Category: Breaking News

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 9, from Gazette & Herald

Stamford Bridge Community Choir: Using Makaton signing when performing at York Community Choir Festival tonight. Picture: Murray Swain

A CHORUS of song, a play counting the cost of economics and an eye for comedy help to fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box of entertainment for the week ahead.

Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MORE than 1,250 singers are performing this week at the JoRo. Tonight features Stagecoach Performing Arts Choir, The Sounds Fun Singers, The Garrowby Singers, In Harmony Ladies Choir and Stamford Bridge Community Choir; tomorrow, Huntington School Choirs; York Military Wives Choir and Heworth Community Choir, and Friday, York Theatre Royal Choir; Eboraca; Some Voices York; Bishopthorpe Community Choir and Harmonia.

The Saturday matinee presents Excel Learning Trust Schools’ Choir, The Rhythm Of Life Singers, The Fairburn Singers and The York Celebration Singers; Saturday evening, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, Chechelele, York Sing Space, The Wellbeing Choir and Main Street Sound Ladies Barbershop Chorus. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rob Auton: One in the eye for comedy at The Crescent, York, tonight

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, tonight, 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.” Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Queenz: On song in Drag Me To The Disco at the Grand Opera House, York

Drag show of the week: Queenz, Drag Me To The Disco, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

JOIN the gals for “an electrifying, live vocal, drag-stravaganza, where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the party of a lifetime”, created and produced by David Griego. Flying their rainbow-coloured flag high in the sky, Bella Du-Ball, Dior Montay, Candy Caned, Billie Eyelash and ZeZe Van Cartier serve up sass, singalongs and a message of love, equality and acceptance.

Craig Colley, alias Billie Eyelash, says: “Drag queens really do come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want to see some hilarious, stupidly talented, beautiful and of course humble ones, Queenz really is the show for you.” Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer: Dancing on Speakeasy terms at York Barbican tomorrow

Dance spectacular of the week: Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez, Speakeasy, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez follow up Firedance with new show Speakeasy on their biggest tour so far. Expect exhilarating live music and breathtaking choreography as they unlock the door to an undercover world of elegance and iconic dance flavours. 

From the clandestine New York Speakeasy to the sultry Havana dance floors and from the burlesque cabaret clubs of the mid-1900s to the glittering mirror balls of Studio 54, this “delicious dance experience” serves up Mamba, Salsa, Charleston, Foxtrot and Samba moves.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Joe Sellman-Leava, left, and Dylan Howells in It’s The Economy, Stupid! at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Duncan McGlynn

Fringe show of the week: Worklight Theatre in It’s The Economy, Stupid!, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday,7.30pm

NAMED after the phrase coined by James Carville, strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, It’s the Economy, Stupid! employs storytelling to uncover the true cost of low financial literacy in a world ruled by money.

Directed by Katharina Reinthaller, this 60-minute Edinburgh Fringe hit tells the true story of a family caught up in the 1990s’ recession, losing home and livelihood under the economic conditions that led the world from post-war boom to housing and cost-of-living crises. Using an old board game, bags, boxes, projection mapping and a sprinkle of magic, writer Joe Sellman-Leava and Dylan Howells explore how macroeconomic forces can win elections and why the force that dominates personal lives is so complicated. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Greg Brice: Blues guitarist to play Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Greg Brice, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

BACK when Greg Brice played the pubs, clubs and bars of the West Midlands, he would find even tough audiences hanging on to his every word within a few bars. His intricate fingerstyle guitar and strident electric slide connected in the raw and immediate way that only proper roots music can. Now, in blues and Americana clubs alike, his songwriting is capturing people’s imagination. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Edwina Hayes: Heading from Beverley to Malton on Sunday night

Singer-songwriter of the week: An Evening With Edwina Hayes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm

EAST Riding musician Edwina Hayes brings together English folk, Americana and the northern singer-songwriter tradition to create her own sound. She has toured with Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Loudon Wainwright III and the late Nanci Griffith, who covered her song Pour Me A Drink and once called her “the sweetest voice in England”. She last released an album, Ruby Rose, in 2021. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Artwork by Rosebay, on show at Helmsley Arts Centre from today

Exhibition of the week: Rosebay, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to May 2

YORK Open Studios 2021 and Ryedale Open Studios 2023 artist Rosebay uses marker pens filled with acrylic paint as the quickest and most direct way to fill big canvasses that celebrate the unsung corners of the natural and built world. “The bark of a tree, a patch of rock, the place where weeds spring out of a crack in the pavement: all have their own magic and all are worthy of attention,” she says.

“Drawing on elements of Pop Art, graffiti art and cartography, sometimes my paintings home in on a tiny area and turn it into a whole landscape; sometimes I step back and take in a larger scene, often weaving together images I have seen as I walk.” Rosebay will be very happy to discuss her paintings when visiting the arts centre on March 16 and 30.

Posted on

Jason Donovan is Doin’ Fine as he revisits hits & musical favourites at York Barbican

Jason Donovan: Doin’ fine in 2025 at York Barbican on Saturday night

AUSTRALIAN singer and actor Jason Donovan takes an “incredible ride” through 35 years in music, theatre, film and television in his Doin’ Fine 25 Tour, playing York Barbican on Saturday.

His long-awaited sequel to Doin’ Fine 90 features Jason’s most beloved songs from his stage shows, Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Rocky Horror Show and Grease, alongside nods to his TV times in Neighbours and Strictly Come Dancing and his biggest pop hits, Especially For You, Too Many Broken Hearts, Any Dream Will Do and Sealed With A Kiss.

Last seen in York in fishnets and face paint as Dr Frank N Further in Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show at the Grand Opera House in October 2024, here he discusses his new tour show.

Is it harder going on tour at 56 than when you were in your twenties, Jason?

“There’s a bit more physio these days and a lot more stretching. There’s even a bit of steam and inhaler just to keep the vocal cords pretty!”

It must be a great feeling to be going on the road again to sing these songs?

“I love creating my own show. I guess the difference with this and what I do in theatre is that I’m sort of the boss. For me, if I was to just rely on my own shows and those pop songs as my only bread and butter, I probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

“But because I get these gaps, and because I do a lot of theatre work, I get the opportunity to exercise those songs every four or five years and not get tired of them.”

Although this is the “Doin’ Fine 25 Tour”, 35 years have passed since your original Doin’ Fine shows. Are you nostalgic?

“When I listen to my own records, I get a little bit scientific about them, like was that vocal good or not good? But doing that 1990 world tour was important to me, because it was a matter of proving to myself and my audience that I was in this for the long term.”

Jason Donovan as Dr Frank N Furter, the “sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania”, in The Rocky Horror Show, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, last October

What can fans expect from the tour? Aside from the hits, will there be deeper album cuts too?

“That’s always a tug of war, because you’ve got to try and deliver what people want, but educate as well. It’s about trying to find that balance between what the crowd wants and what you want creatively. You want a show that engages with an audience and doesn’t put them to sleep as well.”

Apart from your own hits, will you be performing songs from musicals you have appeared in?

“I do Rocky Horror songs, because they work really well in my shows. There are a couple ofsongs from Priscilla Queen Of The Desert that my audience loves and some covers too. Idid Don’t Leave Me This Way years ago – that’s always gone down well. My act is anunusual one, but there’s an audience out there that seems to want to listen to what I’ve gotto say and what I’ve got to sing.”

Will you have a guest vocalist for the Especially For You duet or will you pipe in Kylie Minogue’s original vocal?

“I normally have a backing singer that I do it with, but that’s an interesting idea. But I’m a little bit conscious that records like that, whilst they’re defining moments, you also don’t want to be defined as just Kylie and Jason. There are a lot of other moments to what I do and what I’ve done. You’ve got to pay reasonable respect to that, but not saturate.”

Will you be performing the Neighbours theme?

“When I used to do these personal appearances in the early 2000s I’d sing the Home And Away theme, but I’m a bit like that. People would say, ‘That’s Home And Away, that’s not Neighbours!’, and I’d go, ‘Exactly’! But more recently, when Neighbours was rebooted on Amazon, the producers asked if I wanted to re-record the song and I turned it down.

“I did have a think about it, but I thought going back to appear in what we thought was the last episode [in 2022] was enough done. It’s a great song, but does it work in a show? It’s a bit twee.”

You last released a studio album, Sign Of Your Love, in 2012. Do you have plans to record again?

“I do. The problem is, it takes a lot of energy and the market is very different now. You’ve got to dream big, I get that. I’m definitely not lazy, but I just feel that maybe my time is better spent on stuff that engages a little bit more. Like playing to full houses with Rocky Horror – what more could I want?”

Jason Donovan, Doin’ Fine 25, York Barbican, March 8, 7.30pm. Tickets update: Still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Posted on

Richard Hawley to revisit Coles Corner and more at Futuresound’s Live At York Museum Gardens gig on July 5

Richard Hawley: Made in Sheffield, played in York. Picture: Dean Chalkley

SHEFFIELD singer-songwriter Richard  Hawley is the latest addition to Futuresound Group’s second summer of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts, confirmed for July 5.

Hawley, 58, will be marking the 20th anniversary of Coles Corner by performing his Mercury Music Prize-nominated 2005 album in full for the first time with a string section, alongside a selection of favourites from his 11 albums, from  2001’s Late Night Final to 2024’s In This City They Call You Love.

Hawley will be joined by 2024 Mercury Music Prize-winning Leeds band English Teacher and England-based New Jersey songwriter and multi-instrumentalist BC Camplight. Gates will open at 5pm. The show poster offers the promise of “More To Be Announced”. Watch this space.

Leeds band English Teacher

York exclusive postcode presale (YO1, YO24, YO30, YO31 and YO32) will go on sale from 10am on Thursday (6/3/2025) at futuresound.seetickets.com/event/richard-hawley/york-museum-gardens/3237716?pre=postcode. General sale tickets will be available from 10am on Friday (7/3/2025) at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/richard-hawley/york-museum-gardens/3237716.

Hawley’s open-air York gig will coincide with the 20th anniversary re-issue of Coles Corner, available on Parlophone/Rhino from July 4 on Half-Speed master black vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve, 2CD deluxe edition, featuring B-sides and previously unreleased acoustic tracks, and limited-edition bundles. To pre-order, go to http://lnk.to/RichardHawleyCC20

Leeds-based promoters Futuresound Group already have announced Elbow, Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution for July 3 (SOLD OUT) and Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Jalen Ngonda for July 4 (tickets: seetickets.com/event/nile-rodgers-chic/york-museum-gardens/3257099).

New Jersey singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist BC Camplight

Coles Corner was former Longpigs and Pulp guitarist Hawley’s third studio album and his first for Mute Records. Recorded in Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios and co-produced with his long-time bassist Colin Elliot and Mike Timm, it featured Shez Sheridan (guitars), Jon Trier (keyboards), Jonny Wood (upright bass) and Andy Cook (drums).

Inspired by Hawley’s love of vintage 1940s and 1950s’ chamber pop, country, blues and rock’n’roll, they conjured a set of intimate love songs full of nostalgia, regret, sadness and a bittersweet atmosphere that bore witness to Hawley’s abiding love and passion for his home city of Sheffield.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than on title track Coles Corner, named after a former Sheffield department store where couples met, its romance captured in sweeping strings and swooning chorus on a universal paean to the loneliness of the city at night.

Futuresound Group’s poster for Richard Hawley’s Live At York Museum Gardens concert on July 5

Beautiful balladry in Born Under A Bad Sign and Darlin’ Wait For Me rubbed shoulders with Hawley’s love of country and early rock’n’roll in Hotel Room, I Sleep Alone and Just Like The Rain.

The most epic number was The Ocean, to this day a fan favourite in concert. Written on a family holiday in the shadow of Cornwall’s Minack Theatre (with a video later filmed at the same location), the recording featured one of Richard’s best baritone vocals.

The vinyl and CD1 track listing will be: Coles Corner; Just Like The Rain; Hotel Room; Darlin’ Wait For Me; The Ocean; Born Under A Bad Sign; I Sleep Alone; Tonight; (Wading Through) The Waters Of My Time; Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? and Last Orders.

Richard Hawley in Coles Corner days in 2005. Picture: Joe Dilworth

The second CD of single versions, B-sides and acoustic versions comprises: The Ocean – Single Version; Just Like The Rain – Single Version; Born Under A Bad Sign – Single Version; Hotel Room – Single Version; Long Black Veil; Room With A View; I’m Absolutely Hank Marvin; Dark Road; Kelham Island; Some Candy Talking; Young And Beautiful;  I’m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail; Can You Hear The Rain Love?; Coles Corner – Acoustic Version; Hotel Room – Acoustic Version; Darlin’ Wait For Me – Acoustic Version;  I Sleep Alone – Live at Sheffield City Hall and A Bird Never Flew On One Wing.

Tickets will go on sale on March 14 for further performances of Coles Corner with a string section at Boston Gliderdrome, September 5; Portmeirion Village, Wales, September 6; Blackpool Tower Ballroom, September 12; Margate Dreamland, October 3, Worthing Assembly Hall, October 4, and Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier, October 10. Box office: seetickets.com.

Richard Hawley’s album cover artwork for 2005’s Coles Corner, photographed outside the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough

Posted on

Meet ‘the worst singer in the world’ as Rowntree Players stage Glorious!, the true story of socialite Florence Foster Jenkins

Enthusiastic performer: Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins poses for the camera in full regalia in the rehearsal room for Rowntree Players’ production of Glorious!

COVER your ears! Here comes Glorious! The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, as told by Peter Quilter in his play with music, to be staged by Rowntree Players from March 13 to 15 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

Billed as a “joyous and heart-warming comedy”, this 2005 play is based on the life of 1940s’ New York socialite Florence Foster Jenkins, who had a passion for singing but a voice for disaster, nevertheless defying her far-from-perfect pitch to perform enthusiastically to bemused audiences.

Considered by many to be “the worst singer in the world” and “the First Lady of the sliding scale”, Florence gave charity private recitals to fans, such as Cole Porter, sang at extravagant balls, made bizarre recordings and revelled in a legendary, triumphant sold-out performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall at the age of 76.

Neil Foster’s Cosme McMoon, left, Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins and Mike Hickman’s St Clair in Rowntree Players’ Glorious!

Soprano Florence warbled and screeched her way through her performances, where audiences greeted her with derisive laughter, but this delusional and joyously happy woman paid little attention to her critics, instead surrounding herself with a circle of devoted friends who were almost as eccentric as she was.

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals, Quilter’s play is a story of friends who embrace their delusions and have the courage to follow their dreams, no matter what.

Director Martyn Hunter has assembled a cast of Jackie Cox as Florence Foster Jenkins; Neil Foster,  Cosme McMoon; Jeanette Hunter, Dorothy; Mike Hickman, St Clair; Chris Higgins, Mrs Verrinderr-Gedge, and Moira Tate, Maria.

Mike Hickman in rehearsal for his role as St Clair

Martyn is joined in the production team by production and technical manager Graham Smith and marketing and costumes team Sara Howlett and Leni Ella.

Rowntree Players present Glorious! The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 13 to 15, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Did you know?

GLORIOUS received its West End premiere at the Duchess Theatre, London, on November 3, 2005, directed by Alan Strachan with Hull actress Maureen Lipman in the role of Florence Foster Jenkins.

Chris Higgins’s Mrs Verrinderr-Gedge, Jeanette Hunter’s Dorothy and Moira Tate’s Maria in a poster for Rowntree Players’ production of Glorious!

Posted on

Funeral and wake arrangements confirmed for York pianist and composer Kieran White

Kieran White (1961-2025) playing at his favourite busking pitch by St Michael le Belfrey

THE funeral of York composer, busker, solo and band pianist, piano teacher, York St John University tutor and Buster Keaton aficionado Kieran White will be held on Tuesday, March 18 at 1pm at English Martyrs RC Church, Dalton Terrace, York.

On behalf of Kieran’s widow, Kate, everybody is invited to attend an open-mic celebration at the Waggon & Horses pub, in Lawrence Street, where tributes of music, songs, piano pieces and more besides can be played and shared by anyone who would like to do so in his memory. A piano will be on site.

“If you are unable to attend the church service, please do come down to the pub to say thank you for the music to Kieran,” says Louisa Jane Yasmin Starr, who played in a duo and the band White Starrs with Kieran, alongside Kate White on saxophone.

At English Martyrs, parking is limited; the nearest public car park is at Nunnery Lane. It is requested that only family flowers are arranged; the burial at York Cemetery will be private.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond as March heralds an outburst of song. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 9 from The York Press

Something to be Smug about: Smug Roberts tops Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill today

A CHORUS of song, a clash of operas and an eye for comedy fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box of entertainment for the week ahead.

Extremely rare chance to see Channel 4 legend: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Smug Roberts, Russell Arathoon, Oliver Bowler and MC Tony Vino, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, doors 3.30pm for 4pm start

BACK in the day, today’s headline act, Manchester humorist and radio presenter Smug Roberts, released the novelty anthem Meat Pie, Sausage Roll (Come on England, Gi’s A Goal) as Grandad Roberts. Three years earlier, he was discovered by Caroline Aherne when playing his first gig. He has since starred in That Peter Kay Thing, Cold Feet, Phoenix Nights, 24 Hour Party People and Buried.

“Smug is one the great unsung heroes of stand-up comedy and one of comedy’s best-kept secrets,” says promoter Damion Larkin. “His act is a joy to behold. A true superstar, he’s arguably the only non-famous genius among his North West contemporaries, and he’s not very often around in town, so make sure you grab this chance to see him.” Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Opera International in Madama Butterfly, on tour from Ukraine at the Grand Opera House, York

Opera dilemma of the day: Either…Senbla presents Opera International’s tour of Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Madama Butterfly, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm.

BACK by overwhelming public demand, Opera International director Ellen Kent directs Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the heart-breaking story of the beautiful young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant.

Expect international soloists, full chorus and orchestra and exquisite sets, including a spectacular Japanese garden and fabulous costume, not least antique wedding kimonos from Japan. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

English Touring Opera in rehearsal for The Capulets And The Montagues, playing York Theatre Royal tonight. Picture: Craig Fuller

Or…English Touring Opera in What Dreams May Come, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2.30pm; The Capulets And The Montagues, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

ENGLISH Touring Opera return to York Theatre Royal with a brace of Shakespeare-inspired new productions. Mixing puppetry with works by Purcell, Finzi, Amy Beach and Britten, performed by a chamber ensemble, What Dreams May Come draws on hundreds of years of music inspired by and adapted from Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to depict the joys and sorrows of a long life well lived.

The Capulets And The Montagues, Bellini’s gritty re-working of Romeo And Juliet, brings the warring families’ emotional and political struggle to life with devastating power. Soprano Jessica Cale sings the role of Giulietta opposite mezzo-soprano Samantha Price as Romeo. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stamford Bridge Community Choir: Performing at York Community Choir Festival on March 5. Picture: Murray Swain

Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow until March 8, 7.30pm nightly, except 6pm tomorrow, plus  2.30pm Saturday matinee

A FESTIVAL that began in 2016 with only 11 choirs now comprises eight concerts showcasing up to five choirs per night. More than 1,250 singers, including school groups and choirs from Harrogate, Selby and Malton as well as York, will perform diverse music styles from pop to classical.

Among the choirs will be Stamford Bridge Community Choir, who will use Makaton signing in their March 5 performance. Full details of all the choirs and their programmes can be found at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/all-shows/york-community-choir-festival. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Visible Women company members Caroline Greenwood, left, Linda Fletcher, Helen Wilson and Marie Louise Feeley: Two evenings of monologues for York International Women’s Week

York International Women’s Week (March 3 to 9): Lyrics Of Life by Visible Women, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, March 4 and 5, 7.30pm to 9.15pm

VISIBLE Women, a group of “mature female performers” from York, present both well-known and lesser-known monologues over two evenings.

“We met last year in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables, which had good parts for older women,” says York theatre group member Helen Wilson. “But as most playwrights are male, plays tend to be male dominated, so here we are doing our own thing!

“There are still not enough plays giving women of our age a platform. As Visible Women, we want to redress the balance. Let’s move this forward. Come along for an evening of entertainment for a good cause.”

Material by Alan Bennett, Joyce Grenfell and York playwright Sara Murphy, winner of the first Script Factor in York, will feature. Box office: email basicbafmaw@gmail.com or pay on the door. Proceeds from ticket sales (£7 each) will be donated to York Women’s Counselling (yorkwomenscounselling.org).

Rob Auton: One in the eye for comedy at The Crescent, York, on March 5

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.” Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley in Myra’s Story, a tragic tale of a middle-aged homeless alcoholic struggling to survive on the streets of Dublin, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Charity support of the week: Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley in Myra’s Story, Grand Opera House, York, March 4, 7.30pm

DIRECT from the West End, Irish playwright Brian Foster’s four-time Edinburgh Fringe hit, Myra’s Story, tells the turbulent, tragic tale of a middle-aged homeless alcoholic struggling to survive on the streets of Dublin as she begs from passers-by on Ha’penny Bridge.

Performed by Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley, this show will benefit Restore, the York charity that provides accommodation and support to those who would otherwise be homeless. The charity will be on hand to collect donations. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Queenz: On song in Drag Me To The Disco at the Grand Opera House, York

Drag show of the week: Queenz, Drag Me To The Disco, Grand Opera House, York, March 5, 7.30pm

JOIN the gals for “an electrifying, live vocal, drag-stravaganza, where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the party of a lifetime”, created and produced by David Griego. Flying their rainbow-coloured flag high in the sky, Bella Du-Ball, Dior Montay, Candy Caned, Billie Eyelash and ZeZe Van Cartier serve up sass, singalongs and a message of love, equality and acceptance.

Craig Colley, alias Billie Eyelash, says: “Drag queens really do come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want to see some hilarious, stupidly talented, beautiful and of course humble ones, Queenz really is the show for you.” Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer: On Speakeasy terms at York Barbican

Dance spectacular of the week: Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez, Speakeasy, York Barbican, March 6, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez follow up Firedance with new show Speakeasy on their biggest tour so far. Expect exhilarating live music and breathtaking choreography as they unlock the door to an undercover world of elegance and iconic dance flavours. 

From the clandestine New York Speakeasy to the sultry Havana dance floors and from the burlesque cabaret clubs of the mid-1900s to the glittering mirror balls of Studio 54, this “delicious dance experience” serves up Mamba, Salsa, Charleston, Foxtrot and Samba moves.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also taking to the Yorkshire dance floor at Hull City Hall, March 5; Sheffield City Hall, March 9, and Bradford St George’s Hall, March 15.

In Focus: York Late Music presents Trifarious: Roger Marsh At 75, today, 1pm; Elysian Singers, Arvo Pärt At 90, today, 7.30pm, both at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York

Trifarious: Marking Roger Marsh At 75 with this afternoon’s concert

YORK Late Music celebrates the music of Roger Marsh, a major contributor to the music and academic life during his time as Professor of Music at the University of York (1989 – 2019).

The programme includes works by Luciano Berio and Toru Takemitsu, who both have had a strong influence on his music, alongside pieces by two of his former students, Tom Armstrong and David Power.

Roger is coming over from France to hear this Roger Marsh At 75 concert.

Programme: Roger Marsh: Ferry Music; Tom Armstrong: The Chief Inspector Of Holes; David Power: Six De Chirico Miniatures – first performance; Toru Takemitsu: A Bird Came Down The Walk; Luciano Berio: Wasserklavier; Luciano Berio: Erdenklavier, and Roger Marsh: Easy Steps.

Here are Roger’s programme notes for the two works:

Ferry Music (1988) – for clarinet, piano and cello. This trio is composed around material originally invented for a music theatre piece Love On The Rocks – a piece concerning the mythical Charon, who poled the dead across the river into Hades. 

The piece is in five short movements, and the ferry takes approximately eight minutes to complete the crossing. For today’s performance the cello part has been rewritten for viola by Tom Armstrong.   

Easy Steps (1987) – for solo piano. The title Easy Steps may be misleading.  For the performer there is nothing easy aboutthis piece, some passages requiring a level of virtuosity which the Associated Board mayfind difficult to quantify. 

Rather the title has to do with the structure of the piece –alternating sections, horizontally then vertically conceived, increasing in complexity byeasy steps. 

Elysian Singers: Celebrating Arvo Pärt At 90 tonight. Picture: Linda Dawson

Elysian Singers: Arvo Pärt At 90

AS the great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt turns 90 this year, the Elysian Singers celebrate his enormous contribution to choral music over the last half century. York Late Music includes two of his most substantial unaccompanied pieces, alongside works by Baltic and American composers who were influenced by him.

Programme: Arvo Pärt: Nunc Dimittis; Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas; Eriks Esenvalds: The Heavens’ Flock; Morten Lauridsen: Madrigali; Eric Whitacre: When David Heard; David Lancaster: Of Trumpets And Angels – first performance, and Arvo Pärt: Seven Magnificat Antiphons

Here is David Lancaster’s programme note for Of Trumpets And Angels:

THIS new is a setting of John Donne’s Holy Sonnett XIII (What if this present were the world’s last night). This text contemplates the possibility of the current moment being the end of the world – something we may have all considered in recent days!

With this in mind, he focuses on the image of Christ crucified, questioning whether or not he should be afraid. He observes Christ’s tears and the blood from his wounds, wondering if such a compassionate figure could ever condemn him to damnation.

In the sestet, Donne seeks to atone for his earlier sins, in particular his love for ‘profane mistresses’, recognising the fallacy of making judgements based on outward appearance alone, and concluding that a beautiful appearance (like that of Christ) is indicative of a compassionate and merciful mindset.

Posted on

Levellers on a different level as Collective goes acoustic at York Barbican on March 9

Levellers: Heading to York Barbican in acoustic mode

LEVELLERS play York Barbican on March 9 as the only Yorkshire gig of their 17-date Levellers Collective acoustic tour with a ten-piece line-up.

To coincide with their March travels, the Brighton folk rock and anarcho-punk band will release a new album and DVD, Levellers Collective/Live, via On The Fiddle Recordings on March 7, recorded at London’s Hackney Empire on May 24 2023.

The film captures the spirit of the Levellers “as never seen before”, with 25 cameras being positioned on stage and around the venue to show the musicians close up as they weave a magical musical landscape for the songs, when the regular line-up was complemented by strings, percussion and vocal harmonies from additional members Hannah Moule (cello, vocals), Oli Moule (percussion) and Rae Husbandes (acoustic guitar, dobro, tin whistle, percussion, vocals).

Levellers lead singer Mark Chadwick says: “Previously when we’ve done acoustic shows, it’s just been us, with our own unique timings, but working with other musicians in particular, it’s like ‘OK, you can’t mess up’. So we don’t, we really concentrate.”

Bass player Jeremy “Jez” Cunningham adds: “As a band, we’re particularly pleased to make an acoustic show which is totally different to our electric show. It allows us to flex our musical muscles with stuff that’s really hard to play but really rewarding at the same time. The ying to our electric yang!”

The artwork for the Levellers Collective/Live album and DVD, set for release on March 7

Levellers had been contemplating an acoustic Collective project “for years”, he says. “But we hadn’t really found a way into it, until we thought about using the string section from the Moulettes, who we’ve known for years.

“After playing big-band shows with them, that gave us the idea of doing songs this way. The stripped-back thing has been done to death, but as soon as we found a way to rearrange the songs, we felt it would be re-enlightening for us, as well as for fans.

“We went into the studio with John Leckie and the Moulettes, taking songs back to the vocal line and maybe a drum beat and thinking about ‘what makes this song this song?’.

“The guys from the Moulettes came up with some left-field ideas as they’re not emotionally connected to the songs the way we are, and they’re really good singers too. John Leckie had ideas too, and as soon as we’d done the first one, it was…not easy, but less difficult, to do the rest.”

2018’s We The Collective album, recorded with Leckie, was followed by Together All The Way, recorded with Sean Lakeman in 2023.

Jeremy recalls the experience of re-working the songs as “quite intense”. “Because people are so attached to those songs, not everyone welcomed it at first, but we wanted to test ourselves. It involves going back to a song’s most basic meaning, in the lyrics and the biggest musical part, mostly from the vocal and the songs always have a big hook too.

Levellers: On the road from March 6 to promote Levellers Collective/Live album and DVD

“It can be a different instrument leading the new arrangement, and if a song is strong enough, you can pull it in different directions that stand up against the original. That’s why we chose our heavier songs, so that they would now sound different.”

Jeremy, like Mark, has been part of Levellers since the beginning in 1988. “I remember it all very clearly,” he says. “I met Mark because I was trying to chat up his girlfriend, Jon’s sister [Jon Sevink, now Levellers’ fiddle player]! I wasn’t really getting anywhere! I saw Jeremy arriving, really good looking with a guitar in his hand as he’d just been out busking.

“We got talking and we talked about how we were disillusioned with the Brighton music scene. I said ‘I write tunes’; he said ‘I write tunes’! I knew Charlie [Heather], the drummer, who knew Jon, the fiddle player.”

A band was born, with that quartet at the core to this day. “I think we’re quite easy-going people for a start, and straightaway we said, ‘if we ever make it to any degree, everyone will get paid the same – and that’s what we still do. We only argue over creative decisions.

“I think, as well, that we’re aware we need each other to make the noise we make, with that noise we make being bigger than the sum of its parts.”

“People embrace our lyrics and relate to them, and then the music is great to jump up and down to,” says Levellers bassist Jeremy Cunningham. Picture: Jason Bell

In keeping with bands such as The Pogues and The Alarm, the chemistry between band and audience takes Levellers’ songs to greater heights. “I think the connection is made through the lyrics,” says Jeremy. “People embrace them and relate to them, and then the music is great to jump up and down to –and that’s a deliberate way of doing it for us.

“That’s where you can make the comparison with The Pogues. Shane MacGowan was a great lyricist and audiences bounced around to them even when the lyrics were serious. These are the songs that people feel attached to.”

After throwing ideas around by email and rehearsing at Beautiful Days, outside Exeter, for a week, Levellers will take to the road from March 6 to 25 (tickets from myticket.co.uk and levellers.co.uk).

Jeremy can’t wait for March 9 at York Barbican. “The last time we were in York was in 2023. I really like the Barbican and I really like York,” he says. “I love the history and you can’t beat the Jorvik Viking Centre. I’ve walked the City Walls a couple of times too.”

Levellers Collective: 2025 Acoustic Tour, York Barbican, March 9,  doors, 6.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Levellers Collective/Live track listing:

  1. Carry Me
  2. The Game
  3. The Lowlands Of Holland
  4. Liberty Song
  5. Battle Of The Beanfield
  6. Wheels
  7. Drug Bust McGee
  8. Together All The Way
  9. Sitting In The Social
  10. Man O’ War
  11. Julie
  12. Ghosts In The Water
  13. Born That Way
  14. Haven’t Made It
  15. England My Home
  16. The Cholera Well
  17. The Boatman
  18. The Road
  19. Far From Home
  20. Hope Street
  21. Down By The River ‘O
  22. Just The One
Posted on

English Touring Opera bring What Dreams May Come and The Capulets And The Montagues to York Theatre Royal

English Touring Opera rehearsing a scene from Bellini’s Italian opera The Capulets And The Montagues. Picture: Craig Fuller

ENGLISH Touring Opera return to York Theatre Royal today and tomorrow with two exciting new Shakespeare-themed productions.

What Dreams May Come makes its debut in the Studio tonight at 7.45pm and tomorrow at 2.30pm before Bellini’s The Capulets And The Montagues is performed for only night only in the main house tomorrow at 7.30pm, preceded by a pre-show talk at 6.30pm. Both operas will be performed in their original language with English surtitles. 

What Dreams May Come is a new studio piece that draws on hundreds of years of music inspired by and adapted from Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to depict the joys and sorrows of a long life, well lived.

Mixing puppetry with music by composers including Purcell, Finzi, Amy Beach and Britten, performed by a chamber ensemble, this 80-minute production explores the timeless appeal of Shakespeare’s words and characters for composers and audiences throughout history.

Singers include soprano Alys Mererid Roberts, mezzo-soprano Emily Hodkinson, tenor Tamsanqa Tylor Lemani and baritone Samuel Pantcheff.

Samuel Pantcheff, Tamsanqa Tylor Lemani, Alys Mererid Roberts  and Emily Hodkinson  in the rehearsal room for What Dreams May Come. Picture: Craig Fuller

The piece is devised and directed by Valentina Ceschi, whose past work for English Touring Opera (ETO) includes the 2023 production of Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, children’s opera The Great Stink and the film for families The Firebird. Erika Gundesen conducts from the piano.  

The Capulets And The Montagues, Bellini’s gritty re-working of Romeo And Juliet, remains a fresh, vital take on a well-loved story, bringing the warring families’ emotional and political struggle to life with devastating power. Remarkably, the work was composed by Bellini in only six weeks.

Soprano Jessica Cale, a First Prize winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and audience prize winner at the London Handel Festival International Singing Competition, sings the role of Giulietta.

She plays opposite mezzo-soprano Samantha Price, a regular performer with the Royal Opera and English National Opera, as Romeo.

Brenton Spiteri, who last performed with ETO in Manon Lescaut and The Rake’s Progress last spring, stars as Tebaldo, with Timothy Nelson as Capello and Masimba Ushe as Lorenzo.

The poster for English Touring Opera’s The Capulets And The Montagues

Eloise Lally, who directed ETO’s 2023 production of Lucrezia Borgia, is the director, while conductor, pianist and Le Balcon founder member Alphonse Cemin conducts in his debut season with ETO.

ETO director Robin Norton-Hale says: “This spring ETO celebrates the enduring power and relevance of the works of William Shakespeare with a season featuring one of the landmark operas of the 19th century alongside new works that draw inspiration from his themes and characters to create something entirely fresh and original.

“Bellini’s The Capulets And The Montagues puts a new spin on one of Shakespeare’s best-loved stories and is a classic of bel canto repertoire, with a dramatic contrast of sumptuous music and destructive violence.

“What Dreams May Come combines puppetry and song in an intimate exploration of life, love and death, set to new orchestrations of music inspired by the works of Shakespeare. It is a season that will showcase the best of ETO: wonderful storytelling and exceptional musicality.” 

Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Casts and production teams:

English Touring Opera rehearsing What Dreams May Come, a new production featuring depictions of grief, death and palliative care. Picture Craig Fuller

What Dreams May Come   

Soprano – Alys Mererid Roberts   
Mezzo-soprano – Emily Hodkinson  
Tenor – Tamsanqa Tylor Lemani   
Baritone – Samuel Pantcheff   

Director – Valentina Ceschi  
Conductor/piano – Erika Gundesen  
Puppetry designer – Matt Hutchinson  

English Touring Opera cast members in rehearsal for The Capulets And The Montagues. Picture: Craig Fuller

The Capulets And The Montagues   

Giulietta – Jessica Cale   
Romeo – Samantha Price   
Tebaldo – Brenton Spiteri  
Capello – Timothy Nelson   
Lorenzo – Masimba Ushe   
Ensemble – Daniel Gray Bell   
Ensemble – Harry Grigg   
Ensemble – Tamsanqa Tylor Lemani   
Ensemble – Samuel Pantcheff   
Ensemble – John Ieuan Jones   
Ensemble – Wonsick Oh   

Director – Eloise Lally   
Conductor – Alphonse Cemin   
Designer – Lily Arnold   
Lighting Designer – Peter Harrison   
Répétiteur – Nicholas Bosworth   
Fight Director – Kaitlin Howard   
Movement Director – Carmine De Amicis  

English Touring Opera’s poster for What Dreams May Come

English Touring Opera: the back story

TOURED live productions and education and community projects to more towns and cities than any other UK opera company since 1979

At the heart of the company ethos is “making exceptional artistic experiences available and accessible to everyone”.

ETO reaches 40,000 people per year with full theatre-based productions, specially commissioned operas for infants, children, families and young people with special educational needs, a series of creative workshops for people living with dementia and their carers, opera-making workshops in secondary schools, and song writing workshops in Alternative Provision settings designed to benefit young people’s mental health. 

English Touring Opera complete climate change trilogy with The Vanishing Forest on March 2 return to Acomb Explore Library

English Touring Opera in rehearsal for The Vanishing Forest, part three of a climate change trilogy of new operas. Picture: Julian Guidera

SOMETHING magical this way comes for families at Acomb Explore Library, Front Street, Acomb, York, on Sunday (2/3/2025).

English Touring Opera present their family-friendly production of The Vanishing Forest, an enchanting adventure that blends Shakespeare, music and an environmental message.

“If you remember the mischievous Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you’re in for a treat,” promise ETO. “This brand-new opera picks up after the events of Shakespeare’s comedy, and things aren’t looking too good in the forest. The trees are being chopped down, and with them, the magic of the land is fading away. Puck knows it’s time to act – but he can’t do it alone!”

Enter Cassie and Mylas, the children of Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta, who team up with Puck to save the forest before it is too late. Along the way, expect songs, puppetry, spells, mystical flowers and a story that will entertain and inspire young audiences while tackling the pressing issue of deforestation.

This musical adventure is the third and final instalment in English Touring Opera’s climate change trilogy, following The Wish Gatherer, winner of the Best Opera prize at the 2024 YAMAwards,  and The Great Stink.

English Touring Opera’s poster for The Vanishing Forest

Written by Jonathan Ainscough, composed by Michael Betteridge and directed by Victoria Briggs, The Vanishing Forest is ideal for children aged seven to 11, the performance being designed to make opera accessible, fun and absorbing for younger audiences.

“Whether you’re a Shakespeare buff or completely new to the world of opera, this show is a wonderful way to introduce children to the magic of storytelling through music,” say ETO.

“So, if you’re looking for a magical way to spend a Sunday morning with the family, why not step into The Vanishing Forest? Expect laughter, adventure and some Shakespearean sparkle – just what everyone needs!”

“Previous performances by English Touring Opera at Acomb Explore have really wowed audiences and given children their first experience of professional opera in a very approachable and accessible way,” says Explore York executive assistant Gillian Holmes. “The latest performance is coming up very soon and there are still a few tickets left!”

English Touring Opera in The Vanishing Forest, Acomb Explore Library, Front Street, Acomb, York, March 2, 11am. Tickets: tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives/1516069.

EXPLORE York Libraries and Archives is committed to making the arts accessible to all, so if the ticket price is a barrier, don’t worry. Free places are available: pop into your local library or email acomb@exploreyork.org.uk to find out more.

Posted on

How Ellen Kent defies Russian war to keep Ukrainian Opera on tour, heading for York

Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Ellen Kent’s production of La Boheme for Opera International

OPERA International director Ellen Kent returns to the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow and on Saturday to present the Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Puccini’s La Boheme and Madama Butterfly.

As ever, the insurgence of President Putin’s Russian forces into Ukraine – now past its third anniversary – has presented Ellen with logistical challenges to bring the Kyiv singers and musicians from Eastern Europe to British shores, but emotional challenges too.

“Last year, the wife of Vasily, the orchestra director, was killed in their flat by one of Putin’s bombs” she says. “Vasily had gone shopping with his daughter and they came back to find  her dead. He only recognised her in the rubble by her hair.

“He said: ‘I promise I will come on tour, but please let me bury my wife first’. Can you imagine what these people are having to go through? And yet he still came on tour.

“They are such proud people, and I almost feel Ukrainian myself, having worked with them since 2001, when I started with Odessa Opera. How can Trump and Putin meet without Volodymyr Zelensky? It’s completely undemocratic. Why are we so frightened of America? Because they are so powerful? If they leave Zelensky out of discussions, how outrageous is that?” [Editor’s note: Ellen was speaking on February 20.]

Every performance on tour climaxes with a show of support for Ukraine. “We bring out the Ukrainian flag and a great big banner at the end, when we sing the Ukrainian national anthem accompanied by the whole orchestra,” says Ellen.

A scene from Ellen Kent’s Opera International production of La Boheme, featuring the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

“All the audience rise to their feet without being prompted. It’s very emotional and a wonderful end to the opera. It’s a very, very moving experience and the audience love it, as it adds an extra level to the performance – and I’ve never had so many nice letters.

“We are the only company touring over here from Ukraine, which is significant, just as it was in 2001, but it’s even more so now.  I’ve even received medals in Ukraine as the first person to bring Ukrainian performers into the UK.”

Aside from 2020-2021, when Covid intervened, Ellen has continued to tour Ukrainian productions for more than two decades. “But this tour is probably the most difficult of my life – it’s been a bl**dy nightmare,” says the veteran director, who will turn 76 in April.

“We bring them, through the war, out of Ukraine into Moldova on buses, to stay in Air B&Bs and hotels for a month of rehearsals in November and December, and then they return to Ukraine till the end of January, when they come across the border to Krakow, from where we fly them over here.”

Ellen continues: “We’ve faced challenges every single day. Serious problems. We get the necessary permission to bring the men on tour, but any man aged over 25 has to fight in the war; any man under 25 doesn’t, but there are exceptions, like if they are working for the big opera houses, they are exempt over 25 too.

“It’s a right palava as it has to go through the Minister of Culture to get permission, but the thing that makes me nervous is that we heard there were gangs going round in vans, kidnapping men to round them up to fight, and I was terrified that would happen to our men.

Opera director Ellen Kent

“It’s been very stressful, with changes of rules all the time, with a change of Minister of Culture, and we’ve had to deal with the Minister of Defence too.”

Ellen and Opera International have faced these difficulties for three years. “We know the process, but it’s beset with problems, and the new Minister of Culture is from the military. It’s got more and more military, which is inevitable.”

There has been a resulting impact on the Opera International tours. “Sometimes my orchestra could be bigger and I have to use a lot of young men because of the situation,” says Ellen. We’re getting younger and younger musicians now, perhaps a little younger than we would normally have.”

Nevertheless, Opera International resolutely keeps on touring,  with three productions this time, Verdi’s La Traviata completing the line-up, with international soloists aplenty: Korean soprano Elena Dee,  Ukrainian soprano Viktoria Melnyk, Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Yelyzaveta Bielous, Georgian tenor Davit Sumbadze and Armenian tenor Hovhannes Andreasyan.

“I’ll be coming up for the York performances, to remind me of my days when I was a young actor, performing at York Theatre Royal in the days of Richard Digby Day [artistic director from 1971 to 1976],” says Ellen. “Happy days!”

Senbla and Opera International present Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv in La Boheme, tomorrow, 7.30pm, and Madama Butterfly, Saturday, 7.30pm; both sung in Italian with English surtitles (CORRECT). Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

The eyes have it as Rob Auton makes open and shut case for comedy in new show at The Crescent and Leeds City Varieties

Do not just adjust your lenses: Everything will become clear in Rob Auton’s The Eyes Open And Shut Show at The Crescent, York

ROB Auton, York comedian, author, podcaster, actor, poet, graphic designer and illustrator, returns north from London on March 5 to present his 11th themed solo at The Crescent, York.

After exploring the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time, crowds and Rob Auton himself, he turns his surrealist focus on to his eyes in the Eyes Open And Shut Show, on tour from January 27 to May 4.

“This is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says Barmby Moor-born Rob. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut. After writing ten shows on specific themes, I wanted to think about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

Here, Rob only has eyes for Charles Hutchinson’s questions.

What colour are your eyes?

“Brown.” 

What colour might you have liked your eyes to be?

“Owl eye orange.”

How good is your eyesight at the age of 42?

“7/10. Good enough for me to not wear glasses but bad enough for me to have gone for an eye test and got some glasses that I never wear.”

What makes you open your eyes widest?

“Putting my hand to my coat pocket and my phone not being in that specific pocket. Where is it? Ah, it’s in my trouser pocket. Return eyes to normal wideness.”

What makes you shut your eyes tightest?

“Chocolate bars getting smaller.”

How lightly do you sleep (when eyes are shut)?

“Very lightly, unfortunately.”

If ‘the eyes have it’, what do they have? 

“Whiteness?”

What is your favourite saying about eyes?

“Imagine if you could have trainers that were as comfortable for your feet as your eye sockets are for your eyes.” Rob Auton. 

To get an eyeful of Rob Auton, head to The Crescent, York, on Wednesday

Who do you see eye to eye with?

“Myself.”

Who don’t you see eye to eye with?

“Politicians who think it’s acceptable to kill innocent people.” 

If you could have eyes in the back of your head, what would you want to see? 

“A more peaceful world.”

Do you believe in the third eye?

“I think I do actually. Well, I’m not sure what it is but, if I’m guessing, it’s feeling certain energies? Getting a sense of something without seeing it or hearing it. I definitely believe in that.”

As you said in the show blurb, “I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut”. What have those explorations revealed?

“They’ve revealed that getting people to shut their eyes in shows and getting them into a meditative state, then speaking to them straight after they’ve opened them, can result in an audience member saying, “sorry I completely zoned out there, what did you ask me?”.

How has the show changed since last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe trial run?

“It’s actually changed a fair bit to be honest. Last year was a particularly chaotic year for me as we had quite a big house move. We were staying in a fair few different people’s houses, which I’m very grateful for, but it was an unsettled year.

“Edinburgh came around really quickly and I felt like I just about got away with it. From September until the tour starting I was working on the show pretty much every day. The main thing that has changed is I’ve now put my notebook down and am performing the show more. It was a leap I needed to make and am pleased I made the leap.” 

Do you remember your dreams (eyes shut) and do you ever write material prompted by dreams (eyes open)?

“I remember my dreams for about ten seconds, then they are gone. Bye bye. I’d like to keep a dream diary but never got around to it. I had a dream that I got a birthday present from Father Christmas once. It was mad, just a random person who I didn’t know giving me a birthday present.

“I haven’t really written any dream-based material. I’ve had some good ideas in my dreams though, I think. I once had a dream that you could get photographs taken in your dreams and print them off when you wake up. Hmm, maybe I need to flesh that out a bit.” 

Have you seen Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, his last film, released in 1999 with married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman leading the cast?  If so, did it make your eyes open wider or shut?

“I saw it a long time ago, I remember it being a very well-lit film. It makes a difference, doesn’t it? A film being well lit. The most eye-based film I’ve seen recently was Blink Twice [Zoë Kravitz’s 2024 directorial debut]. That made me open my eyes wide and also shut my eyes.” 

Last June, French company Iris Galerie opened its first Yorkshire location at Low Petergate, York, that will turn your eyes into photographic pieces of wall art. Would you want that on your wall?

“Ah wow, yeah, I think I would. Maybe I’ll go and check it art! I’d like to have a massive picture of my eye on the wall.” 

If you were to lose a sense, in what order would you put them in terms of importance to keep: sight; hearing; smell; taste; touch?

“I think I agree with the order you’ve put them in there.” 

Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show at The Crescent, York, on March 5, 7.30pm. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. Also playing Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on May 3, 7.30pm; 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Proudly powered by WordPress