DANCE troupe Diversity will play York
Barbican on April 25 2021 on their Connected tour.
Last year marked ten years since Diversity won the third series of Britain’s Got Talent, an anniversary celebrated on the sold-out 48-date Born Ready tour.
At those shows, Diversity promised to continue into a second decade and, true to their word, founder and choreographer Ashley Banjo has created Connected, a show that centres around the world of social media, the internet and the digital era we now live in, but, more importantly, how this connects us all.
Banjo says: “Every year that goes by,
and every time we get to create a new touring show, I cannot believe we are
still lucky enough to get to do this.
“But even after all this time, we are
still growing, and this new decade and new chapter for Diversity is sure to be
something even more special than the last. I truly do believe that we are all
connected in more ways than one and I cannot wait to bring this to life on
stage.”
Banjo has returned to the judging
panel for his third series of ITV’s Dancing On Ice, whose final on Sunday will
feature fellow Diversity member Perri Kiely competing for the
winner’s trophy.
He also has hosted, choreographed and starred in the BAFTA-nominated The Real Full Monty from 2017 to 2019 and the International Emmy Award, Broadcast Award and Royal Television Society Award-winning The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night in 2018-2019. His Channel 4 show, Flirty Dancing, completed it second series last December.
Diversity’s nine tours have sold more
than 600,000 tickets. Tickets
for next spring’s Connected show at York Barbican are on sale on 0203 356 5441,
at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
Running from March 19 to May 29 2021, the Connected tour also will visit Harrogate Convention Centre on March 20; Victoria Theatre, Halifax, March 21; Hull Bonus Arena, April 3, and Sheffield City Hall, April 4. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Hull, 0844 858 5025 or bonusarenahull.com; Halifax, 01422 351158 or victoriatheatre.co.uk; Sheffield, 0114 278 9789 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
The Very Grimm Brothers: invitation to Grimm Castle aka Poppleton All Saints Hall
THE only thing that cheers up Adrian Mealing and John Denton, alias The
Very Grimm Brothers, is you.
These purveyors of comedy, silliness, wistful poetry, fairy tales, songs and everyday anecdotes invite you to Grimm Castle and its enchanted forest, masquerading for one night only as Poppleton All Saints Hall, Upper Poppleton, York, on April 3 at 7.30pm.
“It’s a very chatty, tangential gig,” promises Grimm John, a Malvern
Poetry Slam Champ, who sings à cappella with Men In General, A
Fistful Of Spookies and The Spooky Men’s Chorale, joined by Denton from John
Denton’s Midnight Band.
“You should expect encounters with direct action, clumsy departures, the
poetry of platforms, Seville marmalade, undimmed love, Severn Trent Water and
the spinning of gold from straw,” say The Very Grimm Brothers.
The duo have appeared alongside the Peatbog Faeries, Attila The
Stockbroker, John Hegley, Elvis McGonagall, Johnny Fluffypunk and Roger McGough
and performed at Poetry On Loan, Bang Said The Gun, Stratford upon Avon
Litfest, Wolds Words, Mouthpiece Poets, Mouth & Music, Speakeasy and the Blue
Suede Sporran Club.
“Think of The Very Grimm Brothers as the love children that Victor
Meldrew and Pam Ayres never had,” trumpeted the Church Stretton Arts Festival,
ahead of their gig there.
Who can resist such a combination?! Tickets cost £12.50 at poppletonlive.co.uk/events.
Tom Rosenthal: “Maybe I’m stuck in adolescence, I don’t know,” he says. All pictures: Idil Sukan
PLEBS and Friday Night Dinner sitcom star Tom Rosenthal is bringing his first-ever stand-up tour to Pocklington Arts Centre on March 14.
Manhood is truly comedy with a cutting edge, wherein Rosenthal will be “avenging the theft of his foreskin”, as he discusses how he has suffered psychological distress ever since he realised he had been circumcised as a child.
Tom, the Hammersmith-born son of TV sports presenter Jim Rosenthal, applies the use of graphs, statistics, playful jokes and rigid research to tell his story, having spoken to experts on the subject matter.
He may have a Jewish background, but he was not brought up to be Jewish and that was not the reason for the circumcision. He duly felt anger towards his parents, the aforementioned Jim and his mother Chrissy Smith, a former Newsnight producer, when he was younger.
“Most comedy shows will not be an hour about genital-cutting practices,” says Tom Rosenthal of Manhood
“Maybe I’m stuck in adolescence. I don’t know,” says Tom. “As soon as I found out what happened to me, I was just constantly searching for a reason that made sense of it and I’ve still not found one. That’s sort of the driving force of the show: going through all the justifications for it being allowed.”
He is not anti-circumcision, however. “If you want to choose to do it when you’re old enough, go right ahead. It’s like any other kind of body modification, like a tattoo or a piercing,” he says.
“But to do it to a child against their will when they cannot take the decision to take that back, it feels as if it’s against our human rights. I want prospective parents to watch my show. Have a nice night out. Laugh with the boy from the sitcoms with the big nose, but also go away thinking ‘maybe that’s not cool actually’.”
Best known for playing Roman Empire nerd Marcus in ITV2’s Plebs and the perpetually adolescent prankster son, Jonny, in Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner, Tom has long wanted to do a stand-up tour. “The nicest thing about it is getting to meet the people who actually watch the TV programmes I’m in,” he says.
“I think the story of someone who is at odds with their body is something teenagers can relate to,” says Tom Rosenthal
“I’m also really proud of Manhood. It’s a show that I always wanted to make. It has
a dual purpose for me. Obviously, I wanted to put on the funniest show that I
can, but I also want fans to go away thinking about stuff which most people
don’t really think about.
“It’s something that I think is slightly askew with our culture. I should add that this is not your typical comedy show. Most comedy shows will not be an hour about genital-cutting practices.”
After premiering Manhood at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe and playing dates
last autumn, Tom is touring from February 8 to April 9. “I’m really a molly-
coddled actor,” he says. “It has surprised me how tiring live comedy is. Some
of my friends seem to be able to walk on stage and just be themselves, whereas
I’m always nervous. I have the utmost respect for all comedians. I guess, by
comparison, an actor’s life is quite easy.”
The tour marks a new phase in Rosenthal’s career. Although he started out as a stand-up, becoming joint winner of the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Award in 2011 after graduating from London University with a Philosophy degree, acting has taken up most of his time since then.
“I’m really proud of Manhood. It’s a show that I always wanted to make,” says Tom.
“I was reluctant to call myself a comedian despite the fact that I did stand-up. I felt like until you’ve done a tour, you can’t call yourself a comedian. So, one semi-benefit of doing Manhood is that now I’m a little bit more comfortable saying I’m a comedian as I’ve gone to towns, people have paid money to see me and I definitely heard some of them laugh.”
Although the subject matter of Manhood may be personal, Rosenthal believes the feelings of
alienation he discusses are universal. “I’ve had quite a lot of teenagers
coming and I think the story of someone who is at odds with their body is
something they can relate to,” he says. “What makes it interesting though also
makes it quite odd. The fact that you are watching a guy talking about his
penis quite a lot.”
His Pocklington audience next week will discover more about Tom in his Manhood
show, but for those familiar with his television characters, does he consider
himself to be closer to Marcus or Jonny?
“I probably feel I’m more Marcus,” he decides. “He’s a neurotic schemer who thinks that he’s smarter than he is, whereas Jonny is a sort of teenage boy prankster. Ultimately though, if you combine the two, that’s my whole terrible personality.”
Tom Rosenthal: Manhood, Pocklington Arts Centre, March 14, 8pm. Box office: 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Bronwynne Brent: “Creating songs that feel like you can live in them”
AMERICANA singer-songwriter Bronwynne Brent travels all the way from the Mississippi Delta to the howling winter winds of Yorkshire to play Selby Town Hall tonight (March 6).
“I absolutely love Bronwynne’s darkly brooding voice,” says Selby Town
Council arts officer Chris Jones. “She creates songs that feel like you can
live in them, and somehow she manages to sound like Lee Hazlewood and Nancy
Sinatra rolled into one.”
Tonight’s 8pm show will be Brent’s Selby debut, performing with her trio.
“Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, she has the kind of
stop-in-your-tracks voice that sounds like Southern sunshine,” says Chris.
“There’s a hint of Delta blues behind the ache in her songs, a glimpse
of honky-tonk twang, an echo of riverboat can-cans, a whiff of Ennio Morricone
and an atmosphere that conjures up of the darker side of country song-writing.”
Harking back to the glory days of Lee Hazlewood and Gram Parsons, Brent’s
writing taps into the murky undercurrent of country that starts with old
Appalachian murder ballads and continues through to today’s crop of psychedelic
country songwriters. “Like a juke-joint Nancy Sinatra, Bronwynne unites all the
best elements of Southern American roots music and ties these many different
influences into a sound that’s both comforting and refreshing,” says Chris.
Brent has released two albums, 2011’s Deep Black Water and 2014’s
Stardust, the second produced by Seattle’s Johnny Sangster with a “spaghetti
northwestern” feel to it.
Playing with Calexico drummer John Convertino and Fiona Apple’s bassist, Keith Lowe, on Stardust, she sang songs with a heavy weight on their shoulders: her stories populated by battered women, defeated lovers, devilish characters, highway ghosts and lonesome wanderers.
Looking forward to tonight, Chris concludes: “Bronwynne Brent is
incredible: one of the very finest contemporary voices you’re likely to hear.
Her songs are so rich and brooding. They’re astonishingly well-crafted with a
compelling dark underbelly mixing country, folk and glorious speakeasy jazz
sounds. This show will be an absolute treat.”
Tickets cost £14 on 01757 708449 or at selbytownhall.co.uk or £16 on the
door from 7.30pm.
Heather Findlay, left, Jess Steel, Beth McCarthy and Annie Donaghy relishing I Feel Like A Woman at A Night To Remember. Picture: David Harrison
REVIEW: Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, February 29
DEMENTIA
is a team game, says Ian Donaghy, now as much a motivational speaker at
conferences as a showman, fundraiser and event host.
Not only Dementia
Projects in York, but also St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children’s Support in
York and Accessible Arts and Media benefit from these nights to remember.
Saturday,
sold out as ever, was the eighth such night, nights that had raised £150,000 so
far. Big Ian is yet to confirm this year’s total, but £5,700 was taken in bucket
collections alone.
Torch singer! Big Ian Donaghy has the phones out for Lionel Richie’s Hello at A Night To Remember at York Barbican. Picture: David Harrison
Yes, the
fundraising is important, but Big Ian puts the fun into that fundraising, as
well as the heart and soul, in a community event that, no matter what hell of a
world is going on outside right now, always brings out the best in York.
Here’s
the news, delivered in a specially recorded Look North spoof bulletin from Phil
Bodmer, devotee of Big Ian’s Guestlist nights at York Racecourse. This would be
the biggest gathering of A Night To Remember yet: not only the old father time
of musical directors, George Hall, on keyboards with his band of bass, guitars,
drums and percussion, but 14 brass players to boot, four from Big Ian’s band
Huge and a whole heap of shiny young players from York Music Forum, gathered
under the tutelage of Ian Chalk.
What’s
more, the musicians and singers had an 80-year age range, from those fledgling
brass talents to 93-year-old Barbara from the Singing For All choir, a force of
nature who summed up everything joyful about this celebration of the power of
music throughout our lives.
River deep, mountain high: Graham Hodge conquering Cry Me A River. Picture: David Harrison
Big Ian
took the lead, brass assisted, on Elton John’s I’m Still Standing and, yes, he
would still be standing three hours later, still urging us to fill those
buckets.
Simon
Snaize’s rendition of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, with the brass section breathing fire, was an early highlight; Boss
Caine’s mine-deep voiced Dan Lucas turned Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 from daytime to
night-time hours; Jess Steel, as vital to these nights as Big Ian, climbed the
first of several vocal mountains with Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Were.
Songs
were interspersed with Dementia-themed video clips, usually recorded on Ian’s
phone, some bringing tears, others cheers, all indeed making it a team game.
Thank you for the music: A Night To Remember’s singers and musicians take a bow at the finale. Picture: David Harrison.
Kieran O’Malley’s
fiddle bow was a wand of magic whenever he played, whoever he accompanied;
Heather Findlay and Simon Snaize’s duet for Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain had exactly
The Chain reaction it deserved, guitar solo and all.
Ken
Sanderson, alias Las Vegas Ken, normally restricts himself to a solo slot, but for
the first time, he was joined by Hall’s band, at Big Ian’s urging: another hit
at this “Gang Show with people we really like”.
Later, a fellow staple of these shows, 6ft 3 folk stalwart Graham Hodge, newly turned 70, would be seen as never seen before, again at Donaghy’s suggestion, as he eschewed folk balladry for a dinner jacket to knock Cry Me A River out of the park with the vocal performance of the night. Better than Bublé? No troublé!
Jessa Liversidge, front, centre, leads one and all in I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing..and she did! Picture: David Harrison.
What better way to open the second half than radiant York singer Jessa Liversidge leading her Singing For All group, ebullient Barbara and all, in fact all the audience, as we sang I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing. In perfect harmony, of course! “I’m a bit c**p these days,” said Barbara, but singing is about so much more than the act of singing, and you could see how much it means to her after all these years.
From Annie
Donaghy’s Careless Whisper to Beth McCarthy’s U2 and Guns N’Roses mash-up, Hope
& Social’s Gary Stewart turning into Paul Simon for You Can Call Me Al, to
Annie, Beth, Heather and Jess, all in black and white, for Shania Twain’s I Feel Like A
Woman, the show-stoppers kept coming.
Out came
the phone torches on Big Ian’s command for Lionel Richie’s Hello and a big, big
finale followed up the apt Don’t You Forget About Me with Jess does Dusty for
You Don’t Have To Say You Love M and, what’s this? A video message of support
from Rick Astley that arrived in Ian’s in-box from Sydney, Australia, at quarter
to five that morning.
Cue a Never Gonna Give You Up singalong, and no, you just know Big Ian is never gonna give up on these special nights, his belief in making every life vibrant and vital to the last. Well done big fella, well done sound techie Craig Rothery, well done York.
Even the audience’s shoes were shining stars on A Night To Remember at York Barbican on Leap Year Saturday
New York Brass Band: seven-piece Mardi Gras jazz powerhouse from York, although there appears to be nine of them here
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre will be celebrating its 20th
anniversary on Friday (March 6) with a party night.
A private reception at 7pm will be followed by a
public performance by North Yorkshire’s only contemporary New Orleans-inspired brass
band, the New York Brass Band from old York.
This seven-piece powerhouse, complete with
percussion, sax, trumpets, trombones and sousaphone, will raise the roof with
their rousing brand of Mardi Gras jazz from 8pm.
Looking forward to Friday’s celebrations, director Janet
Farmer says: “New York Brass Band are a far cry from being your typical brass
band. This is up-on-your-feet dancing, party-loving, Mardi Gras-style funky
brass music that will be a lot of fun.
“As Pocklington Arts Centre celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, we felt a band like this
added a true party vibe to our diverse programme of live music.”
Hailing from the ancient streets of York, New York
Brass Band are at the forefront of a funky brass revolution now sweeping Great
Britain.
“Inspired by Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, Hot
8, Youngblood and Brassroots, New York Brass Band pack a powerful punch of
relentless drums, rumbling tuba and wailing horns,” says Janet.
“Nothing kicks a party into gear like the sound of
a smokin’ New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz band.
Although New York Brass Band’s inspiration is drawn from New Orleans musicians, their repertoire ranges from Marvin Gaye to George Michael, from Cee-Lo Green to Stevie Wonder, with some funky, gritty northern originals thrown in for good measure.
Their past performances include Glastonbury Festival from 2014 to 2017; Bestival on the Isle of Wight; Durham Brass Festival; Cork Jazz Festival; Le Tour de France; the Monaco Grand Prix and England’s cricket Test matches.
New York Brass Band have entertained guests at
celebrity parties and weddings for comedian Alex Brooker, Liam Gallagher, ex-Scotland
footballers Joe Jordan and Gordon McQueen and Jamie Oliver.
Tickets for Friday cost £11 each on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
HARRY Baker, mathematician-turned-world-slam champion, marks turning
10,000 days old by celebrating numbers, words and life itself at The Crescent,
York, on March 15.
Making a plus out of everything, Baker will be at the latest gathering
of Say Owt, the spoken-word fulcrum hosted by York performance poet Henry Raby.
Amy King: finding words to sum up sexuality and feminism
“From winning his school’s Battle of the Bands competition with a Jay-Z maths homage, to his prime number poetry TED talk being watched by millions online, Harry’s love of language and logic has got him through literal marathons, seen him rap battle in front of Ice Cube, and now has him analysing the technical accuracy of So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds,” says Henry. “He’s got 99 problems but maths ain’t one.”
Support comes from Amy King and Robert Steventon. “Amy won Say Owt Slam #23 last September. She’s a queer, northern, spoken-word artist, co-founder of the Sheffield spoken-word night All Mic Long, and her poetry tackles topics such as sexuality, feminism and her unwavering love for Wetherspoons,” says Henry.
Robert Steventon: gut-grabbing honesty
“Robert. who won Say Owt Slam #24 in February, is the maestro of Manchester’s Punk In Drublic poetry/comedy night. His poetry is 50 per cent heartfelt gut-grabbing honesty, 50 per cent honorary gobby northern nuance.”
Doors open at 7pm for the 7.30pm performance of Harry Baker: I Am 10,000. Tickets cost £10, concessions £8, from Earworm Records, in Powells Yard, off Goodramgate, or The Crescent, off Blossom Street, or at seetickets.com or £12 on the door.
York artist Sue Clayton with odd socks for World Down Syndrome Day’s event at Pocklington Arts Centre
YORK artist Sue Clayton will mark World Down Syndrome Day at Pocklington Arts Centre on March 21 as her Downright Marvellous At Large exhibition draws to a close that day.
Sue’s portraits of adults with Down
Syndrome and a giant pair of hand-knitted socks will provide the backdrop for
the 11am to 1pm event featuring children’s craft activities, music, cake and a
pop-up exhibition.
That show, This Is Me, will be running in
the arts centre studio during the final week of Downright Marvellous At Large
from March 14 to 21. On show will be self-portraits by members of Wold Haven
Day Centre, Pocklington, and Applefields Special School, York, created at workshops
led by Sue.
Sue put her exhibition together in honour
of her son, James, who has Down Syndrome and turns 18 this year. “Downright
Marvellous At Large is a true celebration of adults with Down’s at work and play,
and I hope it has made a real impression on visitors,” she says.
“I can’t wait to bring what has been a
really busy, successful exhibition to a suitable close in spectacular style with
a celebration to mark World Down Syndrome Day.
“Everyone is invited to come along,
enjoy some children’s crafts, a pop-up exhibition and a free piece of cake, as
well as a few surprises along the way”
Sue’s portraits, presenting the
“unrepresented and significant” social presence of adults with Down Syndrome, is
complemented by a giant pair of odd socks created using hand-knitted squares
donated by members of the public.
Many
people wear odd socks on World Down Syndrome Day, a global event that aims to
raise awareness and promote independence,
self-advocacy and freedom of choice for people with the congenital
condition.
Socks are used because their shape replicates the extra 21st chromosome
that people with Down Syndrome have.
Benedict Turvill’s troubled playwright Konstantin and The Seagull of the title in York Settlement Community Players’ production. All pictures: John Saunders
REVIEW: The Seagull, York Settlement Community Players, York Theatre Royal Studio, until March 7, 7.45pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
IT didn’t end well for the goat in Edward
Albee’s The Goat at Theatre @41 Monkgate last week. It doesn’t end well for the
seagull – borrowed from the National Theatre, no less – in Anton Chekhov’s The
Seagull at the Theatre Royal Studio, but there is awkward comedy aplenty in
both plays.
Absurd comedy in Albee’s jaw-dropping 2002 piece; tragicomedy in Chekhov’s 1895 dysfunctional family drama, as Helen Wilson completes her ten-year project to direct all four of the Russian playwright’s major works for Settlement Players in the York company’s centenary year.
As with Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard
and Three Sisters, the adaptation is by Michael Frayn, who has praised
Settlement, and by implication Wilson, for not tampering with period,
location, genders and politics to “make them more relevant” for modern
audiences.
Livy Potter’s Nina performs Konstantin’s radical but mannered new play in The Seagull
“People
in York are evidently made of sterner stuff,” Frayn said. “Just occasionally,
perhaps, it’s worth trying to catch the sense and feel of what Chekhov actually
intended.”
Wilson
has pursued the same directorial policy once more, placing her trust in Frayn’s
dialogue, replete with dramatic and comic irony, complemented by an uncluttered
set design by Graham Sanderson, with a plain backdrop, chairs and a mini-stage,
bedecked with flowers, for Konstantin’s play within a play.
Frayn
knows that territory from his own 1982 backstage comedy
Noises Off, a classic English unruly farce, but like Frayn’s appraisal of York audiences,
The Seagull is made of sterner stuff.
Forlorn love: Lucy May Orange in black, playing Masha, destined to be forever ignored by Konstantin (Benedict Turvill)
“They’re all vulnerable, every one of them,” says Wilson of
Chekhov’s characters, and she has made a spot-on judgement call in wanting vulnerability
and warmth in equal measure in her staging. Enter Lucy May Orange’s Masha,
dressed in black to match her forlorn conviction that her love for troubled young
playwright Konstantin (Benedict Turvill) will be forever unrequited.
At this point we laugh in recognition, not least because she
is saying this to smitten teacher Medvedenko (Samithi Sok), seemingly oblivious
to her indifference towards him, and soon we shall find Turvill’s over-sensitive
Konstantin in torment at putative girlfriend Nina (Livy Potter), his muse and
actress for his “ground-breaking” play, not worshipping him the same way her
worships her.
Turvill’s radical theatre-maker Konstantin has an even more troubled relationship with his mother, faded actress Arkadina (Stephanie Hesp), than Hamlet had with Gertrude, merciless in her dismissal of his writing talent, so insensitive in stealing attention away from Nina’s performance of his bold but admittedly dreadful play at Sorin’s increasingly anguished house party one lakeside summer evening.
Clinging on: Stephanie Hesp’s Arkadina losing the attention and affections of her lover, Ben Sawyer’s Trigorin
Sorin (Glyn Morrow), Arkadina’s ageing brother, wants the
next generation to thrive, to blossom; so too does Maurice Crichton’s
Scottish-accented doctor, Dorn. Paul Joe Osborne’s retired lieutenant, Shamrayev,
now Sorin’s steward, loves a story, and Osborne has a splendid night in his
mimicry and comic timing; wife Polina (Elizabeth Elsworth) is his best audience.
The Seagull is a play with a generation gap that grows wider the more the drama unfolds, It goes from what Wilson calls the “comic souffle” of the playful Act One, when we can “laugh at these slightly inept, sometimes pretentious characters thinking they’re something they’re not”, to the painful, poignant consequences of such ineptitude and self-deception, when youthful dreams are dashed and unfulfilled ambitions turn bitter amid the fractious artistic egos.
Chekhov “likes to lob a bomb into the room in Act Three” in
his plays, as Wilson puts it, and here the incendiary device is Arkadina’s
lover, vainglorious novelist Trigorin (Ben Sawyer, suitably smug), under whose
spell the impressionable Nina falls.
Twinkle in the wry: Maurice Crichton as Dorn, the doctor
In a naturalistic play with theatre and writing and creativity at its heart, but ennui and
abject despair eating away at the tumultuous edges, Wilson’s company extract
the ironic, perverse comedy to the full, then bring out all the damaging
familiar failings of those prone to so much sterile philosophising.
Frayn would be delighted with the
performances of Settlement’s experienced hands, while both Turvill and Potter
(by day York Theatre Royal’s marketing and press assistant)
impress in their first principal roles for Wilson in the intimacy of the Studio
space.
Yes, the seagull dies, but not before The Seagull flies high,
full of art and too much hurt heart.
Penguins at Scarborough? Anything is possible in a tourism poster
VINTAGE posters from a golden age of travel and
tourism will go on display at Woodend, The Crescent, Scarborough, on Saturday.
Dating from the 1910s to the 1960s, the posters
in Scarborough: A Day At The Seaside were issued by the-then
Scarborough Corporation’s tourism department and by rail companies operating in
the area.
Just the tonic: taking a holiday at Scarborough
On show from the coming weekend to April 26, they will
include such nostalgic images as a family of penguins seeking shade under a
parasol on Scarborough’s South Bay beach, alongside other bright and
idyllic scenes from a bygone era.
The prints are all taken from the 200-plus original
posters held in the Scarborough Collections, under the care of Scarborough
Museums Trust.
Scarborough Open Air Theatre…as it was in 1938
Andrew Clay, the trust’s chief executive, says: “This
will be a vibrant and colourful exhibition recalling an age when travelling by
train for a holiday at the seaside was the height of sophistication.”
Limited-edition prints of the posters on display will be available to
buy, all at the actual size.
Scarborough: the essence of coastal sophistication for courting couples in 1932
Woodend is open Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 5pm, and Saturdays and
Sundays, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.
