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More Things To Do in York and beyond as the summer of love arrives early. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 21 for 2023, from The Press

A study of people studying People We Love’s digital portraits in the Chapel at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham

LOVE lost and found is all around in Charles Hutchinson’s picks from the shelf marked culture.

Goin’ to the chapel of love: People We Love, Castle Howard, near York, until October 15, 10am to 4pm

AFTER gracing York Minster twice, Pittsburgh, USA, Viborg, Denmark, and Selby Abbey, North Yorkshire, KMA’s latest contemplative digital art installation takes over the Chapel at Castle Howard, a setting that provides a contrast between portraiture old and new. Produced by York-based Mediale and designed by Kit Monkman, People We Love explores “the invisible transaction between a person, a piece of art and the emotion which bonds us all: love”.

A quintet of high-definition screens display portraits of estate staff and volunteers, Castle Howard visitors and Ryedale residents, filmed in March, as they gaze at a picture of someone they love. A picture you never see, but you will feel each unspoken story as the faces tell the tale of a person they love.

Alexandra Mather’s Adina, left, in York Opera’s The Elixir Of Love

Opera of the weekend: York Opera in The Elixir Of Love, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today at 7.30pm

WILL Nemorino, a simple village farm lad, ever find love without the help of a magic potion? Discover the answer in Donizetti’s comic opera L’Elisere d’Amore, packed with light-hearted music sung in an English translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin with orchestral accompaniment.

Under the direction of Chris Charlton-Mathews, principal roles go to Hamish Brown as the lovelorn, lovable Nemorino; stalwart Ian Thompson-Smith as opportunistic Doctor Dulcamara; David Valsamidies as the boastful Belcore; Alexandra Mather as the intelligent, beautiful Adina and Emma Burke in her York Opera debut as the flirtatious Giannetta. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens, Hannah Baker and Rachel Hammond in Mikron Theatre Company’s Twitchers

Bird song of the week: Mikron Theatre Company in Twitchers, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (21/5/2023), 2pm, and on tour until October 21

IN Mikron Theatre Company’s premiere of Poppy Hollman’s Twitchers, Springwatch is coming to RSPB Shrikewing nature reserve, home to raucous rooks and booming bitterns.

Can Jess take inspiration from the RSPB’s tenacious female founders and draw on its history of campaigning to save them? Can she find her own voice to raise a rallying cry for nature in Mikron’s flight through RSPB and birdwatching history, feathered with bird song and humour. No reserved seating or tickets are required, and instead a ‘pay what you feel’ collection will be taken after the show.

Kate Rusby: On song at Harrogate Royal Hall on Monday

Folk gig of the week: Kate Rusby, Harrogate Royal Hall, Monday, 7.30pm

BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby rounds off a year of 30th anniversary celebrations with an 18-date spring tour, in the wake of releasing her 30: Happy Returns compendium last May to acknowledge three decades as a professional musician.

Coming later this year will be Kate’s Established 1973 Christmas Tour, visiting York Barbican on December 7, three days after she turns 50: a landmark she will mark with her sixth album of South Yorkshire pub carols and winter songs. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Beware the Green Fingers: Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter launch their debut children’s show at York Theatre Royal

Children’s show of the week: Fladam, Green Fingers, TakeOver Festival, York Theatre Royal, May 27, 3pm

GREEN Fingers is a work-in-progress performance to test out madcap York musical comedy double act Fladam’s first foray into family theatre ahead of its full debut at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter present a deliciously Roald Dahl-style musical storytelling show for children aged five to 12 about a boy born with bright green hands. Is he really rotten or just misunderstood? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Amy May Ellis: Back at The Band Room

Homeward bound: Amy May Ellis, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, May 27, 7.30pm

BEWITCHING ambient Yorkshire rose folkster Amy May Ellis makes an overdue return to her “local” moorland venue, where she has opened for Hiss Golden Messenger, Willy Mason, Michael Chapman, Ryley Walker and Howe Gelb since teen days…and always brought the house down.

This time she is touring her debut album, Over Ling And Bell, released on Isle of Eigg’s cult Lost Map Records, home of Pictish Trail and one-time Lost Map Sessions singer and songwriter James Yorkston, with whom Amy has toured. Wanderland and Nessy Williamson support. Box office: thebandroom.co.uk.

Awaiting his coat of many colours: Jonathan Wells in rehearsal for his title role in York Musical Theatre Company’s Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat

Musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1968 debut musical: the biblical journey of Joseph, son of Jacob and one of 12 brothers, and his coat of many colours.

From the book of Genesis to the musical’s genesis as a cantata written for a school choir, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has grown into an iconic musical theatre staple. Here husband and wife Jonathan Wells and Jennie Wogan-Wells lead the cast as Joseph and the Narrator. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Richard E Grant: Reflecting on love and loss at the Grand Opera House, York

Talk show of the week: An Evening With Richard E Grant, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm

ACTOR Richard E Grant tells stories from his life, entwining tales from his glittering career with uplifting reflections on love and loss, as told in last September’s memoir, A Pocketful Of Happiness.

Grant will be considering the inspiration behind the book – how, when his beloved wife Joan died in 2021 after almost 40 years together, she set him a challenge of finding a pocketful of happiness in every day. The book and now the tour show honour that challenge. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Leon Francois Dumont’s Ring Of Fire: Not one of the “life drawings” but featuring in the Donderdag Collective exhibition nonetheless at Pyramid Gallery, York

York exhibition launch of the week: The Donderdag Collective, Artists And The Human Form, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, York, today, from 11am, until June 25

FOUNDED in 2011 by a group of artists in York, The Donderdag Collective members – both professionals and keen amateurs – meet at St Olave’s Church Hall, in Marygate Lane, on Thursday evenings to sketch or paint from a life model (‘Donderdag’ being Dutch for ‘Thursday’).

Taking part in this resulting show are: Julie Mitchell; Rory Barke; Bertt deBaldock; Diane Cobbold; Carolyn Coles; Leon Francois Dumont; Jeanne Godfrey; Anna Harding; Adele Karmazyn; Michelle Galloway; Andrian Melka; Kate Pettitt; Swea Sayers; Barbara Shaw and Donna Maria Taylor.

Dame Joan Collins: Going Behind The Shoulder Pads at the Grand Opera House in October

Show announcement of the week: Dame Joan Collins, Behind The Shoulder Pads, Grand Opera House, York, October 2, 7.30pm

TO coincide with the release of her memoir Behind The Shoulder Pads, Hollywood legend, author, producer, humanitarian and entrepreneur Dame Joan Collins, who will turn 90 on May 23, will embark on a tour with husband Percy Gibson by her side.

Returning to the Grand Opera House, where they presented Unscripted in February 2019, they will field audience questions and tell seldom-told tales and enchanting anecdotes, accompanied by rare footage from Dame Joan’s seven decades in showbusiness. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Mikron Theatre give humans the bird in Poppy Hollman’s rallying call for nature and the RSPB in birdwatching play Twitchers

Bird watch: Mikron Theatre Company cast members Eddie Ahrens, Hannah Baker, Rachel Hammond and Harvey Badger in Poppy Hollman’s Twitchers. Picture: Anthony Robling

POPPY Hollman is on song in her second commission for Mikron Theatre Company.

After A Dog’s Tale in 2021, the Marsden company is undertaking a nationwide tour of Twitchers, her new play about birds, birders and the work and history of the RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

As part of Mikron’s 51st season, Twitchers will be on its travels by land and water from April 7 to October 21, visiting York on Sunday afternnon in the company’s regular May slot at Scarcroft Allotments, a suitably outdoor setting for a play rich with bird song.

“It’s like an itch I can’t stop scratching: writing about animals,” says Poppy. “First dogs, now birds [Mikron had already done a play about bees and beekeeping, Deborah McAndrew’s Beyond The Veil in 2013].”

In Poppy’s story, performed by debutant Mikron actor-musicians Eddie Ahrens, Hannah Baker, Harvey Badger and Rachel Hammond, Springwatch is coming to the RSPB Shrikewing nature reserve (“notionally in Yorkshire, but completely fictional,” says Poppy).

From raucous rooks to booming bitterns, the birds of Shrikewing are its stars, but can Jess take inspiration from the RSPB’s tenacious female founders and draw on its history of campaigning to save them? What’s more, can she find her own voice to raise a rallying cry for nature?

“Twitchers is about the RSPB, Europe’s largest conservation charity, and their struggles to protect birds and wildlife since 1889,” says Poppy. “The play offers a fun swoop into the colourful world of birds and birdwatching. Our feathered friends are the real stars of the show; you’ll see them flirting, bickering and making their own indelible impression on the plot.”

Twitchers is nevertheless “driven by the human story”. “It’s a modern-day account of what the RSPB is coming up against in its work. Set on a bird reserve, it gives the human side of the story through telling the history of the RSPB – in the way you can do that in two 45-minute halves in a Mikron show.

“The RSPB was started in 1889 by four indomitable women, before women had the vote and pre-dating other wildlife organisations too. They were seeking to stop the trade in feathers and exotic plumes, mainly for hats,” says Poppy. 

“That trade was worth the equivalent of £200 million today, so it was incredibly valuable, and at the time women were not only wearing feathers but dead birds too, and they did so well into the 20th century.

“But in the 1920s, a ban on the import of feathers was finally secured. Gradually the campaigners had made that trade seem so unsanitary and so cruel.”

The dilemma, the dichotomy, that we face more than ever in our age of climate change is how humanity can destroy yet have the potential to save nature. “One RSPB worker in the play says, ‘it would be best of we just closed down and left nature to itself’, but actually that would not be a good idea,” says Poppy.

The RSPB’s membership of one million and volunteer workforce of 12,000 would testify to the importance of their shared concern. “The area covered by RSPB reserves is four times the size of the Isle of Wight, so they need that membership and the volunteers in order to do such vital work, with events like the Big Garden Birdwatch, held every January, when we gain an accurate count of our native birds,” says Poppy.

“The Operation Osprey campaign launched in 1959 was a very important turning point for the RSPB, when these birds were endangered because of egg collectors. By raising awareness of the osprey’s plight, they made it harder for the [egg-collecting] crime to happen.”

Mikron’s multi-talented cast will play the birds in Poppy’s play. “Two of the main characters are a pair of rooks, Barry and Freda, who take on the role of the Greek chorus, commenting on what’s going on at Shrikewing,” she says.

“They see the challenges that are going on in trying to run a reserve and all the problems that go with that. Like the pollution incident, where yet again humans have done something that threatens life there.”

Bird song: Hannah Baker, left, Eddie Ahrens, Harvey Badger and Rachel Hammond in a scene from Twitchers. Picture: Anthony Robling

Poppy’s own love, appreciation and awareness of birds dates back to her childhood. “I grew up in a village in north Buckinghamshire, and I now live only 20 miles away from there in Bedfordshire,” she says.

“I’ve noticed how we no longer see the birds I saw as a child: the chaffinches and the starlings. I’ve definitely developed more of a relationship with birds in my garden, buying feeders.

“A lot of young birders now do low-carbon birding, travelling by bicycle, or focusing on the patch around them, avoiding creating massive emissions by not travelling great distances to go birdwatching. They’re a very inspiring generation, really helping nature.”

Such positivity is extended to the play’s finale. “I wanted to end it on a high, even though optimism is quite hard with what we’re doing to our planet right now, but the people who work at the RSPB reserves are so passionate and optimistic about what they do,” says Poppy.

“I’ve tried to not make it too polemical. Someone described it as ‘quietly polemical’ and I agree with that.”

Mikron Theatre Company in Twitchers, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (21/5/2023), 2pm. No reserved seating or tickets are required, and instead a ‘pay what you feel’ collection will be taken after the show.

Twitchers is on tour nationally by canal, river and road until October 21, in tandem with Mikron’s premiere of Amanda Whittington’s A Force To Be Reckoned With. Full tour details at www.mikron.org.uk.

Playwright Poppy Hollman

Poppy Hollman: the back story

TWITCHERS is Poppy’s second play for Mikron Theatre Company.

Her first, 2021’s A Dog’s Tale, was commissioned after she took part in the Mikron New Writer’s Scheme in 2018.

Her other plays include Bells Of Turvey (community play, 2017); Little Shining Eyes (No Loss Productions and Lifebox Productions, Bedfringe 2019); Moon Calf (2019) and Nobody Talked (Glass Splinters, Pleasance Theatre London, 2020).

As well as writing plays, Poppy works as a creative producer for the Living Archive in Milton Keynes.

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REVIEW: Shared Space Theatre in Every Brilliant Thing, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday ****

Alan Park in one of those “things in stripes” that makes the seven-year-old boy’s list of brilliant things in Every Brilliant Thing
  1. Make a list of reasons why you should see Every Brilliant Thing.
  2. Thank Duncan Macmillan for writing Sleeve Notes, his book of lists.
  3. Thank actor Jonny Donahue for helping Macmillan to turn it into a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe and in London and New York.
  4. Put yourself in the shoes of the seven-year-old schoolboy who writes a list of every brilliant thing, every small miracle, to make his suicidal mum realise life is worth living.
  5. Ice cream.
  6. Water fights.
  7. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV.
  8. The colour yellow.
  9. Things with stripes.
  10. Rollercoasters.
  11. People falling over.
  12. Often ordinary things, but brilliant in their own way.
  13. Mum keeps trying to take her life, and so he keeps adding to the list.
  14. You should do the same. Make a list, I mean.
  15. Especially if you are feeling listless.
  16. Start now.
  17. Well, not until you have read this review.
  18. Thank Theatre@41 supporter Cate Birch for recommending Every Brilliant Thing to chair Alan Park.
  19. Thank Alan for reading it.
  20. Thank Alan, professional actor to boot, for deciding he should perform it himself.
  21. Thank Duncan Macmillan for saying yes to York’s new company Shared Space Theatre making it their debut production.
  22. Thank Alan for asking Maggie Smales – responsible for York Shakespeare Project’s best ever production, the all-female Henry V – to direct him.
  23. Thank brainbox Alan for having the mental powers to remember the script for his lead role in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and Every Brilliant Thing in quick succession.
  24. Thank his Maths teacher of bygone years for Alan being good with numbers. So many numbers, one for every brilliant thing on a list now running to 1,000,000.
  25. Alan doesn’t have to remember all that list but he does have to remember what goes with each number that features in the show.
  26. And remember a running order that is not as easy as 123 to remember.
  27. Because it is not in numerical order.
  28. And sometimes a number is repeated.
  29. And repeated.
  30. Again.
  31. Much later.
  32. It all adds up to a breathtaking and sometimes breathless display of skills in breaking down theatre’s fourth wall.
  33. Result: The audience immediately feels part of the hour-long show.
  34. Whether reading out a brilliant thing from the list on a number cue.
  35. Or having fun when gently enticed by Alan into playing a role.
  36. Such as?
  37. A teacher with a sock puppet of a dog, requiring Alan’s recruit to remove a shoe and sock to play the part.
  38. Or the boy’s father, but then switching with Alan for him to play the father and you, the son, en route to hospital, asking “Why” in response to everything he says.
  39. Why?
  40. Because that’s what children do.
  41. Why?
  42. Don’t ask.
  43. Later play the father again, this time in a wedding breakfast speech…revealing a Texan accent.
  44. Prompting Alan’s character – he has no name – to comment on suddenly discovering unexpected American roots.
  45. Describe a woman with an orange top and blonde hair from Macmillan’s story…and promptly ask a woman in the front row in orange, with blonde hair, to play that character.  
  46. Make eye contact with another female member of the audience.
  47. She happens to be an actress, serendipitously. A rather good one.
  48. Flo Poskitt.
  49. One half of Fladam.
  50. York’s musical comedy double act with Adam Sowter.
  51. Catch them in Green Fingers at next week’s TakeOver Festival at York Theatre Royal.
  52. May 27, 3pm.
  53. Box office: 01904 623568.
  54. Or yortheatreroyal.co.uk.
  55. She willingly plays a woman called Sam with whom Alan’s character bonds over a love of books.
  56. They fall in love.
  57. They marry…after Flo’s Sam goes down on one unsteady knee to propose to him in an equally unsteady voice.
  58. Prompting a comment from Alan.
  59. He’s good at that.
  60. The impromptu stuff.
  61. Off the cuff.
  62. On the mark.
  63. It all helps that we are seated in two rows in the round, with no-one allowed upstairs under Macmillan’s strict rules of democracy to create a shared experience.
  64. There are a few empty chairs.
  65. But that’s good.
  66. Because Alan is only too happy to occupy any empty chair, next to whoever, and spring from chair to chair.
  67. Because, as George Osborne once said: “We are all in this together.”
  68. Although not in Chancellor George’s case, we weren’t.
  69. But definitely in Every Brilliant Thing.
  70. The list keeps growing.
  71. Music.
  72. Lots of music.
  73. The way Ray Charles sings “You” in Drown In My Own Tears.
  74. But not jazz.
  75. Instrumental jazz, to be precise.
  76. Music that “sounds like it’s falling down the stairs”.
  77. Music to signify you should stay out of dad’s way at that moment.
  78. The marriage ends. Wham bam, exit Sam.
  79. The list stops.
  80. Suddenly.
  81. Well past 800,000.
  82. Only to start again years later.
  83. Like suddenly revisiting an old diary and feeling inspired to begin Dear Diarying all over again.
  84. Alan’s character has a serious point to make.
  85. Suicide. Don’t do it. There has to be something to live for, he says. Hence the list. Hence this show.
  86. And if the play has troubled you, Alan will be on hand afterwards to talk about its themes.
  87. This week’s production happens to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week.
  88. More details at mentalhealth.org.uk.
  89. Every Brilliant Thing does address depression, suicide, death (beginning with the family pet), but it is uplifting, joyous, funny too.
  90. A difficult balancing act.
  91. But negotiated skilfully by Macmillan and Donahue, and now Park and Smales. Never glib. Often profound. Comforting. Thought provoking.
  92. Life changing?
  93. You decide.
  94. There are still three opportunities to see Every Brilliant Thing.
  95. Tonight at 7.30pm.
  96.  Tomorrow at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
  97. At the venue that won Best Entertainment Venue at Thursday night’s YorkMix Choice Awards 2023.
  98. Congratulations, Alan and all the team at Theatre@41.
  99. Another reason to…
  100. Add Every Brilliant Thing to your list of what to do this weekend. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
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Next Door But One reflect on death and lessons for life in Operation Hummingbird

Next Door But One chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle directing a rehearsal for Operation Hummingbird

YORK community arts collective Next Door But One are taking part in the 2023 TakeOver Festival at York Theatre Royal next week, performing a revival of Operation Hummingbird.

NDB1 premiered artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s one-act two-hander to sold-out audiences in the socially distanced summer of 2021. Now, buoyed by being among 984 arts organisations to be granted National Portfolio (NPO) status by Arts Council England and winning the award for Resilience and Innovation at the 2023 Visit York Tourism Awards, they have launched their new programme.

“It’s quite apt that our first touring production as an NPO is Operation Hummingbird,” says Matt. “‘We’ve spent ten years working hard, dreaming big and forging fruitful partnerships. That’s how we got here. Now we’re looking into the future and are so excited for what the next three years hold. A reflective, hopeful story about looking back and looking ahead feels perfect for now.”

Already this month NDB1 have staged Operation Hummingbird in library performances York Explore, Haxby Explore, Clifton Explore, Tang Hall Explore and Acomb Explore, from May 9 to 12, and now they are heading to the theatre and arts centre circuit. 

Midday and 7pm performances on May 23 and 24 on York Theatre Royal’s main stage will be followed by Pocklington Arts Centre on May 25 and Helmsley Arts Centre on June 2, both at 7.30pm.

David Lomond, back, and James Lewis-Knight in Next Door But One’s 2023 tour of Operation Hummingbird

“I realised it could work as a main-house piece when I watched Pilot Theatre’s Run Rebel, when they had sold only the stalls, but there was something nice about playing a performance to the stalls,” says Matt. “We’ll make it intimate by using only the front half of the stage, working with a new lighting designer, Abi Turner, from London,  who has designed  previously for the Donmar Warehouse.”

Based on his own memoir of living with loss, Matt’s two-hander tells the story of teenager Jimmy, who is dealing with his mum’s terminal diagnosis by diving into computer games. Through this virtual reality, he meets his future self and asks: will everything turn out OK?

“Operation Hummingbird is a humorous and uplifting exploration of grief, loss and noticing just how far you’ve come,” says Matt, whose cast features NDB1 associate artist James Lewis-Knight, returning in the role of Jimmy, and Scarborough actor David Lomond, joining the company for the first time to play James, the future version of Jimmy, 35 more years on the clock.

“For me, the concept is: this play is a really specific look at terminal illness, death and bereavement, but the narrative is universal. If we could fast-forward time and then be able to go back, older and wise, to stop our younger self by passing on advice. We’ve all had those questions that our older selves would like to have been able to give the answer to our younger selves.”

The two-hander format is ideal, suggests Matt. “After Covid, people are wanting shorter shows – this one is only 50 minutes – where you don’t have to travel far to see it and you could even see it at lunchtime if you went to a library performance.

James Lewis-Knight’s Jimmy in a scene from the 2021 premiere of Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s Operation Hummingbird. He returns for the new production

“We’ve brought Operation Hummingbird back after we had brilliant feedback from the first run, when we had only just come out of Covid restrictions and so only small, socially distanced audiences were allowed.

“For the 2023 revival, we decided we’d go to the satellite Explore York libraries we didn’t play before. Now we’ve been able to pick up the project and say, ‘we know it works but what’s the full iteration?’.

“That means also performing it on the Theatre Royal main stage and taking it to Pocklington and Helmsley. It’s actually our first ever show at the Theatre Royal because we’ve never looked into doing one there before, as the heart of our work is taking it to the community, places on people’s doorsteps, such as libraries, community centres and the Camphill Village Trust (with our show The Firework-Maker’s Daughter).”

Matt continues: “It feels like a significant moment of growth for us. We’re known to the communities we engage with, like the Snappy Trust and York Carers Centre, who appreciate our values, and this revival is an introductory chance for us to say, ‘if you don’t know our work, this is what we do’.

“I hope I have turned a story that started from a very personal place into something that we can all relate to,” says writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle

“One of the first pieces of feedback we had was someone saying, ‘I can’t believe how much you can tell in a story with so little. We’re the opposite of doing big-scale theatre productions. It’s still a big story, about death and bereavement, and for me, as a director, the main thing has to be the story.

“You could detract from it with a big set and a light show, so we tell a story with three boxes, a few props and two actors and no blackouts of the auditorium. The focus is on the story.”

Matt concludes: “There’s something in this show for everyone. I hope I have turned a story that started from a very personal place – with the sudden death of my mum in 2016 – into something that we can all relate to. I know that audiences in 2021 left entertained and reflective about their own life. I hope we can achieve the same this time, but reach an even bigger audience across the region.”

Tickets for all venues can be booked at www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk. Also: York Theatre Royal, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on NCEM Young Composers Award 2023, NCEM

English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

NCEM Young Composers Award 2023, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York

EIGHT finalists, selected from more than 70 composers under the age of 25, enjoyed a day of workshops with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (ECSE) and composer Liz Dilnot Johnson.

The outcome was ECSE’s evening concert, which presented the new scores interwoven with 15th and 16th century Spanish works.

This was not merely a satisfying melange. It gave context to the entire enterprise. More than that, it allowed ECSE to introduce the two traditional ‘Spanish’ tunes on one of which the competitors were asked to base their pieces: La Spagna (actually an Italian bassadanza) or Ayo Visto La Mappamundi (I Have Seen The Map Of The World).

It needs to be said at once that the six members of ECSE played superbly, on two cornetts, three sackbuts and an organ, often dealing with technical problems quite outside their comfort zone.

Three of their contributions were lithe organ solos from Silas Wollston. The full group’s highlight was in Counterpoints on La Spagna, taken from the few that survive from the 120 or so written by Constanzo Festa.

Three composers chose La Spagna as their inspiration. Mollie Carlyle’s Not Quite Music To Dance To started slowly, then grew in balletic activity, which included three brief solos, the instruments uniting in a closing unison.

Tommaso Bailo’s Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking – the title of a Walt Whitman poem – was sectional, with detectable motifs, moving from a diffuse start to a racy close. Edwin de Nicolò’s Alameda And Toccata slowly developed into jazzy syncopation, nicely shaded, before a quieter resolution.

The remaining five chose the Mappamundi tune. Rachel Sunter’s Nada Que Perder (Nothing To Lose) also went for syncopation, mostly in the top two sackbuts, against a running counterpoint in the cornetts.

Reese Carly Manglicmot’s Fly! used a number of pedal points to underline its various takes on flight, before coming to an abrupt end. Sam Meredith’s piece employed the full Mappamundi title in clearly structured counterpoint, including the organ, before a bluesy close.

Owen Spafford’s Bog Bodies – mummified cadavers found in peat bogs – appealed to local tastes by adding fragments of the Lyke-Wake Dirge to his underlying motif, contrasting the cornetts against the sackbuts and using quarter-tones evocatively.

Jacob Jordan’s A Ceremonial Dance For Mice, highly syncopated throughout, especially in the sackbuts, stuck to a compelling trochaic rhythm.

These last two were declared winners at the end of the evening, Spafford in the 19 to 25 age group, Jordan – the youngest finalist (17 this year) – in the 18 and under category. But all eight finalists displayed distinctive talents and none of the pieces lacked interest, quite the reverse.

These are all names to watch, without exception. And music of this calibre is breathing new life into period instrument techniques.                       

The concert was streamed and may be viewed at http://www.youngcomposersaward.co.uk . It also will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Sunday, November 26.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Project: Thursday life drawing classes at St Olave’s Church Hall. Result: Donderdag Collective exhibition at Pyramid Gallery

Tranquillity, chalk and charcoal, by Diane Cobbold

THE Donderdag Collective will be exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York from Saturday to June 25.

Founded in 2011 by a group of artists in York, they meet at St Olave’s Church Hall, in Marygate Lane, on Thursday evenings to sketch or paint from a life model (‘Donderdag’ being Dutch for ‘Thursday’).

The group comprises both professional artists and keen amateurs who want to hone their technique or explore new ideas by working freely with a life model.

Comfortable In Your Own Skin, life drawing artwork, by Donderdag Collective member Carolyn Coles

“This exhibition is a celebration of the art of life drawing and an opportunity for the collective to show together the art that they make for pleasure or as a means of earning a living,” says Pyramid Gallery owner and curator Terry Brett.

Fifteen members will feature in the Artists And The Human Form show, exhibiting both life drawings made during the Thursday sessions and other artworks for sale.

Away, charcoal, by Kate Pettitt

Taking part will be: Julie Mitchell; Rory Barke; Bertt deBaldock (aka Terry Brett);  Diane Cobbold; Carolyn Coles; Leon Francois Dumont; Jeanne Godfrey; Anna Harding; Adele Karmazyn; Michelle Galloway; Andrian Melka; Kate Pettitt; Swea Sayers; Barbara Shaw and Donna Maria Taylor.

The artists will attend Saturday’s official opening from 11am to 2.30pm, when wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Gallery opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday; closed Sundays.

Ring Of Fire, oil, by Leon Francois Dumont
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REVIEW: Northern Broadsides/New Vic Theatre in Quality Street, York Theatre Royal, plenty in the tin until Saturday ****

Jamie Smelt’s Recruiting Officer, Paula Lane’s Phoebe Throssel, Aron Julius’s Captain Valentine Brown and Alex Moran’s Ensign Blades in Northern Broadsides’ Quality Street

EVERYONE has a favourite Quality Street – purple, green…orange, not so keen – but there is only one Quality Street play to bite into.

Nevertheless, Northern Broadsides artistic director Laurie Sansom gives it a new wrapper, “stirring in a good helping of Yorkshire wit” from the retired workers of Halifax’s Mackintosh factory, makers of Quality Street.

And so a work from Toffee Town heads to Chocolate City this week, much later than first planned. Sansom’s Broadsides debut had to be put back in the sweetie cupboard after only four weeks when Covid put a red line through theatre shows in March 2020.

This spring he picks up the mantle with plenty of new flavours in the cast, only two of the originals still making the selection for the revived co-production with Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre.

Here is the history bit. Quality Street is a “delicious Regency rom-com” from the 1901 pen of J M Barrie, pre-dating the better known Peter Pan but a huge hit on Broadway in its own right.

Come 1936, Mackintosh’s management hit on the idea of assembling beautifully wrapped toffees, chocolates and sweets in a tin encased in a picture of Quality Street’s principal characters, Phoebe Throssel and Captain Valentine Brown.

Cue Sansom’s idea to weave verbatim recollections from the Quality Street factory floor into Barrie’s play, the red-hatted workers serving as a Greek chorus cum collective narrator, passing comment on the play’s unfolding dramas, recalling their working days and their own romances, and reflecting on how courting has changed.

The to-and-fro format takes a while to settle, not least because the ‘Mack’ workforce open the play with their fourth wall-breaking gossip and nostalgia. They are never more than convivial commentators by comparison with the fateful scene-setting of the Witches in the thunder and lightning prologue to Macbeth and their subsequent encounters with the murderous Macbeth .

Something sweet and nutty this way comes as Barrie introduces his Regency romp with Paula Lane (once Kylie Platt in a different cobbled street, of the Coronation  soap variety) in the role of Phoebe Throssel, a woman scandalised by having allowed Captain Valentine Brown (Aron Julius) to kiss her on the cheek. Ten years ago.

Aron Julius’s Captain Valentine Brown and Paula Lane’s Phoebe Throssel in Quality Street: Picture: Andrew Billington

Ten years when he has been away fighting Napoleon, while Phoebe and sister Susan (Louisa-May Parker) have had to make a living, running a school for unruly children. They look exhausted, enervated, contemplating the prospect of having to add algebra to the curriculum without any enthusiasm. Understandable caution, you might say, in spite of PM Rishi Sunak’s enthusiasm for adding more Maths to the curriculum.

At this juncture, aside from Gilly Tompkins’ blunt-speaking maid Patty, more humour has been mined from the factory workers’ chatter than Barrie’s story, as supporting cast members switch between tea-break comment and rom-com roles. But once Julius’s Captain reacts so negatively to the older-looking Phoebe, still only 30, the play finds its sweet spot.

For a lavish ball, Phoebe transforms herself into lively, vivacious, flirty, flighty Miss Livvy, her “niece”, an alter-ego that will soon require her to be in two places at once in one of comedy’s favourite devices, from Shakespeare comedies of mistaken identity to Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest, chaotic Mischief capers to myriad pantomimes.

Not before Jessica Worrall’s witty design has served up the gorgeous spectacle of all the ladies in Quality Street wrapper dresses, Miss Livvy in the most popular purple, of course.

Not only Captain Brown is smitten, so too are Jamie Smelt’s Recruiting Sergeant and Alex Moran’s Ensign Blades as the comedy picks up pace and impact. Cross-dressing Jelani D’Aguilar’s Fanny Willoughby adds to the fun, and Parker’s Susan, forced to play a straight bat to keep Phoebe/Livvy one step ahead, personifies resourceful understatement.

At first you may wonder – as your reviewer did when watching a performance at Leeds Playhouse – why Quality Street made Barrie a fortune, but as should always be the case, the second half is better than the first, In particular in the all-important frank discussions between Phoebe and Captain Brown, where Barrie’s writing, suddenly more serious, goes to the heart of a woman’s woes, mistreatment and frustrations.

From the brief appearances of puppets to Ben Wright’s choreography for the ball, the design’s colour palette and the cast’s colourful northern vowels to Sansom’s beautifully judged direction, Quality Street ends up being a tin of purple and green ones.

Lane’s performance, especially when she has to have a filling of Phoebe within a chocolate coating of Miss Livvy, is top Quality too.

Northern Broadsides and New Vic Theatre present Quality Street at York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Also: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, May 25 to 27; Hull Truck Theatre, May 31 to June 3; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, June 6 to 10; Victoria Theatre, Halifax, July 4 to 7. Box office: Sheffield,  0114 249 6000 or sheffieldtheatres.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Halifax, 01422 351158 or victoriatheatre.co.uk.

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Mikron Theatre highlight pioneering policewomen in Amanda Whittington’s A Force To Be Reckoned With premiere

Eddie Ahrens, left, Rachel Hammond, Hannah Baker and Harvey Badger in Mikron Theatre Company’s A Force To Be Reckoned With. Picture: Anthony Robling

MIKRON Theatre Company are pursuing enquiries into the role of the pioneering women of Britain’s police force in Amanda Whittington’s new play A Force To Be Reckoned With.

After opening at the West Yorkshire company’s home of the Marsden Mechanics Hall on May 13, the premiere will be on tour nationally by canal, river and road until October 21, taking in Clements Hall, in York, on September 17 at 4pm.

Press performances will be at The Wetherby Whaler, Guiseley, tomorrownight and the Greater Manchester Police Museum & Archives, Manchester, on Saturday afternoon.

Billed as “more Heartbeat than Happy Valley”, A Force To Be Reckoned With captures a century of change in an arresting story directed by Gitka Buttoo with music by Greg Last and design by Celia Perkins.

In the cast are four actor-musician new to Mikron’s entertaining, enlightening and educational brand of theatre: Hannah Baker, Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens and Rachel Hammond, who played the punkish, free-spirited Peggy, one of the Amazons sisters, in Swallows And Amazons, Damian Cruden’s farewell production after 22 years as artistic director at York Theatre Royal in July-August 2019.

Equipped with a handbag, whistle and a key to the police box, WPC Iris Armstrong is ready for whatever the mean streets of a 1950s’ market town throws at her.

Fresh from police training school, she prepares for her first day on the beat. The reality is different, however. Stuck at the station, she soon finds her main jobs are typing and making brews.

Whereupon Iris joins forces with fellow WPC Ruby Roberts: an unlikely partnership, a two-girl department, called to any case involving women and children, from troublesome teens to fraudulent fortune tellers.

What starts as “women’s work” soon becomes a specialist role, one where Iris finds she is earning her place in a historic force to be reckoned with. 

Along the way, she discovers the Edwardian volunteers who came before her, a lineage of Suffragettes-turned-moral enforcers, and the secrets that the police box hides.

Amanda Whittington made her Mikron debut with her women’s football drama Atalanta Forever in 2021 in a career that has accrued more than 40 plays, such as Be My Baby, The Thrill Of Love, Kiss Me Quick and her Ladies trilogy, plus seven series of D For Dexter and episodes of The Archers for BBC Radio 4.

“I’m delighted to be back at Mikron in their 51st year with A Force To Be Reckoned With.  The play takes a light-hearted look at the lives of Women Police Constables in the 1950s, celebrating their spirit, optimism and heroic efforts to break the glass ceiling without a truncheon.”  

Based in the village of Marsden, at the foot of the Yorkshire Pennines, Mikron have toured 68 productions over the past 51 years, spending more than 37,000 boating hours on board the vintage narrowboat Tyseley.

They perform their shows in unexpected places: a play about growing your own veg on an allotment; one about bees, staged next to hives; another about fish and chips, in a fish and chip restaurant; hostelling, in YHA youth hostels; the RNLI, at several lifeboat stations. Now into a sixth decade, the company has stacked up 5,300 performances, playing to 440,000 people. 

A Force To Be Reckoned With is touring through the summer months alongside Twitchers, Poppy Hollman’s new play about the history of the RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), full of birdsong and laughter.

Dates include a 2pm open-air performance at Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, on Sunday, when no reserved seating or tickets are required, and instead a ‘pay what you feel’ collection will be taken after the show.

For tour dates and information on A Force To Be Reckoned With, visit http://mikron.org.uk

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Raquel Andueza & La Galanía and Concerto 1700

Raquel Andueza & La Galanía: “17th century songs and dances of a distinctly earthy character, with lyrics that sometimes left little to the imagination”. Picture: Michal Novak

Beyond The Spanish Golden Age: Raquel Andueza & La Galanía, May 13; Concerto 1700, May 14, both at National Centre for Early Music, York

THE Spaniards rode into town over the weekend.

There is nothing quite so invigorating as hearing music that you have never had the chance to encounter before. Thanks to the sponsorship of Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish equivalent of the British Council, two groups introduced works that were certainly new to these ears and doubtless to many others in the enthusiastic audiences.

Raquel Andueza is a soprano who co-founded her support-group, La Galanía, which normally comprises violin, guitar and theorbo. Even without its violinist, who was indisposed on this occasion, they are a lively combo. They concentrated on 17th century songs and dances of a distinctly earthy character, with lyrics that sometimes left little to the imagination.

The jácara was a romance – we might call it a ballad – usually with a low-life character at its heart. The zarabanda – before the French turned into a sober sarabande – was a wildly erotic dance in its original Spanish and Mexican form, even being banned at court as early as 1583.

These, along with the folia, a lively dance-song, formed the backbone of mainly anonymous works that have been rediscovered in collections outside Spain, mainly in France, Italy and England.

Andueza’s light soprano relished the nuances in her lyrics, in a programme entitled I Am Madness, after Henry du Bailly’s famous song to anonymous lyrics with which she opened.

Andueza’s style was catchy and charismatic, made immensely more so by the stylish, distinctively ethnic playing of baroque guitarist Pierre Pitzl and theorbist Jesús Fernández Baena. They stroked and strummed with panache, alternating the percussive with the delicate. It was intoxicating.

Concerto 1700: “Their ensemble was everywhere remarkably taut”

Concerto 1700, as its name implies, takes its repertoire from the 18th century. The string trio was the dominant ensemble at the Madrid court during the reign of Charles IV, who ruled from 1788 to 1808 until deposed by Napoleon’s brother. Madrid was a magnet for Italian composers in particular. Boccherini was the best known of them and invented the guitar quintet there.

His Second String Trio, Op 34, was packed with gripping detail: headlong scales in thirds involving the two violins; a virtuoso cadenza for the cello ranging over the whole spectrum, coolly despatched by Ester Domingo, during the minuet’s trio (not a place where you expect much action); a chromatic Adagio studded with brisk interjections and ending with a violin cadenza for leader Daniel Pinteño; and a dashing final rondo. The ensemble took all this in its stride.

Cayetano Brunetti, another Italian immigrant, took on a Spanish name – he was christened Gaetano. He produced some dashing coups in his Sixth Trio, notably abrupt breaks in mid-phrase, even more daring than Haydn, and a racy finale studded with birdsong.

These alone were eye-openers, but they were complemented by two trios composed by local talent José Castel that were brimming with good humour. His opening movements, deceptively marked Allegretto Gratioso, were anything but, quite volatile in fact.

What made Concerto 1700 so satisfying were the intimate reactions between the players, with the expressive features of the second violinist, Fumiko Morie, a weather vane of emotions linking her colleagues. As a result, their ensemble was everywhere remarkably taut.

These concerts were the first at the NCEM to be sponsored by Instituto Cervantes. We must earnestly hope that they will not be the last. This music deserves much wider currency than it has received so far in this neck of the woods. It’s simply too good to waste.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Navigators Art to participate in 2023 York Festival of Ideas with triple venture of art, music & words and film projects. UPDATED with Richard Kitchen interview 26/5/2023

Mapped Head 1, by Nick Walters, from Navigators Art’s Hidden Treasures exhibition for the 2023 York Festival of Ideas

YORK creative collective Navigators Art & Performance are contributing a three-part project to the 2023 York Festival of Ideas, inspired by the festival theme of Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild.

The trio of shows and events celebrates rarely seen works in York Art Gallery, books in the city library and intriguing aspects of York life and culture that people might not notice from day to day or even be aware of.

For Hidden Treasures, five artists have sought out unfamiliar but inspiring aspects of York, reinterpreting them in their own way for an exhibition to be hosted by York Explore Library and Archive, in Museum Street, from May 27 to July 6.

Katie Lewis uses textiles and other media to reflect the story behind Thomas Baker’s Crazy Kate in the Treasures from the Stores collection at York Art Gallery.

Nick Walters animates and illuminates on screen the textures of John Davies’s Mapped Head 1, as observed by fellow characters from other works in the collection.

Peter Roman explores the library’s treasures, using collage, paint and typography to delve into the world of books and finding lyrical inspiration from York wordsmiths along the way.

Richard Kitchen switches from his trademark collage format to the camera, pairing it with manual and digital tools to reveal jewel-like qualities in city streets, walls and other surfaces.

Timothy Morrison summons the spirits of Vladimir Tatlin and Greg Curnoe to reveal an artist’s perspective on everyday objects through a variety of materials.

Entry will be free during normal library opening hours. More information can be found at: https://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2023/throughout/hidden-treasures/

Navigators Art’s poster for the Living Treasures performance at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York

On June 10, Navigators Art writers, musicians and performers present Living Treasures, an evening of original music and words at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street.

For this 7.30pm celebration of secrets of York life and culture, from folk, punk and poetry to fine art via the city streets, they have sought out “hidden treasures” to reinterpret in song and spoken word.

Musical performers include members of the White Sail alt. folk band, Navigators’ composer Dylan Thompson, singer-songwriters Miri Green and Cai Moriarty and up-and-coming York band The Corsairs.

For more information and bookings, head to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-treasures-tickets-621690722687

The poster for Navigators Art’s screening of Martin Nichols’ film There’s Another Country at City Screen Picturehouse, York

In Navigators Art’s third festival event, Brighton director Martin Nichols’ film There’s Another Country will be shown at City Screen Picturehouse on Sunday, June 11 at 11am.

Nichols’ kaleidoscope of post-Brexit Britain unearths parallel traumas in public and private lives while simultaneously anticipating a rediscovery of the radical transforming spirit of 1945 in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.

For more information and bookings, visit: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/018/HO00012927/there-s-another-country

Here CharlesHutchPress discusses all things Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild with Navigators Art co-founder and artist Richard Kitchen

How did you hit on the tripartite format for this event, Richard?

“Originally, we envisaged an exhibition based on York Art Gallery’s Treasures From The Store collection of rarely seen art works, hence our title Hidden Treasures. Our artists would reinterpret some of those works in their own way to suit the festival theme of Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild. We also planned a performance art, music and movement event to take place in the gallery itself.

“We were very pleased that York Explore offered to host the exhibition as we’d been wanting to show something there for some time. As it happened, the gallery said they’d be in mid-changeover so we had to change tack. We expanded the brief beyond York Art Gallery to include works of literature and physical aspects of York itself.

“This will also be the basis for the performance event, which will now be on stage in The Basement at City Screen. Again, the performers have created new work based on a rediscovery of something unfamiliar about York that inspired them.

“The film came along a little later and although it isn’t based on York it is very much about rediscovering aspects of the past and how they inform the present both personally and politically.”

How did the partnership with York Festival of Ideas come to fruition?

“I’ve always enjoyed the festival and its range of events. I wanted Navigators to be involved to round off our first 15 months of activity. This year’s theme appealed, so I drafted a proposal for our involvement, which they accepted. We’re very proud to be part of it and they’ve been very accommodating of changes we’ve had to make as our plans developed.”

How does the festival theme of Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild resonate with the aims of Navigators Art & Performance?

“In all sorts of ways! Variously, our artists have rebuilt careers, reinvented themselves and how they work, and pursued new directions in life as well as art.

“As a group we’ve achieved extraordinary things from very little. Having no physical studio to work in and no funding, we’ve had to seek out places in which to show our work.

“The StreetLife project, in Coney Street, was a milestone for us and helped put us in the centre of artistic activity in York. I think we’ve shown people how much can be done with imagination and enterprise.

“It’s been about giving ourselves permission to do something when no-one else will. I’d say that has positive implications for society and how it might change for the better.”

York band The Corsairs: Playing the Living Treasures bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse on June 10

York is full of hidden treasures! Is that an inevitable problem for a city so rich in history or a joy when such a treasure is put on show and prompts an artistic response?

“Not a problem at all, unless the focus (and public funding) is always on the same high-profile things. Art and culture in this city are alive and well and there’s a lot going on, but it’s not all about tourist attractions and the well-heeled establishment.

“Anything that communicates beyond the heritage trail, makes an impact on the average resident and encourages all levels of society to engage with creative activity is a blessing. Our group seeks out and celebrates the less obvious and tries to make such things more accessible and better appreciated.”

Who put together the June 10 event. How were the Living Treasures acts chosen?

“Some of them appeared last November at our Coney St Live Jam event for StreetLife and impressed us enough to ask them back. We knew they’d be able to come up with new work based on the themes and we’ve given them more space this time to show what they can do.

“One of them actually chose themselves: The Corsairs cheekily advertised in our visitors’ book last December and I liked their attitude. They turned out to be a very exciting discovery. Then we reached out to a few writing and other creative groups to encourage under-represented performers to get involved.”

How did you discover the film There’s Another Country?

“It’s directed by one of my oldest friends, Martin Nichols. After many years exploring familial and social issues in writing and film, he’s found the perfect vehicle for his concerns. It’s highly original in style and while moving and beautiful, it’s also highly critical, irreverent and angry.”

What would a York version of that film look like?

“It’s not ‘about’ any particular place. Its range of reference encompasses a 1913 Welsh mining village, the Second World War, a suburban town in the 1970s and recent anti-government demonstrations in London. It’s pretty universal. A York version would just have the Minster in the background!”

What’s next for Navigators Art?

“We’ll be compiling our next collection of pictures and words for the York Zine Fest in July. We’ll have a spot at the York River Art Market in August and then a short and well-deserved rest before our next show at Micklegate and Fossgate Socials. Nothing concrete for next year as yet but we’re already getting involved in some major plans.”

Navigators Art & Performance: the back story

ESTABLISHED in 2019, this group of York creatives has expanded to a collective of 12 artists, writers, performers, musicians and a composer.

Their mission is to work with community groups and projects, to enhance and creatively interpret their activities for as wide an audience as possible.

In January 2023 they completed a three-month residency at the StreetLife hub in Coney Street, York, presenting a large-scale exhibition and a charity fundraising performance.

They encourage enquiries from potential collaborators, particularly those who are less established or underrepresented, via navigatorsart@gmail.com; likewise head that way for sales and commissions.

Keep an eye on Navigators Art on Instagram and Facebook at: @navigatorsart.

Detail of interior window, Huntington, by Richard Kitchen, from the Navigators Art exhibition at York Explore Library and Archive

UPDATE: 12/6/2023: What was the reaction to Living Treasures and There’s Another Country?

“WE have had the most extraordinary weekend,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “Mark Nichols’ film, a kaleidoscope of post-Brexit Britain, generated a passionate discussion with the audience at City Screen Picturehouse.

“Saturday’s Living Treasures in The Basement at City Screen sold out. The performers were tremendous and the more experimental improvised pieces involving musicians from very different backgrounds, ages and experiences worked superbly well.

“The audience loved it and we’ve been offered a regular spot at The Basement. We actually have plans for a fluid Navigators ‘big band’ to work up some pieces for performance, such as ambient pieces, songs, spoken-word interactions and experimental collaborations.

“It felt very special and inspiring and perhaps the beginning of a unique venture in York.”

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