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REVIEW: York Stage in Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, until April 18 ****

Jacqueline Bell’s Captain Beverley Bass in York Stage’s Come From Away

“WELCOME To Gander,” reads the sign, pictured in the York Stage programme. “Crossroads To The World”. 

As an accompanying note explains, Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada,  was once a major refuelling stop for transatlantic flights, its airport built to handle large aircraft, giving it the capacity to receive multiple unexpected landings.

In its heyday, Gander International Airport hosted The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Queen Elizabeth II, Frank Sinatra, Neil Armstrong and Muhammad Ali. In later years, on a normal day, six planes would pass through, but September 11 2001 was anything but normal.

Suddenly, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, under Operation Yellow Ribbon, it received 38 unexpected but now essential landings in only two and a half hours.

On board and now grounded on the runways were 7,000 international passengers, their fear, confusion and suspicion exacerbated by the information blackout. Gander’s population would almost double in that instant, and how that community responded is the stuff of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Tony Award-winning 2015 musical, now receiving its York premiere.

 Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah, awaiting news of her New York firefighter son, in York Stage’s Come From Away

“Come from away” is the term Newfoundlanders use for someone who is visiting there or lives on the island but was born elsewhere. For five days, Gander welcomed those “come from away” strangers to this temporary new-found land. Here are the facts: 10,000 meals were prepared daily; clothing donations were sorted and distributed, counselling services provided and entertainment arranged to lift spirits (such as the Kiss The Cod drinking game).

The political world was in turmoil, but at such times the best of humanity comes through too, times where we find common ground – in acts of kindness – amid the threat of heightened global division.

Come From Away is billed as a “life-affirming, uplifting celebration of hope, humanity and unity”: characteristics ripe for the musical format, but no less vital is the storytelling, rooted in Sankoff and Hein’s research visit to Gander and interviews with residents and passengers.

That gives the musical its narrative drive, one that encapsulates connection and communication between town and world, grounded as much in humour as the desperate uncertainty of what may have befallen loved ones in New York or Washington DC that morning.

Directed, produced and designed by Nik Briggs and choreographed by Danielle Mullan-Hill, Come From Away is first and foremost an ensemble piece, its 19-strong cast omnipresent, all pulling together to mirror the big-hearted story with its balance of comforting comic relief and sadness, rousing spirit and silent shock, good deeds and grief.

Gander’s residents singing Welcome To The Rock in York Stage’s Come From Away

Within that collective structure, Sankoff and Hein weave the individual tales of the resolute, stout, stentorian town mayor Claude (superb York Stage debutant Richard Billings); the first female American Airlines captain (Jacqueline Bell’s pilot Captain Beverley Bass, full of leadership steel); the mother of a New York firefighter (Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah); the young local news reporter thrown in at the deep end (Megan Day’s resourceful Janice) and an animal welfare devotee (Claire Morley’s Bonnie, as bonny as her name).

Love plays its part too: blossoming in the case of York Stage regular Stu Hutchinson’s typically stiff Englishman Nick and Lana Davies’s Diane; fracturing, however, for Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T and Faisal Khodabukus’s Kevin J. Both relationships, one burgeoning, the other dissolving, are played with just the right chemistry, the dialogue being typical of why it could be argued that Sankoff and Hein’s book is stronger than their songs.

The opening ensemble number Welcome To The Rock sets the musical and choreographic tone, with its high-energy, righteous fusion of Irish and folk vibrancy under Stephen Hackshaw’s muscular musical direction, with band members in view in the wings and later bursting into the well-deserved limelight for a party hoedown.

Against the backdrop of a map of Newfoundland and a red You Are Here neon sign, Briggs moves his cast  around on chairs and tables on wheels that are reassembled and reconfigured constantly, even combining to form the cockpit and cabin of a plane.

This further enhances the relentless pace of Briggs’s well-drilled direction and Mullan-Hill’s thrilling choreography, putting the motion into commotion, albeit with the welcome breathing space of ballads for reflection for Bell’s Beverley (Me And The Sky) and trauma for Gardham’s Hannah (I Am Here). Everything initially is a rush, a scramble of emotions, a need for instant practical measures, but then countered by the agony of awaiting dreaded news.

Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T trying on a Newfoundland lumberjack’s shirt for size in York Stage’s Come From Away

That sense of unnatural haste in unnatural circumstances is heighted still more by a running time of only 100 minutes with no interval, compounded further by the regular drum beat of the bodhran.

The songs tend to rush by, full of zest and zing in the moment without having an X Factor hit among them, but the combination of Hackshaw’s band (keys, accordion, whistle, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, percussion, drums and even a Newfoundland ‘ugly stick’) and Briggs’s unerring ability to find outstanding singers give them greater impact than in the touring version that landed at Leeds Grand Theatre in May 2024.

Emily Hardy’s teacher Beulah, multi-rolling Traitors’ alumnus Theo Mayne, especially his Captain Bristol, and Chris Wilson’s quartet of roles, in particular Oz, all add strong characterisation, ably supported by Emily Davis, Adam Gill, Sarah Jackson, Adam Thompson, Rebecca Stevenson, Eleanor Grady and Kelly Kiernan.

Come From Away does Gander proud, York Stage does Come From Away proud, as “kindness, resilience and human connection in times of crisis” remind us of our humanity. How important that is, amid each new dawn’s screeching vitriol on Trump Social.

York Stage presents Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, until April 18, 7.30pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 4pm Sunday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The ‘ugly stick’, far left, makes its bouncy, percussive appearance in the party scene in York Stage’s Come From Away

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REVIEW: Gorillaz, The Mountain Tour, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, 25/3/2026

Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn with Argentinian rapper Trueno at Leeds First Direct Bank Arena. All pictures: Matt Eachus (The Manc Photographer)

THE last occasion CharlesHutchPress attended a Damon Albarn concert had been so different. York Minster, December 2 2021, 6.30pm, Damon in studious glasses on grand piano, with all-female strings attached and Covid masks re-attached among the 600-strong audience after a new Omicron variant reintroduced caution and uncertainty.

Albarn would play for 45 minutes precisely, to be followed by a second performance that night at 8.30pm, both hushed and wintry in tone, lit by candlelight, showcasing songs of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth from that November’s pandemic-shadowed solo release, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, in the first ever York shows of his then 32-year career.

Roll forward to 2026, when fragility and, in particular, loss frame The Mountain, Gorillaz’ ninth album in 25 years – and third number one – in the wake of the death of Albarn and Gorillaz co-pilot Jamie Hewlett’s fathers within ten days of each other in July 2024.

“You know the hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love,” sings Albarn, on the sombre song of that title and the one that follows, immediately and irresistibly: Orange County. The one with the whistling and the cheeriest tune of all, the obvious single, the one with Anoushka Shankar on sublime sitar and American singer-songwriter Kara Jackson on divine vocals. The one that stood out among last season’s musical interludes on the Graham Norton Show.

As Orange County and On Melancholy Hill testify, Albarn never settles on the obvious path, unlike former Britpop sparring partners Oasis. Already whispers are surfacing that he is at work on a new opera project. Right now, The Mountain tour finds Gorillaz at their creative peak, embracing everything at odds with the rise in nationalism, intolerance, online poison and war-mongering.

Idles’ Joe Talbot performing The God Of Lying with Damon Albarn

Out of step with our grim political times, yet tellingly, Gorillaz pull in a crowd of all ages, the younger drawn to the cartoon band, the wit and anti-war imagery of Hewlett’s videos, others to Albarn’s chameleon pop skills, from Blur to The Good, The Bad And The Queen, who played Leeds Irish Centre in January 2007 with a line-up of Albarn, The Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the anthemic Nineties’ psychedelia of  The Verve guitarist Simon Tong  and  the Afrobeat drumming  of Tony Allen. 

Gorillaz are even more expansive: multicultural, multiracial, multilingual, bursting with a panoply of colours, textures, moods, possibilities and blue skies, a feast for ear and eye alike, energised by the ebb and flow between live performance and the restless commotion and compassion spread over three kaleidoscopic screens.

Throughout, guitars, keyboards, percussion, tabla and Albarn’s melodica fuse English and Indian pop. Then add a constantly rotating roster of guests, beckoned to the already crammed stage by Albarn, the avuncular master of ceremonies, albeit in the somewhat ramshackle manner of The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus TV special in 1968. The effect is dazzling, dizzying, delightfully diverse and daring: the apotheosis of what a concert can be in 2026.

From the Indian mysticism of the opening The Mountain, accompanied by Hewlett’s pastiche of Mowgli’s initiation in The Jungle Book, the screens flash with comic-book imagery, mixed with live footage, and the faces of Anoushka Shankar, Sparks (for The Happy Dictator) the late Dennis Hopper, The Fall’s Mark E Smith (Delirium) and Bobby Womack (The Moon Cave), and The Roots’ Black Thought (The Empty Dream Machine, The Moon Cave, The Sad God) in a set list dominated by the new album.

All the while, the spinning top of guest vocalists and rappers keeps whirling, first up the bleached blond Joe Talbot of Idles (The God Of Lying); then Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def, for Stylo and Damascus; powerhouse backing singer Michelle Ndegwa for Kids With Guns; Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde, for Dirty Harry; Kara Jackson, glory be, for Orange County, and Trueno, from Argentina, for the Hispanic word-spinning of The Manifesto.

Gorillaz in a state of Delirium at Leeds First Direct Bank Arena with the trademark stare of the late Mark E Smith on screen. Smith’s recorded vocals feature on the song

Posdnuos, from De La Soul, urges the full house to their feet for the first time for encore fireworks of Feel Good Inc, before Trueno returns for more breathtaking, breathless improvised free-styling in Clint Eastwood.

A certain grouchy President would have given Gorillaz the “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” verdict that he bestowed on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX half-time performance.

Instead, the future is indeed comin’ on in Gorillaz’ glorious, beatific vision of a better world. Albarn does not proselytize or preach or reach for polemic. Rather, he and his band adorn their military fatigues with CND badges, and when the Leeds crowd boo his mention of playing Bradford (in the tour warm-up gigs), he says, “No, there’s no need for that!”. Peace and love, indeed.

The perfectionist in Albarn still burns, in a sudden chuck of the microphone and dissatisfied demand to re-start a song, but that is testament to his drive at 58 for The Mountain to take Gorillaz to  new heights.

All that’s missing is a closing credits list of the night’s cast to match the opening of The Mountain book in Hewlett’s first image.

Damon Albarn and Kara Jackson meet in Orange County at Gorillaz’ Leeds First Direct Bank gig

Gorillaz’ set list, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, 25/03/2026

THE MOUNTAIN

THE HAPPY DICTATOR

TRANZ

Intro Dark Pop

TOMORROW COMES TODAY

19/2000

THE GOD OF LYING (featuring Joe Talbot, from Idles)

THE MOON CAVE

EL MANANA

Intro Madam

ON MELANCHOLY HILL

THE EMPTY DREAM MACHINE

CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

DELIRIUM

ANDROMEDA

STYLO (Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def)

DAMASCUS (Yasiin Bey)

KIDS WITH GUNS (lead vocal Michelle Ndegwa)

Intro

DIRTY HARRY (Bootie Brown, from The Pharcyde)

THE SHADOWY LIGHT

THE SAD GOD

THE HARDEST THING

ORANGE COUNTY (featuring Kara Jackson)

THE MANIFESTO (lead vocal, Trueno

FEEL GOOD INC (Posdnuos, from De La Soul)

CLINT EASTWOOD (featuring Trueno)

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30th anniversary Operation Halifax exhibition opens at Yorkshire Air Museum

The poster for the Operation Halifax exhibition at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington

THIRTY years ago, a remarkable ten-year restoration project was completed at the Yorkshire Air Museum near York.

After a decade of tireless work, a Handley Page Halifax bomber – the type that flew from the site at Elvington in the Second World War – was unveiled to the public.

To mark the 30th anniversary of this milestone, the Yorkshire Air Museum has launched a new exhibition and theme for the year that honours the project and looks at the work done during the war to build thousands of Halifax bombers.

Operation Halifax also tells the story of the most famous Halifax of them all, Friday the 13th, dubbed ‘the plane they couldn’t kill’.

A new Halifax fuselage section being transported. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

The museum stands on the site of RAF Elvington, home to three squadrons of RAF Bomber Command during the war, when crews flew perilous missions over Germany and occupied Europe. Almost half the aircrew did not survive.

After the war, every remaining Halifax bomber was scrapped, but that did not deter volunteers at the Yorkshire Air Museum. When the museum was opened in the 1980s, they realised that to make it complete, it would need a Halifax.

As none remained, they hatched a plan to rebuild one using parts from crashed aircraft, components donated from similar planes and entire sections rebuilt from scratch. One length of fuselage was from an aircraft that had crashed on the Isle of Lewis and had been used as a hen house.

Halifax fuselage on the Isle of Lewis. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

It took a decade to complete the project, carried out by museum volunteers,many of them RAF veterans.

The new exhibition is based in the museum’s main hangar, under the nose of the Halifax, and includes displays, videos and an animation that shows where each part of the reconstructed aircraft came from. It will run for at least a year.

Yorkshire Air Museum communications manager Jerry Ibbotson said: “Rebuilding the Halifax was a staggering project 30 years ago, and it’s easy to forget just how much effort was involved.

A Second World War female factory worker building a Halifax. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum

“Operation Halifax will shed light on what was achieved, as well as showing how Halifaxes were built during the war – often using bus and coach factories that were requisitioned for the task.

“We have some stunning photos from this time, showing how many of the workers were young women who stepped up to fill roles taken by men who had gone off to fight.”

Operation Halifax is included in the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial admission price. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm, last admission, 4pm, seven days a week. Tickets: yorkshireairmuseum.org.

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York Actors Collective stages York premiere of Beth Steel’s mining family drama Till The Stars Come Down at Theatre@41

Newly wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott as Marek and Joy Warner as Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

YORK Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard moved quickly to acquire the amateur performing rights for Beth Steel’s Till The Stars Come Down.

“The West End run only closed at the end of last September, after transferring from the National Theatre,” she says as she prepares to present this contemporary British family drama at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from April 14 to 18.

“I applied very early, because I liked the sound of the play, but didn’t think I’d get the rights, but no touring company jumped on it, so my application was successful.”

Premiered at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre from January 2024, the Olivier Award-nominated Till The Stars Come Down is set at the wedding of Sylvia and Marek in a former mining town in Steel’s exploration of the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family.

Long-held secrets, passions, tensions and social changes transform the celebration into a chaotic blend of humour and tragedy in a play with “themes of racism and xenophobia, reference to suicide, scenes of a sexual nature and depictions of mild violence”.

“When I started reading the play, it resonated with me, because not only am I one of three sisters – like in the play – but also there’s very little I haven’t come across at weddings or funerals, such as deciding who should sit at the top table,” says Angie. “So, in one rehearsal, I did a game of ‘Status’, asking each of the cast to say what they thought their character’s status was.

“The other thing that resonated the most was the emotional problems that happen in the family – and I’ve encountered all of them in the emotional conflicts of sisters.”

Clare Halliday in the role of eldest sister Hazel – the bigoted one- painting her toe nails in Till The Stars Come Down

Angie continues: “There are a lot of things to think about in this play, and as everything in set out in the first half, the audience will have plenty to reflect on in the interval.

“There is stress throughout, which is covered by the humour that the cast are finding ever more ways to express, but because Sylvia is marrying a Polish man, it brings out racial issues.

“They are a dysfunctional family, though they think they’re not, but the sisters come together at the end, turning their back on their relationships to put the sisters first, which makes it even more dysfunctional. It’s a little bit like Alan Ayckbourn in style because it embraces farce as well as the clever use of language.”

Angie did not see the London production – “I purposely never do that,” she says – but was aware that it was staged in the round with a revolving stage. “I thought, ‘put that to one side, look at the text’. That was my first job.

“I wanted to do it with a rake stage, with everyone looking in the same direction, as frankly I’ve been to too many productions where I haven’t been able to see all the actors’ faces, seeing them with their back to you or in profile. I wanted to do it ‘old style’ and make it work that way.

“I thought, why should how it was done in the West End stop me from doing such a well-written play?’. I was determined to see the play staged my way, starting with getting ready in the house for the wedding, with one door for that, then the pub for the wedding breakfast, in the middle, and then Hazel’s house at the end, with two doors because you can get to the kitchen via the sitting room.”

Three sisters: Clare Halliday’s Hazel, left, Joy Warner’s Sylvia and Victoria Delaney’s Maggie lining up for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Angie adds: “I also had to re-think some of the characterisation as Beth [who grew up in the colliery town of Shirebrook, near Mansfield] set the play in Nottinghamshire but we’ve moved it to Yorkshire, because I’m from Sheffield originally and went to a Catholic primary school in a mining village, Spinkhill, and found myself speaking two languages, one at school, one at home. So I’ve set it in South Yorkshire in the middle of Thatcher’s dispute with the miners.”

Angie’s cast includes three actors new to the company: Laura Haynes-Bury as Leanne, Leeds actor Darren Barrott as Marek and Daniel Wilmot as Uncle Pete. “Laura has just finished her drama degree in York and she’s so dynamic,” says the director.

“This is the first time she’s worked with non-student adults and she brings so much to this play. I’ve never worked with someone so young and so talented. She has this wonderfully expressive non-expressive face, if you know what I mean.

“Darren caught the eye in Settlement Players’ Party Piece last October. We’re seeing an actor who’s just open to trying anything and his own personality doesn’t come into it at all. He’s fitted in very well with us.

“Daniel is a York actor and writer who has his own company, Baron Productions,  and he’s joining us to play the small role of Uncle Pete, a miner who didn’t cross the picket line.”

Together they add to expanding roster of York Actors Collective in Angie Millard’s fifth production, one that she will mine to its deepest seam.

York Actors Collective presents Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Lucinda Rennison’s Aunty Carol and company debutante Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Who is in York Actors Collective’s cast for Till The Stars Come Down?

DARREN Barrott, as Marek; Victoria Delaney, Maggie; Clare Halliday, Hazel; Laura Haynes-Bury, Leanne; Chris Pomfrett, Tony; Lucinda Rennison, Aunty Carol; Neil Vincent, John; Joy Warner, Sylvia, and Daniel Wilmot, Uncle Pete.

Victoria, last seen in York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills at York Theatre Royal Studio in February, has taken over the role of Maggie in a late change of cast. “As always, Vic has proved to be a wonderful replacement,” says director Angie Millard.

York Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard, left, with stage manager Em Peattie

Angie Millard: Back story

INVOLVED with theatre since her teens, this continued as a drama student at Warwick University and at Jim Haine’s Arts Lab in Drury Lane, London.

Worked in Theatre in Education groups at Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, and Greenwich Theatre,  London.

After moving north 20 years ago, she joined the casts of many York Theatre Royal community productions and the York Mystery Plays. Then, via York Settlement Community Players, she returned to directing, launching York Actors Collective in 2023.

This independent group has come together to perform plays and to offer thought- provoking and entertaining theatre, staging Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 2023, Alexander Zeldin’s Beyond Caring in 2024 and Nina Raine’s Tiger Country last year at Theatre@41, Monkgate, as well as J. M. Barrie’s Mary Rose at York Theatre Royal Studio in Autumn 2024.

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York Stage’s Come From Away is ready to touch down for York musical premiere at Grand Opera House from tomorrow

York Stage’s full cast takes a seat for the York premiere of Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

THE York premiere of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s global hit musical Come From Away will land at the Grand Opera House tomorrow (10/4/2026).

“It’s one of the most powerful true stories ever told on stage,” says Nik Briggs, who is directing a cast of 19 in the Olivier and Tony Award winner. “If you’ve heard the buzz around this show worldwide, now is your chance to experience it right here in York.

“With just one day to go until opening night, excitement is building fast for what’s already becoming one of York Stage’s fastest-selling shows to date.”

Come From Away charts the real-life story of 7,000 air passengers being grounded in Canada in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when 38 planes are diverted to the remote Newfoundland town of Gander, population 9,400, almost doubling that total in two hours.

The community responds by inviting these “come from aways” into their lives with open hearts as unexpected friendships form, changing thousands of lives forever.

From Bake Off to take-off: York Stage director Nik Briggs, at the controls of Come From Away after starring in The Great British Bake-Off Musical last November

“Come From Away is more than just a musical,” says Nik. “It’s a celebration of humanity, resilience and the power of community. Step into a world where kindness conquers all, brought to life with invigorating, electrifying music and stories that will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the goodness of people.”

He recalls his introduction to the show. “One day, on a drive from York to Sunderland, setting off at 6am, I put the soundtrack on – one hour 40 minutes – and as I pulled up in the car park, I had to compose myself as I was sitting there sobbing,” says Nik. “For me, structurally, and the way the piece is brought together, it’s just perfection.”

He has a philosophy on tears being shed in the theatre. “I’m a big believer that, to make an audience cry, you don’t want to see crying on stage,” he says. 

“I love working with emotional texts and I like to think York Stage has had success with them over the years, but there’s something about how, in real life, when you see someone at their worst, as a human being, you want to embrace them and be there for them, whereas if you see someone being brave, or just carrying on or holding back the tears, that’s when you’ll cry more. That’s always been the approach I’ve had with shows where there’s real emotion.”

Nik continues: “Albeit that Come From Away’s story is associated with the events of 9/11, it’s not about that tragedy, but the ripple effect it had: how a Canadian community came together with compassion. That’s what’s celebrated in this show; that humanity.

Just landed: York Stage’s cast for Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

“Twenty-five years on from those terrorist attacks, the compassion and humanity shown in Gander is what’s needed in the world now, and some would argue even more so. There’s no baddie in Come From Away. We all know what’s going on in New York that day, where there is a baddie, but though we see fear, we see uneasiness, and at first we see prejudices in Gander, we don’t see a villain. This is a show about something totally different from that.”

Come From Away stands apart in its instrumentation and musical arrangements too. “It’s not typical musical theatre instrumentation,” says Nik, who is working in tandem with musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Instead it features musical instruments associated with Newfoundland, such as the bodhran [drum] and the ‘ugly stick’, a welly boot fitted with a mop head, bottle tops and tin cans.”

Thanks to cast member Jacqueline Bell, who will play Captain Beverley Bass, York Stage’s show will feature the aforementioned ‘ugly stick’, and thereby hangs a tale. “After getting the part in our production and doing some research, she had some time off booked to go on holiday but hadn’t booked anywhere,” says Nik.

“She said she just felt compelled to go to Gander – I said I felt the same! – and so off she went! What you hear about Operation Yellow Ribbon [Canada’s handling of the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the 9/11 attacks] may sound too good to be true, or you wonder if it has been slightly ‘musical theatre-ised’ in Come From Away, but no, that community spirit was very much present.

“Before going there in February, Jacqui emailed a few places, saying, ‘I know you’re not running tours at this time of year, but I’m in the cast for the show in York, can you help?’. The Gander community put out a plea to put together a personal tour for her.”

Jacqueline Bell, who will play Captain Beverley Bass and Annette in Come From Away, flew out to Gander and returned with an ‘ugly stick’. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

What happened next? “Rodgers TV reporter Brian Mosher, on whom one of the Come From Away characters is partly based, turned up and surprised Jacqui! He took her round all the places that featured in the story – and she stayed in the hotel where Captain Beverley Bass had stayed,” says Nik, who recommends looking up Jacqui’s video blogs from Gander on York Stage’s Facebook site.

“On her return to rehearsals, she said that everything that was ‘too good to be true’ about the people of Gander was true. Apparently, there was even one thing that had happened that the musical producers decided ‘we can’t have that in the show as no-one would believe it’ – when a rainbow formed as the last of the 38 planes took off again.”

Jacqueline brought back the all-important ‘ugly stick’, bought for the equivalent of £100. “We’ve affectionately called it ‘Brian Mosher’ in rehearsals,” says Nik.

As for his travel plans, they extend rather further than York to Sunderland as dawn breaks. “Gander is somewhere I’m determined to visit now,” he vows.  

York Stage presents Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow (10/4/2026) to April 18, 7.30pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, Saturday matinees; 4pm, Sunday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Lesley Jones to ‘step back’ from producing York shows after 20 years, bowing out with Swing When You Sing on Sunday at JoRo

Lesley Jones and Steve Coates: Teaming up for the last time for Swing When You Sing on Sunday night

PRODUCER Lesley Jones will bid farewell to the York stage on Sunday with Swing When You Sing at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, at 7.30pm.

“Unique to me and York, it will be a swing concert with a 16-piece big band on stage, led by Alan Owens, from The Forum in Northallerton, who fronted our huge charity extravaganza, Million Dreams, at the Grand Opera House last year,” says Lesley.

“Funded once again by Steve Coates Music Productions, I am grateful to be given this final opportunity after my 20 years of producing shows, starting in 2005, including two sell-out productions of Les Miserables: School Edition, The Full Monty, Summer Holiday and Pirates! The Penzance Musical (Broadway version).

“Not forgetting Penny Millionaire in 2016, which we staged three weeks before the death of composer and writer Bev Jones.”

Lesley, Bev’s widow, picked up the baton of the charismatic director, musical director, composer and leading man of the York stage to run the Bev Jones Music Company and The Jubilee Celebration Singers, but has decided to “step back” after suffering a stroke.  

Lesley Jones: 20 years at the helm of musical theatre shows in York

“I’ve had a wonderful experience in the world of musical theatre, joined recently by the success of our rock shows with Steve Coates Music Productions that we began with the sold-out One Night Of Classic Rock at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in January 2024,” says Lesley, who is also a trustee of the children’s charity Snappy.

“Illness is a cruel intervention and sometimes one has to accept the inevitable and gracefully step back. In summary, I will end by thanking all the supporters over the years and welcome them on Sunday for an evening of traditional glamour, featuring our finest performers singing Rat Pack, Minnie The Moocher, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Under The Sea, Cheek To Cheek, the Latin version of Sway, Fever and Mr Bojangles.

“There’ll be a vigorous rendition of Sing, Sing, Sing, with Bob Fosse-style dancing, and a surprising swing version of Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black. Varied? Yes! Upbeat? Yes! Emotional? Yes!”

On song on Sunday will be Ruth McNeil, Annabel van Griethuysen, Hayley Bamford, Johanna Hartley, Adele Barlow, Larry Gibson, Terry Ford, Stephen Wilson, David Hartley and Geoff Walker.

The final word goes to Lesley: “Myself and Steve agree – and Bev would have done too – that we are not on stage to educate but to ENTERTAIN.”

Steve Coates Music Productions present Swing When You Sing, with the Alan Owens 16-Piece Big Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 12, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for Swing When You Sing, Sunday’s final concert to be organised by Lesley Jones

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Martha Godber to premiere ‘working-class survival’ solo play Jesse North Is Broken at York Theatre Royal Studio from May 11 to 14

Martha Godber in the role of Jesse, a carer on minimum wage, in her play Jesse North Is Broken, produced by the John Godber Company

MARTHA Godber will perform the world premiere of Jesse North Is Broken, her solo theatre piece on the theme of working-class survival in Britain, at York Theatre Royal Studio from May 11 to 14.

Actress-writer Martha, Hull-born daughter of playwright John Godber and fellow writer-director Jane Thornton, will be directed by Millie Gaston in the John Godber Company production.

Jesse, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, Jesse North Is Broken follows her from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.

Martha Godber: Hull-born actress, writer and director

“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling, and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha.

LIPA-trained Martha last appeared on the York Theatre Royal stage in June 2025 in the John Godber Company’s tour of John Godber’s hymn to the abiding power of Northern Soul, Do I Love You?.

“I’m thrilled to be bringing Jesse North Is Broken to York Theatre Royal; it feels like the perfect venue to premiere the show,” she says. “As someone from Hull, I’ve always been drawn to telling northern stories, and this piece does exactly that.

Martha Godber, right, playing Northern Soul purist Sally in John Godber’s Do I Love You?, on tour at York Theatre Royal in June 2025

“I’m passionate about creating female characters who are unapologetic, bold and command the stage, celebrating the northern female voice in all its complexity.

At its heart, the show explores connection, pain, love and loss, set against the realities of government policy, the care system and the social pressures of a working-class town. It’s a fearless piece of new writing and I hope it resonates deeply with contemporary audiences.”

John Godber Company presents Martha Godber’s Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, May 11 to 14, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Age guidance: 15 plus. Content guidance: Strong language and sexual references. Post-show discussion: May 13. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for the John Godber Company’s production of Martha Godber’s Jesse North Is Broken

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REVIEW: Murder For Two, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until April 18 ****

Hands Up who wants to play another role: Lucy Keirl playing parts by the dozen in Murder For Two. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

MURDER For Two is the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s first in-house production of 2026, and what a burst of spring sunshine it provides before a June run at the Bolton Octagon, the show’s co-producers.

Whatever zest multi-role-playing Lucy Keirl is on, we’ll all have what she’s having, please, through the summer ahead.

SJT debutant Tom Babbage is equally restless in Officer Marcus Moscowicz’s pursuit of her “Suspects” – all 12 of them! – in Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair’s breathless Broadway musical whodunit.

You might think the balance of roles sounds unfair – one versus a dazzling, dizzying dozen – but in reality they are both all hands on deck and indeed sometimes all hands on piano too in this “madcap murder mystery”.

Window of opportunity: Lucy Keirl in another of her 12 roles in Murder For Two. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

What’s more, Murder For Two has more layers than a spectacularly tiered cake. Keirl and Babbage must construct the performance as a one-take recording in a BBC Broadcasting House radio studio in 1959, audience applause cue cards et al.

On top of all that, they have to be their own Foley artists too, providing all manner of sounds, even dog barks and cat screeches, while engineering their way around Jess Curtis’s wondrously crowded set, with its grand piano, doorway, window frame, table of bizarre sound-effect equipment, piano seat and more besides.

No opportunity for a flurry of Foley skills is left unexplored, right down to Keirl finding an excuse to create the buzz of a fly with yet another concoction.

Keirl and Babbage are billed as “putting the laughter into manslaughter”, but Kinosian (book and music) Blair (book and lyrics) deliver humour far wittier than that clunky pun.   

Tom Babbage’s Officer Marcus Moscowicz behind the Foley artist tricks of the trade in Murder For Two. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Where’s the murder, you ask? Here it comes. When famous novelist Arthur Whitney is found dead at his birthday party, the detectives are out of town: the perfect chance for Babbage’s neighbourhood cop, Officer Marcus Moscowicz, to put his dreams of climbing the ranks into urgent, indeed over-zealous action.

Up against the clock, methodical martinet Marcus will strive to prove his super sleuthing skills and solve the crime before the real detective arrives, all while bursting into song or leaping to the piano to take over from Keirl or join her on the ivories.

Familiar to SJT audiences from her Mandy, Delia and Herald in Nick Lane’s 2022 Christmas show Cinderella and Clown Two chameleon in The 39 Steps in 2023, now Keirl moves between myriad characters, voices and mannerisms, each change conducted in plain sight. Extraordinary!

Clever, silly, or deftly daft if you prefer, Murder For Two may confuse initially but you will soon pick up the distinctive features of each suspect, all while enjoying the show’s stylistic shifts between the 1950s and 1940s, and the myriad musical styles with echoes of everything from Cabaret to Victoria Wood, Irving Berlin to Shirley Bassey  in ballgown belter mode.

Tom Babbage’s Officer Marcus Moscowicz makes an announcement in Murder For Two. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

The interplay of Babbage and Keirl is an utter delight, whether on piano or in song, and especially in their comedic camaraderie, where they are never afraid to ski off-piste, to riff off a mistake, or capitalise on the unexpected, like when Keirl’s watch breaks.

In the words of director Caroline Leslie, making such a fabulous SJT debut, “Murder For Two is a tour de forceof musical mayhem and a wildly ambitious creative challenge, and we couldn’t have assembled a better acting company and creative team to bring this absurdly joyful play to life.”

Every show will be different, Babbage and Keirl will make sure of that, but the constants will be the high quality of Simon Slater’s musical supervision and sound and Leslie’s abundantly playful direction, complemented by Emily Holt’s dashing movement direction.

Whodunit? Who cares! Let’s just say it would be a crime to miss Keirl and Babbage’s double act.

Murder For Two, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, running amok until April 18. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Murder For Two duo Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl in the best double-act combination of piano and bowler hat since Laurel & Hardy in The Music Box. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 14 for Gazette & Herald

Oliver Davis, Amber Wadey, Connor Keetley and Abigail Bailey in The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show. Picture: Pamela Raith

FROM a very hungry caterpillar to a life-changing musical, a Ritchie  Blackmore tribute to Normal poetry, Charles Hutchinson  looks on the bright side for spring joy. 

Children’s show of the week: ROYO presents The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 2pm and 4pm; Friday and Saturday, 11am and 2pm

CREATED by Jonathan Rockefeller, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show features 75 lovable puppets in a faithful 50-minute adaptation of four stories by author/illustrator Eric Carle:Brown Bear, Brown Bear, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, The Very Busy Spider and the titular star of the show. In the cast will be Abigail Bailey, Oliver Davis, Connor Keetley and  Amber Wadey. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Nic Cage Against The Machine: A tribute act like no other at The Crescent, York

York tribute act of the week: Nic Cage Against The Machine, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.30pm

MOVE over Elvana, the covers- band conflation of Elvis and Nirvana. Here comes the even wilder Nic Cage Against The Machine, a tribute to Californian rock band Rage Against The Machine, fronted by an homage to Hollywood’s Nouveau Shamanic method actor supreme Nicolas Cage, with props. Leeds fun punks Moose Knuckle support. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Blackmore’s Blood: Celebrating the hard rock of Deep Purple and Rainbow

Ryedale tribute show of the week: Blackmore’s Blood, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

BLACKMORE’S Blood exploded on to the scene in 2016 with its tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s rock years with Deep Purple and Rainbow, combining an authentic sound with a flamboyant stage presence and thrilling theatrics.

Playing not only the classics, every performance is a time machine, transporting audiences back to the glory days of hard rock with electrifying riffs, soaring melodies and Blackmore swagger. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

York Stage cast members in Nik Briggs’s production of Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Musical of the week: York Stage in Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to April 18, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, Saturday matinees; 4pm, Sunday matinee

NIK Briggs directs the York premiere of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning musical account of the real-life story of 7,000 air passengers being grounded in Canada in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these “come from aways” into their lives with open hearts.

Performed by a cast of 19, Come From Away is “more than just a musical,” says Briggs. “It’s a celebration of humanity, resilience and the power of community. Step into a world where kindness conquers all, brought to life with invigorating, electrifying music and stories that will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the goodness of people.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Cyril Raymond and Janet Morrison in the poster for Meaningful Films’ documentary Briefest Encounters at City Screen Picturehouse

Film event of the week: Brief Encounter, Briefest Encounters and Q&A, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7pm

FRIDAY’S screening of the 80th anniversary restoration of David Lean’s Brief Encounter (PG) will be followed by North Rigton-raised journalist, researcher and filmmaker Joanna Crosse’s new documentary, uncovering the untold love story behind the 1945 film, revealing the hidden past of her grandfather, actor Cyril Raymond,  who played Laura’s cuckolded husband Fred.

In an uncanny twist of fate, Raymond had a ‘brief encounter’ with actress Janet Morrison during a transatlantic stage production in 1929 that resulted in a child being born out of wedlock. Cinema myth meets lived experience in Briefest Encounters as interviews, letters, Raymond’s rediscovered diaries and archive material show how interrupted love, inherited silence and duty shaped family lives for generations. Crosse and fellow Meaningful Films filmmaker Luke Taylor will take part in a Q&A afterwards. Box office: picturehouses.com.

Classical pianist Julian Trevelyan: Performing at Helmsley Arts Centre

Classical concert of the week; Julian Trevelyan, Farewell Letters, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 11, 7.30pm

CONCERT pianist Julian Trevelyan performs regularly throughout Europe and in the UK. He moved to France after winning the 2015 Long-Thibaud-Crespin international competition at the age of 16, becoming the youngest prize-winner in the competition’s history. He has since won prizes at international piano competitions such as Leeds, Géza Anda & Horowitz. He will be performing works by Bach, Byrd, Oginski, Beethoven, Schönberg,  Strauss/Trevelyan and Mozart. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Jan Brierton and Henry Norma:l: Teaming up for poetry and humour at Helmsley Arts Centre

Poetry at the double: Edge Street Live presents Henry Normal and Jan Brierton, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 16, 7.30pm

WRITER, poet, television & film producer and Manchester Poetry Festival founder Henry Normal is joined by Dubliner Jan Brierton for an evening of poetry and humour. Normal, whose credits include co-writing The Mrs Merton Show and the first series of The Royle Family, will be reading from his new book A Quiet Promise.

Brierton riffs on modern life, love and friendships, wellness and ageing, rage and domestic exasperation in her poetic reflections on being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and retired raver, plus plenty of stuff about tea, lipstick and biscuits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Maureen Onwunali: Slam champion in action at Say Owt’s night of poetry at The Crescent in York

Slam champ of the week: Say Owt presents Maureen Onwunali, The Crescent, York, April 17, 7.30pm

YORK spoken-word collective Sat Owt’s guest poet for April’s gathering will be Dublin-born Nigerian poet and two-time national slam champion Maureen Onwunali.

Rich with political observations and carefully crafted verse, her work has been featured by musicians, radio shows and organisations, such as the British Film Institute, Penguin, BBC, Roundhouse, Apples and Snakes, Obsidian Foundation and the Poetry Society. Box office: seetickets.com/event/say-owt-slam-featuring-maureen-onwunali/the-crescent/3588134.