine ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s former peace-officer ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok lead director Sophie Cooke’s cast for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s musical Calamity James.

Deadwood’s citizens are content with their ways of life: supporting their fort of soldiers and socialising at the beloved Golden Garter saloon. However, when a new face blows in from the Windy City to create a stir, friendships will be formed, long-time loyalties tested and perhaps even secret love revealed. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Ancient & modern  drama of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 5, 7.30pm

EASINGWOLD theatre-makers Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger begin their new partnership with Theatre@41 by re-visiting Helios, wherein a lad lives half way up a historic hill, a teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car and a boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.

In Wright’s story of the son of the sun god, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city. “It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” he says. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Robin Simpson in rehearsal for Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, premiering at York Theatre Royal Studio

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 5 to 14, except February 8, 7.45pm, plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, directed by John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character)will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – in a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Super Furry Animals’ summer concert at York Museum Gardens

Gig announcement of the week: Live At York Museum Gardens presents Super Furry Animals, York Museum Gardens, July 11

FUTURESOUND completes the line-up for its third Live At York Museum Gardens season with Welsh art-rock icons Super Furry Animals, celebrating more than 30 years together with multicolour hits and off-piste deep cuts, lovingly handpicked from  nine albums.

Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Dafydd Ieuan and Guto Pryce are returning to the concert platform in 2026 for the first time in ten years. Joining them in York will be special guests Baxter Dury, Los Campesinos!, Divorce and Pys Melyn. Tickets for SFA, along with Liverpool’s  Orchestra Manoeuvres In The Dark on July 9 and South Yorkshire ’s Self Esteem on July 10, are on sale at futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

Super Furry Animals: Playing first concerts in ten years in 2026, including Live At York Museum Gardens headline show

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Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company to stage Western Frontier musical Calamity Jane under Sophie Cooke’s direction

Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s Wild Bill Hickok: Leading the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company cast in Calamity Jane. All pictures: Jennifer Jones

THE Deadwood Stage rolls into York from February 4 to 7 when the Joseph Rowntree Theatre’s in-house fundraising company kicks off the spring season with Calamity Jane.

Gracing the JoRo stage for only the second time since the Haxby Road theatre’s inception in 1935, Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s 1961 musical – preceded by the 1953 film version – is  a story of friendship, adventure, and romance, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Western Frontier. 

Director Sophie Cooke, musical director Martin Lay and choreographer Heather Stead steer the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s eighth full-scale production since forming in 2017.

Charting the interlinked lives of a South Dakotan community, full of characters united by dreams of a better life, Calamity Jane takes audiences to the golden age of musicals in an adaptation by Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park from Charles K Freeman’s stage play.

Tom Menarry’s Mister Francis Fryer and Alex Schofield’s Henry Miller in rehearsal for Calamity Jane

Led by tough talkin’, gun-totin’ heroine ‘Calamity’ Jane, and ex-peace-officer ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok, the citizens of Deadwood are content with their ways of life: supporting their fort of soldiers, socialising at the beloved Golden Garter saloon and awaiting treasures brought in from the world beyond.  

However, when a new face blows in from the Windy City and creates a stir, friendships will be formed, long-time loyalties tested and perhaps even secret love revealed.

As a fan of Calamity Jane in all its adaptations since her childhood, director Sophie Cooke chose this show for JRTC, drawn to songs beloved by multiple generations, the humorous, heart-felt story and the show’s combination of operetta, vaudeville and vintage Broadway.

“It’s been a dream to direct,” she says. “Calamity Jane is a story about friendship, love, and community, with a true feel-good factor. The community spirit in Deadwood really captures the spirit of community theatre: everyone pulling together, supporting each other and having fun along the way. 

Calamity Jane director Sophie Cooke in the rehearsal room

“It celebrates that golden-age musical feel: big songs, big characters and lots of heart. It’s a timeless show, with themes, characters and songs that defy decades.”

In the cast will be Helen Gallagher as ‘Calamity’ Jane; Matt Tapp as Wild Bill Hickok; Jennifer Jones, Katie Brown; Adam Gill, Lieutenant Daniel Gilmartin; Mollie Raine, Adelaide Adams; Sadie Sørensen, Susan; Tom Menarry, Mister Francis Fryer, and Alex Schofield, Henry Miller

 Joining them will be Paul Betts as Joe; company newcomer David Hartley as stage-coach driver Rattlesnake; Jamie Benson, Charlie from Nantucket; Kit Stroud, poker-playing doctor-undertaker “Doc” Pierce; Matthew Jarvis an d Conor Heinemeyer as scouts Hank & Pete and Gary Bateson as Colonel. 

Playing the CanCan Girls will be Abigail Atkinson; Liz Campbell; Chloe Chapman; Hollie Farmer; Sarah Rudd; Rachel Shadman and Heather Stead. Featured dancers will be Britt Brett; Katie Crossley; Robyn Hughes-Maclean; Rebecca Jackson; Lorna Newby and Jennifer Dommeck.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company cast members enjoying a rehearsal for Calamity Jane

The ensemble will comprise Meg Badrick; Victoria Beale; Amy Blair; Ruth Boag-Chapman; Pamela Bradley; Sophie Coe; Sue Coward; Lois Cross; Phoebe Dixon; Catherine Halton; Johanna Hartley; Cate Lawson; Caitlin McDowell; Lucy Moul; Rocks Nairn-Smith; Cameron O’Byrne; Kayleigh Oliver; Eliza Rowley; Rachael Turner and Charlotte Wetherell.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 4 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee (last few tickets available). Box office: 01904 501935 or https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musical/calamity-jane/2830.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company: back story

FORMED in 2017, the company has since staged such shows as Kiss Me, Kate!, Hello Dolly, Curtains and 2025’s Beauty And The Beast as the im-house company at the JoRo.

All show profits fund the maintenance and development of the long-running community stage, allowing York performers, volunteers and audience members alike to enjoy classic and contemporary theatre in a space of their own. More than £50,000 has been raised so far, with plans for future productions already underway. 

The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s poster for next week’s production of Calamity Jane