Playwright Nick Lane: Leading the Beginner’s Playwriting online course. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
SCARBOROUGH’S Stephen Joseph Theatre is moving its OutReach classes online from next week.
The first to do so will be the Beginner’s Playwriting course, running for five weeks from Tuesday, June 9, led at 11.30am each week by South Yorkshire playwright Nick Lane, who has written the SJT’s Christmas show for the past four years.
“Has lockdown got you feeling locked up? Have you had enough of seeing/posting pictures of homemade frittatas on Instagram? Are you looking for something creative to do before you watch the whole of Netflix again?” asks Nick, whose adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story The Sign Of Four played the SJT last spring.
“If you fancy trying your hand at playwriting, the SJT has got you covered with a course for first-time writers covering everything from character to dialogue to plot, through structure, editing and rewriting…which you can now do from your own home.
“You could even do it while watching Netflix and making a frittata.* The course is simple, it’s fun and it might just help you uncover a talent you didn’t know you had.”
Why did you put the asterisk after that “making a frittata” line, Nick? What’s the caveat? “It’s not recommended. Seriously, you might burn yourself.” Good point!
Rounders, the SJT youth theatre, will go online from Tuesday for five weeks, led by the SJT’s associate director for children and young people, Cheryl Govan, and associate director Chelsey Gillard.
They will deliver three free virtual sessions per week: on Tuesdays, for ages eight to 11; Wednesdays, for 15-plus; Thursdays, for 12 to 14 years, each from 4pm to 5pm.
Cheryl says: “For all our current members, we’ve not forgotten about you! Rounders will be moving online. It won’t be the same, but we can assure you it will be fun and a great chance to catch up with all your friends for some virtual Rounders nonsense. Make sure your parents check their emails: we’ll be in touch!”
For five weeks from June 10, from 11.30am to 1.30pm each Wednesday, fun and friendly Script Reading classes will explore the work of Restoration playwrights.
Participants will read aloud texts from the 17th century and work with SJT associate director Chelsey Gillard to look at the themes, stories, writing styles and historical context.
Digital copies of plays, including George Etheredge’s The Man Of Mode and Aphra Behn’s The Rover, will be provided and participants will be given a link to join each weekly session.
“I’m very excited that we will be exploring this unique era of playwriting that delighted audiences when theatres reopened after an 18-year ban [in 1660 at the start of Charles II’s reign],” says Chelsey.
“Theatre became a way to celebrate and reflect on society, so it’s the perfect inspiration as we wait to also re-open our doors.”
Script Surgeries in one-to-one sessions on Zoom will be available with professional literary consultant Suzy Graham-Adriani, who is best known for creating the National Theatre’s Connections programme.
She will read scripts in development to give individual, detailed feedback, exploring ways to take the script to the next draft and, if appropriate, ways to move it forward.
Suzy was responsible for commissioning and developing the first 100 plays and musicals from writers such as Alan Ayckbourn, Bryony Lavery, Mark Ravenhill, Dennis Kelly and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.
Cheryl concludes: “We are, of course, really looking forward to re-opening the theatre and welcoming our community back to our popular classes. But until that’s possible, we hope that as many people as possible will join us online. We’ll be adding more soon.”
For more information on the online classes, go to: sjt.uk.com/getinvolved#classes. The Beginner’s Playwriting course costs £35 for all five sessions; Script Reading classes, £5 per week or £20 if you book all five; Script Surgeries, £100.
Leeds City Varieties Music Hall: Britain’s longest-running music hall
“HOWEVER daunting, I am certain we have a future. We must.”
This is the rallying call of Chris Blythe, chief executive officer of Leeds City Varieties as the Guinness World Record holder for Britain’s longest-running music hall turns 155 years old on Sunday (June 7).
On a day that should be marked with great celebration, instead the doors to the oldest theatre in Leeds remain closed under the Coronavirus lockdown.
This is the first time in its long and colourful history that the 19th century venue in Swan Street has ceased operation, other than in 2009 to 2011 when it underwent a £9 million restoration.
Now, alas, the future of Leeds City Varieties Music Hall is uncertain, but Mr Blythe trumpets the comedy, music and theatre venue’s importance. “The Varieties is a Leeds, if not a national, institution. A hidden gem with a warm Yorkshire welcome.
“Contributing to the vital cultural life of the city, City Varieties is a significant employer in the area, supporting many neighbouring bars and restaurants with a regular influx of theatregoers.
“While we’re all working towards and looking forward to the day that we can reopen our doors and welcome our audiences back, we must face facts: venues like ours will be the last to open.”
Knotty Ash comedian Ken Dodd (1927-2018) performed the last show before the 2009 refurbishment of Leeds City Varieties and the first after its reopening in 2011
Income generation will be limited for potentially months after other parts of the economy start to grow, suggests Mr Blythe. “The whole industry will need to take stock as investors and producers of our wonderful shows have also taken a massive hit,” he says.
“And when we do reopen – notice the emission of the word ‘if’ – the future is going to be much changed. Reserves will be exhausted, and patrons will have difficult choices to make with a financial recession and their own well-being and safety to consider.
“We will have to continue to operate with appropriate safety measure in place – careful consideration will need to be given to both staff and patron welfare, our cleaning regime, appropriate distancing measures and potentially a period of cashless transactions. The list goes on. But, however daunting, I am certain we have a future. We must.”
Noted for its intimate atmosphere and “brutally honest” audience, the City Varieties began life in 1865 as the “New Music Hall and Fashionable Lounge”: a room above a pub established by business entrepreneur Charles Thornton for the working people of Leeds to be entertained.
Its affluent sister venue, Leeds Grand Theatre, in Briggate, was meant only for the higher classes. Indeed a popular saying at the time was: “Wear your flat cap to the Varieties and your top hat to the Grand”.
In its early years, the City Varieties welcomed many weird and wonderful acts, such as the world-renowned escapologist Harry Houdini, singer, comedian and actress Marie Lloyd and Victorian music-hall socialite Lillie Langtry, the Jersey Lily, for whom it is rumoured Prince Edward would sneak into a private box to watch and court.
The City Varieties is probably best known for hosting the BBC’s The Good Old Days from 1953 to 1983, re-creating old-time music hall entertainment with audiences encouraged to dress in Victorian garb.
Produced by Barney Colehan and chaired by the alliterative Leonard Sachs, it starred Les Dawson, Barbara Windsor, Bruce Forsyth, Danny La Rue, Ken Dodd, Barry Cryer and many more besides.
A lad in a dress in Aladdin: a Leeds City Varieties Music Hall rock’n’roll pantomime
Albeit untelevised, The Good Old Days still runs today and the original series has enjoyed a re-run on BBC4.
In 2009, the City Varieties benefited from a £9million regeneration project, funded largely by Leeds City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The work included demolition and reconstruction of the backstage areas, ceiling and plasterwork repairs, inspired by a 1900 design discovered during the restoration; new carpeting and seating throughout the auditorium, and the fitting of an external glass lift to improve access to the building.
Ken Dodd, the last act to perform before the 2009 closure, was the first act to grace the reopened music hall in 2011.
The City Varieties now presents live music, variety, comedy and National Theatre Live and delayed screenings, as well as the annual rock’n’roll pantomime that showcases actor/musicians in a break from traditional panto.
Since the 2011 re-launch, the venue has played host to Russell Crowe, Kerry Ellis, Boy George, Michael McIntyre, Sara Pascoe, John Bishop, Romesh Ranganathan, Phil Wang, Jack Whitehall et al.
Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Phillip officially opened the refurbished music hall in 2012 as part of their Diamond Jubilee tour.
Throughout the Coronavirus-enforced closure, the City Varieties is asking patrons, if financially viable, for donations to help support the company throughout this financially difficult period. For more details, go to cityvarieties.co.uk.
KATE Bush’s 1985 album Hounds Of Love will be the subject of tonight’s Harrogate Vinyl Sessions via Zoom to raise funds for the Friends of Harrogate Hospital charity.
The 7.30pm online event will be introduced by organiser and master of ceremonies Colin Paine, before a comprehensive Bush profile by Harrogate Advertiser journalist and Charm event host Graham Chalmers, the spa town “Professor of Pop”.
This will be complemented by “some video action” from Jim Dobbs during the album playback in full from 8pm.
“The multi-million selling Hounds Of Love is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush,” says Graham. “Originally released on September 16 1985, it marked a return to the public eye for Bush and won her success in the USA after the relatively poor sales of her previous album, 1982’s The Dreaming.
“The lead track Running Up That Hill became one of Bush’s biggest hits. The album’s first side produced three further successful singles, Cloudbursting, Hounds Of Love and The Big Sky.
“The second side, subtitled The Ninth Wave, forms a conceptual suite about a person drifting alone in the sea at night.”
Colin says: “For our latest Vinyl Sessions we have put together a superb JVC turntable and Shure V15III Run via a magnificent Sony STR 6120 Receiver. We stream via our HQ Nidd server for music fans to enjoy. We run our dual platform audio stream and Zoom for the event.”
To join tonight’s online event, you need to book at Eventbrite on the Vinyl Sessions website at www.vinylsessions.org.
No Trucking on: Hull Truck Theatre extends shutdown until November
HULL Truck Theatre is extending its closure until November 2020 under the Covid-19 strictures that have cast all theatres into darkness since March.
The official statement reads: “We have been following Government and industry guidance and await further recommendations from these, as well as national health bodies, before reopening. We look forward to welcoming you back and will give audiences full details about all measures in place before we open our doors.
“We will be contacting everyone who has booked tickets for shows during the closure period and are working hard with our partners and visiting companies to reschedule the programme into 2021, so that audiences don’t miss out on the great entertainment that had been planned.
YORK actor, director and choreographer Sam Rippon has won a place at the Royal Academy of Music, London, to study for an MA in musical theatre from September.
For the past three years, he has been reading for a BSc in Government and History at the LSE (London School of Economics).
During that time, nevertheless, Sam, has kept his love of theatre aflame by performing and directing while president of the LSE Drama Society.
“A one-year prestigious and intensive MA course was an attractive option,” he says. “Musical theatre has been of immense importance to me ever since I first stepped on stage in York Stage Musicals’ production of Oliver! over a decade ago.
Sam Rippon takes to the stage for the first time in Oliver in 2009
“It has been an essential part of my life, but often a subordinate one, based in extra-curricular activities. The decision to go and undertake this course is motivated by a long-term desire to put musical theatre first in my life, and to build the skills, connections, and foundations necessary to enter a career in the theatrical world.”
Sam, from Heslington, had a choice to make. “I’d received offers from the Guildford School of Acting and Mountview [Academy of Theatre Arts] too, but chose the course at the Royal Academy for its prestige and first-class alumni network.
“I was humbled to receive offers from all three of the places I auditioned for, but RAM felt, from the first audition, like the place that I wanted to be, and which would suit my existing skill set.”
Sam, 22, first auditioned at the Royal Academy last December with a 15-minute presentation of his prepared performances, before being invited to recall in April. “As I was based in London at university, it was easy to make my way to the academy to audition, but little did I know that my recall would have to be from right in my living room,” he says.
Sam Rippon in the role of Marius in York Light Youth’s production of Les Miserables School Edition in November 2014
“Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, our recall was adjusted to be a video audition, for which I was required to record my performances, a video about myself and some skill-based work.
“So, my living room turned into a makeshift recording studio with my phone carefully balanced on top of a step ladder!”
Recording performances was not something Sam found particularly enjoyable. “Perhaps, as a stage performer, the thrill of what I do is that it is live and changes, even lightly, each time. Having to get one perfect take, that I was happy with, was not an easy thing to do!” he recalls.
“Final decisions were made following these video submissions, and I was informed of the outcome at the end of April.”
No lying: That’s Sam Rippon, right, as Pinocchio, in York Stage Musicals’ Shrek The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York, last autumn
Will Sam be able to begin in September, given the on-going Covid-19 scenario? “As far as we know, we’re being prepared for a September start as usual,” he says. “Given the smaller classes, it may well be possible to conduct teaching as normal – to an extent – but I guess we should await confirmation of this.”
Sam was seen most recently on the York stage in September 2019 as Pinocchio in York Stage Musicals’ Shrek The Musical and earlier last year as Rolf in York Stage Musicals’ The Sound Of Music, both at the Grand Opera House, where he also has worked front of house.
He had played Schlomo in the York Stage Experience summer school production of Fame at the same theatre in 2017.
At the LSE, he starred as Anthony in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street in 2019 and the multi role-playing Clown in The 39 Steps in 2018, as well as being the director and choreographer for Sister Act this year and Made In Dagenham in 2018.
“It is impossible to describe the extent to which York has had an impact on where I am today and hope to be in the future,” says Sam Rippon
“The 39 Steps was undoubtedly the most fun I have had on stage or in a rehearsal room,” says Sam. “Bringing so many different characters to life was not only the greatest joy but encouraged me to learn new accents and physical theatre skills that will stick with me.
“Playing Pinocchio last year was a highlight too. The entire Shrek company was oozing with talent and it was a privilege to perform with every one of them, but bringing to life such an iconic and fun character made the experience even more enjoyable.
“Working with Damien [Boston Spa director-choreographer Damien Poole] and the ever-professional York Stage team on this complex production was such a joy.”
York has had an “immeasurable” influence on Sam’s acting and musical skills. “The first show I watched was in York, my first venture on to a stage was in York, and my first classes were held here,” he says. “I was brought up here, and it is impossible to describe the extent to which the city has had an impact on where I am today and hope to be in the future.
“York is blessed to have so many fantastic amateur musical theatre companies, and I have personally been blessed to have performed in several of them.”
The stage awaits: Sam Rippon contemplates a career in theatre
Sam has indeed spread his talent widely in the city. “York Stage Musicals gave me the opportunity to step on stage for the first time in Oliver back in 2009; York Light Opera Company provided me with my first named part as Friedrich in The Sound Of Music in 2012, and York Light Youth have given me countless opportunities to develop new skills,” he says.
“Performing as Marius in Les Miserables in 2014 and Ugly in Honk! in 2015 remain some of the most formative experiences in my passion for musical theatre. This is not to mention York Stage Experience and York Musical Theatre Company, with whom I had further opportunities to develop new skills and make more friends.”
Sam considers himself “fortunate to have grown up in a city that has so much to offer with regards to theatre, and for that, I will be forever grateful”, he says.
“Crucial to my interest and passion too is my school, Archbishop Holgate’s, who have the most engaging and passionate music teachers, who taught me so much and gave me so many opportunities to develop.”
Looking ahead, to beyond his MA, Sam says: “I would love to turn this training into a career on stage. I understand and appreciate the difficulty in making this step in a competitive environment, probably exacerbated by current events, but that is where I want to be, and I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t going to give everything to make it happen.”
Such determination, such talent too, deserves to be rewarded.
Simon Evans and Jo Caulfield: Broadcasting live online from their living rooms to yours on Sunday night
JO Caulfield and Simon Evans will perform live from their living rooms on Sunday in the third edition of Yorkshire’s virtual comedy project Your Place Comedy.
Once more, Selby Town Hall is collaborating with nine other small, independent arts centres and theatres from across Yorkshire and the Humber to provide an evening of entertainment from two touring acts, broadcast live to viewers’ homes for free on YouTube and the Twitch video live streaming service.
After the 8pm online double bill hosted remotely by regular compere Tim FitzHigham, viewers will have an option to donate if they have enjoyed the broadcast. All money raised will be distributed equally among the ten supporting venues, as they each seek to navigate their way through these challenging times when closed down under the Covid-19 strictures.
It’s that Jo Caulfield again…this time entertaining on the home front
After Mark Watson and Lucy Beaumont on April 19, followed by Simon Brodkin and Maisie Adam on May 10, this weekend is the turn of a brace of BBC Radio 4 comedy stalwarts, Caulfield and Evans.
Both have appeared on BBC2’s Mock The Week and Live At The Apollo; between them, they have guested on BBC1’s Have I Got News For You and Question Time, BBC2’s Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Channel 4’s Stand Up For The Week.
They are regulars on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, The News Quiz, The Unbelievable Truth and Just A Minute, while Caulfield has starred in three series of her own show, It’s That Jo Caulfield Again, and Evans has written and presented five series of Simon Evans Goes To Market.
Simon Evans, above: BBC Radio 4 comedy stalwart
Host FitzHigham is the writer and star of BBC Radio 4’s The Gamble and presenter of CBBC’s Super Human Challenge.
“Your Place Comedy is a venue-driven initiative that tries to re-establish the traditional relationship between venue, performer and audience that has been temporarily lost during the Covid-19 crisis,” says organiser Chris Jones, Selby Town Council’s arts officer and manager of Selby Town Hall.
“The venues participating in the project have all pledged funds to both support the performers involved and to provide their audiences with entertainment from the kind of artists who, in normal times, would have been appearing in their local arts centre or theatre.”
Umbrella fella: Your Place Comedy host Tim FitzHigham
Chris continues: “While sadly our doors remain closed for the immediate future, this hasn’t stopped venues from across the region working hard to find new ways of delivering high-quality entertainment in innovative formats to the audiences they miss so much.
“All the theatres and arts centres involved in Your Place Comedy are deeply rooted in their communities and want to maintain those vital links that allow them to bring some of the most sought-after national and international touring acts to the towns and cities of Yorkshire and beyond. We are all determined to help keep the live performance industry afloat at a time when it has never been needed more.”
Joining together in this rolling initiative to put the fun into fundraising are Selby Town Hall; The Ropewalk, Barton upon Humber; Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds; East Riding Theatre, Beverley; Junction, Goole; Helmsley Arts Centre; Shire Hall, Howden; Otley Courthouse; Pocklington Arts Centre and Rotherham Theatres.
Simon Brodkin and Maisie Adam: The line-up for the second Your Place Comedy night on May 10
Looking forward to this weekend’s double bill, Chris says: “There’s a distinct Radio 4 vibe this time round with two stalwarts of the network, and two of the slickest, most accomplished and effortlessly funny acts around, Jo Caulfield and Simon Evans, taking to the virtual stage. Both Jo and Simon have sold out Selby Town Hall before.
“In a fit of nostalgia the other day, I was thinking back to the first time I ever saw a live stand-up show…and I’m certain it was Simon Evans, performing as part of the Carlsberg Ice Comedy Network at the University of York in late 2000. I can still remember the gags – and that doesn’t happen very often! He was brilliant.”
What’s next for Your Place Comedy? “We’ll stop and take stock after this show, see what lessons small venues in the region can take from the exercise and whether there is a financially viable future in live streaming that supports artists, venues and audiences as this [venue closure] predicament inevitably runs into the autumn and beyond,” says Chris, who initially had speculated on the possibility of a run of five such shows.
Hull comedian and actor Lucy Beaumont: Her Your Place Comedy double bill with Mark Watson in April drew 3,500 viewers and raised £3,500 in donations
For full details on Your Place Comedy, and to find out how to watch the June 7 show, visit yourplacecomedy.co.uk.
Lantern slide of a fairground ride in Scarborough. Copyright: Scarborough Museums Trust
SCARBOROUGH Museums Trust is supporting the East Coast resort’s Great Get Together event for the second year running.
The trust is providing inspiration for a postcard competition on the theme of Scarborough Fair.
Organised by We Are Scarborough and Say Hello Coast, the event is inspired by the Jo Cox Foundation’s national Great Get Together: a celebration of the late Labour MP for Batley and Spen’s life and her vision of bringing people together.
Like many such events this year, Scarborough’s Great Get Together will take place online over the weekend of June 19 to 21.
It will feature three competitions: creating a postcard competition; song lyrics and a multi-genre competition for writers, poets, model-makers and performers.
The trust’s learning manager, Christine Rostron, says: “If children or adults want to take part in the Get Together at Scarborough Fair postcard competition, but need some ideas and inspiration, Scarborough Museums Trust is here to help.
Cotton Bud Carousel Horse by Vivien Steiner
“In collaboration with Scarborough artists Helen Ventress and Vivien Steiner, we’ve pulled together some pictures from our collection and specially commissioned artworks introducing simple art techniques.
“These include painting, printing, collage, sculpture and photography, with simple ideas suitable for both young children and adults who like to get creative.”
These ideas will be available on the We Are Scarborough Facebook page and website, as well as being posted on the trust’s Facebook page, https://engb.facebook.com/scarboroughmuseums/, and on Twitter, @smtrust.
All three competitions will have first and second prizes for entrants aged 11 and under, 12 to 18 and over 18. They are open to everyone and are family friendly, so the organisers ask all those posting entries to bear that in mind.
The closing date for entries is midnight on Monday, June 15, and the winners will be announced online during the Great Get Together weekend.
Scarborough has joined in with the national Great Get Together celebrations for the past three years. Rather than miss out this year, it was decided to go ahead in a way that would bring people together safely in celebration of the town, borough and key workers.
James Knight and Jane Allanach in Next Door But One’s 2017 production of Any Mother Would, to be streamed on YouTube from tonight
NEXT Door But One, the York community arts collective, will stream its 2017 production of Any Mother Would in its YouTube premiere from 7pm tonight.
Written and directed by director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, the hour-long play will then be available online until September, both on YouTube and via the collective’s website, nextdoorbutone.co.uk.
“We’re taking a slightly National Theatre at Home approach to it,” says Matt. “If it’s good enough for the National Theatre in lockdown, then it’s good enough for us.
“It’s completely free to watch, but what we’ve done is set up a Go Funding page, almost as a Pay What You Think, for the YouTube streaming, and whatever we make from donations will make us stronger for the future.”
Any Mother Would marked Next Door But One’s shift into public performance in 2017, “making theatre out of the untold, poignant stories that had been shared with us and that we believe create the foundations of our community, so felt they needed taking to a larger stage.”
Next Door But One director Matt Harper-Hardcastle in rehearsal
This sold-out first venture into the public field featured as part of York Disability Pride 2017 and the Great Yorkshire Fringe 2018 festival.
Public performance is on hold in these Coronavirus-clouded times but, supported by public funding from Arts Council England, Next Door But One is able to continue workshops and performances through its Covid-19 response project, Distant Neighbours.
“We want to ensure that we can sustain our relationships with participants and audiences beyond this current pandemic and also support our freelance artists through this difficult time,” says Matt.
“This means our artistic programme that connects with neuro-diverse children, adults with mental health problems, community groups of people with learning disabilities, and services supporting those who are experiencing grief, will continue.”
When confronted by the Coronavirus lockdown, “initially we looked at all the work we had planned between now and September,” says Matt. “Mainly we considered all the people we were already working with and how we could stay connected, having built up many relationships with community groups and organisations, such as Snappy, Camphill Village Trust and St Leonard’s Hospice.
James Knight and Jane Allanach in a scene from Next Door But One’s Any Mother Would
“With the heightened scenarios brought about in lockdown, we wanted to ensure we could keep it going, and have life after this time, and we felt it was important that people had opportunities for education, for involvement, for expression, for so much more than just entertainment, like learning about navigating through life at Camphill Village.
“We have already begun an online R&D [research and development] of our adaptation of The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, hosted our first Playback Theatre workshop over Zoom, and soon we’ll be able to offer a rehearsed reading of our latest play, written for May’s cancelled York’s Dead Good Festival.”
Next Door But One applied for an Arts Council emergency fund in in late-April, all tied up in a fortnight, and already Matt had contacted eight freelance theatre-makers to be involved in projects now to be conducted online and on Zoom.
“We know how hard hit the freelance cohort has been in lockdown, me included, so we’ve now been able to honour our contracts in a slightly different way,” he says.
“We’ve also been able to ring-fence the original money granted for the scratch performances and we can give work to our artists once more when we can do that.
Actor Anna Rogers and Matt Harper-Hardcastle in discussion in the rehearsal room
“Between now and September, we can keep people working, and after we received just under £6,000, we can do so much more than we first thought we would.”
Next Door But One also applied for Comic Relief funding towards next year’s work, receiving just under £5,000. “We put that application in at the same time, and this allows us to run another year’s work with Converge [at the University of York St John], doing our Discover Playback course.”
Discover Playback brings together performers and those with experiences of mental ill health, with the focus on learning, creativity and being artists together.
“We’re now going to be able to continue our work with Converge, in this mental health field, when otherwise those people would have had to face five months’ withdrawal from our services and their well-being might well have been affected so much that we might have had to start all over again from scratch,” says Matt.
“Instead, we’re working on our Discover Playback workshops through the summer and through the next academic year too.
“We can support those people we have worked with for three years when this work feels more important than ever,” says Matt Harper-Hardcastle
“The funding means that not only can we support our artists through this awful time, but also those people we have worked with for three years when this work feels more important than ever.”
As mentioned by Matt earlier, research and development work is continuing on The Firework-Maker’s Daughter on Zoom. “That brings its own wonderments and challenges when we can’t work in our usual ways with Snappy and York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre, but now we can record a Zoom version and podcast version and send them out to continue our work,” he says.
“The original plan was that we would be taking our scratch version to York Theatre Royal’s De Grey Rooms ballroom at the end of June, and to Snappy too, but that can’t happen.
“So now we’re doing the R&D workshops in a reduced form on Zoom, working with people with sensory needs and autism, and we’re having to look at different ways for these young people to interact with the screen.
“That’s why we’re making the video (Zoom) version, podcast version, and we’re looking at using Makaton, a version of sign language that uses key symbols, so it’s more of a visual aid.”
Next Door But One and Converge took part in Mental Health Awareness Week with the #DiscoverPlayback course @ConvergeYork
Matt continues: “We’re ploughing ahead with this, and a video and audio recording should be ready by July to send out to Snappy and to any parents who think it might be useful for their child.
“Our live performances combine a hybrid of participatory elements that we can now include in the recorded version, with worksheets, activity packs, drawing materials, the chance to do music within it, but now doing everything individually at home.”
Coming next from Next Door But One will be a rehearsed reading of a shortened version of Operation Hummingbird, a play Matt has written in the wake of publishing The Day The Alien Came, his book on his bereavement experience after losing his mother to cancer.
“I did a few book readings and author talks and lots of people said, ‘You should make this into a play’, but writing the book was a big feat in itself, so I’d never considered doing a play,” he says.
“But then I thought about making a piece for the Dead Good Festival, so I’ve taken a fictionalised story, looking at how grief and the feelings of grief change, starting with feelings of loss as a child and how that then changes, and how our memories of things change over time; what we hold on to; how what we think of as painful changes; how it becomes a discussion between our self now and our younger self.
“We haven’t fixed a date for the rehearsed reading yet, but hopefully it will be in July.”
Blue sky, thinking of returning: Castle Howard’s grounds and gardens are reopening from June 1
THE Castle Howard gardens and grounds, near York, will reopen from next week with new health and safety measures in place in these continuing Covid-19 times.
Castle Howard members will be able to visit from Wednesday, June 3, and then all visitors, from Monday, June 8.
All visitors will be required to pre-book tickets online via the Castle Howard website, for capacity management purposes, and will then self-scan at the ticket office to enable contactless entry to the gardens.
New safety measures have been put in place to reflect the Government’s social-distancing guidelines and full information can be found on the Castle Howard website.
In the first weeks of opening, the focus will be on allowing visitors back into the gardens with limited facilities. Reopening of outlets will be reintroduced over the coming weeks when the necessary systems and risk assessments are in place and team members are trained up to operate each outlet safely.
Access to the gardens will exclude the playground at this stage, but will include takeaway catering outlets, and the farm shop and garden centre remain open daily.
Abbigail Ollive, head of marketing and sales, says: “The team at Castle Howard have been working hard behind the scenes to put our reopening plans into action and we are delighted that we’ll be welcoming back members and visitors over the next couple of weeks.
“The safety of our employees and our visitors is paramount, so we’d advise anyone planning to visit to read the guidelines on our website and pre-book a ticket online. The world might have changed significantly, but the stunning Yorkshire landscape and open spaces that we can offer at Caste Howard have not changed and we know how pleased visitors will be to have access once again to the gardens.”
Castle Howard reopening dates and times:
For the first five days of re-opening, from June 3 to 7, Castle Howard will open the gardens only for Friends/Members between 10am and 5pm.
From June 8, daily opening hours for all visitors will be 10am to 5pm; the gardens will close at 6pm.
From June 15, Castle Howard will offer Members-only entry hours from 9am to 10am and from 5pm to 6pm. The gardens will close at 7pm.
Booking for the general public will go live on Tuesday, June 2. To book, visit castlehoward.co.uk.
York River Art Market: Not taking place this summer amid concerns over social distancing
FIRST, no 2020 York Open Studios in April. Now comes a second blow for York’s artists in Coronavirus lockdown as this summer’s York River Art Market season is called off.
“Unfortunately, YRAM 2020 has had to be cancelled,” the official statement reads. “Officials have advised that the space besides the river is unsuitable for social distancing.
“Please check our Facebook page and support our artists. See you all in 2021 for the best year yet. Stay safe and stay well.”
The fifth year of riverside art markets on Dame Judi Dench Walk would have run on July 4, 11, 18 and 25 and August 1, 8, 15 and 22.
