Steven Jobson’s Edward Hyde and Nicola Holliday’s Lucy Harris
York Musical Theatre Company in Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, York Musical Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
ON the only previous time CharlesHutchPress encountered Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn’s Broadway musical, at Leeds Grand Theatre in July 2011, this was his verdict.
“In a nutshell, it is a very good performance of a not particularly good musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella that has but one memorable song, This Is The Moment,” he wrote, before concluding: “A deliciously wicked way to spend tonight or tomorrow awaits you”.
Eleven years on, This Is The Moment continues to stand out, but once more, Jekyll & Hyde The Musical’s story of love, betrayal and murder hits the mark in performance, this time under the gothic-inspired direction of Matthew Clare.
The aforementioned 2011 touring production relied on the handsome pop star chops of Marti Pellow in the dual role of upstanding, if obsessive Dr Henry Jekyll and his vengeful, sadistic, chemically altered alter ego, Mr Edward Hyde.
Director Matthew Clare
Clare goes with freelance actor, singer and voice actor Steven Jobson, whose love of performing was triggered by witnessing The Phantom Of The Opera at the age of 14, another show that ventures deep into the dark side.
Jobson can certainly act; he sings Jekyll & Hyde’s difficult, impassioned, narrative-driven songs adroitly too, and you can hear why he is a voice actor as he switches between the urbane, educated, tenor airs of the romantic scientist Jekyll and the guttural bass growl of Hyde, ably retaining the distinction in song.
In one early moment, his agitated singing voice for Hyde becomes muffled in the sound mix, but let’s put that down to this being the first night.
Jobson is equally convincing in his physical transformations, never straying into Hammer Horror melodrama. His monstrous madman always lurks within, those inner demons brought to the surface by reckless scientific brio as much as by his experiments.
Alexandra Mather vowed to make Jekyll’s trusting, unknowing fiancée, Emma Carew, more three-dimensional than on the page, and she delivers on that promise in her characterisation, while her pure, operatic voice wholly suits the score.
Nick Sephton’s Sir Danvers Carew
Director Clare has decided to split the role of love-struck but fearful prostitute Lucy Harris between York musical theatre regular and radio presenter Claire Pulpher (next performance, Saturday matinee) and Scarborough professional Nicola Holliday in her YMTC debut. Holliday was on duty on Wednesday, growing into her performance the more she sang, conveying both Lucy’s untrusting, self-protective nature and quest for love.
Strong support comes from Anthon Gardner’s lawyer John Utterson and Nick Sephton’s Sir Danvers Carew, and the ensemble relishes Bring On The Men, choreographed sassily by Hannah Wakelam.
John Atkin’s band is in good order throughout, steering the path between big balladry in the Lloyd Webber mode and a sly wickedness more in keeping with Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.
Costumes and wigs serve the primary role in evoking the Victorian era; the plain set design, by comparison, is a modern construction of metal stairways and a mezzanine level, more in keeping with a pop concert, but the use of blue lighting to denote Jekyll and red for Hyde is effective. Everyone stands, no-one sits, such is the restless, unrelenting, unnerving progression from Jekyll to hellish Hyde.
Director Clare had called Jekyll & Hyde a “niche musical”, but he has successfully brought it out of the shadows, and in Steven Jobson he has found just the man for the job.
Bettrys Jones’s indefatigable Ellen Wilkinson MP in Red Ellen
Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh present Red Ellen, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
UNTIL 2017, all seven of Middlesbrough’s statues had been of men. A poll put Ellen Wilkinson at the top of the list to be the town’s first female on a plinth.
Ellen Wilkinson, you ask? British Communist Party founder member turned Labour MP for Middlesbrough East and later Jarrow. Left-leaning journalist. Leader of the Jarrow Crusade to London when 80 per cent of the workforce were unemployed. Mobiliser of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee, taking up the cause against General Franco’s Fascists in the Spanish Civil War.
Member of Churchill’s wartime coalition government, in charge of air raid shelters. As Labour’s first female Minister for Education, she introduced free school milk and raised the leaving age from 14 to 15. A heavy-smoking asthmatic, she died, struggling for breath, her pills ineffectual, in 1947.
That’s the politics; a working-class female MP campaigning for social justice in a toxic, male-dominated world. What else? She had affairs with married men, whether a Soviet Communist spy or Labour government minister Herbert Morrison. She encountered Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway. She was always in a hurry, a flame-haired, 4ft 9 pocket dynamo known as the Elfin Fury and Mighty Atom.
“There are so many Ellens to choose from”, says playwright Caroline Bird, who has decided to highlight pretty much all of them, save for Ellen’s early Communist days, in her biographical play Red Ellen, wherein she picks up the story in 1933.
Just as Ellen, for all her failing health, tries to cram too much into each day, Bird seeks to squeeze too much into her three-hour play, where the diminutive Bettrys Jones brings extraordinary energy to an omnipresent role in which the constant speechifying leaves her voice shorn of light and shade, always pitched on the upwards, climbing a hill against the odds.
Bird’s first draft had run to five hours and it would take another six years of “Ellen running around her head like an unfinished ghost with unfinished business” for Northern Stage’s 2022 touring version to emerge from what became an obsession.
This week’s York run is the closing chapter of the premiere tour, presented in tandem with co-producers Nottingham Playhouse the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, and it is too late for director Wils Wilson to apply the scissors, but if Red Ellen is to have a further life, the story-telling will require more breathing space and selectivity, rather than the overwhelming feeling of needing to reach for an asthma inhaler.
The structure is a series of set pieces, rooted in gender politics and the agenda of politics, some scenes better than others: neither the Einstein scene, where Jones’s Ellen apologises to Mercedes Assad’s awkwardly bewigged Albert for the behaviour of The Anti-Fascist League, nor an exchange at the Europa Hotel with an over-the-top, drunken Hemingway, hits the right note.
Better by far are Ellen’s discussions with Jim Kitson’s north easterner David, burdened by ill health but desperate to undertake the Jarrow March; the political debate with Kitson’s Churchill (who is seen only from behind, with the audience eyes on Ellen); and the end-of-the-affair letdown with Kevin Lennon’s Morrison.
Director Wilson has fun with Ellen’s lack of inches, casting the towering Laura Evelyn as the British Communist activist Isabel for comic effect. Likewise, Wilson and designer Camilla Clarke play with scale: the gramophone player is a giant shell; houses in the street are represented by doll’s houses, on fire at one point for Ellen to put out while on air raid duty. There is visual wit throughout; on occasion, there could be more verbal comedy.
Ellen’s diaries were destroyed after her death, leading to Bird’s need to make “educated guesses” in her play, “imagining the contents in order to get personal”. When it comes to truths beyond political and historical fact, plenty can only be speculative, but the relationship that works best on stage is the one rooted in home truths: the volatile one with her loyal yet frank sister Annie (Helen Katamba), who absorbs all her wounding words but makes the most telling retort.
Passion abounds, in the pioneering Ellen herself, in Bird’s writing, in Jones’s performance, but if the enflamed, exasperated Ellen Wilkinson were to have encountered Red Ellen, she would be cracking the whip, demanding better results for all that exertion.
RYEDALE Festival floated a powerful reminder of its status in the community with this world premiere of a new song-cycle written by a Pickering-born composer and largely performed by inhabitants of Ryedale.
Joseph Howard’s Seven Mercies was inspired by mediaeval murals in Pickering Church, which have only recently been brought back to life and decoded from beneath the whitewash of centuries.
They refer to specific acts of kindness – properly titled Seven Acts of Corporal Mercy – mentioned by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount and illustrated here by stories from the Bible.
Howard’s music is built around Emma Harding’s poetic libretto, which at its core delivers a song-cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano. Its sections use different female characters whose hardships have been alleviated by someone else’s generosity, often put into a modern context: a refugee, for example, or a hospital patient prevented by Covid regulations from receiving visitors.
That is the backbone of the work and no doubt it could stand alone. But it is immensely coloured and given depth by several choral and brass interludes, as well as introduction, prologue and finale.
Joseph Howard: Pickering-born composer of Seven Mercies
Much of the text here has been devised by choir members themselves. Ryedale Festival Community Choir, under Em Whitfield Brooks, and Ryedale Primary Schools Choir (taken from Pickering Community Junior School and Gillamoor C of E and St Joseph’s RC Primary Schools), conducted by Holly Greenwood-Rogers, were joined by a brass quintet of junior members from Kirkbymoorside Town Band and bell ringer Pam Robb.
Kathryn Rudge was the inspired soloist. Her clean, clear, beautifully projected mezzo was exactly suited to evoking the plight of the desperate and the downtrodden, and Christopher Glynn’s fluently controlled piano gave her superb underpinning. When she took to the pulpit for the finale, she soared angelically above and through the combined forces below, as if offering divine support.
Both choirs had evidently been keenly trained. They represented the voices of the community coming to the aid of the needy. Where the adults were sympathetic and affectionate, the children were infectiously enthusiastic, an apt balance. The young brass were impressive too, in an early fanfare, a lament and a smooth duet for cornets.
Howard’s music, which was always attuned to the text, divided into two styles: a thoughtful, modal English for the soloist that was reminiscent of Vaughan Williams and a much more universal, generally major-key and strongly rhythmic approach for the ensembles. This made sense with such a wide range of talents on hand: all were shown to best effect.
We may thank the Richard Shephard Music Foundation for its association with an occasion that both highlighted an important piece of local history and underlines what a force for good the Ryedale Festival continues to be. The festival itself will run from July 15 to 31 with full details at ryedalefestival.com.
YOU will have to wait 12 months for comedian, raconteur, arch television jester and radio presenter Tom Allen’s new show, Completely, to arrive at York Barbican.
Tickets will go on sale rather sooner, however, for his May 28 2023 show. Booking will open at 10am on Monday (30/5/2022) at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
At 38, Bromley-born Allen has finally moved out of his parents’ house: great news for him, better news for department stores and even better news for his latest stand-up tour, wherein he is eager to share his life updates, gain audience opinions on his vegetable patch and delve into the protocol of inviting friends with children for dinner.
Allen brings his signature acerbic wit and riotous storytelling, to hosting The Apprentice: You’re Fired, co-hosting Cooking With The Stars and the Like Minded Friends podcast and being a regular on Bake Off: An Extra Slice and There’s Something About Movies.
His last tour sold more than 50,000 tickets, prompting the advice to book early, even when the York show is 366 days away.
“I can’t wait to get back on stage,” says Marc Almond
TORCH singer Marc Almond is adding an October 21 concert at York Barbican to his rearranged autumn tour.
“The fans have been so understanding and patient through the endless rescheduling due to the pandemic but now we have confirmed these dates I can’t wait to get back on stage,” says Almond, 64, who made his name with Leeds synth-pop duo Soft Cell in the 1980s.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (27/5/2022) at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk for Almond’s first solo appearance there since his Hits And Pieces 60th birthday tour in March 2017. He last sang at York Barbican as a special guest at Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra’s November 2018 show.
The poster artwork for Marc Almond In Concert, his autumn tour
For the first time, Almond will perform songs from his March 2020 top 20 album Chaos And A Dancing Star, complemented by favourites from his extensive catalogue and his biggest hits, such as Tainted Love and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. He is sure to have surprises up his sleeve too.
Meanwhile, Soft Cell are enjoying top ten success with their first studio album in 20 years, Happiness Not Included, featuring their Pet Shop Boys collaboration, Purple Zone.
Almond’s career spans more than four decades, bringing him 35 million record sales, a BRIT Award, an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award in 2013 and an OBE in the 2018 New Year Honours for his services to arts and culture.
Sue Clayton’s portrait of Michael Miles, creator of the Y-Front fanzine, whose conversation with Sue on a park bench led to her York City centenary project
IT began with a chance conversation on a Museum Gardens bench on a summer’s day.
It ended with 140 portraits by a Wigginton artist from a family of football haters who became a season ticket holder, cheering on York City at the LNER Community Stadium as promotion to the National League was clinched last Saturday.
Sue Clayton’s portraits will be revealed en masse on Saturday at the York City Football Club Fans’ Centenary Celebration at Cliffe Village Institute, near Selby, where Bubwith-born club legend Chris Topping (463 appearances,1968-1978) will perform the opening ceremony at the 10am to 4pm event.
A3 prints of the entire collection will be available for the first time at the celebration: mounted and ready to pop into a frame for £25 each or £40 for a framed version.
Wigginton artist and York City supporter Sue Clayton with her 140 portraits
“This year-long project came about from having a chat last year with Michael Miles, a lifelong York City fan who creates the Y-Front fanzine,” says Sue. “The passion Michael showed for his club captured my attention: it was one of those conversations where someone’s passion for something sparks your own interest to listen to them.
“I suggested I should paint a few fan portraits. Then, when he mentioned it would be the club’s centenary this year, I realised a new art project was germinating in my mind and I was fizzing with creativity.”
At first, Sue anticipated painting maybe ten portraits from the photographs and stories sent to her. Instead, the project grew and grew, not even stopping at 100 paintings to mark 100 years.
“It was so strange really, a total perseverance on my behalf, with many 3am finishes,” she says. “In reality it may have been prudent to stop when I reached 100 but I still had images I wanted to paint; I wanted to do the fans justice.”
Baby: Sue Clayton’s painting of York City’s “youngest supporter”
Each 30cm square in size, the portraits span multiple media, from watercolours to oils, acrylics to charcoal, pencil to collage. “In the collection, there are brides, babies, fans pictured in celebration sadly no longer with us, sisters, dads and sons, friendships…the full range of life in all its glorious forms,” says Sue, who is now adding former players to her portrait portfolio.
She is drawn to “painting portraits of people whose stories I want to tell”, such as her exhibition of children and young adults with Down Syndrome, entitled 21, on display in the Tent of Hope at the NHS York Vaccination Centre at Askham Bar, York, last May and June.
“I’m equally passionate about making art accessible to all and love the concept of art meeting football,” she says. “A wonderful year-long journey has led me to the fantastic warmth of the fan community. From knowing so little about football, my son James and I are now fully signed-up season ticket holders roaring with the crowds on the terraces, culminating in the amazing play-off final last weekend.”
Sue believes passion creates the best portraits. “As an artist, I was on a roll with this project and became very quickly immersed within it. The range and scope of the photos sent in could let my imagination free, and it enabled me to paint such a range of ages within the series,” she says.
Match of the day at Bootham Crescent: A newly married couple at York City’s former ground, as painted by Sue Clayton
“From a sitter’s perspective, I think the fan in the act of celebrating, oblivious to all, just consumed with joy, is really delicious to paint. Equally, the moment capturing a fan watching the team intensely, apprehension etched on their face tells a great story.”
Saturday’s celebration is taking place at Cliffe on account of Michael Miles living there. “There’s quite a gathering of fans in the village, who call themselves ‘The Cliffe Minstermen’,” says Sue.
“Michael was eager to create an event just for the fans. The response has been phenomenal, with offers of help, sponsorship from the fans and fabulous raffle prizes donated. It’s a perfect chance to gather and celebrate not just the centenary but last week’s victory to go up a division.”
Look out for Jack Radcliffe’s match reports from the 2021-2022 season, on full display on Saturday. “Jack, who, like my son James, has Down Syndrome, has captured the hearts of the team, in particular goalie Pete Jameson, and the fans too,” says Sue. “His match reports are superb with such honesty and integrity. He led the team on to the pitch for the final game and did the lap of honour with them.”
The poster for Saturday’s York City FC Fans’ Centenary Celebration
“Football-type” food and drink will be available; a colouring competition for children promises fabulous prizes, and the raffle prizes will range from football kits and signed footballs, to a portrait commission from Sue and signed lyrics from Shed Seven’s Rick Witter for the club’s terrace anthem, Chasing City Rainbows.
The legacy of Sue’s portraits will build. “Work will begin soon on a book about the portrait project and some of the wonderful stories behind the faces,” she says. “I believe so strongly that these stories should not be lost and want them to be part of the archives for the club’s centenary.
“The portraits will form a large art installation inside the fanzone at the LNER Community Stadium later in the year as a permanent feature, and the Give It A Go Joe drama group has expressed an interest in developing these stories further to create some community theatre. Not bad from a chat on a park bench, eh?!”
As for the future of the original portraits, “some will go on display in York Hospital, and I would dearly love to show them again in their entirety in York centre before the collection will be broken up at the end of the year. If any galleries, museums or community spaces are interested, I would love to hear from them via sueclaytonart@gmail.com.”
CharlesHutchPresshas a hatful of questions for artist Sue Clayton
That winning feeling: Portrait artist Sue Clayton, her son James, 20, and daughter Lily, 17, celebrate York City’s promotion-clinching victory over Boston United last Saturday
Just how exciting was last Saturday’s play-off final?
“OH my!! Fab-u-lous!! I was already in bits when Jack [Radcliffe] led out the players to start the game. What a superstar Jack is and a great ambassador for the club. When that second goal went in, it was just amazing!
“The feeling of ‘we’ve got this…we’ve really got this’! Y-Front fanzine editor Michael Miles said he’d worked out he’d been supporting York for 34 years with three promotions; James and I come along and we’re promoted in our first year! Who knows what next season will bring at this rate!”
Were the stories you were sent as important as the photographs you transformed into portraits?
“Often the stories came after the photos were sent. I can’t say they directly informed my paintings but I did have a wry smile on my face with some as fans had told me some of their escapades.
Sue Clayton’s portrait of York City supporter Phil, “painted in blue and yellow as a testament to his daily posts on Twitter as he worked as a teacher in Ukraine”
“The one portrait that did affect me profoundly was the painting of Phil, the fan who was working as a teacher in Ukraine. His daily posts on Twitter, sharing the terror of the situation, haunted me. His portrait is painted in blue and yellow as a testament to this time.
“I’m hoping that more anecdotes and tales will emerge at Saturday’s event as the fans see the whole collection. There will be a book there to write down any memories and I will be interviewing fans as my next mini-project to get those stories down before they are lost.”
How did you settle on the 30cm square size and the wide range of materials for the portraits?
“I decided on the 30cm square format as I knew there would be a lot of paintings. I like a square, I feel it’s more contemporary and I always feel it works well if I want to closely crop an image and focus in on the action of the face.
City Till We Die: Sisters show their colours in Sue Clayton’s painting
“I’ve used a wide range of mediums because that’s me, I suppose! I enjoy the luscious butteryness of oils, the quick drying and layering of acrylics and the wonderful flow of watercolours. Spoilt for choice!
“I did worry that the whole collection might not adhere to one particular style: would people realise they were all by the same artist? It’s often advised to pursue a particular style so that your work is recognisable, but I’ve long decided to just do ‘me’ and try not to play to any rules.”
Last year, when announcing this project in CharlesHutchPress, you said you were “not a follower of football myself”. Earlier this month, you told the Yorkshire Post: “I grew up in a football-hating family, never watched football and we were the least sporting family going.” How come you have caught the York City bug, along with James, both becoming season ticket holders?
“Well, obviously I didn’t know what I was missing! Initially, I suppose I went for a bit of research to find out what it was all about. I soon became caught up with the match; it was a glorious day and the season had just begun. Having a season ticket meant I saw the same faces each match; a smile and a nod to other fans led on to conversations and before you know it ,you are part of a community.
Sue Clayton’s portrait of former York City defender Chris Topping, a promotion winner in 1971 and 1974, who will open Saturday’s centenary fan celebration at Cliffe Village Institute
“It’s not just the game of football, it’s the fans, the people who work with the team, the stadium, the traditions. It has also become a chance to share something special with James.”
Saturday’s centenary event carries the promise of “full football-type food and drink”. What represents such delights to you?!
“The warm smell of a fresh pie wafting by as the fans make their way to the seats (I have got to say, I have never tasted anything so good as the pie in Bromley!) I notice quite a few fans still like their Bovril.
“For the event on Saturday, the lads have arranged local pies, pasties, sausage rolls and peas. There’ll also be a curry or chilli and chips.”
York City cult hero Richard Brodie, bustling centre forward in the 2007-2010 seasons and for a 2016-2017 second coming, nicknamed Angel of the North on account of his arms-outstretched goal celebration. “Such a lovely chap, and he’s still passionate about City,” says Sue
How come Rick Witter is donating his Chasing City Rainbows lyrics to Saturday’s celebration?
“Shed Seven’s Chasing Rainbows was adopted as York City’s song when it came out in 1996 and was sung on the terraces by City fans. It can be heard at most matches. Rick has kindly supported Saturday’s raffle for the fans by sending in a hand-written, reworded version for the fans to now say ‘Chasing City Rainbows’. A lovely collector’s piece for both City fans and music fans.”
How will the portrait book project progress?
“The book is still an embryo of an idea but it will happen! I’d love for all the images to be recorded in one book alongside the fans’ stories. I kind of feel it is my duty to record this project, so that it’s not forgotten, archived away for future fans, along with the stories. My daughter Lily is a passionate reader and writer, so this will be a joint project with her.”
Iain Dunn, York City winger (1988-1991) turned matchday summariser for BBC Radio York, portrayed in City red and blue by Sue Clayton
When will your portrait installation be in place at the LNER Community Stadium?
“No date as yet, as I have only just finished painting them. Talks will begin soon to get the ball in motion.”
What will be your next project?
“The book – a new, uncharted territory for me. I’ll also work on a range of portraits of ex- players. There’s a wonderful network out there; fans are loyal and never forget their heroes, so I think it’s time to honour them.
“But hey, who knows? I might find myself chatting to someone on a park bench again and that spark of an idea begins again. It certainly opened up a whole new exciting challenge for me last time.”
AFTER 26 years of “previous”, stalwart Scottish contrarians Belle & Sebastian release A Bit Of Previous. What’s their way ahead, judging by their latest album, recorded back home in Glasgow?
Two Big Egos In A Small Car culture podcasters Graham Chalmers (their fellow Scot) and Charles Hutchinson mull it over in Episode 91.
A sneak preview ofartists’postcards for sale at PICA Studios on Saturday and Sunday
AFTER ceramics, jewellery, paintings, collage, films and textiles, now the artists at PICA Studios are branching out into one-off postcards for one weekend only.
More than 20 creatives share the workshop space, in Grape Lane, York, that is rarely open to the public, except for the annual York Open Studios.
However, on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, PICA Studios will play host to a special Postcard Show and Sale of original artworks made by studio members.
Jewellery designerEvie Leach experimenting and exploring her practice with a print/collage postcard series created for this weekend’s show and sale
PICA artist Lesley Birch says: “I successfully launched a postcard project during lockdown and so we’ve decided to follow that format this weekend. A postcard is small, affordable and original, and as we only have a small space to display them, we felt this would work well for our first collaborative show in the foyer outside of York Open Studios.”
Each postcard will sell for £25 to raise funds towards improving the studio space and to create a gallery in the foyer at PICA, where the studios opened in February 2017.
For jewellery designer Evie Leach, the postcard project has helped push her creative practice. “It’s taken me in other directions to make a series of artworks on paper inspired by my jewellery designs. This is what a studio is all about: inspiring and innovating members to go beyond their comfort zone.”
Emily Stubbs curating the Postcard Show at PICA with hammer, drill and hands
Fellow founding member Emily Stubbs says: “This is the first time we have collaborated with so many of us producing work just for the studio. It’s a bonding experience and we’re looking forward to it very much.”
Joining Lesley, Evie and Emily in the postcard show will be Katrina Mansfield, Ealish Wilson, Sarah Jackson, Ric Liptrot, Jo Edmonds, Lisa Power, Amy Stubbs, Mick Leach, Rae George, Lesley Shaw Lu Mason and Kitty Pennybacker, with more still to come.
Spring Garden, by Lesley Birch, one of the postcards for sale for £25 at PICA Studios
The £25 postcards can bought in person at PICA or online through Instagram, where “you can spot the one you want” at instagram@picastudios.
One final thought: in an age when a postcard dropping through the door is increasingly rare, how does such an occurrence make Lesley Birch feel? “Receiving a postcard is absolutely lovely,” she says. “All the smudges from the postmark, the date and the handwriting make it a piece of history. It’s the good old days of snail mail.”
Now comes a repurposing of a postcard with the stamp of art to each one.
Textile postcards by PICA Studios artist Ealish Wilson
Aled Jones and Russell Watson: New album, new tour, with a Christmas theme
ALED Jones and Russell Watson are to reunite for Christmas 2022 with a new album and tour, taking in York Barbican on December 6.
Performing together again after a three-year hiatus, the classical singers will embark on a November and December itinerary to coincide with the November 4 release of Christmas With Aled And Russell.
Available to pre-order now, the album features new recordings of traditional carols such as O Holy Night, O Little Town Of Bethlehem and In The Bleak Midwinter, alongside festive favourites White Christmas, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, Little Drummer Boy and Mistletoe And Wine.
In addition, Jones and Watson are recording a duo rendition of Walking In The Air – first sung by boy soprano Aled in 1982 for the animated film The Snowman – specially for the new record.
Bangor-born tenor Jones, 51, says: “After a crazy couple of years for us all, I can’t wait to be reunited with my mate Russell again for our third album together! I’ll always be associated with Christmas, so it’s an honour to be working with him.
“We always have a blast on tour, so getting to sing our favourite Christmas songs together in so many stunning venues later this year will be a real treat! You never know, ‘Traffic Cone’ might even make an appearance…and hopefully Chicago has given Russ the chance to brush up on his dancing skills!”
Salford tenor Watson, 55, who has been playing slick lawyer Billy Flynn in the 2022 tour of Chicago, says: “Aled and I had a great time recording our first two albums, so I’m immensely excited to be back in the studio together working on our third. We had a really tough time choosing from so many magnificent Christmas songs, but we’ve whittled it down to a fabulous selection of tracks which truly mean something to us both.
“And to get to share a stage again during our UK tour later this year will be such a special experience after three years apart. I hope Christmas With Aled And Russell is on all of your Christmas lists, and I can’t wait to see you all on tour throughout November and December!”
Aled & Russell: Third album of duets
Christmas With Aled And Russell will be looking to match the success of 2018’s In Harmony and 2019’s Back In Harmony, after both recordings topped the UK Classical Album Chart and made the top ten of the UK Official Album Chart.
Classical crossover singer Jones has released more than 40 albums and achieved more than 40 silver, gold and platinum discs since his chorister days when Walking In The Air brought him fame at 12.
In November 2020, he released Blessings, a multi-faith album featuring songs from different religions, and in February 2022, he reached the semi-finals of ITV’s The Masked Singer in the guise of Traffic Cone.
He has pursued a career as a television and radio presenter too, at present hosting a weekly show on Classic FM and BBC One’s Sunday staple, Songs Of Praise.
Watson’s debut album, 2000’s The Voice, topped both the British and USA classical charts, making him the first British male artist to attain a simultaneous transatlantic number one.
Watson has performed for HM The Queen, the late Pope John Paul II and former USA Presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama.
He last played York Barbican in a Sunday matinee in November 2021 on his 20th Anniversary Of The Voice tour.
Tickets for December 6’s 8pm performance of Christmas With Aled & Russell are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The poster for Badapple Theatre Company’s one-man show Yorkshire Kernel
JAMES’S Grandad is at death’s door, but he has one last mission: to find a tree. Many trees in fact, scattered around the country in memory of his Second World War comrades.
So begins Yorkshire Kernel, written and performed by Danny Mellor for Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company, on tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday at 7.30pm and Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Divided between being haunted by his plain-speaking grandfather, his mother rekindling her romance with an old flame, and James’s pregnant partner, Rosie, thinking he is cheating on her, Mellor’s “bonkers” solo show undertakes a journey of Yorkshire wit and grit through one man’s determination to leave a long-lasting legacy.
Danny Mellor: Writer, performer and puppeteer
Newly commissioned by Badapple for their No Hall Too Small scheme, this poignant and humorous world premiere is directed by artistic director Kate Bramley.
Mellor previously wrote Undermined for Leeds company Red Ladder and wrote and performed in Badapple’s garden tour of Suffer Fools Gladly, presented under socially distanced restrictions in September 2020.
Yorkshire Kernel is suitable for age ten upwards. Tickets are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
