Category: Breaking News

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Art Of Protest Projects wants to hear your views on creating Front Street community mural and street bench refurbishment

“We are passionate about getting the community involved,” says Art Of Protest Projects founder and creative director Jeff Clark

ART Of Protest (AOP) has been awarded a UK Shared Prosperity Fund grant by City of York Council to create a more vibrant, people-friendly, accessible space for all in Front Street, Acomb.

The grant will go towards installing a community mural and eight benches as part of a wider regeneration of Front Street.

Art Of Protest Projects, a social impact enterprise founded in 2016 and based in York, engages communities in place-making and public art, with its team of professional creatives, artists and storytellers having delivered a series of projects in York and beyond so far.

Many of the team reside in Acomb, making the latest project close to their hearts, and already AOP is proactive within the Acomb community, presenting their flagship creative learning workshops at York High School and Inspire Academy.

Founder and creative director Jeff Clark says: “We want to deliver something that the Acomb community can be proud of for decades to come. It’s not just about creating art, it’s about listening to the views of the people.”

Councillor Katie Lomas, City of York Council Executive Member with responsibility for Finance and Major Projects, says: “It is great to see the Front Street project taking another step forward and this is a very exciting part of the transformation. So far, we have seen new seating and planters installed, upgraded public toilets, improved Blue Badge parking and removed a significant number of bollards.

“We are looking forward to working closely with artists at Art Of Protest Projects to introduce public art to the area, which 68 per cent of respondents supported during our consultation last spring. We will continue listening to the community and get to the heart of what residents would like to see.

“It is vital that the local community is involved and helps to shape these designs, which will be part of Front Street for years to come, so I’d encourage everyone who lives or spends time in Acomb to share your thoughts. I would also like to thank everyone for their patience while work is ongoing in the area, and I look forward to seeing more of these improvements take shape as the project progresses.”

Jeff adds: “AOP aims to creatively engage and impassion individuals of all capabilities and backgrounds to build local capacity and skills. We believe that art is a common and universal language where people of all ages, creeds and beliefs can meet, engage and connect.”

AOP has tight deadlines set by UK Shared Prosperity Fund to complete the installation by the end of March, preceded by a series of open consultation events running during the last week of January and the first week of February.

Art Of Protest’s poster invitation to mural and benches engagement sessions in Acomb

Spray paint mural engagement sessions will be held at Acomb Explore Library on January 27, 5pm to 7pm, The Place, Acomb, January 28, 4pm to 5.30pm, and Gateway Centre, Acomb, February 3, 5pm to 7pm. Paint-a-pot benches engagement sessions will take place at The Place on January 29, 3.30pm to 4.30pm, and Acomb Explore Library on January 31, 10am to 12 noon.  

Jeff says:  “We want to build on the community consultations that have already taken place, listening to the views to celebrate Acomb’s heritage, to be bright, fun and inviting.”

For the mural consultations, he explains: “We are arranging a series of workshops at local schools, as well as creative spray paint workshops where participants can take away their own piece of art home and inspire the design brief for the mural. The mural will be a community totem, carefully crafted and shaped by community input”.

For the bench consultations, Jeff says: “Accessibility is really important and there is also an opportunity to signpost the local community to our green spaces and celebrate local flora. The bench engagement sessions will be an opportunity to chat about what you want to see, as well as paint your own plant pot to take away a seedling or plant.

“The curators’ responsibility is to capture as many Acomb residents’ voices and project them into one shared vision. We love the local area and want to create a legacy piece that celebrates all the local green spaces as well as Acomb’s connection to the oak trees.”

You can book for the engagement events at eventbrite.co.uk/o/art-of-protest-projects-40881047083 or by emailing workshops.aopprojects@gmail.com.

AOP is arranging drop-in sessions on Front Street with everyone welcome at The Place on January 30, 10am to 12 noon, Bluebird Bakery, February 1, 3pm to 5pm, and Gateway Centre, February 4, 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

A key aspect of the project is the Street Art Academy, delivered in partnership with The Place with its ethos to create, collaborate and increase curiosity, confidence and capability. This structured programme will up-skill and create cultural capital and legacy by providing career pathways in the creative industries.

In addition, a talent development opportunity will become available for participants to shadow the creation of the mural.

“We are passionate about getting the community involved,” says Jeff. “What’s really unique about the programme is the Street Art Academy focused on skills development and capacity building. 

“AOP would love to hear from the local community and will be arranging a celebration event following the installation of the mural and benches with details to follow. If you have any queries, please get in touch with workshop.aopprojects@gmail.com.”

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Panto queen Suzy Cooper and RSC actor Mark Holgate to star in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate: Playing Titania and Hippolyta and Oberon and Theseus respectively in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025.

Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York actor Mark Holgate as the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon, in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11.

In his tenth anniversary of producing and directing shows at the Grand Opera House, Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth.

Presented as York Stage’s first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs’s Dream will feature a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Whilst not being a musical, the show will include a live band alongside powerhouse vocals that York Stage are famous for with their musical production,” says Nik. “Keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks for more Dreamy cast announcements. The next one will be very soon.”

Suzy last trod the Grand Opera House boards in dowager dame Berwick Kaler’s valedictory pantomime after 47 years on the York stage in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse from December 9 2023 to January 6 2024.

Britannia rules the waves: Suzy Cooper’s fairy in Robinson Crusoe &The Pirates Of The River Ouse at the Grand Opera House, York, in December 2023. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“It will be lovely to be back in York, performing at the Grand Opera House again,” says Suzy, who will take the role of Hippolyta too opposite Holgate’s Theseus. “I’ve never played Titania before, but I did play the fairy, Mustardseed, at York Theatre Royal, with Malcom Skates as Bottom and Andrina Carroll as Titania, and then Peter Quince in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s production at Blenheim Palace in 2019 [when she also appeared as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth].

“I’ve not worked with Mark before, but he did the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre season the same summer that I did, and it’s going to be a lot of fun working with him.”

Explaining how this production and the initial casting came to fruition, producer-director Nik says: “This is a new venture for York Stage in our first co-production with the Grand Opera House, so as part of that we were looking at how we could create the next generation of York Stage productions.

“Like when we did our first pantomime [the socially distanced Jack And The Beanstalk in the Covid-shadowed winter of 2020] and we’ve also talked about using professional casting alongside our community casting, where a lot of our actors have professional credits too.

“It was important for York Stage to use professional actors with connections with York, and Suzy was someone I had wanted to work with for a long time. We’d talked several times about doing a show, and this was the perfect opportunity. It’s been in the offing since late-summer when we started talking about it.”

York Stage director Nik Briggs: Relocating Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from the court of Athens Court, a northern council estate

Nik continues: “We were thinking about making ‘Dream’ like Brassic or Shameless, set on a northern council estate. In the original telling, Hippolyta is the Amazon queen, who is almost a prisoner of the Athenian court, and the idea struck me that with Suzy being a southerner but adopted by York after performing here for nigh on 30 years, she would be ideal as the southern counterpoint to the northern world in the tumultuous battle that unfolds, adding a North-South divide to it.”

Nik will be directing Mark Holgate for the first time too. “Our paths have never crossed before. Mark’s father had seen a piece in The Press about us looking for actors and said that Mark had had a career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cheek By Jowl, Sheffield Crucible and theatres across the UK and was a real master of Shakespearean acting, but he’d never performed at the Grand Opera House or York Theatre Royal.

“The opportunity to perform in one of the big theatres in his home city, with his family living in the city, was a real draw for him.  He’s played such roles as Banquo in Macbeth and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night – he was sensational in that – for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre but until now I wasn’t aware that he was from York.

“So we met up, he did some readings and he was exactly what I’d envisaged for Oberon. It really hinges on Oberon in this play, and Mark got my vision; he had just what I wanted from the role. It’s really exciting to see what he’ll bring to it.”

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate will star in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees . Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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York Minster to be illuminated with wildlife 3D projection in Colour & Light 2025 free event from February 12 to March 2

Colour & Light: York BID free event returns to York Minster from February 12

YORK Minster’s South Transept is to be illuminated with York wildlife down the centuries for the return Colour & Light from February 12 to March 2.

Building on the impact of the 3D projection mapping illuminations at York Minster in 2023 and York Art Gallery in 2024 that drew tens of thousands of spectators from York and beyond,  this year’s large-scale visual arts project will highlight the city’s heritage and creativity once more in celebration of  the city’s UNESCO Media Arts status.

This free event promises a “mesmerising projection” of famous and lesser-known stories of York’s animal world, from the peregrine falcons that call the Minster home and the foxes that roam the city after dark, to the horses on which the Romans rode into Eboracum and the legendary dragons carved into York’s history.

Carl Alsop, operations manager at York BID, says: “Colour & Light is fast becoming a highlight of York’s cultural calendar. The event started at York Minster in 2023, so we’re proud to partner with them again for our 2025 event.

“We’re particularly excited as this year’s projections showcase the diversity of wildlife and unique animal stories that makes York so special. By encouraging families and visitors to explore the city centre during these quieter months, we’re not only creating magical experiences but also supporting local businesses and reinforcing York’s vibrant evening economy.”

Colour & Light 2024 on the frontage of York Art Gallery

Lisa Power, York Minster’s head of events and participation, says: “We are thrilled to welcome Colour & Light back to York Minster this February. The inaugural display in 2023 saw the city welcome tens of thousands of people during what is often the coldest, darkest and quietest time of the year.

“This year’s projections will bring York Minster’s heritage to life, this time through a spectacular display of flora and fauna illuminating the cathedral’s South Transept. We hope that this beautiful display will once again remind everyone that York is open all year round!”

Colour & Light will run nightly from 6pm to 9pm with projections on a ten-minute loop. The final hour each evening will feature a designated quiet hour with reduced noise and crowd levels, ensuring everyone can enjoy the event. No tickets are required.

Colour & Light 2025 is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, highlighting the importance of investing in cultural initiatives to support local economies and enhance community well-being.

 Visitors are invited to explore York’s shops, restaurants and cafés as part of their evening. Join the conversation on social media via #ColourAndLight2025.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond in 2025, whether new or Oldman. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 1, from The Press, York

Laura Fraser’s DI Bea Metcalf on the York waterfront in Channel 4’s crime drama Patience. Picture: Channel 4

FROM a neurodiverse TV crime drama to an Oscar winner’s stage return, Charles Hutchinson picks highlights of the year ahead.

Seeing York through a different lens: Patience, Channel 4 from January 8, 9pm

CHANNEL 4’s six-part police procedural drama Patience, set in York, opens with the two-part Paper Mountain Girl, on January 8 and 9, wherein autistic Police Records Office civilian worker Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis) brings her unique investigative insight to helping DI Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser) and her team.

Written for Eagle Eye Drama by Matt Baker, from Pocklington, Patience is as much a celebration of neurodiversity as a crime puzzle-solver. “The centre of York itself is a little bit like a puzzle,” he says.   

Lara McClure: Atmospheric storytelling at A Feast Of Fools II at the Black Swan Inn

Out with the old, in with the new: Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools II, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, Sunday, 7pm to 10.30pm; doors, 6pm

YORK collective Navigators Art presents a last gasp of mischief in an alternative end-of-season celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas, packed with live folk music, spoken word and a nod to the pagan and the impish.

Dr Lara McClure sets the scene with atmospheric storytelling, joined by York musicians Oli Collier, singer, guitarist and rising star Henry Parker, York alt-folk legends White Sail and poet and experimental musician Thomas Pearson. Book tickets at  bit.ly/nav-feast2.

Seeing eye to eye: Rob Auton in his new touring comedy vehicle The Eyes Open And Shut Show

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, March 5, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

On the back of last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe trial run, Auton goes on the road from January 27 to May 4 with his eyes very much open. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

York-raised artist Harland Miller with his title work for the XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: courtesy of White Cube (Ollie Hammick), 2019

No stopping him this time, please: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, March 14 to August 31, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

AFTER the first Covid lockdown curtailed his York, So Good They Named It Once show only a month into its 2020 run, international artist and writer Harland Miller returns to the city where he was raised to present XXX, a new exhibition that showcases paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series.

Stirred by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities.

Harland Miller, XXX, oil on canvas, 2019. Copyright: Harland Miller. Photo copyright: White Cube, Theo Christelis

Coinciding with the release of a book of the same title by Phaidon, XXX features several new Miller works, including one that celebrates his home city, in a hard-edged series that melds the sacred seamlessly with the everyday, drawing inspiration from medieval manuscripts, where monks often laboured to produce intricate illuminated letters to mark the beginning of chapters.

In these works, the Yorkshire Pop artist – who is represented by White Cube – uses bold colours and typefaces to accentuate the expressive versatility of monosyllabic words and acronyms such as ESP, IF and Star.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a Q&A with the artist plus community activities to “inspire, inform and involve all”. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.

Gary Oldman in the dressing room when visiting York Theatre Royal last March to plan this spring’s production of Krapp’s Last Tape

Theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate: Teaming up as Titania and Oberon – and Hippolyta and Theseus too – in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Look who’s back too: Suzy Cooper in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025. Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York actor Mark Holgate as the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon.

Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Beach hut five, Shed Seven: York band to make Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut in June

“Biggest ever headline show in their home county”: Shed Seven, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 14

IN the aftermath of their 30th anniversary celebrations and two number one albums in 2024, refulgent York band Shed Seven will focus on the great outdoors in the summer ahead, fulfilling a dream by making a long-overdue Scarborough OAT debut, when Jake Bugg and Cast will be their special guests. “It’s a stunning and historic venue…Yorkshire’s very own Hollywood Bowl!” enthuses lead singer Rick Witter.

The Sheds also return to Leeds Millennium Square on July 11, supported by Lightning Seeds and The Sherlocks. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk; Leeds,  gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.

Bridget Foreman: Co-writer of York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights’ community play His Last Report

Community play of the year: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company in His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, July 22 to August 3

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and York company Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch will co-direct a large-scale community project that focuses on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking 1900s’ investigation into the harsh realities of poverty.

Told through the voices of York’s residents, both past and present, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will ask “What is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed?” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.


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Who won the 2024 Hutch Awards?

Nothing could burst Shed Seven’s celebratory balloons in 2024. Picture: Chris Little

CharlesHutchPress doffs his cap to the makers, creators, artists and shakers who shaped York’s year of culture.

Story of the year and gigs of the year: Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary annus mirabilis

GOING for gold anew, York’s likely lad Britpop veterans had the alchemist’s touch throughout their busiest ever year, matching Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Elton John in notching two number one  albums in a year in January’s studio set A Matter Of Time and October’s newly re-recorded compilation Liquid Gold.

In a year of resurgent upward motion in York, one that ended with York City atop the National League, Shed Seven’s resurrection was crystallised by lead singer Rick Witter’s name being appropriated for a council road gritter but even more so by two nights of homecoming concerts at York Museum Gardens in July, when special guest Peter Doherty’s beatific smile best captured the exultant mood of celebration.

Tristan Sturrock’s Blue Beard versus Katy Owen’s Mother Superior in Wise Children’s Blue Beard at York Theatre Royal

You Should Have Seen It play of the year: Wise Children’s Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9

“IT certainly won’t be boring,” promised Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice, and it certainly wasn’t. Blue Beard, her table-turning twist on the gruesome fairytale, was everything modern theatre should be: intelligent, topical, provocative, surprising; full of music, politics, “tender truths”, mirror balls and dazzling costumery.

It had comedy as much as tragedy; actors as skilled at musicianship as acting and dancing to boot, all while embracing the Greek, Shakespearean, cabaret, kitchen-sink and multi-media ages of theatre. So, why oh why, weren’t the audiences bigger?

Angst and anger: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot

York debut of the year: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, July 4 to 6

BRIGHT Light Musical Productions staged the York premiere of punk rock opera Green Day’s American Idiot in Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s high-octane, politically driven, perfectly-timed production that opened on American Independence Day and the UK General Election day, also marking the 20th anniversary of Green Day’s groundbreaking album American Idiot.

“Personally, the issues it tackles have affected me profoundly, as they have many others,” said Crawfurd-Porter. “The aim is to give a voice to those who feel unheard, just as it has given one to me.” The show, with its commentary on America and the impact of politics at large, did just that.

Jack Savoretti performing at Live At York Museum Gardens, presented by the Futuresound Group. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Event launch of the year: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, July 18, 19 and 20

LEEDS concert and festival promoters Futuresound stretched their wings to launch Live At York Museum Gardens, selling out all three nights featuring Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti and a brace of gigs by local heroes Shed Seven, each bill featuring York and Yorkshire support acts. One complaint, from Clifton, over the Sheds’ noise levels was rejected by City of York Council, and Mercury Prize winners Elbow are booked already for 2025.

Rob Auton: Comedy mined from self-examination at The Crescent, York

Comedy show of the year: Rob Auton in The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28

ROB Auton, hirsute York/Barmby Moor stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returned north from London with his tenth themed solo show.

After mulling over the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds in past outings, surrealist visionary Rob turned the spotlight on himself, exploring memories and feelings from his daily life, but with the observational comic’s gift for making the personal universal as the sublime and the ridiculous strolled giddily hand in hand.

Bristol street artist Inkie’s artwork for Rise Of The Vandals at 2, Low Ousegate, York

Exhibition of the year: Bombsquad’s Rise Of The Vandals, 2, Low Ousegate, York, June 22 and 23, June 28 to 30 and July 5 to 7

YORK art collective Bombsquad launched Rise Of The Vandals in a celebration of the city’s street art scene, taking over a disused office block with the owner’s permission but suffused with the underground spirit of squatters’ rights. Art was not only wall to wall, but even the loos were given a black-and-white checkerboard revamp too.

Spread over four floors in one of the tallest buildings in the city, the installation showcased retrospective and contemporary spray paint culture, graffiti, street art and public art in three galleries, complemented by a cinema room, an art shop and live DJs. There really should be more such artistic insurrections in York, instead of turning every shell of a building into another hotel or yet more student accommodation.

Honourable mention: National Treasures, an exhibition built around Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond, as part of the National Gallery’s bicentenary, at York Art Gallery, May 10 to September 8.

Leading lights: Riding Lights’ new executive director Oliver Brown, left, and artistic director Paul Birch at Friargate Theatre in York

Re-enter stage right: Riding Lights Theatre Company and Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, under the new artistic directorship of Paul Birch, picking up the baton from late founder Paul Burbridge. York Theatre Royal Studio, re-booting for cabaret nights as The Old Paint Shop.

Behind you: Departing dame Berwick Kaler gave his last pantomime performance as Dotty Dullally at the Grand Opera House, York, on January 6 2024. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Exit stage left: Dowager dame Berwick Kaler, from York pantomimes after 47 years; Harkirit Bopara, from The Crescent community venue; The Howl & The Hum’s Sam Griffiths, from York and Leeds for London; At The Mill, from serving up theatre, comedy, music, fine dining and Saturday sausage sandwiches at Stillington Mill; The Victoria Vaults, from promoting gigs, in an enforced pub closure on December 11 after 160 years. The very next day, City of York Council upheld York CAMRA’s request to list the Nunnery Lane premises as a community asset. Watch this space.

Gordon Kane RIP. Picture: Gareth Jenkins

Gone but not forgotten: Gordon Kane, actor and good sport

A SCOTSMAN by birth and richly theatrical accent, but long resident in York, this delightfully playful screen and stage actor, and casual cricketer and golfer to boot, appeared in Time Bandits, The Comic Strip Presents and latterly Nolly and Buffering, but around Yorkshire he will be treasured for his work for York Theatre Royal, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, Harrogate Theatre and Hull Truck Theatre, not least in John Godber’s plays.

His good friend Mark Addy delivered the eulogy – written with typically mischievous humour by Gordon himself – at December 18’s funeral at York Cemetery.  

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Irish comedian Ed Byrne shatters taboo of discussing death in Tragedy Plus Time in shows in York, Leeds and Doncaster

Taboo or not taboo? Ed Byrne shatters the glass ceiling of not conversing about death by doing just so in Tragedy Plus Time. Picture: Roslyn Gaunt

LOOK at these snippets from the reviews for Irish comedian Ed Byrne’s groundbreaking tour show, bound for the Grand Opera House, York, on January 11.

“Genuinely reflective and deeply emotional”. “Grief, regret”. “From rage to dark humour to poignancy”. “Dead funny”. “Cathartic storytelling”. “Tear-jerking observations”. “Poignant, touching, spiky”. “Plumbs the very depths of his soul”.  “Delicate, sensitive high-wire act of a show”.

Just checking: this is a comedy gig, right?  Yes indeed, one that takes its title from a quote from 19th century American writer, humorist, and essayist Mark Twain, who defined humour as “Tragedy Plus Time”.

Putting that metric to the test by mining the most tragic event in his life for humour, 52-year-old Byrne “manages to make dying and death very funny” (to quote the Daily Business Group review] in a show that carries the content warning “Discussions of death” with an age guidance of 14 plus.

At the time of this interview, Byrne, who grew up on the east coast of Ireland in Swords, County Dublin, had just finished a run of Irish dates where some had proved challenging, even for such an experienced act.

“The last night was a breeze, really, really good, not having to shut down drunken ****holes, but in Dunleary there was a noisy works outing and then four lads in Kilkenny on the front row that just wouldn’t shut up: one table of quite drunk people who I had to address for joining in too much,” Ed says.

“I don’t know if it [raucous behaviour] is on the increase, but with this show, it’s full of jokes but there are a couple of moments where it’s more serious, so you need some quiet, though it’s punctuated with a couple of laughs, but the last thing you want is someone who’s drunk to use that moment to butt in.”

Byrne’s material refracts the concept of Tragedy Plus Time through the prism of two ‘tragedies’. “One was my car being broken into, which I was raging about by the following night’s show. It was an enormous ball ache but I ended up with eight minutes of stand-up,” Ed says.

“The rest of the show is about how my brother Paul died [of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer, in February 2022, aged 44, after being diagnosed initially in 2013].” He had suffered a short illness in lockdown. “Then the Covid finished him off,” adds Ed.

“There is now comedy for everybody: whatever your demographic, race, creed, sexual orientation,” says observational Irish comedian Ed Byrne

“In the show I’m arguing with those who locked us down but at the same time didn’t take it seriously enough, and the reaction will depend on people’s political sensibilities.”

On stage, Byrne talks of how he argued with comedy director Paul, who he had called “my pain in the a*** little brother” in his 2022 tribute, but also of how he reconnected with him. “I will miss him so much,” his tribute had ended.

He is playing York as part of an extended tour that began in 2023, will visit Leeds City Varieties for the third time on January 25 and end in April 2025, almost two years after the first date. “My tours have been getting longer,” he says. “I always say that the hard part of the show is writing it and then getting out and doing it is the reward – and now there are just more and more places to play.

“When I was starting out, even playing a comedy night outside London in the Nineties, you were worried about how it would go because people had this idea of comedy as end of the pier and pub jokes, so observational comedy was something of an unknown quantity.

“I remember playing in Southend, where it was always one observational comedian and one end-of-the-pier comedian on the bill. Now, if people go and see a comedy club night, they know there’ll be some one-liners but a lot more storytelling, so you don’t feel like a visionary any more – and outside pantomime, comedy now draws the biggest audiences to theatres.”

Comedy has its broadest scope ever too, Byrne suggests. “I think people previously were perhaps slightly put off when they thought it was all going to be too political or too ‘ladsy’, but I think it’s a fact there is now comedy for everybody: whatever your demographic, race, creed, sexual orientation, there is humour designed just for you, comedy for all stripes,” Ed says.

He does add a note of caution, however: “The worrying thing is that it is becoming a bit polarised, and if a comedian is not tailored exactly to someone’s taste, they’ll say, ‘well, I’m not going to laugh at that’. I feel it’s post-Brexit where it’s become more divisive.”

As for Ed Byrne, he is breaking the unspoken barrier of death still being considered a taboo subject for conversation in Tragedy Plus Time, a show that has done anything but divide opinion. Oh, and for the record: “As with any subject I do, there are always digressions into asides,” he says.

Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time, Grand Opera House, York, January 11, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, January 25, 7.30pm, and Cast, Doncaster, January 28, 7.30pm. Box office: York, atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Doncaster, 01302 303952 or castindoncaster.com.

Copyright of The Press, York

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Navigators Art to mark Twelfth Night with feast of music and stories at Black Swan Inn

Lara McClure: Atmospheric storytelling at A Feast Of Fools II

YORK collective Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools II, a last gasp of mischief to mark the curtain closing on the festive holiday on January 5 at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York.

“Welcome to our second alternative end-of-season celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas, packed with live folk music, spoken word and a nod to the pagan and the impish,” says artist and co-founder Richard Kitchen.

Henry Parker: York singer and guitarist

“Flushed with Edinburgh Fringe success, Dr Lara McClure will set the scene with some atmospheric storytelling. We’re also delighted to welcome two acclaimed York musicians: Oli Collier, with a walk on the dark side, and singer, guitarist and rising star Henry Parker.”

On the 7pm to 10.30pm bill too will be York alt-folk legends White Sail, who return from last year’s event with new material, and doing likewise will be poet and experimental musician Thomas Pearson.

“Last year’s show sold out, so be sure to grab your tickets before they’re gone,” advises Richard. Booking in advance is recommended at bit.ly/nav-feast2. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Navigators Art’s poster for A Feast Of Fools II
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REVIEW: Badapple Theatre Company in panto mash-up Sleeping Beauty And The Beast, until January 5 2025 ****

Putting the cross into cross-dressing: Richard Galloway’s Wicked Witch of West Yorkshire in Badapple Theatre Company’s Sleeping Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Karl Andre

YES, you read that show title correctly. Sleeping Beauty And The Beast is a panto-mash-up of Sleeping Beauty and Beauty And The Beast from the inquisitive, anarchic mind of Richard Kay. And what a smash of a mash he makes in this madcap marriage.

“Three actors, two pantomimes, one hour, what could possibly go wrong,” read Badapple Theatre Company’s invitation to York writer, director and composer Kay’s delightfully playful show. The answer, on preview night at Stillingfleet Village Institute, turned out to be the absence of a crucial prop, met with a profuse apology from the tech desk!

The intrepid cast of Richard Galloway (in his third Badapple show), Pip Cook (in her second) and Livy Potter (in her company debut) improvised admirably in a show that is fleet of foot and quick of mind throughout.

Potter’s Fairy Naturel and friends must thwart the evil potion plant-poisoning plans of the “Bad to the Bone” Wicked Witch of West Yorkshire (Galloway putting the cross into cross-dressing in roughly applied blue eye-shadow, gash of red lipstick, heavy stubble, rudimentary wig and a mardy mood) as Kay weaves pollution, a dig at water companies and, later, the re-wilding of a country estate into the mix.

Pip Cook’s Belle: One of her eight roles in Sleeping Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Karl Andre

A Donald Trump mask, references to July’s General Election, Brexit, Covid, climate change and Nigel Farage, plus a jibe at how Royal Families “can get away with anything” provide a bit of politics too to please the Ben Eltons of this world, while Kay’s dips into 2024 culture include a pastiche of Claudia Winkleman in Traitors mode, a mention of Taylor Swift and a nod to Brat, Charli XCX’s word of the year.

The two overlapping stories, fused into one with “too much plot”, are set in the neighbouring villages of High Uppington and Lower Netherdale, where Cook’s Belle (in blue) and Potter’s Beauty (in matching pink) must be saved from their fairytale fates with the fairy’s help as the admirably alliterative Wicked Witch vows to “nobble these numpties” when learning of the prophecy that either Belle or Beauty will save the planet.

Those villages are depicted on the front of William Fricker’s proscenium arch set, a wonderfully unpredictable design with a rotating core that facilitates puppets making sporadic entries and Cook somehow squeezing through a seemingly too small space to make a hasty exit.   

The highly comedic Cook will be kept busiest of all the cast, eight roles no less, ranging from apprentice villain David the Dimwit to Sir David of Attenborough, from Mother and Father in puppet form to Queen Carmella and King Charlie, requiring her to dash on and off ever more frantically for a costume change to switch from one royal to the other.

Livy Potter’s Lord Hunk in Sleeping Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Karl Andre

Potter, such an impressively diverse actress in past roles in “serious plays” on the York stage, has bags of fun in the lighter froth of pantomime, whether as Beauty, the feisty fairy or Lord Hunk, the nobleman who will become the Beast (represented by a puppet head).

Galloway’s ease with comedy, seen previously in Badapple’s revival of Kate Bramley’s Eddie And The Gold Tops, is given full expression in his rough and ready “dame”, the Wicked Witch, and he also revels in sending up a French accent as Lord Hunk’s gardener, the eco-conscious Bertie.

Three actors, two stories, only one hour, this is a novel pantomime but one steeped in tradition too, or at least playing with tradition. Kay, for example, can never resist putting the pun into panto. What is the child’s name? Belle. “It has a nice ring to it,” we are told. “Our baby Belle. Does it sound too cheesy.” There will be plenty more where those came from, best of all the Luke Littler one.

Kay dips into the fashion for meta-theatre with such self-aware comments as “That’s a slightly unusual tangent for pantomime” and “Hey, fourth character for you in this scene. That’s a record”, while his satire on every pantomime’s obligatory saccharine, soppy ballad turns into a point-making ode to rescuing the planet, Our Love For The Earth.

Writer, director and composer Richard Kay in the rehearsal room for Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

Kay is in a mischievous mood too, his tongue firmly in his cheek when he talks of “the “self-satisfied stench of rural village life” on a tour that will be playing to village audiences. ”.

You will love the clever little touches, such as the use of silhouettes with torches, a puppet speeding across the top of the set to signify “running all the way”, and Fricker’s creation of a “particularly prickly thicket” to spread across the set.

Given just how well this mash-up works in the Green Hammerton company’s match-up with Rural Arts On Tour, Badapple surely will ask Richard Kay to come up with another one for next winter. Any suggestions?

Badapple Theatre Company and Rural Arts On Tour present Sleeping Beauty And The Beast until January 5 2025. For tour and ticket details, head to ruralarts.org/whats-on/performances/ or email admin@ruralarts.org or phone 01845 526 536.

Performances: December 30, Amotherby, 1pm; Shipton-by Beningbrough, 7pm; December 31, Stillington, 1pm; January 2, Coverdale, 1pm; Green Hammerton, 7pm; January 3, Cononley, 1pm; Clapham, 7pm; January 4, Middleton St George, Darlington, 1pm; January 5, Sharow, Ripon, 1pm.

Dastardly double act: Pip Cook’s David the Dimwit and Richard Galloway’s Wicked Witch of West Yorkshire in Badapple Theatre Company’s pantomime mash-up. Picture: Karl Andre
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Meet Sario Solomon, the leading lad himself in Aladdin pantomime at York Theatre Royal

Sario Solomon’s Aladdin in a scene with Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: SR Taylor Photography

SARIO Solomon is starring in the title role in Aladdin, this winter’s pantomime at York Theatre Royal, and is no stranger to the role.

“I played the part in Telford a few years ago. He’s full of energy and youthful exuberance, and he’s jokey and fun too,” he says.

“I had a really good time there, so I thought, ‘let’s give it another go, this time in York’. But I’m surprised I got it because I’m hopeless at the ‘self-tapes’ you have to send in and I’m not really tech savvy. It’s always hard to come across on camera as you want to be perceived, but luckily Juliet [creative director Juliet Forster] said ‘yes’.”

He had to miss the official pantomime launch on account of his acting commitments elsewhere that day but he did make a Sario solo trip to meet the media.

“I was playing the American-Italian Sonny, one of the Burger Palace Boys, on tour. I first played the part in London at the Dominion Theatre and then on the long UK tour – 18 months altogether, but I liked playing him. He’s funny, stupid and silly, so you can get away with things you can’t in other shows.

“It was wonderful to work with choreographer Arlene Phillips and director Nikolai Foster, who I’d done West Side Story with at the National Youth Music Theatre. That’s how he remembered me when he was casting for Grease.

“I was still on the Grease tour in the first week of rehearsals for Aladdin when I was able to commute from Sheffield each day and so we worked schedules around that.”

Does Sario prefer singing and dancing in musicals or acting in plays? “I just love musicals,” he says. “I knew I wanted to do musical theatre. I’m quite a silly, stupid person so straight acting is less appealing.

“It’s the same with panto. I like to have fun. It’s not meant to be serious! It’s meant to be funny. I like going over the top and having fun. It’s a  very English institution, so trying to describe it to my German friends is always difficult!”

Like so many, Sario first attended a pantomime in his childhood. “Jack And The Beanstalk, probably with my grandmother, at a theatre in North London, where I grew up,” he recalls. “I was intrigued.

“Straightaway I just loved anything on stage. I knew it was something I wanted to be in and be part of, partly because I remember how much joy it gave me as a child. I was told the importance of A levels and exams, but I went to the National Youth Music Theatre in the summer holidays.”

Among his career highlights, Sario has worked with Take That’s Gary Barlow. “After A-levels I entered the BBC talent contest Let It Shine to find four young men to form a boy band for a musical called The Band featuring Take That’s music. I was one of the winners, which got me into the industry and an agent.

Sario Solomon outside York Theatre Royal when promoting his role as Aladdin. Picture: Ant Robling

“My mother loves Take That very much, so I knew a lot of their 90s’ classics and really enjoyed their music. It was cool to meet Take That and have them as mentors, giving notes and their wisdom in rehearsals. Gary  was often there. 

“That show basically got me into performing, having done a few things as a kid. I realised I loved performing more than anything else, so Mum let me pursue that after GCSEs and A-levels.”

Sario did not attend drama school. “Sometimes I wish I had because there’s a certain level of dance I can’t do straight off to West End-trained standards. It takes me longer to learn, whereas there’s repetition built into drama school training, but once I’ve nailed it, I’m fine,” he says.

Sario’s mother is from Tokyo, his father, from Newcastle – they met in London – and he is as fluent in Japanese as he is in English. “I write in Japanese too,” he says. “I grew up in North London and went to Japanese school on Saturdays. I love Japan and Newcastle too.”

He is breaking new ground in his career by performing in York. “I’ve never been to York before, even though I’ve toured in theatre shows for four or five years, but I have seen photos and it looks very pretty,” he said at his June press day.

“It will be especially lovely to be here at Christmas. I hear York has a fantastic Christmas market and I do love a German Christmas market!”

Sario lives on a 54ft-long narrowboat in London, moored at Stamford Hill. “I have always loved streams and rivers, it’s very much in the Japanese culture,” he says. “Living on a boat appealed to me. You wake up seeing swans on the river and the wood burner alight. It’s also nice to live on my own rather than flat-sharing.

“I’ve always wanted to buy a place, but in London it’s nigh on impossible to do that, so the narrowboat was the best bet. I’ve been living on it for three or four years but I’m always so busy touring that in reality I’ve only been on it for about a year – though it was lovely to be there during the Covid lockdown.”

Home is where he will be headed once Aladdin and his magic carpet have come to rest one final time on January 5. “The carpet does acrobatics! You feel quite queasy after a while,” he reveals.

Post Aladdin, Sario promises himself: “I’ll eat, rest and prepare audition pieces if necessary. I need a bit of a holiday after being on the road for 18 months. I’m not 21 any more, I’m 27 and need a holiday.”

Sario Solomon plays Aladdin in Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Copyright of The Press, York

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Meet Samuel Wyn-Morris, the man behind The Beast in Grand Opera House pantomime Beauty And The Beast

Samuel Wyn-Morris: Playing the Beast for the second year running, in York this winter after the Sunderland Empire last year. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

ENOUNTERING the tornado power and might of his voice in the role of The Beast in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York, Samuel Wyn-Morris had a surprising admission to make.

“I never sang until I was 17,” says the Welshman from Llanelli. “There was a lad who was a tenor at my school and one day I heard him singing. I was more a rugby boy at the time. Until then I thought, ‘I’m not into music’, but when he didn’t hit his big note, I sang it and hit it!”

In that transformative moment, a career was born, but not without bumps in the road. “I horrified by mum and dad by applying to only one drama school, Guildford [School of Music and Drama], but I got in.

“Then after I graduated, I suffered an incredible loss of confidence. Two years of not working in theatre. Instead I was selling wine and I worked as a butcher too, but kept cutting myself. I gave myself an ultimatum: if I don’t get into Les Miserables, that’s it, it’s all over.”

Glory be, he did, landing three separate contracts with Cameron Mackintosh’s company over the next, Covid-interrupted five years, starting as the 2nd Cover for the role of Enjolras.

When the actor playing Enjolras caught Covid and the 1st Cover suffered a sinus infection, Samuel’s big moment came. “The cover hadn’t missed a show for something like seven years. As chance would have it, Cameron Mackintosh, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil [the writers] were all in the audience that night! “ Samuel would soon go on to play the role in his own right.

Welsh actor and teacher Samuel Wyn-Morris

Now that wonderful  voice can be heard in York in a five-star performance in Beauty And The Beast. “It’s been a fantastic show to do,” he says. “My only previous experience of York was an unsuccessful date. She was from Scotland, I was from Wales, so we thought, ‘let’s meet in the middle’: York!

“We stayed at Grays Court. Lovely hotel. Very good bar, which is important to a Welshman! But it just didn’t work out.”

 This time, romance in York is confined to the Grand Opera House stage as The Beast falls for pantomime debutante Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle. “I played The Beast last year at the Sunderland Empire in my first ever pantomime. Same show, different songs, different director too, Paul Boyd, and the theatre was huge: 2.000 seats!

“I got the call for York in July and I thought ‘why not’?! Theatre work had been quite dry for me this year, with producers being tentative about putting on shows.”

Samuel works as a supply teacher in London, teaching History and Religious Education to Key  Stage 3 pupils in Years 7 to 9 when not performing in musical theatre.

Now it has been his turn to learn once more: lines for his role as The Prince/The Beast. “It’s different from Les Miserables, where you have four weeks in the rehearsal room and then go on stage,” he says. “For this pantomime, to get to grips with it was a challenge. It’s so, so quick in the rehearsals and so easy to get lost!”

Samuel Wyn-Morris’s The Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Director George Ure had his cast running the full show by the end of the first week in the rehearsal room. “Know your lines on day one,” advises Samuel. “And you have to put so much energy into it from the word go.

“That’s not to say that’s not the case with Les Miserables or Titanic [the musical that Samuel toured to China], but from the start in panto it’s go-go-go. Twelve shows in a week is the maximum. You have to deal with the tiredness and exhaustion from all the energy you spend.”

Not that he is complaining. He loves pantomime. “There are elements of stand-up comedy, romance, drag with the dame, big songs and wonderful choreography. I’ve got a more classical voice, Jennifer has more of a pop voice, so it’s a pick’n’mix that works really well.”

Before taking on the role of The Beast for the first time, Samuel had a conversation with his director for Titanic. “I said, ‘what do I do in the show? I’m not funny’. He said, ‘you’re not meant to be’! All UK Productions pantomimes are story driven, and this show [written by Jon Monie] is a good example of that.

“I like the freedom that panto brings, as opposed to the demands of Les Miserables, which hammers your voice. Playing Enjolras is one of the hardest roles you can do. With pantomime, you can bring more physicality to it, you can play around with the pace – and working with Jennifer has been a joy.”

UK Productions present Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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