And then there were two…as Iestyn Davies and Elizabeth Kenny perform online concert A Delightful Thing at NCEM

The loneliness of the socially distanced singer: Countertenor Iestyn Davies will have only lutenist Elizabeth Kenny for company, rather than the Dunedin Consort, at his York Early Music Festival concert

YORK countertenor Iestyn Davies should have been performing Bach: Countertenor Arias with Scottish instrumentalists the Dunedin Consort next Wednesday at the 2020 York Early Music Festival.

Instead, in a revised, streamlined, online version of the event now running from July 9 to 11, Iestyn switches from the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall to the National Centre for Early Music for a socially distanced concert with lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, streamed from an otherwise empty St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, at 7.30pm next Thursday. Empty save for technical manager Ben Pugh recording the performance from across the floor.

“When Delma [festival administrative director Dr Delma Tomlin] got in touch, initially she wondered, ‘Could you still do the concert with the Dunedin?’, but they’re based in Scotland and we couldn’t have the whole consort down here under lockdown rules, so we decided that I’d rather re-schedule that concert,” says Iestyn.

“But I said, ‘look, I’m already doing a concert with Liz at Wigmore Hall, we could do one at the NCEM too, where I could do the readings as well as sing and we can have the building to ourselves for the day’.”

Consequently, Davies and Kenny, a former artistic adviser to the York Early Music Festival and frequent performer at the NCEM, will present A Delightful Thing, Music and Readings from a Melancholy Man, wherein the music of Elizabethan lutenist John Dowland will be complemented by Davies’s renditions and readings of poetry by Robert Burton, Michael Drayton, Rose Tremain, Leo Tolstoy and Dowland himself. Kenny will play theorbo.

“Dowland is known for his music of extraordinary misery but utter beauty,” says Delma Tomlin. “He knew that in love, the only thing sweeter than happiness was sorrow. Few living interpreters understand his music more profoundly than Iestyn, who has devised this evening of poetry, music and drama for voice and lute to explore a composer for whom a single teardrop can hold a universe of emotion.”

Davies and Kenny’s Wigmore Hall concert was broadcast live from London on BBC Radio 3 on June 22, drawing 750,000 listeners to their 1pm performance of works by Purcell, Dowland, Campion, Johnson, Mozart and Schubert.

Lutenist Elizabeth Kenny: Iestyn Davies’s socially distanced accompanist on theorbo for A Delightful Thing

“Phew, it’s over,” Tweeted Iestyn immediately after the Lunchtime Concert, one of a series of 20 recitals presented in the stillness of a Wigmore Hall devoid of an audience every weekday in June as part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative.

“It was an absolute joy,” says Iestyn, of his first concert performance since performing to a packed Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center in New York City on March 7.

“But what was strange was that it felt like taking an exam. We did the rehearsal in the hall the day before, and you think, ‘it’s not going to change that much’, but Martin [presenter Martin Handley] was seated at a desk like an examiner, and there was just the hush of an audience listening on their radios, where normally there’s applause.

“The great thing about live music is that it’s ephemeral, you perform, then it’s over, and people remember it differently afterwards even though they were together. But this was more of an exam experience, where you have to wait for your results, and the only way you can tell how you did is in the reviews…though two people I know in York said straightaway they enjoyed it!”

Marking his 40th birthday on September 16 last year, Iestyn was only one concert into a four-concert residency at Wigmore Hall when Covid-19 intervened, but he was delighted to take up the invitation to partake in the season of BBC Radio 3 recitals, each featuring a singer and a musician, all from Britain.

“My regular recital partner, [French lutenist] Thomas Dunford, lives in Paris, so that ruled him out, but Liz and I have performed regularly together before, and she’s one of those wonderful multi-strings-to-her-bow musicians, what with her being director of performance at the University of Oxford and professor of Lute at the Royal Academy of Music,” says Iestyn.

“I learnt that it’s good to give your voice a rest for three months,” says countertenor Iestyn Davies

New York in March, then silence, before the Davies-Kenny concerts this summer. “What’s been wonderful in lockdown has been there’s been no fear of missing out,” says Iestyn. “I also learnt that it’s good to give your voice a rest for three months.”

Rested…and now that pure, pure voice is in fine working order again: “Like getting back on a bike, or going back to the gym, it all starts to flow, though they say it’s one day’s work for every week you have off, but generally I try to pace things out anyway,’” says Iestyn. “When you’re busy with work, you press ‘Start’ and you know how to run the engine.”

Before the Wigmore Hall concert, he was able to “get back into the swing of singing” when recording 20 Schubert songs over four of five days in Suffolk, “singing carefully” five to six hours a day.

Iestyn may be happy to be performing once more, but he is perturbed by the Covid cloud hanging heavily over the performing arts world, the alarm bell clanging ever louder with the rise of the Let The Music Play campaign amid the calls for urgent financial support for venues and artists alike.

“No-one chose this situation, so it shouldn’t be about a popular vote, but Boris Johnson and [Culture Secretary] Oliver Dowden are playing to the gallery, the Prime Minister trying to win points by saying you can go to the pub,” says Iestyn.

“What they’ve done to the arts is devolve responsibility both financially and philosophically, and of course it doesn’t help that some people think of the arts the way they do.”

Before it is too late, you can play your part in supporting the arts by buying tickets  for the online York Early Music Festival at tickets.ncem.co.uk and boxoffice@ncem.co.uk, with a festival package at £30, individual concert tickets at £10 each and illustrated talks at £3.50 each. Access to the festival events is via ncem.co.uk, where full details of the July 9 to 11 programme can be found too.

Liberation Day arrives on Saturday, but Lockdown is still a block to theatres and gigs. Nevertheless, here are More Things To Do on days in and days out, courtesy of The Press, York. LIST No. 9

Opening the gateway to venturing outdoors once more….

JULY 4 is “Liberation Day”, apparently, but not for theatres and concert halls. They can re-open, not for live performances, however, leaving them in a state of inertia that only exacerbates their growing crisis.

As for cinemas, tipped to return to life next weekend, the consensus is that July 31 is now looking the more likely re-start date for the summer blockbusters.

This column will steer clear of the pubs and bars and restaurants making their comebacks – you can read of that welcome uptick elsewhere – but focus on the widening opportunities for entertainment, enlightenment and exercise beyond the front door, while still highlighting the joys on the home front too.

CHARLES HUTCHINSON makes these suggestions.

Back on track: Jorvik Viking Centre is “Good To Go” from next Saturday

Jorvik Viking Centre, re-opening on July 11

THE ever-resilient Jorvik Viking Centre is back on track from next Saturday with the Good To Go certification from Visit England, so all the boxes marked Government and industry Covid-19 guidelines have been ticked.

One important change is a switch to pre-booked visits only, with designated time slots every 20 minutes, to help control visitor flow and numbers, as well as extended hours over the summer months.

Within the building, in Coppergate, free-flow areas, such as the galleries will be more structured with presentations delivered by Viking interpreters, rather than video content or handling sessions.

Lutenist Elizabeth Kenny: Joining countertenor Iestyn Davies at a socially distanced National Centre for Early Music for York Early Music Festival online concert

York Early Music Festival, online from July 9 to 11

NEXT week’s “virtual” three-day event will be streamed online from the National Centre for Early Music, replacing the July 3 to 11 festival that would have celebrated Method & Madness. Concerts will be recorded at the NCEM’s home, St Margaret’s Church, in Walmgate, with social-distancing measures in place and no live audience.

York counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny present The Art Of Melancholy on July 9 at 7.30pm, when John Dowland’s Elizabethan music will be complemented by Davies’s renditions and readings of poetry by Robert Burton, Michael Drayton, Rose Tremain, Leo Tolstoy and Dowland himself.

On July 10, online concerts feature lute and theorbo player Matthew Wadsworth at 1pm, harpsichordist Steve Devine at 3.30pm and lyra viol player Richard Boothby at 7.30pm. July 11’s programme includes Consone Quartet at 1pm and Stile Antico at 7.30pm.

Tickets are on sale at tickets.ncem.co.uk and boxoffice@ncem.co.uk, with a festival package at £30, individual concert tickets at £10 each and illustrated talks at £3.50 each.

Richard Bainbridge RIP: York Musical Theatre Company will mark the first anniversary of his passing on Sunday

Remembering Richard, York Musical Theatre Company, Sunday, 7.30pm, online

YORK Musical Theatre Company will mark the first anniversary of leading light Richard Bainbridge’s exit stage left on Sunday with a special online memorial concert.

Streamed on YMTC’s YouTube channel, the 7.30pm programme will celebrate Richard’s theatrical life with songs from all the shows he loved and the many he graced with the company.

Taking part will be Eleanor Leaper; Matthew Ainsworth; John Haigh; Florence Taylor; Moira Murphy; Amy Lacy; Rachel Higgs; Peter Wookie; Matthew Clare; Chris Gibson; Helen Singhateh, Jessa & Mick Liversidge. Returning to the ranks will be professional York actor Samuel Edward-Cook, alias Sam Coulson in his YMTC days.

Joker: One of the films at the Daisy Duke’s Drive-In Cinema in York

Daisy Duke’s Drive-In Cinema, Knavesmire, York, tomorrow to Sunday

STATIC cinemas remain in the dark, but drive-in cinemas with social distancing rules in place have been given the Government green light.

North Easterners Daisy Duke’s Drive-In Cinema are revving up for four screenings a day. Take your pick from the very familiar Mamma Mia!, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Frozen 2, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, A Star Is Born, 28 Days Later, Pulp Fiction and Joker. Tickets can be booked at dukescinema.epizy.com.

Interaction between staff and customers will be kept to a minimum, with cars parked two metres apart and those attending expected to remain within their vehicles for the duration of the screenings on LED screens with the sound transmitted to car radios.

Ready for a reading challenge? Here comes The Silly Squad

The Silly Squad, Explore York Libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge 2020, July 10 to September 18

GIVEN that Explore York’s libraries “aren’t open fully yet”, The Silly Squad Challenge is going virtual this summer, enabling children to take part online. There will be activities to do too, all on the same theme of fun, laughter and silliness.

The Silly Squad is a team of animal friends that loves to go on adventures and get stuck into all manner of funny books. This year, the Challenge features extra special characters designed by the author and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson.

The Silly Squad website provides an immersive and safe environment for children to achieve their reading goals. Head to Explore’s website and join through the Summer Reading Challenge button.

Paul Weller: York Barbican in 2021; new album tomorrow

Keep seeking out the good news

NO Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal from July 14, and Everybody’s no longer Talking About Jamie at Leeds Grand Theatre that week too. Even the Downing Street daily briefings are off after all the unintended humour of 24 episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour.

However, all’s Weller that’s Paul Weller as the Modfather’s autumn 2020 gig at York Barbican is moved to June 29 2021. In the meantime, his new album, On Sunset, is out tomorrow.

Drag diva Velma Celli, the creation of York actor Ian Stroughair, has announced another online outing, The Velma Celli Show, Kitchen, on July 11 at 8pm.

Kitchen sing drama: York drag diva Velma Celli announces latest online show on the home front

And what about…?

BBC One revisiting Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues, each one even starker in their isolation in these dislocated times of solitary confinement, shielding, loneliness and finding other people irritating. The Leeds playwright, now 86, has added two ones to his 1988 collection. “Quite bleak,” he says.

New albums by Neil Young (“new” but unearthed 1970s’ recordings); Jessie Ware, Nadine Shah and Haim.

Scarborough Art Gallery unlocking its doors from this weekend. A walk on York’s city walls with its new temporary one-way system in place for social distancing from Saturday….and then drop down for a drink at Grays Court Hotel’s new walled garden bar, in the shadow of York Minster.

Or a walk along Pocklington Canal, but watch out for the two swans, guarding their nine cygnets by the water’s edge.

Would you want to be judged by the evil eye of Wicked’s Elphaba? Here’s your chance in the Yorkshire’s Got Talent contest

Yorkshire’s Got Talent judging panellist Laura Pick in her West End role as Elphaba in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London. Who will Laura pick to win with her fellow judges?

YORK teenage musical theatre performer Hannah Wakelam is launching the Yorkshire’s Got Talent Virtual Contest to boost the Joseph Rowntree Theatre’s Raise The Roof campaign, with Wicked’s Elphaba among the judges.

Hannah, 19, who has appeared many times on the JoRo stage, has signed up three VIP guests to judge the event: Wicked star Laura Pick, West End regular and cruise ship vocal captain Nathan Lodge and Ripon vocal coach Amelia Urukalo.

Entries are open from now until August 1 for a contest with a £100 prize. “All types of performers are encouraged to enter and to show off what they can do,” says Hannah. “Whether it’s singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, performing a circus act, the list is endless.”

The cost of entries is a minimum donation of £5 to the Raise The Roof appeal and no age restrictions apply. “Because of lockdown rules, entrants will be asked to submit a short video of themselves performing their acts,” says Hannah. “The winner will receive £100 and their online performances will be seen right across the Yorkshire area.”

Hannah Wakelam: Yorkshire’s Got Talent Virtual Contest organiser and Raise The Roof fundraiser

The Haxby Road theatre needs to find £90,000 to go towards roof repairs to the Art Deco building to ensure the JoRo will be around for future generations of Yorkshire performers.

Graham Mitchell, the theatre’s events and fundraising director, says: “Hannah got in touch with us the very day that our appeal was launched and offered to do a fundraiser within the overall campaign. 

“Already we’ve had lots of people express an interest in the contest and now that the judges have been announced, we expect levels of interest to take off.”

Heading up the panel is Laura Pick, from Wakefield, who was flying high as Elphaba in Wicked in the West End until the Covid-19 lockdown stopped her Defying Gravity.

Yorkshire’s Got Talent judge Amelia Urukalo

Fellow judge Nathan Lodge, originally from York and no stranger to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, has many West End credits, complemented by his career as a vocal captain on cruise ships. 

The third judge, vocal coach Amelia Urukalo, has experience aplenty in judging talent competitions and runs the Upstage Academy performing arts studio in Ripon.

The Yorkshire area is teeming with performing talent, not least on the Rowntree Theatre stage: a training ground and launchpad for many professional acting careers, such as Harry Potter and Broadchurch actor David Bradley, Emmerdale and Casualty actor Ian Kelsey and West End musical theatre performer Scott Garnham.

Nathan says: “I really believe that the industry is full of exceptionally talented people who started out in Yorkshire and I can’t wait to see what the future of talent from home looks like.”

“I can’t wait to see what the future of talent from home looks like,” says Yorkshire’s Got Talent judge Nathan Lodge, who took his early theatrical steps at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

The JoRo launched its Raise The Roof campaign last month by creating an online music video, put together “virtually” during lockdown. Last Saturday morning, an online fitness class raised almost £300 for the campaign.

The total stands at £2,673, more than half of the £5,000 target for this early stage of the overall £90,000 appeal. Almost 100 people have donated so far, testament to the campaign gathering momentum.

Dan Shrimpton, chair of trustees of the Joseph Rowntree Theatre charity, says: “We launched the campaign with several of our own team performing a music video, then we held an online fitness class hosted by Hannah King, which lots of our supporters took part in.

“Yorkshire’s Got Talent is the third event in a chain of many fundraisers that we already have in the pipeline. We know this competition will be hugely popular as it’s open to everyone in the Yorkshire region, whether they’ve performed at our venue or not.  It’s simply a celebration of local talent, all the while supporting a great community cause.”

The auditorium at the Art Deco-designed Joseph Rowntree Theatre, in Haxby Road, York

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

Full rules and details of how to enter Yorkshire’s Got Talent can be found here: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/687590815139642/about; Instagram: instagram.com/yorkshiresgottalent/.

The judges will select a final ten from the entries and the contest will progress from there through a process of elimination until the winner is declared.

Mikron Theatre’s future is at risk…unless £48,337 is raised before 50th anniversary

Atalanta Forever…but not for 2020 after Covid-19 showed the red card to Amanda Whittington’s new football play, forcing Mikron Theatre Company to call off this summer’s tour

MIKRON Theatre Company are launching a near-£50,000 fundraising appeal to secure their 50th anniversary year, but under the dark clouds of Coronavirus their future is at risk.

The West Yorkshire company had to cancel this summer’s tours of Amanda Whittington’s Atalanta Forever and Poppy Hollman’s A Dog’s Tale, once the Covid-19 lockdown strictures prevented them from touring by canal, river and road as is their custom.

The stultifying impact of the pandemic has dealt Mikron a “potentially catastrophic blow” and consequently they need help to “ensure that they get back on their feet, back on the road and back on the water”.

No touring from April to October has meant no income from 130 shows, no merchandise, no programmes, no raffle, in the budget, whereupon Mikron are facing a shortfall of £48,337.49.

Atalanta Forever playwright Amanda Whittington

Artistic director Marianne McNamara says: “The entire management team is doing as much as we can to reduce costs month by month, but this simply is not enough. On current budgets, the company will run out of money before our 50th year of touring in 2021.  

“With this in mind, we have no choice but to launch an appeal to raise £48,337.49 by the end of December 2020 to ensure that Mikron has a future within the theatre industry.” 

Should the appeal be successful, next summer Mikron will tour Atalanta Forever, Whittington’s story of women’s football in the 1920s, and Hollman’s canine comedy caper A Dog’s Tale. As ever, York would play host to shows at Scarcroft Allotments and Clements Hall.

After making the decision not to tour in light of the pandemic, Mikron took Arts Council England’s advice and have been helping the community in their home village of Marsden, near Huddersfield.

Coronavirus-cancelled canine comedy capers: MIkron Theatre Company’s poster for A Dog’s Tale

To do so, they have repurposed their office and van to assist with the village Covid-19 mutual aid group Marsden Help and have delivered hundreds of food parcels and prescriptions to self-isolating and vulnerable families.

“We’re so incredibly sad not to be touring,” says Marianne.  “In the early stages of the Coronavirus outbreak we looked at every possible combination, but none of them were practical.

“What I would not give to see Mikron performing at a canalside venue to a large crowd with the sun setting behind us. We see the same faces in different places year on year and we really miss them but the safety of the cast and crew, venues and, of course, our loyal audiences, had to come first.”

Based in the village of Marsden, at the foot of the Yorkshire Pennines, Mikron tour on board a vintage narrowboat, Tyseley, putting on shows in “places that other theatre companies wouldn’t dream of”.

It could be a play about growing-your-own, staged at  allotments; a play abuzz with bees, performed next to hives, or a play where the  chips are down, served up in a fish and chip restaurant. Add to that list a play celebrating hostelling, booked into YHA Youth hostels and the story of the RNLI, launched from several lifeboat stations on the coast.

Mikron Theatre Company’s summer mode of transport: Tyseley, a vintage narrowboat. Picture: Jon Gascoyne

Since Mikron formed in 1972, they have:

Written 64 original shows;

Composed 384 songs;

Issued 236 actor-musician contracts;

Spent 30,000 boating hours on the inland waterways;

Covered 530,000 road miles;

Performed 5,060 times;

Played to 428,000 people. 

For further information and to donate to the appeal to keep Yorkshire’s narrowboat theatre company afloat, visit mikron.org.uk/appeal. Donations also can be sent to Mikron Theatre, Marsden Huddersfield, HD7 6BW.

“How lucky we were to have known him” – York Musical Theatre Company remembers Richard Bainbridge in night of song online

Richard Bainbridge: Memorial online concert on Sunday to honour a year since his passing on July 5 2019

YORK Musical Theatre Company will mark the first anniversary of leading light Richard Bainbridge’s exit stage left on Sunday with a special online memorial concert.

Streamed on YMTC’s YouTube channel, the 7.30pm programme will celebrate Richard’s theatrical life with songs from all the shows he loved and the many he graced with the company.

Richard passed away last summer at the age of 64 after a long association with York Musical Theatre Company – formerly known as York Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society until 2002 – as actor, director and latterly company chairman.

Taking part on Sunday night will be Eleanor Leaper; Matthew Ainsworth; John Haigh; Florence Taylor; Moira Murphy; Amy Lacy; Rachel Higgs; Peter Wookie; Matthew Clare; Chris Gibson; Helen Singhateh and Jessa & Mick Liversidge.

“There’ll be a group performance from YMTC members too and we’re thrilled to have professional actor Samuel Edward-Cook – Sam Coulson in his YMTC days – back with us performing a special number,” says director Paul Laidlaw.

Sam’s back: York actor Samuel Edward-Cook, pictured in his leading role in Glory Dazed in 2019, will be returning to the York Musical Theatre Company ranks, albeit remotely, for Sunday’s online concert

He is keeping the running order and who will be singing each number under wraps as a surprise for Richard’s family.

Among those songs will be Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’, from Oklahoma!; As Long As He Needs Me, from Oliver!; Tomorrow, from Annie; Mister Snow, from Carousel; Some Enchanted Evening, from South Pacific; Seeing Is Believing, from Aspects Of Love, and My Time Of Day, from Guys And Dolls.

“It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since we lost our dear friend and colleague, Richard,” says Paul. “I think I can speak for the whole company when I say how much we still miss him.

“His enthusiasm, drive and, above all, his incredible sense of humour would have been a tonic in these extraordinary times. He would, of course, have been actively taking part in the Off-stage But Online concerts we are presenting under lockdown, and with a mixture of encouragement, bribery, coercion and threats he would have made sure that everyone else took part too.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s memorial celebration, Paul says: “We wanted this next concert, falling on the anniversary of his death, to be dedicated to Richard. Many of the performers have fond memories of working alongside him and the song choices often reflect moments spent with him on stage. Happy memories, tinged with sadness of course but, oh, how lucky we were to have known him.”

To watch Sunday’s concert, type in the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiTrGyeP93_to9uYOsvoS4w

Divorced, beheaded and now the Queens are back for a drive-in summer of SIX The Musical in…Church Fenton UPDATED

Six of the best: The West End cast in SIX The Musical in 2019

THEATRE has been hit for six by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, but SIX The Musical has found a way to make a summer comeback as a drive-in theatre experience at a Church Fenton airport.

Leeds East Airport is among 12 locations nationwide picked for Live Nation Entertainment’s Utilita Live From The Drive-In: SIX The Musical, The Live Concert, as the West End and tour casts take to the road in August and September to present the full musical version in the open air.

Church Fenton’s six performances of SIX – how apt – will start at 9pm on August 11; 5pm, August 13; 9pm, August 14, and 5pm and 9pm, August 15 and 16. Tickets for “the first West End musical to perform again after lockdown” will go on sale at 8am on Friday, July 3 at livenation.co.uk/artist/six-the-musical-ticket.

“For the next three months, SIX will be the only stage musical anyone starved of theatre in the country is able to see,” say producers Kenny Wax, Wendy and Andy Barnes and George Stiles.

Designed to comply with all official guidelines in these Covid-19 times, Utilita Live From The Drive-In will “deliver a drive-in experience boasting concert-quality sound from a live stage with a full state-of-the-art sound system, lighting rig and high-definition LED screens”.

The tour poster for SIX The Musical’s summer season of drive-in shows

This will create an arena or stadium concert feel in a safe drive-in setting adhering to the Government’s social-distancing rules to protect fans, artists, crews and staff at all times.

Customers will arrive by car but then can step outside, picnic and party while they watch the “festival-style” live stage show from their own dedicated area next to their vehicle. Up to 300 vehicles can park up for each show with a maximum of seven people allowed in each one.

Now billed as “Divorced, Beheaded, Drive – Live In Concert”, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss‘s SIX is the “electrifying musical phenomenon that everyone has lost their head over”. First presented by Cambridge University students at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the show has been catapulted into a West End and international hit en route to being named the Musical of the Decade by WhatsOnStage.

From Tudor queens to pop princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic in SIX to tell their tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into a 75-minute celebration of 21st-century girl power where these queens may have green sleeves but their lipstick is rebellious red.

“You’ve seen them in theatres across the world, streamed their album countless times and now you can join the rest of the Queendom for a party and picnic on a Utilita Live From The Drive-In arena stage!” says the drive-in publicity machine.

The joy of SIX: The SIX The Musical cast at the Arts Theatre in London

“This intoxicating Tudor take by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss is a histo-remixed pop-concert musical you won’t forget. The Queens are back, so grab your crowns and your picnic blankets and get down like it’s 1533.”

SIX The Musical and Utilita Live From The Drive-In will link up this summer from August 4 to September 12 for shows at Colesdale Farm, London; Birmingham Resorts World Arena; University of Bolton Stadium, Bolton; Filton Airfield, Bristol; Cheltenham Racecourse; the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh; Leeds East Airport, Church Fenton, near Leeds; Lincoln, Central Docks, Liverpool; The National Bowl, Milton Keynes; the July Course, Newmarket Racecourse, and Teesside International Airport.

Producer Kenny Wax, president of the Society of London Theatre, says: “We are delighted that SIX will spearhead the re-opening of one of London and the UK’s most popular shows. With the industry in crisis, theatres struggling and some even going out of business, this drive-in event offers hope for the future and, equally importantly, jobs for about 50 of our company including cast, musicians, stage managers, technicians and freelancers.

“We are using both our West End and UK touring casts, rehearsing and touring them in a bubble and having them work in teams of six – fortunate for us – as per the government guidance.”

As the Coronavirus pandemic struck, SIX fans were left disappointed when sold-out runs at the Arts Theatre in London and up and down the country on the UK tour had to be cancelled. All those touring dates have been moved to 2021.

Natalie Paris in SIX The Musical in the West End in 2019. Picture: Eleanor Howarth

Any questions before you start the engine?
Which SIX cast members will be performing?
“We are sending the Arts Theatre cast and the UK Tour casts on tour subject to the Queens’ own availability. We can’t guarantee any individual cast members at specific performances. Church Fenton will have the Arts Theatre cast.”

Will we be seeing the full show?
“Yes, the whole show will be performed live from start to finish. The duration is 75 minutes and there is no interval.”

Will the cast be wearing their show costumes?
“Yes.”

Is the show being performed as a concert or with full choreography?
“The cast will be performing the show with full choreography.”

 How will we see the stage and the cast if we are parked a long way away?
“Like most concerts, there will be large screens either side of the stage and live show footage played on the screens.”

Wife strife: One of Henry VIII’s queens in SIX The Musical, on tour in 2019. Picture: Johan Persson

Can we sing and dance along?
“We hope you can enjoy yourselves without spoiling the enjoyment of others around you.

Will the music be played live by the musicians?
“Yes, the musicians, our ‘ladies in waiting’, will be playing live”.

Will we be able to “meet and greet” the Queens after the show for autographs and photos?
“Due to current social-distancing guidelines related to Covid-19, sadly the cast will not be available after the performance to meet audience members.”

Did you know?

SIX made its debut as a Cambridge University student production in a 100-seat room at Sweet Venue at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Queen scene: SIX The Musical on its knees on tour in 2019. Picture: Johan Persson

Not only was SIX playing London’s West End and across the UK and Australia when Covid-19 intervened, but also its opening night on Broadway on March 12 was called off when, three hours before showtime, the New York Governor shut down theatreland.

SIX was nominated for five Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, and won the What’s On Stage Award for Best Musical 2020. Songs from the SIX studio album are streamed on average 450,000 times per day, making it the second-highest streaming musical theatre recording in the world after Hamilton.

SIX was written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, with direction by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage; choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille; set design by Emma Bailey; costume design by Gabriella Slade; lighting design by Tim Deiling; sound design by Paul Gatehouse; musical orchestration by Tom Curran; musical supervision by Joe Beighton and musical direction by Katy Richardson.

For a taster of SIX The Musical, go to: youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Ll9qTeUJ_50&fbclid=IwAR0rnG28Gtzt0FQjZERN33thjfpnND0ahuNKD4D_BVskdPILAwCEcTcHOIs&app=desktop
 

Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend exhibitions to re-open from this weekend

John Bedder, senior operations assistant with Scarborough Museums Trust, prepares for the re-opening of Scarborough Art Gallery. All pictures: Tony Bartholomew

TWO of Scarborough Museums Trust’s three venues will re-open on Saturday.

Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend have been closed to the public since the Covid-19 lockdown started in late-March, as has the Rotunda Museum, whose re-opening will be delayed to “allow more time to work out how to do that safely”.

SMT chief executive Andrew Clay says: “Our dedicated staff have all been working very hard to ensure that venues are safe and in line with government guidelines on social distancing and cleanliness. The safety of all our staff and visitors is our top priority.”

John Bedder, Scarborough Museums Trust’s senior operations assistant, sits behind a protective screen at Scarborough art Gallery

Safety measures introduced for this weekend’s re-opening will be five-fold:

* Protective screens around the reception desks;

* Hand sanitiser on entry to the buildings and on the top floor of Scarborough Art Gallery;

* Disposable hand towels in the loos;

*  PPE (gloves, masks and aprons) for staff when cleaning the venues, plus extra cleaning protocols;

* Staff monitoring at a safe distance to ensure that visitors are following the distancing guidelines.

Andrew Clay: Chief executive of Scarborough Museums Trust

Clay says: “The number of visitors within the two spaces will be monitored to ensure that there is enough room for them to move around in a safe and enjoyable manner. Clear wayfinding and arrows will direct them, and staff will be on hand to provide further support and information.

“The internal layout of our third venue, the historic Rotunda Museum, presents certain challenges with regard to social distancing, so we’re delaying opening that for the time being to allow us more time to work out how to do that safely.”

The exhibitions sent into abeyance under lockdown strictures have been extended. At Scarborough Art Gallery, visitors can see The Printmakers Council 1992-2019 and the William Smith map until September 6, alongside the permanent display of fine art from the Scarborough Borough Collection.

John Bedder, senior operations assistant with Scarborough Museums Trust, stands by one of the new hand sanitiser stations at Scarborough Art Gallery

At Woodend, vintage travel and tourism posters will be on show in A Day At The Seaside until September 27.

Entry to Scarborough Art Gallery – usually £3, which buys an annual pass – will be free throughout July; admission to Woodend will remain free.

Opening hours will be unchanged: Scarborough Art Gallery, 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sundays; Woodend, 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays; 10am to 4pm, Saturdays and Sundays.

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.

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.

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/.