Narrator Chris Meadley, right, and fellow Rowntree Players cast members take to the woods to prepare for Grimm Tales at the JoRo
AMI Carter directs Rowntree Players in Tim Supple’s dramatisation of Carol Ann Duffy’s account of Grimm Tales at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tonight (11/7/24) to Saturday.
Carter’s cast of 15 – aged 16 to 75 – will take a journey through delightfully bizarre stories from the Brothers Grimm collection to reveal their true origins and to expose how the path to a happy ending can, indeed, be a little grim.
Guided by Chris Meadley in the Narrator’s role, they will perform three “meaty” tales in each half, complemented by a Meadley monologue: The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage, performed as a shadow play in the first half, and Sweet Porridge, in a more physical staging, after the interval.
“Each tale will be a maximum of 20 minutes, some of them shorter,” says Ami. “They were first done by the Young Vic Theatre Company in 1996 and 1997, when Tim Supple turned Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation into dialogue and split it among the characters, introduced by a Narrator, with the characters then taking over the narration.
“In our production, in Snow White, Chris will play both the Narrator and the Magic Mirror, which is a nice dual role to have, and in most of the others he will set the scene, comment on the moral of the tale and make quips to link one tale to the next.”
If the mask fits: Rowntree Players take on all manner of roles in Grimm Tales
Ami has changed the original order of tales from the Young Vic productions to suit the streamlined structure of eight tales and to maximise narrative momentum. “Hansel & Gretel is the only tale that ends with ‘And they all lived happily ever after’, so I knew I wanted to end the show with that one,” she says.
“The biggest balancing act is to achieve light and shade, and with the dark nature of some stories, you don’t want to bring the energy down, so some of the stories are just farces, because the show needs to be a rollercoaster, not a nosedive.
“It’s not that some stories don’t have a happy outcome, they do, but they end with the comeuppance for the villain, which means a couple of times – Snow White and Ashputtel (the Grimm title for Cinderella) – the tales end on a dramatic note.”
Expressing a preference for the 19th century folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm rather than the earlier French fairy tales of Charles Perrault, Ami says: “The Grimm versions feel more like folk tales for the masses, whereas Perrault’s tales were written for the French court, the upper-class society.
“Published as Children’s and Household Tales, the Brothers Grimm turned the stories into cautionary tales for children – like the warning ‘Don’t go into woods’ – and the difference with today is now we just try to protect them from doing anything.
Storyteller: Chris Meadley in the Narrator’s role in Rowntree Players’ Grimm Tales
“Disney’s films have kept the original morals but made them less distressing, but the idea behind the stories was to scare children into behaving, which we don’t do now.
“Yet if we look at TV shows like Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirrors, it’s cathartic to enjoy the darkness in them. That’s the purpose of some of these stories too.”
Rowntree Players will be staging only evening performances, but that is not intended to rule out children from attending. “With our marketing, we’ve done enough to promote it’s a show on the darker side of things, and it’s probably not appropriate for younger children,” says Ami.
“But if they’re 11, 12, 13, they will really enjoy it because there’s no goriness, no jump scares, just that haunted house/Halloween vibe. It’s like Horrible Histories; it hits that sweet spot.”
Supple’s scripts have guidelines on how to distribute the roles, but Ami took her own approach, favouring multi-role playing. “I wanted to make the principal cast as small as possible, so I ended up with one narrator, four men and four women and a non-speaking ensemble of six,” she says.
“I went through the script and assigned roles working on the theory of archetypes with a mixture of ages, while knowing the pool of Rowntree Players actors we could draw on.
Rowntree Players’ poster for Grimm Tales
“There are ‘father’ archetypes, incorporating kings and villains; ‘mother’ archetypes, such as queens and witches; middle roles, like eldest sons, daughter and sister roles, young roles, and then some have to play cockerels and donkeys because some of the tales are very strange!”
Ami continues: “The other factor with the casting was that I was very keen for it not to be like our pantos, though a lot of the same people are involved but I tried not to cast them in roles that people would have seen them in before.
“That’s another reason Rowntree Players wanted to do Grimm Tales: to show these tales in their original light. Some are different from the pantomimes; some are very similar. Ashputtel [Cinderella] feels very different, such as characters getting their eyes pecked out.”
The production’s design will echo pantomime’s use of medieval and Renaissance costumery and sets, “but it will be much more rustic, more natural, woods, not glitter,” says Ami. “The Magic Mirror is the only thing that’s remotely sparkly.
“Grimm Tales is not bright colours and jolliness. It’s much darker than that with lots of props and puppets, like the birds I’ve made with cardboard and paper craft, as there are lots of things you can’t do with people.
Amy Carter’s cast in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ Grimm Tales
“For the ‘seven dwarfs’ in Snow White, we’re using the masks we had in our pantomime. I’ve now put eyes on them but I’m not sure it’s made them any less creepy: it’s like Snow White & The Seven Marty Feldmans!”
Rowntree Players in Grimm Tales, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501395 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Who’s in the Grimm Tales cast?
NARRATOR Chris Meadley will be joined by Geoff Walker as Male 1; Graham Smith, Male 2; Joe Marrucci, Male 3; Fergus Green, Male 4; Abbey Follansbee, Female 1; Hannah Wood, Female 2; Meg Badrick, Female 3, and Annie Dunbar, Female 4.
In the ensemble will be Henry Cullen, Jess Whitehead, Britt Brett, Jess Dawson, Libby Roe and Ella Lofthouse.
Rowntree Players cast members parade their puppets for Grimm Tales
Give Piccadilly a green makeover: SPARK:York’s poster for this summer’s art competition
SPARK:York is launching an art competition to transform Piccadilly into an eco-friendly haven in York.
“Let your imagination soar, paint a sustainable future and win eco-friendly prizes, with the chance to star in an exhibition this summer,” says Paulina Lewicka, marketing coordinator for the creative community venue in Piccadilly.
Artists and creatives of all ages and abilities are encouraged to paint, draw or craft a sustainable, green paradise in the heart of York. Alongside prizes, participants have the opportunity to inspire others to consider the role of environmental sustainability in urban design.
Competition details:
Prizes:
20 finalists: Artwork showcased in an exhibition in the SPARK:York events space in late- August.
Ten shortlisted artists: Exclusive art masterclass with one of SPARK’s resident artists.
Winners of 15+ category and under-15 category: £50 SPARK gift voucher, £50 gift voucher for Heima (the eco-friendly homeware and hardware shop in Gillygate) and an exclusive art masterclass with a SPARK resident artist.
Submission deadline: August 4.
Last summer’s York In 100 Years art competition exhibition in the SPARK:York events space
Finalists and winners will be announced on SPARK’s social media channels by August 15.
Entries will be judged by an expert panel of SPARK’s resident artists, including Leon François Dumont, Jessica Mallorie and Kat Olsson.
Paulina says: “As our neighbourhood undergoes change and redevelopment, we’d like to imagine a greener, more sustainable Piccadilly. With this art competition, we hope to inspire a dialogue on what this part of York could transform into in order to best serve the local community.
“We invite local artists of all ages to participate and we’re looking forward to seeing how they will blend creativity and sustainability in their creations.”
SPARK hosted its inaugural art competition last summer with a theme focused on the future of York. The competition attracted 19 submissions from York artists and young talents who shared their visions of this history-steeped city in 100 years.
SPARK:York in Piccadilly, York
The event culminated in an exhibition showcasing all the entries. Visitors were invited to participate in creating a time capsule, where they could leave messages and mementos for the people of York in 2050, the year of the UK’s net-zero target.
SPARK collaborated with the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York to ensure the safekeeping of the time capsule.
For more information and to submit artwork, visit www.sparkyork.org/thoughts/art-competition.
SPARK: York: the back story
HOUSED in shipping containers in Piccadilly, SPARK champions the creative and independent community, providing a home for the next generation of entrepreneurs in York.
Discover food, drink, retail, events and entertainment with a Yorkshire flavour. The all-access facilities provide a comfortable space for individuals and groups to meet and relax.
Barbara Marten, York actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “I’ve known Barbara for over 40 years and have followed her shining career with interest. She’s a very kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable woman, and I think this emanates through her eyes,” says Steve
ACTOR and artist Steve Huison will launch his Portraits exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, with a personal appearance from 4pm to 7pm tomorrow (11/7/2024).
Best known for his role as suicidal steel-mill security guard Lomper in The Full Monty, Leeds-born Huison is exhibiting 12 studies of colleagues in the acting profession, musicians who have inspired him, an adventurous chef and a famous clown.
Before his success as an actor, Steve had studied at art school. Near the end of a 30-month stint playing Eddie Windass in Coronation Street from November 2008 to April 2011, he rediscovered his talent as a portrait artist, culminating in a charity event featuring portraits of Corrie cast members.
Mike Keen, chef, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “A chef with a difference. I’ve followed his career over the last couple of years as he’s kayaked his way up the west coast of Greenland, existing on eating what he finds along the way. In doing so he has brought his metabolism to a near perfect condition,” says Steve. “His health and vitality shines through his face.’
‘It seemed a valuable opportunity to capture portraits of some of the cast,” he recalls. “I wanted to try to portray them as the people I had got to know rather than their better-known characters. The extensive publicity turned out to be a good kick-starter for my evolving post-soap career.”
Other art forms constantly distract Steve’s attention. “They ignite new ideas for me, which I am never short of,” he says. “Once they’re in there rattling around in my mind I have to try them out. Consequently, I can turn my hand to a variety of creative outlets, including acting, stand-up, singing, drawing, painting, sculpting, carving, magic, escapology and a variety of musical instruments.”
Steve, 61, has been focusing on portrait painting for the past ten years when his acting commitments permit. While living in Robin Hood’s Bay he ran regular portrait drawing classes for complete beginners, an activity he has now moved to West Yorkshire since relocating in 2023.
Arnold Oceng, actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “I first met Arnold on set of the Disney production of The Full Monty. As soon as he walked on set I was instantly drawn to the beautiful lustre of his skin. I decided at that point to attempt to paint his portrait,” says Steve
The move followed filming for The Full Monty series for Disney+, when he reactivated his role as a much older version of Lomper. Fellow Full Monty actors Paul Barber, Arnold Oceng and Wim Snape are now among the portraits in his Pyramid Gallery show.
Steve first exhibited at Pyramid Gallery in July 2016, presenting A Year In Bay, his artistic response to his move to a new community in Robin Hood’s Bay, where he “had no contacts or connections, and witnessed how new relationships are formed, and how people go out of their way to help strangers”.
Wim Snape, actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “Wim is an old friend, and even though he’s only 39, I feel we’ve travelled through an interesting parallel journey together over 28 years. Wim played the 11-year-old Nathan in The Full Monty and went on to reprise the role in the Disney+ series of 2023,” says Steve
A second Pyramid show, Musings Of An Erratic Mind, followed in July 2018, its title reflecting his realisation that “I have a collection of work that bears little resemblance to each other, but says everything about how my mind and creativity works”.
Now comes Portraits, featuring actors Paul Barber, Arnold Oceng, Barbara Marten, Will Snape, Clarence Smith and Joe Duttine, counsellor and therapist Dr Tanya Frances, chef Mike Keen, Swiss clown Grock and musicians Abdullah Ibrahim, Quentin Rawlings and Flora Hibberd.
Steve Huison, Portraits, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, July 11 to August 31. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Steve Huison: the back story
Artist Steve Huison. Portrait by Pyramid Gallery owner and curator Terry Brett
Birthplace: Leeds, December 2 1962, born Steven Johnson.
Height: 6ft 1in.
Education: Rose Bruford College, Sidcup, diploma in Community Theatre Arts, 1983 to 1986.
Occupation: Actor, artist, arts administrator, musician, master of ceremonies (Cabaret Saltaire, Caroline Club, since February 2011).
Best known for: Playing Lomper in 1997 film The Full Monty, made in Sheffield. Reprised role in 2023 Disney+ series The Full Monty.
Film: Ken Loach’s The Navigators, 2001.
Television: Casualty; Where The Heart Is; dinnerladies (as Steve Greengrass); Heartbeat; The Royle Family; Scott & Bailey; ITV post-apocalyptic drama serial The Last Train (also known as Cruel Earth); Doctors. From January 2008, porter Norman Dunstan in ITV1 daily hospital drama The Royal Today. From November 2008 to April 2011, Eddie Windass in Coronation Street. 2012, Mr Byron in CBBC series 4 O’Clock Club. 2023, The Full Monty, Disney +.
Theatre: Co-founder of Shoestring Theatre Company, in Shipley, 2002. Made pantomime debut at Harrogate Theatre as dame Nanny Clutterbuck in The Sleeping Beauty in 2006 and returned as gurning, knock-kneed King Keith in Sleeping Beauty in 2013. In 2007, toured one-man play Fifty Feet And Falling, based on diaries of a friend who struggled with depression and took his own life.
Improv comedy: Cabaret Saltaire, creating characters such as Squinty McGinty and Korvorra Czeztikov.
Abdullah Ibrahim, pianist and composer, oil painting, by Steve Huison. “A giant of a South African jazz musician. His music has inspired me to take up the bass guitar in the last few years,” says SteveClarence Smith, actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison, from a photo by Helen Maybanks. “I first met Clarence in the summer of 1982 on a wild night in a flat in Queensway, London. We went on to train as actors together. 42 years later and we’re still in touch,” says Steve. “Still an amazingly good-looking man considering those wild times back then, and no doubt since.”Flora Hibberd, singer-songwriter, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison.“An up-and-coming Paris-based singer/songwriter. Her music has resonances for me of Leonard Cohen and classic French chanteuses such as Françoise Hardy,” says Steve. “The portrait is from an original photograph by Marie Yako.”Dr Tanya Frances, counsellor and therapist, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “Tanya is someone I’ve observed go from strength to strength in the 17 years that I’ve known her. I first had the privilege of working with her at Harrogate Theatre before she successfully switched careers,” says SteveJoe Duttine, actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “I got to know Joe through working with him on a Ken Loach film back in 2000. He’s a fine actor who brings true conviction to all his roles,” says SteveGrock the clown, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “At the height of his career, Charles Wettach (1880-1959) was the highest-paid performer in Europe. I was first given a black-and-white postcard 25 years ago. It’s an image that has stayed with me ever since, often inspiring me in many comedic projects. I just had to see how it would look larger and in colour,” says StevePaul Barber, actor, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “I first worked with Paul on a BBC screenplay in 1992. Despite his tumultuous upbringing in care, Paul has managed to carve out a gleaming career in the industry and still bears no airs and graces. A true gentleman and a dear brother,” says Steve.Quentin Rawlings, musician, oil on canvas, by Steve Huison. “I met ‘Q’ over 35 years ago, playing sessions with him in the White Stag in Leeds. He’s a wonderful musician and was the first guitarist I played with who used open tuning. It amazed me then and still does,” says Steve. “I’ve never climbed out of the standard tuning box – there are still new tricks to learn.”
The Sixteen: Master Of Imitation programme at York Minster
A SURPRISE introduction: as per usual the concert was prefaced by a clerical welcome plus loo, safety and mobile phone instruction. This closed with a prayer, which I thought was a bit of a no-no. But then I got the (possible) subtext: England were to embark on a penalty shoot-out. And it worked; we won!
The Sixteen’s Masters Of Imitation celebrates the art of parody in renaissance music, focusing on the works of Orlande de Lassus to link this inspired programme together.
Today we are very used to the term ‘parody’ meaning to imitate, to exaggerate the style of a particular writer or artist but to comic effect. Here Lassus’s parody works are akin to creating a musical patchwork quilt: taking musical bits, passages from his own historic compositions or his great predecessor Josquin des Prez, for example, and reworking the material into an entirely new composition. This latter process being a dedicated act of homage.
The concert opened with the timeless beauty of the plainchant Lauda Jerusalem Dominum. It was performed as a processional with the tenor calls answered with soprano responses. There is invariably a deep simplicity of beauty in these non-metric, homophonic lines and this, being The Sixteen, was no exception.
Lassus’s reworking of the plainchant (it has the same text) was a thing of beauty. Here melodies rising high into the air, the singing just glorious. But there was also a sense of fun, of joy as the music rhythmically danced. And word painting too. I think it was this sense of warmth, of Lassus’s humanity that was communicated so effectively.
Lassus’s motet Osculetur Me Osculo Oris sui is scored for two choirs and the composer exploits the different sonorities to dramatic effect, such as Trahe Me Post Te. I was reminded of the music of the Gabrielis, but doubt I’m the only one to have made this connection.
And then there was the sensuous setting of some quite juicy texts:
“Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth;
for thy love is better than wine
Thy name is as oil poured out;
therefore the young maidens have loved thee.”
Be rest assured, the Latin text gives these lines a “cloak of decency” (Bob Dylan).
To be honest, I had never heard of Maddalena Casulana. According to a leading authority in these matters, Wikipedia tells us “she was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the late Renaissance. [Casulana] is the first female composer to have had a whole book of her music printed and published in the history of western music, dedicated to her female patron Isabella de Medici”.
Her pretty radical dedication reads: “These first fruits of mine, flawed as they are … show the world the futile error of men, who believe themselves patrons of the high gifts of intellect, which according to them cannot also be held in the same way by women.”
Of the two madrigals I found the second much more rewarding. The choir was reduced by half, which added some welcome relief from conductor Harry Christophers’ insistence on performing the programme with a full complement of singers. Greater clarity of line and text massively enhanced enjoyment. This love song was a real gem.
It is perhaps worth noting that this rediscovery and promotion of Maddalena Casulana’s music –this may be the first time these works have been committed to a CD recording, Masters Of Imitation, available at all good record shops near you – is clearly significant.
In The Sixteen’s 2023 Choral Pilgrimage, Harry Christophers programmed the world premiere of two commissioned works by female composer Dobrinka Tabakova.
I struggled with Lassus’s eight-part Credo from his Missa Osculetur Me. There was just so much wonderful contrapuntal detail unable to escape from the Minster acoustic black hole. At times passages hung in the air, just a haze of sound, albeit a beautifully sung one. And yes, the closing coming together and Amen final cadence was delicious.
Jean Guyot de Châtelet’s arrangement of Josquin, adding six extra parts to Benedicta es Caelorum Regina, was thrilling, if somewhat eccentric. There were juicy false relations and a spine-tingling Amen. This is original music composition and performance of the highest order.
Other memorable highlights included Josquin Desprez’s Benedicta es Caelorum Regina with its exquisite tenor opening, its slightly whacky atmosphere of splendour and its forceful, dramatic descending scales prosecuting the message-with-a-twist:
“The Word became flesh from you,
by whom all are saved.”
Lassus’s Magnificat Benedicta es Caelorum Regina was another, with its clear contrapuntal lines and exciting antiphonal exchanges that seemed to dissolve or evaporate, allowing the light to shine.
Although there is no doubting the brilliance of Bob Chilcott’s choral music – surely every choir in the UK worth its salt must have Chilcott in its repertoire – his music just doesn’t “turn me on” (John Lennon). But this specially commissioned sacred parody of Lassus’s secular madrigal, Lauda Jerusalem Dominum, undoubtedly called for a personal rethink.
The setting was pretty conservative – no surprises here, Chilcott is a pretty conservative composer. But there were truly magical moments. For example, the delicate ostinato soprano patterns, beautiful on their own terms, then as a gorgeous backdrop for the soaring melodies.
I would have liked greater contrasts in scoring and dynamic, but the rich tonal harmonic identity, distinctive variations in colour and ending delivered a tasty punch. The performance was of the usual exemplary quality; instinctive melodic shaping, expression and care for detail. And so musical.
The concert as a whole showed yet again Harry Christopher and The Sixteen’s deep understanding of repertory and, just as importantly, communicated an infectious engagement in the music itself. The audience response was both instinctive and rapturous.
Mezzo-sopranoFleur Barron: Residency at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Victoria Cadisch
RYEDALE Festival tops the bill for Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations. A tribute to tribute acts, Grimm tales, Roman emperors, Brazilian sambas and theatrical Fools look promising too.
Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 12 to 28
THIS summer’s Ryedale Festival features 58 performances in 35 beautiful and historic locations, with performers ranging from Felix Klieser, a horn player born without arms, to trail-blazing Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang, mezz-soprano Fleur Barron to violinist Stella Chen, the Van Baerle Piano Trio to Troubadour Trail host Rachel Podger.
Taking part too will be Royal Wedding cellistSheku Kanneh-Mason, Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili, Brazilian guitar pioneer Plinio Fernandes, choral groups The Marian Consort and Tenebrae, actress and classical music enthusiast Dame Sheila Hancock, jazz singer Claire Martin and Northumbrian folk group The Unthanks. For the full programme and ticket details, head to: ryedalefestival.com.
Re-Bjorn each show: Sarah-Louise Young in I Am Your Tribute at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Fringe show of the week: Sarah-Louise Young, I Am Your Tribute, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
AFTER An Evening Without Kate Bush, the Julie Andrews-focused Julie Madly Deeply and The Silent Treatment, Sarah-Louise Young returns to Theatre@41 with her Edinburgh Fringe-bound new show, I Am Your Tribute.
In her “most ambitiously interactive performance yet”, she invites you to help her create the ultimate tribute to an act of your choosing. Along the way she will teach you the tricks of the trade, share her greatest hits and uncover the occasionally darker side of living in someone’s else’s shadow. Expect music, wigs and wonderment. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Happily ever after: Rowntree Players cast members in Grimm Tales
Fairy tales of the week: Rowntree Players in Grimm Tales, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
AMI Carter directs Rowntree Players in Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of Grimm Tales, dramatised by Tim Supple, with Chris Meadley in the role of the Narrator.
The cast of 15 takes a journey through a selection of delightfully bizarre stories from the Brothers Grimm collection to reveal their true origins and to discover that the path to a happy ending can, indeed, be a little grim. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Mary Beard: Roman emperors, the truth and the lies, at Grand Opera House, York
History lesson of the week: Mary Beard: Emperor Of Rome, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
CLASSICIST scholar, debunking historian and television presenter Mary Beard shines the spotlight on Roman emperors, from the well-known Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to the almost-unknown Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE).
Venturing beyond the hype of politics, power and succession and into the heart of the palace corridors, she will uncover the facts and fiction of these rulers, asking what they did and why, and how we came to have such a lurid view of them. Themes of autocracy, corruption and conspiracy will be explored and audience questions will be taken. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Andrew Methven: Playing a Lazy Sunday Session at Milton Rooms, Malton
Afternoon entertainment: Lazy Sunday Sessions, Andrew Methven & Joseph Wing, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 3pm
HEADLINER Andrew Metheven, from Bradford, pens lo-fi folk songs about births, hills, decay and daydreams and too many about birds, as heard on his June 2024 debut album, Sister Winter, available via Bandcamp. Singer and guitarist Joseph Wing, from Malton band Penny Fleck, will be the support act. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Madness: Welcome to the House Of Fun at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: Madness, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Friday, gates 6pm
MADNESS, the Nutty Boys of Camden Town, return to the North Yorkshire great outdoors for Suggs and co to roll out such ska-flavoured music-hall hits as Our House, One Step Beyond, Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love, House Of Fun, Michael Caine, Wings Of A Dove, Night Boat To Cairo, My Girl, Driving In My Car, Tomorrow’s Just Another Day and Embarrassment. Standing tickets are still available at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/madness.
Fernando Maynart: Showcasing new album at Helmsley Arts Centre
Brazilian sambas of the week: Fernando Maynart, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
BRAZILIAN singer, composer, guitarist and percussionist Fernando Maynart introduces his new album, TranSambas, showcasing the different rhythmic nuances of samba rooted in Africa via the West African slave trade and the Afro-Brazilian religion.
Maynart, whose set also features songs by Brazilian maestro Dorival Caymmi, will be accompanied by Brazilian flautist Daniel Allain and drummer/percussionist Denilson Oliveira, plus Ryedale multi-instrumentalist David Key. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Four go into three: James Aldred, Peter Long, Lucy Chamberlain and Charlotte Horner of The Three Inch Fools
Open-air theatre at the double: The Three Inch Fools in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII, Scampston Hall, Scampston, near Malton, July 20; Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, July 23 and Helmsley Walled Garden, August 6; The Comedy Of Errors, Helmsley Walled Garden, July 19, all at 7pm
THE Three Inch Fools, brothers James and Stephen Hyde’s specialists in fast-paced storytelling and uproarious music-making, head to Scampston, York and Helmsley with their rowdy reimagining of the story of the troublesome Tudor king in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII as he strives to navigate his way through courtly life, while fighting the French again, re-writing religious law and clocking up six wives.
The Play That Goes Wrong’s Sean Turner directs the Fools’ innovative take on Shakespeare’s shortest, wildest farce The Comedy Of Errors, with its tale of long-lost twins, misunderstandings and messy mishaps. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
Sarah-Louise Young: How to construct the ultimate tribute act in an adventure cabaret of singalongs, dance-breaks and audience participation in I Am Your Tribute
AFTER An Evening Without Kate Bush, Julie Madly Deeply and The Silent Treatment, Sarah-Louise Young returns to Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Thursday with only the second preview of her Edinburgh Fringe-bound new show, I Am Your Tribute.
In her “most ambitiously interactive performance yet”, sparkling host Sarah-Louise invites you to help her create the ultimate tribute to an act of your choosing in an adventure cabaret featuring singalongs, dance-breaks and audience participation aplenty.
Along the way she will teach you the tricks of the trade, share her greatest hits and uncover the occasionally darker side of living in someone’s else’s shadow. Expect backing tracks, a box of wigs and wonderment in an exploration of what it means to pay tribute as she unpacks the unspoken contract between a tribute artist and their fans, inspired by her own experience of creating shows about Kate Bush and Julie Andrews.
“I think it’s a really interesting time for live entertainment,” she says. “On the one hand, audiences are being lambasted for joining in and singing along. On the other, they are being fed musical re-makes and film adaptations which have that invitation baked in.
“Look at the popularity of Mamma Mia! The Party. We want to be inside the action. I wanted to make a show which allowed the audience to join in and take centre stage, enjoying all the guilty pleasures available.”
Sarah-Louise Young: Theatre-maker, cabaret performer, writer, director, improviser and producer
Here Sarah-Louise discusses tribute acts, unspoken contracts between tributes and fans, favourite tribute names and weirdest tribute shows withCharlesHutchPress.
How would you define a tribute act?
“An act of worship and shared fandom.”
What is “the unspoken contract between a tribute artist and their fans”?
“That the performer on stage is not Whitney Houston or Roy Orbison or whichever star they are emulating. Everyone knows it’s an act of worship, make believe and magic. I have heard stories of tributes who take things too far – ending up imitating the off-stage life of the star too – which can be very dangerous when drugs and alcohol are involved.
“The performer needs to know where they begin and the star ends. That’s why I speak about us all being fans. We pay tribute when we listen to a song, sing in the shower, wear a tour T-shirt…
“…Some of us are such big fans, we choose to get up on stage and say, ‘watch me show you how much I love them too’. As I say in the show, ‘every tribute counts’.”
Sarah-Louise Young in the “chaotic cabaret” of An Evening Without Kate Bush
Your shows An Evening Without Kate Bush or Julie Madly Deeply featured songs associated with Kate Bush and Julie Andrews, but they were expressly not doppelganger shows, but had a theme within a structure of songs and “chaotic cabaret”. Discuss…
“For a long time I resisted the word ‘tribute’ in connection to my work. A friend of mine used to be the UK’s number one Madonna tribute and I have huge respect for the skill, talent and hard work it took to pull off a real lookalike and soundalike performance.
“But I was more interested in exploring the dynamic between the performer and the audience and the shared love they both hold for the artist being celebrated. In both the shows you mention, I see my role as a creative facilitator.
“Yes, I sing the songs and guide the audience through the experience but I’m also looking for their stories, their input to influence the show. However, when a review for An Evening Without Kate Bush from The Stage said I was ‘re-inventing the tribute act’, I began to see myself as part of a wider community of artists who all swim in the same sea of ‘fan art’.”
The prospect of encountering yet another Queen or Abba tribute act fills CharlesHutchPress with dread. How do such shows make you feel?
“I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people look down their noses at tributes, and prior to making this show, if I really am honest, I would not have chosen to go and see a straight tribute myself. I’d rather listen to the music at home.
Sarah-Louise Young’s poster for I Am Your Tribute
“But I really had my ideas turned upside down when I went to see a few bands as research. It’s more than just what’s happening on stage. It’s about the communal experience of people getting together.
“You can still go home and listen to the songs, and of course not everyone wants to share their fandom with others, but for many people, coming together at a gig can be a quasi-religious experience. We are tribal by nature.
“It also depends greatly on the band. I know, for some people, Queen without Freddie Mercury is not Queen. But for others, Adam Lambert (who now sings the lead with the original musicians Brian May and Roger Taylor) is the perfect tribute. He’ll never replace Freddie, but he honours him with his performance.
“When an artist is no longer here to perform themselves or chooses not to tour, a tribute can be the only way to hear their songs live. Personally, I’m more excited by performers who bring something new to the table. Like Baby Booshka, who are sadly about to retire but are a United States-based Kate Bush tribute who play multiple eras of Kate and bring great humour, passion and inventiveness to their act. They are doing their final UK tour this autumn and I urge you to check them out.”
Sarah-Louise Young in her Julie Andrews show Julie Madly Deeply. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
What should a tribute act seek to achieve? Authenticity is often stressed for shows by Pink Floyd/Genesis/Dire Straits/Beatles acts, but does it need to be more than that?
“For me it’s about channelling the spirit of the original. I never try to impersonate Kate or Julie, but Russell Lucas (who also helped me to make this new show) and I sought the ‘Essence of Kate’.
“We would never replicate an exact costume, but we’ll take the feathers as a motif from the album Aerial, for example, and weave them into the look for a track from another era. We want to emotionally engage and remind people of why they love the original.
“For the more traditional tributes, there are some incredible Elvises out there. The ones who are really successful manage to embody the passion and energy of Elvis, even if they don’t have the exact same look or voice. I saw a terrific female Elvis who really blew me away with her passion.”
In a world of Oasish and Blurd, what is your favourite name for a tribute act?
“There are so many! I like The Arctic Numpties!”
“I’d like audiences to feel nourished and entertained and part of something positive,” says Sarah-Louise Young of her new show I Am Your Tribute
What is the weirdest tribute act you have seen?
“I love weird so I might not be the best judge! I did see a clip from a BBC programme, which I’m still trying to find the full version of. In it there was a Britney Spears tribute who I would say was about three times older than the real Brittney but utterly committed.
“I’d love to see more elders in the tribute act world, especially when you think of how many incredible artists we’ve lost too young. Members of the 27 Club like Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see how they might have aged?”
Jo Hird, Theatre@41’s publicist, says you have “lots of fun things to say about the life of a tribute act”. Such as?
“Oh, that’s interesting! York will only be my second preview. We’ve changed a few things since London, which is the nature of work-in-progress. The show is less about tribute ‘acts’ and more about acts of tribute. You do learn quite a lot about wigs though!”
Here wig go, here wig go, here wig go: Sarah-Louise Young in I Am Your Tribute
Jo also described your show as “unusual”. How would you describe it?
“Ha-ha… well, I hope it’s joyful and inclusive. We’ve tried to choose songs which most people will know and feel comfortable joining in with. I’d like audiences to feel nourished and entertained and part of something positive.”
I Am Your Tribute is your “most ambitiously interactive show yet”. In what way?
“It’s ambitious because there are a couple of sections where it really could go anywhere. I’ll be trying something brand new on Thursday in York and it might fall flat on its face! But I hope the audience will be open to the adventure, and if it’s all goes south, they can applaud the ambition and laugh with me at the joyful failure. It’s the only way to improve and learn.”
You thrive on being off the cuff, whether in a decade of performing with the Olivier Award-winning improvised musical troupe The Showstoppers! or 15 years of solo work. Discuss…
“I love shows which are made with love and danger. Of course there will be rehearsed moments, songs and stories I want to share – but what excites me the most is the collaboration between the audience and me and what they bring. I love being surprised. I always say there is no such thing as a one-person show. The audience is the missing ingredient. I can’t wait to meet them!”
“I hope the audience will be open to the adventure, and if it’s all goes south, they can applaud the ambition and laugh with me at the joyful failure,” says Sarah-Louise
How will you use the audience in this show?
“I feel very strongly that any audience participation should be ‘opt-in’ and no-one should ever feel under pressure to do more than they want to. It’s the first time I’ve added the word ‘interactive’ into the description of the show, so I’m curious to see whether that changes the dynamic in the room.
“There will be invitations to sing collectively, and some people may find themselves being interviewed or even dancing with me on stage, but they’ll never be on their own. I hope after 25 years of making shows, I am pretty good at spotting who wants to play and who doesn’t.
“There is never any pressure to participate. We have billed the show as interactive on purpose, but if you want to come and experience it in the dark anonymity of the back row, you are just as welcome and valued as people who want to get stuck in and join me on stage. As long as you’re having a good time, I’m happy.”
Tribute acts account for more than 50 per cent of programming in many theatres up and down the country. Why are they so popular?
“Nostalgia, economics and familiarity. Some people want to re-live their youth, be transported back to a time when they first fell in love with certain songs or a particular artist. Plus, tribute shows are a relatively cheap night out.
Making a noise about the voice:Sarah-Louise Young in The Silent Treatment
“Tickets to see Taylor Swift start in the hundreds and go into the thousands, but you can see a tribute band for as little as £12. With the economy under so much pressure, tribute shows remain comparatively affordable and accessible.
“For many people, they might only go to a gig or the theatre once a year. Along with panto, tribute nights are a safe bet. You know what you’re going to get… unless it’s one of my shows, in which case all bets are off!”
Sarah-Louise Young, I Am Your Tribute, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 11, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
She will play Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk, July 25 to 28, performing I Am Your Tribute and An Evening Without Kate Bush; Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as part of PBH Free Fringe, at Voodoo Rooms Ballroom, Edinburgh, August 3 to 11, 13 to 19 and 21 to 25, 12.05pm; box office: tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/i-am-your-tribute.
Four go into three: Cast members James Aldred, Peter Long, Lucy Chamberlain and Charlotte Horner of The Three Inch Fools
OPEN-AIR theatre specialists The Three Inch Fools will head to Scampston Hall, Scampston, near Malton, on July 20 with their rowdy reimagining of the story of a troublesome Tudor king, The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII.
Further North Yorkshire performances will follow at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, on July 23, and Helmsley Walled Garden on August 6.
Founded in Cumbria in 2015 by the Hyde brothers, producer James and writer, composer and director Stephen, the company combines fast-paced storytelling with uproarious music-making as their modus operandi for their contemporary spin on the traditional touring troupe.
The Secret Diary finds a young Henry VIII attempting to navigate his way through courtly life on a tour that will visit heritage sites with Tudor links to transport audiences back in time, albeit with a different take on history than the one told by the great houses.
Stephen Hyde’s new work provides an “essential guide” to how to keep your head in the Tudor Court when unexpectedly thrust into the limelight, as Henry navigates the ups and downs of courtly life, all while fighting the French (again) and re-writing religious law. Cue a madcap take on Britain’s most epic monarch and those infamous wives.
Operating from their rehearsal residency at the National Trust property of Eastbury Manor House in Banbury, the Fools are touring 80 venues this summer with two shows, the second being their innovative twist on Shakespeare’s shortest, wildest farce, The Comedy Of Errors, with its tale of long-lost twins, misunderstandings and messy mishaps.
Directed by The Play That Goes Wrong’s Sean Turner, The Comedy Of Errors will play Helmsley Walled Garden on July 19.
In the Three Inch Fools cast will be James Aldred, Lucy Chamberlain, Charlotte Horner and Pete Long, while the production team includes fight director and choreographer Marcello Marascalchi, movement director Claire Parry and costume & props designer Aoife Hills.
The Three Inch Fools in The Secret Diary Of Henry VIII, Scampston Hall & Walled Gardens, Scampston, near Malton, July 20; Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, July 23, and Helmsley Arts Centre, August 6, all at 7pm. The Comedy Of Errors, Helmsley Walled Garden, July 19, 7pm. Gates open at 6pm. Age guidance: 6+. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
The Gesualdo Six: Performing in the Chapter House at York Minster on July 9 as part of the 2024 York Early Music Festival. Picture: Ash Mills
A CELEBRATION of the voice, the truth behind Dracula, flying doctors and grim tales lead off Charles Hutchinson’s tips for jaunty July trips.
York festival of the week: 2024 York Early Music Festival, Metamorfosi, today until July 13
IN an eight-day celebration of music from the medieval to the baroque under the title of Metamorfosi, York Ealy Music Festival will focus on the human voice and song with performances by Concerto Soave, The Gesualdo Six, festival newcomers Vox Luminis and Cappella Pratensis & I Fedeli, The Sixteen, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rose Consort of Viols and Gawain Glenton’s Ensemble In Echo.
Taking part too will be mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, the Consone Quartet, Cubaroque, Apotropaïk and Utopia, climaxing with the biennial York International Young Artists Competition. Full festival programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.
Princess locked up in the castle: Freckle Productions in Zog & The Flying Doctors
Children’s show of the week: Freckle Productions in Zog & The Flying Doctors, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 10.30am and 1.30pm
ZOG, super-keen student-turned-air ambulance, still lands with a bang-crash-thump. Together with his Flying Doctor crew, Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout, they tend to a sunburnt mermaid, a unicorn with one too many horns and a lion with the flu.
However, Pearl’s uncle, the King, has other ideas about whether princesses should be doctors, and soon she is soon locked up in the castle. Can her friends and half a pound of cheese help Pearl make her uncle better and prove princesses can be doctors too in this Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler story with music and lyrics by Joe Stilgoe? Suitable for age three upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Carnival time in Copmanthorpe
Carnival of the week: Cop’ Carnival, Copmanthorpe Recreation Centre, Barons Crescent, Copmanthorpe, York, today, 11.30am to 7pm
IN its 55th year, Cop’ Carnival features live music acts and dance troupes on the main stage, an inflatable assault course, fairground rides and attractions, street food vendors, free children’s entertainment, stalls and more besides. No dogs are allowed on site, apart from assistance dogs. Tickets are on sale at copcarnival.org.uk/tc-events/the-cop-carnival-day/; under-14s are admitted free of charge.
Sam Johnson: Playing with his jazz trio at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Jazz gig of the week: Sam Johnson Trio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow (7/7/2024),
THE Sam Johnson Trio, led by pianist Sam Johnson with Georgia Johnson on bass and James Wood on drums, bring a mid-20th century jazz vibe to their performance, in the style of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, Oscar Peterson Trio and vintage Blue Note and Verve Records artists.
Combining original material with jazz standards from the past seven decades, the trio will be joined by guest soloists and frequent collaborators Richard Oakman (saxophone) and Kirsty Hughes (vocals). Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Macabre: Killian Macardle, left, Annie Kirkman and Chris Hannon in Dracula: The Bloody Truth at the SJT. Picture: Pamela Raith
Comedy drama of the week: Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to July 27
THE Stephen Joseph Theatre teams up with Bolton’s Octagon Theatre to stage physical theatre comedy exponents La Navet Bete & John Nicholson’s Dracula: The Bloody Truth, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s story.
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs Chris Hannon, Annie Kirkman, Alyce Liburd and Killian Macardle as vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing reveals the real story behind the legend of Dracula, the one with the Whitby connection. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Paul Weller: Reflecting on turning 66 at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gigs of the week: Fatboy Slim, today; Paul Weller, tomorrow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, gates open at 6pm
NORMAN Cook has come a long way, baby, since he played bass in Hull band The Housemartins. Now the BRIT award-winning, Brighton-based DJ, aka Fatboy Slim, heads back north to fill Scarborough with big beats and huge hooks in Rockafeller Skank, Gangster Trippin, Praise You and Right Here Right Now et al tonight.
The Modfather Paul Weller showcases his 17th studio album, 66, full of ruminations on ageing, in Sunday’s set of songs from The Jam, Style Council and his solo years. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Here wig go: Sarah-Louise Young in I Am Your Tribute at Theatre@41 Monkgate, York
Fringe show of the week: Sarah-Louise Young, I Am Your Tribute, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 11, 7.30pm
AFTER An Evening Without Kate Bush, the Julie Andrews-focused Julie Madly Deeply and The Silent Treatment, Sarah-Louise Young returns to Theatre@41 with her Edinburgh Fringe-bound new show, I Am Your Tribute.
In her “most ambitiously interactive performance yet”, she invites you to help her create the ultimate tribute to an act of your choosing. Along the way she will teach you the tricks of the trade, share her greatest hits and uncover the occasionally darker side of living in someone’s else’s shadow. Expect music, wigs and wonderment. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Rowntree Players cast members rehearsing for Grimm Tales
Fairy tales of the week: Rowntree Players in Grimm Tales, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 11 to 13, 7.30pm
AMI Carter directs Rowntree Players in Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of Grimm Tales, dramatised by Tim Supple, with Chris Meadley in the role of the Narrator.
The cast of 15 takes a journey through a selection of delightfully bizarre stories from the Brothers Grimm collection to reveal their true origins and to discover that the path to a happy ending can, indeed, be a little grim. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
In Focus: Weekend events at Ripon Theatre Festival, July 6 and 7
The Tea Cosies: Street entertainment with Kitch’n’Sync today
PUPPETS, stories, dance, drama, circus and street entertainment pop up in new and surprising places alongside more familiar venues, such as Newby Hall, The Old Deanery, Ripon Cathedral, Ripon Arts Hub and Fountains Abbey, as Ripon Theatre Festival returns for its third year.
Saturday keeps festivalgoers on the move in a day of Pop-Up Events at various locations from 9.30am to 6pm. Ilaria Passeri hosts a morning of adventures for four-year-olds and upwards in Tales From Honeypot Village, featuring Rita the Mouse and the Tidy Trolls in the front room of The Unicorn Hotel at 9.30am and the back room of The Little Ripon Bookshop at 11.30am.
Puppeteers Eye Of Newt open their magical miniature suitcase for Ayla’s Dream, a captivating tale of night skies, light and counting sheep for three to ten-year-olds at Ripon Library at 10.30am (accompanied by a puppet workshop) and Ripon Cathedral from 12 noon to 12.30pm (performance every ten minutes).
York performer Tempest Wisdom takes a journey down the rabbit hole in the family-friendly Curiouser & Curiouser, a show for age five + packed with Lewis Carroll’s whimsical writings, inspired by Ripon Cathedral’s nooks and crannies. Free performances take place at Ripon Cathedral at 11am, 12.30pm and The Little Ripon Bookshop at 2.30pm.
Join the Master and Matron on the front lawn for an interactive game of giant Snakes And Ladders At The Workhouse Museum. Learn how life then, as now, is as precarious as a shake of the dice; slither down the snake to a shaven head and defumigation or ascent to a life out of the ashes from 11am to 12.30pm or 1pm to 3pm.
Festival favourites Lempen Puppet Theatre return with the free show Theatre For One in Ripon Cathedral from 10.45am to 11.30pm and Kirkgate from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and 3pm to 4pm. In a micro-theatre experience for one at a time, plus curious onlookers, a mini-performance of The Belly Bug or Dr Frankenstein will be staged every five minutes.
Tempest Wisdom: Taking a journey down the rabbit hole in Curiouser & Curiouser
Members of the Workhouse Theatre Group invite you to experience justice 1871 style in The Trial Of John Sinkler in a case of poaching and threatening behaviour from 2pm to 3pm at The Courthouse Museum.
Ensure justice is seen to be done or perhaps take a more active role in a lively scripted re-enactment led by Mark Cronfield, formerly of Nobby Dimon’s North Country Theatre company.
The festival fun continues in Kirkgate with buskers, bands and more from 3pm to 6pm, while Street Entertainment will be spread between Market Place, Minster Gardens and city streets with a fiesta of free events from 10am to 4pm.
Mark Cronfield and Tom Frere invite you to hail down the ultimate in Georgian transport for Sedan Chair Stories. Be carried above the hoi polloi as your footmen pass on their scurrilous stories from Ripon’s scandalous past.
Bearded Belfast multi-manipulator and circus performer Logy will be juggling danger and excitement in Logy On Fire, a show of full of raw rock’n’roll comedy. Look out for the beautiful birds of The Bachelors Of Paradise parading their glorious wingspans and beautiful tailfeathers.
In Stone Soup, a suitcase show performed from a travelling cart with music and comical puppets, Hebden Bridge company Eye Of Newt ask this question: can you really make soup with only a stone? The secret to making a delicious soup rests with a wandering stranger.
Street performers and fatal fools Medieval Maniax promise to amuse and bemuse with their historical hysterics, music and illusions. Kitch’n’Sync, from Wales, invite you to have a natter with their colourful crochet trolley dollies, Dorothy Dunker, Tippy Teapot and Barbara Bourbon, alias The Tea Cosies.
Logy On Fire: Multi-manipulator and circus performer
A friendly team from Casson & Friends will connect you with the childlike joy of play in their interactive games, set to a bouncing electronic soundtrack, in Arcade.
Playing their part in the day too will be Yorkshire Voices, Medusa, Ripon City Morris Dancers, 400 Roses And Thorns, Ripon Drum Circle, The U3A Folk Group, The Wakeman Mummers, Ripon Rock Choir and Workhouse Walkabouts.
Weekend community performers contribute to the festival on Sunday too in the form of Lily Worth, Trinity Singers, Freddie Cleary, Ripon Goes To Bollywood, Henshaws Performing Arts Group, Danceability, Passion For Movement, Cricket On The Hearth, The U3A Ukulele Group and Ripon Walled Garden Performers.
Open-air theatre specialists Illyria present Oliver Grey’s adaptation of Hugo Lofting’s The Adventures Of Doctor Doolittle in the Newby Hall Gardens at 5.30pm (gates 5pm). In this new family musical, performed with wit and flair, Doctor Doolittle leads a simple life as a village doctor until one day, with the help of his wise old parrot Polynesia, he makes an extraordinary discovery: he can talk to animals.
Radical Leeds troupe Red Ladder Theatre Company return to the festival to with We’re Not Going Back, Boff Whalley’s Miners’ Strike musical comedy about 75 mines, three sisters, one cause and a six-pack of Babycham at Ripon Arts Hub at 7.30pm.
In early 1984, the everyday squabbles of sisters Olive, Mary and Isabel collide with a strike that forces them to question their lives, their relationships and their family ties.
Sunday has a couple of Pop-Up Events, led off by Opera Brunch with down-to-earth diva Nicola Mills, from Huddersfield, whose song menu at Valentino’s Ristorante ranges from Italian arias to crossover classics, served with sweet or savoury pastries and Bucks Fizz or a hot drink from 10.30am to 12 noon.
From 3pm to 4.30pm, in the Guardians’ Room of The Workhouse Museum, Fellfoss Theatre present a rehearsed reading and workshop performance of Fate And The Warrior, Mark Cronfield’s new play about the troubled and prolific Guyana-born author Edgar Mittelholzer, a pioneer of Caribbean culture. Join Cronfield and his scratch team of actors for a dark and intriguing tale in atmospheric surroundings.
Thingumajig Theatre in Kit And Caboodle
Ripon Spa Gardens and Market Place will play host to Sunday’s Family Day from 10am to 4pm. Look out for the Hedge Heads, suspicious-looking shrubbery lurking in the bushes; Henshaws Performing Arts Group’s The Golden Tree, fairy tales of heroes, villains, royalty and fools, and Open The Books’ The Story Of Daniel, a distillation of all the best bits in 20 minutes, dreams, lions et al.
In Wrongsemble’s epic new adventure The Not So Big Bad Wolf favourite tales are re-spun and woven by Little Red, adventurer, heroine and True Grimm podcaster, on a mission to debunk the myths around her so-called nemesis, with the help of a few storybook staples, her red cloak and a basket full of music, mayhem and magic tricks.
Thingumajig Theatre, from Hebden Bridge, return to Ripon with their big, beautiful, rolling mule packed with miniature puppet shows, full of stories and songs of remarkable journeys and refugees. Struzzo and Maxim, stalwarts of street theatre for many decades, promise music, magic and their famous ostrich.
Three quirky characters are waiting for a train but how will they pass the time in Grantham company Rhubarb Theatre’s show The Three Suitcases? Three Marie Antoinettes take to the street to feed the public their tasty treats in Let Them Eat Cake. Expect a right royal ruckus wherever these comedy pompous poodle-haired queens of comedy go.
Three courageous airmen, Roger, Reggie and Rupert, are caught in a freak storm in The Bombardiers. Armed only with their wits and extremely good looks, who knows where they will end up!
In The Fireman Dave Circus Skills Drop-In, Dave Ford, from Hebden Bridge, invites you to have a go at juggling, plate-spinning, diabolo, hula-hooping and more at Ripon Spa Gardens from 1pm to 2.30pm.
The 2024 festival concludes with Scottish company Folksy Theatre’s open-air production of Shakespeare’s leafy tale of banishment, love and disguise, As You Like It, at The Old Deanery at 7pm. Cue comedy stuffed with music, bold characters and audience interaction. Bring something to sit on, pack a picnic and come prepared for the weather.
“We believe that theatre should be for everyone,” says festival director Katie Scott. “Our varied and accessible programme of events provides real theatrical treats for seasoned theatre-goes, but also lively and low-cost opportunities for first-timers and families. We love bringing events to non-theatre spaces and working with local businesses and other partner organisations to create a buzz in the city which all can enjoy.”
For full festival details and tickets, head to: ripontheatrefestival.org. A preview of further events at Ripon Theatre Festival on July 6 and 7 will follow.
Folksy Theatre in As You Like It in the open air at The Old Deaneryon Sunday
Victoria Brazier, left, Stacey Sampson and Claire O’Connor in Red Ladder’s We’re Not Going Back, on tour at Ripon Arts Hub tomorrow. Picture: Lian Furness
RADICAL Leeds troupe Red Ladder Theatre Company return to Ripon Theatre Festival tomorrow with a reboot of Boff Whalley’s We’re Not Going Back, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike.
75 mines, three sisters, one cause and a six-pack of Babycham go into Chumbawamba founder Whalley’s musical comedy, on a tour supported by Unite the Union that visited the former pit town of Selby for a Town Hall performance last night.
We’re Not Going Back is set in the midst of the Miners’ Strike, but no miners feature. Instead, the focus falls on the fortunes of three South Yorkshire pit-village sisters – Olive, Mary and Isabel – hit hard by the Government’s war against miners and determined to fight back with their own branch of Women Against Pit Closures.
In a celebration of the resilience of working communities, the make-and-mend fabric of family, and the power of sticking two fingers up to a government hell-bent on destruction, the sisters’ everyday squabbles collide with a strike that forces them to question their lives, their relationships and their family ties.
“I find writing women’s voices is much easier than writing men’s voices,” says Boff. “In terms of telling a story, men are not good at going into depth. My observation is that if you see two men together and one says ‘I like your shoes’, the other will say just say ‘oh’, whereas women will enjoy taking that conversation much further.”
Stacey Sampson, left, as Mary, Claire Marie Seddon (now Claire O’Connor), as Isabel, and Victoria Brazier, as Olive, in the original Red Ladder production of We’re Not Going Back ten years ago
His setting is February 1984, when the rumour mill stirs with news of impending pit closures as the coal miners’ unions anxiously prepare for the imminent confrontation with the government.
Forced into unemployment, miners and their families take up the fight and become part of a battle that will change the course of history. Through music, comedy and grit, the three sisters embrace the values of the strike and underline the empowerment, determination and vulnerability communities were faced with during the toughest of times.
Originally commissioned by Unite the Union in 2014 to mark the 30th anniversary of the strikes, this rebooted version brings together all four original cast members, Victoria Brazier, Claire O’Connor, Stacey Sampson and musician Beccy Owen, who reprise their original roles.
Boff says: “It remains an important story to tell, and instead of focusing on the battle between miners, police and government – the fighting, the scabs, the police waving fivers – we shine a light on the thousands of women who organised and rallied in support the strike.
“For me, the strongest part – the heart of the miners’ strike – was always the family support, specifically the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. Despite the outcome of the strike, all the hardship and poverty, the main memory of that year for the women was of laughter, fun and surprise – a big adventure. How to take on the machinery of the capitalist state and have a good time doing it.”
Making a stand: A Garston Women Against Pit Closure umbrella with Stacey Sampson’s Mary in the background. Picture: Lian Furness
Boff’s play seeks to highlight the deep-rooted social impact of the mining community’s anger. “The focus is on what it was like in the living room,” he says. “That’s a huge part of any historic moment in history that gets overlooked, so the first thing that happened when Rod [former artistic director Rod Dixon] got the chance to do the play was I said, ‘yes, but I don’t want it to be police and pickets, with verbal and physical clashes, but instead we should meet the women who were so resilient, and the stories poured out of them as they talked in their kitchen over cups of tea.”
For this 40th anniversary revival, the new factor is the vision of director Elvi Page. “I was the newbie to the team, when everyone else came back with so much love for it as it was such a special project,” she says.
“So much of it was already there, in terms of the text and the richness of the female experience, and it felt right that if a new director was coming in ten years on, the new addition should be a female voice.
“We could really dig deeper into focusing on the women’s experience, with the men becoming less and less important to the framing. It was the women’s resistance that needed to be told.”
Boff may have jested that Elvi “slashed and burned” his text, but rather than imposing draconian changes, she took a collective approach. “Everyone is creative, all of the actors, the writer, as well as the director, so you revisit the story to find the best way to tell what we needed to say,” she says.
Coal Not Dole: Victoria Brazier’s Olive and Claire O’Connor’s Isabel in We’re Not Going Back. Picture: Lian Furness
“It’s now shorter as we acknowledge that people’s appetite for watching films and theatre is all about pace, if we want to appeal to new audiences as well as to those who loved it last time, and it doesn’t feel like it has lost anything.
“The other thing that’s gone is the set. Now there’s no set at all, which makes it more nimble for touring, but it’s still so rich as a piece of theatre. It’s all about telling the story, where a set was almost slowing it down. We were thinking, ‘how would these women tell their stories’? Just chairs around a table.”
Boff notes one difference from ten years ago. “The history of the miners’ strike has changed. It’s become a big historical fact, like how the demand for a public inquiry into what happened at Orgreave has not stopped but grown,” he says.
“Now it’s part of history that young people know about. My daughter had to do an essay entitled ‘Did Mrs Thatcher engineer the miners’ strike’. I wanted her to say ‘yes’, but she wrote an evenly balanced answer, though she then concluded, ‘considering all the facts…’!”
Boff draws comparison with how the Suffragettes of the early 20th century were treated by the media. “If you go back and look at what the Daily Mail and Telegraph wrote, they were as hate-filled and bigoted as they are today, and you could not have imagined that the Suffragettes would become the heroes that they are today,” he says.
Red Ladder Theatre Company’s tour poster for We’re Not Going Back
“So maybe we can get to the day where we have a sculpture of Anne Scargill [NUM president Arthur Scargill’s wife Anne Harper, activist and co-founder of the National Women Against Pit Closures movement, from Barnsley].”
Reflecting on the importance of Red Ladder’s tour, Elvi says: “I would hope that the appetite for this play continues to be as hungry as it was ten years ago, and in this 40th anniversary year, it feels vital that it reaches as many people as possible.
“You think about how it mirrors the strike situations we see now. It’s harder now, as hard as it’s ever been, when unions are weaker and people’s opinions of people going on strike is volatile.
“But one of things that people find when looking for a message to digest in this play is that when we mull over events from the past, a little distance helps people come to clearer, balanced conclusions.”
Red Ladder Theatre Company in We’re Not Going Back, Ripon Arts Hub, All Hallowgate, Ripon, Ripon Theatre Festival, July 6, 7.30pm. Box office:ripontheatrefestival.org.
Outstanding; Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells in York Opera’s The Sorcerer. Picture: Allan Harris
THE Sorcerer is a two-act Gilbert & Sullivan opera based on an earlier Sir William Schwenck Gilbert Christmas story, The Elixir Of Love, and is a typical poke in the eye satire on Victorian England’s class-ridden society.
It is the third operatic collaboration, and certainly not their best – much of the second half is dramatically pretty dull – but there is no denying that York Opera’s production of The Sorcerer is absolutely wonderful. And with a company led by John Soper (stage director and set design), Maggie Soper (costume design) and musical director Alasdair Jamieson, it just had to be, didn’t it.
The opening orchestral overture is pretty much spot on: crisp, articulate playing, generating a quiet confidence for the singers to draw from. And they do. The double chorus Ring Forth, Ye Bells is rhythmically tight and full of joie de vivre.
And why not. Love is in the air and the common villagers of Ploverleigh are preparing to celebrate the betrothal of Alexis Pointdextre (Hamish Brown, tenor), Grenadier Guards, son of local baronet Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre (Ian Thompson-Smith, baritone) and a total bore to boot, to the blue-blooded Aline Sangazure (Alexandra Mather, soprano), daughter of aristocratic Lady Sangazure (Rebecca Smith, contralto). A match made in heaven.
Constance (Emma Burke, soprano) is not a happy bunny as she is secretly in love with the local vicar Daly (Christopher Charlton-Mathews, baritone). However, after the first sighting of said vicar chasing butterflies with a butterfly net – a brilliantly comic scene that could have been choreographed by Sir Ed Dave – one did have to question why?
Anyway, that’s enough of the introductions. Emma Burke’s When He Is Here, I Sigh With Pleasure is simply delightful: lovely tone, crystal-clear diction. It is just a pity that there are so few opportunities here for Ms Burke to shine.
Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells, left, Hamish Brown’s Alexis Pointdextre and Alexandra Mather’s Aline Sangazure in The Sorcerer. Picture: Allan Harris
The response from Mr Charlton-Mathews – a sweet, melancholic The Air Is Charged With Amatory Numbers and Time Was When Love And I Were Well Acquainted – are terrific. His comic timing and mannerisms are infectious. As indeed they prove to be throughout.
Following a crisply choreographed dance and a touching female chorus With Heart And With Voice, we arrive at the vocal high point, literally. Alexandra Mather (Aline) delivers a powerful Happy Young Heart with relatively eyewatering high notes.
Enter Sir Marmaduke – with a lineage going back to Helen of Troy, he claims – and Lady Sangazure. They clearly have history, not as far back as Homer’s Iliad, as revealed in their tender love duet, Welcome Joy, Adieu To Sadness.
Enter Alexis, who tells his blue-rinsed fiancée that love has the power to unite all classes and ranks (“without rank, age or fortune…”) in a passionate Love Feeds On Many Kinds Of, I Know. He decides to implement this musical ‘levelling-up’ policy via an elixir or love potion from the entirely respectable London firm, J.W. Wells & Co, Family Sorcerers.
And it is just as well he does as it introduces a show-stealing Anthony Gardner (baritone) in the form of John Wellington Wells. Mr Gardner’s spiky, animated and wonderfully sung My Name Is John Wellington Wells, followed by the theatrical incantation Sprites Of Earth And Air (with Alexandra Mather, Hamish Brown and Chorus) is the opera highlight. Of course it is. His pantomime villain is reminiscent of the incomparable David Leonard, infused with a dash of Del Boy.
What follows is A Midsummer Night’s Dream gone nuts. The potion is administered via a cup of tea from a giant teapot and, following hallucinatory experiences (Oh, Marvellous Illusion) and the village falls into a drug-infused sleep.
Act II begins at midnight, as tradition decrees, when the villagers wake up and instantly fall in love with the person next to them. Of the opposite sex, obviously! If the village people had an inkling of what was to come, they might have positioned themselves into a more advantageous position.
Ian Thomson-Smith’s Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre and Rebecca Smith’s Lady Sangazure. Picture: Allan Harris
As it is, all the matches made are both highly unsuitable and comical. The best of these by far is Constance (Emma Burke’s) duet with the ancient, ear-trumpeting notary Adrian Cook (bass, with a clear lower register).
During the brilliantly performed Dear Friends, Take Pity On My Lot it is implied that his heart, so full of joy, is likely to be one ending in heart failure. There is a delightful vocal quintet, I Rejoice That It’s Decided, with Alexandra Mather, Amanda Shackleton, Hamish Brown, Christopher Charlton-Mathews and Ian Thompson-Smith. The balance is spot on.
But there is no way of getting away from it, the star is Anthony Gardner’s John Wellington Wells. He catches both the eye (big time) and the ear throughout; his performance is outstanding. Although why the villagers vote to do away with him and not the son of Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, Alex, is beyond me. No offence meant Mr Brown, you are very good indeed.
Not all of the production is flawless; at times the orchestra and singers aren’t completely in sync and not all of the singing is pitch perfect. But this was the first night for goodness’ sake.
But let’s finish with a collective role call for the superb John and Maggie Soper, Pauline Marshall, Clare Bewers (stage manager) and Eric Lund (lighting) and all the hard-working creative team involved. Take a bow. The Sorcerer orchestra, excellent throughout. Take a bow. And lastly, but not least, musical director Alastair Jamieson, who conducts the whole comic opera with clarity, authority and musical insight. He must have been delighted. Take a bow. Hang on, you already have done.
York Opera, The Sorcerer, York Theatre Royal, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
