Olly Murs: First signing for next summer’s concerts at York Racecourse
THE Music & Racing calendar for 2025 is under starter’s orders at York Racecourse with chart-topper Olly Murs confirmed for June 28, a new race day for next summer.
Tickets go on sale at 9am this morning with the promise of “some attractive deals” at yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Acts are yet to be confirmed for the Music Showcase Weekend on July 25 (evening meeting) and July 26 (afternoon meeting). Keep checking the course’s website for further announcements.
James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship, says: “It is great news that Olly Murs, a performer who wowed the crowds on his previous visits here, will be performing for us. It will herald a month for music and racing fans to remember.”
Murs, who will perform following the Saturday race card, will complete his hat-trick of appearances at the Knavesmire track, having played there in 2010 – the year after he finished runner-up in the sixth series of The X Factor – and 2017.
The 40-year-old Essex singer, songwriter, actor and television personality from Starstruck and The Voice UK has released seven albums and 25 singles, including the number ones Please Don’t Let Me Go, Heart Skips A Beat, Dance With Me Tonight and Troublemaker and Top Five hits Thinking Of Me, Dear Darlin, Wrapped Up and Up. He last breached the Top 40 in 2017 with Unpredictable, peaking at number 32 in a duet with Louisa Johnson.
On June 28, racing and music fans can take advantage of a price freeze on general admission. Entry to the main Grandstand and Paddock enclosure starts at £38 per person for a group of six, with no booking fees and free car parking.
On the track, the racing action will see seven thoroughbred contests with combined prize money of at least £275,000.
You can’t stop the beat: The Hairspray The Musical cast on Takis’s psychedelic stage
HAIRSPRAY opened on Monday, but press night was on Tuesday, when it was somewhat of a surprise to be presented with an extensive notice headed “For this performance the role of… will be played by”.
The list covered a full page of A4, eight roles in all, but the eye went straight to the disappointing absence of Yorkshire lead actor and Hull New Theatre pantomime favourite Neil Hurst, whose interview featured in The Press on Monday.
In his stead, understudy Stuart Hickey would be cross-dressing as Edna Turnblad, the no-nonsense laundry service, played on screen by Divine and John Travolta, no less. Hurst will be back from Thursday, we are told.
On a further Yorkshire note, your reviewer had hoped to see Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby in her professional debut as plucky daughter Tracy Turnblad after cutting her musical theatre teeth at the YMCA Theatre in Scarborough.
On tour, however, performances are being shared out with Katie Brice, and on Tuesday, it was Katie’s turn. What a feisty, fearless, funny performance she gave.
Still the feel-best of all the feel-good musicals, Hairspray will be playing to big houses all week, all the more so in half-term week when families are looking to fill the diary with not only Halloween parties and too many sweets.
Paul Kerryson and Brenda Edwards’s touring production last played the Grand Opera House in July 2018, and it returns looking even more kaleidoscopically colourful in Takis’s design for this black-and-white anti-segregation story.
Rooted in John Waters’ cult 1988 cinematic nostalgia spoof and the tongue-in-cheek panache of the 2007 Travolta-led movie remake, this fabulously flamboyant, highly humorous and exuberantly energetic spin-off Broadway musical is propelled by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whittman’s Sixties pastiche songs and Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan’s witty, anarchic book.
Takis delivers a deliciously gaudy set and costume design, as groovy as an Austin Powers movie, now complimented by George Reeve’s projections designs that bring a hi-tech sheen to evoking an early-Sixties retro vibe, whether depicting Baltimore streets, the TV studio for The Corny Collins Show, the Turnblad and Pingleton homes or a prison cell that echoes Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock movie.
Hairspray is set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, where teen rebel Tracy Turnblad (Brace/Emmerson-Kirby) vows to prove “fat girls can dance”, as she challenges the segregation policy that excludes her like and the black community from appearing in the TV talent contest introduced by the slick Corny Collins (cheeky charmer Declan Egan).
On one side of the divide are Tracy; outspoken, larger-than-life mum Edna Turnblad (Hickey/Hurst) and joke shop-owning doting dad Wilbur (Dermot Canavan), and geeky pocket-dynamo best friend Penny Pingleton (Nina Bell/Freya McMahon).
So too are hip-swivelling black pupil Seaweed J Stubbs (Shemar Jarrett/Reece Richards)) and the sage, savvy Motormouth Maybelle (Michelle Ndegwa).
On the other side are the aspiring pageant queen, spoilt brat Amber (Allana Taylor) and her bigoted mother, the TV show’s shrewish, bigoted producer, villainous Velma Von Tussle (Strictly Come Dancing alumna Joanne Clifton in the latest of multiple Grand Opera House musical appearances).
Torn between needy pin-up girl Amber and boundary-breaking Tracy is the TV show’s Elvis-lite pretty boy, Link Larkin (Solomon Davy).
Hickey’s Edna is very much a towering man in a dress, but equips her with the requisite twinkling eye, abundant love of family and well-timed putdowns for authority, and is at his best in the double act duet with Canavan’s ever-resourceful Wilbur, Timeless To Me. Mel Brooks would surely love it.
Beneath her bouffant beehive, Brace’s Tracy buzzes with enthusiasm for life and taking every opportunity; Davy’s Link carries a crooner’s tune and pink suit with equal aplomb, and Clifton’s humorously sour-faced Velma is full of vile style.
Soul and gospel singer Michelle Ndegwa is resplendent in her theatre debut as Motormouth Maybelle after working with the likes of Gorillaz, Gregory Porter and Leeds band Yard Act. Golden hair, golden dress, golden voice, she brings the house down in the stand-out I Know Where I’ve Been.
Exuberant dance numbers choreographed with oomph and pizzazz by Drew McOnie combine with fun, fabulous and forthright performances in a knockout show where “you can’t you stop the beat” but you can beat intolerance, bigotry and racism.
Hairspray, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Victoria Delaney, as Mrs Morland, and Tony Froud, as Mr Morland, in York Actors Collective’s Mary Rose. Picture: Clive Millard
YORK Actors Collective make their York Theatre Royal debut in the Studio with this week’s revival of J M Barrie’s haunted house drama Mary Rose, adapted and directed by Angie Millard.
Formed by a group of like-minded actors with the aim of producing entertaining and thought-provoking theatre, the company was launched in March 2023 with Joe Orton’s 1964 black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, followed in February 2024 by the gritty improvisational piece Beyond Caring, Alexander Zeldin’s topical exposé of the social damage inflicted by zero hours contracts. Both were staged at Theatre@41 in York.
Now comes Mary Rose, a third Barrie drama to play York Theatre Royal in recent years after the 2022-2023 pantomime All New Adventures Of Peter Pan and Northern Broadsides’ touring production of his Regency comedy Quality Street in May 2023.
In this one, an old Yorkshire manor house for sale – Sussex in the original – is haunted by the ghost of a young woman who once lived there.
Thirty-seven years earlier in 1913, a young girl, Mary Rose, went missing on an island in the Outer Hebrides while her father was out of sight. After a month, she mysteriously returns, unaware that she had been away and with no memory of the time she spent missing.
Chris Pomfrett’s Harry and Beryl Nairn’s Mrs Ottery in Mary Rose. Picture: Clive Millard
Then, as a young married woman in 1938, Mary Rose persuades her husband to take her back to the island, only to disappear again. She reappears 22 years later, but she has remained the same while her husband, parents and son have all aged.
Featured at number ten in Michael Billington’s August 2020 list of Forgotten Plays in the Guardian, Barrie’s “strange, sinister Hebridean ghost story about the intensity of mother-son relationships and the universal grief for loss” has long sparked Angie Millard’s intrigue.
“Barrie uses dimensions of time to great effect,” she says of a play that covers a period of 41 years, during which there were two World Wars and massive changes in British society.
“His treatment of love, loss and unwavering hope draws in an audience and gives it universality. I have adapted the script to appeal to modern thinking and offer a little more explanation than Barrie provided but his themes are intact. It remains a moving tribute to mother-love, loss and final reconciliation.”
The production run could not be better timed, coinciding with Halloween on October 31. “The strange and ghostly atmosphere of the play fits beautifully into the autumn slot, which includes Halloween and is a time for considering other worldliness,” says Angie.
Xandra Logan’s Mary Rose and Laurence O’Reilly’s husband Simon on their island picnic in Mary Rose
“I’ve wanted to direct Mary Rose for many years as it was a favourite of my mother’s, who saw it in Sheffield and thought it was a beautiful and charming story. I wanted York Actors Collective to produce something with a lot of theatrical effects, a contrast to what we have done before.
“I suggested this play with two or three other ideas to Juliet [Forster, York Theatre Royal’s creative director] and she settled on this one.”
Barrie’s supernatural play has been “severely adapted” by Angie. Why? “Because you can see the difference between Edwardian and modern-day audiences just by reading it,” she says. “I’ve changed it from three acts with two intervals to three scenes before the interval and two after, reducing the running time by about 20 minutes.
“I’ve also cut out one of the characters, Mr Morland’s friend. They would just talk about the value of art, and though it was supposed to be funny, it just didn’t work for a modern audience.”
Angie has capitalised on Halloween week, “but the ghost story is only one aspect of it,” she says. “It’s a story about mother-love, about [Mary Rose] having a child and losing that child, and how that feels when you deeply love the child. It’s all about loss, framed in a ghost story.
Mary Rose director Angie Millard, left, and stage manager Em Peattie
“In rehearsals, it’s been about exploring characters and the loss they feel. We’ve had crying in the rehearsal room, and I defy anyone to watch the last scene without a lump in their throat.”
Key to Angie’s decision to “offer a little more explanation” is her exploration of Mary Rose. “I’m trying to express her state of mind,” she says. “Mary Rose is clearly autistic, hiding in the apple tree as a child when the Morland family story opens in 1909. At 18, she could equally be taken for a child, talking about playing games.
“She’s too young for her age; her mother and father [Mr and Mrs Morland] recognise this, and in now having an actor in his 40s – rather than one in his 20s – as her husband, it works really well for having the bigger age discrepancy as it was a time when men married young women and no-one thought anything of it.”
You will note that Barrie’s Mary Rose mirrors Peter Pan in the theme of mothers and lost sons: Barrie grew up as a “lost boy”, neglected by his grieving mother after the death of his elder brother. Like Peter Pan too, the character of Mary Rose does not grow up.
“I’m also fascinated that Alfred wanted to do Mary Rose’s story as a film,” says Angie. “He could see the mileage in it, that strangeness typical of Hitchcock. “
Haunted: Beryl Nairn’s Mrs Ottery in York Actors Collective’s Mary Rose. Picture: Clive Millard
In Angie’s cast are Beryl Nairn as Mrs Ottery; Chris Pomfrett as Harry; Tony Froud as Mr Morland; Victoria Delaney as Mrs Morland; Clare Halliday as Molly; Xandra Logan as Mary Rose; Joy Warner as Cameron and Laurence O’Reilly, Angie’s poet son, as Simon, stepping into the role at three weeks’ notice.
York Actors Collective presents J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 30 to November 2, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Did you know?
MARY Rose premiered in London at the Haymarket Theatre in April 1920, running until February 1921. Fay Compton played Mary Rose, a role written for her by Barrie. The play opened in New York on Broadway in December 1920, running at the Empire Theatre for four months with Ruth Chatterton as Mary Rose.
A 1972 production by Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company starred American actress Mia Farrow, transferring to London.
Alfred Hitchcock planned to turn the play into a film, with Tippi Hedren in the title role, but was thwarted by Universal Studios.
York RI Golden Rail Band members: Playing 40th anniversary concert at National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, on Friday
YORK RI Golden Rail Band, a brass band with its roots in York’s railway history, will mark its 40th anniversary with a special concert at the National Centre for Early Music on Friday (1/11/2024).
Based at the band room on Queen Street, next to York Station, the Golden Rail Band came into being in 1984, taking on the name of its sponsor at the time, British Rail’s Golden Rail, the operators of popular all-inclusive holidays by train to British resorts in the 1970s and ’80s from a base in York.
Before taking on the Golden Rail name, it was the training band for what is now York RI Band (previously York Railway Institute Band), also based at the Queen Street band room.
The parent band’s relationship with the railways goes back even further, to 1952, following a merger that saw Ebor Excelsior Silver Band and York City Band allied to York Railway Institute, as most members were railwaymen at the time.
After the arrangement with the British Rail package holidays company ended, Golden Rail Band retained the name and went on to take part in brass band contests under the baton of long-time conductor John Warley until 1994.
A number of different conductors succeeded him, not least Huntington schoolboy Jack Capstaff, who took on the role at only 16 years old in 2010, earning the title of Britain’s youngest brass band conductor.
Jack was succeeded by older brother Nicholas Eastwood, who had previously held the title when he began his conducting career aged 19 with Honley Band in Huddersfield.
Other former Golden Rail conductors include Peter Andrews, funeral director Kevin Moxon, the RI Band’s James Lolley and Iain Fell, now of Malton White Star Band, before trombonist Nicholas Eastwood took up the baton again as musical director in January 2022.
He embraced his return to brass bands with typical verve and enthusiasm, driven by an ambition for the band to aim higher and do more innovative programming, and in 2023 he was shortlisted for the Brass Bands England Conductor Award.
Nicholas has devised the programme for Golden Rail’s 40th anniversary concert, with tickets priced at £5 to make the experience accessible and affordable for all, on sale on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk.
“I’m looking forward to our anniversary concert, where we can not only celebrate the successes of the past but also look with pride at the band that has evolved, one that encourages grassroots performance, enthuses audiences, and innovates at a level above its stature,” he says. “This concert will do that, for sure!”
As well as marking the band’s railway roots and connections, Friday’s 7.30pm programme features an environmental-themed original story for brass band written by Nicholas, featuring vocalist Rachel Tuckett and narrated by York actor Paul Joe Osborne. Blackbird brings together a repertoire of popular music, including songs by Paul McCartney, Sia, Queen, Disney’s Hercules and The Cinematic Orchestra.
Reflecting on Golden Rail Band’s history, Nicholas says: “The band’s 40-year legacy is so rich and colourful. We have had so many players that have been through this phenomenal organisation and have gone on to the highest of musical accolades, including other areas of music like jazz, military and orchestral. It’s a privilege to have contributed to that vibrant history, both as a player and as musical director – twice!”
Many of York’s established brass musicians learned to play with Golden Rail, which enjoyed a thriving and sociable youth scene. Former band member Paul Stamp, who now plays with Championship Section Shepherd Brass Band in York, says: “I still have vivid memories of my first ever concert as a young player with the Golden Rail Band. I was around ten years old when I joined the band in 1987.
“It was at the Citadel on Gillygate. I remember pulling on the massive green Golden Rail concert jacket and green tie and walking into the band room before the concert. There must have been at least 20 people that told me I looked like a Teddy Boy! I had no idea what they were talking about.
“I sat on the third cornet seat next to my grandad Bill. I remember returning home and my dad asking my grandad how I did. He said I was great, but I needed to learn my sharps and flats. I’m still working on that!”
Paul retains a fondness for the now dilapidated band room, which is to be knocked down as part of the work connected with York Station Gateway.
“The band room is amazing,” he says. “Its history, intensity and aura are something many bands long for. You can’t buy that. The generations that have come through the Golden Rail Band and emerged as excellent players and friends to this day is quite astonishing.”
Sharon Greenfield joined in 1982 when in its training band days and was there for the transition to the Golden Rail Band name. “I was very much a part of that band family,” she says.
“There were a number of kids all of a similar age that grew up in this band together. We had a number of, dare I say, mature players that kept a good eye on us kids and I considered them my banding uncles. John Scarboro, Peter Duck, Billy Stamp, to name a few. I have some wonderful memories of my time with the band.
“As I grew older and my banding career went off in a different direction, I remember with much fondness my days with the Golden Rail Band. Even though my life took me to a different part of the county, I will never forget my roots and where my brass banding was nurtured.”
York RI Golden Rail Band will round off a year of celebrations by performing at three more iconic venues, playing Selby Abbey with Leeds Male Voice Choir on December 7, a service for the Lullaby Trust at York Minster on December 8 and the Community Carol Service at York Barbican on December 15.
Balancing act: M6 Theatre Company in Mike Kenny’s A Tiger’s Tale at Helmsley Arts Centre
A TIGER adventure and a boy with a stammer, two ghost stories and a pioneering DJ are in the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s entertainment tips for the week ahead.
Ryedale children’s show of the week: M6 Theatre Company, A Tiger’s Tale, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 2.30pm
ROCHDALE company M6 Theatre presents York playwright Mike Kenny’s fantastical, riotous adventure A Tiger’s Tale, the extraordinary story of Fenella, the Holmfirth Tiger, in a high-spirited balancing act of circus, puppetry, live music and song.
From a circus train in South Africa, to a steamboat on the Atlantic Ocean and onward to West Yorkshire, the ramshackle travelling troupe of Titch, Ma and Pa relates the unbelievable true story of a family of acrobats and their adopted tiger cub. Suitable for ages four to 11. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Hilson Agbangbe’s Sonny in Bristol Old Vic’s Wonder Boy, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Steve Tanner
Play of the week: Wonder Boy, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday; evenings, 7.30pm, tonight and Friday; matinees, 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday
OLIVIER Award winner Sally Cookson directs Bristol Old Vic’s touring production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s exploration of the power of communication, told through the experiences of 12-year-old Sonny and his imaginary friend Captain Chatter.
Playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music combine in this innovative show that uses live creative captioning on stage throughout as Sonny, who lives with a stammer, must find a way to be heard in a world where language is power. When cast in a school production of Hamlet by the head teacher, he discovers the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Victoria Delaney as Mrs Morland and Tony Froud as Mr Morland in York Actors Collective’s production of J M Barrie’s Mary Rose at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Clive Millard
Theatre Royal debut of the week: York Actors Collective in Mary Rose, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight to Saturday, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees
YORK Actors Collective make their York Theatre Royal debut with a revival of Peter Pan and Quality Street playwright J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, adapted and directed by Angie Millard.
“Barrie uses dimensions of time to great effect,” she says. “His treatment of love, loss and unwavering hope draws in an audience and gives it universality. I’ve adapted the script to appeal to modern thinking but his themes are intact. The strange and ghostly atmosphere fits beautifully into our autumn slot, which includes Halloween and is a time for considering other worldliness.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Helmsley company Clap Trap Theatre in the ghost story The Room Upstairs at Helmsley Arts Centre
Haunted drama for Halloween week: Clap Trap Theatre in The Room Upstairs, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
WHEN a young woman answers an advertisement for a trusted house-sitter, she arrives at a beautiful house in the middle of nowhere. It should be the perfect job but with one proviso. Please do not go into the room upstairs.
A mysterious cloaked figure narrates and commentates as two young people strive to unravel the long-held mystery of a haunted house in this new 55-minute black comedy by BAFTA-nominated television writer Tom Needham, performed by Cal Stockbridge, Florrie Stockbridge and Helmsley Arts Centre artistic director and Youth Theatre director Natasha Jones. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Skylights: York band headline York Barbican for the first time this weekend
York gig of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 7pm
ANTHEMIC York indie band Skylights play their biggest home-city gig to date this weekend with support from Serotones and Pennine Suite.
Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here. So to headline will be the perfect way to finish a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.” Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement. Picture: Andy Hollingworth
Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, Peter Brush, Faizan Shan and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 8pm
PEAK District comedian, television regular, Upstart Crow actor and self-help podcaster Rob Rouse, who trained as a geography teacher at the University of Sheffield, makes a rare York appearance with his hyperactive, loveable brand of comedy.
Harrogate Comedian of the Year 2012 Peter Brush combines a slight, bespectacled frame and scruffy hair with quirky one-liners and original material, delivered in an amusingly awkward fashion. Manchester comic Faizan Shah’s material makes light of growing up in an immigrant household with the mental health challenges it brings. Organiser Damion Larkin hosts as ever. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Andy Kershaw: “Two-hour explosion of irresistible tropical dance music” at Milton Rooms, Malton
Declaring war on musical mediocrity: Andy Kershaw’s African, Caribbean & Latin Dance Night, Milton Rooms, Malton, November 8, 8pm
ANDY Kershaw, DJ pioneer, evangelist and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter, has brought global music to British audiences over more than three decades of programmes on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 3. His obsession with finding new music has resulted in a 7.5 ton record collection garnered from visits to 97 countries in pursuit of new and exciting sounds.
His one-man war on musical mediocrity promises a two-hour explosion of irresistible tropical dance music. Folk-infused York buskers and party, pub and festival covers’ band Hyde Family Jam support. Box office: 01653 692240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Rag’n’Bone Man: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer
Gig announcements of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, July 6, and Rag’n’Bone Man, July 11 2025
“I THINK I’ve got the best reggae band in the world,” says UB40 legend Ali Campbell, who last played Scarborough OAT in 2021. “They are all seasoned musicians, who have spent all their lives in professional bands, and I feel so confident with them.” Support acts will be Bitty McLean and Pato Banton.
Triple BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award winner Rag’n’Bone Man, alias Rory Graham, will follow up his 2023 Scarborough OAT show with a return next summer in the wake of his third album, What Do You Believe In? entering the charts at number three last Friday. His special guest will be Elles Bailey. Tickets for both shows go on sale at 9am on Friday at ticketmaster.co.uk.
OLIVIER Award winner Sally Cookson directs Bristol Old Vic’s production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s exploration of the power of communication, on tour at York Theatre Royal from tonight to Saturday.
Playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music combine in this innovative show that uses live creative captioning on stage throughout as 12-year-old Sonny, who lives with a stammer, must find a way to be heard in a world where language is power, with the aid of his imaginary friend Captain Chatter.
When cast in a school production of Hamlet by the head teacher, Sonny discovers the real heroes are closer than he thinks.
Here Sally discusses the wonders of Wonder Boy.
How did your production of Wonder Boy come to fruition?
“I was invited to a new writing festival at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School pre-pandemic in which Ross Willis’s play was presented. It jumped out at me as a piece of unique writing, and I was attracted to the way Ross combined an absurd world with the very real. It made me laugh and cry.
“I contacted him and went to see his production of Wolfie at Theatre 503 [in Battersea, London], which I loved. Tom Morris [the then artistic director of Bristol Old Vic] agreed to programme Wonder Boy the following year at Bristol Old Vic but that got postponed because of Covid.
“Ross and I got to know each other during the pandemic via delightful phone calls where we’d just talk about anything and everything. Chatting with Ross is like being in one of his plays. Wonder Boy finally got performed in 2022, a couple of years later than intended, but by which time we’d had a chance to dream up ideas together about the show.
Hilson Agbangbe as Sonny in Bristol Old Vic’s Wonder Boy. Picture: Steve Tanner
In the play, Ross Willis writes movingly about the frustrations that can come with having a stammer. How did you bring that into the structure of the show?
“This is at the heart of the piece. Ross calls it the great inner operatic pain that comes not being able to be seen or express yourself. It was essential that we found a way of bringing all elements of the production together to illustrate and highlight Sonny’s plight.
“Music is especially important in helping with this and Benji Bower’s composition manages to get right inside the character’s head. But casting an actor who is able to portray the character’s trauma is key.
“Understanding what causes Sonny to behave in the way he does and identify every moment of his thought process is vital. Some of Sonny’s darkest moments happen when there is no text, so being able to identify how his pain manifests physically is important too.
“Ross has written it into the structure of the show, those big absurd moments when Shakespeare comes to life to torment Sonny or when vowels and letters attack him are all moments that tap into his inner operatic pain.”
How is creative captioning used in the show?
“The play is about what happens when a person communicates differently and the challenges they face when fluent speech is the expected societal norm. It felt entirely natural to include creative captions as part of the overall design of the show to tap into the major theme of communication.
“Creative captioning involves incorporating the entire text into the world of the play. We don’t just display the words on a small digital strip positioned either to the left or right of the stage; we ensure that all the words spoken are visually central to the piece.
Designed by Tom Newell, the creative captions provide another creative layer and are not only an access tool for deaf, deafened or hard of hearing people but an important part of the imaginative world created in the play.”
Hilson Agbangbe’s Sonny with his imaginary friend, Ciaran O’Breen’s Captain Chatter. Picture: Steve Tanner
Wonder Boy deals with mental health issues, such as suicide. Can theatre do that particularly well?
“My experience is that theatre is a wonderful place to interrogate the stuff that frightens us as humans. And to ask those questions safely in a rehearsal room, and to share that with an audience is what theatre does best.
“In Wonder Boy the protagonist Sonny experiences complicated feelings of guilt, shame, grief and anger as a result of his mother’s death by suicide. A lot of plays written for young people shy away from themes such as this, but Ross approaches the subject with honesty and integrity. He understands what young people endure and gives voice to their suffering in an imaginative way.
“Theatre is a space to gather together to explore human behaviour, and hopefully come away with a bit more understanding of why we do the things we do.”
Wonder Boy is a play for young people – and very “sweary” too. Discuss…
“Oh, we had so many discussions about the ‘sweariness’. It has taken us around and about and back to where we started, which is why we’ve changed very little of it. Ross is quite right – most young people swear a lot. It has become part of the way they communicate.
Some adults get quite upset about the amount of swearing in the show; no young people do. And the play really is for teenagers. Getting teenagers into the theatre is very difficult, and I think Ross has absolutely found a way of engaging them – by telling a beautiful and important story and using an extreme version of the language they identify with.
A scene from Bristol Old Vic’s touring production of Wonder Boy
This show illustrates the impact of art, and theatre in particular, on young people, especially those who experiencing difficulties. Are you passionate about this?
“Yes. That’s what helped me. I hated school. I was really miserable. And my mum sent me to the local youth theatre. That’s where my journey into the arts started. And it’s where I suddenly felt valued, and where I had a voice, so I feel very strongly about it.
And now more than ever – with a curriculum starved of the arts (hopefully this will soon change) – theatre is essential in engaging young people’s imaginations and allowing them space to dream and think big.”
What can theatre give to a young person who is struggling to be heard or to find a voice?
“So many things. It’s not just about encouraging young people to work in the arts. By joining a youth theatre, being part of an audience regularly, partaking in drama, it can make you feel more connected, less alone.
“It can inspire your imagination, make you think bigger, think differently; it can encourage empathy by helping you understand why other people behave like they do. It can tap into your own artistic talents, and help you find things out about yourself that you never knew you had. It can also just be a good laugh. The list is endless.”
Bristol Old Vic presents Wonder Boy, York Theatre Royal, tonight until Saturday; evenings, 7.30pm, tonight, tomorrow and Friday; matinees, 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 / yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Flashback
Nadia Clifford as Jane Eyre in the National Theatre’s Jane Eyre, directed by Sally Cookson
IN the 2017 Hutch Awards, Sally Cookson’s National Theatre staging of Jane Eyre, performed on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, won Stage Production of the Year in York made outside York.
“YOU will not see a better theatre show in York this year, and you won’t have seen a better theatre show in York since The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time”. So The York Press review stated in May that year.
How true that proved to be. Cookson’s devised production of vivid, vital imagination brought Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre back to Yorkshire with breathtaking results.
Adam Ant: Antmusic 2024 will now be Antmusic 2025 after tour postponement
ILLNESS has forced the postponement of Adam Ant’s Antmusic 2024 tour, including Wednesday’s return to York Barbican.
Ticket holders will be contacted by their point of sale and there is no need to contact the venue.
The chart-topping Adam And The Ants front man, who turns 70 on November 3, plans to re-schedule his shows for 2025.
Since October 18, he has called off gigs in Cambridge, Southend, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Guildford and Liverpool on the day but now he has decided to postpone all remaining shows on account of an “inflamed throat”.
A statement from Adam Ant reads: “It is with great sadness that I must tell you that I am postponing and rescheduling the Antmusic 2024 tour.
“As you know, I have missed some shows this week [Editor: he is referring to last week] due to ill health, and I am uncertain how much longer it is going to take me to be stage fit and ready to bring you all the hits that you love.
“Performing live is one of the things that brings great joy to me and I am so disappointed that at this moment in time I am unable to.
“There will be an announcement next week as my team work out the new dates, so please hold on to your tickets as they will all be valid for the new shows.
“Good news is that we hope to be able to add some extra shows and additional venues as well and make this next tour bigger and better. I love you all and thank you all for your kind messages over this past week. Love, Adam.”
I THINK I should preface this review with a huge sense of gratitude to French musicologist Jérome Dorvial, who discovered and researched the music of composer Hélène de Montgeroult and introduced this remarkable body of work to pianist Clare Hammond.
Hélène de Montgeroult has a quite remarkable CV: an aristocrat who married a Marquis, carried out secret diplomatic missions to London, was arrested but kept her head by improvising an emotional set of variations on the Marseillaise. De Montgeroult was a radical and this was very evident in the advanced language and Romantic style of these studies.
The first study (No. 62) sounded Chopin-esque – a beautiful right-hand melody crossing over a rippling accompaniment, almost like a love duet. The sensitivity of Ms Hammond’s playing was exemplary.
No. 67 had echoes of Mendelssohn’s Songs without words. The swirling accompaniment feature was still present, but the soaring melodies were more animated. No. 104 was characterised by quickly articulated, rhythmically driven playing. To be sure, these works are pedagogical, but they are musical gems first and foremost.
No. 110 and back to Chopin. The shaping of the gorgeously ornamented bel canto melody was sublime. In No. 111 it was Schubert, for me anyway. Forceful, driving and a great way to sign off.
Dorvial described de Montgeroult as the “missing link between Mozart & Chopin”, and listening to this insightful performance of the studies, it is hard not to see why.
Despite declaring that she “once felt the soul of Beethoven in Bonn”, Cécile Chaminade’s music positively eschews any radical trends. She said of Debussy that “his music is to my ears . . . well, grey, a bit grey”. And yet I did feel the soul of Debussy in the opening Impromptu Op. 35, No.5.
And, when performed as wonderfully as this, I am sure he’d have been as thrilled as myself. The Etude Romantique, Op. 132 was a delightful rollercoaster ride full of joy and dazzling brilliance.
Here the influence of Chopin was so palpable, it could have been an homage to the great man, but I also heard a snapshot of Wouldn’t It Be Loverly? from My Fair Lady. Maybe.
What struck me when listening to Ms Hammond’s performance of the two Fauré Nocturnes was how technically demanding they are. In the Nocturne No. 8 in Db major the rhapsodic melody sang quite seamlessly in and out of all three registers, producing a gentle but intriguing experience.
The opening Nocturne No. 12 in E minor could not have been more different. Talk about the cry of a tortured soul, this was it. But you cannot have the dark – the anxiety was palpable – without the light, a sensual, rich-flowing tenderness, and, mercifully, Clare Hammond’s interpretation expressed both.
I have never heard Beethoven’s Sonata in C# minor, Op. 27, No.2 (“Moonlight”) live and Ms Hammond’s performance was just remarkable. It is easy to forget how radical the first movement is. It completely turns expectations, the laws of thermo-driven dramatic precedents, on their head.
We still get the same structural blueprint, but it is transformed into a Zen-like meditation. The playing was hypnotic and the thread mercifully maintained through the diminished 7th chords to the close.
The second movement Allegretto, which Liszt christened “a flower between two chasms”, was charm personified; the music danced. Ms Hammond’s adherence to Beethoven’s dynamic and articulation markings were integral to this. The syncopated rhythms of the Trio delivered contrast rather than any dramatic intent.
This, of course, belongs to the blistering helter-skelter drive of the closing Presto agitato with its now familiar sudden dynamic and expressive gear shifts. What really struck me here was the emotional control: nothing showy, flashy. There was an understated control.
The performance as a whole, and this final movement in particular, reminded me of the great Richard Goode’s approach to the Beethoven Sonatas. The youthful exuberance of the opening Allegro con spirito of Mozart’s Sonata in D, K. 311 was brilliantly refreshing.
Clare Hammond: “Evoking the musical imagery of a storm”
The playing was crystal-clear with the dynamic shaping of the driving semiquaver passages and the tapering-off of the musical phrases impeccably nuanced: a distinctive feature of the recital as a whole.
The central G major Andantino con espressione was just lovely: delicate with a dream-like quality. The longer Rondeau: Allegro returns to the exuberance of the opening movement. The young Mozart’s evolving powers of expression are evident here, as are the characteristics of the Mannheim style of composition: sharp dynamic and textural contrasts. The playing had a natural, instinctive flow; it oozed panache.
I was really struck by Clare Hammond’s performance of Clara Schumann’s Drei Romanzen, Op.21. They really are standout pieces; wonderfully crafted miniatures with a depth suggesting a larger canvas.
The influence of Brahms was obvious, particularly in the opening Andante with its ‘sombre Brahmsian melody’. By contrast, the short Allegretto: Sehr zart zu spielen did indeed bring out the delicate, playful nature of the ‘light-hearted semiquavers’. The closing Agitato proved to be a quite an energetic signing off. Impressive piece, impressive performance.
Then, out of nowhere, American composer Jeffrey Mumford dropped in to say hello. I really like Jeffrey Mumford, who says: “Being a black composer is itself a very subversive act because you offend both sides.” And I really like his music. The compositions invariably have beautiful aphoristic titles – such as tonight’s Of Ringing And Layered Space.
Clare Hammond performed the first of these five movements, Jenny – for pianist Jenny Lin, which delivered a static, dream-like atmosphere. Yes it was (quite) complex and modern – whatever that means now, but seductive and very accessible.
The recital closed with another set of five studies: Chopin’s Etudes, Op. 25, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 11 and 12. No.1 (‘Pollini’) is a study focusing on arpeggios and tone colour. Ms Hammond’s light-touch legato playing was, unsurprisingly, impeccable – the beautiful right-hand melody singing out of and with this gorgeous accompaniment.
No. 2 (‘The Bees’) came across buzzing with a continuous stream of rhythmic cross-accents – right-hand quaver triplets counterpointed with left-hand crotchet triplets and syncopation to great effect. The moto perpetuo legato playing, with very little pedal support, was flawless.
No. 4 (‘Paganini’) came across as delightfully quirky: left-hand leaping staccato quavers accompaniy the right-hand singing melody. In No. 11 (‘Winter Wind’) the lefthand was dominated by a dotted rhythm march with the right hand chromatically covering much of the piano keyboard. This was, amongst other things, an exercise in sheer stamina. It also (surely) referenced the famous Revolutionary Study.
The set and programme ended with the seriously challenging study No. 12 (‘Ocean’). As with No. 2, we heard cross-rhythms, syncopation, loud, dramatic sforzando accents. It came across as also richly contrapuntal.
Clare Hammond’s playing did indeed evoke the musical imagery of a storm, the pianist clearly relishing the unrelenting, almost elemental nature of this remarkable study.
Review by Steve Crowther
A footnote:
WE know that Liszt was a dedicated lover who had many relationships. We know he was attracted to Chopin’s lover, Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, aka George Sand, which never bodes well. We know that Chopin had dedicated these Op. 25 Etudes to Franz Liszt’s mistress, Marie d’Agoult. And, after having just listened to Ms Hammond’s tortuous, passionate performance of the final C minor Etude, “the key of pathos”, I think I can see why.
Lauren Charlton-Mathews: Solo renditions of Stars And The Moon and The Flagmaker, 1775 in Songs For A New World. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen
WHEN Songs For A New World opened at the WPA Theatre in New York, Jason Robert Brown and his director, Daisy Prince, described it as “neither musical play nor revue, but a very theatrical song cycle”.
It becomes even more so in the hands of Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ musical director and producer Matthew Peter Clare and his co-director and co-stage designer, Mikhail Lim, as the York company follows up last week’s collaboration with Wharfemede Productions in another Brown work, The Last Five Years.
The traverse setting for that fractious two-hander makes way for an end-on design that makes full use of the St Margaret’s Church bare side wall, framed with netting and white sheets and a screen for Kelly Ann Bolland’s all-important scenic design.
Adam Price and Natalie Walker
The video footage, full of politicians promising peace, countered by war and destruction, racist hatred and financial meltdowns up to the present-day conflicts, serves as a modern update on the Pathé News reels so evocative of World War times, setting the tone for each song within the show’s themes of hope, faith, love and loss.
Almost two decades have passed since the Off Broadway premiere, and could anyone argue that the world has not worsened in that time? More war. More division in society and wealth. More mendacity in power. More moves to the right wing. More rules, CCTV and form-filling. Too much heat, and not only in the alarming change in climate.
The need for a “new world” – one of hope and love, faith in each other as much as in the One above, and loss of hubris and hunger alike – has never been greater.
Mikhail Lim: Co-director, co-stage designer, co-costume designer and vocalist
As Clare and Lim put it in their programme note: “Our reimagining of Songs For A New World addresses the ever-growing uncertainty and tension found within today’s political climate. The aim is to create a production that resonates deeply with an audience who are prepared to journey through the complexities of today’s societal landscape.”
Job done, courtesy of their emotionally charged direction; Freya McIntosh’s minimalist but moving choreography; the aforementioned designs; the impact of being in a church building, a place, a cradle, of grace, contemplation and the power of silence…
…Then add the palate of colours in Lim and McIntosh’s modern yet timeless costumes, each in two tones, for contrasts, connection and continuity, with an eye for composition reminiscent of a painting.
Katie Brier: Soloist for Just One Step and Surabaya-Santa
Each costume change, conducted en masse, adds to the visual pleasure, while the movement of wooden boxes throughout the performance is conducted with the significance of a chess move.
Crucially too, Clare and Lim have doubled the cast size to eight, making for more singing partnerships in a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted company, where both individual and ensemble can shine, framed so poetically by McIntosh’s measured choreography.
Responding to Clare’s keyboard-led nine piece band, Ayana Beatrice Poblete, Katie Brier, Reggie Challenger, Lauren Charlton-Mathews, Rachel Higgs, Mikhail Lim, Adam Price and Natalie Walker sing righteously, romantically, roundly well.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger
What of Brown’s songs? More melodic, less Sondheim than The Last Five Years, they hit both heart and soul, with The River Won’t Flow, Charlton-Mathews’ Stars And The Moon, Act I finale The Steam Train, Lim’s King Of The World, Challenger and Price’s Flying Home and the Higgs-fronted Final Transition: The New World all sung particularly passionately and persuasively.
Roll on this new world, and yes, let’s make a song and dance about it, like Jason Robert Brown and Black Sheep Theatre Productions have.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music,St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ artwork for Songs For A New World
Creative team: Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare
Co-director: Mikhail Lim Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh
Cast: Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger; Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.
Band:
Matthew Peter Clare, musical director and keys; Ben Huntley, guitar; Zander Lee, bass; Helen Warry and Elle Weaver, violin; Gregory Bush, viola; Mari MacGregor, violincello; Jude Austin, drums, and Jez Smith, auxiliary percussion.
The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
FROM a motley crew all at sea to Eighties’ pop and rock stars, a beehive buzz of a campaigning American teen to a boy with a stammer, Charles Hutchinson’s week promises both adventure and misadventure.
World premiere of the week: The Whitby Rebels, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until November 2, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
IN Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.
This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. Bea Roberts’s new play tells their true story, boat on stage et al. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Songs For A New World
Song cycle of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
ON the heels of last week’s The Last Five Years, Black Sheep Theatre perform another Jason Robert Brown work, 1995’s Songs For A New World.
Defying conventional musical theatre formats, Brown and original director Daisy Prince say the non-linear show is “neither musical play nor revue”, but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle” that explores such universal themes as hope, faith, love and loss in its emotionally charged songs. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.
While & Matthews: Playing Hunmanby on closing night of 30th anniversary tour
Folk gig of the week: While & Matthews, Hunmanby Village Hall, near Filey, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of the longest-lasting female folk duo, singer-songwriters Chris While and Julie Matthews, concludes this weekend at Hunmanby Village Hall, where they sold out two years ago. Together they have played more than 2,500 gigs, appeared on 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.
Chris (vocals, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and percussion) and Julie (vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki) released their 13th studio album, Days Like These, on Fat Cat Records last month. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Arthur Smith: Grumpy old man of comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre
Comedy turn of the week: An Audience With Arthur Smith, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
COMPERE, playwright, panellist, performer and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart Arthur Smith worked previously as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher and teacher. He even advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.
A career in stand-up comedy was the only one that could follow a build-up like that, he decided, since when he has appeared on quiz shows and Loose Ends, been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith and presented BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Chrissie Hynde: Fronting The Pretenders at a sold-out York Barbican on Thursday
What an Eighties’ week at York Barbican: The Cult, Tuesday, sold out; Adam Ant, AntMusic 2024, Wednesday, limited ticket availability; The Pretenders, Thursday, sold out
THE Cult’s 8424: 40th Anniversary Tour brings Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy’s band to York with their pioneering fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and experimentalism. Pop icon Adam Ant performs his chart-topping hits and personal favourites in his AntMusic 2024 show on his return to the Barbican.
Chrissie Hynde leads The Pretenders in York, one of three additions to their extended 2024 tour, combining new tracks with classics such as Brass In Pocket and Back On The Chain Gang. Last year they released their 12th studio album, Relentless. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Katie Brice’s Tracy Turnblad and Neil Hurst’s Edna Turnblad in Hairspray The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: Hairspray, Grand Opera House, York, October 28 to November 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BASED on cult filmmaker John Waters’ 1988 American movie, Hairspray The Musical follows the progress of heroine Tracy Turnblad, with her big hair, big heart and big dreams to dance her way on to national television and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.
When Tracy (Katie Brice/Scarborough actress Alexandra Emerson-Kirby in her professional debut) becomes a local star, she uses her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance, and interracial unity in Baltimore. Look out for Yorkshireman Neil Hurst as Tracy’s mum, Edna, and Strictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton as villainous Velma Von Tussle. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.
Ciaran O’Breen as Captain Chatter and Hilson Agbangbe as Sonny in Wonder Boy, on tour at York Theatre Royal
Children’s story of the week: Wonder Boy, York Theatre Royal, October 29 to November 2; evenings, 7.30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; matinees, 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, next Saturday
OLIVIER Award winner Sally Cookson directs Bristol Old Vic’s touring production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s exploration of the power of communication, told through the experiences of 12-year-old Sonny and his imaginary friend Captain Chatter.
Playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music combine in this innovative show that uses live creative captioning on stage throughout as Sonny, who lives with a stammer, must find a way to be heard in a world where language is power. When cast in a school production of Hamlet by the head teacher, he discovers the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Victoria Delaney and Tony Froud in J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, next week’s production by York Actors Collective. Picture: Clive Millard
Theatre Royal debut of the week: York Actors Collective in Mary Rose, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 30 to November 2, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees
YORK Actors Collective make their York Theatre Royal debut with a revival of Peter Pan and Quality Street playwright J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, adapted and directed by Angie Millard.
“Barrie uses dimensions of time to great effect,” she says. “His treatment of love, loss and unwavering hope draws in an audience and gives it universality. I’ve adapted the script to appeal to modern thinking but his themes are intact. The strange and ghostly atmosphere fits beautifully into our autumn slot, which includes Halloween and is a time for considering other worldliness.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
