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The Red Barn Murder as it has never been told before…from the victim’s viewpoint

The Ballad Of Maria Marten playwright Beth Flintoff

GOODBYE Polstead, say hello to The Ballad Of Maria Marten, the new name for
Beth Flintoff’s captivating drama that first toured in 2018.

Directed by Hal Chambers in tandem with Ivan Cutting, an all-female cast
will embark on a spring tour from Tuesday at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph
Theatre, led by Elizabeth Crarer, who returns to the title role for Flintoff’s
re-telling of a real-life Suffolk murder mystery in Summer 1827.

In a red barn, Maria Marten awaits her lover. A year later, her body is
found under the floor of the barn in a grain sack, barely identifiable, and the
manhunt begins.

Maria’s story sent shock waves throughout the country. The Red Barn Murder,
as it became known, was national news, inspiring writers and filmmakers down
the ages.

Here was the sort of gruesome tale that had all the hallmarks of a classic
crime drama: a missing body, a country location, a disreputable squire and a
village stuck in its age-old traditions.

However, amid all the hysteria, Maria’s own story has become lost – until this
play. Chambers and Flintoff’s spine-tingling rediscovery of her tale brings it
back to vivid, urgent life.

Flintoff, a freelance playwright and theatre director from Hampshire, was asked
by co-director Cutting to write the play.

She was immediately intrigued, not only because she had never heard of the
murder, but also because she then learnt how the story previously had been
told.

“Ivan approached me after seeing another play that I’d written, which was
set in the early 12th century,” she recalls. “We met in Polstead,
Suffolk, to walk through the village, and I was fascinated. In particular, Ivan
wanted the story to focus on Maria because so many versions of this tale are
centred around William Corder.” 

Beth continues: “From the moment of the trial, the focus was on the
murderer, not Maria. No-one seemed to be looking carefully at the intricacies
of her life, beyond the basics. So, I wanted to tell the story entirely from
her point of view.

“We are often presented with stories of women as ‘victims’, rather than as
interesting, complicated people who had hopes and dreams, friends and lives of
their own.”

For her research, Flintoff stayed in Ipswich for a while and walked around Polstead
to gain a sense of how she lived her life. “I visited all the locations of
Maria’s life that I thought would be mentioned in the play: Layham, Sudbury,
Hadleigh. I went to the Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, which has
relics relating to the murder, and the Records Office in Ipswich to look at
newspaper reports,” she says.

“I talked to local people to try and understand what everyone thinks now
(the answer: everyone that knows of it has a different version!). Then I spent
a lot of time in libraries: the University of Sussex Library, the British
Library in London and the Bodleian in Oxford.” 

Flintoff notes that amid the profusion of accounts of the story, whether from the time of the murder or much more recent, they are all very different. “Some are truly horrible about Maria, others make her out to be an angelic village maiden, and some offer some pretty bizarre theories about Ann,” she says.

“One offered ‘hints to the ladies’ on how to avoid marrying a murderer in
the future. Several anxiously urged women not to be so promiscuous, to avoid
being murdered themselves. None suggested that men stop murdering. Needless to
say, I could not find any contemporary accounts written by a woman. 

“Then I put all the research aside and tried to think about Maria as a person.
Who does she love, what do they talk about, what does she do when she’s having
fun? I didn’t want her to be a victim any more. Maria emerged as intelligent,
brave and wryly funny, just like the survivors I had met.” 

What does Flintoff anticipate this week’s SJT audience will take away from The Ballad Of Maria Marten? “First of all, I hope they enjoy
themselves! That’s my number one job really. It’s not a laugh-a-minute sort of
play but you can still enjoy a story, even if it’s full of sadness.

“But also I hope they enjoy watching these actresses, as I have, working
together to tell this story about a woman who has somehow got lost in the
retelling of her own murder.” 

Secondly, she hopes they feel the story is still relevant. “On average, two
women are killed every week by their partner or ex-partner in this country,”
Beth says. “I feel increasingly that this story is not about the past but the
present: how are we going to let women speak for themselves when there is so
much history of being ignored?

“I feel very optimistic for the future. I think things are going to change,
and it’s wonderful to be living in that change, but it’s going to take work.”

The Ballad Of Maria Marten will run in the Round at the Stephen
Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from Tuesday,February 11 to 15 at 7.30pm nightly,
plus matinees at 1.30pm on February 13 and 2.30pm on February 15. Tickets,
priced from £10, are on sale on 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: VERY  SORRY THE TEXT IS MISBEHAVING. NO IDEA WHY IT IS, BUT HOPEFULLY THIS DOES NOT SPOIL ANY ENJOYMENT OF READING THE STORY. CH

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REVIEW: Kneehigh’s Ubu! The Sing Along Satire. Who knew politics could be this much fun?

Riotous: Ubu (Katy Owen) and Mrs Ubu (Mike Shepherd) in Ubu! The Sing Along Satire

REVIEW: Kneehigh’s Ubu! A Singalong Satire, Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, tonight at 7.30pm. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk

ALEX, the woodsman-bearded drama teacher from York, won’t forget his afternoon visit to Leeds Playhouse, thrashed by a Leeds boy in a daft party game in Kneehigh’s promenade musical.

He loved it! We loved it! You’ll love it! Yet again, Cornwall’s Kneehigh send you home dizzy and delirious with the joys and jolts, the thrilling rock’n’rollercoaster ride, of theatre that aptly comes with an exclamation mark in its show title.

Ubu! A Sing Along Satire has politics, a big flushing loo, cheers and boos, inflatable animals, songs, more politics, more songs, competitive audience participation and a giant bear with poor vision in a chaotic, kinetic, karaoke cabaret circus of derailed life under a deranged dictator.

First, house lights up, Delycia Belgrave and the soul house band The Sweaty Bureaucrats set the boisterous mood from up on high with party anthems.

Enter our convivial, dry-witted host in vest, tie and striped trousers, Jeremy Wardle (Niall Ashdown), commenting on the state of the British nation as he introduces the land of Lovelyville and the campaign trail of sleek, sloganeering President Nick Dallas (Dom Coyote), his woke daughter Bobbi (Kyla Goodey) and their Russian security boss Captain Shittabrique (Adam Sopp). Shitt-a-brique. Geddit. There are plenty more risqué gags like that to follow.

Where’s Ubu? Here’s Ubu! Tiny yet hugely impactful Katy Owen’s unhinged, petulant, crude and cruel soon-to-be-dictator Ubu. Potty mouthed, bespectacled, dreadlocked, Welsh voiced, and in the words of Kneehigh: “impossibly greedy, unstoppably rude, inexorably daft and hell-bent on making the country great again! Sound familiar?”

Familiar, yes, but told so gleefully afresh, as Alfred Jarry’s famously riot-inducing shot of anarchy from 1896 Paris kicks up a song and dance in the manipulative era of Trump, Johnson and Putin.

Conceived by writer Carl Grose, his co-director Mike Shepherd (the show’s ribald, preening Mrs Ubu) and musical director Charles Hazlewood, Ubu! is a punk-spirited, twisted vaudeville study of power, protest and populism that could not be better timed.

Boos for Katie Hopkins, Boris and Trump; Britney’s Toxic, The Carpenters’ Close To You and Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk re-invented so joyfully; wonderful performances all round, audience included; crazily energetic choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves and a constantly busy, circular rostrum set by Michael Vale all make for another Kneehigh knees-up high.

Cause a riot, if needs must, to secure a ticket for this petty, power-mad protagonist’s panto of pandemonium.

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Misbehaviour encouraged in Hungate Clearances show at York library tonight

Not sorry to be a nuisance at York Explore tonight

WHISPER it loudly, the word is out that history will misbehave tonight at York Explore Library, Library Square, York, from 7.30pm to 9pm.

Why? Because the air will be thick with Paul Birch’s live audio drama The Nuisance Inspector, wherein a sinister slice of York’s past, the Hungate Clearances, will be re-told.

Birch travels back to the 1930s when York’s newest Health Inspector encounters more than he bargains for in the mysterious and extraordinary alleys and yards of Hungate.

A strange body in the Foss, ghostly goings-on in Carmelite Street and an unlikely romance all feature in this moving tale of love, loss and community spirit.

Based on real events and inspired by letters, maps, books and photographs from the civic archives, The Nuisance Inspector uses drama, comedy and live music to transport the audience into a powerful and poignant past.

Tonight’s immersive performance comes in the wake of two sold-out shows in December. Doors open at 7pm for the 7.30pm start and tickets are FREE. Be sure to arrive in good time for start.

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Fiona Shaw to talk at LGBT History Month show of Tell It To The Bees at City Screen

Anna Paquin and Holly Grainger in Tell It To The Bees

YORK author Fiona Shaw will discuss the screen adaptation of her novel Tell It To The Bees after the 6.30pm screening of Annabel Jankel’s film at City Screen, York, on March 4.

This live question-and-answer session will mark the conclusion of LGBT History Month, when Fiona will be interviewed by Dr Hannah Roche, lecturer in 20th century literature and culture at the University of York.

Under discussion will be Fiona’s 2009 book and its ten-year journey from page to screen, and the audience will have the chance to ask questions.

Tell It To The Bees is set in small-town 1950s’ Britain as a doctor develops a relationship with her young patient’s mother. Lydia Weekes (played by Holliday Grainger) is distraught at the break-up of her marriage, but when her young son, Charlie (Gregor Selkirk), makes friends with the local doctor, Jean Markham (Anna Paquin), her life is turned upside down. 

York author Fiona Shaw: Q and A at City Screen, York, on March 4

Charlie tells his secrets to no-one but the bees, but even he cannot keep his mother’s friendship to himself. In the claustrophobic 1950s, however, the locals do not like things done differently.  As Lydia and the doctor become closer, rumours start to fly, threatening to shatter Charlie’s world. 

Fiona will be selling and signing copies of Tell It To The Bees after the screening, along with copies of her most recent novel, 2018’s Outwalkers. 

In addition, she has volunteered to visit book groups in York and the surrounding area. If interested, please contact Fiona via her website, fiona-shaw.com.

Tickets for March 4’s event are on sale on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouse.com.

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REVIEW: Made In Dagenham, re-made in York, Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company

Jennie Wogan as Rita O’Grady in Made In Dagenham

REVIEW: Made In Dagenham, The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm, 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office:  01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk

MADE In Dagenham, re-made in York, is the third production by the Jospeh Rowntree Theatre Company, formed to raise funds for the Haxby Road community theatre.

A good cause, in other words, and the more companies that use this ever-welcoming theatre, the better. The more companies that rise up to tread its boards, the better, too, because York is suffused with musical theatre talent and also with audiences always keen to support such productions.

This week represents the chance to see the York premiere of Made In Dagenham, transferred from screen to stage by composer David Arnold, lyricist Richard Thomas and Richard Bean, the Hull playwright whose comedy dramas revel in confrontations, spats and politics on stage (witness One Man, Two Guvnors and Toast, for example).

Bean re-tells the true 1968 story of the women in the stitching room of Ford’s Dagenham car plant being stitched up by both management and corrupt union, bluntly told their pay is to be dropped to an “unskilled” grade. What follows is a fight for equal pay, standing up against an American corporation, and if the battle is less well known than the Suffragette movement of the 1900s, it is a women’s rights landmark nonetheless.

From the off, once an ensemble number loosens limb and voice alike for Kayleigh Oliver’s cast, the banter amid the graft of the sewing machinists is boisterously established, the humour full of double entendres and sexual bravado, as characters are drawn pleasingly quickly. So too are their interactions with the men at the car plant, and in the case of Rita O’Grady (Jennie Wogan), working wife and mother of two, her home life with husband Eddie (Nick Sephton).

Rita, together with Rosy Rowley’s Connie Riley, become the protagonists of the struggle, but at a cost: for one, her relationship, for the other, her health. Wogan and Rowley are both tremendous in the drama’s grittier scenes and knock the hell out of their big numbers.

Bean writes with more sentimentality than usual, charting the fracturing of Rita and Eddie’s relationship, but it suits the heightened tone of a musical. Sephton handles his ballad lament particularly well.

Jennifer Jones’s Sandra, Izzy Betts’ Clare and, in particular, Helen Singhateh’s lewd Beryl add to the car plant fun and games, as does Chris Gibson’s ghastly American management guy, Tooley. All your worst Stetson-hatted American nightmares in one, and post-Brexit, there’ll soon be more where he came from!

You will enjoy Martyn Hunter’s pipe-smoking caricature of Prime Minister Harold Wilson and director Kayleigh Oliver’s no-nonsense Barbara Castle too. Richard Goodall is good all round as the machinists’ hard-pressed union rep.

Supporting roles and ensemble serve the show well too, and if sometimes the sound balance means lines are hard to hear when the Timothy Selman’s orchestra is playing beneath them, it is a minor problem. Selman’s players, Jessica Douglas and Sam Johnson among them, are on good form throughout.

Lorna Newby’s choreography could be given a little more oomph but with so many on stage at times, space is tight. One routine, where the women move in circles one way, and the men do likewise the other way, outside them, works wonderfully, however.

Made In Dagenham may be a car plant story, but its factory politics resonate loudly nanew in York, the industrial city of chocolate and trains.

Please note, Made In Dagenham features some very strong language and may be unsuitable for children.

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Cosmic Collective on course to make out of this world theatre with Heaven’s Gate

Anna Soden, Joe Feeney, Lewes Roberts and Kate Cresswell in Cosmic Collective Theatre’s Heaven’s Gate

FOUR‌ ‌cups‌ ‌of‌ ‌Apple‌ ‌Sauce.‌ ‌Four‌ ‌canvas‌ ‌camp‌ ‌beds.‌ ‌One‌ ‌Comet.‌ ‌Heaven’s‌ ‌Gate‌ ‌is‌ ‌closing‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌Away‌ ‌Team‌ ‌are‌ ‌ready‌ ‌for‌ ‌Graduation, but whatever you do, don’t mention the C-word. Cult, that is.

Premiered by the new York company Cosmic Collective Theatre at last summer’s Great Yorkshire Fringe in York, ‌‌the 55-minute Heaven’s Gate is orbiting Yorkshire on its first tour, playing the Visionari community programming group’s Studio Discoveries season at the York Theatre Royal Studio tonight (February 7) at 7.45pm.

Written by company co-founder Joe Feeney, this ‌intergalactic‌ ‌pitch‌-black‌ comedy ‌imagines‌ ‌the‌ ‌final‌ ‌hour‌ ‌of‌ ‌four‌ ‌fictionalised‌ ‌members‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌real-life ‌ ‌‌UFO-theistic‌ ‌group, Heaven’s Gate.‌ ‌

“As‌ ‌they‌ ‌prepare‌ ‌for‌ ‌their‌ ‘Graduation’‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌‘Kingdom‌ ‌of Heaven’, initially the excitement is palpable, but soon the‌ ‌cracks‌ ‌start‌ ‌to‌ ‌appear,” says Joe, an alumnus of York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre, along with fellow cast member Anna Soden.‌

Is‌ ‌the Heavenly‌ ‌Father‌ ‌really‌ ‌waiting‌ ‌for‌ ‌them‌ ‌in‌ ‌a‌ ‌spaceship?‌ ‌Is‌ ‌the‌ ‌Earth‌ ‌actually‌ ‌about‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌recycled?‌ ‌Was‌ ‌castration‌ ‌obligatory‌ ‌or‌ ‌not?‌ ‌Is‌ ‌Turkey‌ ‌Potpie‌ ‌an‌ ‌underwhelming‌ ‌last‌ ‌supper?‌ ‌ ‌

“I’ve always been interested in slightly unusual stories, like the paranormal,” says Joe. “I remember reading about the Heaven’s Gate cult, a real-life cult in San Diego, California, who believed God was an alien in a space ship and they were aliens too but wearing the bodies of humans, but actually being versions who would be beamed up to heaven.

“A lot of their religious mantras were from Star Trek and Star Wars, and they all had matching hair-dos and tracksuit clothing.”

Joe was not aware of any previous fictionalised works telling the Heaven’s Gate story. “About 18 months ago, I was watching this BBC Four documentary about meteorites, and it got to 1997 and they started talking about the Comet Hale-Bopp in the sky in March that year,” he recalls.”

“They mentioned an American cult who said it was a calling from God and they could see a UFO in the trail that would take them to heaven.”

These are the facts: On March 26, 1997, the San Diego County Sheriff’s department discovered 39 bodies of Heaven’s Gate members in a house in the suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.  They had participated in a mass suicide, co-ordinated in ritual suicides, in the belief they would reach the aforementioned extraterrestrial space craft trailing in Comet Hale-Bopp’s slipstream.

“Learning about this, the story quickly went from humour to thinking that, ‘oh my god, people need to hear this story and the terrible things they all went through,” says Joe.

“That’s why I’ve written about the fictionalised last hour of four members, drawing on the iconography and ideology of other cults, as well as Heaven’s Gate, in the play.”

Joe has created four “relatable characters”. “They are everyday people who found themselves in the right or wrong place and who felt themselves being swept up in it,” he says.

His writing tone is humorous but darkly so. “The play is a comedy, albeit a black comedy that takes the subject seriously but in a satirical way, managing to find a critique within that satire,” he says.

In the publicity material, Cosmic Collective Theatre make a point of saying “Don’t say the C-word. Cult!”. Why not, Joe?

“The word ‘cult’ always has a stigma to it, but a lot of people in cults don’t know they’re in a cult. They think that they’re in a religion. I don’t want to stigmatise it,” he says. “What’s the difference between God being in a UFO and God being someone with a white beard?

“We hope there are 39 people in a spaceship on the other side of the world. That’s a lovely thought, but the reality is those people are buried somewhere in America.”

Joe was keen to address another subject in the play, amid the rising tide of intolerance and division in the 21st century. “Heaven’s Gate is also about identity, how we make our journey through the world, when we’re now living in a polarised world where we all pin our beliefs to the mast,” he says.

Cosmic‌ ‌Collective‌ ‌Theatre‌, who enjoyed a sold-out run at the‌ ‌Drayton‌ ‌Arms‌ ‌Theatre‌, ‌London, after the York premiere, have so far played Harrogate Theatre Studio and The Carriageworks, Leeds, on tour. Still to come are Hull Truck Theatre Studio, on February 14 at 8pm and Slung Low at Holbeck Theatre, Leeds, on February 16 at 5pm.

‌Joining Joe and Anna in the cast are ‌Lewes‌ ‌Roberts‌ ‌and‌ ‌Kate‌ ‌Cresswell‌. “The four of us all went to Mountview [Academy of Theatre Arts]. Myself, Lewes and Kate were there from 2015 to 2018; Anna was in the year above – and we’d already been part of the York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre together and worked backstage there too,” says Joe.

“We started the company with a punk ethos, and this time last year I wrote Heaven’s Gate and we managed to get it into the Great Yorkshire Fringe festival last summer. On the back of that, we got a London run, and now we’ve booked this winter tour, stopping off at venues all four of us have admired or performed in,

“We kind of shot for the moon with all the venues we wanted to do, and if you don’t ask, you don’t get. We had a bucket list of ideal locations and virtually all of them said ‘yes’. Doing the tour at the start of the year is great too, as we can then plan the rest of the year, like going back to the Edinburgh Fringe.”

Performing at York Theatre Royal has particular resonance for Joe and Anna. “This‌ ‌is‌ ‌incredibly‌ ‌special‌ ‌for‌ ‌us,” says Joe. “I’ve been ‌‌involved‌ ‌with‌ ‌York‌ ‌Theatre‌ ‌Royal‌ ‌for‌ ‌more than‌ ‌20‌ ‌years. I was a ‌Youth‌ ‌Theatre‌ ‌member‌ ‌for‌ ten-plus years and‌ ‌have worked‌ ‌as‌ ‌crew‌ ‌backstage‌ ‌on‌ ‌and‌ ‌off‌ ‌since‌ ‌2010.‌

“‌As‌ ‌an‌ ‌actor, I’ve ‌ ‌performed‌ ‌across‌ ‌the‌ ‌country‌ ‌and‌ ‌internationally, but‌ ‌nothing‌ ‌will‌ ‌compare‌ ‌to‌ ‌performing‌ ‌at‌ ‌home‌ ‌in‌ ‌our‌ ‌wonderful‌ ‌theatre. It’s honestly‌ ‌a‌ ‌dream‌ ‌come‌ ‌true.”‌ ‌

Anna‌‌ ‌agrees: ‌‌“I‌ ‌wouldn’t‌ ‌be‌ ‌working‌ ‌in‌ ‌this‌ ‌industry‌ ‌if‌ ‌it‌ ‌wasn’t‌ ‌for‌ ‌York‌ ‌Theatre Royal Youth‌ ‌Theatre,‌ ‌which‌ ‌continues‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌the‌ ‌greatest‌ ‌youth‌ ‌theatre‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌country!” she says. “‌To‌ ‌return‌ ‌all‌ ‌these‌ ‌years‌ ‌later‌ ‌and‌ ‌perform‌ ‌here‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌professional‌ ‌actor‌ ‌is‌ ‌beyond‌ ‌a‌ ‌pleasure‌ ‌and‌ ‌a‌ ‌privilege.”‌

Explaining why Cosmic Collective Theatre  are so named, Joe says: “First of all, we were a collective, with our own individual strengths, but given that our first play is ‘astronomical’, ‌and we want to make theatre that is out of this world, we settled on that name and we’ve gone from strength to strength.

“It was our first goal to do the Great Yorkshire Fringe and we had the honour of doing the first play on The Arts Barge’s new home, the Selby Tony barge on the Ouse, so we can always say we had our world premiere on water and then our world premiere on land in the Basement at City Screen a couple of days later…on two days that happened to be the hottest two days of the year!

“Me and Anna have been involved with Arts Barge for ten years, with Anna’s mum performing in the Bargestra, and so it felt like a homecoming doing the first show. As does this return now, performing as professional actors at the Theatre Royal for the first time.”

York tickets for Heaven’s Gate can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; The Holbeck, slunglow.org/event/heavens-gate.  ‌

Please note: Heaven’s Gate ‌contains‌ ‌references‌ ‌to‌ ‌abuse‌ ‌and‌ ‌suicide and has ‌mild swearing.‌ ‌Age recommendation: 15 plus.

Preacherman in One Foot In The Rave, the closing show of Visionari’s Studio Discoveries programme

DO mention the C-word. Cult!

The Visionari community programming group’s final choice for this week’s Studio Discoveries season is One Foot In The Rave, the debut verse play by writer and performance poet Alexander Rhodes at the York Theatre Royal Studio tomorrow (February 8) at 7.45pm.

Rhodes relates the story of a disillusioned 23-year-old Jehovah’s Witness, who breaks free free from the cult and lands on the Ecstasy-fuelled dance floors of Nineties’ clubland. Shunned by everyone he knows, he is not prepared for what lies ahead.

“In 1976, Sean’s world changes for ever. Dragged into a doomsday cult, by parents who are struggling to find their own identities, the family are brainwashed into believing the end of the world is nigh. But the route to salvation is not as it seems,” says Rhodes, introducing his his verse play.

Billed as “an energetic mix of agony and total Ecstasy”, One Foot In The Rave is set to a backdrop of club classics as Rhodes moves hypnotically between the characters and scenes to deliver the chemical highs and pitiful lows. Expect wry observations, chemically induced inspirations and twisted logic in a warmly witty, soulful, self-aware story of survival.

Who Is Alexander Rhodes?

“Alexander Rhodes” is just an idea…says “Alexander Rhodes”.

This idea is, in fact, the third incarnation of a career as a DJ and producer spanning 18 years. Having moved through three different genres, each with its own stage name and distinctive sound, the Alexander Rhodes music project became a spoken-word and performance art project in early 2015.

“If you look hard enough you will find a few house music mixes here, the odd chill out track there, echoing in the digital ether,” he says.

Since 2015, “Alexander” has written and performed spoken word all over the UK. He started Plymouth’s Pucker Poets, hosts of a regular poetry slam for cash competition.

Rhodes has taken part in numerous poetry slams and will take One Foot In The Rave on tour in April and May 2020.

Visionari Studio Discoveries presents Alexander Rhodes: One Foot In The Rave, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow (February 8), 7.45pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or atyorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guide: 16+; show contains drug and alcohol references.

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Beatles filmmaker Tony Palmer to give talk at Harrogate Film Festival. Fab Four footage to be shown too

Film-maker Tony Palmer with The Beatles’ John Lennon

TONY Palmer, one of Britain’s greatest-ever music film-makers, will make a rare appearance at an exclusive event at next month’s Harrogate Film Festival.


The BAFTA-winning director, now 77, will reflect on working with a glittering array of Sixties and Seventies musicians in their heyday in Rock Goes To The Movies at the RedHouse Originals Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, on March 12.

Under discussion at 7pm will be The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, Rory Gallagher, Cream, Frank Zappa, The Who, Donovan and many more, complemented by a special screening of rarely-seen footage of The Beatles, shot at the height of the 1960s by the influential and ground-breaking Palmer.


The festival event will be hosted by stalwart Harrogate Advertiser journalist Graham Chalmers, promoter of Charm events in Harrogate, in conjunction with Harrogate Film Society.

The sleeve artwork for All You Need Is Love, Tony Palmer’s series on The Story Of Popular Music


The London-born film-maker and cultural critic has more than 100 films to his name, ranging from early works with The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher (Irish Tour ’74) and Frank Zappa (200 Motels), to his classical profiles of Maria Callas, Margot Fonteyn, John Osborne, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Wagner, Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams and more besides.

Palmer, who served an apprenticeship with Ken Russell and Jonathan Miller, made the landmark film All My Loving, the first ever about pop music history, first broadcast in 1968.


He was responsible too for the iconic live film Cream Farewell Concert, shot at the supergroup’s last-ever show at the Royal Albert Hall: a memorable night with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in 1968.


All You Need Is Love, Palmer’s prime-time, 17-part TV series documenting popular music in the 20th century, was hailed as “the best and most important television survey of popular music ever” when first shown in 1977.

The Beatles: rare screening of Tony Palmer’s film of the Fab Four will be a highlight of the Harrogate Film Festival event on March 12

Among more than 40 international prizes Palmer has won over the past 50 years are 12 gold medals from the New York Film Festival, along with numerous BAFTAs and Emmy Awards.


Rock music aficionado Graham Chalmers will conduct a question-and-answer session with Palmer, and all eyes will be on the rare screening of Palmer’s Beatles film, featuring All You Need Is Love and a script by Fab Four insider Derek Taylor. Clips from Cream Farewell Concert 1968 will be shown too.


Rock Goes To The Movies with Tony Palmer is the latest in an ever-expanding line of contemporary culture events at the independent RedHouse Originals gallery, home to original artwork and limited-edition prints by international artists since 2010.  Pop artist Sir Peter Blake, rock music photographer Gered Mankowitz (of The Rolling Stones and Hendrix fame) and Wirral rock band The Coral have made appearances there.


Tickets are on sale at harrogatefilm.co.uk, on 01423 502116 or in person from Harrogate Theatre. More information on the 2020 Harrogate Film Festival at harrogatefilm.co.uk.

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Lesley Birch marks the moment with Musical Abstract show at Partisan

Flurry, mixed media on canvas, one of the pieces from Lesley Birch’s new Musical Abstract Collection at Partisan, York

LESLEY Birch’s exhibition Marks & Moments at Partisan, the boho restaurant, café and arts space in Micklegate, York, is a feast of colour and imagination. 

Filling two floors, more than 50 paintings are on view, from Lesley’s  Musical Abstract Collection – large canvases expressing music and movement in nature – to little gouache gems created en plein air in the remote village of Farindola in Abruzzo, Italy.

Reverie, mixed media, by Lesley Birch, who says: “Ethereal energy in expressive brush marks – another from the Musical Abstract Collection”

Lesley’s paintings capture an atmosphere of place and moment with her own personal language of mark-making, whether on paper or on canvas, and this newly opened display showcases it all.

“When Florencia Clifford at Partisan invited me to have a show, I thought it was a grand opportunity to bring a lot of paintings into a buzzy space, where food and art are key,” says Lesley, who works out of PICA Studios, an artist collective space in Grape Lane, York.

The Old Town, oil on canvas, by Lesley Birch: scratches and atmosphere from Lesley’s Italian Collection

“Partisan is a sort of emporium full of collectable stuff, such as vintage lamps and the like, and it’s so exciting to see my paintings in this bohemian setting, reflected off the old French mirrors and hung high and low.”

Divided into colour and spring moods upstairs and dramatic landscapes downstairs, the marks and moments of Lesley’s artistic journey can be seen at Partisan until March 31. All paintings are for sale.

For more details, go to lesleybirchart.com.

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REVIEW: Night of The Living Dead – Remix and Dr Korczak’s Example at Leeds Playhouse

Night Of The Living Dead – Remix: theatre and film in synchronicity

REVIEW: Night Of The Living Dead – Remix, Leeds Playhouse/Imitating The Dog, Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, until February 15; Dr Korczak’s Example, Leeds Playhouse, Bramall Rock Void, Leeds Playhouse, until February 15. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk

FIRSTLY, apologies for the tardy reviewing, but there is still time aplenty to see these two contrasting yet equally impactful productions at the restructured Leeds Playhouse.

The human condition, what we do to each other, lies at the heart of both pieces, and at a time when the divisive aspects and little island mentality of Brexit are coming home to roost after cutting the umbilical cord with Europe on January 31, they are even more resonant.

American film-maker George A Romero, from The Bronx, New York,  would have turned 80 on Tuesday, making Leeds Playhouse and cutting-edge Leeds company Imitating The Dog’s co-production very timely.

Romero’s trademark was gruesome horror movies, satirical in tone yet serious in their message, delivered as it was through depicting variations on a zombie apocalypse. Night Of The Living Dead, from 1968, set the template and here comes a Remix that is at once theatrical and filmic.

In a city where football coach Marcelo Bielsa preaches the value of repetition, yet still with unpredictable results, the Playhouse/Imitating The Dog company sets itself the challenge of mirroring Romero’s film, frame by frame. The two are shown side by side on screen, synchronised in motion with actors saying the lines.

Your gaze goes from screen to screen but also you watch the actors in the act of re-making the film, switching between performing and working the cameras, and defying the odds in pulling off the feat when seemingly always up against the clock with the need for improvisation, confronted  by limited resources. Round of applause, please, to Laura Atherton, Morgan Bailey, Luke Bigg, Will Holstead, Morven Macbeth, Matt Prendergast and Adela Rajnovic.

You find yourself appreciating a “dance” show as much as a theatre and film one, because the movement across, on, off, and around the stage has the ebb and flow of choreography. Another round of applause, then, to co-directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks; projection and video designer Simon Wainwright; lighting designer Andrew Crofts; composer James Hamilton and on-stage model creator and operator Matthew Tully. Laura Hopkins’s set and costume designs are a show in themselves too.

Night Of The Living Dead – Remix is not a mere tribute act of breath-taking invention and bravura humour. Instead, it seeks to give 1960s’ American social and political context to Romero’s message by bleeding in film and sound of John F Kennedy, Senator brother Robert and Dr Martin Luther King’s famous speeches and the cast’s re-enactment of coverage of their assassinations. The words echo down the years, haunting and disturbing, all the more so when matched with a zombie apocalypse.

Robert Pickavance as Dr Korczak and Gemma Barnett as Stepanie in Dr Korczak’s Example

The Playhouse’s new third performance space, the Bramall Rock Void studio, made its autumn debut with Charley Miles’s all-female Yorkshire Ripper drama There Are No Beginnings, giving voice to a blossoming North Yorkshire writer.

Now it turns the spotlight on the Holocaust in a Playhouse production timed to mark Holocaust Memorial Day(January 27) in a city with both Jewish and Polish communities. Playhouse artistic director James Brining had commissioned David Greig to write Dr Korczak’s Example when working in young people’s theatre in Scotland 20 years ago for performances in school halls, and on moving to Leeds he read it with the Playhouse youth theatre “a year or so ago”.

That prompted Brining to direct this winter’s production, turning the spotlight anew on the Polish Jewish doctor, children’s author, storyteller, broadcaster and educator Janusz Korczak, who brought liberal and progressive ideals to running a ghetto orphanage for 200 children in Warsaw.

His principles live on, becoming the basis for the United Nations Convention on the Rights Of Children that still prevails. That is the history and the present of a story that Greig turns into a play set in 1942 that is at once grim and yet hopeful because of the example of the title that Dr Korczak set.

Brining’s production is supported by the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, a prize for emerging designers that sees set and costume designer Rose Revitt turn the new studio back to rubble, with piles of bricks, dusty furniture and desks.

Greig’s play is a three hander, wherein Playhouse regular Rob Pickavance brings gravitas, warmth and sensitivity to Dr Korczak, while Danny Sykes and Gemma Barnett announce talents to watch.

Sykes plays Adzio, brittle, brutalised and psychologically damaged at the hands of adults, his 16 years of childhood stolen from him, as he becomes the latest child to be taken in by Korczak. Barnett’s Stepanie is a beacon, benefiting from Korczak’s care already and drawn to trying to help the deeply bruised Adzio.

David Shrubsole’s sound deigns and compositions complement the tone, Rachel Wise’s movement direction is as important as Brining’s direction, and the actors’ use of models (the size of Action Man, without being glib) to play out several scenes has a powerful impact too.

Having a recording of Leeds children reading Dr Korczak’s principles for children’s rights to freedom, respect and love at the play’s close is a fitting finale, one that echoes into the Leeds night air.

Charles Hutchinson    

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The best things in Viking life are free at Jorvik Viking Festival. Here’s why…

Best Beard Competition: men, women, children and even dogs can compete at the 2020 Jorvik Viking Festival

WHAT are the best ways to see the Vikings for free at the 2020 Jorvik Viking Festival from February 15 to 23?

Families on a budget visiting the York festival can enjoy a taste of Viking life without breaking the bank, say the organisers, who are providing a host of events throughout the nine days free of charge.

Run by the York Archaeological Trust charity, the celebration of all things Norse takes over the city centre for the February half-term holiday.

Accessibility and education are at the heart of the trust’s aims, prompting festival manager Gareth Henry to explain the importance of having a mix of free and priced events. “Sharing stories about York’s past has been a huge part of what the trust has done over the past four decades,” he says.

“While we have to charge to off-set the costs for some of our events, we’re always keen to make sure there’s plenty to see and do that is completely free of charge, including the most impressive annual parade in York.”

Eric Bloodaxe catches up on the history of the Vikings in a book-reading session

The 2020 Jorvik Viking Festival free events are:

  • The Viking Encampment in Parliament Street, running daily throughout the festival from 10am to 4pm. Meet re-enactors, historic interpreters and traditional craftspeople in their living history encampment at the heart of the city.  Everyone has their own tale to tell, so take time to watch them working and listen to them sharing stories of their lives and wares.
  • Sagas on the St Sampson’s Square Stage at regular intervals each day; times will be published on a blackboard each day. Listen to heroes, explorers and settlers as they relate their stories and watch them demonstrate the battle techniques that helped to create their reputation as fearsome warriors.
  • Inaugural Viking Costume Competition, open to the public to take part at St Sampson’s Square Stage, February 15, from 3pm.The Vikings were clean, well groomed and often well dressed as a display of wealth and status.  Don’t merely watch the Vikings strut their stuff; join in!  Fashion a Viking throw or tunic out of an old blanket, scarf or top, make a cardboard shield and, hey presto, the Viking catwalk awaits.
  • The Annual Strongest Viking Competition, St Sampson’s Square Stage, February 22, 11am. Feats of endurance and strength abound as Viking competes against Viking to be proclaimed the strongest of York’s warriors.  Choose your champion and cheer them on.
Vikings on the march through York
  • The Bloodaxe Reading Challenge. Particularly good for local children, the challenge to read as many books as you can before the festival has been set up in association with Explore Libraries.  It gives the chance to win tickets to meet award-winning author Hilary Robinson as she launches her new book Jasper: Viking Dog at York Explore on February 12.
  • The Best Beard Competition, St Sampson’s Square Stage, February 22, 3pm. Beards of all description are welcome, from naturally grown to man-made, in a competition open to men, women, children and even dogs. Free entry, plus the chance to win prizes.
  • March to Coppergate, leaving from Dean’s Park, by York Minster, on February 22 at 1.30pm, when the city streets will be filled with Vikings of all ages, social status and profession as their war cries echo around the city centre. More than 200 Vikings are expected to march down to Coppergate, finishing at the Eye of York in a display of costume, weaponry and Viking style.  

Details of all the events at this year’s Jorvik Viking Festival can be found at jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk.