Category: Breaking News

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Return Of The Oaks mural and tree-inspired benches launched by Art Of Protest’s return to nature project in Front Street, Acomb

The launch of the Return Of The Oaks mural in Acomb

THE launch of Art Of Protest’s new mural and street benches drew a big community turnout to Front Street, Acomb, York, last Saturday .

The Return Of The Oaks mural is part of the wider project designed to return nature to the high street. 

Eight public benches have been painted to denote the trees in Acomb, each featuring a carved-out leaf emblem. The trees’ names feature on the benches, serving as a reminder of the diverse ecology in the area. 

In the week leading up to last Saturday’s launch, residents and visitors praised the installation for its brightness and welcoming vision.

The views of the Acomb community were central to the designs. A comprehensive engagement programme featuring 17 events and street art workshops at locations in Acomb captured residents’ wishes. This conveyed the community’s strong voice, now reflected in the geometric design. 

An innovative Street Art Academy trained up the community and four residents were chosen to take part in the talent development programme and assist on the mural. This has created a legacy, boosting the skills and confidence of the participants.

Art Of Protest creative director Jeff Clark said: “I’m beyond pleased to say that this public art project has been a huge success. Getting to know the Acomb community was not only paramount to influencing the design of the artwork but also a real pleasure in itself.”

Art Of Protest lead artist Tom Jackson said: “Working on a project in the place where I live is a privilege. My children and I will walk past this mural almost every day, and I’m fortunate that the people of Acomb have embraced it in such a positive way.”  

A mood of celebration and excitement marked the weekend event at the mural. The Lord Mayor of York, Sheriff and councillors took part in the pop-up street art workshops.

Art Of Protest organised an exhibition of the community art produced from the engagement sessions, held at Rise@ Bluebird Bakery in Acomb Road.

The Rt Hon Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Margaret Wells, said: “It was great to be at the event at the weekend to see the amazing new artwork and other changes around Acomb. This is an incredible piece of work which speaks volumes about working together as a community.

“It is wonderful to see the links to Acomb’s heritage and the local woodland within the paintings. Thank you to everyone involved.”

Councillor Katie Lomas, City of York Council executive member with responsibility for finance and major projects, said: “I am very proud of Acomb and the way the local community has come together to shape these recent changes. This new artwork is a fantastic addition and really pulls together all the work that has been going on to improve the area.

“The wider scheme, funded through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, has seen some real investment in the area over recent months. It has brought not only this incredible artwork but also upgraded seating, planting, wayfinding and many other improvements to help ensure Front Street is a great place to be for years to come.

“I would like to thank everybody involved in making this happen and anyone who has got involved along the way. I especially want to pay tribute to the wider engagement work done by the Art Of Protest team to engage and inspire young people across the Acomb area, making sure they know that art is for them too.”

Acomb resident Kat Hunt, mother of one of the talent development students, said: “Throughout the project and the community engagement sessions, my daughter has developed new skills and she has so much more confidence in her artwork as a result. It’s really inspired her. It’s fantastic that Acomb now has such vibrant artwork, inspired by the views of the community.”

Art Of Protest, York’s urban art and engagement specialists, are experts in ‘placemaking’ and approved ‘Alternative Providers’, offering a Street Art Academy through the Danesgate Community Pupil Referral Unit. “We are driven by partnering with the local community, public sector and businesses to transform spaces through public art,” says Jeff. “If you would like to work with us, please contact us at info.aopprojects@gmail.com.”  

The Return Of The Oaks art project is part of the broader scheme to improve Front Street and create a more accessible, vibrant, people-friendly space. City of York Council received £570,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Funding to deliver Phase 2 improvements that include new seating and planters, improved Blue Badge parking, wide and level pedestrian crossings, wayfinding signs and upgraded public loos.

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Lightning Seeds to play York Barbican on October 9 on extended 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour. When do tickets go on sale?

Ian Broudie: 35 years of Lightning Seeds at York Barbican. Picture: Peter Ashworth

LIVERPOOL singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie is extending Lightning Seeds’ 35th anniversary tour with 11 more dates this autumn, taking in York Barbican on October 9. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-lightning-seeds/.

The first tranche of Tomorrow’s Here Today: 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour dates took in Scarborough Spa Grand Hall last November and The Welly, Hull, and Leeds Beckett Students’ Union in December among 22 sold-out shows to accompany the release of the 20-track Tomorrow’s Here Today compilation album.

Broudie, 66, says: “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 35 years! Our first single Pure really opened the door to a life’s worth of songs, shows and recordings. I owe everything to Pure and I’m really looking forward to celebrating the 35th anniversary of its release.”

Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions et al and many more, not only at York Barbican but also in a second Yorkshire gig at Holmfirth Picturedrome on October 11 (box office: picturedrome.net).

Earlier in 2025, Lightning Seeds will support York band Shed Seven at Millennium Square, Leeds, on July 11.

The poster for Lightning Seeds’ extended Tomorrow’s Here Today 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, visiting York Barbican on October 9

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Public Service Broadcasting take The Last Flight to York Barbican on Thursday

Public Service Broadcasting: Raiding the archives at York Barbican

PUBLIC Service Broadcasting make their York Barbican debut on Thursday on their ten-date March itinerary.

The spring tour follows last October’s release of the ever-evolving Londoners’ Top Three-charting fifth studio album, The Last Flight, with its exploration of the final voyage of American female aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937 in a study of adventure, speed, freedom and the psychological depths of this pioneering life-force.

Recorded in the band’s southeast London studio, with strings added by the London Contemporary Orchestra at The Church in north London, the album was prompted by band leader J Wildgoose Esq’s desire to do a woman-focused story, “because most of the archive we have access to is overwhelmingly male”.

“I was initially drawn in by Earhart’s final fight, rather than the successes that she had, but the more I read, the more I became fascinated by her,” he says. “Her bravery and her aeronautical achievements were extraordinary, but her philosophy and the dignity that she had… she was an outstanding person. 

“The final flight is the spine of the journey: the story jumps off at different points and examines different facets of her personality, her relationship with her husband, her attitude to flying, her attitude to existing.”

The artwork for Public Service Broadcasting’s October 2024 album The Last Flight

Wildgoose continues:  She gave herself, I think, less than a 50 per cent chance of survival when she flew the Atlantic alone. To put yourself, willingly, in those situations…I think it says something about that drive at the heart of humanity.

“However The Last Flight isn’t doom-laden or covered in grief. There’s adventure, freedom, the joy of being alive. The reason why she wanted to fly was to find the beauty in living:  ‘to know the reason why I’m alive, and to feel that every minute’. The flight did fail, but she was right. Of all the people we’ve written about, I have the deepest respect and admiration for her.”

Thursday’s set list will draw on all five themed Public Service Broadcasting albums:  2013’s Inform – Educate – Entertain, 2015’s The Race For Space, 2017’s Every Valley, 2021’s Bright Magic and 2024’s The Last Flight. “Naturally, the most focus is on the new one with six or seven from that one and plenty of space for songs we couldn’t leave out, like Go!, Spitfire and Everest,” says Wildgoose.

“But we change it every night, maybe changing three or four songs a night or maybe the order. I don’t know how some bands play the same set every night on a tour. The bands who I’ve loved over the ages, like Radiohead  at the Roundhouse [London] on three May nights in 2016, they changed the set every night. One of my favourite bands, My Morning Jacket, they always change the set.

“The only thing it does require is a lot more work to make sure the musicians can play the songs to the right standard; and Mr B, who does our visuals and set design, has to be sure the visuals are right for every show.

“It’s the fullest, richest and most varied sound we’ve had,” says J Wildgoose Esq of Public Service Broadcasting’s 2025 configuration

“The musicians are equipped to play 37 songs with 12 that we can’t leave out. We normally have a bit of a chat at the soundcheck, and if there’s anything we’re not comfortable to run with, we’ll try it out.”

Since the conceptual art exploits of Bright Magic, Public Service Broadcasting have four core members: Wildgoose on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments, samples and electronic musical instruments; Wrigglesworth on drums, piano and electronic instruments; J F Abraham on flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums and vibraslap and the aforementioned Mr B.

“Back in the early days, it was just me, and actually it was really lonely, just me packing things into the car and thinking, ‘this is too lonely’. You need someone else to be there with you to share it,” says Wildgoose.

On this month’s tour, the staple quartet are joined by Norwegian singer EERA and three brass musicians. “It’s the fullest, richest and most varied sound we’ve had. We always try to enrich every album with more upbeat numbers, slower numbers. In the early days, we could only play the same songs each show, but now we have so many more options.”

“We will always wear corduroy: it’s the thread that’s woven through our career,” says Public Service Broadcasting’s J Wildgoose Esq

Each album takes considerable preparation. “Each time it has to be something that intrigues me as it’s a big undertaking to write a record. The world is not short of stories, but  it’s also that thing of how do we tell that story; whether we use archive material or material that’s not recorded, or forsaking any narrative, as we did for Bright Magic [the history, myth and nightlife of Berlin album], and then returning to a really narrative album for The Last Flight,” says Wildgoose.

“I think I have something in mind for the next one, which is exciting, but daunting, especially the time frame involved. I’ll start in July this summer and bring it out in 2027. Why so long? Other bands don’t need such a long build –up that I do for the research.”

As ever, Public Service Broadcasting will be wearing corduroys at York Barbican on Thursday. “Absolutely! That will never change. We even wore white corduroys that we had specially made for Bright Magic,” says Wildgoose. “We will always wear corduroy: it’s the thread that’s woven through our career.”

Should you be wondering whether  Public Service Broadcasting have played York previously, the answer is yes. “Fibbers, twice, maybe three times,” says Wildgoose. “Once was for DV8, a Goth trance festival. I did wonder if they knew who we were!”

Public Service Broadcasting, supported by She Drew The Gun, York Barbican, Thursday, doors 7pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also playing Sheffield Octagon Wednesday, doors 7pm. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.

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CBeebies’ swashbuckling Jennie Dale to shine as Fairy Moonbeam in Sleeping Beauty pantomime at York Theatre Royal

Jennie Dale: CBeebies’ star in her York Theatre Royal pantomime role as Fairy Moonbeam in Sleeping Beauty

JENNIE Dale, star of CBeebies’ Swashbuckle, will play Fairy Moonbeam in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, from December 2 to January 4 2025.

She follows in the CBeebies’ footsteps of Andy Day’s Dandini  in 2021, Mandy Moate’s Tinkerbell in 2022, James “Raven” McKenzie’s villainous Luke Backinanger  in 2023 and Evie Pickerill’s Spirit of the Ring and Genie of the Lamp in 2024 in appearing in the Theatre Royal co-production with award-winning pantomime producers Evolution Productions.

Jennie is best known for playing Captain Captain in the CBeebies television series Swashbuckle and for presenting Jennie’s Fitness In 5 for CBeebies and CBBC.

Her theatre credits include Elf(Dominion Theatre), The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre), Sister Act (London Palladium), The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre).

Jennie has appeared in CBeebies’ pantomimes aplenty, playing Growl in Beauty And The Beast, Sheriff in Robin Hood, Mrs Fitzwarren in Dick Whittington And His Cat and Jiffy in Christmas In Storyland.

Jennie Dale: Presenter of CBeebies’ show Swashbuckle

Evolution writer and producer Paul Hendy and Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, the team behind Cinderella, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin, will reunite for Sleeping Beauty.

Juliet previously directed Jennie as the Nurse in CBeebies’ production of Romeo & Juliet. “Fairy Moonbeam is such a fun role and I can’t wait to welcome Jennie to York Theatre Royal’s stage this Christmas,” she says. “Jennie is fabulously talented and York audiences can expect a real treat with this year’s pantomime. Don’t miss it!”

Paul says: “We’re delighted Jennie Dale will be joining the cast of Sleeping Beauty as Fairy Moonbeam. She’s an absolutely fantastic West End performer and CBeebies’ star, who we know will amaze the pantomime audiences at York Theatre Royal. Sleeping Beauty is going to be a truly spectacular show. Book now!”

Jennie joins the already confirmed Robin Simpson, who will play the dame for a sixth successive Theatre Royal pantomime. Expect “stunning costumes, gorgeous sets, dazzling special effects and lots of hilarious jokes in a festive treat for the whole family”.

Early birds who book before the end of March can benefit from a price freeze on ticket prices, with options ranging from £15 to £43.50. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

And now there are two: Jennie Dale is the second cast member to be announced for York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions’ co-production of Sleeping Beauty, joining regular dame Robin Simpson

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Pianist Sarah Beth Briggs to play St Peter’s, Osmotherly, on April 5 and give Hutton Rudby Village Hall masterclass next day

Pianist Sarah Beth Briggs. Picture: Fritz Curzon

YORK classical pianist Sarah Beth Briggs will give a recital at St Peter’s Church, Osmotherley, near Northallerton, on April 5.

The 7pm programme will include music by Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Robert and Clara Schumann, Poulenc and Germaine Taillefairre. 

“St Peter’s has a long tradition of music making, putting on several concerts every year for the local community to enjoy and is delighted to welcome Sarah to play,” says concert organiser Eleanor Gill.

Tickets cost £15, available at eleanor_gill@yahoo.co.uk and from the village coffee shop and Top Shop in Osmotherley. 

In addition, Sarah will give a masterclass to more advanced pianists from the Positively Piano Group – run by Eleanor – in Hutton Rudby Village Hall on April 6 at 2pm.

Sarah Beth Briggs: Recorded new album Small Treasures for autumn release. Picture: Fritz Curzon

Looking forward to next month’s recital, Sarah says: “I’ve chosen a very audience-friendly programme with something for everyone. It opens and closes with works from my warmly reviewed discography:  Haydn’s late C major Sonata and what many view as Mendelssohn’s finest composition for piano, the dramatic Variations Serieuses.

“Much of the rest of the programme draws from my  forthcoming release, recorded earlier this month, entitled Small Treasures, in which I juxtapose some of the greatest and best-loved piano miniatures by Robert Schumann and Brahms with lesser-known gems by Poulenc, Clara Schumann and Germaine Tailleferre.”

As ever, Sarah’s informative but light-hearted introductions to the repertoire will uncover fascinating facts that even the most seasoned concert-goers may not know, while also highlighting details to guide the first-time concert-goer, enabling every audience member to delight in all the music.

Small Treasures will be released in the autumn. Watch this space for further details.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond when not only Poirot exercises the little grey cells. Hutch’s List No. 12, from The York Press

Freya Horlsey: Among the 163 artists and makers taking part in York Open Studios

SPRING has sprung, the cue for the arts world to have an extra spring in its step, much to Charles Hutchinson’s joy.

Art event of the weekend: York Open Studios Taster Exhibition, The Hospitium, York Museum Gardens, today and tomorrow, 10am to 4pm

YORK Open Studios will showcase 163 artists and makers at 116 locations on April 5, 6, 11 and 12 in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. To whet the appetite, this weekend’s Taster Exhibition showcases works by participating artists to “help you choose which studios you would like to visit”. Full details of the April event can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk. Admission is free.

Stevie Hook: Spinning The Wheel Of Nouns

Queer cabaret night of the week: York Literature Festival presents Stevie Hook in The Wheel Of Nouns, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

REJOICE…or beware! The Gender Fairy is loose and has found their way to York. What is gender anyway and why should you care? Discover why it may be easier than you think in Hook’s new cabaret comedy: an evening of spinning game show wheels, jokes, bribes, and voluntary audience participation.

Audience interaction and cabaret-style games create a light-hearted, accepting environment to explore key issues around queerness and gender identity in 70 minutes of thought-provoking, mischievous queer cabaret.

The Wheel Of Nouns is presented by York trans, non-binary, neurodivergent mythical creature, writer and cabaret artist Stevie Hook. They are an associate artist with Roots Theatre and uses the pronouns they/them and hehe/hym.

At the heart of everything they create is a passion for subverting expectations, using games and audience interaction mechanics to invite audiences into silly, unapologetically trans worlds. They believe empowering audiences to participate and play in these silly worlds with them can open doors for meaningful change. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Printmaker Pamela Knight: Exhibiting at Bluebird Bakery in Acomb

Exhibition of the week: Three Printmakers, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until May 7

YORK Printmakers members Pamela Knight, Vanessa Oo and Sandra Storey are taking part in the Three Printmakers: Energy, Atmosphere & Light exhibition. York artist and former theatre set and costume designer Knight specialises in collagraphy, enjoying the textures and effects she creates using this process, often enriched with monoprint and chine colle.

Oo, from York, is displaying monotypes for the first time. “My work is about capturing the magic of the moment; an unseen energy and rhythm,” she says. Harrogate artist Sandra Storey’s work evokes the “talisman-like quality” of plants, birds and natural objects found within the North York Moors landscape. Admission is free.

Close up for Kim Wilde: Songs from Close and Closer at York Barbican

Pop gig of the week: Kim Wilde: Closer Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.45pm

EIGHTIES’ pop star Kim Wilde performs songs from her sixth album, 1988’s Close, complemented by new numbers from Closer, her 15th studio set, released on January 25. Expect the familiar hits too: Kids In America, You Came, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, Never Trust A Stranger, Four Letter Word et al. Cutting Crew support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fiery Angel head to the Grand Opera House from Tuesday with Lucy Bailey’s production of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express

Thriller of the week: Fiery Angel in Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express, Grand Opera House, York, March 25 to 29, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

FIERY Angel follow up November 2023’s visit of And Then There Were None with another Agatha Christie murder mystery directed by Lucy Bailey, this time with Michael Maloney on board for a “deliciously thrilling ride” as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.

In Winter 1934, an avalanche stops The Orient Express dead in its tracks. Cue a murder. A train full of suspects. An impossible case. Trapped in the snow with a killer still on-board, can the world’s most famous detective crack the case before the train reaches its final destination?

Meanwhile, Wise Children’s world premiere of Emma Rice’s theatrical take on Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West continues at York Theatre Royal until April 5. Box office: GOH, atgtickets.com/york; YTR, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Mark Simmonds in rehearsal for his role as Prospero in Black Sheep Theatre’s The Tempest at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Shakespeare debut of the week: Black Sheep Theatre in The Tempest, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 26 to 29, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AFTER making their mark with musical theatre productions, York company Black Sheep Productions branch out into Shakespeare territory under Matthew Peter Clare’s direction. “Prepare for The Tempest like you’ve never seen it before,” he says, promising magic, music and mayhem in a dark re-telling of the one with “a storm, a shipwreck and the torment of it all”, featuring Mark Simmonds as Prospero, Freya McIntosh as Miranda, Mikhail Lim as Gonzalo, Deathly Dark Tours guide, Kisskisskill singer Gemma-Louise Keane as Ariel, Meg Conway as Antonia and Josh Woodgate as Caliban.

“With a phenomenal cast, a live six-piece band, our production re-imagines Shakespeare’s tale of power, revenge, and redemption in a truly immersive and unforgettable way.” Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Public Service Broadcasting: York Barbican debut on March 27

Past meets future in the present: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27, doors 7pm

PUBLIC Service Broadcasting make their York Barbican debut with  J. Willgoose, Esq on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments, samples and electronic musical instruments; Wrigglesworth on drums, piano and electronic instruments; J F Abraham on flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums and vibraslap and Mr B on visuals and set design.

“Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future” for more than a decade, the corduroy-wearing Londoners will select material from their five themed albums, 2013’s Inform – Educate – Entertain, 2015’s The Race For Space, 2017’s Every Valley, 2021’s Bright Magic and 2024’s The Last Flight. She Drew The Gun support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Laura Veirs: Art meets science via geology in her songs at The Crescent, York, on March 27

Folk gig of the week: Please Please You and Brudenell Presents (CORRECT)present Laura Veirs, supported by Lucca Mae, The Crescent, York, March 27, doors 7pm

PORTLAND, Oregon, folk singer, songwriter, children’s author, artist, Midnight Lightning podcaster, Stanford University songwriting teacher and mother Laura Veirs draws on her 14 albums in her Crescent set. Growing up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she spent summers camping with her family, inspiring her songwriting as much as her fascination with the intersection of art and science from days of studying geology (and Mandarin Chinese) at Carleton College in rural Minnesota.

Her 25-year career has taken in collaborations with Neko Case and kd lang in case/lang/veirs, Sufjan Stevens, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and The Decemberists. Now she is working on new paintings, an instrumental guitar album and a book about creativity. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Will Smith: Off to the seaside to perform at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in August

Gig announcement of the week: Will Smith, Based On A True Story Tour, TK Maxx Presents  Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 24

WILL Smith, the Grammy Award-winning American screen actor, entertainer and recording artist, will promote his first full-length album in 20 years, Based On A True Story, on his debut UK headline travels that will open on the Yorkshire coast.

Songs from his March 28 release will be complemented by such hits as Jiggy Wit It, Miami, and Summertime. “Yo UK, my first ever tour. You got to go get it. I’m on my way,” says Smith, 56. “That’s my airplane. Scarborough, Cardiff, Manchester, London, it’s going to be hot! I’m about to go to the airport. I’m leaving now!” Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

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Meet the other Belgian in Murder On The Orient Express, Bob Barrett’s Monsieur Bouc. Next stop, Grand Opera House, York

Train of thought: Paul Keating’s Hector MacQueen, left, Bob Barrett’s Monsieur Bouc and Michael Maloney’s Hercule Poirot in discussion in Lucy Bailey’s production of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next week

REMEMBER And Then There Were None playing the Grand Opera House in November 2023? And now there is another Agatha Christie thriller on track for the York theatre, again directed by Lucy Bailey for Fiery Angel.

It will be full steam ahead for Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express from next Tuesday, with Michael Maloney on board for a “deliciously thrilling ride” as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.

In Winter 1934, an avalanche stops The Orient Express dead in its tracks. Cue a murder. A train full of suspects. An impossible case. Trapped in the snow with a killer still on-board, can the world’s most famous detective crack the case before the train reaches its final destination?

Bob Barrett takes the role of Poirot’s fellow Belgian and friend, Monsieur Bouc, director of La Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the Orient Express train company, in a tour well into its stride.

“We started rehearsals last August and our first performance was at The Lowry, in Salford, at the beginning of September, since when we’ve been touring with a very big set,” he says.

Bob Barrett, seated, right, in the Fiery Angel cast for Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None on his last visit to the Grand Opera House, York, in November 2023. Picture: Manuel Harlan

“We’ve gone from playing big theatres like The Mayflower in Southampton to the smallest so far, Richmond, with a capacity of 680, and there are parts of the set we can’t use in the smaller venues, but we have a revolve set design that can be used pretty much in its entirety everywhere, certainly in York, where it will be fantastic because it’s such a wide state – and that’s ideal because what you see is a train!”

Trucks were used in the rehearsal room to give a sense of the carriages. “Once we were off the book, we needed as much of the set as possible to work with, and the music too, which is a huge part of the show. I’ve never had that experience before where we had the music in the rehearsal room all the time, creating the energy and the humour in the production.”

Bob is enjoying bonhomie between Monsieur Bouc and Poirot in Bailey’s production. “They have a wonderful bond, and he is the yin to my yang,” he says. Monsieur Bouc is not the brightest, so it’s like Holmes & Watson or Morecambe and Wise, shall we say!

“Bouc has his back, and we see the plot unfold through Poirot’e eyes, with Bouc giving him his support – and advice, even though he’s invariably wrong!”

Bouc’s accent is most definitely Belgian, not French. “In some ways, it’s like the difference between the Canada and the United States. There’s a warmth to the accent and a slight humour too, with Belgians being jokes to the French.

Keeping track of events: Paul Keating’s Hector MacQueen), left, Bob Barrett’s Monsieur Bouc and Simon Cotton’s Samuel Ratchett in Murder On The Orient Express

“There’s a running joke throughout the play, where someone will say, ‘Is the Frenchman coming to see us?’, and I’ll have to say, ‘No, he’s Belgian’. But we have a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Fillon, playing the conductor, Michael, so he’s got a really good French accent!”

Joined in the touring production by his wife, Rebecca Charles, in the role of the “weepy and delicate” Greta Ohlsson, Swedish personal assistant to the Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, Bob is returning to the Grand Opera House after appearing as Doctor Armstrong in Lucy Bailey’s account of And Then There Were None in November 2023.

“That was the first Agatha Christie production that Fiery Angel had done on such a big scale and it was a huge success,” he says. “They’ll be reuniting later this year for Death On The Nile with Lucy teaming up with same designer and production team too.

“Lucy has this wonderful imagination, she’s incredibly positive, and creates these unbelievable moments of energy in her directing, taking you on this rollercoaster, taking you to places that you wouldn’t expect to go to.

“She pushes you collectively, lifting the actors [metaphorically] above her shoulders and just running with it, so that you all feel part of the creative process, and that’s how she gets such energy into the performance.”

Director Lucy Bailey: “She has this wonderful imagination, she’s incredibly positive, and creates these unbelievable moments of energy in her directing,” says cast member Bob Barrett. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Assessing why Agatha Christie remains as popular as ever, whether on page, stage or screen, Bob posits: “Usually writers remain popular if what they’ve done has never been bettered.

“That’s why we go back to Shakespeare, Ibsen, Beckett, and Christie too. What they’ve done has been copied, but never bettered. In Christie’s case, how she creates suspense, intrigue and excitement. Dickens is the greatest English creator of characters but Agatha is not far behind. Poirot is such an iconic figure, even more so than Miss Marple.

“The other day, we found out that she’d written a version of Death On The Nile where she wrote out Poirot and had a vicar solving the crime, as she couldn’t face writing another Poirot story, but then changed her mind.”

Bob continues: “Agatha Christie wrote 75 books, Dickens 15, Jane Austen only six. So you have a lifetime of Christie reading ahead! I always say that she’s very accurate in what she writes, and if you’re that successful, you have to have an understanding of human nature, taking people out of their comfort zone and seeing what happens to them, thinking, ‘how would I behave in that situation?’.”

Fiery Angel presents Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express, Grand Opera House, York, March 25 to 29, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

Did you know?

BOB Barrett is best known for his BBC television role as Sacha Levy in Holby City since 2010, with further screen credits in EastEnders, The Bill, Shakespeare In Love, Wonderful You, Casualty and Father Brown.

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Mission “impossible”: How Emma Rice brought Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest to York Theatre Royal stage

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice

THE world premiere of Emma Rice’s theatrical take on Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West is up and running at York Theatre Royal with a full week of previews before next Wednesday’s press night: a lead-up more associated with West End premieres.

Such is the scale and anticipation that surrounds Frome company Wise Children’s co-production with the Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.

“The show’s ready for an audience,” said writer-director Emma last Friday morning, in a brief break from tech-week preparations for Tuesday’s first preview.

Five weeks of rehearsals at The Lucky Chance, Wise Children’s creative space in a converted Methodist church in Somerset, had preceded moving up to York on March 16.

“There’s a certain percentage of work you can’t do in the rehearsal room, especially when we have a very ambitious set with four revolving doors that are over four metres high and slide over the stage, and the cast has to learn how to move across the stage,” says Emma. “It’s quite mathematical as it’s such a mind-bending plot – and Maths is not my strong point!”

Quick refresher course: Hitchcock’s 1959 American spy thriller, the one starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason from cinema’s Golden Age, finds hapless advertising man Roger Thornhill (now played by Ewan Wardrop) being mistaken for George Kaplan when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run across America, dodging foreign spies, airplanes and a femme fatale, Eve Kendall, who might not be all she seems.

Rice duly turns Hitchcock’s smart thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking, replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, clothes, suitcases and newspapers in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, glitz, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. 

Where Rice’s vision of North By Northwest meets Hitchcock’s version is “sort of a surprising marriage, but I’ve loved it” she says of the creative process. “I love that it’s an impossible test. North By Northwest has a vast series of impossible problems to solve on stage, from Mount Rushmore to the plane, the crop duster, and you have to work your magic.

“We’ve come up with lots of fun ways to meet those challenges, those setpieces, while also matching Hitchcock’s vision, so it’s very stylish.”

Etta Murfitt’s contribution as movement director has been important. “It’s been fascinating because it’s an odyssey story and the thing you can’t do with the four-door set is travel much, so you have to find the energy to give that sense of travel,” says Emma.

Emma Rice at Wise Children’s creative space, The Lucky Chance, a converted Methodist church in Frome, Somerset

“We do that with fantastic choreography that, like Bob Fosse’s work, gives it humour as well as movement, and you think, ‘is it dance, is it theatre’? We have six actors who are incredibly virtuosic in their acting. Five of them have worked with me before, and the newcomer to the company is Simon Oskarsson, who’s Swedish but has been working in England for a long time.”

North By Northwest may be outwardly familiar, “but I would place a wager now that a lot people will have seen the film but if you ask them to tell the story they probably couldn’t,” says Emma. “I’ve taken months to complete all the beats of the story. I’ve not needed to have too many surprises but I’ve made it easier to understand.

“My experience of the film was that it was baffling, and we’ve been able to tell the story more clearly without losing the tension.”

To help her do so, she methodically made note cards of each plot point, placed on the floor to work through the machinations in her fourth conversion from screen to stage after The Red Shoes, A Matter Of Life And Death and Brief Encounter in her Kneehigh Theatre days.

“Nothing happens in Brief Encounter. Everything happens in North By North West, and it takes every iota of my theatre craft to present it. I have to be on the front of my toes. Like we now have over 70 suitcases in this show, each one with a different label and different things in it, after I swapped having lots of hats for more suitcases, though there are still many hats, but many more suitcases now!”

 Emma has homed in on the 1950s’ post-war setting too, not least to bring more depth to Hitchcock’s characters. “I’ve always been really fascinated by the Fifties,” she says. “My parents were small children in the war; my grandparents fought in the war. My parents were my family’s first generation to go university.

“Every character in the film would have just come out of the war; everyone making the film would have experienced it, so it’s been interesting to add that depth to it.”

In particular, she focuses on building up the back story of Eve Kendall, the femme fatale who helps Thornhill to avoid detection after they meet on a train. “I think Hitchcock made a great job of Eve; she’s the heroine of the piece, putting herself on the line with her bravery and her moral judgement  when facing the most jeopardy.”

Emma has given the narrator’s role to Katy Owen’s Professor. “I’ve used a lot of Hitchcock’s dialogue in the play, but the Professor’s narration is very much in my language though I’ve also used stage directions from Ernest Lehman’s film script, which was a masterpiece. They’re beautifully written; the language is virtuosic and humorous and elegant too.”

Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West, York Theatre Royal, until April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Wise Children’s world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, on stage at York Theatre Royal from this week

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Shôn Dale-Jones revisits emergency fund-raising show The Duke, collecting funds for Save The Children at Theatre@41 tonight

Shôn Dale-Jones in The Duke. Picture: Jaimie Gramston

SHON Dale-Jones heads to Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight with a re-working of his Edinburgh Fringe First award-winning, fund-raising one-man show, The Duke. 

Along with his show about inequality, privilege and poverty, Me And Robin Hood, The Duke has raised more than £100,000 for charities supporting children refugees and street-connected children. Proceeds from his latest tour will go to Save The Children’s Emergency Fund.  

Exploring kindness, generosity and the value of what we do, The Duke weaves together the tragi-comic fate of a family heirloom (a porcelain figure of the Duke of Wellington), the  quandary of a scriptwriter stretching his integrity and an unfolding disaster as thousands of children flee their homes. 

Bristol writer-performer Shôn blends theatre, comedy and storytelling with fantasy and reality to gently challenge our priorities in a world full of crisis in a 60-minute play premiered in 2016 in response to the refugee crisis that exploded following the ‘Syrian Conflict’.

The Duke was re-written and revived last year in response to the ever-evolving and worsening refugee crisis following more conflicts and disasters around the world.

 “Every show I make is made for a particular reason,” says Shôn. “I made The Duke in 2016 because I wanted to find a way of doing something practical about ‘the refugee crisis’.

“I couldn’t watch more images of the terrifying reality that these people are suffering without contributing towards the relief effort. I’m not a doctor or an engineer – I’m a writer/performer – and so I decided I could write a show which connects us to the crisis and raise money to support Save The Children’s refugee and crisis work.

“Now, in 2025, I’ve returned to The Duke because ‘the refugee crisis’ has become more extreme and heavily politicised. It feels more important than ever to remind each other that we are talking about people. People like us. It might be complicated to find solutions to the crisis but it’s straightforward to practise empathy for innocent people whose lives are being torn apart.”

Shôn continues:“We feel passionately about what the show is aiming to achieve: to make audiences wonder about the value of art at a time when the world is in turmoil and to reach out and empathise with the refugee crisis.

“We want to increase our empathy for people whose lives have been torn apart and forced them to seek refuge and sanctuary away from home. The show is a vehicle for raising money and awareness. It’s a conduit to an urgent and immediate need and we hope our audiences join us in empathising and raising money to support this cause.”

How did The Duke first emerge? “What happened was I’d spent over a year developing a TV show and at the end I was told I had a couple of months to wait for it to be confirmed,” recalls Shôn.

“I hadn’t expected that, so I thought it would be useful to use those months to write a play, and what was going on at that time was our TV screens were being bombarded with images of the Syrian crisis. We were seeing images of the refugee camps for the first time.

“My father had died, my mother was lonely, and I was concerned about whether my TV proposal would be accepted, so I wrote a solo show that intertwined all those narratives.

“The Duke connects me and my relationship with my mother

The Duke cooconnectsmeandmyrelationshipwithmymother,andmyworkinglifeasawriter,tothelifeofarefugeewhoisherewithhertwoyoungdaughtersthatdon’tknowwhethertheirfatherisaliveordead.TheDukeconnectsustotherefugeecrisisbysharingourcommonhumanityandthelovingbondthatexistsbetweenchildren,mothersandfathers.

What happened next? “The TV project never materialised, so I thought, ‘I’ll go back into theatre’ and set up The Duke as a fund-raising show for Save The Children, where I would give theatres the show and rather than paying for their tickets, audiences would give to the charity.

“I played the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016, then London, Norway and Australia, and the play got translated into Flemish, (Brazilian) Portuguese and Turkish, so there are now other versions being presented around the world.”

Shôn enthuses: “I thought, ‘there’s something in this’, and it’s rekindled my desire to work in theatre and engage with social and political issues. I then made the second show [Me And Robin Hood] for Street Child United, who put on a World Cup for children around the world, which was held a month before the World Cup.

“I went to Chennai in India and did some work directly with one of the homes out there and then  I worked with a company in Belgium. I’m still making a lot of theatre but I’m also back in TV development now. I’m still optimistic but less naive.”

Assessing why The Duke has had such an impact, Shôn says: “I think it has an emotional sincerity to it. We’re concerned for our parents when they get older, and it’s also impossible for us not to get caught up in the narrative surrounding refugee camps, but then there is the question of how much do you focus on your professional development when you know there are other things needing your support.

“The whole idea of contributing, of helping others, is deeply embedded in my family. Both my grandmother and my mother were embedded in charity work. My grandmother worked for Oxfam when it was first set up; my mother has worked for all sorts of agencies: for the NSPCC, Samaritans and the Adoption UK charity.

“What I think I found when I started working with humanitarian relief projects was it was so different from the theatre world, and I suddenly found a different dimension to my theatre work, connecting my storytelling to things that were more meaningful.”

Summing up The Duke, he says: “The play connects me and my relationship with my mother, and my working life as a writer, to the life of a refugee who is here with her two young daughters that don’t know whether their father is alive or dead.

“The Duke connects us to the refugee crisis by sharing our common humanity and the loving bond that exists between children, mothers and fathers.”

From an initial expectation of raising maybe £4,000-£5,000 from  the four-week Edinburgh Fringe run, Shôn’s charity donations have passed the £100,000 mark, even in straitened times when the average charity donation has gone down from £8  to £4. “I’ve resolved to keep sending the donations to the charities that work on the ground,” he says.

SDJ Productions presents Shôn Dale-Jones  in The Duke, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight at 7.30pm. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk or by emailing boxoffice@41monkgate.co.uk.

Shôn Dale-Jones: back story

BORN in Llangefni on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Studied Drama & Film at University of East Anglia (1987-1990) and trained at Lecoq School in Paris (1990-1992) while making street theatre and performing stand-up. 

Works as a writer, performer, director and producer, making work on stage, radio, screen and elsewhere. Created 29 theatre shows, six radio plays, several films and site-specific and outdoor work since 1994.

His work has toured to more than 20 countries, across six continents and been translated into seven languages. Partners have included BBC, Barbican, Royal Court, National Theatre Studios, National Theatre Wales and Sydney Opera House.

Previously founding director of Hoipolloi and Hugh Hughes Productions before launching SDJ Productions.

The Duke: back story

PERFORMED  at venues across the world from Africa to Australia, at a host of London theatres, including the Royal Court, Barbican and Soho Theatre, and on UK tours.

Won Fringe First Award; highly commended in Sit Up and Act Awards; nominated for Prix Europa Award in Best European Radio Fiction category. Made into BBC Radio 4 play in 2018.

Revised show is touring throughout England and Wales this spring, asking audiences to continue to make a difference to the lives of refugees by inviting them to donate to Save The Children’s Emergency Fund after performances.

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Art Of Protest nature-inspired bench art and mural revealed ahead of Front Street celebration in Acomb on Saturday

Art Of Protest creative director Jeff Clark with Gemma Waygood-Senior, project manager for the Return Of The Arks project in Front Street, Acomb. All pictures: Jeff Clark

ART Of Protest has installed the Return Of The Oaks benches in Acomb, York, ahead of Saturday’s  mural and bench “reveal” and celebration event in Front Street and Cross Street.

That afternoon comes the opportunity to meet the artists, join in creative spray paint activities and see the unveiling of the mural from 4pm. Further celebrations will follow with a DJ set and community art show at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, in Acomb Road, from 6pm.

Eight wooden benches have been transformed, each painted with a leaf design from the woodland to reflect links to nature.

Return Of The Oaks mural artist Tom Jackson and Art Of Protest workshop leader Chloe Mae. “Both live within a mile of the mural, and this is the closest paint project to their homes they have ever done,” says Jeff Clark

This follows an extensive programme of engagement events and workshops, led by Chloe Mae  where Art of Protest gathered the views and ideas of the Acomb community and gained an understanding of what people would like to see.

Alongside the benches, Art of Protest has been working on the new mural that aims to capture the spirit and sense of community in Acomb.

This art project is part of the wider scheme to improve Front Street and create a more accessible, vibrant, people-friendly space. City of York Council received £570,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Funding to deliver these Phase 2 improvements, including new seating and planters, improved Blue Badge parking, wide and level pedestrian crossings, wayfinding signs and upgraded public loos.

The Oak bench from Art Of Protest’s Return Of The Oaks project in Front Street, Acomb

Councillor Katie Lomas, executive member with responsibility for Finance and Major Projects, said: “This is an incredibly exciting part of the project and it is great to see even more improvements take shape on Front Street.

“This scheme is funded through the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is helping to create a more accessible and attractive space for people to live, work, shop or visit.

“The newly painted benches are a very welcome addition and do a fantastic job of brightening up the area. The designs for both the artwork and wider Phase 2 improvements are based on significant engagement with the local community, so it will be great to be able to celebrate the progress with local people this weekend.

“I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished mural and would encourage those who live or spend time in Acomb to come along and get involved.”

Chloe Mae and Tom Jackson take advantage of Thursday’s sunny, dry weather to work on the Return Of The Oaks mural in Acomb

Art Of Protest creative director Jeff Clark said: “It was great to see the evolution of the project, taking the community on the journey and developing local talent through the Street Art Academy and artist Tom Jackson, Art Of Protest’s production manager and one half of the Static street art duo with Craig Evans. The feedback was inspirational and there is so much love and pride in the community.

“We are celebrating the return of local trees and a wonderful idea of each bench having a local leaf emblem, so visitors to the area can say ‘see you at the oak bench’.

“Each bench also has a carved-out leaf emblem so they are accessible and engaging. The return of the oaks is then incorporated into the mural design. We are so grateful to the Acomb community, the support and great ideas. Please come and celebrate as this is your hard work.”

Find more information about the Front Street improvement scheme at:  https://www.york.gov.uk/AcombFrontStreet.

Taking shape: Art Of Project workshop leader Chloe Mae, centre, working on the mural with Art Of Protest production manager and Static artist Tom Jackson and Sarah, from the Street Art Academy

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