Apollo’s Cabinet: Opening concert at York Early Music Christmas Festival 2025
YORK Early Music Christmas Festival swung straight into high gear in a seasonal knockabout, with a tenor and five Baroque players reacting to audience whims.
Apollo’s Cabinet specialises in such laid-back shows. This was the Christmas edition of its “jukebox menu”, with several courses offered to us on arrival.
In the event, we began with an instrumental medley, which set a breezy tone. Thereafter, we trod a fairly well-trodden path in a haphazard manner, depending on audience choices: Bach and Handel each featured twice and there were eating and drinking ballads from Purcell and Locke.
Otherwise, apart from an anonymous “battle” between two recorders, the audience was actively involved in a sing-along, or “Slow Set”, of four carols.
Rory Carver used his tenor intelligently in an aria from the New Year’s Day section of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. He also prefaced Lowell Mason’s Antioch (aka Joy To The World, based on Handel) with a smooth account of Comfort Ye from Messiah.
The recorder players, Teresa Wrann and Thomas Pickering, the latter doubling on harpsichord and flute, dazzled in their duel, while also enabling Bach’s sheep to graze safely. It was all good fun, but punters may have wondered whether their £23 was truly well spent on such trifles.
Review by Martin Dreyer
York Early Music Christmas Festival continues until December 14. For full details and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk. Box office: 01904 658338.
What’s the buzz? Tell us what’s a-happening at the Swarmgate! launch tomorrow
THE Swarmgate! artwork launch takes place at the Art Of Protest Gallery and National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tomorrow.
This free event celebrates the Walmgate Reframed Project and installation of Gemma Wood’s Swarmgate! artwork. “York Creatives has led on this project, and you can come along to find out all about what we’ve done and what might be coming next,” says York Creatives’ Sarah Williams.
Here is tomorrow’s timetable:
5pm to 6pm: Head to the Art of Protest Gallery to view the Swarmgate! exhibition.
6pm to 6.30pm: Follow the Swarmgate Trail: Art Of Protest to Huby Court.
6.30pm: Arrive at NCEM, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, to hear about the project.
7pm to 9pm: Stay awhile amid the ancient charms of the NCEM for live storytelling and poetry. Enjoy a chat with the Swarmgate! artist and York Creatives team, while finding out how you can tell the bees your own news.
Jennie Dale’s radiant Fairy Moonbeam in York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions’ Sleeping Beauty. All pictures: Pamela Raith Photography
NOT even the cast knows what to expect in York Theatre Royal’s sixth collaboration with Evolution Productions when a button is placed under the control of Moss, the dame’s pick from the audience for affable humiliation on Monday.
An inspired pick, it turns out, with a laugh as distinctive and unusual as his name, giving more grist to the mill for Robin Simpson’s saucy, smart returnee dame to grind.
This was press night, but a press night with a difference. When would Moss press that button to release the explosive power of the confetti cannon?
The show is ticking over nicely when suddenly… Bang! Cue Kool And The Gang’s Celebration, Aoife Kenny’s Princess Aurora being jolted from her Sleeping Beauty slumbers and a mass outburst of cast “corpsing”.
Come Hull or high water: Jocasta Almgill’s villainous Carabosse in boastful skulduggery mode with her creepy Goth acolytes in Sleeping Beauty
Whereupon Simpson’s ever-gregarious Nurse Nellie improvises, interjects, scolds Moss and interrupts Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia as he tries to resume singing Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’s aptly titled Die With A Smile once he regains his composure, only to put him off his stride again.
This is panto mayhem at its best, unpredictable, bringing out Simpson’s innate sense of capitalising on the moment. One of many reasons why his dame is the poster face for next year’s Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs – his seventh Theatre Royal dame too.
That explosion is not the only moment when Sleeping Beauty goes off piste to winning effect. Tommy Carmichael’s returning daft lad, Jangles, finds himself in a pickle, when a bed fails to rotate in the obligatory ghost scene, leaving him in view of the audience.
In tandem with Simpson’s dame, he milks this glitch to the ad-libbing max, and it would surprise no-one if this easily solved technical hitch does not become a regular part of the show. It’s how pantomimes grow and change through a run, and one of live theatre’s greatest joys. No two shows are ever the same.
Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in Sleeping Beauty
It helps that Evolution Productions director Paul Hendy writes such a well structured show with the strongest of foundations to leave Simpson and Carmichael, blossoming in his second York panto, to play fast and loose when chance allows.
Mortimer joins in the fun and games too, a playful change from the conventional straight-laced princely type entrusted with soppy ballads that peaks with the best slippy-slidey slapstick slosh scene at the Theatre Royal in years. Indeed, the slapstick is an upgrade on Aladdin last year, now more than a match for Hendy’s verbal wit.
Hendy and Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, in their sixth panto partnership, place equal emphasis on story, set-piece, slapstick, spectacle and sass, respectful of tradition but thoroughly modern too.
No YTR/Evolution panto would be complete without a CBeebies star – it’s becoming a tradition in itself – and Jennie “Swashbuckle” Dale is the best yet, radiating joy, warmth and no little wit as the “fun, silly storyteller” Fairy Moonbeam. No wonder she worked with Victoria Wood, no less, in the past on What’s Larks!.
Top: Fired up! Kris Madden’s pyrotechnics in Sleeping Beauty. Bottom:The more vacuous than vicious Velociraptor called Raptor in Sleeping Beauty
She just happens to have a spectacular singing voice too – capable of going down valley, up, up, up Dale – at its best in a show-stopping sing-off with Jocasta Almgill’s “evil, stroppy and silly” Carabosse in Ugly Kid Joe’s Everything About You.
Powerful voice, physical presence, a thoroughly good sport at being panto-villainous, Almgill tops it off with a Hull accent, exaggerated just so, you kner, for comic effect. Her rendition of The Who’s Pinball Wizard with re-tooled lyrics is a belter too.
The Hendy staples are wheeled out, from the dame’s cart with pictorial placards, this year on the theme of musicals, to an animal, still not on a par with Zeus the scene-stealing Border Collie two years ago but designed to thrill dinosaur-fixated children in the form of “the vicious Velociraptor”, whose bark turned out to be worse than his bite, as it were.
Indeed, the dawdling, limb-twiddling dinosaur somewhat undermined the impact of speciality act Kris Madden’s fire artistry as Guardian of the Raptor. I’d be tempted to fire the Raptor to give Madden the unimpeded spotlight his hot stuff deserves, but that wouldn’t fit with his role!
Robin Simpson’s gaudy, gregarious dame Nurse Nellie in Sleeping Beauty
As ever, there is as much to enjoy in Hayley Del Harrison’s punchy choreography as in Hendy’s puns in the punchlines, together with Terry Parsons, Michelle Marden and Stuart Relph’s dazzling set designs, Parsons, Amy Chamberlain and Ella Haines’s costumes and especially Michael J Batchelor and Joey’s Dame’s Creations’ ever-changing wardrobe for Simpson’s dame. The pink theme for the walkdown attire is particularly striking.
Musical director, arranger, composer and drummer Edwin Gray adds to the drama with his superb arrangements for songs that vary from Chappell Roan’s Hot To Go, for the dame, to an ensemble mash-up of Schools Out/Baggy Trousers/ABC; from two Beatles’ numbers, the opening Good Day Sunshine and Golden Slumbers, to this year’s fizziest pop anthem, Golden, from KPop Demon Hunters.
Ensemble players Alyssia Turpin, Elijah Daniel James, Sophie Flora, Chris Morgan-Shillingford, Carlotte Rose O’Sullivan and Jayden Tang play their part to the full too, bringing added oomph to songs and having fun in myriad cameos, such as Carabosse’s dungeon Goths and towering guards.
Politics pretty much misses out this year – nothing feels funny about politics right now – although a flooding joke goes down well in flood-familiar York. Sleeping Beauty is very much awake, picking up momentum as the best pantos do, with Simpson, Dale and Almgill outstanding and Moss making sure everyone keeps their wits about them.
York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions presents Sleeping Beauty until January 4 2026. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Aoife Kenny’s Princess Aurora and Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles with the ensemble cast of Chris Morgan Shellingford, back row, left, Elijah Daniel James, dance captain Alyssia Turpin, Sophia Flora, and , front row Jayden Tang, and Charlotte Rose O’Sullivan
Did you know?
NEXT winter’s York Theatre Royal & Evolution Productions co-production will be the Theatre Royals’ first-ever pantomime staging of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. Written by Paul Hendy and starring regular dame Robin Simpson, the show will run from December 4 2026 to January 3 2027. Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Setting sail in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes: Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather, front centre) and her Angels, Sophie Curry, left, Chloe Branton and Sophie Kemp. Picture: Felix Wahlberg
DITCH the December chills in York and climb aboard the S.S. American as Pick Me Up Theatre’s all-singing all-dancing Christmas production of Anything Goes! sets sail at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on December 12.
Directed by Andrew Isherwood, Cole Porter’s swish musical follows the madcap antics of a motley crew as they chart their course from New York to London on a Christmas-themed steamer.
On board are popular nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and her pal, lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown).
Hope, however, is engaged to another passenger, English gent Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, played by Neil Foster, who is reprising the role after 27 years. “It’s amazing how I’ve remembered so many of the lines and lyrics,” he says. “They must have been buried somewhere in my memory.”
Sailing to England too is second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell), aka “Public Enemy #13”. Song, dance and fabulous farce ensue as Reno and Moonface try to help Billy win the love of his life.
Reno will be Alexandra Mather’s first lead in a musical after principal roles aplenty for York Opera. “Taking on Reno Sweeney is incredibly exciting for me,” she says. “I’m stepping into such a sharp and charismatic role, which is a dream come true.
“With Cole Porter’s music and the brilliant, witty script, the whole experience feels nostalgic, stylish and incredibly glamorous.”
“I’m stepping into such a sharp and charismatic role, which is a dream come true,” says Alexandra Mather of playing Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes
That pretty much sums up Susannah Baines and Beryl Nairn too, who will be sharing the sassy role of Hope’s mother, Evangeline Harcourt. No strangers to a sequin and a spin around the dance floor, they cannot wait to take to the stage at Theatre@41.
“It’s a fantastic role and I’m honoured to be sharing it with such a great, talented friend,” says Susannah. “I just feel for the rest of the cast, dealing with two overbearing mothers! I love this era. It’s so elegant. And I’m really enjoying working with our choreographer Ali Kirkham.”
Ali is right at home with her role, not only as choreographer but also with the nautical setting of this musical. “I worked as a singer myself on cruise ships,” says the former head of musical theatre at Kirkham Henry Performing Arts in Malton.
“I produced shows for more than 20 years for the fabulous Fred Olsen liners and theatres around the world. Many of my ex-students have gone on to perform on the West End and Broadway, in television and films, and of course on top-class cruise lines. Like my former student Charlie Fox, who is joining our York cast between contracts.”
The full cast comprises: Alexandra Mather as Reno Sweeney; Adam Price, Billy Crocker; Neil Foster, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh; Fergus Powell, Moonface Martin; Claire Gordon-Brown, Hope Harcourt; Beryl Nairn/Susannah Baines, Evangeline Harcourt; Mark Simmond, Elisha Whitney, and Adrian Cook, Ship’s Captain.
Thea Fennell plays Erma Latour; Leo Portal, Ship’s Purser; James Robert Ball, Minister/Sailor; Zachary Thorp, Spit; Reuben Baines, Dippy; Chloe Branton, Angel; Sophie Curry, Angel; Charlie Fox, Sailor, and Sophie Kemp, Angel. Cameo roles go to Ryan Richardson, Rich Musk, Andrew Roberts, Sanna Jeppsson, Adam Sowter and Jim Paterson.
The creative team comprises director Andrew Isherwood; musical director John Atkin; sound and lighting designer Will Nicholson; choreographers Ali Kirkham and Robert Readman (who also handles design and production) and wardrobe mistress Julie Fisher, assisted by Jo Hird.
Kara Tointon’s Constance in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife, adapted by Laura Wade
THE full cast is in place for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring production of Laura Wade’s adaptation of W Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, booked into York Theatre Royal for January 26 to 31 next year.
Kara Tointon was confirmed already to lead RSC co-artistic director Tamara Harvey’s cast, playing Constance after such credits as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion in London’s West End, Dawn Swann in EastEnders from 20025 to 2009 and Rose Selfridge in the television period drama Mr Selfridge, as well as Bella Manningham in Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight at the Grand Opera House, York, in February 2017.
She also appeared in Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, Twelfth Night for the RSC and The Windsors: Endgame at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London.
Kara Tointon: Returning to the York stage in January 2026 for the first time since Gaslight at the Grand Opera House in 2027
In a further highlight, this sparkling comedy of ill manners will feature original music composed by jazz pianist Jamie Cullum.
Joining 2010 Strictly Come Dancing winner Tointon will be Jules Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, UK tour, and Ghost The Musical, International & UK tour) as Mortimer; Sara Crowe (Calendar Girls at Noel Coward Theatre, Four Weddings & A Funeral and Private Lives, Aldwych Theatre, winning Olivier Award for best supporting actress) as Mrs Culver; Tim Delap (Jane Eyre at National Theatre, Peaky Blinders) as John, and Gloria Onitiri (Hadestown in West End, A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic) as Marie-Louise.
So too will Alex Mugnaioni (The Taming Of The Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at Harold Pinter Theatre and on tour) as Bernard; Philip Rham (Harry Potter And the Goblet Of Fire, Jane Eyre for Shared Experience, international and UK tour before West End) as Bentley, and Amy Vicary-Smith (The Duchess (Of Malfi) at Trafalgar Studios and Machinal at The Orange Tree Theatre) as Martha. Sam Flint, Jocasta King and Jane Lambert complete the company.
Kara Tointon in the poster for the RSC’s The Constant Wife
Set in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”.
Constance is the perfect wife and mother, and her husband is as devoted to her as he is to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend.
Written by W Somerset Maugham in 1926, The Constant Wife has been adapted by Laura Wade, the Olivier Award-winning writer of Home, I’m Darling – also directed by Harvey – and the international Emmy award-winning Disney+ television series Rivals, adapted from Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles bonkbuster novel.
Sara Crowe: Olivier Award-winning actress cast as Mrs Culver in The Constant Wife, playing York Theatre Royal on tour from January 26 to 31 2026
Harvey is joined in the production team by composer Cullum; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller; lighting designer Sally Ferguson; sound designer Claire Windsor and movement director Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster.
In the team too are associate director Francesca Murray-Fuentes; associate designer Angelica Rush; costume supervisor Ilona Karas; production manager Blair Halliday; company manager Mark Vince; deputy stage manager Kelly Evans; assistant stage managers Cormac O’Brien and Sasha Reece, and wardrobe supervisor Rob Bicknell. Casting is by Sarah Bird and Marc Frankum.
The Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Constant Wife is presented by Cunard and David Pugh, five-time Olivier Award and two-time Tony Award winning producer, who says: “I’m delighted to be bringing a production of such class and comedy, that evolves the wit of Somerset Maugham with the brilliance of Laura Wade, to theatres all around the country at prices that people can afford.”
Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, January 26 to 31 2026, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversaryin 2025
AFTER a decade by the Ouse riverside on Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York River Art Market is to take a year off in 2026.
Announcing the decision behind the fallow summer on Instagram, organiser, artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson says: “The 2026 January Call Out will not be happening. After ten years of YRAM, I have decided to take a break next summer. There will be no YRAM 2026.
“Though part of me feels a little sad, it has been ten years since I took all of the summer holidays off. I have also just recently started a new job, which I am still navigating. It also involves a lot of admin work, particularly so around the time when I’d be doing an intense amount of admin for YRAM. This would be too much for me, been (sic) so new in the job.”
York River Art Market organiser Charlotte Dawson
In 2025, York River Art Market was held on three August weekends, from 10am to 5.30pm each day, when 30 artists and designers set up stalls each day by the Museum Gardens railings.
York’s answer to Paris’s Left Bank offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Charlotte adds: “I love YRAM and I am so happy that it has become a York summertime staple thanks to your continued support. I hope that you love it as much as me and will return as an artist or visitor in 2027. Have a wonderful festive period. Love, Charlotte.”
Enjoy the thoroughly deserved break, Charlotte. Roll on 2027.
Don’t rain on his parade: Jamie McKeller’s Captain Hook lays down his terms and conditions in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan. Picture: Matt Hillier
DIRECTOR Howard Ella had resisted staging Peter Pan for more than 15 years. So much story to cram in, so familiar, and how do you stay true to J M Barrie while putting the Pan into pantomime and vice versa, he pondered.
Thankfully, always saying never to Neverland has turned into, well, you should never say never, as he teams up for a second time with Rowntree Players’ regular goofing panto loon Gemma McDonald to construct a script that retains all but the Darling parents among the regulation principals (until a late sub-plot).
Meanwhile, Nana the dog is turned into Nanny McFlee, Michael Cornell’s affable role in his third year on cheeky dame duty, forging a double act with sidekick McDonald, in trademark ginger bubble perm, rouge cheeks and riotously colourful clothing as Nanny’s dogged apprentice cum putative entrepreneur Barkly.
McDonald’s panto character never knowingly rejects the opportunity for a burst of bottom burps, but here takes raspberry blowing to new levels by bottling Barkly’s noxious wind for its powers of toxic termination of any opponent.
McFlee bite: Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlee on dame duty. Picture: Matt Hillier
Effective, apparently, against all but those who suffer from anosmia: the medical term for the complete loss or lack of the sense of smell that five per cent of us experience and winner of the Unexpected Word of the Day in a York pantomime award.
Such a detail marks out the welcome unpredictability of a Rowntree Players panto, one of the assets of Ella and McDonald’s script that keeps the storytelling to the fore while promoting spectacle and slapstick too.
Jamie McKeller, spookologist Dr Dorian Deathly of Deathy Dark Tours by night when not treading the boards, has long craved the chance to play Captain Hook, a “real bad guy”, as he calls him. McKeller has beefed up his singing chops too with six months of lessons to add further impact to his latest character from the dark side, most notably in Don’t Rain On My Parade.
Irascible, arch, obsessive in his wish to put kill Peter Pan, his Hook is the master of the putdown, the waspish quip, yet fearful of the croc and the clock, here hounding him with electronic messages that Doom Is Imminent: a running gag that nods to modern technology.
She’s back! Hurrah! Claire Horsley’s Gloria on glorious piratical form performing in Pink Parade Club. Picture: Matt Hillier
Tradition plays its part in Rowntree pantomimes, and so Hannah King is a conventional, thigh-slapping, resolute principal boy as Peter Pan, working in tandem with Sara Howlett’s tinkering Tinkerbell.
Laura Castle knocks out a belting Holding Out For A Hero as the “never mess with a Yorkshire lass” Tigerlily; Sophie Bullivant’s Cornish clot of a Smee is amusingly disruptive before bringing the house down with Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat.
Claire Horsley returns to the Rowntree ranks after a long hiatus to remind us of her vocal prowess as Gloria in the triumphant Pink Parade Club, while Tom Bettany’s John, Fergus Green’s Michael and especially Eva Howe’s storytelling Wendy have their moments as the Darling children.
Among the Lost Boys – ties tied around their heads as if band members of AC/DC – are company veterans Geoff Walker as Curly and Barry Johnson as Slightly, complemented by senior chorus, principal dancers and two junior teams (Blue at Sunday’s matinee) when Ami Carter’s choreography skilfully turns solo numbers and duets into full-scale ensemble routines.
The calm before the panto storm for Rowntree Players’ comical double act, Gemma McDonald’s Barkly and Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlee. Picture: Matt Hillier
Rather than flying to Neverland, the Darlings are transported on their bed, lifted into the night sky with Pan and Tinkerbell to either side in set designer and scenic artist Anna Jones’s most striking scene. The show even makes fun of the budget limitations of trying to conjure an underwater scene…without water (save for water pistols).
Musical director Sam Johnson regularly lifts his band to the heights in the big numbers, especially in the Will Survive/Survivor mash-up and One Day More.
Rowntree Players’ Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan are fun, funny, fast-moving, full of silliness, but magical storytelling and colourful characterisation too. Tickets are selling fast and rightly so for this ever-rollicking community show
Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Actor-directorGary Oldman and York Theatre Royal chief executive officer Paul Crewes in the auditorium when first planning Krapp’s Last Tape. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
YORK Theatre Royal has been shortlisted for Theatre of the Year in The Stage Awards 2026.
Award winners will be crowned at the Royal Opera House, London, on January 12 2026, when the Theatre Royal will be competing against fellow nominees Almeida Theatre, London, Nottingham Playhouse, Royal Court Theatre, London, Soho Theatre, London, and Watermill Theatre, Newbury.
Chief executive officer Paul Crewes says: “2025 has been such an incredible year for York Theatre Royal and we are so proud to be shortlisted for The Stage’s Theatre of the Year.
“It is the first time for us, and this recognition is a real testament to the remarkable work from the whole York Theatre Royal (YTR) staff team, as well as the talented creative, production and technical teams, performers, stage managers, practitioners, producers, collaborators, partners, funders and volunteers who have worked with us and supported us this year.”
Gary Oldman on stage at York Theatre Royal in Samuel Beckett’s monodrama Krapp’s Last Tape. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
Over the past 18 months, the YTR’s increasing focus has been on building up an ambitious programme of produced work, a strategy spearheaded by Crewes since taking up his CEO role in October 2023.
This year, award-winning actor Gary Oldman worked with York Theatre Royal on Krapp’s Last Tape, directing himself and designing the set for Samuel Beckett’s melancholic monodrama from April 14 to May 17. He would end the year with a knighthood for outstanding services to drama; producers York Theatre Royal with the award nomination.
They will be in tandem again for Krapp’s Last Tape’s transfer to the Royal Court Theatre, London, from May 8 to 30 2026 as part of the Chelsea theatre’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
Sir Gary started his professional career at York Theatre Royal in 1979-1980 and talked of completing the cycle when he made his return 45 years later. “This was an amazing opportunity for audiences, and York Theatre Royal ensured ticket prices remained accessible,” says Crewes,
Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives – The Musical: Premiered at York Theatre Royal in September. Picture: Danny With A Camera
York Theatre Royal’s revival of The Railway Children with Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture at Oxenhope Station
“The show was a huge success, attracted international press and welcomed people from across the world – 48 per cent of audiences surveyed were coming to the theatre for the first time and every performance sold out. ”
The world premiere of Military Wives – The Musical, written and directed by BAFTA-award winning Debbie Isitt, was another landmark production from September 10 to 27. Isitt’s musical drama told the story of the first Military Wives choir and the YTR worked closely with choirs across the country to tell their stories through marketing. Feedback found that 93 per cent of those surveyed gave the show five stars.
Crewes’s ambitious plans to expand the YTR programme of produced work will continue with upcoming spring season productions of a revival of The Secret Garden – The Musical, directed by Tony award winner and former YTR artistic director John Doyle and the world premiere of The Psychic from Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, the writers of Ghost Stories.
More widely, the YTR aims to take its work across the UK and the globe, best exemplified by collaborating with Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture to bring director Damien Cruden and York writer Mike Kenny’s Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of E Nesbit’s The Railway Children back to the tracks at Oxenhope Station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway from July 15 to September 7.
Billy Heathwood, left, and Anthony Jardine (as Seebohm Rowntree) in this summer’s community production, His Last Report. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
Community is at the heart of the YTR too, built around a proactive creative engagement programme that reaches people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ages, from youth theatre for age five upwards through to adult acting and participation programmes.
At the epicentre this summer was the community co-production of Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s His Last Report, a premiere staged with York company Riding Lights from July 19 to August 3 that highlighted the life and work of York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree.
This local story with national impact brought together 300 volunteers on and off stage, including a cast of more than 100. To ensure cost was not a barrier, YTR implemented a pay-what-you-can pricing strategy for opening night that resulted in a sold-out performance.
In 2025, York Theatre Royal secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation to expand community outreach activities to reach more people through the Sweet Legacies project, putting on fun, free and inclusive activities connected to the Rowntree family and legacy across the city.
Enjoying theSweet Legacies project at York Theatre Royal. Picture: James Drury
Eve Lorian conducting Prima Choral Artists and New World String Quartet
EVE Lorian’s York choir Prima Choral Artists will perform Family Christmas Concerts at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, on December 13 and 20 from 4pm to 5pm.
Audiences are invited to join the Prima Choral singers and their guests for two uplifting afternoons filled with festive favourites for all ages.
Produced and conducted by director Eve Lorian, the concerts will feature the New World String Quartet, organist James Webb and pianist Greg Birch in Prima’s reflective and cheerful Christmas celebrations.
Eve’s programme will offer a vibrant blend of high-spirited Christmas classics, modern choral arrangements and string and organ repertoire, including works by Tchaikovsky and Rawsthorne.
“A highlight of the concerts will be the much-loved audience carols, giving everyone the chance to join in and share the joy of live festive music together – an annual favourite for families and singers alike,” says Eve.
“With its atmospheric setting and warm seasonal programme, this one-hour concert is the perfect way to celebrate Christmas in York.”
Tickets are on sale at primachoral.com and on the door each Saturday from 3.30pm. “These popular 4pm concerts tend to sell quickly, so early booking is highly recommended,” advises Eve.
For event updates, behind-the-scenes videos and the latest news, follow Prima Choral Artists on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
The Grand Opera House poster for 2026 pantomime The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook
THE Grand Opera House pantomime for next winter will be The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook, setting sail under UK Productions livery in York from December 5 2026 to January 3 2027.
Join Peter Pan, Hook, Smee, Tinker Bell, Emily Darling and Ethel the Mermaid on a new adventure full of audience interaction, flying effects, giggles galore and a snappy crocodile.
Life has been smooth sailing for Peter Pan since he defeated Captain Hook, or so he thought. Whispers are spreading that the notorious Hook survived those stormy seas and is out for revenge. Could it be true? Watch out…he might be right behind you in this action-packed adventure.
“Get ready for gravity-defying flying scenes, stunning choreography and mind- blowing special effects that will leave you gasping,” says the Grand Opera House show announcement. “Pirate sword fights, crocodile chases and jaw-dropping stunts bring Neverland to life like you’ve never seen before!
“Bursting with hilarious jokes, show-stopping songs and non-stop action, this is the pantomime event of the year – and you won’t want to miss it.”
Star casting will be announced, but for early birds who want the worm, tickets go on sale today for ATG+ card holders and general sale on Tuesday at agtickets.com/york. The early bird offer will run until February 1.
THE Grand Opera House pantomime for next winter will be The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook, setting sail in York from December 5 2026 to January 3 2027.
Join Peter Pan, Hook, Smee, Tinker Bell, Emily Darling and Ethel the Mermaid on a new adventure full of audience interaction, flying effects, giggles galore and a snappy crocodile.
Life has been smooth sailing for Peter Pan since he defeated Captain Hook, or so he thought. Whispers are spreading that the notorious Hook survived those stormy seas and is out for revenge. Could it be true? Watch out…he might be right behind you in this action-packed adventure.
“Get ready for gravity-defying flying scenes, stunning choreography and mind- blowing special effects that will leave you gasping,” says the Grand Opera House show announcement. “Pirate sword fights, crocodile chases and jaw-dropping stunts bring Neverland to life like you’ve never seen before!
“Bursting with hilarious jokes, show-stopping songs and non-stop action, this is the pantomime event of the year – and you won’t want to miss it.”
Star casting will be announced but for early birds who want the worm, tickets go on sale today for ATG+ card holders and general sale on Tuesday at agtickets.com/york. The early bird offer will run until February 1.
Musical actor Bradley Judge heads from Leeds to York to play Dandini in Cinderella
Bradley Judge
LEEDS lad Bradley Judge completes the Grand Opera House principal cast for Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York, in the role of Dandini.
Bradley has wowed audiences in the West End and on the regional circuit in Sister Act, Hairspray, Joseph And the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Grease and pantomimes such as Aladdin.
Bradley says: “I’m delighted to be appearing at the Grand Opera House over the festive period as Dandini in the fabulous Cinderella! As a Yorkshire lad, performing so close to home gives me so much joy and pride. Let’s have a reet good Yorkshire Christmas!”
Judge is performing in Ellis Kerkhoven’s star-studded by Lisa George (Coronation Street) as Fairy Godmother, Tobias Turley (ITV’s Mamma Mia I Have A Dream) as Prince Charming, and West End actress Rachel Grundy (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legally Blonde and Starlight Express) as Cinderella.
Bringing the mayhem are West End drag duo Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson as naughty Ugly Sisters Harmony and Melody Hard-Up, joined in the comedy corner by Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons.
Cinderella runs until Sunday, January 4 2026. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Director Ellis Kerkhoven: back story
AWARD-WINNING theatre director, writer and lyricist. After graduating from Guildford School of Acting, he has built a vibrant career across traditional and immersive theatre, committed to developing his passion for collaborative, ensemble-based theatre making.
Credits include: co-stage director and creative direction for Opening Ceremony of Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo; associate director, resident director and performance-capture director for Disney – The Castle (Riyadh Season, Saudi Arabia); director & script adaptor of ETTIE award-winning and OFFIE-nominated new musical Stranger Sings! (Southwark Playhouse, The Vaults, London & UK Tour).
Pantomime direction & dramaturgy includes: Beauty And The Beast and Jack And The Beanstalk (co-director, Hereford Courtyard – Best Direction winner and Best Script nominations at British Panto Awards).
Collaborations with Singapore Repertory Theatre: Charlotte’s Web (Straits Times Award nomination for Best Play); Nursery Crimes and Playmakers.
For more than a decade, he has written and directed large-scale, original musicals for British Youth Music Theatre, nurturing the next generation of performers and creatives. Credits include: Nightshade, The Midnight Flower Press, ALICE In Wanderlust and Maelstrom – Legends Of The Underworld.
“I am delighted to be directing Cinderella this year here in York,” he says.
