Kate Rusby: Headlining today’s bill at Underneath The Stars
THE last Underneath The Stars festival “for now” is under way today for three days of music and arts, fun and festivities at Cinder Hill, Darton Road, Cawthorne, Barnsley.
On June 19, the organisers issued this statement: “Dearest Stargazers, it is with heavy hearts that we announce this year’s festival will be our last for now and that we have decided to take a break on our festival journey.
“Worry not though, all is on track to ensure that 2024 will be our best yet and a fitting celebration of ten stellar years. Join us if you are able”
Festival director Emma Holling explained: “We never imagined that a wild idea conceived around our dining room table, overlooking the hills near Cawthorne, would blossom into the amazing festival it is today.
“When we started a decade ago, we were driven, as now, by passion and a sense of adventure. Now, we find ourselves in different places, both personally and professionally and operating in different times. We can’t believe this will be our tenth event. It is an amazing achievement and now our adventures are leading us in different directions.”
Emma continues: “This decision, though difficult, feels right as we embrace these new chapters in our lives. Looking back, we are overwhelmed with pride and joy. From our humble beginnings to welcoming a beautiful, ever-growing audience, every moment has been a dream come true.
King Zepha: Playing on Sunday
“The laughter, music, and unforgettable memories we’ve shared together have exceeded our wildest expectations. Those we have worked with and who have supported us, together with our incredible audience and volunteer team, have been the heart and soul of this festival.
“Your involvement, energy, love, and unwavering support turned our little dream into a phenomenal and award-winning success. Each year, you’ve brought magic, transforming our event into a celebration of community, creativity, and pure joy.”
“While this news may come as a shock, we wanted to share it with you in good time and so that our stargazers can all come together to celebrate one last time.”
Could the festival return? “Never say never of course and no-one ever knows what we might do in the future,” said Emma.
As for this year: “We do know that the festival landscape is challenging at the moment and our hearts and minds are with all our festival friends and family.
“If you are thinking at all about supporting Underneath the Stars or any independent event or festival this year, now more than ever is the time to and we would urge you to do just that.”
Bill Bailey: Following up tonight’s appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre by headlining Sunday’s line-up at Underneath The Stars
The June 19 statement from Team UTS (Underneath The Stars) concluded: “Looking forward to this summer, plans are firmly in place to make this final festival our best and most spectacular yet, filled with love, and the biggest cheer possible.
“Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey. Let’s cherish every moment and create one last round of memories that we will treasure forever; we look forward to seeing you there!”
The festival was founded in 2014 by the production team behind South Yorkshire folk singer Kate Rusby and the Pure Records label. Kate headlines today’s bill, also featuring Blazin’ Saddles, Hope & Social, John Smith, Katherine Priddy, Oh My God! It’s The Church, Fanny Lumsden, Cahalen Morrison and Ruth Lyon.
Tomorrow’s line-up comprises headliners The Feeling, plus Rumer, Dervish, Beans On Toast, O’Hooley & Tidow, Keston Cobblers Club, Rumba De Bodas, Dolores Forever, Suntou Susso, Barnsley Youth Choir and The Hunch.
Comedian and musician Bill Bailey tops Sunday’s bill, when Lucy Spraggan, Hamish Hawk, Skinny Lister, Damien O’Kane & Friends, Gary Stewart’s Graceland, The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican, Brown Horse, King Zepha and Simeon Hammond Dallas perform too.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture in the York Trailblazers trail of tansy beetle artworks
TRAILBLAZERS in beetle form, Georgian festivities, colliery band dramas, and riverside art take Charles Hutchinson in different directions in the week ahead.
Trail of the week: York Trailblazers, around York city centre, August 1 to September 30
FACT of the day: the river Ouse has the largest population of tansy beetles in the United Kingdom. Now sculptures of these insects form a new trail, York Trailblazers, a celebration of York’s unsung heroes mounted by York Civic Trust and Make It York with National Lottery Heritage Fund support.
Nominated by the public and community groups, the Trailblazers project highlights remarkable individuals who have made a difference to people’s lives either locally or globally.
Author Terry Deary: Introducing his new novel at the York Georgian Festival this evening
Festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, today to Sunday
THE second York Georgian Festival opens tomorrow, when Horrible Histories author Terry Deary’s 6pm showcase of his new novel, A History Of Britain In Ten Enemies, will be an early highlight.
Tours, talks and fascinating hidden Georgian gems will be at the heart of the festival. The first York Georgian Ball will be held at the Grand Assembly Rooms (now home to the ASK Italian restaurant) on Saturday at 7pm. Look out for Mad Alice’s Rogues Gallery Tour around the city at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. For the full programme and tickets, head to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.
Brass band blues: A scene from Brassed Off at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Play of the week outside York: Brassed Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow (2/8/2024) to August 31
ADAPTED for the stage by Paul Allen from the 1996 screenplay by York filmmaker Mark Herman, Brassed Off takes to the stage in a co-production by Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre and Bolton’s Octagon Theatre, directed by Liz Stevenson.
The setting is 1994, ten years after the miners’ strike, when the tight-knit mining community of Grimley, Yorkshire, is fighting to keep the colliery open. Once the uncertainty around the pit’s future becomes too much for the pit band members, loyalty is tested, pressure mounts and the community begins to break apart. Can the band find a way to play on? Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Yard Act: Leeds art rock band play in their backyard on Saturday. Picture: Phoebe Fox
Leeds gig of the week: Yard Act, Here’s Our Utopia, Leeds Millennium Square, August 3, doors 6pm; 10.30pm finish
LEEDS art rock band Yard Act play their biggest gig yet on home turf at Leeds Millennium Square this weekend in the wake of the March release of second album Where’s My Utopia?.
Co-produced by James Smith’s indie quartet and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr, the album peaked at number four, following the number two success and Mercury Prize shortlisting of 2022 debut The Overload. Support acts will be English Teacher, Fat Dog and Ultimate Thunder. Box office: 0113 376 0318 or millsqleeds.com/whatson-event/yard-act/.
Laura Joy’s poster design for the 2024 York River Art Market weekends. She will be participating in all six days. Check out her work at laurajoydesign.co.uk
York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris: York River Art Market, August 3 and 4; August 10 and 10; August 17 and 18, 10am to 5pm
ORGANISED by jewellery designer and York College art tutor Charlotte Dawson, York River Art Market returns to the riverbank at Dame Judi Dench Walk for a ninth summer season from this weekend.
Up to 30 artists and makers per day will be exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, T-shirts, shaving products and more. “We care that each of the six events are never the same, so we host a different variety of creatives at each one,” says Charlotte. Admission is free.
Richard Hudson’s Unwind: On show at Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
Exhibition of the week: Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, Kirkgate, Thirsk, open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
THIRSK Hall Sculpture Garden showcases modern and contemporary sculptures in 20 acres of walled gardens and parkland at the grade II-listed town house, complemented by artwork in Gallery One and The Orangery.
Artists on show include Farnoush Amini, Kenneth Armitage, Tere Chad, Tim Ellis, Laura Ford, Richard Hudson, Jeff Lowe, Gerald Laing, Michael Lyons, Trory Menage, Zak Ové, Tim Pomeroy, William Tucker, Austin Wright and Emily Young. To find out more about the 2024 exhibition, visit willoughnygerrish.com. Tickets: thirskhall.com/sculpture-garden.
Chris Hagyard, pictured in Guys And Dolls mode, will sing in Bev Jones Music Company’s One Night Of Broadway Hits
Musical revue of the week: Steve Coates and Bev Jones Music Company present One Night Of Broadway Hits, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, August 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
BEV Jones Music Company performs hits from 26 musicals, including Guys And Dolls, in an unashamedly traditional fashion under the musical direction of James Rodgers.
His band is joined in this moving, lively and at times funny show by vocalists Chris Hagyard, Annabel Van Griethuysen, Anthony Pengelly, Ruth McNeil, Sally Lewis, Stephen Wilson, Geoff Walker and producer Lesley Jones, back on stage for this show, wearing a silver cat suit unseen since 2010, when she played Vera in Stepping Out. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Hurry up Harry: The Three Inch Fools cast for The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII at Helmsley Walled Garden
Ryedale play of the week: The Three Inch Fools in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII, Helmsley Walled Garden, August 6, 7pm; gates 6pm
THE Three Inch Fools, founded by the Cumbrian Hyde brothers, producer James and writer, composer and director Stephen, present an essential guide on how to keep your head in the Tudor Court in a new comical take on Henry VIII and his six-pack of infamous wives.
Unexpectedly thrust into the limelight, Henry must navigate the ups and downs of courtly life, all while fighting the French yet again and re-writing religious doctrine. Bring chairs, blankets, picnics, but not umbrellas. Park in the Cleveland Way car park. Box office: 01439 771700, helmsleyarts.co.uk or threeinchfools.com.
Korn-ucopia of heavy metal hits at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on August 8
Coastal gig of the week: Korn, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 8, gates 6pm
FORMED in California in 1993, Korn continue to push the limits of alt. rock and heavy metal after 40 million album sales, two Grammy awards and countless tours. Expect to hear such anthems as Blind, Falling Away From Me, Here To Stay, Freak On A Leash, Twisted Transistor, Make Me Bad and Did My Time as their European tour arrives in Yorkshire. Support acts will be Wargasm and Loathe. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/korn.
Riley Catherall: Playing Pig & Pastry, York, on a tour that takes the Australian singer-songwriter to Nayland, Kirton in Lindsay, High Wycombe and Stockholm, Uddevalla and Oland in Sweden
Introducing: Riley Catherall, Pig & Pastry, Bishopthorpe Road, York, August 8. Doors: 7.30pm for 8pm start
MELBOURNE singer-songwriter Riley Catherall’s graceful trajectory into the Australian alt-country world has not gone unnoticed. So much so that he will be playing in York on Thursday, promising songs of poetic sincerity from his June 14 sophomore album The Light, The Beautiful Liar and his 2021 debut When I Go, a record focused on leaving, losing love and finding somewhere to settle down. Box office: wegottickets.com/event/624233/.
Anastacia: Playing York Barbican next May on her Not That Kind 25th Anniversary Tour
Gig announcement of the week: Anastacia, Not That Kind 25th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, May 4 2025
CHICAGO singer-songwriter Anastacia will play York Barbican as the only Yorkshire concert of the 13-date British and Irish leg of her Not That Kind tour next year, marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album.
“I didn’t get to do a tour for my first album, which makes this all the more special,” says Anastacia. “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years since Not That Kind; we will be sure to celebrate in true Anastacia style. It’ll be one big anniversary party. I can’t wait to see you all there !” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/anastacia-2025/.
In Focus:The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 9 and 10
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
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.
Festival organisers The Magpies
The all-female The Magpies – Bella Gaffney (singer, songwriter, guitarist and banjo player), fellow founder Holly Brandon (fiddle player and tunesmith) and Ellie Gowers (guitarist, singer and songwriter) – are set on championing gender equality in the music industry, achieving gender parity in both line-up and staff, as well as providing a safe and comfortable environment for female musicians and festival goers.
Festival director Holly Brandon says: “We are so excited to put on The Magpies Festival. We’ve been over the moon at the response to the festival, from the incredible performances from world-class folk musicians to the high-energy spirit that our attendees brought along. It’s felt like a whole new feel to a folk festival.”
Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Sam Kellly & The Lost Boys: To be found at The Magpies Festival at Sutton Park on Saturday
Laura Joy’s poster for the 2024 York River Art Market summer season
YORK River Art Market returns for its ninth summer season this weekend on the riverside walkway at Dame Judi Dench Walk.
Organised by artist and York College art tutor Charlotte Dawson, York’s answer to the markets on the Parisian Left Bank will be held on August 3 and 4, 10 and 11 and 17 and 18 from 10am to 5pm.
Along the riverside railings, up to 30 artists and makers per day will be exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, T-shirts, shaving products and much more. “We care that each of the six events are never the same, and so we host a different variety of creatives at each one,” says founder and director Charlotte. “That means there is always something for everyone’s creative tastes and budget.
“York River Art Market’s relaxed and vibrant atmosphere has been compared to the Left Bank and we welcome everyone. Admission to the market is free of charge to come along and browse or buy directly from an array of Yorkshire-based artists.”
Looking forward to this weekend, Charlotte says: “Each year presents fresh challenges, but just don’t say the ‘W’ word [the weather}!” Fear not, Charlotte, sunny intervals and a gentle breeze are forecast for Saturday and Sunday.
Charlotte Dawson: York River Art Market founder-director and jewellery designer
“We’ve had more artists and makers than ever wanting to take part – quite a change from our early days. We get hundreds applying now and I do the selection process with a heavy heart, as we can’t feature everyone. We have a reserve list and people are already asking about next year.”
Why is it so popular, Charlotte? “This area of York lends itself to such an event, working in harmony with the York Museum Gardens, the eateries around here, and the whole ambience by the riverside,” she says.
“I think the river is great for a sense of wellbeing, especially for the artists who are spending the day there, saying ‘it’s so relaxing here’. There’s an ambience you can’t get anywhere else in the city.
“York River Art Market really does celebrate art and York’s creative talent, but not only York, as we have artists and makers from Yorkshire among our variety of new participants, such as Ounce Of Style [Lee Henry], a funky graphic designer and illustrator with a food obsession, who works in really bold colours, and Taken Twice, from Derbyshire, who uses that name because she creates jewellery inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, which is interesting for York with our Roman history.”
Among the returnees will be digital photomontage artist Adele Karmazyn; architectural illustrator Elliot Harrison (York 360); Gerry and Lynn Grant of Fangfoss Pottery; Katrina Mansfield, from PICA Studios in Grape Lane, who specialises in creating “fluid art animal inks” on Yupo paper, and Lincoln Lightfoot, whose surrealist B-movie poster pastiches “tap into the present condition of fear that our news media and politicians perpetuate in a post Covid-19 world”.
Woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood: Travelling from Italy for York River Art Market on August 10 and 11
York artist Emma Whitelock, who took part in the first York River Art Market and now exhibits internationally, including in New York, will be returning to the riverside this summer.
Travelling the farthest to take part is woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood, who is heading from Frascati, Italy, with a suitcase full of art to stay with her mother in York. She will be showing her original artwork and prints, created from fragments of memories pieced together and hand-burned on to wood, on August 10 and 11.
Busker and folk singer Deb Simpson is likely to pop up at some point, just as she has in past years, and York singer-songwriter Heather Findlay, from the York duo The Bee Tellers, will be busking on August 18. “She’s an artist too, and hopefully she’ll be showing her work next year,” says Charlotte.
To find out the line-up of artists and makers for each of the six days, head to York River Art Market’s Facebook site, facebook.com/YorkRiverArtMarket. Click on More, then Events, then Discussion.
This year’s poster was designed by the aptly named illustrator and maker Laura Joy, of Laura Joy Design, who will be attending all six events this summer. Artistic joy does indeed await on the banks of the River Ouse from this weekend.
Copyright of The Press, York
Heather Findlay: Busking on August 18. Picture: Adam Kennedy
The poster for Dame Judi Dench and Gyles Brandreth’s night of stories, sonnets and surprises at the Grand Opera House, York, on October 10
DAME Judi Dench is heading home to York for one night only in a special performance at the Grand Opera House on October 10.
Stage, film and television actress Dame Judi, 89, will be joined on stage at 7.30pm by television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author, publisher and former Conservative MP for the City of Chester Gyles Brandreth.
Together they will present their sell-out West End and Royal Albert Hall show, I Remember It Well with Judi Dench & Gyles Brandreth. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on August 2 at atgtickets.com/york, preceded by ATG+ members 24 hours earlier.
Dame Judi joins her friend Gyles on a roller-coaster trip down memory lane as they explore the story of her extraordinary life, from her childhood in Heworth, York, in the 1930s to her latest Oscar nomination – for Best Supporting actress in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast – in 2022. Expect moments from Shakespeare and anecdotes aplenty – stories, sonnets and surprises – in a “two-hour party of lifetime”.
Educated at The Mount School, and later briefly at the York School of Art, Dame Judi played a “forgetful angel” in the 1951 York Mystery Plays, staged by the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in the York Museum Gardens in the first revival since their suppression in 1569.
This was followed by her roles as a “young man in white clothing” in the 1954 production and the Virgin Mary in 1957, after completing her studies at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. That year she made her professional theatrical debut as Ophelia in Hamlet at the Old Vic, London.
Her stage and screen career has taken in the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre; the television series A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By; the role of M in the James Bond franchise from 1995’s GoldenEye to M’s death in 2012’s Skyfall, and an Oscar win, among eight nominations from 1997 to 2022, for Best Supporting Actress in Shakespeare In Love in 1998.
Six film BAFTAs, three television BAFTAs, two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors’ Guild awards, seven Oliviers, one Tony award and three Evening Standard Theatre awards have come her way too.
Here in York, Dame Judi received receive the honour of Millennium Person of the Present award at York Mansion House in 2000, was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of York in 2002 and has had a riverside walkway, Dame Judi Dench Walk, named after her.
On the theatre front, although Dami Judi will be appearing at the Grand Opera House this autumn, she is a patron of York Theatre Royal.
York Georgian Festival: for fans of fans and the period alike
THE second York Georgian Festival runs from today to Sunday, buoyed by an “overwhelming turnout” and VisitYork Tourism Awards nomination for last August’s inaugural event.
Day one’s highlight, Horrible Histories author Terry Deary’s 6pm showcase of his new book, A History Of Britain In Ten Enemies, has sold out.
In response to much demand, the festival will host the first York Georgian Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms, now home to the ASK Italian restaurant, in Blake Street, on Saturday at 7pm. This ballroom played host to dances and dinners in the 18th and 19th centuries, and now guests will be dressed in their finest as they country-dance under the chandeliers this weekend.
Further festival highlights will be tours, talks and the chance to discover hidden Georgian gems across the city.
Festival creator Sarah White, events and marketing manager for York Mansion House, says: “I am delighted to be working with some of the most beautiful museums, venues and minds in York to bring this festival to life. We want to showcase the impact of this time period on the modern day, and we also want to dance the night away.”
Terry Deary: Introducing his new book this evening
Thursday
10am: Behind the Scenes Curator Tour, at Fairfax House.
10am to 3pm (pre-bookable tours available): Tours and Tea for Charity at York Medical Society, 23 Stonegate.
10am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Discover the “illegal chapel” at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre.
10.30am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Hobs Go Georgian, a fun family trail at York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11.30am: 18th century cooking demonstration, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11.30am: Blood, Guts and Bedlam Tour, from York Medical Society.
2.30pm: Dressing a Georgian Lady, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
4pm: Rogues Gallery Tour with Mad Alice, around the city.
6pm: Terry Deary previews his new book, A History of Britain in Ten Enemies. SOLD OUT.
7pm: Mad Alice History Talk and Gin Tasting, at Impossible York bar.
Friday
10am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Discover the “illegal chapel” at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre.
10am to 3pm (pre-bookable tours available): Tours and Tea for Charity at York Medical Society, 23 Stonegate.
10.30am: Georgian Dance Class at the Guildhall.
10.30am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Hobs Go Georgian: a fun family trail at York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11.30am: 18th century cooking demonstration, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11.30am: Blood, Guys and Bedlam Tour, from York Medical Society.
2.30pm: Fan language, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
4pm: Rogues Gallery Tour, with Mad Alice, around the city.
7.30pm: Bridgerton by Candlelight, Ignite Concerts. SOLD OUT.
Saturday
10am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Discover the “illegal chapel” at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre.
10.30am to 5pm (last admission 4pm): Hobs Go Georgian, a fun family trail at York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11am: Regency Rejigged dance performance, St Helen’s Square.
11.30am: 18th century cooking demonstration, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
2pm: Regency Rejigged dance performance, St Helen’s Square.
2pm: Anatomy of a Ball, Barley Hall Coffee Shop.
2.30pm: Dressing a Georgian Lady, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
3pm: Regency Rejigged dance performance, St Helen’s Square.
4pm: The Raree Show of The Fox Trap’t, Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate. SOLD OUT.
4pm: The Rogues Gallery Tour, with Mad Alice, around the city.
5pm: Family Walking Tour: A Day in the Life of Jane Ewbank, with York Georgian Society, starting from St Helen’s Square.
7pm: The York Georgian Ball, at Grand Assembly Rooms.
Sunday
10.30am to 1pm: Hobs Go Georgian: a fun family trail at York Mansion House. Free with admission.
11am: Regency Rejigged dance performance, St Helen’s Square.
11.30am: 18th century cooking demonstration, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
1pm: Uncovering The Parrot: A Forgotten Women-Led Satirical Periodical of the 18th Century at York Mansion House. SOLD OUT. York Mansion House will be closed temporarily from 12.30pm to 2.20pm to accommodate this ticketed event.
2pm: Regency Rejigged dance performance, St Helen’s Square.
2.30pm: Fan language, York Mansion House. Free with admission.
4pm: Rogues Gallery Tour, with Mad Alice, around the city.
Delma Tomlin in Tansy beetle sculptural form at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall,designed by HazardOne
YORK Trailblazers, the city-wide sculpture trail celebrating York’s unsung heroes, launches on Yorkshire Day, August 1.
Organised by York Civic Trust and Make It York, the trail is co-curated with organisations, community groups, schools and universities with £249,999 funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Trailblazers project provides the opportunity to discover these lesser-known people who have made a difference to lives either locally or globally.
Members of the public and community groups nominated their trailblazers, whereupon a co-created final list of these stories was researched by partner organisations, highlighting each invaluable contribution.
To honour these remarkable individuals, artists worked with community groups to create the tansy beetle sculptures that represent them.
Why tansy beetles, you may well be asking. This beetle, an emblematic symbol of York, was chosen on account of its connection to the city, one of only two places where tansy beetles are found.
Faith Gray’s sculpture, designed by Martha Beaumont, at Grays Court Hotel, Chapter House Street, York
This vibrant and resilient beetle mirrors the spirit of the Trailblazers – each sculpture not only pays tribute to these changemakers but also brings their stories to life along the trail.
Andrew Morrison, chief executive officer of York Civic Trust, says: “The York Trailblazers project has revealed a fantastic range of people from York, many of whom we did not know of before. With Make It York, it has been fantastic to collaborate with so many local artists and communities. We hope that this is the first of many such celebrations.”
The sculpture trail has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. The materials used are recycled, repurposed or recyclable and the sculptures and the reused bases will be repurposed or recycled after the trail has ended.
Each sculpture has been produced by local artists and crafters working with local people to create “something unique and meaningful to them”. The choice of sustainable materials and artwork and the decoration of each sculpture has been developed by the partnership of artist and local community. This process of sustainable co-production is considered to be as important as the finished product.
Commissioned to create the beetle structure, Tom Springett Metalwork Creations drew on his experience of working in set construction, visual merchandising, architectural metalwork and art fabrication industries to create the metal works of art.
Mary Ward’s sculpture for York Trailblazers, designed by Jen Dring, in the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre gardens. Picture: David Harrison
Some of the sculpture artwork may exist only for a few weeks but the beetle structure itself and an accessible digital record of the artwork will continue to celebrate York’s Trailblazers.
Seventeen sculptures will be placed throughout the city, each one reflecting a different trailblazer, designed to capture the legacy of these inspirational people,.
Among them will be The Luddites,a sculpture created collaboratively by a small group of people affected by homelessness with the Good Organisation. Rather than celebrate an individual ‘trailblazer,’ it serves to commemorate 64 Luddites who were tried in the court in York in 1813.
The Luddites were a group of early 19th-century workers who protested against the introduction of machinery that they believed threatened their jobs. The movement began in the textile industry, where mechanised looms and knitting frames were replacing traditional hand-weaving methods, leading to job losses and reduced wages for skilled workers.
Although the Luddite movement did not stop the process of industrialisation, it highlighted the social and economic challenges faced by workers during a period of unprecedented change, and many of their underlying concerns still resonate today with the rapid rise of AI and digital technology.
W H Auden’s sculpture, designed by Navigators Art and Performance, at West Offices, Station Rise, York
The Luddites sculpture at the Eye of York is designed by theatre and performance design graduate Alex Gray, an aspiring theatre designer now working as a stagehand at the Darlington Hippodrome.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture was researched by the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and National Centre for Early Music. Dr Delma Tomlin MBE is a living trailblazer, who came to York in 1984 to administer the York Festival Mystery Plays and loved the city far too much to ever leave.
She championed the move to return the York Mystery Plays to the city streets and served as chief executive officer of the Millennium production in York Minster.
As the founder of the National Centre for Early Music, based in the medieval church of St Margaret’s in Walmgate, Delma has been a pivotal figure in music making, focusing her energies on supporting young professional musicians locally, nationally and internationally and flying the flag for York whenever possible.
A member of the York Merchant Adventurers Company, in 2022 Delma became the first woman to become Governor since the company’s inauguration more than 650 years ago in 1357. She does not plan to be the last.
The Delma Tomlin sculpture, sited at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, is designed by HazardOne, recognised by the Guardian as one of the top five female graffiti artists in the UK and named among the top 25 female street artists worldwide in the Huffington Post.
Alex Gray’s sculpture for The Luddites at the Eye of York
The York Young Carers sculpture, at the Principal York hotel, was researched by unpaid young adult carers aged 16-25 from the York Carers Centre, who worked with artist Zoe Phillips to represent unpaid carers in York, including both identified and hidden carers.
The group reflected that carers share similar experiences and circumstances, but have unique stories in their own right, and decided that it would be difficult to find one trailblazer to represent them all.
They felt the sculpture would be impactful if it enabled carers to recognise themselves as trailblazers for the roles they hold, sacrifices they make and difficulties they go through for the love of the person they care for.
They said the sculpture design “should be not what it appears – with lots going on underneath”. The group was struck by the grace of the tansy beetle’s exterior, along with the power and resilience of the driving legs and inner workings underneath the shell. They felt this was the perfect metaphor for a carer.
The York Young Carers’ sculpture designer, Zoe Phillips, is an inclusive mixed media artist who explores our connections with objects and the narratives they hold.
Gemma Wood’s tansy beetle mural on show at THOR’S Orangery, Parliament Street
Reflecting on her journey, Zoe says: “Working with the young adult carers group has been important to me both personally and professionally. Finding a way to share the identity and voice of this incredible group of individuals, for whom time and space for themselves may be sparse but they find a way to draw connections and share how important community is, was key.
“The beetle exposes all the hidden workings, those background details that are often overlooked or taken for granted but are so important to the running of things. With huge thanks to all those who shared their thoughts and experiences with me, you really are one-of-a-kind trailblazers!”
The trail will run from August 1 to September 30, opening on Yorkshire Day, whose celebrations, activities and events in the city will include a Yorkshire-themed market on Parliament Street.
Sarah Loftus, managing director of Make It York, says: “York Trailblazers is an inspiring tribute to the pioneers whose courage and vision paved the way for our community’s future. This project not only celebrates their legacy but also creatively highlights the humble tansy beetle, reflecting York’s ongoing commitment to its conservation in the city.”
Full details can be found at visityork.org/york-trailblazers, including Meet The Trailblazers and Meet The Artist. You can download the trail map and a cycle trail for exploring the trail by bike and learn how to minimisie your environmental footprint by using public transport.
Zoe Phillips’s sculpture for York Young Carers at the Principal York hotel
Did you know?
KNOWN as “the Jewel of York”, the endangered tansy beetle has been chosen as the emblem of the York Trailblazers project to reflect its special status as a York resident with its riverside habitat on the banks of the River Ouse.
The 17 sculpures
The Luddites
Location: Eye of York
Researched by: The Good Organisation.
Designed by: Alex Gray.
Rather than celebrate an individual ‘trailblazer,’ this sculpture serves to commemorate 64 Luddites who were tried in the court in York in 1813. This sculpture was collaboratively created by a small group of people affected by homelessness with the Good Organisation.
Coppergate Woman sculpture designer Sarah Schiewe at Thursday’s launch.York artist who hand-builds her stoneware pieces using coil and slab methods and decorate them with oxides, glazes, decals and mixed media. “Every individual is different, and we should celebrate these differences,” she says. “Each person has a set of values, feelings and memories unique to them. I take these impressions and turn them into a bespoke piece of ceramic art for that individual. The profits from my work fund free community art and sculpture workshops to help children develop confidence through creativity”
Coppergate Woman
Location: August 1 to 6: Parliament Street; August 6 onwards, Coppergate Walk
Researched by: University of York, Archaeology Department
Designed by: Sarah Schiewe
The Viking Age sometimes comes across as a world of rich and powerful men: kings, chieftains and raiders. This makes The Coppergate Woman, known affectionately by the research team and artists as Vigdis, an important Trailblazer: she tells us about her life as a migrant woman living with disabilities in York 1,000 years ago.
HazardOne: designer of Delma Tomlin sculpture. Combines rich colour palettes with illumination and modern-age glitch effects to create striking portraits using traditional free-hand graffiti techniques. From a seven-storey mural in St Paul’s, Bristol, to a community project on the Arizona-Mexico border, to the 79th floor of 3 World Trade Centre, New York, her work takes her all over the planet
Delma Tomlin
Location: Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
Researched by: Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and National Centre for Early Music, York
Designed by: HazardOne
Dr Delma Tomlin MBE is a living trailblazer. As the founder of the National Centre for Early Music, based in the medieval church of St Margaret’s in Walmgate, Delma has been a pivotal figure in music making – focusing her energies on supporting young professional musicians locally, nationally and internationally – and flying the flag for York whenever possible.
John Chesterman and Stuart Feather
Location: Spurriergate
Researched by: Queer Arts
Designed by: Jade Blood
John Chesterman and Stuart Feather, both from York, were instrumental in the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), organisers of the first ever Pride march in 1972.
Anne Lister
Location: Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate
Researched by: York University and Churches Conservation Trust
Designed by: Shannon Reed
Anne Lister’s (1791-1840) life and diaries have blazed a trail for the LGBTQIA+ community today, helping people understand their history and embrace their identity.
Faith Gray
Location: Grays Court Hotel, Chapter House Street
Nominated by: York St John University
Designed by: Martha Beaumont
Faith Gray (1751-1826), born in York, dedicated her life to improving the conditions of girls and women in York. Her legacy of compassion and social progress endured beyond her death, paving the way for future generations of women reformers.
Mary Kitson Clark
Location: York Museum Gardens
Researched by: Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Designed by: Sian Ellis
Mary Kitson Clark (1905-2005) was one of the first female archaeologists to be recognised in a professional capacity in the UK for her significant contributions to the study and conservation of York’s archaeological heritage.
WH Auden
Location: West Offices, Station Rise
Researched and designed by: Navigators Art and Performance
Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was born in Bootham, York. Informed by science and engineering, his fascination with the world and its workings was expressed in a myriad of poetic forms, earning him the title “the Picasso of modern poetry”.
York Young Carers
Location: Principal York, Station Road
Researched by: York Young Carers
Designed by: Zoe Phillips – By Deckle and Hide
Unpaid young adult carers aged 16-25, from the York Carers Centre, worked with artist Zoe Phillips to represent unpaid carers in York, including both identified and hidden carers.
Jen Dring: designer of Mary Ward sculpture. York printmaker who creates linocut and collagraph prints. Her work is inspired by her faith, everyday experiences, moments in nature and places she loves. She takes on bespoke commissions, as well as using her teaching skills to offer linocut and tetra pak workshops
Mary Ward
Location: Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street
Researched by: All Saints School and Bar Convent
Designed by: Jen Dring
Mary Ward (1585-1645) was a visionary Yorkshire woman who revolutionised education for girls in England. Despite societal and religious restrictions, Mary dedicated her life to providing equal education opportunities for girls, believing “there is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great things.”
Ivory Bangle Lady
Location: York Railway Station, Station Road
Researched by: University of York Archaeology Department
Designed by: York Anti-Racist Collective
The woman who has become known as the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ was buried at Sycamore Terrace, York, in the second half of the fourth century CE. As a trailblazer, the Lady has marked an important path in showing that ethnic and religious diversity and immigration is written in York’s history from its very beginning.
Annie Coultate
Location: Fishergate Primary School, Escrick Street
Researched by: Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society
Designed by: Christine Joplin
Annie Coultate (1856 -1931), a dedicated suffragette, was instrumental in the women’s suffrage movement in York.
Anne Lister sculpture designer Shannon Reed.Part-time artist, full-time biology undergraduate, in York. Focuses on wildlife, paying particular attention to threatened native UK species. Her artwork is multi-media, ranging from pointillism portraits of endangered animals to oil paintings on recycled wood. Designed and decorated two wooden ducks for the University of York’s Long Boi-ology Art Trail to raise awareness of the threat that avian influenza and flooding poses to UK wildlife
Mary Tuke
Location: St Lawrence Parish Church, Lawrence Street
Researched by: Hempland Primary School
Designed by: Heather Dawe and Sarah Jackson
Mary Tuke was a pioneering woman who displayed remarkable ambition, resilience and courage. In 1725, as a Quaker in her thirties who had lost her family, Mary opened a grocer’s shop in Walmgate, York, defying societal norms.
Roma and Geoff
Location: Millennium Bridge Park, Hospital Fields Road
Researched by: The Tansy Beetle Action Group
Designed by: Cathy Simpson
The Tansy Beetle Action Group (TBAG) was established in 2008 by Geoff and Roma Oxford (University of York), following the designation of the rare and beautiful Tansy beetle as a UK conservation priority.
Mary Kitson Clark’s sculpture, designed by Sian Ellis, in York Museum Gardens
June Hargreaves
Location: Rowntree Park
Researched by: Herstory. York and Make Space for Girls
Designed by: Emma Feneley
The way historic cities such as York protected their heritage was transformed in the mid-1960s by a new law on ‘Conservation Areas’. This was the idea of June Hargreaves, a young York town planner, who became York’s senior planning officer in 1961.
Michael Rowntree
Location: Homestead Park, Water End
Researched by: The Rowntree Society
Designed by: Natalie McKeown
Michael Rowntree (1919-2007), from the globally renowned York confectionery family, held senior roles in Oxfam and was chairman from 1971 to 1977, during a time when the charity delivered its biggest ever aid package and set up the country’s first textile recycling plant.
Rosie Wall
Location: Sanderson Community House, Bramham Road, Acomb
Researched by: The Place at Sanderson Community House
Designed by: Leo Morey
Rosie Wall has dedicated herself to the Chapelfields community. She was instrumental in developing the Sanderson Court Community House (now The Place), and Crossroads, a safe space for young people, addressing significant anti-social behaviour in the area.
York Trailblazers: the back story
Geoff Oxford: Trailblazer, environmentalist and founder of the Tansy Beetle Action Group at the August 1 launch
YORK Trailblazers, the new city-wide sculpture trail, launched on August 1, kicking off the Yorkshire Day celebrations in York.
The sculpture trail celebrates York’s unsung heroes. Centred around the tansy beetle, each sculpture has a different design to capture the legacy of these inspirational people who have made a difference to people’s lives.
At the launch celebrations at THOR’s Orangery, artists and trailblazers gathered to enjoy the first day of the trail alongsidethe featured sculptures, Coppergate Woman.
Richard Kitchen, co-founder of Navigators Art and Performance, discussing York Trailblazer WH Auden at Thursday’s launch
Coppergate Woman depicts the life of a migrant woman living with disabilities in York 1,000 years ago. This sculpture will be on Parliament Street until August 6, then moving to Coppergate Centre, where she lay until she was discovered by archaeologists from the York Archaeological Trust in the late-1970s.
Discovered in a shallow pit by the river Foss, the remains of this unknown woman are displayed in a glass case in Jorvik Viking Centre. Her story was brought to life in Maureen Lennon’s play The Coppergate Woman, staged as a community production by York Theatre Royal from July 30 to August 7 2022.
A special mural was painted for the launch day by Gemma Wood. This will stay in place on THOR’S exterior until August 18.
Gemma Wood painting her tansy beetle mural at THOR’S Orangery on Thursday
Tansy Beetle facts:
The River Ouse has the largest population of tansy beetles in the UK, found on a 30km stretch of the river.
The iridescent green leaf-beetle, approximately 10 mm in length, has a smaller population at Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire, where it was re-discovered in 2014.
Tansy beetles rarely fly; they find new food plants and habitats by walking. Finding a breeding partner is made more difficult by this resticted mobility. Most active in April and May, then August and September.
The tansy beetle is named after the Tansy plant, whose reduction in number has led to the beetle’s declining population too.
As an endangered species, tansy beetles are being monitored and bred in captivity to ensure that the populations do not disappear.
Trailblazers project facts:
National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant: £249,999.
More than 40 community groups have been involved.
York Trailblazer Rosie Wall’s tansy beetle sculpture, designed by Leo Morey, at Sanderson Community House, Bramham Road, Acomb
More than 1,000 schoolchildren participated in school workshops.
£30,000 of community grants were awarded to 23 York groups.
More than 150 workshops have been delivered.
39 York Trailblazers have been researched and celebrated.
17 Tansy Beetle Trailblazer Sculptures have been created.
What has the £249,999 support from the National Lottery Heritage delivered?
A COMMUNITY workshop programme to allow local communities and residents to research and uncover new trailblazers for York.
A community grants programme to enable heritage organisations, voluntary and community groups to contribute to the project, especially those groups who have not accessed heritage activities before.
A digital arts project to help celebrate York’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts.
A heritage trail around the city working with artists and communities, inspired by York’s lesser-known heritage stories.
A school workshop programme and resource packs providing opportunities for young people to learn more about their heritage and, in particular, the trailblazers that form the sculpture trail.
Sustainability
THE sculpture trail has been designed to be as sustainable as possible. The materials used are recycled, repurposed or recyclable and the sculptures and the reused bases will be repurposed or recycled after the trail has ended.
The choice of sustainable materials and artwork and the decoration of each sculpture has been developed by the partnership of artist and community. This process of sustainable co-production is as important as the finished product.
Tansy Beetle metalwork
COMMISSIONED to create the beetle structure, Tom Springett, Metalwork Creations drew on his experience of working in set construction, visual merchandising, architectural metalwork and art fabrication industries, to create these metal works.
Before the York Trailblazers metal works, a Tansy Beetle mural took shape in York…
ATM’s mural of a tansy beetle in Queen Street, York
STREET artist ATM, known for his depiction of endangered species, painted his mural of a tansy beetle on a brick wall on Queen Street, York, in 2019. Capturing the insect’s shimmering green hue, it is a bejewelled highlight of the walk from Micklegate to York Railway Station.
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Summer Sonnets at Holy Trinity Church
YORK Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets return to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York from August 9 to 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 the sonnet season for a second year.
Holy Trinity last hosted YSP’s Sit-Down Sonnets in September 2020, under social distancing restrictions during the Covid pandemic.
Writer Josie Campbell
“This year we plan to take full advantage of the historic and beautiful setting”, says Tony. “Many people will know the church as the site of the blessing of the relationship of Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack) 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 for YSP on the Rose Theatre’s Shakespeare Wagon in 2019 at the Eye of York.
Sharing her time between Yorkshire 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.
Summer Sonnets director Tony Froud
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, which includes Anne Lister, one of Yorkshire’s most uncompromising and resilient women”, she says.
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. As they witness the happy event, they may start to wonder: is everything quite what it seems?”
Debutant York Shakespeare Project sonneteer Grace Scott in rehearsal. Picture: John Saunders
“As ever, the show features 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.
“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!”
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.
Liam Godfrey: Making his Summer Sonnets debut. Picture: John Saunders
“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’s cast is a blend of actors new* to the YSP Sonnets and seasoned sonneteers: Maurice Crichton; Marie-Louise Feeley*; Liam Godfrey*; Emily Hansen; Halina Jaroszewska*; Alexandra Logan*; Sally Mitcham; Grace Scott*; Effie Warboys*; Helen Wilson and Tony Froud himself.
York Shakespeare Project in Summer Sonnets, Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, August 9 to 17, except August 12, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm on August 10 and 17. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/. Tickets: £10; £5, age 14 to 17; two under-14s per adult. The price includes a free drink.
Regular York Shakespeare Project sonneteer Helen Wilson in rehearsal. Picture: John Saunders
Cheish Merryweather: Research psychologist and psychopathy expert
DO you reckon you could get away with murder? According to research psychologist and psychopathy expert Cheish Merryweather, many people do.
Discover why in her new true crime talk, Murder: Staged, featuring a live psychopath test, at Junction Goole on October 4.
“The ‘CSI effect’ has created a new type of killer, one that is forensically aware and is out to mislead an investigation,” says Cheish, who has been seen and heard on the BBC.
“Murder: Staged will explore the lies embedded in crime scenes and share the expertise from those who dig deep for the truth”
The poster for Cheish Merryweather’s Murder: Staged tour, visiting Junction Goole on October 4
Cheish’s two-hour talk (plus a 20-minute interval) will include in-depth forensics, reconstructed real-life crime scene walk-throughs and a deep dive into cases that have not been seen on stage live before.
“The live psychopath test will be a good indication of who we really should be keeping a close eye on,” says Cheish.
Cheish Merryweather, presents Murder: Staged, Junction Goole, Paradise Place, Goole, October 4, 7.30pm. Age recommendation: 16+. Box office: junctiongoole.co.uk/events/murder-staged/.
In black and white: Back row: Rebecca Jackson’s Maria, Finlay Butler’s Tony and Kit Stroud’s Riff; front, Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Maia Beatrice’s Anita in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. Picture: NETheatre York
CREATIVE director Steve Tearle first saw West Side Story at the age of nine. Within two years he was performing in The Sound Of Music at the Sunderland Empire, whereupon a life-long love of musical theatre was born.
Yet he desisted from directing Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s 1950s’ musical. “I was always comparing what I could achieve with that amazing film,” he says, but then he attended a Broadway production in 2019 that changed his mind.
Here comes his different take, “not as ‘dancey’, not as polished, but very raw, very emotional, focusing on the acting”. In a nutshell, NETheatre York’s production would be built more on movement than choreography, although Melisa Boyd is still credited as choreographer, rather than movement director, working in tandem with Tearle.
After Rebecca Jackson’s Maria and Finlay Butler’s Tony cross without noticing each other in a sliding doors moment, the physical performance style is established in a long sequence without dialogue that opens the over-long first act, distilling the chaos and friction between two Upper West Side working-class gangs in New York: the Polish-Irish Catholics, The Jets, and their Puerta Rican rivals, The Sharks.
All are wearing variations on black and white streetwear, as sharp as in the era of 2Tone Ska, but here designed to be timeless, representing all eras from the 1950s to the present day to emphasise the continuing resonance of a tragic teenage romance rooted in Shakespeare’s ill-fated, star-crossed tale of forbidden love, Romeo & Juliet.
Kit Stroud’s Riff and The Jets in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
The black-and-white uniformity is also designed to reinforce common humanity beneath the codes of a turf war, here delineated by The Jets moving in a jive style, The Sharks more fluid in their stride.
Black and white defines Tearle’s set design and lighting too: even the three mobile scaffolding towers that facilitate much climbing and clambering, not least for Maria and Tony’s balcony scenes, are decorated that way, matched by the bold-typed projections that chart the story’s calamitous rush from 5.34pm on Friday evening to 2.31am on Sunday morning on a countdown clock. The New York skyline is depicted in monochrome too.
Tearle only breaks the night with colour – to borrow a Richard Ashcroft song title – in moments of heightened drama or tragedy, first used when Maia Beatrice’s Anita decorates Maria’s new dress with a red band, echoing the red coat in Steven Spielberg’s otherwise B&W Schindler’s List. Later, the columns of bright white light will turn bloodshed-red.
If a musical is built on a triptych of music, story and choreography, Tearle’s production is stronger on its musicality and storytelling than movement: the ensemble motion in commotion needs more zip, more dynamism, more attack and anger, more heat too, although Riff and The Jets finger-click into the right gear in Cool.
Tearle’s “focus on the acting, the characterisation” pays off, however, in the heart-stopping performances of Jackson’s Maria and Butler’s Tony. From Puerto Rican accent to beautiful singing voice and deportment, Jackson is a terrific young talent, one to watch, leading I Feel Pretty so delightedly and delightfully. Butler, lithe and full of stage presence, sings movingly too, especially in Maria.
Steve Tearle’s Doc and Finlay Butler’s Tony in West Side Story
Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Kit Stroud’s kilted Riff exude macho menace as hot-headed rival gang leaders, ever ready for a rumble, Scott Barnes amuses in a camp cameo as gym party chaperone Mr Glad Hand and Erik Jensen’s Lieutenant Schrank is suitably no-nonsense.
Beatrice’s abrasive Anita and Jackson’s Maria combine in the show’s outstanding number, A Boy Like That/I Have A Love, while Tearle’s Jewish drug store boss Doc – the older, outsider voice of reason, bewilderment and despair – takes over the singing of Somewhere (a song originally given to Consuelo on Broadway), giving it added adult heft.
Look out too for Melissa Boyd’s volatile Rosalia, Alice Atang’s athletic Natalia, Zachary Pickersgill’s plucky Snowboy and Erin Greenley’s tomboy Anybodys, along with Steve Perry’s vengeful Chino.
Defining West Side Story as “a play with music, rather than as a music”, Tearle has followed up a similarly focused Fiddler On The Roof by “stripping back” his latest production, restricting the cast to 35, keeping the stage pretty much bare, save for the scaffolding towers, a neon sign for Doc’s store, eight chairs and a bed. The lighting ups its game, a dazzling component in capturing the moments of conflict and conflagration.
Not all the blocking works well, the tinsel curtain cutting off heads in one scene, and the movement is sometimes heavy footed, but we are seeing a new, character-driven side to Tearle’s direction this year, more grit, less glitter. Coming next: Elf The Musical, from November 26 to 30, when the (Christmas) glitter will no doubt resurface!
NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrownteetheatre.co.uk.
