Category: Breaking News

Posted on

Last chance to vote for Sue Clayton to make the final for mental health exhibition

Tarred by a different brush: Sue Clayton has used a tar-like paint to create Black Treacle

HURRY, hurry, voting ends tomorrow for York portrait artist Sue Clayton to reach the final of Doncaster Art Fair’s latest exhibition, Art As A Response To Mental Health.

“I’m delighted to have been selected for the longlist, but I need help from people to make the final show,” says Sue, from Wigginton. “Only 30 pieces will be chosen and it’s done by public vote.

“Submissions are from around the world, so I’m hugely excited to get this far. Voting is easy, just go to https://doncasterartfair.com/current-exhibition and click on the heart above the piece to cast your vote.”

Created in lockdown, Sue’s piece is called Black Treacle, painted in response to her partner’s description of when depression descends “the slow descent of an overwhelming, glutinous, self-smothering darkness”.

“As an artist, this was obviously a very personal piece for me to do and not without challenges,” she says.

York portrait artist Sue Clayton

“I knew, for instance, that the portrait I’ve taken time to create was going to be obliterated by the tar-like paint and whatever happens there was no going back, no chance to rectify anything. No scraping back. The tar wouldn’t allow it.

“It was fascinating to me that I had planned for the portrait to be a monochromatic study in subdued tones of either sepia or dark blue. As I painted, though, colour kept coming through. Not just because I’m a colourful artist but I think because my partner has such a vitality and a spark, that I had to paint it! It was also a painting of the man I love and that was hard to suppress the feeling for him as I paint.”

The application of the black paint – black wood stain, to be precise – was “interesting”, adds Sue, who is best known for her 2017-2018 York Heroes project. “As I’ve just said, there was no going back, no second chances. I loaded up the brush several times and just let the stain run down the surface, following its own path,” she says.

“I genuinely found this really emotional, so mesmerising to watch and yet heart-stopping as it engulfed the face. It really felt smothering. Far more symbolic to me than I could ever realise.”

No time to waste. Tomorrow, June 30, is the deadline to cast your vote for Sue’s Black Treacle.

Posted on

Are you up for Hannah’s online dance fitness class for Rowntree Theatre?

Joseph Rowntree Theatre: Raise The Roof appeal

REGULAR Joseph Rowntree Theatre performer Hannah King will run an online virtual dance fitness class tomorrow morning in aid of the JoRo’s Raise The Roof appeal in York. 

From 10am to 11am, Hannah will guide an enthusiastic group of theatre supporters through their steps as they dance to favourite show tunes.

Graham Mitchell, the Haxby Road theatre’s events and fundraising director, says: “Already we have more than 20 participants but, being online, there’s space for everyone.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, you can join in. We’ve even got participants in Troon and Aberdeen! At only £3 a slot, it’s a cheap way to have a fun hour of fitness and raise money for our appeal at the same time.”

The JoRo launched its Raise The Roof campaign last week by creating an online music video put together “virtually” during lockdown. The appeal has garnered more than  £2,000 already and tomorrow’s online dance class will see this total grow over the weekend.

Dan Shrimpton, chair of trustees of the JoRo charity, say: “There’s a real swell of support from all those connected with the theatre, from stewards to performers, from stage crew to hirers. This dance class is the second event in a chain of many fundraisers that we have in the pipeline.”

To join in Hannah’s fitness fundraiser, email her at hannahfking@live.com for details.

To launch the Raise The Roof campaign, the theatre has set up a Just Giving page and is encouraging people to donate “even just the amount of a takeaway coffee”.  Go to: justgiving.com/campaign/Raise-the-Roof.

Posted on

Bookings for books in new chapter for Explore York when libraries re-open in July

York Explore: Library and archive re-opening from July 7 on a pre-booked basis only

EXPLORE York libraries and reading cafés are preparing to re-open from July 6.

The libraries at York Central, Acomb, Clifton and Tang Hall will open from July 7, but on a pre-booked basis only.

The Mobile Library will be back too, but the rest of the smaller Gateway libraries will remain closed during this first stage. 

Opening hours at the libraries will be from 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday. For mobile stops and café opening times, visit exploreyork.org.uk/ for more information. 

Explore’s new reading café in Hungate will open for the first time on July 7, preceded by the cafés at Rowntree Park and Homestead Park on July 6. All will be serving drinks and snacks to take away and enjoy outside.

“All our venues will have safety measures in place to protect customers and staff,” says Explore York’s statement.

“We can’t wait to welcome people back to our physical buildings. We will be operating a little differently for a while though. Some libraries will be open; books will be available using a click-and-collect system; computer and printer use will be by appointment only and opening hours will be shorter.” 

Borrowing books using click and collect is simple, Explore York advises, saying books can be collected from Acomb, Clifton, York, Tang Hall and the Mobile Library. 

Step one: Reserve your books in the usual way, using the online catalogue or, from July 7, by phoning or emailing your nearest open library. Alternatively, fill in one of the Lucky Dip online forms for adults or children, whereupon Explore will choose up to 15 books based on your taste and preferences.

Step two: When your books are ready, Explore will ring you and arrange a time for you to collect them. 

Books also may be returned by pre-booked appointment. Explore is happy to accept returns and all loans have been renewed until September 30.

Computers and printing will be available for pre-booked slots. You can book online or contact your nearest open library by phone or email after July 7.

“Explore customers now have even more choices than before because, while we were closed, we took the chance to enrich and expand what we offer online,” the statement concludes. “As lockdown is lifted, we encourage everyone to carry on using these online services as well as coming into libraries.” 

For more information, go to exploreyork.org.uk/were-back/.

Posted on

The Domino effect as Ayckbourn’s hit audio play extends online run by a week to July 2

Alan Ayckbourn and Heather Stoney: Performing together for the first time in 56 years in Anno Domino. Picture:Tony Bartholomew

ALAN Ayckbourn’s debut audio play, Anno Domino, will run online for an extra week in response to huge demand from theatregoers worldwide.

Available exclusively on the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s website, at sjt.uk.com, Ayckbourn’s 84th premiere had a cut-off point of June 25 at 12 noon, but the deadline is being extended to July 2 at midday.

The extension was announced this morning after feedback suggested that plenty of theatre fans were still keen to listen to Ayckbourn, 81, and his wife, actress Heather Stoney, performing together for the first time in 56 years.

In one of his lighter pieces, charting the break-up of a long-established marriage and its domino effect on family and friends, Ayckbourn and Stoney play four characters each, aged 18 to mid-70s.

“We were just mucking about in our sitting room,” says former radio producer Ayckbourn, who wrote, directed and performed the lockdown play, as well as overseeing the sound effects at their Scarborough home.

The SJT’s artistic director, Paul Robinson, says of the extension: “So far, more than 12,500 people have heard Anno Domino, nearly 1,000 of them last weekend alone. That represents 31 complete sell-out performances in our Round auditorium, where Alan’s shows are usually premiered.

“People have listened in from all over the globe, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

This could have been the last time: Heather Stoney and Alan Ayckbourn in the 1964 production of Two For The Seesaw at the Rotherham Civic Theatre. Now, instead, they are performing together again in Ayckbourn’s 2020 audio play Anno Domino

“We’re keen to make it accessible to as many people as possible, so we’ve decided to extend the listening period by a week, but this really will be your last opportunity to hear it!”

Anno Domino proved particularly popular in the United States – where Ayckbourn’s plays are performed regularly in New York – after being reviewed favourably in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and featuring on Morning Edition, the nationwide flagship show of National Public Radio.

This summer, Ayckbourn should have been directing the world premiere of his 83rd play, Truth Will Out, ironically featuring a virulent computer virus, preceded by his revival of his 1976 comedy, Just Between Ourselves, “the one with the car”, that would have opened last Thursday until the Covid-19 pandemic intervened.

Instead, recording at their Scarborough home, Ayckbourn and Stoney acted together for the first time since performing in William Gibson’s American two-hander Two For The Seesaw at the Rotherham Civic Theatre in 1964: Ayckbourn’s exit stage left from treading the boards on a professional stage.

Stoney’s last full season as an actress was at the SJT in the 1985 repertory company that presented the world premiere of Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind.

Ayckbourn says of Anno Domino: “The inspiration came from the idea that all relationships ultimately, however resilient they appear to be, are built on sand! And it only takes one couple to break up abruptly to take us all by surprise, then all of a sudden everyone is questioning their own unshakeable relationship.”  

This SJT production, with a final audio mix by Paul Steer, marks the first time Ayckbourn has both directed and performed in one of his own plays: one of a multitude of reasons to tune in before noon on July 2. Make the most of the extension. No excuses.

Posted on

Thought for the day…

Dark times: York Theatre Royal, exit stage left until further, more helpful notice from the Government’s Washing Hands department

THEATRES can “re-open” from July 4, but not for performances. That’s like saying pubs can re-open but not serve any beer.

Theatre’s future and indeed theatres’ futures are hanging by a thread. For once, take something other than the besmirching of Winston Churchill’s statue seriously, Prime Minister, not wiffle-waffle about “can re-open”.

Posted on

Scarborough children take to the beach as Red Arrows for virtual Armed Forces Day

The young people’s Red Arrows on Scarborough’s South Bay beach in Animated Objects’ costumes. All pictures: Tony Bartholomew

SCARBOROUGH theatre company Animated Objects is taking part in this summer’s Scarborough Borough Council community outreach programme.

Artistic director Lee Threadgold’s company has created the costumes for children to dress as the young people’s Red Arrows for Scarborough’s virtual Armed Forces Day to mark this national event coming to the East Coast resort in June 2021.

The Red Arrows made by Animated Objects Theatre Company for Scarborough Borough Council’s virtual Armed Forces Day celebrations

On Monday this week, the council launched its virtual celebration of the Armed forces with various events and films being aired on the Scarborough Armed Forces website, scarborougharmedforcesday.co.uk, and Facebook page, facebook.com/ScarboroughArmedForcesDay/.

Animated Objects Theatre Company is “a small company that delivers really big ideas”, specialising in large-scale events, outdoor theatre, giant artworks and performances.

Children in Red Arrows formation on Scarborough’s South Bay beach for the virtual Armed Forces Day
Posted on

Sollazzo Ensemble and BarrocoTout re-live York triumphs in NCEM online concerts

Sollazzo Ensemble: 2017 winners of the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition

THE National Centre for Early Music’s lockdown season of free concerts from York presents a double bill of Sollazzo Ensemble and BarrocoTout on Saturday.

“We have selected the very best concerts from two ensembles who won the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition in 2015 and 2017 respectively,” says director Dr Delma Tomlin.

To view these concerts for free at 1pm, follow facebook.com/yorkearlymusic/ or log on to the NCEM website, ncem.co.uk.

Directed by mediaeval fiddle player Anna Danilevskaia, joined by sopranos Perrine Devillers and Yukie Sato, tenor Vivien Simon, fiddle player Sophia Danilevskaia and harpist Vincent Kibildis, the Swiss group were recorded on July 11 2015.

Formed in 2014 in Basel, Switzerland, where the members were all studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, that year they were selected for the “EEEmerging” programme supported by Creative Europe, going on to win the main prize in the YorkEarly Music International Young Artists Competition and the public’s Friends of York Early Music Festival Prize in 2015.

They built their winning performance around Jehan de Cordoval and Jehan Ferrandes, two blind fiddle players in the 15th century court of Burgundy, playing works by Guillaume Dufay and Loyset Compère, among others, that they would have peformed .

“Cordoval and Ferrandes caught our attention because, unlike many medieval musicians known today, they were famous exclusively as performers, not as composers or theorists,” said Anna.

BarrocoTout: 2015 winners of the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition

“Soloists before the time of soloism: the simple fact of their existence and their success offers us a perspective on the richness of the musical scene at the Burgundian court in the 15th century.” 

BarracoTout, from Belgium, were recorded on July 15 2017 when winning the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, having been selected in 2015 for the EEEmerging programme (EEE standing for ‘Emerging European Ensembles’)

Carlota Garcia, flute, Izana Soria,violin, Edouard Catalan, cello, and Ganael Schneider, harpsichord, presented To Paris And Back: Return, a programme of 17th and 18th century works by Henri-Jacques de Croes, Jean-Marie Leclair and Georg Philipp Telemann.  

In 2018, they recorded their first album for Linn Records, La Sonate Égarée, an album dedicated to Henri-Jacques de Croes.

Izana Soria said of her fellow Belgian: “Born in Antwerp, de Croes was an important innovator of his time. He was maître de musiqueof the Chapelle Royale in Brussels and Frankfurt, and, like Telemann, able to synthesise the Italian, French and German styles in his sonatas and symphonies.

“The Largo of his sixth sonata has an operatic lyricism, whereas the Fuga combines markedly rhythmical passages, typically baroque dissonances and pre-classical articulations, with a polished and convincing result.”

Formed in Brussels in 2013, BarrocoTout take their name from a sketch on the Spanish comedy show Muchachada Nui: Barroco Tu (meaning “Baroque yourself”), and their mission is to explore work written for their four-piece formation by well-known composers, while also re-discovering other composers who have fallen into oblivion.

Posted on

No press night tonight, but Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves is under discussion just between playwright and archivist

Alan Ayckbourn’s 1976 premiere of Just Between Ourselves at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough

TONIGHT should have been the press night for Emeritus director Alan Ayckbourn’s revival of his 1976 garage-and-garden dark comedy, Just Between Ourselves, at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre.

However, as with the no-longer upcoming world premiere of his 83rd play, Truth Will Out, the summer production of this rarely staged Seventies’ gem has been scuppered by the Coronavirus crisis that has led to the SJT being closed.

Instead, why not head to @ArchivingAlanA for Simon Murgatroyd’s exclusive new interview with the Scarborough playwright, who discusses his classic play and his thoughts on it now. Find it at archivingayckbourn.home.blog/?p=1100@Ayckbourn.

In “the one with the car”, set on four birthdays, Dennis thinks he is a master at DIY and a perfect husband but in reality he is neither. When he decides to sell his car, Neil turns up as a potential buyer, wanting it for his wife Pam’s birthday.

Alan Ayckbourn and Heather Stoney in their Scarborough garden. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

In Ayckbourn’s dissection of man’s inhumanity to woman, as two couples become unlikely friends, aided and abetted by Dennis’s meddling live-in mother, Marjorie, a collision course becomes inevitable.

Sheridan Morley said of the 1977 West End premiere: “I had the feeling I’d seen Uncle Vanya rewritten by and for the Marx Brothers.” Bernard Levin’s verdict in The Sunday Times proclaimed: “Ayckbourn has gained an immense reputation with a series of plays in which puppets dance most divertingly on their strings. Here he has cut the strings and then stuck the knife into the puppets.”

How frustrating there will be no SJT revival this summer, but make sure you do listen to Ayckbourn’s 84th premiere, his audio play for lockdown, Anno Domino, starring Ayckbourn himself and his wife Heather Stoney,

In one of his lighter pieces, charting the break-up of a long-established marriage and its domino effect on family and friends, Ayckbourn, 81, and Stoney play four characters each, aged 18 to mid-70s. “We were just mucking about in our sitting room,” says Ayckbourn of a world premiere available for free exclusively on the SJT’s website, sjt.uk.com, until noon on June 25. 


Posted on

First, Velma Celli’s divas take over her Bishopthorpe kitchen this weekend. Then, she can come to your place if you ask

Velma Celli’s show poster for Me & My Divas on Saturday

“DARLINGS, I am in London for a bit to try and get things moving and it’s safe to say that it is depressing as F!” So wrote York drag diva divine Velma Celli to her adoring devotees on email on Saturday lunchtime.

“Anyway, I’ll plod on as long as I can. So, I am doing my show ‘Me & My Divas’ next Saturday [June 27] and I would LOVE for you to join me LIVE from LANDAN!”

Since then, Velma, the glorious cabaret creation of actor Ian Stroughair, has returned to Bishopthorpe, from where his series of online performances, streamed live from the Case De Velma Celli kitchen, will resume this weekend.

Tickets for the 8pm show cost £7 at ticketweb.uk/event/velma-celli-me-live-stream-tickets/10614645. As always, tickets come off sale at 5pm and the link will be sent out at around 6pm

Here Charles Hutchinson has a quick catch-up with Velma in the lead-up to Saturday’s virtual date with divas galore.

“Crazy. talented and confidence to suit”: Velma Celli’s three steps to being a diva


How did it feel heading back to London from York after three months in home-town lockdown?

“It was both exciting and nerve-wracking…” 

…You say you went back to London to “try and get things moving”. What can you do at this stage?

“I was hoping to network with restaurants and other smaller venues planning to open on July 4, but it was impossible, so I’m back in York for two weeks.”

How did your last online York kitchen show, Equinox, go on June 13? What did you perform with your remote guest Jodie Steel, the West End star of Wicked, Six and Rock Of Ages?

“It was the best yet! SO much fun. Jodie and I sang Take Me Or Leave Me from Rent [the American musical in which Ian Stroughair played the messianic Angel].

What’s the history of Me & My Divas? 

“I first performed it in January this year in Perth, Australia, at Fringeworld, winning the Best Cabaret award for the season.” 

What’s the content of this new show?

“No diva is safe, no riff she won’t sing – so strap yourself in and let the belt-off begin.

“Me & My Divas is an overindulgent diva fest celebrating the songs and behaviour of all of your favourite divas, including Celine, Mariah, Whitney, Aretha, Cher, Britney (maybe not!) and many more.”

Definitely being one yourself, what are the qualifications required to be a diva, Velma?

“Crazy, talented and confidence to suit.”

Will you have a guest joining you remotely, like you did with Twinnie, Louise Dearman and Jodie Steel for your previous online shows?

“I am working on this. Hopefully I will.”

What are your upcoming plans as lockdown loosens ever more expansively?

“Darlings, you can now book Velma OR Ian to perform privately for your ‘Bubble’ in your outside space/garden or publicly if you have a venue with enough room for social distancing indoors or out!!!

“Get in touch if this is something you might be interested in at stroughair2@hotmail.com.”

Posted on

The SJT’s Funky Choir and Global Voices re-unite for Zoom sessions to make videos

Global Voices, pictured by Mark Lamb in pre-Coronavirus social-distancing days

SCARBOROUGH’S Stephen Joseph Theatre is taking its two community choirs online from next week to work on songs culminating in a video.

The Funky Choir and Global Voices each have around 30 members and both always welcome new members.

The SJT’s associate director for children and young people, Cheryl Govan, herself a  Funky Choir member, says: ”Singing is a great way to unwind – we all do it in the shower! – and it really doesn’t matter if you’re a brilliant singer or not. Singing is scientifically proven to make you feel happier. 

“Don’t be put off if you think you can’t sing: this is about having a good time. The best bit about Zoom choirs is that only the people in your own house can hear you!”

The Funky Zoom Choir will meet on Tuesdays at 7pm from June 30 after going from strength to strength in the past few years, developing a varied and colourful set of lively pop, funk, disco and soul covers.

Musical director Mark Gordon, a prominent face on the Scarborough music scene for more than 30 years, performs regularly with many bands and takes on the role of musical director for theatre shows.

The Funky Choir, one of the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s two community choirs, will be meeting on Zoom from June 30. Picture: Mark Lamb

Mark teaches music in Scarborough schools and runs youth orchestras, jazz bands, rock workshops and choirs, as well as being a private piano teacher. 

The Global Voices Zoom choir will gather remotely on Thursdays at 7pm from July 2 to resume singing songs from around the world, from warm-ups, short rounds and chants to more complex, exciting songs.

Choir leader, music teacher and composer Sarah Dew creates musical journeys in soundscapes that blend her field recordings, melody and ambient sound art. Poetic narrative features in many of her ethereal works and she has written extensively for her band Raven, whose performances around the region over many years celebrate life, love and the universe.

Looking forward to next week’s re-start, Cheryl Govan says: “The Funky Choir will be learning Car Washby Rose Royce – a funky song if ever there were one! The end result will be a fun and lively video.

“Global Voices will be learning Nina Simone’s I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, giving participants the chance to reflect on what freedom means to them. This reflective, but super-fun, process will result in a thoughtful video to accompany the song.”

Membership of The Funky Choir and Global Voices costs £35 each for a five-week term. For more information, go to: sjt.uk.com/getinvolved/adult.

Proudly powered by WordPress