Maxwell String Quartet: George Smith, violin, Colin Scobie, violin, Elliott Perks, viola, and Duncan Strachan, cello
Maxwell String Quartet, BMS York Concerts, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, March 8
WELL, the performance of Haydn’s iconic Quartet in E-flat major (Op.20 No.1) was breathtaking in its flawless technique, balance and engagement.
The opening lengthy Allegro seemed almost effortless in both the technical demands and instrumental interplay. The music is so intelligent, radically so, and the Maxwell String Quartet’s playing reflected and thrived on this.
The minuet (placed second), with its enigmatic trio, was thoroughly enjoyable. I loved the viola’s role in joining the party late and harmonically directing the listener back to the minuet via the back door of F minor. The Presto finale was bristling with vitality, rhythmic syncopations and rolling modulations. A great signing off.
But it was the Affettuoso e sostenuto which lingered. This is a quite extraordinary movement of real emotional depth and the performance delivered.
Quite extraordinary too, were the Quartet’s wonderful transcriptions or ‘impressionistic and sensitive reworkings’ of traditional Scottish Folk Worksongs. These were drawn from and inspired by explorations of traditional music drawn from “Scotland’s hardworking societies”: fishing, tweed and wool making and so forth.
The Quartet played these with as much care to detail – nuanced phrasing and insight – as they had brought to the Haydn. I liked the democratic reversal of violin leads too.
These were prefaced by a Scottish tune underpinned by a bagpipe cello drone aimed at irritating the ghost of Mendelssohn. The great man evidently disliked the traditional instrument. A nice touch.
Mendelssohn’s magnificent Quartet No.6 in F minor (Op.80) was written in response to the death of his beloved sister Fanny in May 1847. The choice of key here, F minor, deliberately reinforces the emotional tension since there will be greater tension on the strings.
This was helpfully explained by cellist Duncan Strachan, whose engaging, informative vocal commentary throughput the concert added a welcome layer of inclusivity and engagement.
The raw emotion was evident from the start of the Allegro vivace assai. The musical narrative was convincingly propelled forwards (echoes of late Beethoven Op.95) and right on the edge, leaving this listener feeling unsettled yet gripped.
The Allegro assai exploded in the same dramatically driven, angst-ridden direction. Not sure why, but I heard pre-echoes of Tippett, maybe the String Quartet No.2. Anyway, the stabbing, brutal syncopations here reinforced the mood of anger and despair; the dramatic shock being even greater as this is not what we expect in a civilised, traditional scherzo. Whilst in the contrasting trio section, the violins play a haunting, ethereal melody over cello and viola octaves.
Mercifully there was some respite in the form of the poignant Adagio. Here the playing captured the mood of tenderness, sadness and loss. But it is the calm before the musical storm and the closing Finale once again ripped forwards. The movement culminates in the first violin ratcheting up the already palpable tension to a thrilling, if decidedly defeated, conclusion. Quite something.
And that should have been that. Just spontaneous appreciation in the form of loud applause. But no, the Maxwell Quartet gave us an encore, two in fact. Back to Scottish folksong. Both beautifully played and very well received. It’s just that they unnecessarily diminished my experience of their remarkable performance of the Mendelssohn.
Weapons at the ready in Cluedo 2: from left, Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett (with the candlestick); Edward Howells’ Professor Plum (spanner); Gabriel Paul’s Reverend Hal Green (lead piping); Hanah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock (rope); Dawn Buckland’s Mrs White (dagger) and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard (gun). Picture: Dave Hogan
CLUEDO 2 is far outselling last week’s remarkable York Theatre Royal touring show, Blue Beard, despite a raft of five-star reviews for Emma Rice’s feminist wonder tale for those regular York visitors Wise Children.
So much so, you might have to kill for a ticket for Cluedo 2, whether with a candlestick, lead piping, revolver, dagger, rope or spanner, in the box office.
Cluedo 2 is the sequel to, surprise, surprise, Cluedo, the stage revamp of Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 film Clue, based once more on the ever-popular Hasbro board game, whose familiar board design forms the backdrop to David Farley’s witty set to mark the game’s 75th anniversary.
Cut-outs of the board design’s borders form a picture framework within the Theatre Royal’s proscenium arch structure, while a doll’s house of Graveny House is a regular reminder of the new play’s setting. As ever, the whodunit will play out in the kitchen, conservatory, dining room, ballroom, study, hall, lounge, library and billiard room.
Red alert: Ellie Leach’s Miss Scarlett, Bloody Mary cocktail et al, in Cluedo 2. Picture: Dave Hogan
This new “game for a laugh” whodunit takes the form of a broad comedy, one that brings together veteran Birds Of A Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart screen and stage-writing joke factory Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, teamed with Mark Bell, the director of Mischief Theatre’s catastrophe-defying physical theatre capers The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery.
Then add the social media intrigue of seeing 2023 Strictly Come Dancing champion Ellie Leach in her “stage theatre debut” after 13 years as Faye Windass in Coronation Street, replacing the originally announced fellow former Corrie star Helen Flanagan.
Her white boots and mini-dress affirm the Swinging Sixties’ setting for a Cluedo tale of murder, mystery and secret passageways with a “new house, new bodies, new suspects”. Or, more precisely, all the usual suspects, gathered one dark and stormy evening in 1968.
Faded rock’n’roll legend Rick Black (Liam Horrigan) will do anything to regain his fame and fortune, especially now he has newly acquired a country manor house, not too far from London.
What did the butler see? Hannah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock, left, Jack Bennett’s Wadsworth, Edward Howells’ Professor Plum, Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard in Cluedo 2. Picture: Alastair Muir
A long-awaited new album is his last hope, and so he has assembled the familiar names to pass judgement: his supermodel wife, the Honourable Celestine Peacock (Hannah Boyce); his nod-to-Colonel Parker American South manager, Colonel Eugene Mustard (Jason Durr, from Heartbeat and Casualty); long-time roadie “Professor” Alex Plum (Edward Howells) and blossoming northern interior designer Annabel Scarlett(Leach).
Blunt-speaking housekeeper Mrs White (Audrey Anderson, understudying ably for Dawn Buckland) comes with the house and knows all its secrets. Enter the butler, or rather a very, very thespian actor, Wadsworth (Jack Bennett), who has arrived a day early for filming for his role as a butler in a film that will star Rick Black, setting in motion a running gag about being/not being the butler.
Making a late entry is Black’s former song-writing partner “The Reverend” Hal Green (Gabriel Paul, from The Play That Goes Wrong and Northern Broadsides’ Quality Street)), not to be mistaken for soul singer the Reverend Al Green, but you know that gag will be played more than once. Green had disappeared mysteriously just as Black’s career went pear-shaped.
In further roles for Horrigan, film director Mr Grey and an easily distracted detective, plus Tiwai Muza’s PC Silver, will play their part two in a play that is done and dusted in two hours with an interval.
The comedy has two opposing forces: Marks and Gran’s humour is more laboured, slower to click, clunkier, than the fast pace that Bell favours from his Mischief exploits. The gap between the two styles is too big in Act One, but gradually they elide in the far superior Act Two, where the physical comedy, knowing nods to Cluedo’s conventions and even a pantomimic set-piece involving Mrs White’s assorted pastries reap rewards.
Murder most foul: Who could have killed rock star Rick Black (Liam Horrigan, second from right)? Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett, left, Edward Howells’s Professor Plum, Dawn Buckland’s Mrs White, Hannah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard are all in the frame. Picture: Dave Hogan
Durr’s Colonel is mustard throughout; Leach grows into her on-trend Sixties’ role with its sudden twist, vibes of The Persuaders! and a couple of Strictly dance steps, matched by Lady Peacock’s shock revelation. All the while, Paul revels in Reverend Green’s American bafflement at English ways.
Nevertheless, the verbal humour remains a touch heavy handed and obvious, by way of contrast with the swift-moving set changes engineered by the cast on a set cleverly devoid of walls, but with a labyrinth of improvised manor-house corridors and secret passageways instead.
Bell’s direction is rooted in telling the story as much in pictures as words, and his mission is aided considerably by the show’s prize asset: the stylish movement direction of Anna Healey, which puts the ‘swing’ into the Swinging Sixties and makes amusing play of picture frames.
Not a patch on Blue Beard, but Cluedo 2 does improve as the bodies pile up.
JAS Theatricals in Cluedo 2, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
History with a comical twist: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur at York Theatre Royal
COMEDY legends and Arthurian tales, Welsh rock firebrands and an Italian dance champion, a Scottish folk queen and a school talent troop have Charles Hutchinson reaching for his diary.
Legend of the week: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur, York Theatre Royal, March 21 to 23, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AFTER Treasure Island and Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Le Navet Bete head back to York Theatre Royal for a retelling of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, in their inimitable comedic style. Camelot is in trouble, and Arthur knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history.
When three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy, however, a legend is born in a new comedy for the ages, suitable for the whole family. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for Feeder’s Black/Red Tour 2024, playing York and Leeds
York gig of the week: Feeder, supported by Girlband!, York Barbican, March 19, 8pm
ANTHEMIC Newport rock band Feeder mark their 30th anniversary with a spring tour and the April 5 release of a new studio double album, Black/Red, on Big Teeth Music.
Accruing seven million record sales, Grant Nicholas and Take Hirose’s group chalked up 20 Top 40 hits from 1997’s High to 2008’s We Are The People, and the likes of Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Feeling A Moment, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day, Fear Of Flying and Lost And Found will surely feature in their set. Leeds Brudenell Social Club awaits on April 7 at 8pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
The Talent Troop from Welburn Hall School, performing at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow
Community show of the week: Welburn Hall presents The Talent Troop, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow (14/3/2024), 7pm
A SELECTION of students from Welburn Hall School, near York, takes to the stage once more for a variety performance. Prepare to be amazed by The Talent Troop in a fun-filled evening of music and dancing guaranteed to bring out the smiles. Look out for a fund-raising raffle and cake stall too. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The Pink’un: Vicky Jackson’s tribute show to an American pop icon at the Milton Rooms, Malton
Tribute show of the week: Vicky Jackson: Pink!, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
VICKY Jackson has been wowing audiences with her energetic portrayal of Pink, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, for more than a decade.
In bespoke costumes and accompanied by her five-piece touring band, Jackson presents all of Pink’s major hits from her 24-year career. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Roll out the barrel of laughs: Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy at the treble at the Grand Opera House, York: Al Murray, Guv Island, Sunday, 7.30pm; An Evening With The Fast Show, March 19, 7.30pm; Frank Skinner, 30 Years Of Dirt, March 21, 7.30pm.
STANDING up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, is back “to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to” in Guv Island.
An Evening With The Fast Show sold out suitably fast. Original cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir mark their 30th anniversary with behind-the-scenes insights into their television characters and catchphrases, recreating favourite moments too. Two nights later, Brummie comedian and TV and radio presenter Frank Skinner reflects on his own 30-year landmark. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Beneath The Layers: A work by Anne-Marie Magson from her Helmsley Arts Centre exhibition
Exhibition of the week: Anna-Marie Magson, Beneath The Layers, Helmsley Arts Centre, until May 3
FROM her home studio in York, Anna-Marie Magson creates ceramics and artworks. Trained in fine art painting at Liverpool College of Art, she worked initially with clay, exploring surface decoration and textured pattern on tiles and panels.
Latterly, she has returned her focus to two-dimensional work, expanding her practice to encompass abstract collages, printmaking and painting to reflect her long-standing love of printed textiles and quilt designs and mid-20th century art.
The poster for Leigh Francis’s debut tour, My First Time
Yorkshire comedian of the week: Leigh Francis, My First Time, York Barbican, March 20, 7.45pm
LEEDS comedian, radio presenter and Bo’ Selecta! sketch show regular Leigh Francis is the scabrous, scatological, sometimes rubber-faced humorist behind the characters Keith Lemon, The Bear, Avid Merrion and Amanda Holden’s ‘gran’, Myrtle, along with celebrity impressions of David Dickinson, Ant and Dec and Louis Theroux.
All feature in Francis’s debut venture into the live environment in a tour show that combines sketches with buckets of audience interaction. “Come see me being other people live for the first time!” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Giovanni Pernice: Let him entertain you at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Giovanni Pernice, Let Me Entertain You, York Barbican, March 21, 7.30pm
GIOVANNI Pernice, the Sicilian dancer from Strictly Come Dancing and BAFTA winner, returns to York Barbican on his 2024 tour, Let Me Entertain You.
Pernice, dancer, performer, showman and Guinness World Record holder for jive kicks and flick to boot, will be joined by fellow professional dancers and West End performers in a show of non-stop action. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Barbara Dickson: All Saints Church autumn concert with Nick Holland in Pocklington
Gig announcement of the week: Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4, 7.30pm
IN this special acoustic performance, Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland will explore her catalogue of songs in the intimate and historic setting of All Saints Church.
The pair let the words and melodies take centre stage as they perform material drawing on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, Answer Me, Another Suitcase In Another Hall, Caravan and I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net.
Beth Stones and Dan Murphy of Flutes & Frets: Heading out on Explore York library mini-tour
MUSICAL duo Flutes & Frets embark on a mini-tour of three York community libraries tomorrow (14/3/2024) in a National Centre for Early Music cultural wellbeing initiative.
Working in partnership with Explore York Libraries and Archives, flautist Beth Stones and frets player Dan Murphy are taking Baroque Around The Books to Tang Hall Explore Library at 11am tomorrow morning; Clifton Library at 3pm tomorrow afternoon, and Explore: Acomb Library Learning Centre at 11am on Friday. Pre-booking is advised for the Acomb performance at http://ncem.co.uk/baroque-around-the-books/
The tour will continue with an invitation-only concert for NCEM members tomorrow at 2.30pm at Fairfax House, to be recorded for online viewing on March 21 as part of the NCEM’s Early Music Day celebrations.
Tickets are free for these informal concerts under a new NCEM initiative in tandem with Explore York, supported by the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust, in a project that illustrates the NCEM’s ongoing commitment to support, encourage and nurture the skills of emerging artists in the UK and beyond.
To conclude the tour, Flutes & Frets will head to the NCEM, at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, later on Friday to work on Italian baroque repertoire with The Minster Minstrels, an ensemble that provides musical opportunities for children from across York, supported by the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust and York Music Hub in partnership with York Arts Education.
Delighted to invite Flutes & Frets to York for a residency, library tour and children’s NCEM workshops, NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: “We’re thrilled to be able to be working with the wonderful Flutes & Frets, who appeared in York last December at the York Early Music Christmas Festival.
“Baroque Around The Books will give the people of York the chance to enjoy these fabulous concerts completely free of charge, as we work to share the joy of music making with our partners at Explore York.”
Dave Fleming, Explore York’s innovation, creativity and learning service developer, says: “The initiative emerged from Explore York’s longstanding working relationship with the NCEM, which has been developed over many years. We’ve worked collaboratively with NCEM on successful projects and initiatives over the years, such as Cuppa And A Chorus and now this.”
Assessing the role of music in libraries, Dave says: “Music contributes to Explore York’s commitment of bringing high-quality cultural experiences into our libraries for York residents to enjoy within their communities and right on their doorstep.
“York’s network of community libraries are trusted spaces: safe, creative environments, welcoming to everyone. We have developed out network of libraries as cultural spaces in the heart of communities.”
Crucially too, Explore York is now a National Portfolio Organisation (NPOs), designated by Arts Council England. “NPO recognises Explore’s cultural contribution in creating and promoting artistic experiences, supporting artists, and engaging communities. Opportunities to bring musical experiences into our libraries contributes to what we are as an NPO,” he says.
“Bringing such experiences into libraries aligns with Explore York’s status as an NPO and enhances its cultural offerings. Therefore, the role of music in libraries is seen as integral to fulfilling Explore York’s mission and enriching the cultural experiences available to residents.”
Stone and Murphy’s repertoire spans the medieval to the contemporary, backed by a passion to use instruments from throughout history to create a story that both enthrals and educate. “The educational element of these concerts lies in the opportunity for the audience to experience high-quality classical music performed by internationally renowned musicians,” says Dave.
“In addition to the performances, the musicians will engage the audience by discussing the history and background of the music being played. This approach allows the audience to deepen their understanding and appreciation of classical music, turning the concert into an enriching educational experience.”
Beth and Dan say: “We’re always keen to educate and inform through our performances and so in this programme, we focus on taking the audience on a chronological journey of some of our favourite pieces: a chocolate-box selection of almost 500 years of music.”
Here Flutes & Frets’ Beth Stones and Dan Murphy discuss libraries, music and books with CharlesHutchPress.
“We’re always keen to educate and inform through our performances,” say Flutes & Frets’ Beth Stones and Dan Murphy
When did you form your partnership, where and why?
“Interestingly, Covid helped form the duo. We met while studying at the Royal College of Music, in London, and after collaborating on modern flute and guitar, we realised the potential that our specialisation in historical performance might bring our combination of instruments.
“Beth had been very keen to try playing with lute compared to harpsichord, and Covid brought out a renewed sense of need for chamber music.”
What was the highlight of your York Early Music Christmas Festival concert last December?
“The previous night to our 11am concert, we had a chaotic journey up to York due to train cancellations, meaning we arrived at the hotel at 4am, so to wake up to a cold, frosty morning but have a sold-out audience that had many warm comments to make afterwards made it all worthwhile!”
How did the Baroque Around The Books mini-tour come about?
“Delma has been incredibly supportive of us as an ensemble and believed that we would be appropriate for the intimate setting of libraries. We’re enthusiastic to make the most of our portability and enjoy performing in the types of venues that are harder to accommodate live music.”
Libraries are associated with silence, peace and calm! Does that add to the joy of making music there?
“Every venue has its charm. Libraries in particular tend to bring people that weren’t expecting to find music, especially children and families. As the Italian 15th century philosopher Marsilio Ficino wrote, music is ‘nothing but the decoration of silence’.”
How did you put together the programme for Baroque Around The Books?
“We’re always keen to educate and inform through our performances and so, in this programme, we focus on taking the audience on a chronological journey of some of our favourite pieces: a chocolate-box selection of almost 500 years of music.”
How have books had an impact on your musical selections?
“They haven’t had a direct impact on the programme we’re performing but musical treaties inform the way we play and so affect our approach to all our concerts.”
In what way is the concert educational?
“We encourage our audience to see a bigger picture and think about the changes that instruments and compositional styles have undergone throughout the history of music. Similarly to how a documentary might try to capture hundreds of years in a short space of time.”
The poster for Flutes & Frets’ Baroque Around The Books mini-tour of York libraries
Do you have a target audience?
“Not particularly! We appreciate the attention of anyone and everyone.”
What will Friday’s workshop session with The Minster Minstrels involve?
“We’ll be spending some time working with them on Italian baroque repertoire that they’re currently exploring and hopefully sharing some insight in how to approach and interpret early music.”
In a nutshell, what is the relationship between music and books?
“Both are expressions of thoughts, emotions, creativity and storytelling.”
If you could recommend one book each, what would it be?
Beth: “No book means more to me than the Bible, so that’s an easy choice.”
Dan: “It was The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss that first inspired me to develop an interest in lute playing, so that’s always my first recommendation.”
When you arrive home, what do you reach for first: music or a book?!
The Bloody Tour of York guide Alicia Stabler with her award at the ceremony in Berlin
YORK tour guide Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler has won the 2024 European Arival TourReview Spotlight Award for Best Sightseeing Tour within One City.
Alicia, who takes visitors to the site of hangings, beheadings and hauntings on The Bloody Tour of York, run by Alicia Stabler, competed in the medium category against nine other European tours based in Krakow, Munich, Prague and Budapest as the sole British entry.
“This award means so much as it comes from people’s experiences of the tour and how engaged they are,” says Alicia. “It’s amazing to think that people have been recommended or recommend my tour to others around the world.”
The awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany, coincided with the three-day Arival 360 Tourism Conference that brought together the ‘best of the best’ in tours, activities, attractions and experiences in Europe.
The awards were awarded to businesses based on their online customer reviews. The winners were chosen through a data-driven, independent and impartial analysis of reviews across multiple review sites, online travel agencies and millions of customer reviews, powered by review management platform TourReview.
Alicia Stabler, front left, with fellow award winners in Berlin
By aggregating customer data from various platforms, TourReview identified the tour operators consistently wowing customers. Other winners included Prague City Adventures for Culinary Tours and Experiences and the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the Barcelona cathedral, for Best Visitor Attraction.
Alicia has run The Bloody Tour of York since 2013 in the guise of the colourful costumed character of Mad Alice, who leads visitors on a journey around the city centre, regaling them with tales of 2,000 years of gruesome, macabre and supernatural history.
In “the city of a thousand ghosts”, Mad Alice combines entertainment and education in her tour of sites associated with famous characters, such as Guy Fawkes, who was born in York in 1570, and Dick Turpin, the notorious highwayman executed at the Three-Legged Mare gallows at York Tyburn on April 7 1739.
Run as an independent business, the tour began as a “small idea” when Alicia left university 18 years ago. “Having worked at various museums within the city, I wanted to focus on the stories I was brought up on as a child in York to teach people about the darker side of history,” she says.
“History can be immensely fun if presented the right way, and that’s where the character of Mad Alice comes in handy,” says Alicia
“We’re so fortunate that York has hundreds and hundreds of years of history – much of it soaked in blood. History can be immensely fun if presented the right way, and that’s where the character of Mad Alice comes in handy.
“Mad Alice is one of our local legends; there’s a street called Mad Alice Lane and supposedly in the 19th century Alice Smith lived there, who unfortunately went mad and began to confess to crimes she didn’t commit.
“The story goes she was hanged for nothing more than being insane. However, there is no evidence she actually existed. As my real name is a variation of Alice, it seemed only natural to adopt the persona.”
Receiving more than 2,000 five-star reviews across TripAdvisor, Viator, Google and Facebook, The Bloody Tour of York has won the Visit York Tourism Award for Best Experience three times and was awarded Bronze in the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards for Best Experience in Yorkshire.
Tomorrow, Alicia will find out if her tour has won 2024 Visit York Tourism Awards for Best Experience and Best of York.
Tour guide Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler in the shadow of Clifford’s Tower, York
Since the pandemic lockdowns, The Bloody Tour of York has built up an online presence across social media, leading to a surge in visitors, who praise the tour for its interactive experience.
“I strive to make everyone on the tour feel included by learning everyone’s names and where they are from and drawing them into the stories,” says Alicia. “I think that why it’s had such a positive response because everyone feels engaged in the history that has shaped our amazing city.”
Mad Alice has even had a limited-edition York Gin made in her name, the “scarily delicious” Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin. Launched last September for Halloween, it has since sold out.
Created in collaboration with Alicia, this citrus gin was described as “bursting with fresh blood oranges and classic oranges, with a subtle syrup to finish,” while its “mix of classic botancials ensure complexity and depth”.
The gin came in a blood-red bottle with a ‘blood-splattered’ label featuring a drawing of Mad Alice herself. Each bottle was accompanied by a pamphlet detailing a selection of Mad Alice’s legends and stories, plus serving suggestions for the gin.
Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler collaborating in creating Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin in the York Gin “laboratory”
In the mixer: Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter, Holly Smith and Laura Castle in Rowntree Players’ Shakers
YORK ghost-walk host, actor, voiceover artist, filmmaker, tour guide and pantomime villain Jamie McKeller had not directed a play for 15 years when he took the reins for Teechers Leavers ’22 last March.
Among the Rowntree Players’ cast of three for former teacher John Godber’s state-of-the-nation’s-education play were Sophie Bullivant and radio presenter Laura Castle, who now return for another slice of Godber physical theatre, Shakers, this one co-written with his wife, Jane Thornton.
The sister to Godber’s northern nightclub comedy-drama Bouncers, Shakers dives head first into the worst bar in town, where everyone wants to be seen, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from Thursday to Saturday.
Here, Sophie’s Carol, Laura’s Mel, company newcomer Holly Smith’s Niki and Abi Carter’s Adele face the Saturday shift from hell. Lights, neon; music, loud; trainers, not allowed. Smart shoes only.
Thornton and Godber expose nightlife both sides of the sticky-floored bar, not only the cocktail-bar waitresses but the clientele too. Here come the girls, the lads, the yuppies and the luvvies, all played by Bullivant, Castle, Smith and Carter.
“I think this play is funnier than Bouncers, though I’ll still be going to Bouncers when it comes to York Theatre Royal in April,” says Jamie, who can draw on his own experiences to make his comparison.
“I’ve done Bouncers three times! I played Judd when I was 21; Les in my late-20s. They were both professional productions; then I was Ralph in my mid-30s in an amateur one at the Westwood Theatre in Scarborough.
“So the idea is, in ten to 15 years’ time, when my panto dame days are done, I’ll finally do Lucky Eric to complete the full Bouncers set!”
Whereas Jamie decided to present Godber’s updated 2022 version of Teechers, he will stick with 1987 vintage Shakers, not the 2022 remix, Shakers: Under New Management!.
“Initially we were looking at doing the final version of Bouncers, quite a grotesque version,” he recalls. “But once I read Shakers, I really wanted to do it, and do the earlier version, which even after more than 30 years still hits hard, when things aren’t necessarily better now…”
… “Things are just different,” says Laura. “This version of the play is a bit more spicy, and I like that!”
She is enjoying renewing her stage partnership with Sophie and teaming up with Abi and Holly too after they were picked from Jamie’s auditions. “Me and Sophie – and Sara [Howlett] – created quite bond in Teechers, and having done Godber before and Godber under Jamie’s direction before, that’s made it slightly easier for the whole cast in rehearsals,” says Laura.
“That gave us a head start as to just how pacy it is. Abi and Holly are super-talented and picked up the style very quickly. They’ve learned things from us, we’ve learned things from them, which has worked out really well.”
Jamie has been struck by Shakers’ abiding relevance, its stark message, for all its humour. “That humour is grotesque and amplified. The piece changes gear very rapidly, but it’s all grounded in the four monologues, one for each of them, that are staged with naturalism, with each speech becoming more serious,” he says.
“Shakers stands up and makes its stand. As a bloke, you find yourself thinking, ‘how do I feel about this?’, and it’s been very interesting to draw on the cast’s own experiences.”
Jamie will restrict the capacity to 100 per performance to lend his production a studio atmosphere in keeping with the play’s roots. “It will help to have the audience close up,” says Laura. “With everyone packed into the front, it will feel busy.” Like in a bar on a Saturday night.
Staging will be minimalist too, in Bouncers tradition, with four mini-bars on wheels on a neon and chrome set. “We’ve made the decision to mime most of the props, apart from a huge blow-up phone, but with little signifiers for the different characters we play, like shades or jackets, or a change of voice. We’ve chosen everything to make an impact.”
This complements the tone of Thornton and Godber’s play. “You won’t feel like you’ve bene lectured! What works is the contrast between being grotesque and comedic one moment, and then we hit you with real truths and that makes Shakers’ impact all the greater,” says Laura.
“Both this play and Teechers end on a downer, but that’s the harsh reality of life. We want you to have a good time but to leave thinking about the message we’ve put across in 80 minutes.”
Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 14 to 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee.Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
AAAYYY! Happy Days legend Henry Winkler will mark his 50th anniversary in Hollywood by sharing stories of his life in The Fonz And Beyond at the Grand Opera House, York, on June 23.
Told he would never achieve, the Emmy award-winning actor, author, director and producer is treading the boards with his heartwarming story of success to celebrate his memoir, Being Henry.
Launched into stardom as The Fonz in the American sitcom Happy Days, Winkler has transcended the role that defined a generation of cool. In the enduring glow of that fame, he has endeared himself to new generations of fans with roles in shows such as Arrested Development, Parks And Recreation and Barry.
In a show billed as “dynamic, vivid, hilarious and emotional”, Henry will travel from the achingly vulnerable lows to the stratospheres of global acclaim (chiefly his appearance at the 1976 Logie Awards); from the disheartening truth of an upbringing with undiagnosed dyslexia, to the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own – and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.
In store too will be a story about his dogs and a live question-and-answer session with the audience. Tickets for the 7.30pm show are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
2023 Strictly champ Ellie Leach’s Miss Scarlett, front right, with her fellow colourful characters in the new whodunit comedy Cluedo 2, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Alastair Muir
A WHODUNIT comedy, mischievous theatre as a team game, a wicked return, cocktail-bar tales, political satire and one-liners and a very muddy pig are Charles Hutchinson’s clues to the best upcoming shows.
Whodunit, with what and where, of the week: Cluedo 2, York Theatre Royal, March 12 to 16, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
STRICTLY Come Dancing 2023 champion and Coronation Street star Ellie Leach is making her stage acting debut as Miss Scarlett in the world premiere British tour of Cluedo 2, marking the 75th anniversary of the Hasbro boardgame. Next stop, York.
This follow-up to the original play (based on Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 film Clue) is an original comedy whodunit, set in the Swinging Sixties, with a script by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (Birds Of A Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart and Dreamboats And Petticoats) and direction by Mark Bell (Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ash Hunter’s Macbeth and Jessica Baglow’s Lady Macbeth in Amy Leach’s revival of Macbeth at Leeds Playhouse. Picture: Kirsten McTernan
Something wicked this way comes…again: Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse, until March 23
AMY Leach reactivates her 2022 Leeds Playhouse production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with a wickedly good cast, now led by Ash Hunter, who returns to Yorkshire after his terrific Heathcliff in Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights at York Theatre Royal.
“Macbeth investigates the nature of belief, love, ambition and desire, asking us to root for two humans who drive each other to do utterly terrible things,” says Leach. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Let the games begin: Gemma Curry, left, Claire Morley and Becky Lennon in Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at York Theatre Royal Studio
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, March 9, 10.30am
EVERYTHING is kicking off as the fairies in the forest start a fight, but which side will you be on? Team Titania or Team Oberon? York company Hoglets Theatre presents an interactive, fun, larger-than-life production for young children, based on Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs, puppets, stunts and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing from director/writer Gemma Curry and fellow cast members Claire Morley and Becky Lennon. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Comedian Matt Green: “Trying to make sense of the world”. Picture: Karla Gowlett
Political satire of the week: Matt Green: That Guy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 10, 8pm
THE debut national tour by That Guy (@mattgreencomedy) is a stand-up show full of jokes both political and non-political after he achieved millions of views for his online satirical videos launched in lockdown.
Green is touring his first show “since the madness of Covid/Johnson/Truss/Lord-knows-what-else began”, trying to make sense of the world in another year of elections and culture wars. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Jake Bugg: Playing our city on his Your Town Tour
Singer-songwriter of the week: Jake Bugg, Your Town Tour 2024, York Barbican, Tuesday, doors 7pm
ON his 15-date tour, Nottingham singer-songwriter Jake Bugg is performing two sets per night, first acoustic, then electric, as he rattles through his biggest hits, plus songs from 2021’s top three-charting Saturday Night Sunday Morning.
Two nights earlier, founder member Graham Gouldman leads art pop and soft rock innovators 10cc on their Ultimate Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour 2024 at 7.30pm. Ticket availability is limited. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out: Songs, muddy puddles and snorts at the Grand Opera House
Children’s show of the week: Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 1pm and 4pm, and Thursday, 10am and 1pm
PEPPA Pig is joined by her family and friends as they head to the zoo and the beach for a special party, with the promise of a fun-packed day. Prepare to sing with colourful scarecrows, feed the penguins, build big sandcastles and even swim in the sea in a show packed with songs, dancing, muddy puddles, giggles and snorts. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Facing the shift from hell in the worst bar in town: Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter, Holly Smith and Laura Castle in Rowntree Players’ Shakers
Comedy play of the week: Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 14 to 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
WELCOME to Shakers, the worst bar in town where everyone wants to be seen. Carol, Adele, Niki and Mel face the shift from hell. The lights are neon, the music is loud, and shoes must be smart. No trainers.
Jane Thornton and John Godber’s 1984 comedy exposes the sticky-floored world behind the bar on a busy Saturday night. Here come the girls, the lads, the yuppies and the luvvies, all played by Sophie Bullivant, Laura Castle, Abi Carter and Holly Smith under the direction of Jamie McKeller, who worked previously with Bullivant and Castle on Godber’s Teechers in 2023. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Rebecca Vaughan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, scheming at Theatre@41 for two days
Solo show of the week: Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 15, 7.30pm and March 16, 2.30pm
FROM the creators of I, Elizabeth, Female Gothic, Christmas Gothic and A Room Of One’s Own comes a new Austen’s Women show, based on Jane Austen’s first full-length work from 1794, performed by Rebecca Vaughan.
Created entirely from letters, this one features the devil-may-care Lady Susan, the coquettish, scheming black widow, hunting down not one, but two, fortunes. Then add oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica; long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine; family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia in this darkly comic tale of Georgian society and the women trapped within it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Shock in shirts: Comedian Milton Jones will be displaying his sartorial eloquence in his Ha!Milton tour show
Gig announcement of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, September 7; Sheffield, City Hall, December 4; King’s Hall, Ilkley, December 8
MILTON Jones, the shock-haired master of the one-liner, will take his 2024 tour, Ha!Milton, on the road from September 3 to December 15. “This is not a musical,” says Jones, in a nod to the title.
“I am tone deaf and have no sense of rhythm, but at least I don’t make a song and dance about it. This is a whole new show of daftness. You know it makes sense.” Topics will include giraffes…“and there’s a bit about tomatoes”. Box office: miltonjones.com; York, atgtickets.com/york; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Ilkley, bradford-theatres.co.uk.
In Focus: Navigators Art & Performance, GUNA: Views and Voices of Women, City Screen Picturehouse, York
Collaborative banner by Navigators Art workshop group, including first-time artists, for York International Women’s Week 2024
YORK collective Navigators Art & Performance presents GUNA: Views and Voices of Women, at City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street, York, from March 10 to April 5.
Run in association with York International Women’s Week 2024, this exhibition explores and celebrates the creativity of women and non-binary artists.
On show in the cafe and the upstairs gallery is an array of paintings, textiles, collages, photographs and more by 20 emerging and established York makers, curated by York artist Katie Lewis.
Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women
“Women have used textiles as an art form to tell their stories and express views for centuries,” says Katie. “Many of the artists are using recycled fabrics that give further meaning to their work.”
The official launch night event on March 11 offers the chance to meet the artists over a complimentary drink from 6pm. All are welcome, with no need to book; more details at https://www.facebook.com/events/6804352783003925
The exhibition is free to enter every day during cinema hours. City Screen is fully accessible.
Suffragette City, by Katie Lewis
NAVIGATORS Art & Performance will co-host GUNA: An Evening of Music, Spoken Word, Performance Art and Comedy to complement the exhibition and further celebrate the creativity of women and non-binary artists in The Basement at City Screen on March 23 from 7pm to 10.45pm.
GUNA is a version of the ancient Greek word for ‘woman’, leading to a line-up of poets Danae, Olivia Mulligan and Rose Drew; performance artist Carrieanne Vivianette; global songs and percussion from Soundsphere; original music from Suzy Bradley; comedy from Aimee Moon; and a rousing appearance by the multi-faceted singer, author and artist Heather Findlay.
“The venue is small and our shows often sell out, so book soon,” advises Navigators’ organiser, Richard Kitchen. Full details and TicketSource booking are available at https://bit.ly/nav-guna
IT was good to hear the Chapter House Choir under Benjamin Morris back in their rightful home, where they started nearly 60 years ago.
The lively acoustic of the Chapter House itself is a double-edged sword, wonderful for lending warmth to certain types of music, but equally relying on a decisive beat and keenly attentive singers who respond to it immediately.
Neither requirement was much in evidence during the first half of this programme devoted to ‘Queen of Heaven’, the Virgin Mary, and criss-crossing between the 12th century and the present day.
With a choir of 34 voices stretched out in two lines right across the stage, cohesion was made even more difficult. Almost all the early attacks were woolly, a series of mini-crescendos as voices joined in after the beat. All this was a pity because the choir’s essential sound was attractive and balance between parts generally pleasing.
Each half of the evening began with plainsong by Hildegard and Pérotin, given from the back by small female groups. Thereafter we had six pairs of settings of the same text, mostly old versus new, with motets by Cecilia McDowall and John Tavener thrown in for contrast. It might have been a heady mix, except that the majority of the settings were geared for meek adoration and thus mainly slow.
Grieg’s hymn-like setting of Ave Maris Stella was easily outpointed by James MacMillan’s, with its pedal points in the upper voices and an Amen that really took flight. Similarly, Rachmaninov’s treatment of the Russian ‘Hail, Mary’ was outshone by Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s version with its imitations over repeating underlay; its ending resolved sweetly, too.
Morris forsook his previously circular motions for a more incisive beat in Poulenc’s Salve Regina, which was much better co-ordinated as a result. So too was Victoria’s eight- voice version, although the top soprano line sounded effortful.
The best pairing after the interval involved two living composers, both female. Master of the King’s Musick, Judith Weir, was shown at her vigorous best in Ave Regina Caelorum, where Morris encouraged muscular treatment, which suited its quirky ending.
By contrast, the setting by Kerensa Briggs, who won the Early Music Young Composers Prize ten years ago, preferred a wash of sound from which a solo alto emerged mystically.
Bruckner’s marvellous Ave Maria left Stravinsky’s version sounding pallid: impassioned, deeply spiritual and bringing out a real sense of ensemble, right at the very end.
Harriet Burns & Christopher Glynn, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York
THIS was almost the recital that never was. Aboard a train from London that broke down in Peterborough, pianist Christopher Glynn arrived half an hour late by taxi. There was compensatory wine on the house for punters before eventually soprano Harriet Burns opened zestfully with three unaccompanied folk-songs, which I took to be Scottish.
With return trains to be caught, that left barely an hour for the announced programme of Schubert and English settings followed by Strauss’s Four Last Songs. Inevitably this had to be seriously abridged, although no announcement was made about what was to be omitted. The duo warmed in with Schubert’s ‘An Sylvia’, crisply delivered, and hit full stride with his ‘Frühlingsglaube’ (Faith In Spring) where the soprano’s duplets were impeccably counterpointed by the piano’s triplets.
The only other Schubert to survive the butchery was ‘Der Einsame’ (The Recluse), which was beautifully restrained, evoking the pleasures of solitude, not least through the lovely legato produced by Burns.
Otherwise we were left with two cuckoo songs, Ireland’s ‘Earth’s Call’ and Gurney’s neo-Elizabethan ‘Spring’, both of which use the bird to conjure that season. They were the highlight of the evening, voice and piano echoing and embracing one another.
Christopher Glynn: Train broke down en rioute to York
Vaughan Williams’s Four Last Songs, settings of poetry by his second wife Ursula, deserve to be heard in their entirety. Here we had to be content with an effectively intimate account of ‘Tired’. Glynn’s whirlwind pianism in Stanford’s setting of Whitman’s ‘Joy, Shipmate, Joy!’ brought the first half to a suitably ecstatic close.
A very brief interval – the lights remained dimmed – allowed Glynn to change out of his jeans into a full suit. Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder were not what they should have been. But it was not the fault of the performers. The composer goes to considerable lengths to graduate his response to the first three songs, settings of Hermann Hesse, so that when he reaches the fourth, Eichendorff’s ‘Im Abendrot’ (At Sunset), the analogy between twilight and approaching death is crystal clear.
The soprano’s bravest efforts to build the necessary atmosphere were annihilated by ignoramuses who insisted on applauding after each song. York audiences should know better. Even so, there were some lovely individual moments from both performers, although Burns was inclined to expand and contract her sound too regularly on longer notes. Glynn’s piano was impeccable, not least in the touching interlude before the last verse of ‘While going to sleep’.
Let us hope that this duo will soon be invited back and perhaps even offered beds for the night. We might then hear the Strauss cycle again and the Vaughan Williams one in full, along with plenty of Schubert, of course. They – and we – deserve nothing less.
