AMERICAN chanteuse and songwriter Melody Gardot has marked International Jazz Day with a call-out to musicians to collaborate on her new single, From Paris With Love.
In a case of adding music to Melody, she “wants to contribute something unique to this new movement of “connection despite distance”.
“During this complicated time, we miss essential connections with one other,” she says on Instagram. “We miss hugs, we miss our family, our friends…in short we miss love. So, I want to make a love project to help break the feeling of isolation between us.”
Now living in Paris in lockdown, Gardot is asking musicians confined to their homes across the globe to perform in place of a standard orchestra on her new single on Decca Records to benefit healthcare workers and other musicians via the charity Protégé Ton Soignant.
Amid the constraints of the Coronavirus pandemic, Gardot, 35, has been forced to put the recording of her new studio album on hold, but the situation has inspired her to launch her collaborative initiative.
The principle is simple: bring together an orchestra of string and wind instrument players at present unable to work and pay them as if they were in the studio together.
“There are so many magnificent artists and musicians on the planet who are not able to live their art or exercise their profession right now,” says the New Jersey-born singer and multi-instrumentalist. “I am at home in Paris waiting like everyone else.
“I realised we can try to do something beautiful all together and come out ‘virtually’ from our confines to continue producing. I hope this project will give love and hope.”
Musicians should apply via www.melodygardot.com and will be sent musical charts, backing tracks and instructions on how to record and film themselves performing the piece at home.
From these submissions, individual parts for the final recording will be chosen by Gardot and her long-time collaborators, producer Larry Klein, conductor, arranger and composer Vince Mendoza and engineer Al Schmitt.
Any musician chosen and featured in the final recording will be paid a fee relative to a standard UK union recording wage.
“I hope this project will give love and hope,” says Melody Gardot
The single, once assembled, will be accompanied by a video, featuring all participating musicians, performing from their homes, dotted around the globe. From Paris With Love will be a taster for the direction Gardot is heading on the album, whose further details will be announced soon.
In waiving their profit on the track, Gardot and Decca will pay a minimum of 50p to the charity Protégé Ton Soigant for each download sold in the UK and 20p for each permanent download sold outside Britain or for every 150 streams.
In her Instagram message, Gardot provides a step-by-step guide for musicians to take part in the project.
1. Film a five-second “video-portrait” of yourself. “Film it horizontally, make sure we can see enough of you, chest to head, and with a fixed camera. It’s like taking a picture but five seconds long and in video format.
“Don’t move too much. Just pose and record in some natural light in front of a neutral background, wearing a solid black or white T-shirt.”
2. Handwritten horizontally, using a large black Sharpie or black crayon on a white piece of paper (standard A4 format suggested), say “From (wherever you are) With Love”.
“Scan or photograph the paper (highest quality possible) and send both items (your photo scan and your video) to the email address: frompariswithloveproject@gmail.com,” says Gardot. “In your email, please include your Instagram handle (if you have one), so we can find you later.
“After receiving these things, we’ll put together a surprising collaborative video clip featuring all your submissions alongside a new piece of music called From Paris with Love.
“A large portion my royalties from this song will be donated to a Covid-19 relief charity to help medical workers during this time. This way, we share as much love as we possibly can together.”
Gardot adds: “Please remember, if you send this along, it means you’re OK for me to use your image in this project, so think about breaking the ‘quarantine pyjama’ uniform if you don’t want everybody to see you that way! Your mom and mine will see this.” Full terms and conditions can be found at https://decca.lnk.to/termsandconditions.
“We’re only collecting these over the next few days, so please don’t wait too long,” advises Gardot. “Feel free to pass this message along. This is just the first step of this collaborative journey, so stay tuned…With love, from Paris.”
No Saving Grace: Robert Plant: was to have headlined Platform Festival this summer
POCKLINGTON’S 2020 Platform Festival, headlined by Robert Plant’s new band in July, is off.
Run by Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) at The Old Station, the annual festival has “very sadly has been cancelled for Covid-19 health and safety reasons”.
The organisers, PAC director Janet Farmer and venue manager James Duffy, are working on transferring all the 2020 programme to July 21 to 27 2021 and will keep festival-goers updated over the coming weeks.
“We will weather this storm and return in 2021 stronger and more vibrant than ever,” they vow.
Omid Djalili: Booked to open Platform Festival on July 8
The 2020 line-up would have opened with comedian Omid Djalili on July 8, followed by Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant’s Saving Grace with Suzi Dian on July 10, and a Saturday bill on three stages, featuring Shed Seven Acoustic: Rick Witter & Paul Banks, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Ward Thomas, Lucy Spraggan and York country singer Twinnie on July 11.
The BBC Big Band on July 14 and folk-rock stalwart Richard Thompson on July 15 would have completed the festival line-up.
In a joint statement, heartbroken Janet and James say: “Following the continuing developments in the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Platform Festival.
“The safety of our audience members, artists, staff, volunteers and wider community has to come first and we did not want to put additional pressure on the health and emergency services at this time.”
Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter: Topping Platform Festival’s Saturday bill with an acoustic set
Janet and James continue: “Platform is a labour of love, for PAC staff, and being unable to share it with you all in the venue’s 20th anniversary year is heart-breaking. It is, of course, the choice we had hoped we wouldn’t have to make.
“We looked at the possibility of staging the event at a later date in 2020 but the most important thing for us, other than your obvious safety, is to give our customers certainty and so we have made the decision to move this year’s festival to July 2021.”
Praising Platform’s regular festival-goers, they say: “Platform is nothing without our audience, you make it the great festival that it is. We want to thank you for your patience, support and understanding with us, while we have been working to reschedule the festival for you. We will weather this storm and return in 2021 stronger and more vibrant than ever.”
Dealing with housekeeping matters, they confirm: “If you have already booked your tickets, rest assured these are secured. You will be offered the choice of a refund or the chance to hold on to your tickets for the 2021 edition.
Richard Thompson: July 15 gig would have climaxed the 2020 Platform Festival
“We plan to carry as much of the programme as possible forward and, so far, almost all artists have agreed to work with us on this, which is amazing. We will, of course, keep you updated and we hope to have this all finalised in the coming weeks.
“Please be patient and wait to hear from us. Our box office – and external ticket agencies – is extremely busy and we will contact you in due course.”
Janet and James conclude: “Platform 2021 will take place on July 22 to 27 and we would love to see you all there for our biggest party yet. Stay home, stay safe and look after each other. For urgent enquiries, please email info@pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Mary Coughlan: Pocklington concert moved to September 23
Meanwhile, Pocklington Arts Centre has released an updated list of rescheduled shows for 2020/21, with the prospect of more being added in the coming weeks and months.
The Wandering Hearts, winners of the 2018 Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award at the UK Americana Awards, move their sold-out In Harmony, An Intimate Tour show from April 14 to August 27 2020.
Mary Coughlan, “Ireland’s Billie Holiday”, switches her April 21 gig to September 23; inquisitive folk truth seeker John Smith, from May 21 to November 3, and American singer-songwriter Jesse Malin, June 27 to February 2 2021.
Andy Parsons: Comedian re-booked for April 24 2021
BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine now asks “What the hell is going on?” on February 26 2021, rather than May 1 2020.
Billy Bremner & Me, comedian Phil Differ’s comedy-drama recounting his dream of eclipsing the fiery Leeds United and Scotland captain’s footballing deeds, moves from June 5 to March 11 2021; Herman’s Hermits re-emerge on April 22 next spring, and Mock The Week comedian Andy Parsons’ sold-out April 28 gig is re-booked for April 24 2021.
Led as ever by vocalist Maddy Prior, folk favourites Steeleye Span’s 50th anniversary celebrations of debut album Hark The Village Wait will have to wait until its 51st anniversary, their show now moved from May 3 2020 to May 7 2021.
James Felice, left, Will Lawrence, Jesske Hume and Ian Felice of The Felice Brothers, now to play Pocklington on June 22 next summer
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners Catrin Finch, from Wales, and Seckou Keita, from Senegal, will be joined by Canadian multi-instrumental trio Vishten on June 10 next summer, rather than June 13 2020 as first planned.
The Felice Brothers, from the Catskill Mountains, New York State, will be playing almost a year to the day later than their original booking. Ian and James Felice, joined by drummer Will Lawrence and bass Jesske Hume, are in the PAC diary for June 22 2021, replacing June 23 this summer.
The spotlight would have been on their 2019 album Undress, as well as their back catalogue from 2006 onwards, but now there should be new material too.
Courtney Marie Andrews: Watch this space for an upcoming new date announcement
A new date for American country singer Courtney Marie Andrews’ now postponed June 17 concert with her full band should be confirmed in the next week. Her new album Old Flowers will be released on Loose/Fat Possum Records on June 5.
All existing tickets holders for the rescheduled shows are being contacted by the PAC box office for ticket transfers or refunds.
The artwork for Badly Drawn Boy’s new album, Banana Skin Shoes
BADLY Drawn Boy, alias woolly-hatted Damon Gough, will release his first studio album in a decade, Banana Skin Shoes, on May 22 on the AWAL label.
Trailered as a “truly personal and heartfelt collection that skips between musical idioms and emotional extremes”, the 14 tracks were completed last year by Gough at Eve Studios, Stockport, with producer Gethin Pearson, who also mixed the recordings.
Earlier, Gough had worked on tracks for the album with legendary producer Youth at his London studio; Keir Stewart (ex-Durutti Column) at Inch Studios and Seadna McPhail at Airtight Studios.
Badly Drawn Boy last released a studio set, It’s What I’m Thinking Pt 1, Photographing Snowflakes, in October 2010, since when he has composed the soundtrack for Being Flynn, Paul Weitz’s 2012 American film starring Robert DeNiro and Julianne Moore.
This month’s album spans the opening blast of forthcoming single Banana Skin Shoes, with its riotous Beck-meets-Beastie Boys “cartoony” hip hop throw-down, to the immaculately tailored closer I’ll Do My Best, a nod to Gough’s failings, a prayer to his partner and a lyrical tip of the hat to his hero Bruce Springsteen. Take a look at the animated video for the single by award-winning film directors Broken Antler at https://badlydrawnboy.lnk.to/bss-vid
Badly Drawn Boy, alias Damon Gough
In between the two bookends are the retro-futurist pop of Fly On The Wall, evoking the Eighties’ pop-soul of Hall & Oates; the lush piano-and-strings ballad Never Change and the Motown-echoing soul stomper Tony Wilson Said, a celebration of the late, great fixer of the Manchester music scene.
I Need Someone To Trust begins with a nod to Chicago’s soft-rock 1976 chart topper If You Leave Me Now, branching intoa spiritual song of salvation-seeking, while the beautiful, loving I Just Wanna Wish You Happiness sees 50-year-old Gough “dig deep to alchemise the trauma of a break-up into a song of salutation to his ex”.
The track listing on Badly Drawn Boy’s eighth studio album will be: Banana Skin Shoes; first single Is This A Dream?; I Just Wanna Wish You Happiness; I’m Not Sure What It is; Tony Wilson Said; You And Me Against The World; I Need Someone To Trust; Note To Self; Colours; Funny Time Of Year; Fly On The Wall; Never Change; Appletree Boulevard and I’ll Do My Best.
After his sold-out London show at The Roundhouse in January, the 2000 Mercury Music Prize winner will announce more live dates over the coming months. He played Yorfest at York Racecourse in September 2017.
The Blue Light Theatre Company pantomime costume maker Christine Friend turning her hand to sewing wash bags for NHS frontline workers
CHRISTINE Friend normally would be making costumes for The Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime in York. Now she is turning her skills instead to sewing for frontline workers in the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.
She is among a group of volunteers from York, Harrogate and Knaresborough that has come together via Facebook to make uniform wash bags out of anything from pillowcases to old duvet covers.
“They’re making the bags for all our Blue Light Theatre NHS friends and their colleagues,” says Christine’s husband, Mark, actor and publicist for Blue Light Theatre, a company made up of paramedics, ambulance dispatchers, York Hospital staff and members of York’s theatre scene.
“The idea is that after a shift, frontline workers can remove their uniform at work, put it straight into the bag, then close it tight and pop it into their washing machine when they get home to prevent cross-contamination.”
In the bag: Joanne Halliwell and her daughter Abbey, who set up the Bag The Bug group for York, Harrogate and Knaresborough
The Facebook group Bag The Bug – Covid 19 – York, Harrogate & Knaresborough was set up a couple of weeks ago by Joanne Halliwell and her daughter Abbey. “They were wanting something to do during lockdown and found a group called Bag The Bug, based in the north west, who were making the bags for NHS staff in Bolton.
“They decided to make some bags too and after talking to the group’s coordinator, they set up a group locally.”
They had an immediate response, from people asking for the bags, others offering to donate material, sew, help to coordinate Bag The Bug and to drive for the group.
In a fortnight, more than 300 North Yorkshire members have sent 1,850 bags to care homes, NHS staff, GP surgeries, ambulance stations and hospitals.
Adrian Deligny: One of the frontline workers who has received a Bag The Bug wash bag
Co-organiser Joanne says: “I think it just shows how, in times of need, everyone can pull together and do their bit. The community spirit has most certainly come out, which is wonderful. Whether people have sewn ten pillowcases or 100, or have donated one duvet cover or ten, every little helps.”
As the demand for the bags continues to grow, Adrian Deligny is among the care workers who have received bags. “The uniform bag is an excellent idea in order to help stop the spread of the virus at home,” he says.
“Before this, I was putting everything in a bin bag, which wasn’t the best. It is important that during these difficult times everybody is united. This project has shown an unparalleled demonstration of solidarity and generosity. My wife and I are extremely grateful.”
If any organisation requires bags, or if anyone wishes to donate material (it must be able to be washed at over 60c), or can help in any other way, please contact Joanne Halliwell. Do this either via the group’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/240401817107890/ or by email to bagthebugyhk@gmail.com.
THE Milton Rooms, Malton, are launching an urgent crowdfunding appeal to help the community centre through the Coronavirus-enforced shutdown. Otherwise, closure “for good” could be around the corner.
In a stark statement, chairman Paul Andrews forewarns: “We need to raise £10,000 by the end of September to safeguard the future of the venue. Should the Coronavirus crisis extend for a further three months, that figure will rise to £20,000.
“Without these funds, our wonderful arts and community facility may have to close for good.”
The Milton Rooms offer a wide variety of entertainment, play host to theatre companies and Malton groups and provide a central hub for the Malton Food Festival and monthly markets.
Over the past few months, the Milton Rooms team had been “working hard to put together a programme of events and activities for the whole community”. However, the Covid-19 emergency necessitated the building’s closure to the public for as long as required under the Government strictures to beat the virus.
Flashback: The Milton Rooms in concert mode before the Coronavirus shutdown
The Milton Rooms are registered as a charitable limited company, run mostly by volunteers. Now, with no revenue coming in, the need for financial support to pay outstanding bills, such as utilities and insurance, is urgent.
“It has been amazing to see how the community has pulled together to support one another during the crisis,” says Paul. “Many people have great memories of events at the Milton Rooms, whether it be watching family and friends at the pantomime or Ryedale Youth Theatre, attending dances or musical performances, or taking part in community activities such as yoga, Musical Memories or Vintage Dance.
“Please support us at this very difficult time, so that we can maintain the venue and then thrive as a centre when life returns to normal. If 300 people give £30 each, we will have £9,000 and have almost reached our appeal target.’’
Riana Duce as Avalon and Angus Imrie as Geraint in a scene from The Good Book, streaming online from tomorrow
PIONEERING Leeds theatre company Slung Low will premiere their new short film The Good Book from 12 noon tomorrow, streaming online for free.
Set in a future Leeds, James Phillips’s story depicts a society divided between loyalists of the powerful Queen Bear and radical followers of Galahad.
Avalon, played by Riana Duce, is a young woman desperate not to take sides, but as civil war begins, she must undertake a dangerous mission to rescue a precious relic from destruction.
Riana, from Bradford, is joined in the cast of invited actors by Angus Imrie, from Fleabag, Emma and The Archers, Katie Eldred and more than 100 members of the Holbeck community.
Directed by Sheffield filmmaker Brett Chapman, filming took place in late-January at Slung Low’s base, The Holbeck Social Club and at Holbeck Cemetery, Leeds Central Library and Leeds Town Hall.
Slung Low cast members Riana Duce and Angus Imrie in a scene from The Good Book in Holbeck Cemetery
The Good Book forms the first production for the newly formed Leeds People’s Theatre, created by producers Slung Low with support of Leeds 2023, the city’s upcoming international cultural festival, Leeds City Council and the Arts Council.
The film continues writer James Phillips’s future dystopia, a series that began with The White Whale at Leeds Dock in 2013, followed by Camelot, a Slung Low and Sheffield Theatres outdoor co-production in 2015.
Next came Flood, the epic centrepiece of Hull, UK City of Culture 2017’s performance programme that also featured on the BBC.
Project number four represents a departure for Slung Low: the film The Good Book, at once self-contained but also drawing on the world of Camelot.
“I think the plan was to launch it in Leeds and do a little festival run, but after the Coronavirus lockdown it seemed better and more useful to put it out there now online,” says James.
Katie Eldred , centre, as Vivian in The Good Book
“We were lucky that we got the filming done in the last two and a half weeks of January, and the penultimate day was ‘Brexit Day’. Not that long ago, but that now seems a world of somewhat different concerns.”
The Good Book finds Phillips working once more with Slung Low artistic director and executive producer Alan Lane. “The work Alan and I do together is different to the other work Slung Low does,” says James.
“For pieces like Flood, a full-blown epic for Hull’s City of Culture year, it’s a ‘future present’ that we create that allows us to play with big political ideas and look at things in a slightly different way.
“Camelot was done with a massive cast of 127 on Sheffield’s streets in 2015, and again it was a prescient piece where I became obsessed with the thought of a dangerous nostalgia, that need to look back to look forward, which has caused so many problems.
“That play was about a young girl who saw visions of the future of Arthurian Britain, and then ten years later, people come along who have taken those visions seriously but are utterly more dangerous. This re-birth of ‘purity’ becomes so destructive that a civil war starts.”
Angus Imrie as Geraint in Leeds Central Library in The Good Book
James continues: “This was just before Trump’s presidency, Brexit and the Corbyn revolution, so something was in the air. Like ISIS being a nostalgic organisation looking back to something that never existed…and I wondered about Christian fundamentalism too.”
The Good Book is set ten years into that new world, now in Holbeck, as a counter-revolution starts in Leeds, whereas Camelot was set and made in Sheffield.
The switch of location was a “very logical step”, says James: “When I wanted to make this film, it was good to tie it in with the idea that Leeds was the last place that Sheffield would want a counter-revolution to start, and whereas Camelot was about heroes, this story is about a small revolution.”
In The Good Book, an old man caught between two opposing factions gives a young girl a piece of paper with a reference number for a book at Leeds Library. “She has to decide whether to risk herself to save the book, and she wonders what meaning the book might have,” says James.
Is “The Good Book” the Bible? “No. It’s something more than anything to do with what’s going on in the world now,” says James.
Riana Duce as Avalon in The Good Book
A short film may suggest a more intimate work than Camelot, but “it is and it isn’t more intimate”, the writer says. “I made the decision to push the envelope, so it’s not a typical short film. It has a big cast of 100, so technically it’s too long for a ‘short film’.
“At the end, there’s a big riot involving 90 people, and we had lots of recruits wanting to do that scene!”
How does James expect viewers to react to The Good Book? “Hopefully they will be surprised. It’s different. I’ve done screen things before, like the Flood project having a short film and a piece for the BBC, but The Good Book was always, deliberately, conceived to be a short film,” he says.
“I think we’re on to a good thing with this film, so it would be great to do more of them.”
Slung Low’s The Good Book will be available to stream online for free from 12 noon tomorrow (May 1) at www.slunglow.org/TGB
Slung Low’s film poster for The Good Book
Did you know?
LEEDS People’s Theatre has been created by Slung Low as a dedicated division for large-scale professional arts projects with communities in Leeds at the heart of them.
This involves the community working in tandem with professional artists and creative teams, offering an opportunity to learn, gain more experience or simply be part of a community.
The Good Book will be the first of several projects Slung Low are planning for Leeds People’s Theatre. Watch this space.
Suffragette city: Women on the protest march in Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes on the York Minster Plaza in June 2017. Picture: Anthony Robling
YORK Theatre Royal will stream the 2017 community play Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes for free on YouTube from May 6.
Co-produced with Theatre Royal company-in-residence Pilot Theatre, this large-scale production was performed by a community cast of 150 and a choir of 80 from June 20 to July 1 that summer.
Set in early 20th century York, Juliet Forster and Katie Posner’s production began with Suffragette protest scenes and rallying calls on the plaza outside York Minster before moving indoors to the Theatre Royal’s main stage.
Leading professional actress Barbara Marten, who lives in York, played the lead role of Annie Seymour Pearson, a Heworth housewife who risked her life in 1913 to fight for women’s right to vote as women across the country, outraged by inequality and prejudice, began to rise up and demand change.
Barbara Marten as York Suffragette campaigner Annie Seymour Pearson at York Theatre Royal in June 2017. Picture: Anthony Robling
Annie began her involvement in the Suffragette movement as an ordinary, middle-class housewife in a church-going family with a middle-management husband and three children.
She also was part of the Primrose League, who went out canvassing among women like themselves to influence them into urging their husbands to vote for certain candidates for election.
Yet you would struggle to find outward acknowledgment in York of Annie Seymour Pearson’s place in the city’s social history. “The house in Heworth Green, where she ran a safe house, no longer stands and there’s no blue plaque,” said Barbara at the start of rehearsals in late-May 2017. “Even her obituary made no mention of her having been a Suffragette.
“It’s interesting to choose Annie as a central character because she was such a genteel, respectable woman who didn’t start out as a militant, but various events propelled her forward.”
Barbara Marten, the one professional in the community cast of 150, in rehearsal for Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes
Not least, Annie was arrested in January 1913 when a union deputation of York Suffragettes headed to London as thousands of women converged on the capital to protest at the poverty that many women were living through.
“Annie was arrested for obstruction, just for walking on the pavement, and the charge was ‘obstruction’ simply because there were so many women there,” said Barbara.
“She was charged 40 shillings for her offence or three weeks in prison and she wrote to her husband to say that she would not pay her fine, but she would serve her sentence and was prepared to be imprisoned again.
“She’s there in prison for two days, when her husband comes down to London and pays the fine – and you can imagine the scene when she got home.”
Barbara Marten as Annie Seymour Pearson: wife, mother, Suffragette. Picture: Anthony Robling
Everything Is Possible highlighted how the Suffragette movement was not solely a London movement. “Instead, it was made up of women from all over the country, like in Manchester and Leeds, where lots of women worked in factories, and in York as well,” said Barbara. “Scarborough was very militant too.”
The 2017 “protest play” recalled how women in York ran safe houses, organised meetings, smashed windows and fire-bombed pillar boxes, the production telling the story of their dangerous, exhilarating and ground-breaking actions for the first time.
York playwright Bridget Foreman, who wrote Everything Is Possible, says of the timing of next month’s streaming: “It’s really poignant, in the midst of isolation and social distancing, to think about the making of Everything Is Possible; the extraordinary coming together of hundreds of local people, and the staging of huge crowd scenes both on the York Theatre Royal stage and outside York Minster.
“And now the stage is dark and the streets are empty. But looking back to the way in which that show brought people together, inspiring them in so many ways, is a wonderful reminder of the power of theatre and community.”
Playwright Bridget Foreman at the read-through for Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. Picture: John Saunders
Bridget continues: “We saw participants and audience members getting involved with theatre, politics, activism, local history, family research. Now, I really hope that people watching the production digitally will find their own inspiration, their own vision and energy for engaging with and changing the world when we come through this crisis.”
Directed by Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster and Pilot Theatre associate director Posner, now co-artistic director of Paines Plough in London, Everything Is Possiblewaspart of the Theatre Royal’s 2017 season Of Women Born, curated by a team of women to focus on work made and led by female artists, built around women’s stories.
Everything Is Possible can be streamed online on the Theatre Royal’s YouTube channel from 7pm on Wednesday, May 6 to Sunday, May 31. In the run-up to the streaming, the Theatre Royal will be sharing messages on social media from the volunteers who helped bring this production to the stage.
“These responses from the theatre’s community, promoted by the question ‘What does ‘everything is possible’ mean to you right now?’, aims to spread messages of hope and courage to the wider York community during the Coronavirus pandemic,” says marketing officer Olivia Potter.
The full cast and choir for Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes on the York Theatre Royal stage in June 2017. Picture: Anthony Robling
The Theatre Royal is asking viewers to support the stream by making an online or text donation, “so that York Theatre Royal can continue to engage and entertain the York community in the future”.
The Everything Is Possible online stream is part of the theatre’s Collective Acts programme of creative community engagement, taking place while the building is closed under the Coronavirus pandemic strictures.
Further details on the Everything Is Possible online stream and Collective Acts can be found at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Deeds not words: Suffragette protesters leave the York Minster Plaza to make their way to York Theatre Royal in the 2017 community play Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. Picture: Anthony Robling
REVIEW: Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes, York Theatre Royal/Pilot Theatre, at York Theatre Royal and York Minster Plaza, from The Press, York, June 23 2017.
DAMIAN Cruden has no hesitation in naming his greatest achievement in his 20 years as artistic director at York Theatre Royal: the rise and rise of the community play.
The city already had the York Mystery Plys, the street plays staged in myriad forms through the centuries, and when Cruden and Riding Lights’ Paul Burbridge directed the 2012 plays on their return to the Museum Gardens, a template was established for the series of community productions that has ensued.
Each has told a chapter of York’s history: the chocolate industry in the dark shadow of the First World War in Blood + Chocolate on the city streets; the rise and fall of the Railway King, George Hudson, in In Fog And Falling Snow at the National Railway Museum, and now the York Suffragettes in Everything Is Possible, outside the Minster and in the Theatre Royal’s main house.
Street protest: One of the modern-day protesters in the opening scenes from Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. Picture: Anthony Robling
A rabble noise swells from the Minster Plaza, a canny way to make the city aware that a major production of political dimensions involving more than 300 people is taking place in their midst at a time when the political landscape is more divisive and more inflammatory than for years. The scene, a throng of rebel songs and impassioned speeches, replicates demonstrations of yore, suddenly suffused by placard-waving Suffragettes in 1913 attire, followed by policemen forcibly breaking up the crowd.
The likes of Sophie Walmsley on her acoustic guitar need to placed higher above the crowd, but where Barbara Marten’s Annie Seymour Pearson takes her place on the Plaza steps is a better sight line.
“Deeds Not Words” say the placards: a mantra that wholly applies to how these community plays are mounted, volunteers to the fore on and off stage, this time under the guidance of a professional production team led by the Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster and Pilot Theatre associate director Katie Posner
Juliet Forster: York Theatre Royal associate director, co-director of Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes
Once we are ushered by the coppers to the theatre, there is a little lull for chatter and drinks refuelling before Bridget Foreman’s account of the previously untold story of York’s involvement in the Suffragette movement circa 1913 has its day and has its say.
Marten and Suffragettes historian Professor Krista Cowman have played significant parts in bringing the story to the stage, so too have Foreman and a research team, and now at last the role of Annie Seymour Pearson and her Suffragette safe house at 14, Heworth Green, next to the home of anti-Suffragette campaigner Edith Milner, has its rightful place in the city’s history.
Barbara Marten might strike some in the audience as being a little old for her role as a mother of four young children, but Foreman places her as much in the role of a narrator looking back on the events of a century ago as that of protagonist in the drama, and all of Marten’s passion for the story, as well as her celebrated acting skills come to the fore.
A scene from Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. Picture: Anthony Robling
York, it must be said, played rather less of a central role in the Suffragette drive for votes for women than it did in this year’s General Election with its visits by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.
Yes, it played not even second fiddle to London and Leeds, but Emmeline Pankhurst (Liz Elsworth), leader of the British suffragette movement, made a speech here that forms the climax of the first half; leading Leeds campaigner Leonora Cohen (Loretta Smith) visited too, as did Lilian Lenton, the wild-card London arsonist, played by the breakthrough new talent of this show, University of York student Annabel Lee. A firecracker indeed, a professional career surely awaits.
Annie’s arrest in London for obstructing a policeman – when he had been the one to inflict a bloody nose – and the militant activities of the Women’s Social and Political Union in York, led by Jo Smith’s Violet Key Jones, are prominent in the play, A silent movie-style film sequence linked to live action shows the full horror of the prison practice of force-feeding hunger-strikers, showing off Sara Perks’s set to best effect too.
Rallying call: Two protesters on the York Minster Plaza at the outset of Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. Picture: Anthony Robling
Men have their place in the piece in the form of Mark France’s Arthur Seymour Pearson (rather reminiscent of the husband figure in Brief Encounter) and Rory Mulvihill’s stentorian Home Secretary.
A choir of 100 is tucked away out of sight in the gods, assembled by Madeleine Hudson to perform Ivan Stott’s folk-rooted campaigning compositions, but rightly they have their moment in the spotlight on stage at the finale.
Forster and Posner’s very lively, highly committed, educational and resolute production, peppered with anarchic humour as much as political zeal, forms the pinnacle of York Theatre Royal’s Of Woman Born season of women’s words and deeds. In straitened times for funding for the arts, Everything Is Possible affirms that anything is possible when a community comes together and turns York into Suffragette City.
Review by Charles Hutchinson. Copyright of The Press, York.
Man at easel: David Greenwood painting in his garden
KENTMERE House Gallery owner Ann Petherick is determined to champion “great art from troubled times”.
Her gallery doors in Scarcroft Hill, York, may be shut amid the Coronavirus lockdown, but nevertheless Ann has issued a rallying call to support artists still busy being creative.
“Artists are not quitters – and in any case have to eat, pay rent, buy materials, etc. – so it’s likely that all of them are hard at work in their studios in enforced isolation,” she says.
Rosie Dean outside her studio
“Artists need to sell, so for those of you who are indoors and bored with looking at bare walls, or at the same old images, the gallery is open online and you’re very welcome to browse kentmerehouse.co.uk.”
Ann has original paintings and artists’ prints by more than 70 artists, all unique to the gallery, at prices ranging from £30 to £2,000, as well as illustrated books by artists, priced £10 to £30, again unique to Kentmere House.
Gallery regular Susan Bower lives near Tadcaster, where she works from a spacious studio built by her husband, a former GP-turned-joiner and restorer of old fire engines. “The studio is lined with around 100 paintings: finished work waiting to be sent to galleries all over the country, work in progress, and postcards and cuttings for inspiration,” says Ann. “Dogs and grandchildren are banned but manage to sneak in nevertheless.”
John Thornton in his garden studio
John Thornton has a garden studio, self-built and looking on to a delightful sheltered garden. “Prevented from making his usual regular trips to the coast, he’s contenting himself with re-creating the scenes he loves,” says Ann.
“Likewise, Rosie Dean, always one of the most popular artists from York Open Studios, is working on her impressive seascapes from her terraced house in York.”
Suffolk artist Tessa Newcomb paints at her cottage near Aldeburgh. “Cats are always in evidence, and it’s necessary to pick your way carefully across the floor as paintings are everywhere!” says Ann. “It is perhaps fortunate that most of her work is fairly small.”
Ann Petherick surrounded by art at Kentmere House Gallery
David Greenwood now lives in Keighley, where he is lucky to have a garden to paint in, says Ann. “The ongoing cancellations of race meetings are a disappointment to him but he can still enjoy the canal walks that give him much inspiration,” she enthuses. “Like so many artists, he has plenty of sketches from previous visits to work on, along with the ideas in his head.”
Rosemary Carruthers always enjoyed her visits to York, where on several occasions she was artist-in-residence at the York Early Music Festival. “She’s now based in a new house in Holt in Norfolk, where she has a new garden to occupy her considerable gardening skills but retains time for painting her exquisite oils of musicians too.”
Ann updates her website, kentmerehouse.co.uk, regularly and frequently posts on Twitter @kentmere_h_gall. “One day I may even figure out how to deal with Instagram,” she says.
Velma Celli: Adding more than a little sparkle to lockdown
VELMA Celli, York’ very own globe-strutting drag diva, will host a special fundraising concert for St Leonard’s Hospice live from her kitchen on Saturday night to “add a little sparkle to lockdown while helping this great cause”.
Ian Stroughair, the alter-ego of fabulous cabaret creation Velma, returned to self-isolate in his native York directly from a tour of Australia, since when he has joined a host of fellow West End performers to create a season of online streamed concerts from their own homes.
In the wake of Velma’s successful Leave A Light On concert, when viewers tuned in from York, London and even as far afield as New York, Ian decided to organise an intimate gig in support of St Leonard’s Hospice, in Tadcaster Road, York.
“Unfortunately, too many of us have seen the amazing work of the team at St Leonard’s Hospice first hand, as loved ones, including my mum, spent time there as cancer was making life increasingly difficult for them,” says Ian, who presents The Velma Celli Show at The Basement, City Screen, York, each month.
“I’ve always wanted to find a way to support the hospice, and this seems like the perfect opportunity. With so many conventional fundraising events postponed due to the lockdown, this is a great way for people to support the hospice while enjoying a fantastic, fun and fruity evening of live music in their own living room.”
Ian’s glittering cabaret queen has starred in such self-originated shows as A Brief History Of Drag, Equinox – Something Fabulous This Way Comes and Me And My Divas, as well as The Velma Celli Show.
Diva Velma’s repertoire takes inspiration from many of the best female vocalists of the past 75 years, from Judy Garland to Lady Gaga and beyond. “So there’s something for everyone – including hilarious impersonations of the voices and peculiar mannerisms – of some of pop music’s most famous stars,” Ian says. “Unlike many drag queens, Velma always performs live, adding her own special spin to familiar songs.”
Online audience members will receive a link to watch the performance 30 minutes before the 8pm show, which can be streamed on a PC or internet-enabled smart TV.
Velma Celli: From her kitchen to your living room on Saturday night
Charles Hutchinson asks Ian Stroughair/Velma Celli for quick answers to quick questions in the build-up to Saturday’s gig.
Where are you playing this online show? In York or are you back in London now?
“Darling, I’m in Bishy Bishopthorpe. I came up a week before lockdown.”
Why did you choose a kitchen as the performance space for Saturday’s stream?
“It’s the biggest room and better acoustically.”
Describe your kitchen. Colour scheme? Favourite kitchen gadget?
“We are white and grey in our kitchen. Gadget? Bottle opener (obvs!).”
What do you most like about kitchens?
“I love kitchens ’cos I’m a mean cook. Not a bitchy one, just very good! I actually wanted to be a chef, that was the plan. I love to bake.”
What’s your favourite dish you make?
“At the moment, my favourite thing is a custard cake. It’s my great friends Eliza and Suzie’s grandma Dot’s recipe and it’s heavenly.”
Any tips for cooking in lockdown?
“Get creative with what’s in and try not to over-shop.”
How have you been coping with lockdown in York? What are you doing to fill your days?
“I’m coping well. I have my moments because I travel so much with work. I’m cycling a lot and writing.”
Are you good in total isolation?
“NO.”
What are you missing most in lockdown?
“Being with my friends and family.”
What had you been doing this year before lockdown struck?
“I toured Australia with my latest show, which was amazing. I also went on the Atlantis Gay cruise around New Zealand and just lots of fabulous gigs in the U.K.”
What was in your 2020 diary that you now can’t do?
“So many gigs – and I was supposed to open and star in Funny Girls in Blackpool for a few months.”
Why are you doing this concert for St Leonard’s Hospice?
“St Leonard’s Hospice cared for my Mum in her last days. It’s a fantastic facility in York that – since Mum’s passing – I try to support as much as I can because they are utterly fabulous.
“The staff are like living angels. I am in awe of them.”
How did the Leave A Light On show go? When was it broadcast?
“I did it as a solo show on April 2 and it was so much fun. Special shout-out to Eliza and Jamie at Lambert Jackson Productions for their involvement. They’re awesome.”
What songs will you be performing this weekend and why?
“Ooooo, don’t want to spoil the surprise! There’ll be some Queen, Gaga, Judy [Garland] and many more.”
Will there be any special new additions on an isolation theme?
“Yes! A Nirvana classic but re-written lyrically.”
Which one? Maybe that new President Trump Covid-19 favourite Smells Like White Spirit?
“That’s it. Bang on the sentiment.”
What length will the show be? Any guests?
“One hour. I’ll have the insanely talented Twinnie joining me, though safely apart. She’s up in York at her Mum’s for lockdown. Her album Hollywood Gypsy just came out and it’s amazing!
York country singer Twinnie: Velma Celli’s special guest on Saturday
“She hasn’t decided on what else she’ll performing yet, but most likely we’ll do an album track together too.”
I know just the song! May I suggest her candid yet candied single Better When I’m Drunk?
“Perfect. That’s the one. Whoop!”
Finally, how will you celebrate when you can perform on a stage again, in front of an audience?
“By being ready and raising my game.”
To listen to York country singer Twinnie’s debut album, Hollywood Gypsy, last week’s BBC Radio 2 album of the week, go to: https://twinnie.lnk.to/hollywoodgypsyWE
Palisander: Watch out for spiders in all that foliage
THE National Centre for Early Music, York, will continue to reach out from behind closed doors to provide inspirational music online with a series of concerts throughout May.
Confirmed for next month are Palisander, Beware The Spider!, on Saturday (May 2); Rumorum, Medieval Music for voices and instruments, May 16, and European Union Baroque Orchestra, Handel & Bach, May 30, all starting at 1pm.
To view these concerts for free, follow https://www.facebook.com/yorkearlymusic/ or log on to the NCEM website, ncem.co.uk, where you also can find details of the Cuppa And A Chorus community singing sessions, now on Zoom, plus other NCEM news and more concert footage.
Palisander’s fancy footwork
In Beware The Spider!, first performed at the NCEM in March 2019, the young recorder quartet explore the Tarantella, the effects of a venomous spider bite, and the curious world of folk medicine.
Fast moving and fun, with some fancy footwork to boot, the Palisander programme combined music by Vivaldi and many others with an entertaining narrative.
Like Palisander, Rumorum first played Medieval Music for voices and instruments at the NCEM in March 2019. These 12th to 15th century music specialists turn back the clock to the time of Medieval Europe when musicians travelled across the continent, gathering stories, sharing knowledge of love, pain and exile.
Rumorum: Rebec,, harp, flute and voice ensemble
This youthful ensemble formed while studying medieval performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland and took York classical audiences by storm when winning the York Early Music Festival Friends’ Prize in the 2017 festival competition. “If you can’t quite visualise a rebec, harp, flute and voice ensemble, this is your chance,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin.
European Union Baroque Orchestra’s concert recording dates from March 2017, led by director and harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen, who was joined that day by soloists Maria Keohane, soprano, Bojan Cicic, concertmaster,and Neven Lesage, oboe.
The concert was performed to celebrate Early Music Day 2017 on the birthday of JS Bach. “Entitled Betrayal And Betrothal, it features music by Bach and Handel and provides an exciting opportunity to hear this outstanding group again, presenting one of their last ever performances on stage,” says Delma.
“Keeping in touch with our audiences is so important to us in these difficult times,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin
As “an added bonus”, harpsichordist extraordinaire Steven Devine will “help you beat the blues” with Bach Bites – bite size chunks to inspire and uplift – every Wednesday evening at 6pm.
Delma says: “Keeping in touch with our audiences is so important to us in these difficult times and we’re delighted to be able to bring you this eclectic selection of archival recordings from concerts recorded over the past couple of years.
“We’re also continuing our Cuppa And A Chorus event, where people can meet regularly to sing in a relaxed environment. We’re now meeting virtually on Zoom, so even though we can’t be together, we can all try and stay in touch.”
