Barney Taylor’s Andy, front left, and Hannah Woodward’s Gloria lead the cheers in Brassed Off. Picture: Pamela Raith
YORK filmmaker Mark Herman’s 1996 colliery band drama Brassed Off was first turned into a stage play with music by Paul Allen at Sheffield Crucible in 1998.
Bridlington-born Herman and Alan Ayckbourn biographer and “failed trombonist” Allen were both in the audience for Tuesday’s Scarborough press night for Liz Stevenson’s co-production for Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, the Stepehen Joseph Theatre and the Bolton Octagon Theatre.
Like the Crucible, all three are theatres in the round, an intimate 360-degree seating configuration that engenders and enhances the intense sense of community that Herman and in turn Allen extol.
“Since the first performances in 1998 it has become more and more of a memory play,” writes Allen in his programme notes before adding: “It always was (the pits had nearly all closed or been scheduled for closure by then) but I don’t think I thought of it that way at the time.”
Stevenson’s 2024 production – 40 years after the cataclysmic Miners’ Strike and 30 after the 1994 setting of Herman’s film – is very much a memory play, still narrated by Phil’s son, Shane, but now the 38-year-old, enervated adult Shane (Andrew Turner), who goes on to play his idealistic eight-year-old self.
In trim white shirt and dark trousers, he matches the look of the Narrator in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, but whereas Russell’s character is all-knowing and menacing, Shane is wistful and still seeking answers: answers that tellingly are not forthcoming as hope withers on the vine.
Allen’s notes predict “no obvious collective future in the age of the internet”, but he does say ‘we are a community, in the theatre or the concert hall, just as a band or company of actors have that sense of community’. That sentiment is all the more pertinent in an age when the arts have been subject to funding cuts and a curriculum cull at schools at universities, just as the mining industry was crushed under the Tory boot in the 1980s and ’90s.
Director Stevenson was adamant Brassed Off in 2024 should not be a “nostalgia festival”, and it most definitely isn’t, even if brass band music always evokes the past, like the first whiff of Bisto. A memory play, yes, but one fuelled by bad memories, as much as by a beleaguered community pulling together, their northern humour and jesting, jousting banter defiant to the last in a play suffused with raw wounds, pathos and pride.
And the band played on: A rousing moment in miners’ lamps in Brassed Off. Picture: Pamela Raith
Simon Kenny’s set design could not be starker: a coal-black floor and a spoil heap on a curve, with a pile of coal at each end, to contrast with the canary-yellow crate seating, brought on and off stage by Stevenson’s cast, and the glint of the brass instruments.
The plot, should you need a refresher course, finds the mining community of Grimley, Yorkshire, fighting to keep the colliery open ten years after the Miners’ Strike. Widowed band leader Danny (Russell Richardson) is fighting too, both against ill health and to keep his dispirited band of brass-playing miners together, when his dream of qualifying for the national championships is countered by the spectre of a vote to decide the miners and the mine’s future.
We meet couples under stultifying pressure: Danny’s son, trombone player and hapless clown Phil (Joey Hickman) and wife Sandra (Daneka Etchells), struggling with debts and a new-born fourth child; veteran miners and band members Jim (Greg Patmore) and Harry (Matt Ian Kelly) and their exasperated wives Vera (Joanna Holden) and Rita (Maxine Finch).
Then comes the re-kindling of a school-day crush as Gloria (Hannah Woodward) returns to Grimley, to work on a research project and add her flugelhorn to the band, while stirring old feelings in local lothario Shane (Andrew Turner). A Montague-Capulet division plays out in their latter-day Romeo & Juliet wooing, but with Yorkshire frankness.
To quote Allen again: “Sharing a room, however briefly, and sharing an emotional roller-coaster, we are something more than our individual selves for a few hours but also utterly ourselves. Which is rather glorious.”
How right he is, and that sense of community striving to survive beyond the dying of the mining age is all the stronger for the band playing on. Here that band combines five actor-musicians from the cast (Hickman, Patmore, Kelly, Taylor and Woodward) with a pool of community musicians (including Kate Lock, from York) that changes from show to show.
Matthew Malone’s arrangements are a joy, bringing cheers and tears alike. So do Stevenson’s cast, especially Richardson’s stoical Danny, Hickman’s desperate Phil, Etchells’ despairing Sandra and the sparky sparring of Taylor’s Andy and Woodward’s Gloria.
Brassed Off: still angry, still moving, still as resilient and resonant as ever. Top brass, top class, you might say, as the standing ovation testifies.
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, and Octagon Theatre, Bolton present Brassed Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 31, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Elkie Brooks: Heading out on her Long Farewell Tour. Picture: Neil Kirk
AFTER 64 years of performing live, the “British queen of blues”, Elkie Brooks, is to undertake her Long Farewell Tour, visiting York Barbican on April 11 2025.
In celebration of her six decades on the concert platform, the Salford singer will perform such hits as Pearl’s A Singer, Lilac Wine, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Sunshine After The Rain, No More The Fool and Don’t Cry Out Loud in a career-spanning show of blues, rock and jazz numbers that will showcase material from her forthcoming 21st studio album for the first time.
“I love performing live,” says Elkie, 79. “The audiences are always so appreciative, so full of energy, and after 40-plus long years of performing a well-worn repertoire, both myself and my band really feed off the vibrancy of the crowd. And believe me – the British people know how to have a good time! When an audience brings their A-game, I’ll certainly bring mine.”
Promoted by Bookbinder & Joyce, the Long Farewell Tour will span September 7 2024 to May 2 2025, its 24 dates taking in a second Yorkshire gig at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on September 12.
ELKIE began singing professionally in 1960. Born Elaine Bookbinder to a Jewish baker in Manchester, at 15 she won a talent contest at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, judged by Don Arden, manager of Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and The Small Faces and father of Sharon Osbourne.
The next few years were an education. Elkie sang in cabaret clubs up and down the country and found herself supporting The Beatles at their 1964 Christmas shows at Hammersmith Odeon.
Her first hit, in 1964, was a version of Etta James’s Something’s Got A Hold On Me, featuring a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page on guitar. She toured with The Small Faces and The Animals, and by the end of the 1960s, she was singing jazz with Humphrey Lyttelton’s band. A few short years later, she was co-fronting Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer.
After Vinegar Joe’s dissolution, she found herself joining southern American boogie band Wet Willie: only a temporary diversion before was back on home turf, now a newly minted, grown-up solo singer.
Her solo debut album, 1975’s Rich Man’s Woman, was banned in some quarters, on account of its raunchy sleeve, but 1977’s Two Days Away album soon ignited the blue touch, thanks to its signature song, Pearl’s A Singer, co-written and produced by Elvis stalwarts Leiber & Stoller.
The hits flowed: Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Lilac Wine, Sunshine After The Rain, Warm And Tender Love, Don’t Cry Out Loud and her highest-charting single, No More The Fool. Her million-selling 1981 album, Pearl, stayed on the charts for 79 continuous weeks.
Over the course of the next 25 years, she has released 20 albums. By 2012, she had more chart albums under her belt than any other British female artist. On the concert stage, she has played the London Palladium, Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Arena and Ronnie Scott’s, shared the bill with The Beach Boys and Santana at Knebworth in 1980 and toured regularly.
Josie Campbell: Writer of the script to accompany Shakespeare’s sonnets in York Shakespeare Project’s outdoor show at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York
YORK Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets return to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, from tomorrow to August 17.
“After attracting a record audience of more than 600 people to the show last year in the Bar Convent gardens, we are delighted again to be offering a taste of Shakespeare that is both entertaining and accessible,” says YSP chair Tony Froud, who is directing for a second year. “It’s a lovely event for both the Shakespeare enthusiast and those new to Shakespeare.”
Holy Trinity last hosted YSP’s Sit-Down Sonnets in September 2020, under social distancing restrictions during the Covid pandemic.
“This year we plan to take full advantage of such a beautiful setting with all its historic associations,” says Tony. “The church has been incredibly welcoming, in keeping with being used for various theatrical and cultural events and for location filming too.
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Summer Sonnets at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate
“Many people will know the church as the site of the blessing of the relationship of Anne ‘Gentleman Jack’ Lister and Ann Walker [at Easter 1834], and we are building this year’s show around that famous event” [now marked by a York Civic Trust rainbow plaque with the wording “took sacrament here to seal her union”).
The Summer Sonnets show has been scripted by Josie Campbell, who performed the role of one of Macbeth’s witches for YSP on the Rose Theatre’s Shakespeare Wagon in 2019 at the Eye of York.
Sharing her time between Ampleforth and Dubai, Josie is a professional actor/director and co-founder of Little Britches Theatre Company. In 2021 she toured Yorkshire with a pop-up production of Shakespeare’s Will, a one-woman show about Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife.
“Josie had never been to Holy Trinity but did her research and was immediately captivated by the idea of using Anne Lister and Ann Walker’s story as the starting point,” says Tony. “A lot of the language she uses, she found in Anne Lister’s diary, which adds authenticity.”
York Shakespeare Project sonneteer Helen Wilson in rehearsal for Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
For Summer Sonnets, Josie has come up with an entertaining plot, taking full advantage of the church’s setting and rich history. “I have thoroughly enjoyed writing a Sonnets show, featuring Anne Lister, one of Yorkshire’s most uncompromising and resilient women”, she says.
For the Summer Sonnets, audiences are “invited to a secret wedding in Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, in the heart of York”, where they will “meet the church’s most famous couple while enjoying a complimentary drink, but as they witness the happy event, they may start to wonder: is everything quite what it seems?”
“As ever, the show will feature a wide variety of colourful characters, each speaking in everyday English until they shift into their 14 lines of verse from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets to reveal the heart of their story,” says Tony, who is keeping the exact nature of those characters under wraps until the opening evening.
“It’s a lovely experience. You can sip your complimentary drink on a summer’s evening in a delightful setting. Very often, the characters slip into a sonnet and the audience hardly notices that the language has become Shakespearean. And you should look forward to a surprise or two!”
Summer Sonnets director Tony Froud. Picture: John Saunders
2024 marks the tenth anniversary of YSP’s first show built around Shakespeare’s sonnets in the form of 2014’s Sonnet Walks, wherein groups of audience members met assorted characters as they walked through the streets of York.
“Sadly, I never saw the Walks, but there’s an advantage in having a single setting where characters can meet, start a story and then reappear to complete it,” says Josie.
Tony adds: “Part of the joy of the piece is that Josie has come to the Shakespeare sonnet format, having never seen our sonnets shows before, whereas all our previous writers have had the theatrical equivalent of muscle memory.
Summer Sonnets debutant sonneteer Liam Godrey: Reuniting with writer Josie Campbell after he played Macbeth in York Shakespeare Project’s wagon play at Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York in 2019, when Josie “threw herself wholeheartedly” into her role as one of the witches. Picture: John Saunders
“She came to it with fresh eyes, and the full credit I would give her is that she has been extraordinarily generous and open with her script and has allowed me as director and the cast to develop their character to suit the sonnet format.
“All the cast have to find a way to allow their character to discover their Shakespeare sonnet as a natural part of their progression.”
Tony’s cast is a blend of actors new to the YSP Sonnets, Marie-Louise Feeley, Liam Godfrey, Halina Jaroszewska, Alexandra Logan, Grace Scott and Effie Warboys, and seasoned sonneteers Maurice Crichton, Emily Hansen, Sally Mitcham, Helen Wilson and Tony Froud himself.
Alexandra Logan: Newcomer in the Summer Sonnets ranks in rehearsal in the Holy Trinity churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
“Our YSP casts for The Taming Of The Shrew and Edward II have demonstrated a greater variety of casting, and that has continued with Summer Sonnets,” says Tony, who has held rehearsals over the past six weeks. “We seem to be casting our net more widely, attracting a wider set of actors.
“That said, YSP has always tried to do that because we’ve aways had a policy of selecting a different director for each production and we operate an open casting policy.”
Writer Josie Campbell suggested the sonnets to be performed by each character. “The vast majority were chosen by her, though as part of the development of the script, two of the cast asked to use another for their character,” says Tony.
Grace Scott: Taking part in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets for the first time. Picture: John Saunders
“My experience is that there’s always a collective sense of appreciation among the audience when they recognise a familiar sonnet, but we also try each year to include some new sonnets from Shakespeare’s collection.”
Reflecting on the tenth anniversary of YSP’s Sonnets seasons, Tony says: “I understand it was a very different animal when it began, starting as Sonnets Walks around the city, where each actor would develop their character and then choose their sonnet.
“But now we’ve hit on a format with a single venue and we have the opportunity for a writer and director to develop the characters, the dramatisation and the narrative arc and that prescribes the choice of sonnets rather more.”
York Shakespeare Project, Summer Sonnets, Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, August 9 to 17, 6pm and 7.30pm nightly, except August 12, plus 4.30pm on August 10 and 17. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/.
The York Civic Trust rainbow plaque at the entrance to Holy Trinity Church, Gooramgate, to mark the sacrament of the union of Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister and Ann Walker that inspired the theme for York Skakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets
Did you know?
YORK Shakespeare Project will perform all three parts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI history plays, condensed into one play, at next April’s York International Shakespeare Festival, under the direction of Irwin Appel, American professor of drama and theatre studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Elle Wootton in The 13-Storey Treehouse at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: James D Morgan
SHAKESPEARE sonnets, a treehouse with bowling alley and sea monster, The Magpies’ music festival and a thrilling children’s workshop will keep the summer diary busy, advises Charles Hutchinson.
Family show of the week: The 13-Storey Treehouse, Grand Opera House, York, today(8/8/2024) to Sunday, 1pm and 5pm
ADAPTED by Richard Tulloch (The Book Of Everything, Bananas In Pyjamas), this one-hour play for children aged six to 12 brings Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s story to stage life with a seriously funny cast and a treehouse replete with a bowling alley, a secret underground laboratory, self-making beds and a marshmallow machine.
Expect magical moments of theatrical wizardry and a truckload of imagination from the cast of Elle Wootton, Edwin Beats and Ryan Dulieu when Andy and Terry forget to write their debut play. Where will they find flying cats, a mermaid, a sea monster, an invasion of monkeys and a giant gorilla? Find out this week. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Josie Campbell: Writer of the script to accompany Shakespeare’s sonnets in York Shakespeare Project’s outdoor show at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York
Wedding invitation of the week: York Shakespeare Project, Summer Sonnets, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, Friday to August 17, except August 12, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm on both Saturdays
AUDIENCES are invited to a secret wedding at Holy Trinity, where they will meet the church’s most famous couple – Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister and Ann Walker – while enjoying a complimentary drink.
Linked by Josie Campbell’s script, York Shakespeare Project’s tenth anniversary selection of Shakespeare sonnets are performed in character by Maurice Crichton; Marie-Louise Feeley; Liam Godfrey; Emily Hansen; Halina Jaroszewska; Alexandra Logan; Sally Mitcham; Grace Scott; Effie Warboys; Helen Wilson and director Tony Froud. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/.
The poster for Safe Suburban Home Records’ August ’24 Roadshow at The Crescent, York
York gig of the week: Safe Suburban Home Records presents August ’24 Roadshow, Cowgirl, Teenage Tom Petties and Oort Clod, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.30pm
SAFE Suburban Home Records will be in party mood at The Crescent, celebrating Friday’s release of York garage rock quartet Cowgirl’s new album, Cut Offs. Built around chief songwriters Danny Trew Barton and Sam Coates, they wrap melodies in walls of wailing guitar fuzz.
Teenage Tom Petties deliver transatlantic slacker rock with just the right amount of slop, fuzz and melody; Manchester’s mask-wearing Oort Clod promise post-punk, garage rock and jangly indie. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Fountains By Water, by Peter Hicks, on show at Fountains Abbey. Picture: Joe Cornish
Exhibition of the week: Peter Hicks, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, near Ripon
THIS summer’s run of Peter Hicks’s exhibition, Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal – A Landscape Painter’s Perspective, is being extended to September 15. On show are works painted in response to the John and William Aislabie-designed landscapes at Fountains during Hicks’s residency in 2023.
Commissioned by the National Trust, the Yorkshire landscape artist’s paintings, studies and sketchbooks are on display in Fountains Mill. Hicks specialises in abstract landscapes with acrylic washes on canvas and board, making his own benches and brush handles and using humble and accessible materials, such as old margarine pots for mixing his paints. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/fountains-abbey-and-studley-royal-water-garden.
Actress, vocalist and accordion player Natalia Tena fronts Molotov Jukebox at The Magpies Festival, backed by Balkan fiddle, Latin trumpet and a pounding rhythm section, on Friday
Festival of the week: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, Friday and Saturday
RUN by transatlantic folk band The Magpies, The Magpies Festival is rooted in the trio’s native Yorkshire, where they first met. Now in its fourth year, the 2024 event will be headlined on Friday on the main stage by bi-lingual six-piece Molotov Jukebox at 10pm, preceded by Chris While & Julie Matthews, 6pm, and Jim Moray, 8pm.
Friday’s Brass Castle Stage bill features Em Risley, 5pm; Taff Rapids Stringband, 7pm; The Turbans, 9pm, and Easingwold musician Gary Stewart’s Graceland, 11pm.
Saturday’s main stage bill will be topped by Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys at 10pm, preceded by Charm Of Finches, 12 noon, The Often Herd, 2pm, Jesca Hoop, 4pm, The Magpies, 6pm, and Nati (formerly known as Nati Dreddd), 8pm. Saturday’s Brass Castle Stage line-up comprises Painted Sky, 1pm; Suntou Susso, 3pm; Northern Resonance, 5pm; Awkward Family Portraits, 7pm, and Marvara, 9pm. Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
The poster for the Three Day Thriller workshop for children at Helmsley Arts Centre
Children’s activity of the week: The Three Day Thriller, Helmsley Arts Centre, August 12 to 14, 10am to 2pm. CANCELLED
BUCKLE up for this improvising and devising workshop for 11 to 16-year-olds, designed to look at different theatre and performance techniques to make a new story in the thriller genre. The focus will be on character, plot and staging to create excitement, mystery and suspense, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. At the end of day three, the work explored will be shared with family and friends. Places on the £75 workshop can be booked on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Robert Gammon: Playing at Dementia Friendly Tea Concert at St Chad’s Church, York
Dementia Friendly Tea Concert: Robert Gammon, piano, St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, August 15, 2.30pm
PIANIST Robert Gammon returns to St Chad’s to perform Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F sharp Minor from the Well Tempered Clavier Book 2, Schumann’s Kinderszenen and two Chopin Polonaises. As usual, 45 minutes of music will be followed by tea and homemade cakes in the church hall.
“This relaxed event is ideal for people who may not feel comfortable at a formal classical concert, so we do not mind if the audience wants to talk or move about,” says organiser Alison Gammon. Seating is unreserved; no admission charge, but donations are welcome.
The gang is back: Martin Stephenson performs with his fellow Daintees stalwarts at Milton Rooms, Malton, this autumn
Gig announcement of the week: Martin Stephenson & The Daintees, Milton Rooms, Malton, October 13, 8pm
MARTIN Stephenson’s focus will be on You Belong To Blue, the February 2023 album that saw original Daintees’ members Gary Dunn, Anthony Dunn and Charlie Smith, plus a selection of special guests, joining up with the Durham-born singer-songwriter once again.
His Malton set will feature Daintees and Stephenson solo favourites stretching back to his 1986 debut Boat To Bolivia as he dips into country, folk, jazz, blues, skiffle and reggae. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond, from August 14 onwards. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 29, from Gazette & Herald
Tony Froud’s Reverend Ebenezer Goode in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets. Picture: John Saunders
DON’T poo-poo Ada Grey’s exhibition for children at Nunnington Hall, advises Charles Hutchinson, as he picks cultural highlights for the weeks ahead.
Wedding invitation of the week: York Shakespeare Project, Summer Sonnets, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until August 17, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm Saturday
AUDIENCES are invited to a secret wedding at Holy Trinity, where they will meet the church’s most famous couple – Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister and Ann Walker – while enjoying a complimentary drink.
Linked by Josie Campbell’s script, York Shakespeare Project’s tenth anniversary selection of Shakespeare sonnets is performed in character by Maurice Crichton; Marie-Louise Feeley; Liam Godfrey; Emily Hansen; Halina Jaroszewska; Alexandra Logan; Sally Mitcham; Grace Scott; Effie Warboys; Helen Wilson and director Tony Froud. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/.
Heather Findlay: Busking at Sunday’s York River Art Market. Picture: Adam Kennedy
York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris: York River Art Market, August 17 and 18, 10am to 5pm
YORK River Art Market sets out its stalls on the Dame Judi Dench Walk riverside for its third weekend this summer, featuring up to 30 artists and makers per day. Among Saturday’s stallholders will be Bejojo Art, Jillie Lazenby, Woody’s Creations, Emily Littler, Happy Pot Mama, Magdalena Biernacka, Kissed Frog, I’ve Been Creative, Matt Lightfoot Photography, Inky Print Designs and Wood Wyrm.
Popping up on Sunday will be Urban Infill Store, Wild Orange Tree, Jo O’Cuinneagan, Rock and Twig Studio, David Lobley Photography, The Littlest Falcon, Feather Isle, Fei’s Crochet, Painter Merv, Stairwell Books, Ounce Of Style and plenty more. Look out for York singer-songwriter Heather Findlay on busking duty on Sunday. Admission is free.
Bedern Hall: Playing host to SconeFest from August 14 to 16
Festival of the week: SconeFest, Bedern Hall, Bartle Garth, St Andrewgate,York, August 14 to 16, 11am to 3pm
BEDERN Hall, York’s 14th-century dining hall, hosts the city’s second annual SconeFest, promising a new mystery flavour every day, with the chance to win an afternoon tea for two at the hall if your guess is correct. In addition, the menu will include beloved flavours such as cheese, fruit and lavender.
Director Roger Lee says: “We’re honoured to have Bernadette – famed for her Christmas Pudding scones – baking for us, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience her incredible scones.” No need to book; visitors are welcome at any time throughout the day. Takeaway scones and hot drinks will be available.
Poo power: Illustrator and author Ada Grey’s exhibition at Nunnington Hall
Exhibition of the week: Ada Grey, Splat! Patter! Plop!, Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, until September 8
DIVE into a world where the “hilarity of poo” takes centre stage in this “unique children’s illustration exhibition like no other” by Ada Grey, creator of such picture books as Poo In The Zoo, Great Poo Mystery, Island Of Dinosaur Poo and Super Pooper Road Race.
Noted for the vibrant colours, lively characters and comical twists of her children’s tales, for the first time Grey is showcasing illustrations of such beloved characters as Bob McGrew and Hector Gloop in iconic moments from her favourite stories. Children have the chance to immerse themselves in Ada’s books, draw inspiration to create their own characters and proudly display their creations in the Poop-a-Doodle gallery. Grey will drop in on August 20 to run workshops for children from 11am to 4pm. Tickets and workshop bookings: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.
MeatLoud: Paying tribute to MeatLoaf and Jim Steinman at Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Another slice of MeatLoaf: MeatLoud – Bat Out Of Hades, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, August 24, 7.30pm
FOUNDED in 2015, this powerhouse tribute to MeatLoaf and songwriter Jim Steinman is fronted by vocalist Andy Plimmer, who is joined Sally Rivers to take on the guise of Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion and Cher. The second half features a complete performance of the classic 1977 album Bat Out Of Hell. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys: Making debut appearance at Selby Town Hall next month
New season opener: Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys, Selby Town Hall, September 4, 7.30pm
SELBY Town Hall kicks off its autumn season with the debut visit of Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys, purveyors of bluegrass and rockabilly from Saskatchewan, Canada.
Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones enthuses: “I absolutely love these guys. It’s probably the show I’m most looking forward to in the second half of the year. At just 21 years old, Jake is terrifyingly talented. He and the band – dressed in authentic 1950s’ suits – make the most fantastically fun, upbeat, toe-tapping music, already gracing the main stages of festivals across North America.” Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Simon Russell Beale: Shakespeare actor, now starring as Ser Simon Strong in House Of The Dragon, will be in conversation at York Theatre Royal in September
Theatre chat: An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, York Theatre Royal, September 10, 7.30pm
WAS Shakespeare an instinctive “conservative” or, rather, gently subversive? How collaborative was he? Did he add a line to Hamlet to accommodate his ageing and increasingly chubby principal actor Richard Burbage? Did he suffer from insomnia and experience sexual jealousy?
In An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, in conversation with a special guest, the Olivier Award-winning actor will share his experiences of “approaching and living with some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters”, from his school-play days as Desdemona in Othello to title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth. Expect anecdotes of Sam Mendes, Nick Hytner, Stephen Sondheim and Lauren Bacall too. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Elkie Brooks: Heading out on her Long Farewell Tour. Leeds and York await. Picture: Neil Kirk
Gig announcement of the week: Elkie Brooks, Long Farewell Tour, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, September 12; York Barbican, April 11 2025
AFTER 64 years of performing live, the “British queen of blues”, Elkie Brooks, is to undertake her Long Farewell Tour, visiting Leeds and York among 24 dates.
The Salford singer, 79, will perform such hits as Pearl’s A Singer, Lilac Wine, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Sunshine After The Rain, No More The Fool and Don’t Cry Out Loud in a career-spanning show of blues, rock and jazz numbers that will showcase material from her forthcoming 21st studio album for the first time. Box office: elkiebrooks.com/elkie-brooks-tour-dates-2024; leedsheritagetheatres.com and yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Banana drama: Edwin Beats’s Terry, left, and Ryan Dulieu’s Andy in The 13-Storey Treehouse. Picture: James D Morgan
THE 13-Storey Treehouse finds a new home in York from tomorrow to Sunday when Richard Tulloch’s stage adaptation of Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s story plays the Grand Opera House.
Tulloch, whose award-winning stage-writing credits include The Book Of Everything and Bananas In Pyjamas, has created a one-hour play for children aged six to 12 featuring a treehouse replete with bowling alley, secret underground laboratory, self-making beds and marshmallow machine.
Expect magical moments of theatrical wizardry and a truckload of imagination from the seriously funny cast of Ryan Dulieu, Edwin Beats and Elle Wootton, called into action when Andy and Terry forget to write their debut play. Where will they find flying cats, a mermaid, a sea monster, an invasion of monkeys and a giant gorilla? Find out from tomorrow.
Here cast members Ryan Dulieu (who plays Andy), Edwin Beats (Terry) and Elle Wootton (Val) discuss the play and its British tour.
For those who might not know the story, how would you sum it up?
Ryan: “The 13-Storey Treehouse is about a couple of goofballs, Andy and Terry, who turn up at the theatre thinking it’s their first rehearsal, only to find it’s opening night – and they haven’t even started writing the play yet (an actor’s worst nightmare come to life). Luckily Val, the stage manager, reluctantly joins in to help them make it all up as they go along, with the boys causing mayhem along the way.”
Elle: “As you can imagine, a lot of chaos and hilarity ensues.”
Edwin: “It’s an energetic and ridiculously fun show, loosely about imagination and togetherness. There’s music and laughs, and it’s worth coming just to see Val’s characterisation of Bill the Postman.”
How would you describe your characters?
Edwin: “I play Terry, who draws all the pictures in the books. Terry is somewhat goofy and entirely loveable. He is the doer, where Andy is the sayer. He’s not especially good at staying on task, so will often have to pull things together at the last moment.”
Ryan: “I play Andy, Terry’s best (and only) friend, the brains of the two, the one who writes the words (Terry does the scribbles). Andy is the main protagonist of the show, easily likable, very handsome, and incredibly funny.
Elle: “I play Val, a no-nonsense, super-organised, and very professional stage manager. She loves the theatre and wants the audience to have the best experience possible. But there’s more to Val than meets the eye. I really enjoy playing her because she is a character that surprises herself and others.”
Ryan: “I have to say I also absolutely love playing Andy. He has what can only be described as a certain ‘rizz’. He’s energetic and driven, always has big ideas, and works pretty hard to solve some Terry-induced problems. Playing Andy allows me be loud, confident, funny, and unleash my inner bossy-pants. Do I relate to Andy at all? You know, I think I really do!
Edwin: “I like Terry’s childlike wonder, and his abundant enthusiasm. He feels his feelings in a genuine and undiluted way. I relate closely to his distractibility, and the way he struggles with time management.”
Do you have a favourite part of the show?
Ryan: “Normally I say – spoiler alert – the giant gorilla, but at the moment my favourite part is probably the very beginning, where Andy and Terry have absolutely no idea what’s going on, and it almost seems as though there might be no show at all. It’s a thrilling bit of the show to perform, all that excitement and fear of making it up on the spot.
Edwin: “Barky the Barking Dog. There’s a part where Terry gets to watch his favourite TV show, then later on he discovers that he’s won 1st prize in the Barky the Barking Dog drawing competition!”
Elle: “The drawing competition always tickles me too! And I really enjoy Mermaidia.”
In the story, Andy and Terry live in the world’s best treehouse, fitted with a giant catapult, a secret underground laboratory, a tank of man-eating sharks and a marshmallow machine. What would be in your 13-Storey Treehouse?
Ryan: In my treehouse you would use trampolines instead of ladders to get around, there would be a spa-bath-cinema, a reptile-park on the roof (I love lizards and big, friendly snakes) and an automatic sandwich-making robot that would follow me around whenever I was hungry. Also, a ‘Luge’, which is like a go-kart, except there’s no motor and it’s all downhill!”
Edwin: “I’d have a football field and 21 chimpanzees in football boots. A branch that grows wonderful new fruits from your imagination. An enormous ski jump (that’s how you get down from the treehouse). And one level that’s just a very good authentic Mexican restaurant.”
Elle Wootton spreads her wings in The 13-Storey Treehouse. Picture: James D Morgan
Elle: “Oh my goodness! So many things! So hard to choose! I think I would love a bubble level: a giant room with a constant stream of bubbles, beautifully coloured lights and some great music. I also would love a jungle floor, where the whole space is full of tropical plants and there’s a lagoon to swim in.”
The story must have been tricky to bring to the stage. How does it all work?
Elle: “The magic of theatre! Which is a lot of trial and error in rehearsals, some amazing crew working behind the scenes, and a great team of performers working together with the audience’s imagination too!”
Edwin: “The book explores this idea that Andy and Terry have been goofing around so much that they’ve neglected to make a book for their publisher. In the theatre show, we’re similarly ill-prepared. We use our imaginations and the magic of theatre and make it up as we go along. We rely heavily on Val, the highly proficient and highly professional stage manager to create something out of nothing.”
Ryan: “Without ruining any surprises, it really engages the audience’s imagination! You’ll definitely see all the best bits of the book, and a whole team of clever people help us make it work, using things like puppetry, trick-props, some brilliant technical lighting and sound effects, and some really, very, very good acting of course!”
Ahead of making your UK debut with this show, you have toured Australia and the United States. What was the audience reaction to seeing the book brought to life on stage?
Edwin: “In Australia we’re rock stars. Aussie kids go ballistic when they see Andy and Terry! I remember sneaking onto the stage in near-darkness (before the show begins) and hearing excited whispers of ‘That’s Terry!’ from the audience. The US was great fun too: we had one especially massive audience in Alabama, where the concert hall seats close to 2,000 people!”
Ryan: “Audiences everywhere have been so enthusiastic and appreciative. I think the best thing about different Treehouse audiences around the world is how they all find new and different things they find funny in the show. It’s always surprising doing a show somewhere new and hearing audiences reacting differently to how you think they will.”
Elle: “It’s exciting and interesting to perform to people in different countries because sometimes the sense of humour in each country is different. So, in Australia people will laugh at things that in the US they might not and vice versa.
“But no matter where we go, audiences love the show! I’m looking forward to seeing what people in the UK connect with most in the play.”
Is it important to create theatre specifically for younger audiences?
Ryan: “Creating theatre for young people is one of the most important parts of the performing and theatre world. It opens the way for all of us to fall in love with theatre and live storytelling from a young age and creates pathways for young people to see they can have a career in the arts too.”
Elle: “Young people are the future, we have a lot to learn from them, but we also want to teach them the importance of creativity and connection.
“Theatre gives us a glimpse into another world, a different perspective, a view of someone else’s life, their feelings, and experiences. I think theatre, when done well, can help young people to develop empathy and learn important values, like friendship and respect.
Edwin: “Young people make the best audiences. Grown-ups are sometimes too polite to enjoy themselves, or too distracted by other things in life. Attending a show for young people can be joyous for the kids, and a valuable reminder for adults to exist in the moment.
Ryan: “Some of the best memories I have are being taken to pantomimes as a kid. I think my first show I saw was the Nutcracker ballet.”
Elle: “I loved the theatre when I was younger and was always affected by each performance I saw; I felt transported to another world. Although I did see a very scary rendition of Hansel And Gretel when I was quite young and it really stuck with me. I guess that taught me the strong impact that theatre can have on a young mind.”
Why come to the show?
Elle: “It is a joyful, rambunctious and entertaining ride that will absolutely fly by. You’ll laugh, you’ll get grossed out, you might even have a wee cry! Andy and Terry are a dynamic duo and so much fun to watch.”
Edwin: “I honestly believe it’s the most fun that can be packed into 55 minutes.”
Ryan: “It brings the book to life in such a creative and wonderful way. Whether you’re a die-hard Treehouse fan, or you’ve wandered in off the street and have no idea what a play even is, this show has something for everyone.”
The 13-Storey Treehouse, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow (8/8/2024) to Sunday, 1pm and 5pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Artist Dan Baldin with works from his new collection The Pursuit Of Happiness
“I FEEL like I’m having a rebirth…and we are into a really bright, fresh, optimistic period,” says artist Dan Baldwin, as he launches The Pursuit Of Happiness at RedHouse Originals Gallery, Harrogate, his debut Yorkshire solo exhibition and first in the north of England since 2007.
“This new collection is a joyous remix of Baldwin’s renowned motifs of animals, flowers, and illustrations,” says RedHouse director Richard McTague, introducing the new Artist Spotlight series of kaleidoscopic original paintings, works on paper, ceramics, steel sculpture and rare editions that can be viewed alongside Baldwin’s iconic swallow series Love And Light. “The exhibition is a true serotonin boost, filled with an abundance of colour.”
The Pursuit Of Happiness, acrylic on canvas, 2023, by Dan Baldwin
Describing The Pursuit Of Happiness as “a celebration of painting, colour and nature”, Baldwin says his new collection focuses on “how painting and colour – along with nature – have been a healing factor over the last four years”, with a return to nature functioning as a form of self-therapy.
Blending abstract and figurative elements, reflecting both reality and the world of imagination, Baldwin says: “I feel like I’m having a rebirth; it’s over 30 years since I began art college in 1990, and a lot of my art over the last few years was quite dark…I feel that has gone, and we are into a really bright fresh optimistic period.
Hold On Tight, acrylic on handmade paper, 2023-2024, by Dan Baldwin
“I’ve come to realise that colour is the driving force behind my compositions. It is the starting point and creates the feel of the composition, dictating the next stages.”
“The work is more abstract, but totally conscious, every mark and element is selected very carefully to get this perfect balance…And that’s what every work is about: harmony, balance, layers, and how everything works together.”
Clarity, acrylic on canvas, 2023, by Dan Baldwin
The last word (of approval) goes to Pop Art doyen and RedHouse Originals alumnus Sir Peter Blake. “Looking at Dan’s work is like meeting old friends for me,” he says. “It looks as though at some point in our careers we used the same casting agency. I am flattered that Dan writes that he was influenced by my work.”
Dan Baldwin: The Pursuit Of Happiness, at RedHouse Originals Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, until August 31. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and on Sundays by appointment on 01423 884400 or by email to info@redhouseoriginals.com. Website: www.redhouseoriginals.com.
Dan Baldwin: the back story, from RedHouse Originals Gallery
Artist Dan Baldwin at work. Picture: RedHouse Originals Gallery
BORN in Manchester in 1972, Dan Baldwin studied at Eastbourne College of Art and Design and later at Kent Institute of Art and Design.
A painter, printmaker and ceramicist, Baldwin demonstrates an immediately recognisable style, blending abstract and figurative elements, reflecting both reality and the world of imagination.
His dynamic images shift thematically, from ruminations on love and memory to philosophy and politics.
The poster for Dan Baldwin’s debut solo exhibition in Yorkshire, The Pursuit Of Happiness
Baldwin’s dynamic canvases incorporate multiple planes and perspectives, utilising a broad range of media. As well as traditional painting and mark-making, his images often incorporate 3D elements, gilding, glazes, diamond dust and collage.
Symbolism is key to Baldwin’s oeuvre: swallows, skeletons and religious iconography appear alongside children’s story-book illustrations, flowers and cartoon figures. Recurring motifs are prevalent, including Baldwin’s preoccupation with human existence and perseverance to reflect on life and love.
Baldwin exhibits internationally and collectors of his work include Damien Hirst, Sir Peter Blake and Gilbert and George.
York Theatre Royal chief executive officer Paul Crewes. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
ONCE the York Theatre Royal packed away the big top as the circus-themed Around The World In 80 Days-ish concluded its globe-trotting travels last Saturday, attention could turn to the autumn and winter season.
At its core will be two in-house productions: Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster’s staging of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story Little Women, from September 21 to October 12, and the year-ending pantomime Aladdin, co-produced by the Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions, from December 3 to January 5.
Presented in association with “silent partner” Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Little Women is adapted by Anna Marie Casey in a new look at the story of headstrong Jo and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy growing up in New England during the American Civil War.
Aladdin reunites regular dame Robin Simpson and baddie Paul Hawkyard, who returns after a year’s absence to restore a partnership last seen as Mrs Smee and Captain Hook in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan. Joining them will be CBeebies star Evie Pickerill as Spirit Of The Ring and BBC Let It Shine winner Sario Solomon in the title role.
“What we’re trying to do here is look to increase the work we produce ourselves, which has become smaller for reasons such as Covid,” says chief executive officer Paul Crewes. “We have to re-establish ourselves as a producing theatre that presents great touring work as well.”
Add Around The World In 80 Days-ish to the home-grown list, and Paul’s vision for the future is taking shape. “I want our in-house productions to run for more than ten days. That’s risky but unless you start doing it, you don’t build an audience,” he says.
“Then you think, ‘what work do I want to put around those shows?’, ‘how do we balance and support that work?’, and one of the things I want to do is build a programme of really high-quality dance shows. That’s why we have London City Ballet coming back for the first time in nearly 30 years as part of their re-launch.”
On September 6 and 7, London City Ballet will perform a revival of Kenneth Macmillan’s 1972 one-act ballet Ballade, not seen in Europe for more than 50 years, Arielle Smith’s premiere of Five Dances and artistic director Christopher Marney’s 2022 work Eve.
“We’re also delighted to have Company Wayne McGregor performing Autobiography (V102 and V103) on October 25 and 26,” says Paul. “Wayne McGregor is one of the top choreographers in the world; he’s just been knighted and he’s running the dance programme for the Venice Biennale 2024. That’s some statement about the quality we’re trying to establish here.”
Genetic codes, AI and choreography merge in this McGregor work that re-imagines and remakes itself anew for every performance as “artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”..
Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of): Not sort of, but definitely, on stage at York Theatre Royal from November 4 to 9. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovicast
Looking further ahead, the Theatre Royal will welcome Jasmin Vardimon: Now, a new creation by choreographer Jasmin Vardimon MBE, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her dance theatre company, on February 8 next year. “This will be the company’s first time in York,” says Paul.
In addition to Little Women, the autumn’s classic literary focus will continue with Newcastle Theatre Royal’s Olivier Award-winning Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), by Isobel McArthur after Jane Austen, from November 4 to 9. Billed as a unique and audacious retelling of Austen’s iconic love story”, in a nutshell, “it’s the 1800s, it’s party time. Let the ruthless matchmaking begin”.
“I’ve known the producer, David Pugh, for a long time, and it’s good to take shows from the West End and bring them here,” says Paul.
On a literary bent too, crime writer Ian Rankin’s detective Rebus treads the boards in a new play, Rebus: A Game Called Malice, from October 15 to 19, with Glasgow-born Gray O’Brien, last seen in York as the boorish, bigoted Juror 10 in Twelve Angry Men at the Grand Opera House in May, taking the role of John Rebus.
Rankin, who will attend a post-show discussion on October 18, has co-written the play with Simon Reade, set at a stately home dinner party where guests are required by the hostess to play a murder mystery game she has thought up. “It’s well timed after the new TV series, and having Ian Rankin at the discussion is a bit of a coup too,” says Paul.
Olivier Award winner Sally Cookson directs the Bristol Old Vic’s innovative production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s “heartwarming and inspiring story about the power of communication packed with playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music”. Look out for live creative captioning on stage throughout from October 29 to November2. “Sally has a fantastic track record at Bristol and the National Theatre, and this piece just looks really, really exciting,” says Paul.
Among the one-nighter highlights are two Simons: An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, on September 10, wherein the Olivier Award-winning actor delves into his life and career to celebrate his memoir, A Piece Of Work, and An Evening With Simon Armitage & LYR, on January 24, featuring poetry and live performance by the Poet Laureate and his band.
“We just grabbed at the chance to put on Simon Russell Beale’s show when it was offered,” says Paul. “I’m not a great fan of actors standing on stage talking about themselves, but if it’s Simon Russell Beale – or Ian McKellen – then why not!”
Full details of the new season can be found at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk, including the Theatre Royal Studio taking on a new guise from October as a cabaret club after a makeover and name change to The Old Paint Shop for nights of music, improv and burlesque by York artists. Box office: 01904 623568.
Fountains By Water, by Peter Hicks, on show at Fountains Abbey. All pictures: Joe Cornish
THE National Trust is extending this summer’s run of Peter Hicks’s exhibition, Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal – A Landscape Painter’s Perspective, to September 15.
On show is a collection of works painted in response to the John and William Aislabie-designed landscapes of Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal Water Garden during Hicks’s residency in 2023.
Commissioned by the National Trust, the Yorkshire landscape artist’s paintings, studies and sketchbooks are on display in Fountains Mill.
Born in Osgodby, near Selby, Hicks has lived and worked for most of his life on the North York Moors close to the Yorkshire coast. Now in his eighties, he continues to be inspired by the drama and immense scale of the British landscape.
Peter Hicks with his painting materials in his North York Moors studio
“The chance to work at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal late in life surprised me,” says Peter. “Then it became a chance to explore a vision of my own in a place rich with promise to a painter crossing from the 20th to the 21st century, heavy with freedoms and procedures and the practical choices newly open to me.
“Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal may not have needed me to speak about its rich heritage and landscape vistas, but I have come to see that it has given me a chance to explore landscape and waterways in my own choice of texture, colour and use of material and pictorial language.
“This is all at a time when I might be expected to be slowing down concerning my painter’s practice. It has been said of me, however, that in fact this opportunity has come when I am at the height of my ongoing fulfilment. What a wonderful hope and promise.”
By The River, Studley Royal, by Peter Hicks
Hicks works in abstract landscapes with acrylic washes on canvas and board, making his own benches and brush handles and using humble and accessible materials, such as old margarine pots for mixing his paints, as well as upcycling old jewellery boxes into paint boxes.
To illustrate this, the exhibition features selected studio objects, such as paint pots and brushes, testimonials from Hicks about his creative process, and his own workbench.
General manager Justin Scully says: “I first met Peter in July 2022, when he had been invited to Fountains Abbey by renowned landscape photographer Joe Cornish. Peter was reminiscing that he had sketched here many years ago and I politely said that it was time for him to visit us again. From such a brief conversation came great things.
“As it has always done, this special place captures an artist’s imagination. The commission has created much more work than we ever intended but, to my mind, it has also captured Peter’s personality itself and his very particular aesthetic.
“This opportunity has come when I am at the height of my ongoing fulfilment,” says Peter Hicks. “What a wonderful hope and promise“
“Peter’s studio in the North York Moors is inspirational; it embodies his way of working, his approach to his art, and we have tried to give some hint of this in the exhibition. Peter has completely understood and captured our spirit of place as both a garden and a romantic ruin, but also the way the iconic image of the abbey itself is part of our Yorkshire identity.”
Justin concludes: “As part of a programme of contemporary art commissions stretching back to 2015, it shows the role Fountains can play in supporting artists but also how art can add to a deeper love and understanding of this place for our visitors.”
The exhibition was scheduled to close on August 11 but will now run for an extra month. Artwork is on display in the Tabernacle at Studley Lake in the water garden too.
Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, near Ripon, is open all year round. Summer opening hours: 10am to 4.30pm; car parks close at 6.30pm. Normal admission applies for the exhibition; entry is free for National Trust members and under-fives. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/fountains-abbey-and-studley-royal-water-garden.
A scene from Liz Stevenson’s production of Brassed Off. Picture: Pamela Raith
LIZ Stevenson’s new staging of Brassed Off marks the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike and the 30th anniversary of the 1994 setting of York film-maker Mark Herman’s pit community drama.
Adapted for the stage by Paul Allen, the co-production by Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and Octagon Theatre, Bolton, has moved from Keswick to Scarborough, where the cast of ten, including several actor-musicians, will perform Herman’s story of northern grit, heart and defiant humour from tonight until August 31.
Ten years after the Miners’ Strike, the mining community of Grimley, Yorkshire, is fighting to keep the colliery open. Meanwhile, revered band leader Danny is battling to keep his dispirited band of brass-playing miners together, fuelled by the dream of qualifying for the national championships at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Loyalty is tested, pressure mounts and the community begins to break apart, but can the band find a way to play on?
“It’s a timely moment to present this iconic play, 40 years after the 1984 Miners’ Strike,” says Liz, Theatre by the Lake’s artistic director. “Our production looks back on the battles of this close-knit mining community, asking: what has changed? And what does this play mean to us today? We’ve assembled an incredible team to deliver a moving theatrical experience that celebrates the resilience of communities and the transformative power of music.”
Liz’s vision for the production started with the question: How do you see the play from a 2024 perspective? “It occurred to me that in our audience, there will be people who lived through the Miners’ Strike, worked down the pit, and are still affected by it. Others will have had little experience of it and won’t have been affected.
“There’ll be some who know and love Mark’s film; others who won’t have seen it. So, what’s your starting point? In our production, we’ve imagined how young narrator Shane, the eight-year-old son of Phil and Sandra in the film, would be 38 now, not dissimilar to my age.
“So we’re now treating it like a memory play, where he re-lives his memories of his childhood, his father and his grandfather [band leader Danny], seeing them through adult eyes and reflecting on how the events of 1984/1994 made him the man he is today.
“Obviously lots of things have changed – though some haven’t – so it feels like a period piece, but for others it still feels like recent history, and some of our cast have grown up playing in brass bands.”
Brassed Off resonates as much as ever in 2024, when “deindustrialisation, inequality and poverty is still felt today in former mining towns and across different communities around the world”, says Liz.
“What there’s no denying in this country is that we still have a great deal of poverty, like the characters in this play. There’s a scene where Phil tries to take his life, and it was an important decision how we would handle that scene: what led him to that point, as we see him become more and more desperate. Lots of people will be able to relate to that – it’s probably the most relatable thing in the play.”
Crucial too is Danny’s climactic speech at the Royal Albert Hall, the one where, in the moment of winning the national championships, he says: “I thought that music mattered, but does it bol****s, not compared with how people matter”. “We didn’t want to make it a nostalgia festival. We wanted to lift it out of that, stripping it back, simplifying the design too,” says Liz.
“There’s something important to be said, locally, nationally and internationally, about the significance of community and how we have to look after each other, how people matter more than money.
“This play shows how vital community is, and this production manifests that by having not only a cast of ten but also a community cast with three teams of two children and members of the local community playing in the band at each show. That brings a community spirit to the performances – which is such a joy.”
That sense of community is enhanced by the theatre-in-the-round configuration of all three theatres. “It’s an inclusive, intimate setting, with audiences on all sides and everyone close to the action, but it’s a challenge too as the Scarborough stage is small but we have to have 19 bodies on stage at one point! You’re thinking, ‘how do we do this, with all the music, in that space, with lots of episodic scenes that flow into each other’?” says Liz.
“It needs to be fluent and dynamic, and especially as a memory play where one moment triggers the next. Something special happens when the band plays for the first time on stage: that feeling of everyone playing together in a collective endeavour. You see the importance of collaborating in the play, but when they perform the music, it takes it to another level.”
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, and Octagon Theatre, Bolton present Brassed Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to August 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
