Satire this way: mischief-maker Mark Thomas has 50 Things About Us he wants to get off his chest. Pictures: Steve Ullathorne
MISCHIEF-MAKING activist comedian, satirical writer, political agent provocateur, TV and radio presenter, journalist and podcaster Mark Thomas sets out on his 50 Things About Us: Work In Progress tour on January 23.
Among the 54 dates are The Crescent, York, on March
4 and Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on April 9 as the South Londoner combines
his trademark mix of “storytelling, stand-up, mischief and really,
really well researched material to examine how we have come to inhabit this
divided wasteland that some of us call the United Kingdom”.
Thomas, 56, will be picking through the myths, facts and figures of our national identities to ask how we have so much feeling for such a hollow land. “Who do we think we are?” he ponders.
Mark Thomas: keeping an eye on the state of the nation
50 Things About Us is billed as “a show about
money, history, songs, gongs, wigs, unicorns, guns, bungs, sods of soil and
rich people, in the vein of The Manifesto-meets-sweary history channel”.
Thomas
has made his mark down the years by stopping arms deals; creating a
manifesto and bringing the winning policy to parliament; walking the entire
length of the Israeli wall in the West Bank and setting up a comedy club in the
Palestinian city of Jenin.
He has hosted six series on Channel 4, alongside
several television documentaries and radio series; written books; grabbed a
Guinness World Record; sold out numerous tours; won awards aplenty; nabbed
himself a Medal of Honour and succeeded in changing some laws along the
way.
His Work In Progress tour also takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, February 16; Sheffield Memorial Hall, March 1, and Wakefield Theatre Royal, March 5. Box office: York, 01904 622510 or at thecrescent.com; Leeds, 0845 644 1881 or cityvarieties.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, 01422 845265 or thetradesclub.com; Sheffield, 0114 278 9789 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Wakefield, 01924 211311.
Be prepared for Lucy Porter: she is playing Selby Town Hall on June 6
SELBY Town Hall’s spring season will be its biggest ever with 27 live
shows between February and the start of June, plus a trio of Edinburgh Fringe previews
in July.
“There’s the usual mix of folk, Americana, stand-up, pop, rock, theatre
and more with chart-toppers, cult indie royalty, a Grammy winner, the radio
voice who guided my teenage pop dreams, a primetime impersonator tinkling the
ivories and even a 13-piece orchestra,” says Selby Town Council arts officer
Chris Jones.
“We had a good end to 2019 with a surprise listing in the Guardian as
one of the UK’s best tiny venues and that seems to have spilled over into 2020
with strong early sales. It’s full steam ahead.”
The programme’s headline stars include punk princess, actor, television
presenter and Top Ten hit maker Toyah with her stripped-back Acoustic, Up Close
& Personal show on February 21; Mark Radcliffe: Loser?, a solo show of
words and songs from the BBC6 Music and Radio 2 presenter, on April 2, and impersonator
Alistair McGowan, in his new-found guise as a classical pianist, in The Piano
Show on May 22.
Guitarist Gordon Giltrap’s re-scheduled date is confirmed for February 29; cult Eighties’ indie icon, John Peel favourite, Scouse maverick and The Mighty Wah! frontman Pete Wylie presents a duo show of hits and stories on March 14, and Dire Straits founding member David Knopfler, now plying his trade as a singer-songwriter, performs with Harry Bogdanovs on May 27.
Me and my mum: Arabella Weir in her debut stand-up show
On the comedy front, The Fast Show star turned bestselling
author Arabella Weir plays the smallest date on her first ever stand-up tour, the
confessional Does My Mum Loom Big In This?, on February 28; Paul Sinha,
one-time Grand Opera House, York, pantomime villain, comic and quiz sensation from
The Chase, performs Hazy Little Thing Called Love on March 21; and Jo Caulfield discusses unreasonable
neighbours, call centres, snobby ghosts, prosecco drinkers, being married
forever and rude children in Voodoo Doll on May 1.
BBC New Comedy Award winner, To Hull And Back sitcom writer and Hull
native Lucy Beaumont spins surreal anecdotes about bubble wrap, boxing, boobs
and believing in UFOs or not in Space Mam, her return to live stand-up after a
four-year hiatus, on April 17.
Always space for Hull humorist Lucy Beaumont
“The season also includes one of the biggest successes from last year’s
Edinburgh Fringe, comedy duo Max & Ivan, on February 7,” says Chris. “Their
show Commitment was named the fourth best comedy performance of 2019 by the
Guardian and has just been listed as one of the comedy highlights of 2020 by
The Times.
“There’ll be more laughs from BBC Radio 4 favourite Lucy Porter in Be
Prepared, her show on how ‘life turned out to be slightly more
complicated than Brown Owl let on’, on June 6; classically moulded British eccentric
Tim FitzHIgham in Pittancer Of Selby on April 8, and Nineties’ comedy pin-up
turned philosophical raconteur Rob Newman in Rob Newman’s Philosophy Show: Work
In Progress on May 16.
Rob Newman: philosophical work in progress
“Rob will be trying out material for the next series of his award-winning
BBC Radio 4 stand-up philosophy programme Total Eclipse Of Descartes.”
Jones always has a strong hand of American folk and roots music acts
each season. “This spring is no different with performances from Grammy-winning
Californian bluegrass icon Laurie Lewis and her band The Right Hands on May 21;
singer-songwriters Bronwynne Brent and Rachel Baiman on March 6 and May 28 respectively
and the sunshine melodies and harmonies of Illinois indie-Americana quintet The
Way Down Wanderers on April 10,” he says.
Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins in their Flanders & Swann show
Selby Town Council commemorates the 75th anniversary of
VE Day with a concert in Selby Abbey by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band on May 9,
preceded by Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins’s Flanders & Swann show, At The
Drop Of A Hippopotamus, on May 8 at Selby Town Hall.
The venue plays host to its first ever orchestral performance when a
13-piece ensemble from the Northern Chamber Orchestra plays on April 7, with cellist, baritone and
actor Matthew Sharp as the host.
Yorkston Thorne Khan, pictured right to left, playing Selby Town Hall in March
“As well as being our biggest ever programme of events, this spring season is also one of our most eclectic,” says Chris. “I’m particularly excited to welcome one of the most inventive and cool acts on the folk scene right now, Yorkston Thorne Khan, on March 20, when they promote their new album Navarasa: Nine Emotions.
“They mix an incredible array of sounds, from Scottish traditional to
Indian classical, and are signed to the same label as Arctic Monkeys and Franz
Ferdinand!
“We’re also delighted to open up the season on February 1 with a rare
show for a great folk-rock supergroup, The Sandy Denny Project, brought
together by Fotheringay MkII’s PJ Wright and The Poozies’ Sally Barker to
celebrate one of Britain’s greatest ever singers.”
Nashville singer-songwriter Rachel Baiman
Further dates for the diary are Celtic band The Tannahill Weavers, with
their ballads and lullabies on St Valentine’s Day, February 14, guitar duo Ezio
on March 5; and Martin Turner: Ex Wishbone Ash, performing his former band’s
1971 album Pilgrimage in its entirety on March 28.
Reform Theatre present Midsommer, playwright David Greig and
singer-songwriter Gordon McIntyre’s collaborative piece about two mid-30s,
messed-up strangers – failing car salesman/poet Bob and divorce lawyer Helena –
embarking on a lost weekend of debauchery, bridge-burning, car chases, wedding
bust-ups, midnight trysts and hungover self-loathing, on April 25.
Key signing for Selby Town Hall: impressionist turned piano man Alistair McGowan
Edinburgh Fringe comedy previews with two comics each night will be held
on July 11, 18 and 25, with tickets going on sale in the spring.
This season’s National Theatre Live screenings will be Cyrano de
Bergerac, starring James McAvoy, on February 20, and Lucy Kirkwood’s bold new
thriller The Welkin, starring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz, on June 4.
Pete Wylie: singing Story Of The Blues and telling stories at Selby Town Hall on March 14
“From comedy to rock, bluegrass to theatre, orchestral to music hall and
much, much more, there’s a huge array to choose from at Selby Town Hall this
spring season,” concludes Chris.
Tickets are on sale on 01757 708449, at selbytownhall.co.uk or in person from the town hall.
KENTMERE House Gallery, in Scarcroft Hill, York, will be open for York Residents Festival on January 25 and 26 from 10am to 6pm.
The work of around 70 artists is on show at any one time in Ann
Petherick’s home gallery: some from York, some from Yorkshire, others from
artists across the country.
“This includes Freya Horsley’s atmospheric York townscapes, which have attracted many admirers, and David Greenwood’s vigorous pastels of Skeldergate Bridge and many York townscapes, along with the distinctive red brick houses of the Knavesmire area,” says Ann, who extends a welcome to all, not only York residents
The interior of Kentmere House Gallery, in Scarcroft Hill, York
“There’s also exciting new work from nationally known artist Susan
Bower, who lives near Tadcaster but whose work is mostly shown in London.”
Prices
start at £200 for original works and £50 for original prints. “We also have books
and cards exclusive to the gallery, reductions, special offers, five per cent discounts
for residents and a free 14-day home trial.”
The gallery’s involvement in York Residents Festival has been a great success in previous years. “A gallery in a home setting is still a curiosity, and I believe many people feel some slight trepidation at entering,” says Ann, whose usual opening hours are 11am to 5pm on the first weekend of every month, every Thursday evening from 6pm to 9pm and at any time by appointment – “just a phone call in advance to check we’re in” – on 01904 656507.
Hull From The South Bank, gouache on paper, by Bob Armstrong, on display at Kentmere House Gallery
“Alternatively, we work on the principle that ‘if we’re in, we’re open’ – just ring the bell. But you would be amazed how many visitors say they have been walking past for years but never been in. The Residents Festival emboldens them, however, and gives them that little extra incentive.
“Then there are many – even some living nearby – who say that
they didn’t even know the gallery existed. It’s truly one of York’s hidden gems
and this festival is the ideal time to sample its unique atmosphere and to
introduce it to your friends.”
The front door of Kentmere House Gallery in York
In addition to the art on display, Kentmere House is an interesting property in its own right. “It was built by the Methodist Church in 1898 as their own offices and a staff dwelling,” says Ann.
“The quality of the workmanship and materials used in the building is exceptional, and it’s one of the few buildings in York roofed with distinctive Westmoreland green slates.
Flamingos, acrylic on paper, by Jack Hellewell, at Kentmere House Gallery
“We bought the property in 1991: the large rooms, high
ceilings and spacious staircase make it ideal for use as a gallery. Two
rooms, the hall, stairs and landing are used for display, with more than 100
paintings at any time.”
Should you be wondering, the name Kentmere was chosen by
one of the Methodist staff involved at the time, as he was a frequent visitor
to the village of the same name in the Lake District.
Hitting the heights on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour . Picture: Tony Tibbetts
THE Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to York Barbican on April 21 with a new selection of action and adventure films.
The tour features two collections
of films from the world’s best adventure filmmakers, with super-human challenges,
soulful journeys and spectacular cinematography from the wildest corners of the
planet.
Among them is Up To Speed, whose
spotlight falls on the extraordinary discipline of speed climbing, soon to
feature in the Olympic Games for the first time at Tokyo 2020.
“We
can’t wait to share the latest inspirational films from the world’s most
prestigious mountain film festival on our biggest tour yet,” says British and
Irish tour director Nell Teasdale.
“As well as exhilarating stories starring intrepid characters and pioneering journeys, an evening at Banff is a celebration of the great outdoors, with a vibrant atmosphere and a real sense of community. And we guarantee audiences will leave feeling inspired to have an adventure of their own.”
The tour’s films have been
chosen from hundreds of entries for the Banff Mountain Film Festival, held
every November in the Canadian Rockies. The UK and Ireland tour starts in
Pitlochry, Scotland, on January 18 and finishes in Norwich on May 26, visiting
60 locations with 114 screenings along the way.
Aside from Up To Speed, film highlights
include Home, wherein Oxfordshire adventurer Sarah Outen embarks on a
four-year, human-powered traverse of the globe, travelling by bike, kayak and
rowing boat across Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and finally
the Atlantic.
The punishing elements, months
of solitude and storms push Sarah to the mental and physical brink, as Home
intimately and unflinchingly captures on her 20,000-mile odyssey.
Spectre Expedition charts the
progress of Mission Antarctica: 1,000 miles, 200+kg of kit each, 65 days, three
mates and one mountain, those adventurers being Brit Leo Houlding and teammates
Jean Burgun, from France, and Kiwi Mark Sedon.
Using snow-kites to travel great distances, with massive loads, at speeds of up to 60kmph, this is the epic tale of a daring dream to reach the summit of one of the most remote mountains on earth: The Spectre in Antarctica.
In
The Ladakh Project, French athlete Nouria Newman tackles a 375km solo kayaking
expedition down the most remote and daunting rivers in the Indian Himalaya. Facing
hair-raising moments, Nouria is forced to push herself to the edge of her
limits, saying “I felt really vulnerable. I had a proper look at what my
guts were made of.”
Tickets are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk, on 0203 356 5441 or by visiting the box office in person.
The naked truth: Theo Mason Wood and Albert Haddenham in How To Beat Up Your Dad. Pictures: Mollie Gallagher
CARAVAN
Guys Theatre Company’s darkly comic tale of “toxic masculinity”, How To Beat Up
Your Dad (The Musical), is taking to the road.
First
stop for this debut show – first performed in its entirety at The Arts Barge
Riverside Festival in York last July – will be at Slung Low’s home at The Holbeck
Theatre, in Leeds, on February 9.
On stage
at 5pm will be Albert Haddenham and York actor, musician and writer Theo Mason
Wood, son of York playwright Mike Kenny and stage and screen actress Barbara
Marten.
First making his mark on the York music
scene with Bonnie Milnes in the darkly humorous The Lungs and Gwen, Theo
graduated from the drama and theatre arts degree course at Goldsmiths,
University of London, three summers ago.
Now comes Caravan Guys’ savagely
satirical tale of one young man’s journey through manhood, taking him from
being a meek teenager looking for the secret, to losing his virginity, to
becoming a young man stealing Yakults™, searching for happiness and finally
standing up to his own dad with his fists.
Please note, this show is a
“free-form piece of dark comedy about the damaging and violent nature of
masculinity and doesn’t actually give any instructions on beating up your own
dad”. Instead, as told through a cocktail of performance, spoken word,
music and storytelling, humour and hubris, How To Beat Up Your Dad is a comedy
about masculinity and all the wrong ways to solve your problems.
Here Theo steps out of the caravan to answer Charles Hutchinson’s questions.
Who are the Caravan Guys and
why is the company so called, Theo?
“Caravan Guys is myself, Theo Mason
Wood, and Albert Haddenham, of Bridlington, a charismatic
sausage/multi-instrumentalist with the best sense of humour and big strong
hands.
“We are the draughty corridor between hilarity and horror,” says Theo Mason Wood, pictured on the run behind Albert Haddenham,
“We met about 14 months ago and
immediately found that we found the same things funny. On New Year’s night last
year, we drunkenly swore to make something together and that’s how How To Beat
Up Your Dad (The Musical) was born.
“People do awful things, really weird
awful things and Caravan Guys want to show you why and make you laugh at them.
We are the draughty corridor between hilarity and horror. We are the unknown
stain on the caravan floor and the reason it’s going cheaply.”
What was the inspiration for
the show?
“The absurdity of masculinity. The
script was originally a short story I wrote; I compiled some real stories of
extreme and absurd situations that I and other men I know have been in and then
applied them all to one character. I find myself constantly amazed by the
lengths men will go to assert themselves. It’s shocking and often unpleasant
but also really funny.”
Where do you stand on
masculinity? Some say men are becoming emasculated, such as in the way they are
portrayed in adverts and increasingly on TV. On the other hand, your play
highlights “the damaging and violent nature of masculinity”. Discuss…
“Although the phrase gets used a
lot, I really do think that masculinity is spectacularly fragile. As a culture,
we’re all becoming more aware of this, so the cracks in the macho façade are
growing bigger and bigger, and I think we’re all a lot more able to see it for
what it is.
“The play shows
how sexism and homophobia are often just defences against feeling emasculated.
These tropes of masculinity say a lot more about the individual’s sense of self
than it does about the groups they are attacking.
“As men, we have been taught that
sadness, anxiety and vulnerability are not valid emotions; to cry is to be weak
and to be weak is to not be masculine. Therefore, often men will push outwards
when experiencing these feelings, they will turn it into rage, aggression and
violence.”
“Many men don’t have the correct tools to deal with their emotions and will lash out because anger is seen as masculine while sadness isn’t ,” says Theo Mason Wood
How is that reflected in your
play?
“This is what I mean when I say the
play is about the damaging and violent nature of masculinity, I mean that many
men don’t have the correct tools to deal with their emotions and will lash out
because anger is seen as masculine while sadness isn’t. “Although this all
sounds very serious – which it is – our show is largely a comedy and we aim to
create a space where we can all laugh at the strange things men do to protect
themselves from feeling small.”
Explain the provocative choice
of show title…
“This is not a musical, nor is it a
guide on how to beat up your dad. I don’t know your dad, he might be really
hard.
“Our hero, Amon, has a lot of
emotional issues tied up in his experiences with his Dad when he was a child.
The show starts with Amon as a pre-teen upset because he hasn’t been allowed to
come to his own dad’s wedding.
“The play then follows Amon into
adulthood and becoming ‘a man’ via some pretty terrible experiences. Finally,
he wants to confront his father and get some closure but the man he returns
home to isn’t the alpha male he grew up in fear of. Now he does meditation and
has started wearing beads.”
What do you love about dark
comedy? Your songs with Bonnie Milnes in The Lungs and Gwen occupied that
terrain too.
“I think comedy is a brilliant
vehicle for making a point without boring people. Serious issues can be very
serious and often no fun to talk about.
“Comedy allows people to enjoy
thinking and learning; comedy makes things that are hard to swallow much much
easier to swallow. Personally, I’d rather have a laugh than a scowl but that
doesn’t have to mean the content of discussion can’t be an important one.”
There’s nudity in the show…why?!
“People are paying whatever they want to for a ticket, so I want them to feel they’ve got their money’s worth.”
In a field of their own:: Albert Haddenham, front, and Theo Mason Wood contemplate masculinity in How To Beat Up Your Dad
One reviewer called
The Caravan Guys’ comedy style “punk, a bit scary, Berkoff, brave”, How
would you define it?
“We blur the lines between fiction and reality: the story tells one
narrative, of masculinity and how trauma is inherited and shared, how victims
become perpetrators. As we shift between characters and ourselves we tell
another, deeper and darker narrative about us as men: our competitiveness, our
need to dominate, to show off, to win the play.
“Our work is raucous and violent. It is completely free form. We
drag the audience through styles, times, places and people to show all the
insidious ways masculinity gets its claws in.”
What else are you up to, Theo?
“Currently I
perform comedy music under the title Jean Penne and I’ll soon be releasing a
small book of short stories.
“Meanwhile, me and
Albert are going to continue to try and become the Simon and Garfunkel of dark
comedy. After selling out a number of shows in Manchester and London, we look forward
to bringing the explosive How To Beat Up Your Dad to Leeds and Bristol in
February, the Brighton Fringe in May and Cambridge in July.
“We’ll then take the show to the
Edinburgh Fringe and the rest of the world (Bridlington) and then get cracking
on the next play.”
Caravan Guys Theatre Company in How To Beat Up Your Dad (The Musical), at Slung Low’s The Holbeck Theatre, Leeds, February 9, 5pm. Box office: via slunglow.org, at quaytickets.com or on 0843 208 0500. Please note, this is a Pay What You Decide After The Show performance.
Interview copyright of The Press, York, from July
23 2019
York Artworkers Association member Dave Cooper in his studio
YORK Artworkers Association’s 25th anniversary exhibition at Pyramid Gallery went so well last year that the group has decided to hold another.
Members
will be exhibiting at Terry Brett’s gallery in Stonegate, York, from Saturday
to February 23. “I’m anticipating it
will look unusually full,” he says.
Artist Adrienne French at work in her studio
“We want
to show everyone’s work if we can, but I expect the walls to look very full of
pictures, in the style of the Royal Academy Summer Show, but better. The standard
of work being submitted is very high and I foresee a really exciting exhibition
in both first-floor galleries and all the way up the staircase too.”
Art,
ceramics and jewellery by 30 members will be on show in an exhibition curated
by Terry, who is a YAA member himself.
Silver urchin bracelet, by Karen Thomas
“York
Artworkers Association was formed 26 years ago by a group of artists and people
who were working in design, graphics and galleries in order to provide a social
network of people interested in the arts,” he says.
“They meet
every month at Joseph’s Well, off Micklegate, where they invite speakers to
talk about a topic that could be anything do to with their own art practice or
an art-related organisation. Recent speakers have included a former member of
the theatrical drumming group Stomp and a sculptor who demonstrated modelling a
horse in clay.”
Snowden, by Kate Petitt
Last year’s
silver anniversary was marked by the Pyramid show, open to all association
members working in the arts. A book was produced to accompany the exhibition.
The sequel
will feature more members, several of whom will be present at Saturday’s launch
from 11am on a day when refreshments will be served until 2.30pm.
Artist Kate Petitt. PIcture: Olivia Brabbs
York painters
and printmakers taking part will be Richard and Valerie Bell; Dave Cooper;
Chrissie Dell; Adrienne French; Mandy Grant; Anna Harding; Luisa Holden; John Jirkwood;
Caroline Lord; Bernadette Oliver; Peter Park; Kate Pettitt; Liz and Saul
Salter; Lesley Seeger; Lesley Shaw; Jill Tattersall; Donna Taylor and Joe
Vaughan.
Catherine
Boyne-Whitelegg, Francesca Green, Sophie Hamilton, Ilona Sulikova and Chris
Utley will contribute ceramics; Tim Pierce, sculpture, and Ann Southeran,
stained glass.
Looking Up Iantosque, by Dave Cooper
Needlework,
felting and textiles will be shown by Carol Coleman, Cathy Needham, Sarah
Jackson and Julia Wilkins; weaving by Jacqueline James; basketry by Heather
Dawe, and jewellery by Karen Thomas and Richard Whitelegg.
All of the work will be for sale and exhibition images can be seen at pyramidgallery.com and on social media. Pyramid Gallery, York, is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and on some Sundays from 12.30pm to 4.30pm.
The final curtain: Berwick Kaler’s final wave on the night he retired after 40 years as York Theatre Royal’s dame on February 2 2019
TEN KEY POINTS FROM YORK THEATRE ROYAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TOM BIRD’S BBC RADIO YORK INTERVIEW WITH ADAM TOMLINSON THIS AFTERNOON
1. A new writer and director, with a new direction, will be appointed to make a “spectacular, fabulous, really York” Theatre Royal pantomime for 2020-2021.
2. Yes, it will still be a pantomime, not a winter show.
3. No, Berwick Kaler will not be involved as writer, co-director or dame.
4. Audience figures have declined for 11 years, from as high as 54,190 for Dick Turpin in 2008 to 30,000 so far (with two weeks to go) for Sleeping Beauty. Those “collapsing” figures have to be checked and reversed by attracting a new audience as well as retaining the regular theatregoers.
5. The current contract practice with the regular players, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass and A J Powell, is an unspoken agreement of a return for the next show, but Mr Bird wanted to be clear with those performers that this time this would not be the case. No-one is guaranteed an automatic contract renewal and no-one is on a long contract.
6. No regrets at the “halfway house” of retaining retired dame Berwick Kaler as writer and co-director for Sleeping Beauty as a chance to showcase the talents of the “amazing” cast regulars in a way audiences had not seen before, and “to some extent” this had happened. However, from ticket launch day onwards, some people had said ‘No, I’m not going to go.”
7. Refuting Berwick Kaler’s charges of “cheap sets, cheap costumes” for Sleeping Beauty, Mr Bird said the overall pantomime budget had increased. The designer [Anthony Lamble] was new, but the set and costume expenditure was the same as it was for The Grand Old Dame Of York last winter.
8. The new director and writer will need to have free rein for next winter’s pantomime, and if they were told they had to have certain actors, that would not be free rein. It should be a free shot, a state of autonomy, without any ties restricting them.
9. Could there be a U-turn, given that 1,400 people have signed an online petition to bring back Berwick? No.
Berwick had created something extraordinary over 40 years, but this is how life works: the panto needs a re-boot, one where “you don’t have to be in the club to come”.
10. The 2020-2021 pantomime will be announced at a launch on February 3.
First Doncaster Racecourse, now The Piece Hall in Halifax as Shed Seven head outdoors for the summer
YORK’S Shed Seven will top an all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on June 26.
Joining the Sheds will be Leeds bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present and Leeds United-supporting York group Skylights, plus the Brighton Beach DJs.
Tickets for this Futuresounds Events show will go on sale on Friday at 9am at lunatickets.co.uk, seetickets.com and gigantic.com.
This is the second outdoor show announcement by the Sheds in quick succession, after confirming they will be chasing winners as well as Chasing Rainbows at Doncaster Racecourse on August 15, when they play Live After Racing, under starter’s orders at 5.45pm.
“We’re doing this Piece Hall show partly because our 2018 gig at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl went so well,” says Shed Seven lead singer Rick Witter, whose revived Britpoppers drew 8,000 that June day and now will perform in the 5,500-capacity square of the renovated 18th-century Halifax cloth hall that now houses history exhibits and independent shops, bars and restaurants.
The Sheds have just mounted their biggest ever Shedcember winter tour, chalking up their record run of 23 shows between November 21 and December 21, with Leeds First Direct Arena on December 7 at the epicentre.
“After we did the Shedcember gigs, we just fancied doing something similar to Castlefield Bowl this summer, but this time a Yorkshire gig,” says the Stockport-born Witter.
Stockport, Mr Witter?! “I know, but I consider myself a Yorkie now,” says Rick, who attended Huntington School in York.
David Gedge of The Wedding Present, part of the June 26 bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax
“I remember Embrace playing The Piece Hall [Elbow have done likewise], and it’s taken a few months to confirm our gig since we came up with the idea of playing there. We wanted to do an outdoor show, and to do it in such a salubrious setting will be a great buzz.”
As the Sheds look forward to their Halifax and Doncaster concerts, complemented by seven summer festival gigs, with two more to be added, Rick says: “It’s a weird one for us: as the Shedcember tour showed, it seems we’re more popular than ever now. It’s a strange phenomenon but long may it continue.
“Having a new album out [Instant Pleasures, released in November 2017], has definitely helped, because the shows aren’t just nostalgia now; there are new songs too.”
Given that fresh impetus, backed up by October 2019’s gold vinyl re-issue of the Sheds’ greatest hits compilation, Going For Gold, Rick says: “Now we need to do that again: write some more new songs, and as busy as everyone is doing their own thing, there might be room to meet up once a week.”
Definitely new this year will be Shed Seven’s first racecourse concert at Donny. “I went as a guest to see Kaiser Chiefs play at York Racecourse [July 22 2016], and it was a great day out. People love it because it’s a full day out with racing and music. Let’s feel the love that day as everyone makes a big day of it. We can’t wait.”
Tickets for Shed Seven’s Music Live performance at Donny are on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk, with more information available at doncaster-racecourse.co.uk. Gates will open at 11.15am for the 1.10pm racecard,
Jess Gardham: on the road from York to Pocklington Arts Centre for a Busking-in-the-Bar night
YORK blues and soul singer, songwriter,
musical actress and MasterChef semi-finalist Jess Gardham performs at Busking-in-the-Bar,
Pocklington Arts Centre’s free music night, on Friday night (January 17).
Jess, of South Bank, York, has toured Britain, Europe, the United States and Canada, supported KT Tunstall, Paul CarrackandMartin Simpson and played at festivals across Britain, not least PAC’s Platform Festival at The Old Station, Pocklington last summer.
In York, she has starred in three York Stage Musicals’ productions, playing “Motormouth” Maybelle in Hairspray in April 2015 and spiritualist Oda Mae Brown in Ghost The Musical and appearing in Rock Of Ages in April 2017.
“We’re delighted that Jess Gardham will play our first Busking-in-the-Bar event of 2020,” says Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer
“Busking-in-the-Bar is an opportunity for everyone to experience some fantastic free live music, from emerging local artists, all within the comfort of our intimate and luxurious bar,” says PAC director Janet Farmer.
“We were fortunate enough to have Jess Gardham open Platform Festival 2019 and she was sensational, so we’re delighted that Jess will play our first Busking-in-the-Bar event of 2020.
“There’s fantastic live music, a wide
range of drinks to choose from and it’s free entry: what a perfect start to the
weekend.”
On Friday, the bar opens at 7pm, the music starts at 8pm. For more details, call the box office on 01759 301547 or visit pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Pavel Kolesnikov, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, January 10
IT pays to invite big names. The Lyons was justifiably packed for this piano recital promoted by the British Music Society, which was built around two Beethoven sonatas. For anyone just returned from outer space, 2020 is set to be a big year for the great man, as we celebrate his 250th birthday.
Kolesnikov began, however, with a Chopin group, in which he probed the composer’s yearning for the Polish homeland he left at the age of 20, never to return. Rather than plunge straight into the tempestuous Fantasie-Impromptu, he opened with a minor-key nocturne not on the programme. It was magnetic. From then on his audience hung on his every note (some ill-timed, uncovered coughs apart).
Another nostalgic nocturne led into a passionate Third Scherzo in which drama took precedence over clarity. Nobody minded. By then we were in thrall to the seemingly effortless charisma of a man who never plays an unmusical note. Besides, there were always these inner voices that he kept bringing out of the texture.
At this point he allowed the first applause – we were desperate for the release. He then used Chopin’s so-called “Raindrop” prelude as his introduction to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata, with barely a pause between the two (not such a bad idea when you consider that they are effectively in the same key, except that the former is major, the latter minor).
” It was thrilling for being so close to the edge,” says Martin Dreyer of Pavel Kolesnikov’s piano playing.
The opening movement was a little distorted by rubato. What followed was unexpected. I have never heard the Scherzo played so slowly and deliberately. By contrast, the finale could hardly have been speedier. It was thrilling for being so close to the edge.
The theme of night continued after the interval in pieces by Schumann, Debussy and Bartok. Kolesnikov brought an eerie edge to Schumann’s halting first Nachstück, elongating the many rests dotting its texture. Debussy’s fireworks (Feux d’artifice) were predictably more colourful, superbly varied, while Bartok’s trademark Night Music from his Outdoors suite chillingly evoked things that go bump in the night.
There was a dignified restraint to the opening movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Op 53, dedicated in 1804 to his erstwhile patron Count Waldstein, which lent its chorale a certain hauteur. The slow movement was less convincing. But the final rondo grew in excitement towards its closing prestissimo, with a riveting wealth of detail throughout.
At a mere 30 years old, Kolesnikov could be adorning our concert platforms for another half-century. Let us hope he can be lured back to York very soon.
