Minju Kang and Rachael Gillespie in Northern Ballet’s Cinderella at Leeds Grand Theatre
Northern Ballet in Cinderella, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 2 2020. Box office: 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com
FOR the most magical
Christmas show of this winter, look no further than Northern Ballet’s revival
of Cinderella, first staged at Leeds Grand Theatre in 2013.
The prettiest, most breath-taking
transformation of Yorkshire’s winter theatre wonderland is back, three bounding
huskies et al.
The Cinderella story exists in myriad
forms across the world and through the ages, our British pantomimes being the
most familiar but also the most misleading when presented with the Eastern
mysticism of Canadian artistic director, choreographer and costume designer
David Nixon and his associate director Patricia Doyle’s beautiful, painfully romantic
interpretation.
Set in Imperial Russia at a time when
“superstitious people believe in the possibility of magic” and the repressive
authorities believe in the power of gun rule and constantly barking dogs,
Northern Ballet’s oriental fairy-tale production opens in a burst of yellow
flowers beneath the deepest blue sky on the hottest of days, far removed from
pantomime’s glitter and chintz.
Out go the Fairy Godmother and Buttons, pumpkins and
cross-dressing Ugly Sisters. In come acrobats and a towering stilt walker, a
bear and huskies, a kindly Easter magician (the wonderful Ashley Dixon); a
servant who ends up being shot for helping Cinderella and skaters sashaying
across a frosted lake.
Cinderella’s anything but ugly
stepsisters, Natasha and Sophia (Kyungka Kwak and Rachael Gillespie) are not
wild cards but wholly subservient to the despicably wicked yet immaculately
fashionable step-mother, Countess Serbrenska (Minju Kang, roundly booed but soon
cheered at the end after her fabulously theatrical performance).
Duncan Hayler’s set design has the sleight of hand of a
magician, not only in the transformation scene where the kitchen comes alive
but also when the invitation envelope to the royal ball is peeled open to
reveal a dazzling, white ballroom. Philip Feeney’s compositions, gorgeous
throughout, bring even more of a flourish to Hayler’s works of wonder.
Yet the designs never out-dazzle Sarah Chun’s put-upon but
blossoming Cinderella or Jonathan Hanks’s powerful Prince Mikhail.
A glorious show in a well-deserved return,
Cinderella is Northern Ballet at Nixon’s very best.
Scarlet Wilderink, Ben Tolley, Niall Ransome and Marcquelle Ward (front) in Treasure Island. Pictures: Sam Taylor
Treasure Island, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until December 29. Box office: 01723 370541 or at tickets@sjt.uk.com
TREASURE Island is re-envisaged with sea shanties, baguette swords, talking vegetables, puppets, rap battles and a giant mechanical crab called Susan in the Stephen Joseph Theatre Christmas show.
Stolen and re-told by story pirate Nick Lane, Robert Louis Stevenson’s
nautical adventure is presented by an actor-musician cast of five billed as The
Fearsome Pirates.
Or not that fearsome at the Relaxed Performance your reviewer attended
where they introduced themselves and explained who each would be playing, while
the stage management outlined how the sword fighting would not be dangerous and
the maximum noise to be expected was the closing of a trapdoor. Likewise, no-one
should be alarmed by the sight of smoke (dry ice) emerging on deck.
Scarlet Wilderink: Revelling in her big fake moustache character switch in Treasure Island
It was fascinating to see the care being taken in making everyone at ease,
reaffirming the importance of theatre’s powers of storytelling reaching out to
everyone.
Lane’s “brilliantly bonkers” shows, whose adventures always begin and
end up back in Scarborough in time for Christmas, have become a staple of the
SJT winter programme, Treasure Island following in the unconventional footsteps
of Pinocchio, A (Scarborough) Christmas Carol and Alice In Wonderland.
Lane’s humour is always wind-assisted, with any excuse for the word “bum”
and prodigious feats of, how to put this, bottom burping. Adults might feel there
is too much wind in this particular sail this time, but try telling that to the
young ones, who revel in the repetition of Marcquelle Ward’s involuntary trumpeting
in the role of apple-loving Jim Hawkins. Nevertheless, maybe a tad less wind
next year would still blow the house down.
Marcquelle Ward, left, Scarlet Wilderink, Alice Blundell and Niall Ransome as the Fearsome Pirate storytellers in Treasure Island
Lane’s play feels more episodic than in past years, not merely because
the cast announces each chapter, but because there is so much to cram in after dishing
out the roles for Ward, Alice Blundell, Niall Ransome, Scarlet Winderink and
Ben Tolley, the pick of this winter’s troupe under Erin Carter’s direction.
Tolley arrives in a suit, saying he is attending on behalf of the
Stevenson estate to make sure no disrespectful nonsense is allowed on stage,
whereupon he is commandeered to play assorted parts, such as Long John Silver
(or LJs as he becomes in the climactic rap battle).
This is a typically inventive device by Lane, and Tolley responds to the
max as the ship full of Scarborough scalleys heads to Treasure Island in search
of Captain Flint’s treasure before the pirates find it.
Alice Blundell with the accident-prone puppet of Captain Smollett in Treasure Island at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
In a second Lane innovation, out goes a talking parrot, in comes a
talking…carrot, perched on Silver’s shoulder in his “disguise” as a pirate cook.
“Five a day, five a day,” says the Carrot, in one of the comic high points.
Look out for the seagulls too, dropping their messages from the sky on
Silver’s head, much to the children’s glee.
Helen Coyston’s stage designs bring out the full potential of the Round
setting, especially when the cast creates the deck of the Hispaniola, and the
giant mechanical crab claws that emerge through one of the exits ticks the “mild
peril” box to amusing effect.
Ben Tolley’s Long John Silver in Treasure Island
Musical director Simon Slater’s new songs are terrific: shanties and
nautical nuggets as fresh and bracing as the sea air with fun lyrics to boot.
While not matching the heights of Alice In Wonderland, in particular, Lane’s Treasure Island still has a treasure trove of jollification, adventure and daftness to be discovered, hapless Captain Smollett puppet, big fake moustache, baguette sword fights and all.
Lynne Dawson: narrator for Tubby The Tuba at York Guildhall Orchestra’s New Year concert on January 4
YORK Guildhall Orchestra will open 2020 with a
family-orientated, mid-afternoon concert on January 4 at York Barbican.
“This is a great way to finish off the festive
break by introducing the younger members of the family to the fantastic and
entertaining world of live orchestral music,” says publicist Geoff Eggington.
Joining Simon Wright’s orchestral forces will be
the YGO’s president, Tollerton soprano Lynne Dawson, in her role as narrator for
a couple of pieces.
Brian Kingsley: tuba soloist for Tubby The Tuba
These will include Kleinsinger’s Tubby The Tuba, the
heart-warming story of Tubby, the butt of all the jokes in the orchestra, who nevertheless
finds a wonderful tune and persuades the whole orchestra to play it. The tuba
soloist will be Brian Kingsley, from the Orchestra of Opera North.
Other family favourites in the 3.30pm programme
will be Viennese waltzes and polkas by Johanne Strauss, the Elder and the Younger,
such as Thunder & Lightning, Champagne, Gold & Silver and The Blue
Danube.
Extracts from The Sound Of Music and Les Miserables
will feature York Stage Musicals members in the singing roles.
Simon Wright: conducting York Guildhall Orchestra’s New Year concert
Looking ahead to 2020, this will be YGO’s
40th anniversary year, when the main celebratory concert will be
held on February 15, almost to the day when the orchestra’s debut concert was
performed in the York Guildhall, hence the name.
On that first programme were Ravel’s
Mother Goose Suite and a Brahms Symphony. This time, the orchestra will be
joined by Jamie Walton in Sir Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
“As always, we’re delighted we’ll be working
with the City of York Council and the York Music Hub in 2020 by providing free
places at our May concert for children from York primary schools and members of
Yorchestra.”
Further information on the year ahead can be found at yorkguildhallorchestra.com. Tickets for the New Year’s Family Concert are on sale on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
Zoe Paylor’s Pinata and Mark Friend’s Pinocchio, from Blue Light Theatre Company’s Oh! What A Circus cast, at Acomb Cobblers. All pictures: Scott Atkinson
ROLL up! Roll up! The Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime, Oh! What A
Circus, will open at Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, next month.
Made up of paramedics, ambulance dispatchers, York Hospital staff and members of York’s theatre scene, the company will be in action on January 24, 25 and January 29 to 31 at 7.30pm nightly, plus a 1pm matinee on January 25.
Blue Light Theatre Company’s cast members for Oh! What A Circus at Acomb Working Men’s Club
“Our story revolves around two circuses, one good and one evil, and
their search for a star act, but which circus will succeed?” says Mark Friend,
who plays Pinocchio. “This is a family-friendly
show that would make a perfect Christmas gift for the whole family, especially
as it features many famous fairy-tale characters such as Pinocchio, Geppetto,
Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Tinkerbell and Hansel and Gretel.”
In the cast will be Steven Clark, as dame Dolly Mixsteur; Glen Gears, Darius De’vil; Jorvik Kalicinski, Geppetto; Mark Friend, Pinocchio; Perri-Ann Barley, Rapunzel; Devon Walls, Red Riding Hood; Brenda Riley, Magenta, the Sorceress; Craig Barley, Cyril and Old Man, and Kevin Bowes, Nodoff, the Clown.
Shoe-in for success: Blue Light Theatre Company’s Zoe Paylor (Pinata), Jorvik Kalicinski (Geppetto) and Mark Friend (Pinocchio) at Acomb Cobblers
So too will be Linden Horwood, as Tinkerbell; Pat Mortimer, Signora Fi Lacio; Zoe Paylor, Pinata and Suki; Kristian Barley, Hansel; Katelyn Botterill, Gretel, and Kalayna Barley, Bird and one of the four Piglets, Pandora. The other three will be Kathryn Donley as Pringles; Charlotte Botterill, Pippa, and Abigail Botterill, Primrose.
Director and producer Craig Barley leads the production team, joined by writer/co-producer Perri-Ann Barley; choreographer Devon Wells and the costumes team of Brenda Riley and Christine Friend. Steven Clark has written additional material.
Sizing up Pinocchio: Jorvik Kalicinski’s shoemaker Geppetto works on Mark Friend’s Pinocchio’s shoe as Zoe Paylor’s Pinata looks on at Acomb Cobblers
As in previous years, Blue Light will be raising money for York Against
Cancer and Motor Neurone Disease (York). “We hope to exceed our record-breaking
£3,000, which was split between the charities after our last production,
Wonderland,” says Mark.
“We’ve had fantastic support from local and national businesses, and our
raffle prizes include family passes to many of York and North Yorkshire’s
famous attractions. We also offer a cheap bar, which now accepts credit and
debit cards, and cheap pick’n’mix sweet bags for sale at the shows.”
Tickets cost £10, adults, £8, concessions, £5, children, at bluelight-theatre.co.uk, on 07933 329654 or from cast members. “We’re hoping to sell some tickets for Christmas zero-waste presents over the next couple of days,” says Mark.
Did you know?
SHOULD you be wondering, the publicity photographs were taken by Scott Atkinson at Mansell Hughes’s shoe repairs shop, Acomb Cobblers, in Green Lane, Acomb. “Mansell is a huge support to us, giving us free rein of his shop for our photo-shoot,” says Mark Friend.
Whale watch: Cassie Vallance’s Noi looks out for the little whale in The Storm Whale . Picture: Northedge Photography
CASSIE Vallance, such a scene stealer
in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s jazz-age Twelfth Night in the summer in York,
is seeing out the year in snow, ice and storms at York Theatre Royal.
Until January 4, Cassie is starring in
writer-director Matt Aston’s new adaptation of two Benji Davies stories of The
Storm Whale in the Studio’s Christmas show for four year olds and upwards.
Cassie is no stranger to the Theatre
Royal as a storyteller in the Story Craft Theatre children’s sessions and an
adult theatre workshop practitioner. The Storm Whale, however, marks the first
time she has performed in a production there.
“I’m very familiar with the space,” she
says. “I’ve been here a lot and seen a lot of shows. Now I’m very pleased to be
doing a show that both my kids can come and watch.”
Her children, aged four and one, are
the reason she knows Davies’s The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale In Winter,
the two stories that have been turned into a stage play by Aston’s company,
Engine House, in a co-production with York Theatre and the Little Angel Theatre
in London.
“I have two boys, so I read the books a
lot,” says Cassie. “I knew Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies as well. I do
storytelling at the theatre and the first one I did was The Storm Whale In
Winter.”
Cassie Vallance: actor, storyteller, clown and theatre workshop practitioner
Cassie plays Noi, a boy who lives with
his Dad and their six cats by the sea. One day Noi rescues a little whale
washed up on the beach during a storm and a friendship begins that changes
their lives forever.
As in all good children’s theatre, big
issues permeate the story. “It’s very much about the importance of belonging
and relationships and not feeling lonely. Sometimes people are lonely even in
the busiest crowded room,” says Cassie.
“Noi is a sweet young boy who is very
excitable when it comes to treasure hunting on the beach. He cares very much
for his Dad but isn’t necessarily in a relationship where they talk all the
time. He’s very passionate about finding friends, a bit awkward but very
lovable.”
“And yes, I’m a grown woman playing a ten-year-old
boy!” says Cassie, who sums up Noi in three words: “Endearing, awkward,
thoughtful.”
In addition to the cast of three,
Vallance, Julian Hoult and Gehane Strehler, the show features puppets aplenty: a
whale of course, plus seagulls, a cat called Sandwich and even a small puppet
Noi.
“Puppets change everything,” say Cassie.
“And when you see a puppet being worked well, you get completely absorbed and
lose the person behind it.”
Putting up the Christmas decorations: Cassie Vallance’s Noi with Julian Hoult’s Dad in The Storm Whale. Picture: Northedge Photography
She sees no difference between working on adult theatre, such as playing the gormless, goofy servant Fabian in Twelfth Night and Guildenstern in Hamlet this summer, and children’s theatre, such as The Storm Whale. What she does not enjoy is experiencing family shows that are patronising to children. “A lot of the time, children have a much great understanding than we give them credit for,” says Cassie. “Kids are really tuned in, especially on this big emotional stuff.”
Reflecting on ten summer weeks in York spent
performing Shakespeare in a pop-up Elizabethan theatre on the Castle car park,
Cassie says: “It was absolutely brilliant and I had the most fantastic time
doing it.
“I was very fortunate. My other half
and I are both actors and got the opportunity to do the show. I had a whale of
a time – no pun intended. It was lovely to see people getting so much out
of it. I got to be an absolute clown, which I loved doing.”
Now her focus is on playing Noi, and should
you be seeking a treasure of a family show this winter, hunt this one down, recommends
Cassie. “It’s a really lovely, hot chocolatey, yummy jam sandwich Christmas
show,” she says.
The Storm Whale makes a splash at York Theatre Royal Studio until January 4 2020. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Glum- faced Arthur Smith looks forward to 2020 in Pocklington
ARTHUR Smith, comedian, writer, broadcaster and
notoriously Grumpy Old Man, has a new show to brighten up 2020.
Smith’s off-the-wall Laughs, Stories, A Song And A
Poem will visit Pocklington Arts Centre on Friday, January 31.
Arts centre director Janet Farmer says: “We can’t
wait to welcome Arthur back after several sell-out shoes here in recent
years.
“He’s a cult hero at the Edinburgh Fringe for his
legendary performances and this new show promises to be a thoroughly
entertaining night of sublime playfulness, crammed with jokes, anecdotes, short
stories, poems, songs and excerpts from Arthur’s latest book, the memoir My
Name Is Daphne Fairfax. It’s the complete package!”
Janet adds: “Arthur is the latest in a series of
outstanding comedians we’ve lined up for our stage in the coming months,
including Shappi Khorsandi on February 16, Tom Rosenthal: Manhood on March 14
and Andy Parsons on April 28.
“Our live comedy programme always sells out, so I
would recommend getting your tickets quickly or risk missing out.”
Smith, 65, from Balham, London, has appeared on the
BBC’s Grumpy Old Men Q.I, Have I Got
News For You and The One Show, as well as Radio 4’s Loose Ends and Balham Bash
and hosting Radio 4 Extra’s Comedy Club, and Radio 2’s Smith Lectures. He
was nominated for an Olivier Award for his play An Evening With Gary Lineker,
which played York Theatre Royal in July 2006.
Tickets for his 8pm Pocklington gig are on sale at £16 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
A Dickensian-clad Robbie Williams gives a thumbs-up to his 13th number one album
Robbie Williams, The Christmas Present (Columbia) *****
Wrapping: Robbie is one of the very few contemporary artists who truly embraces
album artwork: pleasing to the eye, telling a story and setting the scene for a
multitude of surprises. A Dickensian-clad Rob goes shopping on a street not
dissimilar to York’s Shambles.
Gifts inside: Double disc features a cocktail of new and evergreen classics. Rod
Stewart, Bryan Adams, boxer Tyson Fury, Jamie Cullum, Helene Fisher and Mr
Williams Senior, alias Poppa Pete, are guests across the 28 tracks. Tyson Fury?
Really? Yes, on Bad Sharon. It’s a big hit. Of course.
Style: Mostly upbeat and certainly very jolly. A very content Robbie Williams
is on top form.
’Tis the season to be jolly: Embrace this genuinely enjoyable
album of good cheer, curated with love and affection.
Scrooge moan? Rob’s fabulous update of Let Me Entertain You, for Aldi’s Christmas
campaign, and the rumoured cover of Fairytale Of New York with Britney Spears
didn’t make the final cut. Maybe next year?
White Christmas? Not on this set, although you do get fabulous covers
of I Believe In Father Christmas and a jazzed-up Merry Xmas Everybody with
Cullum.
Blue Christmas? Absolutely not. Robbie’s gift is one of happiness!
Stocking or shocking? This is destined to become one of the greatest and most cherished Christmas albums of all time.
Ian Sime
Ex- Leeds United midfielder Chris Kamara tackles ten Christmas evergreens
Chris Kamara, Here’s To Christmas (So What/Silva Screen
Records) ****
Wrapping: – At 62, Chris Kamara is a very
handsome fellow. The chromosome photograph is very becoming, yet not at all
seasonal.
Gifts inside: The consummate Renaissance Man, this ex-Leeds United footballer is now a regular television presenter on Sky Sports. Who knew the former sailor and Bake Off finalist could also sing? Unbelievable, Jeff. The very talented crooner tackles ten glorious upbeat evergreen classics.
Style: Big Band, all day and night long.
’Tis the season to be jolly: …and singalonga with Mr Kamara to
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman and It’s Beginning To Look A
Lot Like Christmas.
Scrooge moan? Don’t be so silly. This is a
joyful swinging affair.
White Christmas? Absolutely not. We are, however, treated to Winter
Wonderland and Let It Snow!
Blue Christmas? Christmas with Mr Karama is a very jolly event.
Stocking or shocking? Chris Kamara is number one on the Jazz chart. Good for him. This is a very happy album.
Ian Sime
Bing-go: White Christmas guaranteed for Crosby
Bing Crosby with the London Symphony Orchestra, At Christmas (Decca
Records) ****
Wrapping: Decca have done their best with a selection of period family
photographs. The set is boxed in a handsome, rather snazzy, gold-embossed
sleeve.
Gifts inside: Fourteen of Mr Crosby’s classic Christmas songs given a modern
orchestral makeover, with special guests The Puppini Sisters, Pentatonix The
Tenors and, from the archives, The Andrew Sisters and David Bowie.
Style: Bing Crosby invented the Christmas album. This album is Bing’s original
iconic tones with a complementary lush orchestra.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: The chance to rediscover why we love
secular Christmas music so much in the first place.
Scrooge moan? There’s no reason to be a Grinch when Bing sings.
White Christmas? Well, the best-selling Christmas single of all
time had to be included. It’s the law.
Blue Christmas? No, this is an upbeat Easy Listening classic.
Stocking or shocking? If you’re tired of Bing, you’re tired of Christmas! Every stocking should have one.
Ian Sime
Christmas Day? Let’s play Michael Buble….again
Ian Sime’s top five Christmas albums of all time
Mariah Carey, Merry Christmas (Columbia, 1994)
Donna Summer, Christmas Spirit (Mercury, 1994)
Whitney Houston, One Wish – The Holiday Album (Columbia, 2003)
We wish you a metal Christmas: Rob Halford “gives off some attitude”
Rob Halford with Family & Friends, Celestial (Sony) **
Wrapping: Halford, the metal god from
Judas Priest, giving off some attitude as he is pasted on to wrapping paper.
Inside we see his family and friends (his brother Nigel and his band Voodoo
Sioux) smiling and giving the devil horns metal salute. Worth a second
glance? No.
Gifts inside: Heavy metal, from a much
outdated style, set awkwardly against the simple melodies of the eight
Christmas chestnuts, with four new songs cleverly woven in.
Style: Imagine if buzz and noise music never
happened. Imagine if the musical time clock was stuck in 1985. It’s old-school
metal, full of tight-trousered screams and flashy guitar solos, with some great
drumming too. If that wasn’t bad enough, there are ballads and a choir-like
song too.
‘Tis the reason to be jolly: Deck The Halls and Hark The Herald
Angels Sing rise above the rest, with a powerful punk-like attitude and some
searing musicianship. Halford’s voice remains formidable. Lead track Donner And
Blitzen should be big in Scandinavia and the Black Forest.
Scrooge moan: If you look for merry metal Christmas albums in the shops, you will probably only find this (although, perhaps for the most persistent, also Halford III: Winter Songs from 2009). There’s a good reason for that; putting the two styles together does neither any favours. It makes the tough looking and talented musicians sound daft, and would anyone into this type of music admit to owning a copy?
White Christmas? The only snow, in blue, is printed on the CD.
Blue Christmas? The mood is more defiant, but A
Winter’s Tale is more sombre.
Stocking or shocking? Shocking, for the
unreconstructed rocker in your life. who will enjoy it, just to be rebellious.
Paul Rhodes
“Piano settings really suit the monochromatic winter world in the songs” on Rick Wakeman’s Christmas album.
Rick Wakeman, Christmas Portraits
(Sony) ****
Wrapping: A grand piano perched in front
of a starlit Christmas tree in a wintry wood. A strange star is rising in the
sky. The booklet has a few portraits of the great man, the credits and a simple
message.
Gifts inside: 14 traditional
tracks, including seven medleys, from the purveyor of The Grumpy Old Christmas
Show Tour that visited Harrogate Royal Hall on December 10.
Style: This is the sound of one man and his
piano (a Granary Steinway Model D), from .
‘Tis the reason to be jolly: The album is beautifully recorded, and
the piano settings really suit the monochromatic winter world in the songs.
Like Jan Johannson’s Jazz På Svenska, which timelessly dances
with folk tunes, Wakeman’s variations on these age-old melodies are both
graceful and fitting.
Scrooge moan: This is certainly more BBC Radio 3 than
prog, so won’t please all of Wakeman’s admirers, and enjoyable while it is, it
does all blur together.
White Christmas? No, this is a more
traditional set aimed towards the classical fan rather than frequenter of
supper clubs (you know who you are).
Blue Christmas? There is certainly melancholy,
and a sense of bitter cold, but the melodies should cast sunlight into the
gloomiest of moods.
Stocking or shocking? Stocking, for anyone who gets
lost in their thoughts while pondering the frost through the kitchen window.
Paul Rhodes
Aimee Mann’s Christmas album: so good, she released it twice
Paul Rhodes’s top five Christmas
albums of all time
The Staple Singers, The 25th Day Of December
Carols from Kings
Aimee Mann, One More Drifter In The
Snow
The Louvin Brothers, Christmas With
The Louvin Brothers
Christmas Greetings From Nashville –
featuring Skeeter Davis
Flowering anew: Kate Rusby’s fifth Christmas album
Kate Rusby, Holly Head (Pure Records)
****
Wrapping: Barnsley nightingale Kate in snowy white with her very own Holly Head, a Christmas garland of wintry flowers, foliage, twigs and leaves atop her curls. A “Holly Head” loves Christmas music like a petrol head loves cars, she says.
Gifts inside: South Yorkshire pub carols, Yorkshire
winter songs, one new Rusby composition and a couple of novelty numbers (John Rox’s
Hippo For Christmas, from 1953, and a third rescue mission for Kate’s Yorkshire
Tea-powered Barnsley superhero, Big Brave Bill).
Style: Kate and her touring folk players, augmented as ever by the “Brass Boys”, on her fifth Christmas collection in 11 years. Songs merry, melancholic and daft, all to be found here.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Kate’s sixth version of While Shepherds
Watched (only another 24 still to go, apparently!); the titles Yorkshire Three
Ships and Bleak Midwinter (Yorkshire); and Kate branching out into folk prog
via Clannad with the beautifully frosty The Holly King.
Scrooge moan: Hip, hippo, but not hurray for The
Hippo Song, despite Mike Levis’s pomp-pomp tuba. Bah Humbug to such
jollification.
White Christmas? No, but Lu Lay (The Coventry Carol) is chillier than a Yorkshire moor in winter.
Blue Christmas? Bleak Midwinter (Yorkshire); that
title says it all.
Stocking or shocking? Christmas Is Merry, sings Kate, and
Holly Heads and hippo devotees everywhere will love it.
Charles Hutchinson
Going on holiday: Josh Rouse’s Nashville Christmas album
Josh Rouse, The Holiday Sounds Of
Josh Rouse (Yep Roc) ****
Wrapping: No hint of winter in a painting with warm red, pink and yellow hues. The opening song title, Mediterranean X-mas, explains it, as American singer-songwriter Rouse has only latterly moved to Nashville from Valencia after ten winters in Spain.
Gifts inside: Rouse’s first“ holiday concept album”, his 13th in all, contains nine originals, complemented by a bonus disc bearing the gifts of three demos and Rousing versions of trad holiday songs All I Want For Christmas, Up On The Housetop and Let It Snow.
Style: Breezy, warm, vintage folk, pop, country blues and jauntily jazzy rock, not too far removed from Nick Lowe’s 2013 seasonal selection, Quality Street. Indeed Basher urged him to make this record when touring together in 2015.
Happy holidays: Josh Rouse raises a glass of bubbly to Christmas
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Lush, warmly reflective songs of childhood nostalgia and holidays spent away from home are the perfect accompaniment to the year’s glowing embers. Red Suit, New York Holiday, Lights Of Town and Christmas Songs are the pick.
Scrooge moan: None, unless you crave the absent sleigh
bells, children’s choirs and Yuletide standards you won’t find in the Rouse
house.
White Christmas? No. Presumably gone on holiday to
somewhere colder.
Blue Christmas? Sadness seeps through Letters In The
Mailbox and Heartbreak Holiday.
Stocking or shocking? Rouse should be in your house come Christmas Day.
Merry Cryptmas from The Cramps’ vinyl vaults
Merry Luxmas, It’s Christmas In Crampsville!, Season’s
Gratings From The Cramps’ Vinyl Basement (Righteous/Cherry Red) *****
Wrapping: Family album photo from the Fifties, one
woman, her glasses, her pearls, her dog and her overladen Christmas tree. What
a swell party that looks.
Gifts inside: In the ghostly spirit of Christmas
past, an original cassette compilation by the late Lux Interior of Sacramento psychobilly
punks The Cramps, lovingly entitled Jeezus ****, It’s Christmas, is re-activated
and re-mastered. Lux and Poison’s Ivy raves from the Christmas crypt add up to
31 of the “strangest Yuletide 45s ever”, now accompanied with ace sleeve notes
by Mojo magazine’s Dave Henderson.
Style: Wild and weird rock’n’roll music and jumpin’
jive for beatniks, hipsters and swinging hep cats. Doo-wop ballads, novelty oddities,
jailbird laments, mighty bluesmen, even skewed country (George Jones’s Eskimo
Pie), are all Cramped in.
’Tis the season to be jolly: So many.Especially
Tony Rodelle Larson’s impossibly cool Cool Yule; Louis Armstrong’s joyous Zat
You, Santa Claus; Joan Shaw’s insistent I Want A Man For Christmas and Jimmy
Butler’s innuendo-laden Trim Your Tree, culminating in the Reverend J M Gates’s
fire-and-brimstone sermon, Did You Spend Christmas Day In Jail.
Scrooge moan: Spike Jones and His City Slickers’ dogs
launching a barking-mad assault on O Christmas Tree. Doggerel.
White Christmas? Anything but. Make way for The
Marquees’ Christmas In The Congo, more like.
Blue Christmas? Too many to mention, but these will
do for starters: Floyd Dixon’s Empty Stocking Blues, Little Esther & Mel
Walker’s Far Away Christmas Blues; Julia Lee And Her Boy Friends’ Christmas
Spirit, T-Bone Walker’s Cold, Cold Feeling and Washboard Pete’s Christmas
Blues.
Stocking or shocking? Do you know someone who hates
Christmas? Present incoming.
Charles Hutchinson
Great work: Emmy The Great and Ash’s Tim Wheeler do Christmas
Charles Hutchinson’s top five
Christmas albums of all time to discover
Bruce Cockburn, Christmas (Columbia,
1993)
Glasvegas, A Snowflake Fell (And It
Felt Like A Kiss) (SonyBMG, 2008)
Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler Present…This Is Christmas (Infectious Music, 2011)
Smith & Burrows, Funny Looking
Angels (Kitchenware/Play It Again Sam, 2011)
Julian Hoult, Gehane Strehler and Cassie Vallance in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Northedge Photography
The Storm Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, doing swimmingly until January 4 2020. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
CHILDREN’S author Benji Davies was in the house on press
night, travelling up from the south to see director Matt Aston’s second
adaptation of one of his stories.
Or, rather, two stories. It takes only two and a half
minutes each to read Davies’s enchanting, award-winning works The Storm Whale
and its sequel The Storm Whale In Winter. Put them together in one show divided
by an interval, and children aged four and upwards will indeed have a whale of
a time, with a little “mild peril” thrown in for the second half.
After moving to York two years ago, Aston’s company Engine
House brought Davies’s story Grandad’s Island to the Studio in February 2018,
and The Storm Whale is better still.
This time, the show is an Engine House co-production with
York Theatre Royal, The Marlowe in Canterbury and Little Angel Theatre, in
London, where it will play next winter.
As you take your seat, you take care to walk around Lydia Denno’s
typically delightful set: the wooden floor evokes a sandy sea front, with the
froth of a wave making you want to dip your toe in.
Cassie Vallance’s Noi in The Storm Whale: her second outstanding performance of the year in York
On her stage are scaled-down versions of a lighthouse that does light up, and the island home where a little boy, Noi (a name pronounced in the way the Northern Irish say “now”), lives with his fisherman Dad.
So do their six cats with such town names as Deal and
Sandwich, the latter represented by a puppet that likes to leap on to Dad’s
shoulder. The other five are in picture frames, or more precisely, bursting out
of the frames to give them life and evoke playfulness.
The house front seen in miniature is then replicated in full scale, with a washing line, fishing netting, steps, a boat and a porch, from which the endearingly awkward, thoughtful, restless Noi (Cassie Vallance) looks out, in need of company when hard-working Dad (Julian Hoult) is at sea.
Our narrator is Flo (Gehane Strehler), who looks back at
this story from the distance of initially erratic adult memories as she recalls
how she used to lick the strawberries and cream lighthouse in hope of a sweet
flavour. Flo’s own story will flow in and out of Noi’s tale, and she too is
often on her own.
“The Storm Whale stories are about loneliness, and we’re not shying away from that,” says Aston. “As Benji Davies says, ‘it’s OK to be on your own but not OK to be lonely’, and that’s absolutely true.”
Julian Hoult’s Dad and Cassie Vallance‘s Noi in a Christmas scene in The Storm Whale
Through a combination of storytelling, puppetry and Julian
Butler’s acoustic songs (one with a hint of The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York,
no less), we encounter the height of a storm and Noi’s subsequent encounter with a little
whale, washed up on the sand and soon to occupy the house bath (later doubling
as Dad’s fishing boat) as they bond in friendship. A
simple story, you might say, but that’s why it goes to your heart.
Post-interval comes the aforementioned “mild peril” as Dad undertakes his last fishing trip but his boat becomes stuck in the frozen waters of deep winter. In his absence, Noi craves seeing the whale once more, and these two storylines overlap with a sense of wonder at the finale, enhanced by the puppetry.
Vallance was last seen in York stealing scenes over the summer in the supposedly minor role of gormless, goofy servant Fabian in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s jazz-age Twelfth Night, and she is a delight once more here. Her Noi is wide eyed, curious for knowledge at ten, often hunting for treasure by the sea , ready for experience and friendship, and full of love to give, coming to terms with the loss of his mother.
Hoult’s Dad is stout-hearted, kindly, jolly, but feeling the weight of responsibility of now being the sole guide for Noi. Strehler’s Flo is an engaging narrator, as she moves in and out of the storyline, in a magical, moving, beautiful show for Christmas, cotton wool snowy rooftops and all.
Meanwhile, the inaugural Aston Kaler pantomime partnership, Sleeping Beauty, runs aground in the main house until January 25, co-directed by Aston and Dame Berwick. In sole command for The Storm Whale, Aston makes a bigger splash here.
The tree in the Garden Hall, part of Castle Howard At Christmas: A Christmas Masquerade. All pictures: Charlotte Graham
THE decorative Christmas displays at Castle Howard, near York,
are the most theatrical yet.
Running until January 5 2020, A Christmas Masquerade has
taken over every public room in the historic Yorkshire house for this themed
event.
Each one is dressed in ornate and elaborate feathers,
sequins, baubles and twinkling lights as visitors join the Howard family in
their preparations for a Venetian-themed Christmas Carnival, complete with
masquerade ball and entertainment from Harlequin, Pierrot, Colombine and
Puchinello, all part of the Commedia
dell’arte troupe.
Producer Charlotte Lloyd Webber and theatrical designer
Bretta Gerecke once again have led the team of set dressers, florists,
baublographers, artists and seamstresses to create the immersive masquerade
experience.
“Castle Howard is a house that was built with a sense of theatre and extravagance inspired by Venetian design – Vanbrugh was both an architect and a playwright – and at a time of year when glittering opulence makes its way into almost every home, we couldn’t think of a better opportunity to explore a tradition enjoyed by generations of the Howard family: the masquerade ball,” says Charlotte.
Lady Georgina’s dressing room, themed around clown Puchinello at Castle Howard
“Many of the themes, colours and styles
that we have used to recreate a Venetian masquerade ball fit perfectly within
the theatrical grandeur of each room.”
The experience opens with the grand
staircase in the main hall, setting the scene for the lavish displays that
follow. Using the Venetian palate, the staircase is lavishly decorated
with sapphire blue, magenta, purple and gold.
At the top of the stairs, visitors gain
a taste of the entertainment for the forthcoming ball: multicoloured Harlequins, one of the
characters in the Commedia dell’arte, the troupe of wandering artists that
delighted 17th and 18th century
audiences with a mix of pathos, romance and slapstick.
On the China Landing, an estate-cut
twig tree has been painted in the Harlequin colours and hung with a plethora of
ornaments following the Venetian theme, while two masks give a further hint of
the ball’s lavish theme.
The following suite of four rooms
highlights the four key characters for the Commedia dell’arte visiting Castle Howard over the Christmas
period. Lady Georgiana’s bedroom is handed over to Colombine, a character
who started life in the troupe as an elegant dancer, before joining the “Zannis”
and becoming partner to both Harlequin and Pierrot.
The Hon Nicholas Howard and Victoria Howard in the Turquoise Room, decorated entirely in scarlet
Pinks, golds and silvers fill the room
to reflect the custom-made Colombine ballgown on display in the room, as if the
mistress of the house were preparing her own costume for the ball. The room also hosts the first of a special
collection of masks, hand-created by Venetian master craftsmen for Christmas at
Castle Howard: the Rosetta Mask.
The adjacent dressing room is a huge
contrast, to reflect the first of the troupe’s clowns, Puchinello, leader of the Zannis and
inspiration for the modern English use of the word “zany”. This wacky room
features an upside-down white Christmas tree, with a circus fairground
feel. The very British Punch and Judy explode out of a present in a nod
to the seaside tradition that has its origins in these Venetian artists.
A popular contemporary vision of clown
Pierrot finds him sitting in a moon, and this provides inspiration for the
Castle Howard dressing room: a dreamlike and tranquil space decorated with a
starry ceiling, gold, silver, black and white, with the character himself in a
familiar pose at the back of the room.
Harlequin’s bedroom is one of the most
lavish in the house: red, gold and green with a beautifully decorated tree,
atop which sits another ornate Venetian mask. This is the space where the
Master of the House will prepare for the ball, his Harlequin costume awaiting on
a mannequin.
The rich, bright colours of the theme
inspired the Antiques Passage, an explosion of colour featuring a jewellery box
of hues and shades presented through exotic birds and butterflies.
The 26ft Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Castle Howard, decorated with 3,500 baubles
The Castle Howard tradition of the
enormous Christmas tree continues in the Great Hall, where a remarkable 26ft
real tree is installed and covered with 3,500 baubles. “As far as we’ve
been able to tell, this is the largest Christmas tree in a stately home in the
country,” says Abbigail. “It’s certainly several feet bigger than the trees in
Buckingham Palace.”
However, the Masquerade theme is still
very evident in the room; the view up to the balcony features acrobats on the
handrail with a monochrome and a colourful Harlequin balancing there.
The influence of the Commedia dell’arte
becomes even more prominent in the three rooms on the first floor that show the
theatrical experience of masquerade and pantomime from both backstage and
audience perspectives. The display includes historic items from Castle
Howard’s collections, featuring dresses, masques and fans that would have been
worn and used by ancestors of the present custodian, the Hon. Nicholas
Howard.
On display too are wigs, make-up and other
accoutrements that would have helped the actors’ preparations for the
stage. The centrepiece of the High South
is a life-size “paper theatre”, inspired by Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop, which
uses the architectural features of Castle Howard in a colourful pantomime
display.
Returning to the ground floor, visitors
will have another behind-the-scenes peek in the room dedicated to the ruler of
Venice. The new library includes the Doge Tree, dedicated to the “Duke”
of Venice – or in Castle Howard’s case, the master of the house – and laden
with opulent Venetian glass ornaments and fabrics, with books on display all
about the Venetian masquerade – essential for planning any authentic ball.
All set for Christmas at Castle Howard
The Garden Hall’s traditional bare twig
tree returns, but this year features candle-lit decorations of brightly
coloured Venetian Glass to create a kaleidoscope effect in the room.
A special model of Castle Howard created
last year by artist Mark Bond returns to the Cabinet Room, now joined by a new
model showing the exterior landscape down the Lime Avenue. Tiny
depictions of actors and their supporting crew from the Commedia dell’arte can
be seen making their way with horses and carts on their way to the house in
this tiny display, while ladies in their ballgowns can be found on the North
Front of the main model, arriving for the ball to entertainment from a
miniature Punch and Judy show.
In the music room, one of the paintings
almost comes alive, as characters step out of Marco Ricci’s The Opera Rehearsal
and don costumes ready for the ball.
The Crimson Dining Room is a glittering
Venetian feast, the table set with a centrepiece of lions and exotic
monkeys. As Charlotte Lloyd Webber explains: “We have tried to amplify
and reveal aspects of the house that you may not have noticed with the designs.
A painting of the Grand Canal in the Crimson Dining Room, for example, is
reflected in the gondola-themed decorations in the room.”
Crimson turns to scarlet for the
drawing room – the only colour used in here – with two mannequins wearing
bespoke garments created for the room and a Venetian Fraudis Jolly, a
masquerade mask made of playing cards.
The China Landing at Castle Howard
Resuming the figurative flow of the
water in the dining room picture, the Long Gallery –the epicentre and pinnacle
of each year’s Christmas designs – recreates the glittering waterway as the
setting for the Venetian Carnival that has been teased throughout the
house.
Visitors join the guests at the
waterside Ball, its setting drawn from the imagination of Brette Gerecke, using
artistic skills and set-dressing normally seen from afar on the theatrical
stage. The “canal” itself is made from nearly 250 metres of moulded aluminium foil, on which 4,300
customised iridescent sequins have been painstakingly glued in a task that took
three people four days to complete.
At the heart of the Long Gallery is a
three-metre-wide suspended revolving Harlequin mask, one side multicoloured,
the other covered in sequins of gold, silver and bronze. One of the
windows at the octagonal centre of the gallery has been replaced with a stained-glass
window to shine coloured diamonds all over the space, even on darker winter
days, when an artificial light provides the illumination!
A mask in the Crimson Dining Room at Castle Howard for Christmas
Leaving the Long Gallery, visitors
descend to the chapel, which this year has been dressed by Slingsby School
working with Castle Howard’s charity of the year, Yorkshire Wildlife
Trust. Alongside a traditional Nativity scene, children have created
animal-themed decorations with hand-written eco-wishes. Visitors are invited to swap real coins for
chocolate ones in a donation box, with proceeds going to the charity.
Each weekend during the Christmas opening until January 5,
those visiting will be joined by members of the Commedia dell’arte troupe for
live entertainment around the house, while soundscapes and music arranged by the
Hon. Nicholas Howard provide an additional sensory appeal to the proceedings.
Head of marketing Abbigail Ollive says: “Christmas at Castle
Howard is an experience never to be forgotten, with many people returning year
after year to get their festive ‘fix’, whether to take inspiration back for
their own home designs, or simply just to marvel at how an already beautiful
property can be transformed into this magical place – a veritable festive film
set that you can walk through and admire!
“Each year’s designs are totally different, and the
jewel-like sapphire blues, ruby reds and golden amber bring a whole new colour
palette to this winter’s displays.”
Castle Howard: A Christmas Masquerade runs until Sunday, January 5 2020, closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tickets are on sale at castlehoward.co.uk.
Julian Hoult as Dad, Gehane Strehler as Flo and Cassie Vallance as Noi in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Northedge Photography
NO theatre
director is busier in York this season than Matt Aston.
After moving to
the city two years ago, he is directing his own adaptation of Benji Davies’s children’s
stories, The Storm Whale, at the York Theatre Royal Studio and co-directing the
main-house pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, with retired dame Berwick Kaler.
Matt, whose
production of Davies’s Grandad’s Island played two seasons at the Theatre
Royal, has been able to combine the two roles, directing rehearsals for The
Storm Whale either side of overseeing rehearsals for the trademark panto mayhem
with Dame Berwick.
“The Snow Whale
was already in place for the Studio; I’d been in discussion with Damian and
Juliet [now former artistic director Damian Cruden and associate director
Juliet Forster], and then with Tom Bird [the Theatre Royal’s executive
director],” recalls Matt.
“Then, when I
had a meeting with Tom, just after Damian announced he was leaving and Berwick
had confirmed he’d be writing the script, Tom said they needed a co-director
for the panto and asked me if I would do it.
“I’d got around
to writing The Storm Whale, and I’ve done this thing before of having to juggle
with shows for Christmas, so as a way of organising it this time, I held five
weeks of rehearsals for The Storm Whale, did the tech and got the show up and
running for two performances at Pocklington Arts Centre on October 23, then put
it into storage until the panto press night.
The Storm Whale director Matt Aston. Picture: Alan Fletcher
“Sometimes it
can work better, going back to a show
after time off, so that’s what we’ve done, going into tech on December
12 and 13, dress-rehearsing on December 14, with the press night on December
17…and then I’m going to bed!”
Julian Hoult, Gehane Strehler and Cassie Vallance are performing Davies’s story of Noi, who lives with his Dad and their six cats by the sea. One winter, while his fisherman Dad was busy at work, Noi rescued a little whale that washed up on the beach during a storm.
A friendship began that night that would
change their lives forever. The following winter, Noi’s Dad takes one last trip
in his fishing boat. Noi is alone once more and longs to see his friend again,
but will it take another winter storm to bring them back together again?
“Benji Davies’s The Storm Whale
and The Storm Whale in Winter are two books very close to my heart as they’re firm
favourites with my two children,” says Matt. “It’s beyond fantastic to get the
chance to adapt both Benji’s books into one show for young people and
their families.
“And to do it again at York Theatre
Royal – after having such a brilliant time on last year’s Grandad’s Island –
has made these past few weeks and months even more exciting.”
The Storm Whale is targeted at children
aged four to seven. “But oldies will enjoy it too,” he says. “When we did the
show to a class of four to nine year olds in Pocklington, you could hear a pin
drop at times because they were so caught up in it.”
Cassie Vallance’s Noi with a Christmas decoration in The Storm Whale. Picture: Northedge Photography
The Storm Whale is told with a
combination of storytelling, song and puppetry. Is there a big whale, Matt?
“Big enough!” he says.
Writer Benji Davies paid Matt the
compliment of coming up from London to attend Tuesday evening’s performance.
“I’d met Benji through first doing Grandad’s Island two years ago, when his
publishers really liked that show and wanted me to do another one,” he says.
“After Grandad’s Island, The Storm
Whale became the obvious thing to do, but it’s always a struggle with only one
short book. The Storm Whale takes only two and a half minutes to read, but luckily
Benji had brought out another Storm Whale book, which made it ideal to combine
them as one show.
“I think it’s actually better than
Grandad’s Island in many ways, because it really feels like a proper children’s
play with two halves.”
To transform those stories from page to
stage, “you have to remember it’s a show for everyone and you must not be
frightened to have moments of mild peril in it, but first you have to gain the
children’s trust in the first half, then introduce that ‘mild peril’, and then
everything is OK at the end,” says Matt.
“The Storm Whale stories are about
loneliness, and we’re not shying away from that. As Benji says, ‘it’s OK to be
on your own but not OK to be lonely’, and that’s absolutely true.”
Staged by York Theatre Royal, Little
Angel Theatre and Matt’s company Engine House, The Storm Whale will play the
Little Angel Theatre, London, next Christmas and Matt is hoping to mount a tour
too in between, subject to gaining Arts Council funding.
Meanwhile,
after 14 years as a freelance director, Matt has notched up his first
experience of working on a York Theatre Royal pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, after
directing three rock’n’roll pantos at Leeds City Varieties and one at Theatre
Clwyd, as well as two traditional pantos at Wakefield’s Theatre Royal, Sleeping
Beauty and Aladdin.
He has worked
too with another pantomime legend, Kenneth Alan Taylor, the Berwick Kaler of
Nottingham Playhouse, where Taylor continues to write and direct the show after
retiring from the dame’s role.
“York is my
home town now and directing the pantomime was an opportunity too good to miss,”
says Matt. “I know how important the Theatre Royal pantomime is to city, where
it’s an institution, and it’s an honour to be involved.”
Sleeping Beauty runs at York Theatre Royal until January 25, The Storm Whale takes a bath at York Theatre Royal Studio until January 4. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
