YORK Musical Society (YMS) will return to York Minster for the first time in two years in its summer concert on June 18.
The 150-strong choir will be joined by York Musical Society Orchestra and four soloists, together with York clarinettist Jonathan Sage, to perform a 7.30pm programme of Mozart and Haydn works.
Musical director David Pipe says: “It’s a long-awaited thrill for York Musical Society to return to York Minster – our first concert there since November 2019 – performing one of the choir’s favourite works, Mozart’s Requiem.
“It will be preceded by Joseph Haydn’s stormy Insanae Et Vanae Curae and Mozart’s much-loved Clarinet Concerto. We hope audiences will enjoy listening to this fantastic music in such an awe-inspiring setting.”
YMS’s returning soloists will be soprano Anita Watson, mezzo-soprano Kate Symonds-Joy, tenor Peter Davoren and bass-baritone Alex Ashworth, as well as Sage.
Haydn’s Insanae Et Vanae Curae is thought to be a reworking of the chorus Svanisce In Un Momento from his oratorio Il Ritorno Di Tobia, first published in 1809.
Sage’s performance of the Clarinet Concerto will be given on a basset clarinet: an extra third lower than the standard instrument and the clarinet envisaged by Mozart for this concerto.
The climax will be Mozart’s Requiem, the work he was composing at the time of his death in 1791 at the age of 35 and long regarded a masterpiece of Western classical music.
Tickets cost £25, £20, £12 or £6 (student/under-18s) on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on the door. Admission is free for children aged under 13 if accompanied by an adult.
Butshilo Nleya: Drums and drama at Green Shoots at York Theatre Royal
NOT only a certain platinum jubilee is cause for a party. Charles Hutchinson finds reasons aplenty to head out.
What can you say in five minutes? Green Shoots, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.30pm
NEW work commissioned by York Theatre Royal from 20 York and North Yorkshire professional artists will be premiered in Green Shoots.
Poets, performers, singers, dancers and digital artists will be presenting bite-sized performances focused on “rebooting post-pandemic and looking to the future of the planet”.
Among them will be Fladam; Bolshee; Alexander Flanagan-Wright; Paul Birch; Hayley Del Harrison; Butshilo Nleya; Hannah Davies and Jack Woods; Gus Gowland; Joe Feeney and Dora Rubinstein. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Miles And The Chain Gang: Miles Salter’s new line-up plays the City of York (Roland Walls) Folk Weekend
That’s all folk: City of York (Roland Walls) Folk Weekend, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, today, 1pm to 11pm, and tomorrow, 1.30pm to 10.30pm
THE Black Swan Folk Club’s two days and nights of free music and song take in a marquee concert stage; rolling folk club; musicians’ sessions; singarounds; Japanese drumming; indoor concerts; the Poems & Pints hour and workshops.
Playing over the weekend will be Kaminari Taiko, The Ale Marys, The Duncan McFarlane Band, White Sail, Clurachan, Two Black Sheep And A Stallion, Holly Taymar, Blonde On Bob, Les Rustiques, Caramba, Miles And The Chain Gang, Tommy Coyle, Chechelele, Leather’O and more besides. Full programme: blackswanfolkclub.org.uk.
Artwork by North Yorkshire Open Studios mixed-media artist Jo Yeates, who is inspired by the many possibilities of fabric, paper, paint and stitch, on show at South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York
Art event of the month: North Yorkshire Open Studios 2022, today, tomorrow, then June 11 and 12, 10am to 5pm
FROM the rugged coastline near Whitby to the rolling Yorkshire Dales, 108 artists and makers invite you inside their studios and workshops.
Over four days, this is the chance to discover secret studio spaces and inspiring locations, watch artists at work, learn about their creative practices and buy contemporary art and design directly from the makers. To plan a route, visit nyos.org.uk to download a free brochure.
Jane McDonald: Headlining Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal party of the weekend: Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today, 6pm
NATIONAL treasure Jane McDonald will be joined by musical theatre stars The Barricade Boys and drag artiste La Voix outdoors in Scarborough this evening.
“It’s going to be amazing,” says Wakefield singer and television presenter McDonald. “A really rousing night, full of song. It will be a real sing-along event, so bring your voices. I expect it’ll be emotional too, but above all else we’ll have a good old party.” Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Beck beckons: More than a year later than first planned, Jeff Beck plays York Barbican…and here’s Johnny too
Guitar god of the week and his (in)famous friend: Jeff Beck, with Johnny Depp, York Barbican, Tuesday, 8pm, sold out
NEWS flash. Fresh from winning his US defamation lawsuit against former wife Amber Heard, Hollywood frontman Johnny Depp, 58, is doing an impromptu victory lap as the special guest of South London rock, blues and jazz guitarist and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Beck, 77, on a tour rearranged from April 2021.
Beck will take to the York stage with Rhonda Smith, bass, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, cello, Anika Nilles, drums, Robert Adam Stevenson, keyboards, and Depp, riffing off his piratical Keith Richards vibe no doubt, on guitar. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Beware the Ides of March…in June: Shakespeare’s Globe bring Julius Caesar to York Theatre Royal next week. Picture: Helen Murray
Political drama of the week: Shakespeare’s Globe in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 10, 7.30pm; June 11, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
PREPARE to confront today’s political landscape as Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar takes on startlingly new relevance in Diane Page’s account of this brutal tale of ambition, incursion and revolution.
When Cassius (Charlotte Bate) and Brutus (Anna Crichton) decide Roman leader Julius Caesar (Dickson Tyrrell) poses a political threat to their beloved country, ancient Rome feels closer to home than ever amid the conspiracy to kill, the public broadcast of cunning rhetoric and a divisive fight for greatness. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
She’s back to say farewell: Dionne Warwick makes a last visit to York Barbican next Friday
Soul legend of the week: Dionne Warwick, She’s Back: One Last Time, York Barbican, June 10, 8pm
DON’T walk on by. Dionne Warwick’s rescheduled She’s Back: One Last Time itinerary now carries the Farewell Tour tag too, making next Friday’s concert all the more a Must See event.
Now 81, the six-time Grammy Award-winning New Jersey singer, actress, television host and former United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture will be performing such Bacharach/David favourites as I Say A Little Prayer, Do You Know The Way To San Jose and Walk On By, plus material from her May 2019 album, She’s Back. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The poster for Gary Barlow’s one-man theatre show A Different Stage, visiting the Grand Opera House for four performances
Hottest ticket of the week: Gary Barlow: A Different Stage, Grand Opera House, York, June 9, 10 and 11, 7.30pm; June 12, 2.30pm
FIRST, Take That’s Gary Barlow announced Friday and Saturday solo shows, then he added a Sunday matinee, and, finally, Thursday too. Ticket availability is best for the opening night; barely a handful remain for the others.
“I’ve done shows where it has just been me and a keyboard,” says the Wirral singer, songwriter, composer, producer, talent show judge and author. “I’ve done shows where I sit and talk to people. I’ve done shows where I’ve performed as part of a group.
“But this one, well, it’s like all of those, but none of them. When I walk out this time, well, it’s going to be a very different stage altogether.” Box office, without delay: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Getting mighty Crowded: Neil Finn’s band, Crowded House, head for the Yorkshire coast
Whatever the weather with you, Crowded House play Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 11; gates open at 6pm
CROWDED House are heading out on their first European tour in more than ten years with a line-up of founding members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom, guitarist and singer Liam Finn and drummer Elroy Finn, Neil’s sons.
Such favourites as Weather With You, Don’t Dream It’s Over, Distant Sun and Private Universe will be complemented by material from the Antipodeans’ seventh studio album, June 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting, their first since 2010’s Intriguer. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
New on the Chain Gang: Drummer Steve Purton, bassist Matthew Watt and keyboard player Daniel Bowater line up with band leader Miles Salter, back, left
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang play their first home-city gig in almost a year at the City of York (Roland Walls) Folk Weekend on Sunday.
Catch singer-songwriter Miles Salter and his new line-up on the Marquee Stage at 5.30pm at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, where entry will be free.
“Come by and see us, we’d love to see you, as we kick off a run of events that takes us on a mini ‘tour of Yorkshire’, with dates over the summer at Doncaster, Helmsley and Harrogate, as well as gigs closer to York,” says Miles.
Joining guitarist Miles on stage will be drummer Steve Purton, bassist Mathew Watt and keyboards player Daniel Bowater.
“It feels good,” says band leader Miles. “We’ve got some great little gigs lined up and we’re looking forward to heading out.”
In the Chain Gang diary are: Doncaster Leopard, June 18; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 23; Blues Bar, Harrogate, July 24; The Smithy Arms, Swinton, August 27, and Jolly Sailor Inn, Cawood, September 24.
The band’s fourth single, Love Is Blind, is out now, accompanied by a video by York filmmaker Dave Thorp that has clocked up more than 25,000 views already in only two weeks.
“It’s a good song. People are really responding well to it,” says Miles. “It’s been played on lots of smaller, independent stations in the UK, as well as in the USA and Australia. Several stations made it their ‘single of the week’, including Jorvik Radio in York. It’s great to see it going out into the world – thanks to everybody who helped make this happen.”
Recorded and mixed at Young Thugs Studios in York, Love Is Blind features Salter on vocals and guitar; Tim Bruce, bass; Billy Hickling, drums and percussion; Karl Mullen, piano; Holly Taymar, backing vocals, and Jonny Hooker, organ.
Shed haven: Puppeteer Freddie Hayes contemplates life as a Potatohead
WHY is “gloriously bonkers” York performer, maker and writer Freddie Hayes a puppeteer?
“I’ve always made puppets from a young age,” she says. “But I lost in a puppet competition at Scarcroft School and it’s been revenge ever since.”
That act of revenge continues with the Edinburgh Fringe-bound Potatohead, her “starch-raving mad” solo adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s cautionary tale Doctor Faustus And The Seven Deadly Sins, directed by Sh!t Theatre.
Combining puppetry, stand-up comedy, physical theatre, film, singing, dancing and a sack of potato puns, Freddie’s hour-long “one-potato show” plays York Theatre Royal Studio on June 10, the McCarthy at the Stepehen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on June 14, and Seven Arts in her adopted home of Leeds on July 20.
“I’ve always been interested in puppets as objects and creating characters from everyday people you might see in everyday life,” says Freddie, whose absurdist work hovers between childish puppetry and late-night entertainment in its story of humble York spud Charlotte, who dreams of becoming a cabaret superstar but is blighted by a chip on her shoulder.
“I have quite a dark sense of humour too, and there seems to be something haunting about puppets that intrigues me.
“Puppetry can be very violent, with dark stories like Punch & Judy, where he defeats the Devil and death itself with his powers – so that story has a vague connection with Faust.”
After introducing York and beyond to grouchy pub landlords Fred and Sharon, unhappily married guvnors of a dated York boozer, in Fred’s Microbewery at the 2019 Great Yorkshire Fringe and York Theatre Royal Pop-up Festival, now Freddie switches her attention to the Swiss Army knife of the vegetable world, the potato, in her “unadulterated celebration of silliness”.
Jacket potato! Freddie Hayes in her Potatohead costume on stage
Expect elements of kitsch cabaret and old-school entertainment in her blend of puppetry, clowning and surrealist comedy with room for sexual content and references to religion and the devil, hence the age guidance of 14+.
Why re-tell Faustus, Freddie? “I like the darkness and the idea of being in between life and death, that power struggle, as you try to get your dream to become reality – and in the case of Potatohead, it becomes the struggle of trying to become a stand-up comedian,” she says.
Would that struggle involve selling your soul to the devil? “I’m yet to do so myself! I don’t have to worry about comeuppance! But there is connection between potatoes and Faustus…”
…Really? “The year that the potato arrived in Europe was the same year that Marlowe’s play was premiered,” says Freddie. “Back then, potatoes were very glamorous. They were considered to be exotic and aphrodisiacs too!”
Yes, but why transform Faustus into a potato, or, rather, a couch potato with aspirations of becoming a golden wonder? “What’s great about potatoes is that they can be anything, and I feel like everyone has an inner potato in them. Some days everyone feels a bit like a potato,” says Freddie.
“On top of that, there was the idea that you can become great [not grate!] one day by taking a risk and being brave. That’s the moral of this story.”
Potatoes are even more chameleon than usual in Freddie’s show. “There’s actually a little bit of puppet potato nudity!” she reveals. “They can also fly and shape-shift, disappear and re-appear, so they’re quite magical!
“What’s great is that the potato puppets play these demon spirit characters and they do have this unworldly quality about them, which works well with the narrative of Faustus.”
Spud work: Freddie Hayes’s Potatohead gets digging in the garden. Picture: Amy D’Agorne
Seeking to capture the stupidity of life in her puppetry, she also reflects on her own life through her characters, scenarios and themes. “There’s a part of the show that’s slightly autobiographical in that I talk about my relationship with puppets and how they integrate with my life,” says Freddie, who studied for a BA in puppetry at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 2015 to 2018.
“I have this awareness of being dressed as a potato running around with these puppet potatoes, so I give a side-eyed look at the audience, as if to say ‘what am I doing here?’!”
Puppet potatoes abound in Potatohead. “You can probably guess there are seven potatoes for the seven demons [the ‘deadly sins’ in Faustus], and there’s obviously a Mephistopheles, played by Maurice Piper! Beelzebub is a big secret I can’t reveal, though it’s something to do with a popular potato brand,” says Freddie.
Summing up Potatohead’s comedic style, Freddie says: “It’s a very strange one! Imagine if Cilla Black collaborated with The League Of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh, all in a one-potato show. Old-school glamour meets general weirdness!” What a mash-up!
As for Freddie’s favourite potato dish, “I love chips,” she says. “Keep it simple. Cheesy chips. Or cheesy chips and gravy if you’re feeling really naughty.”
As part of her debut national tour, Freddie Hayes presents Potatohead at York Theatre Royal, June 10, 7.45pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, June 14, 7.45pm; Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, July 20, 8pm. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Leeds, 0113 262 6777 or sevenleeds.co.uk.
Copyright of The Press, York
Question? What is Freddie’s favourite among the seven deadly sins in Doctor Faustus?
“Gluttony. I think I feel I don’t think it’s a terrible sin! It seems quite sweet,” she says.
Freddie Hayes, minus the Potatohead
Freddie Hayes Fact File
Born: York
Lives in: Leeds
Occupation: Performer, writer, puppeteer and maker, crafting bespoke puppets, props and costumes.
Studied for: BA in Puppetry at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 2015 to 2018.
Since graduating: Created solo shows Fred’s Microbrewery and Potatohead, performing on UK comedy, festival and cabaret circuit for four years, playing Shambala Festival, Camden Fringe and Leeds International Festival.
Who’s the guvnor here?Puppeteer Freddie Hayes with Yorkshire’s grouchiest pub landlord, Fred, mean host of Fred’s Microbrewery
Home city works: Strut Club cabaret; former artist-in-residence at Southlands Studios; presented Fred’s Microbrewery at 2019 Great Yorkshire Fringe and York Theatre Royal Pop-up Festival; created and filmed short puppet film Fred And Sharon on York’s streets.
Projects: Artist-in-residence at Slung Low Theatre, working with Sh!t Theatre mentors, at The Holbeck, Holbeck, Leeds; associate artist of Slap York; resident puppeteer at Folkestone Puppet Festival.
Debut national PotaTour: Potatohead, May 19 to July 20, playing Leeds, Camden, Brighton Fringe Festival, Bristol, York, Scarborough, Greater Manchester Fringe Festival (July 14, 7pm, 9pm) and Leeds again (Seven Arts, July 20, 8pm).
Support: Started work on Potatohead project with Slap York in 2019. “They’re great at helping emerging artists,” says Freddie. “Without them, I don’t think I would have got going on this show.”
Mash of the day: Freddie Hayes in a Potatoheadshot
Funding: Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant to create Potatohead; Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary Award winner to programme show at Brighton Fringe Festival.
Performance style: Hovering between childish puppetry and late-night entertainment. Often autobiographical, reflecting on her life through relatable characters, scenarios or themes.
Pulling strings: Makes all her puppets, costumes and props. “I see it as a sort of sculpture, and I love making props,” says Freddie. “I do a lot of puppet-making commissions, making them for York Maze and Leeds City Varieties and working freelance for Leeds Playhouse for a while.”
Next up: Presenting Potatohead at Below, The Pleasance Courtyard, 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, at 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 3 to 29, 2pm. Directed by Sh!t Theatre, Freddie’s production will be appearing as a York Theatre Royal supported show with Pleasance Edinburgh National Partnerships. Box office: tickets.edfringe.com/venues/pleasance-courtyard.
Katherine Priddy: “One foot in folk music and one foot elsewhere”. Picture: Sam Wood
KATHERINE Priddy’s debut EP, Wolf, was chosen by Richard Thompson, no less, as The Best Thing I’ve Heard All Year.
That was in 2018, since when the Alvechurch singer-songwriter has been on the gradual rise, leading to the June 2021 release of her debut album, The Eternal Rocks Beneath, on Navigator Records.
It duly topped the Official UK Folk Chart; reached number five in the Americana charts; received a five-star review in Songlines; made Mojo magazine’s Top Ten Folk Albums of 2021 and attracted airplay from Radcliffe & Maconie, Gideon Coe, Cerys Matthews, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson and Steve Lamacq on BBC 6Music, as well as on the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show.
On the road there have been tours with Thompson in 2019 and 2021, a joint run with Sam Kelly; support slots with The Chieftains and Vashti Bunyan; a sold-out December solo tour and an appearance at the Folk Alliance International Showcase in Kansas City in February.
Now, the penultimate night of Katherine’s 15-date spring travels brings her to the National Centre for Early Music in York tomorrow (1/6/2022), on her return to North Yorkshire for the first time since playing the Magpies Festival at Sutton Park in August 2021.
“It was their first year running the festival in the grounds there, and it was really brave of them, to be honest, as we were just coming out of the Covid lockdowns, but we had a really lovely crowd,” she recalls.
Katherine is making her mark on the contemporary roots scene with songs that bear testament both to growing up surrounded by nature and to her love of language, literature and poetry from her days of studying English Literature at the University of Sussex in Brighton.
“I first wrote a song when I was maybe 14/15, but it took a few years for me to really progress,” she says. “I did some performing in my teens and early twenties, but now I’m making up for lost time.”
Katherine had first set foot on stage to play Dorothy in her school play [The Wizard Of Oz] when she was nine. “I later taught myself to play guitar but I was convinced I couldn’t sing, though I did pass my GCSE, and I did do the odd show and performance at university,” she says. “But it wasn’t until I graduated that I went into a studio for the first time.”
As for performing live, “I’ve always been really nervous,” Katherine admits. “When I first started, I had to play sitting down because my knees were shaking so much! I still get nervous, but you have to enjoy it or you won’t have the energy to keep going. Having some self-belief and focusing on the good feedback is important.”
Katherine grew up in Alvechurch, a rural village to the south of Birmingham. “There wasn’t an awful lot of music going on there, though they did start a folk night at the men’s club, just over the fence from my garden, so I played there, and it was good to have Birmingham on the doorstep,” she says.
“Some people hear a melody first, others write the lyrics first, and for me it’s always been the lyrics,” says former English Literature student Katherine Priddy. Picture: Sam Wood
She has now moved to the Second City. “It’s not quite as lovely and green, but it’s still lovely,” she says. “I recorded The Eternal Rocks Beneath there, at Rebellious Jukebox, a studio that Simon Weaver runs almost as a hobby but he’s a fantastic superstar producer.
“It’s next to the factory where all the whistles are made for FIFA in the industrial heart of Birmingham, underneath a road next to the Jewellery Quarter.”
When writing songs, she puts an emphasis on the lyrics . “Some people hear a melody first, others write the lyrics first, and for me it’s always been the lyrics. I want them to be able to stand on their own like poetry, where each word has weight,” says Katherine. “It should be the same with lyrics, where you have to concentrate on finding the right word.”
On her debut EP Wolf, the title track was inspired by Heathcliff, and Katherine returned to Emily Bronte’s book for her debut album. “Wuthering Heights is my favourite novel, and I loved how Cathy described her love for Heathcliff as being ‘the eternal rock beneath’,” she says.
“A lot of my songs have themes of childhood and growing up, and for me, it fitted in as a foundation for what’s coming next.”
Does haunting vocalist and finger-picking guitarist Katherine consider herself to be a folk musician? “I think I’m just outside, with one foot in folk and one foot elsewhere, but what I appreciate about folk songs is that they tell stories,” she says.
Sometimes she performs her storytelling songs solo, but “these days I play sometimes with George Boomsma [a surname of Dutch origin, should you be wondering], “she says.
“He’s from Northallerton, so he’ll definitely be with me tomorrow, doing the supporting set as well as playing with me. He plays electric guitar and sings some really nice harmonies, and we’ve done a song together called Ready To Go. That’s the working title. It’s unreleased so far, but we’re quite likely to perform it tomorrow.”
A summer of festivals awaits Katherine, to be followed by recording sessions in the autumn and winter for her second album, with song-writing in progress.
In the meantime, tomorrow offers the chance to discover why Richard Thompson was so impressed by that first EP, Wolf. “It was bonkers that he heard it,” Katherine says.” I still don’t know how he got hold of a copy! When it’s a first release, you’re proud of it yourself, but for someone of his standing to say what he did was such a boost.”
Revolver presents Katherine Priddy and George Boomsma at National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, June 1, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Jane McDonald: Leading the Yorkshire celebrations of HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
NATIONAL treasure Jane McDonald will be joined by The Barricade Boys and drag artiste La Voix at Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday.
Wakefield singer and television star McDonald will be flying the flag for her beloved White Rose county when leading the Yorkshire coast celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in a sea of red, white and blue.
“Everyone knows I’m a proud Yorkshire lass, so it will be so thrilling to walk on to stage in Scarborough for these celebrations,” says Jane.
Malton singer and musical actor Scott Garnham, second from left, with fellow members of The Barricade Boys
Malton-born West End musical actor ad impresario Scott Garnham will be joined by three fellow past cast members of Les Misérables, Craig Mather, Kieran Brown and Simon Schofield, in The Barricade Boys line-up.
Formed in 2015, the quartet’s latest tour, Bring Him Home, features music from the West End and Broadway stage, including The Phantom Of The Opera, Miss Saigon, Jersey Boys and Les Misérables, complemented by songs by Queen, Elton John and The Beatles.
La Voix, the comedian and singer with the larger-than-life personality, is the redhead drag creation of Chris Dennis, who followed up reaching the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals with an appearance in Ab Fab The Movie.
La Voix: Flagging up her appearance at Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert
La Voix is completing the fifth year of an international one-woman theatre tour that visited the Grand Opera House, York, last October and has hosted a show on BBC Three Counties Radio for more than two years.
Headliner Jane McDonald, TV host of Cruising With Jane McDonald, Jane & Friends, Holidaying With Jane McDonald and Jane McDonald Explores Yorkshire and Loose Women regular, is promising a night of pomp and pageantry. “What an occasion this is going to be,” she says.
“It’s going to be amazing. A really rousing night, full of song. It will be a real sing-along event, so bring your voices. I expect it’ll be emotional too, but above all else we’ll have a good old party. It’s a celebration of The Queen’s life, but also all our lives and life in general after the past couple of years. A celebration of life as we know it!”
Tickets for this 6pm event are on sale at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
The poster for Saturday’s concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Kris Drever and Rachel Baiman: “The night was more interesting as you could see they were still learning and working on the finer details” . Picture: Paul Rhodes
THE Drever mark is one that assures quality, whether as one third of Lau, at the core of the Spell Songs “supergroup” or on his one melodious solo work.
Making his first return to York since the pandemic forced him to “wind his neck in” – as he memorably sang on Hunker Down/That Old Blitz Spirit – Kris Drever was the lead in a duo with American multi-instrumentalist Rachel Baiman, hosted by York’s Black Swan Folk Club.
Where Drever’s voice is smooth, Baiman’s has more sharp edges, especially at the top end of her voice. The combination of styles worked a treat, especially so given that their planned tour rehearsals were derailed by a turned-around flight and Baiman being left in stood in the aisle as the train left Winchester.
Both artists have had tours cancelled or curtailed due to Covid, so this setback seems to have inspired them to make the very most of the opportunity to tour. Playing guitar, banjo and singing, Baiman was credited with the arrangements, which revealed new angles to even Drever’s most familiar song, If Wishes Were Horses.
Baiman’s short solo set prompted many to seek out the merchandise stand. It showed an artist who could take many paths, from the traditional Old Songs Never Die to – admittedly more outlandishly – stadium rock (Young Love, following in Patti Smith’s tracks).
Kris Drever: “Standing under the plaque to the men and boys from St Margaret’s and St Peter-le-Willows who died in the Great War”. Picture: Paul Rhodes
The rapport between the duo was easy and unforced, and the night was more interesting as you could see they were still learning and working on the finer details. Drever has sometimes played it too safe with his recorded work, so it was rewarding to see him investing in a riskier collaboration. His guitar playing was as nimble and joyful as ever, particularly on the folksier numbers.
Drever’s set was carefully chosen across his solo work. There was no space for any of his Spell Song contributions, but a new tune, at the behest of the Stonehaven Folk Club, Catterline, had the same timeless, haunting quality of Scatterseed.
His ability to absorb a subject, then convey the essence through song is one of Drever’s greatest gifts. Standing under the plaque to the 40 or so men and boys from St Margaret’s Church and St Peter-le-Willows Church who died in the Great War, Drever’s lament to the Germans who wasted away on Scapa Flow was all the more affecting. Sandy was even better.
The encore, I Didn’t Try Hard Enough, was an ironic note to end on, but closed this highly entertaining evening to rapturous applause for this hard-working pair.
Pete Bearder: Speaking the truth to power at The Crescent on June 19
SAY Owt, York’s performance poetry forum, teams up with York Literature Festival to present author and poet Pete “The Temp” Bearder in Homer To Hip Hop at The Crescent, York, on June 19.
Bearder’s 7.30pm performance lecture on a people’s history of spoken word and poetry will be “part gig, part TedTalk, part party” as he speaks truth to power.
Introducing Bearder’s show, Say Owt artistic director Henry Raby says: “As we enter the post-Covid comeback, meet the artistic revivals that have remade the world from the bottom up.
“Find out why wordsmiths have always been vilified, feared and revered, from the ballad singers and Beat poets, to the icons of dub, punk and hip hop. The spoken word has always been the most immediate tool of cultural revival. This show brings a proud history to life and asks what we can do with it next.”
Say Owt artistic director Henry Raby
Former national Poetry Slam champion, spoken word poet, author and comic Bearder brings to life the poetic movements that have shaped history. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and Newsnight and his Homer To Hip Hop show follows the release of his ground-breaking book Stage Invasion: Poetry & The Spoken Word Renaissance.
Support on June 19 comes from Raby, Say Owt’s “token punk poet”, who has appeared at festivals across the UK and on BBC Radio York. “Althea Thall will be bringing her story-telling energy too and, finally, Jonny Crawshaw will be DJing a hip-hop set afterwards,” says Henry.
Tickets cost £10 via www.thecrescentyork.com/events/home-to-hip-hop-a-peoples-history-of-spoken-word/
The poster for Pete “The Temp” Bearder’s Homer To Hip Hop tour show
In pursuit of success: Sara Pascoe in her new tour show
HOW does comedian, actor, playwright, author, podcaster and TV presenter Sara Pascoe quantify success?
She will seek to provide the answer in her biggest tour yet, Success Story, whose 50 dates in two blocks from November 10 to December 3 2022 and January 26 to April 22 next year will take in four Yorkshire gigs: York Barbican on November 24; Sheffield Octagon, November 25; Hull City Hall, March 17, and Harrogate Royal Hall, April 21.
Expect jokes about status, celebrities, plus Sara’s new fancy lifestyle versus infertility, her multiple therapists and career failures, she forewarns.
“What I want to explore is how do we define success and when do we define it,” she says. “Does it change with age; do we only want things we can’t have? When we attain our goals, do we move the goal posts and become unsatisfied with what we’ve got and want something else instead?
“I’m 41 now and it’s a reflective time; it feels like a very adult age. Looking back on my life to when I was 14, I really wanted to be on television. That’s where I work now but is it what I imagined it to be?”
Deciding she wanted to be famous at 14, Dagenham-born Sara would go on to audition for Barrymore, scare Dead Or Alive’s Pete Burns and ruin Hugh Grant’s birthday, but she would also notch a decade in stand-up comedy and pen the feminist Animal: The Autobiography Of A Female Body in 2016 and her exploration of sex through the medium of evolutionary psychology, sex work, and the role of money in modern heterosexual relationships in Sex Power Money in 2019, spawning an accompanying podcast.
Her “big, bold and funny” stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice played York Theatre Royal in October 2017 and she wrote and starred in the October 2020 sitcom Out Of Her Mind on BBC Two. She has presented television shows too, hosting Comedians Giving Lectures on Dave, Guessable on Comedy Central, BBC Two’s Last Woman On Earth and this year’s BBC One series of The Great British Sewing Bee.
“What I want to explore is how do we define success and when do we define it,” says Sara Pascoe
For all those diverse achievements, she underwent a fraught personal chapter that would be deemed contrary to that vision of success. “I was having years of infertility and when we were going through IVF, the word ‘success’ was used a lot about the process,” says Sara, (who does now have a beautiful baby son).
“So, I wanted to contrast that with these other things that are seen as representing successful lives, such as finding someone we love and having a family. There are a lot of areas being covered.”
If this sounds a tad heavy, as a counterbalance, Sara will reach for her raft of daft stories to flesh out her central thesis. Such as the time she terrified Pete Burns, the late figurehead of 1980s’chart-toppers Dead Or Alive and later reality TV star.
“He did a reality show where he was looking for a PA and I was told I would get £50 in cash in an envelope if I kept accosting him in the street. So, outside a coffee shop in Soho, I had to pretend to be a superfan and hug and kiss him and say how much I loved him and see how all these potential Pas would deal with this crazy, neurotic fangirl,” she recalls.
“At the end of that day, he said that I scared him, which just showed how good my acting was. That show is sometimes repeated on an MTV channel, and I’ll get a text or a tweet saying, ‘oh my god, I had no idea you were such a Pete Burns fan’.”
TV exposure on Comedians Giving Lectures and The Great British Sewing Bee has lifted Sara’s profile and given her a fresh perspective on her life in comedy. “Comedians Giving Lectures can be like hosting a stand-up show, and I love it because these very high-status experienced comics are often doing brand new material because they’ve written a lecture for the TV show. For me, it feels like a gig rather than a TV programme,” she says.
“No-one likes to do a mediocre gig, or worse, a flat gig,” says Success-driven Sara
“In Sewing Bee, I occasionally write jokes for the links, but you’re doing a joke for eight people who are really thinking about sewing; they’re not thinking about your pun on the wrap dress.”
Her Success Story travels are still more than five months away, but especially after the mothballing impact of the pandemic lockdowns, Sara is desperate to return to the road for the first time since her LadsLadsLads tour of 2018-2019 – the one where she contemplated the positive aspects of self-imposed celibacy, exploring love, sex and doing both alone.
“Touring can be tiring but when you’re in the dressing room before a show and you hear the hubbub of a busy room, you feel very lucky that people will come and see you at all, never mind in their hundreds or thousands,” she says.
“There’s a description in Alan Davies’s book about how walking out on stage as a comedian is the closest you can get to being a toddler taking your first steps towards your excited parents. That’s the feeling comedians are trying to recreate by getting this huge round of applause from people who like you and are pleased you are there. That’s the side of it that’s addictive and compulsive.”
Sara will not let her own success story go to her head, instead always striving to raise the bar for her comedy hit-rate. “No-one likes to do a mediocre gig, or worse, a flat gig,” she says. “Especially when you’ve earned an audience from TV work, the idea that they might come to see you for the first time and leave disappointed really keeps you going.
“At the end of a show, you don’t want a crowd going ‘yeah, that was fine’. You want them to say ‘oh god, do you remember that bit?’ You want an audience to be engaged in what you’re saying.”
Tickets for Sara Pascoe’s Success Story tour are on sale at sarapascoe.co.uk/sara-on-tour; for York Barbican at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Poised:Kyiv City Ballet are heading to York Theatre Royal for one night
KYIV City Ballet’s first British performance since Ukraine came under attack from Russia at York Theatre Royal on June 14 has sold out.
One hundred per cent of ticket sale proceeds will be donated to UNICEF’s Ukraine Appeal from the two-and-a-half-hour special performance that will be split into two parts under the direction of Ivan Kozlov and Ekaterina Kozlova. A class from the Kyiv City Ballet company will be followed by excerpts from ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
York Theatre Royal chief executive Tom Bird personally invited Kyiv City Ballet to perform in York after learning of the company being stranded in France, where they were on tour as the war broke out in Ukraine. The dancers have stayed there ever since, given that it is too unsafe for them to return home to Ukraine.
“We are proud that York is able to stand in solidarity with Kyiv,” says York Theatre Royal chief executive Tom Bird, who has invited Kyiv City Ballet to the Yorkshire city
“It’s a huge honour to be hosting Kyiv City Ballet at York Theatre Royal,” says Bird. “This is the company’s first UK appearance since their city came under attack, and we are proud that York is able to stand in solidarity with Kyiv by supporting these extraordinary dancers for this one-off visit.”
City partners in York have come together to make this fundraising performance a reality. Make It York, City of York Council and York BID are all supporting the Theatre Royal with organisation and logistics to bring Kyiv City Ballet to the city.
Eurostar and LNER have stepped in to arrange the company’s return travel from France to York; Visit York members Elmbank Hotel, Malmaison, Middletons, Sandburn Hall, The Grand, The Principal and York Marriott have offered to accommodate the company and crew during their stay, while City Cruises and Bettys will be providing additional hospitality. A Civic welcome awaits at Mansion House.
Class act: Kyiv City Ballet will combine a dance class with excerpts from Swan Lake and The Nutcracker in June 14’s fundraising show
First Bus will support on the visa costs to bring the company to York; remaining costs and company fees for the performance will be covered through corporate sponsorship.
Sarah Loftus, managing director of Make It York, says: “We are so proud of our city pulling together to bring the Kyiv City Ballet to York. This is a special opportunity to celebrate world-class performers, while raising vital funds for the people of Ukraine. The generosity of businesses and residents in York has made this possible.”
Councillor Darryl Smalley, executive member for culture, leisure and communities, says: “In what are incredibly dark times, it has been heartening to see York’s response as the city has come together to show our support and solidarity with our Ukrainian friends here in York and in Ukraine.
“Art has a unique way of uniting people and that’s certainly what we need more now than ever ,” says Councillor Darryl Smalley as he welcomes Kyiv City Ballet to York
“From donations and heart-warming signs of solidarity to housing refugees, it’s clear that we as a city are united and ready to do all we can to stand with Ukraine and its people.
“Art has a unique way of uniting people and that’s certainly what we need more now than ever. I’m grateful to all those involved for their support in setting up this amazing event. It will certainly be an emotional and wonderful evening for a crucial cause.”
Andrew Lowson, executive director of York BID, says: “It is always good to hear of high-quality cultural offerings coming to York, but for our city to attract the Kyiv City Ballet will feel really special.
“We are so proud of our city pulling together to bring the Kyiv City Ballet to York,” says Sarah Loftus, Make It York’s managing director
“Many of us feel helpless on how we can support Ukraine, but I know residents and businesses will want to show support and solidarity, as well as celebrate the visit of a world-renowned group of performers.”
Adam Wardale, chair of Hospitality Association York (HAY) and general manager at Middletons Hotel, said: “The members of HAY are incredibly proud to be able to offer Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet performers accommodation throughout their stay in York.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to support Ukraine, showing solidarity while also celebrating the arts.”
Kyiv City Ballet: York to host first UK appearance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
