YORK Guildhall
Orchestra will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a
special York Barbican concert on February 15.
Almost 40 years to the day from when the orchestra was founded by John Hastie and played in a “one-off” in the York Guildhall in February 1980, the anniversary will be marked with a 7.30pm programme of works and composers from that first concert.
Who
could have foretold the amazing journey, reputation, critical acclaim and
popularity of the Guildhall group that has developed in the intervening years?
The anniversary concert will
begin with the first piece the orchestra played in 1980: Ravel’s Mother Goose
Suite (Mere L’Oye), a showpiece for glorious orchestral tunes featuring the
talents of the wind section.
This will be followed by
the return of soloist Jamie Walton, founder of the North York Moors Chamber
Music Festival, for Elgar’s evergreen Cello Concerto. A celebratory
orchestral work by John Hastie will open the second half that will conclude with
Brahms’s Symphony No 2 (Symphony In Norahms).
This finale will call on
the whole orchestra to do what it loves doing best: play a luxurious, full
orchestral work of the Romantic period of classical music.
Tickets cost £6.30 to £17.55 on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
New pantomime partnership: York Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster and executive director Tom Bird with Evolution Productions producer Paul Hendy,
THE new age of pantomime at York
Theatre Royal will involve Evolution rather than revolution.
For the first panto of the post-Berwick
Kaler era, the Theatre Royal is teaming up with award-winning pantomime producers
Evolution to present Cinderella.
The show dates will be December 4 to
January 10 2021, an earlier start and finish than the December 7 to January 25
run for Sleeping Beauty, Dame Berwick’s last pantomime as co-director and writer
after a 41-year association with the Theatre Royal.
Cinderella will be directed by Theatre
Royal associate director Juliet Forster, who directed Shakespeare’s comedy A
Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York in 2018 and Arthur
Miller’s A View From The Bridge in the Theatre Royal main house last September,
as well as children’s shows aplenty.
Juliet Forster, who will direct York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Cinderella
The script will be written by Evolution
co-founder and producer Paul Hendy in tandem with York-born comedy writer and
podcaster David Reed, who has returned to his home city and will provide
additional material.
The cast is yet to be announced but
will not be a star vehicle, with variety acts and blossoming pantomime talent
and a “York flavour” likely to be to the fore instead. The set designer, not
confirmed yet, will be charged with creating magical transformations and glittering
sets to complement the “stunning songs and side-splitting laughs”.
Formed in 2005 by Paul Hendy and Emily
Wood, Evolution Productions present “bespoke pantomimes of epic spectacle and
hilarity” for the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; The
Hawth Theatre, Crawley; Garrick Theatre, Lichfield; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury;
Alban Arena, St Albans; Octagon Theatre, Yeovil, and Grove Theatre, Dunstable,
now joined in a co-producing partnership by York Theatre Royal.
Juliet Forster and Theatre Royal
executive director Tom Bird were exhilarated by Evolution’s 2019-2020 pantomime
for Sheffield Theatres, starring long-running dame Damian Williams in
Cinderella at the Lyceum.
Paul Hendy’s script from that hit show will
provide an early template for Reed to set to work on giving it a York branding,
with Cinderella’s rags-to-riches story being switched to this historic city in
a “new pantomime for everyone”.
Evolution producer Paul Hendy: co-writer of Cinderella at York Theatre Royal
Executive
director Bird says: “We are
over the moon to be creating a spectacular new pantomime for the people of York:
one that’s tailor-made for the whole family, while honouring the pantomime
traditions that our audiences love so much.
“Our recipe includes two of the most
exciting voices in our city, David Reed and Juliet Forster, together with Emily
Wood and Paul Hendy, the finest makers of pantomime in the country – a
fairytale combination.”
Bird continues: “This phenomenal team
will give the York Theatre Royal pantomime a new lease of life with a fresh,
family friendly, fun-filled approach to the story of Cinderella. It’s a
pantomime for the new decade, set with pride in our amazing city.”
Evolution Productions has built a
reputation for superior, bespoke pantomimes with the emphasis on high-quality
production values, strong casting and funny scripts, twice winning Pantomime of
the Year at the Great British Pantomime Awards.
Producer and writer Hendy says: “Emily
and I are absolutely thrilled to be working with York Theatre Royal on this
year’s pantomime. We are huge fans of the theatre and we’re looking forward to
collaborating with Tom and his brilliant team to produce a wonderful, family-friendly
pantomime with spectacular production values, a superbly talented cast,
and a genuinely funny script.”
Ticket prices will remain the same as
for 2019-2020. Family tickets and Sunday shows are being introduced, as well as
schools and groups discounts so that “everyone can go to the ball”.
Theatre Royal members’ ten-day priority booking opened today; members’ five-day priority booking on February 8; 9am in person at the box office, 10am online and phone booking. General booking opens on February 13; same times as above. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Meanwhile, Berwick Kaler’s first pantomime
at his new York home, the Grand Opera House, will be Dick Turpin Rides Again, with
writer, director and revived dame Kaler being joined by regular cohorts Martin
Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell for Qdos Entertainment’s
panto partnership with the Ambassador Theatre Group.
Kaiser Chiefs: striding out for Dalby Forest on June 26
KAISER Chiefs are to return to Dalby Forest, near
Pickering, for a Forest Live open-air gig on June 26.
The Leeds band played there previously in 2016, and once more Forestry England’s conservation projects will benefit from the concert takings, as they will from Will Young and James Morrison’s Dalby double-header on June 27.
Tickets go on sale from 9am on Friday (February 7)
on 03000 680400 or at forestryengland.uk/music.
Frontman Ricky Wilson says: “We’re chuffed to be
playing a home-county gig in Dalby Forest this summer. We last played there in
2016 as part of Forest Live series and it’s an amazing location to perform deep
in the woods, so we hope you can join us on this escapade.”
Chief hits Oh My God, I Predict A Riot, Everyday I
Love You Less And Less, the chart-topping Ruby and Never Miss A Beat will be
complemented by album selections off Employment; Yours Truly, Angry Mob; Off
With Their Heads; The Future Is Medieval; Education, Education, Education; Stay
Together and last July’s Duck.
Kaiser Chiefs previously took to the Yorkshire
great outdoors to play York Racecourse in July 2016 and Scarborough Open Air
Theatre in May 2017.
From December 2018 to March 2019, they brought a
new meaning to Pop Art when curating When All Is Quiet: Kaiser Chiefs In Conversation
With York Art Gallery. Exploring the boundaries between art and music in this
experimental exhibition, they used their position as pop musicians to rethink
sound as an art medium.
Did you know?
More than 1.9 million people have attended Forest Live concerts in the past 19 years. Ticket-sale income goes towards Forestry England looking after the nation’s forests sustainably, helping to create beautiful places for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and trees to grow.
Pussycat Dolls: prepare for Doll Domination at York Racecourse in July
REVIVED
American girl group Pussycat Dolls will perform York Racecourse’s first 2020 Music
Showcase Weekend show after the evening race card on July 24.
Eighties’
soul-pop icon Rick Astley was confirmed already for the weekend, signed up to
play after the afternoon racing on the Knavesmire course on July 25.
Pussycat Dolls sold more than 54 million records in a run of hits from 2003 to 2010 and returned to the live platform after a nine-year hiatus at last year’s final of The X Factor: Celebrity: familiar territory for band member Nicole Scherzinger, a long-standing judge on the ITV talent show.
Scherzinger is joined in the Pussycat song-and-dance line-up by Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta and Carmit Bachar. Expect them to sing the chart-topping Don’t Cha and Stickwitu, Beep, Buttons, I Don’t Need A Man, When I Grow Up, Whatcha Think About That and more besides, all coupled with dance routines.
Rick Astley: July 25 concert at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend
James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship at York Racecourse, said: “Announcements don’t come much bigger than being able to say that Pussycat Dolls will be bringing their Doll Domination to York Racecourse for a special Friday night performance to open the Music Showcase Weekend.
“Performances on a Friday evening have always had a special atmosphere with the excitement of the stars on the turf and the stars on the stage combining to make this an event to put in your diary now.”
To book, visit yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fee applies and car parking will be free. On the race track that evening, the European Breeders Fund Lyric York Stakes will be the centrepiece of a six-race card.
One York race-day concert is yet to be announced: the Summer Music Saturday on June 27. Watch this space.
Pepper & Honey: Not Now Collective’s play with live baking opens Visionari’s Studio Discoveries festival at the York Theatre Royal Studio
WHAT happens when the audience selects
the shows? Find out at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow in the Studio
Discoveries festival of theatre chosen by the Visionari community programming
group.
The first of six picks in Visionari’s
second season really takes the biscuit when Not Now Collective’s new play of
love, loss, heritage and new beginnings, Pepper & Honey,is told through the
baking of Croatian pepper biscuits.
Known as paprenjaci, they will be baked
live in front of the 11am and 2pm audiences as the story of Ana’s preparations
to start a new life in the UK unfolds. Babes-in-arms are welcome at the 11am
and 2pm shows – and biscuits are included.
So, what is “home”, ask Not
Now Collective. Now that the era of post-Brexit Britain is under way, that
question has never been more pertinent, in this case for Ana, a
young Croatian woman, as she settles in the UK.
Determined to make it home, she focuses
on life in this new land, but she is haunted by the voice of her Grandma,
calling for her to stay true to national identity and yearning for Ana
to come home.
Grandma bakes her traditional Croatian
pepper biscuits – believed to bring
a loved one back home – but will this be enough to be reunited with her
granddaughter? What is “home” to Ana now?
Written by a Croatian playwright and performed by a Croatian actor, Pepper & Honey is a poignant, subtle and timely play about the journey of change, cultural differences, trying not to feel like a foreigner in your adopted country, and the conflict between upholding the traditions of the “old country” and embracing those of the new.
As trailered
earlier, Pepper & Honey will be “timed to perfection
to deliver a perfect Croatian pepper biscuit, baked live with the help
of the audience”. Tickets for all the Visionari Studio Discoveries plays are on
sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. The price is £10 per show or
£8 when two or more Studio Discoveries shows
are booked.
Kneehigh’s Ubu!: party and protest rolled into one riotous show . Picture: Steve Tanner
ALFRED Jarry’s ground-breaking political
parable Ubu Roi caused riots when first staged in Paris in 1896. Now, Kneehigh’s
Ubu! A Singalong Satire promises an equally riotous night out at Leeds
Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday.
Conceived by Carl Grose, Charles
Hazlewood and Mike Shepherd, it smashes together Jarry’s gleefully rude and
deliberately childish script with a crowd-pleasing singalong, party games, inflatable
animals and contemporary political satire.
Kneehigh’s Ubu! is a punk-spirited, comedic
study of power, protest and populism. “And what better form of popular culture
to demonstrate this than mass karaoke?”, ask the Cornish company.
The show is led by Katy Owen’s tiny,
tyrannical Pa Ubu and Mike Shepherd’s pouting, preening Ma Ubu, alongside the
ever-versatile Kneehigh ensemble: a six-strong cast and the band The Sweaty
Bureaucrats.
Arranged by Hazlewood, the selection of
songs is inventive and cannily chosen, ranging from Britney Spears’ Toxic and Edwin Starr’s War to Mark Ronson’s Uptown
Funk and The Carpenters’ Close To You, as a festival atmosphere builds.
Writer and co-director Carl Grose
explains how Ubu! came to fruition and why the petty protagonist still
resonates with modern audiences. “When
Alfred Jarry’s play received its premiere at the Théâtre de l’OEuvre in Paris
on December 10 1896, there was, so the story goes, a full-on riot,” he says.
Winging it: Kneehigh’s singalong Ubu!. Picture: Steve Tanner
“Audiences and critics alike were
confronted with sights and sounds of such outrageousness that pandemonium broke
out and the production was shut down after only two performances.”
Grose
continues: “Like all
great artists, Alfred Jarry was a disrupter, and Ubu was his weapon of mass
disruption. A personification of chaos, a lord of misrule, a howling,
hysterical metaphor for greed, lies and corruption.
“The main character was designed to be
both laughed at and despised, and that’s still the case. He is here to gather
us together as his prisoners, his acolytes, his victims – or his potential
usurpers.
“He is a reminder that those in power
will do their damnedest to make their reality our normality. It’s up to us to
collectively remember that there’s nothing normal about Ubu and his ilk.”
Ubu’s behaviour beggars belief, concludes
Grose. “He is cruel, nonsensical, cowardly, aggressive and beyond vile in his
actions,” he says. “Career mad, he looks totally ridiculous, puts money over
humanity in a heartbeat and has a vocabulary that leaves a lot to be desired.
What an absurd creation, eh?”
Prepare for a Kneehigh antidote to a
divided world that makes a stand against divisiveness and brings audiences
together through the joyful act of singing
Kneehigh’s Ubu! A Singalong Satire, Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, February 4 to 8. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Fflur Wyn as Susanna and Phillip Rhodes as Figaro in Opera North’s The Marriage Of Figaro. All pictures:. Robert Workman
Opera North in The Marriage Of Figaro, Leeds Grand Theatre, February 1 ****
Further Leeds performances on February 8, 14, 19, 22, 26 and 29, then on tour . More details at operanorth.co.uk. Leeds box office: 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com
IT is strange how operatic revivals can vary so much from their originals, even when the same director is on hand to oversee them. Jo Davies’s production of Mozart’s opera buffa dates from January 2015. That is before the Me Too movement really took off in October 2017, when the treatment of women in Hollywood began to come under the microscope.
Its repercussions on this show are fascinating. The two leading men, Count Almaviva and Figaro himself, are by far the most charismatic here. That is partly down to the singers involved. But it also reflects the relative hardness of their ladies, the Countess and Susanna.
These men are having their very manhood challenged, even as they attempt their various conquests. It could help to explain why Quirijn de Lang’s relentlessly dim-witted Count (though the singer himself is clearly quite the opposite) comes across as a failed Don Giovanni, never quite achieving those desired notches on his cane. The man is libidinous beyond belief. Even at the end you wonder how long he can possibly remain faithful to his wife. He nevertheless sings with plenty of self-belief.
Heather Lowe as Cherubino
The New Zealand baritone Phillip Rhodes relaxes into the title role immediately, despite taking it on for the first time. The part could have been made for him. His Figaro retains unclouded optimism in the face of every setback, helped by warm, clear tone and a pair of eyebrows that crinkle with mirth at every excuse.
Opposite him, Fflur Wyn, also new to her role as Susanna, is a calculating creature – the gardener Antonio’s social-climbing niece – rather than a playful minx. Her soprano is light and clean, her diction less so. Nor is clarity Máire Flavin’s strong point as the Countess. Her first aria was too tense to excite sympathy, her second showed what might have been, with fluent control. But she moves beautifully and always has the moral high ground over her wayward husband.
The lower orders are well represented. It comes as no surprise to discover that Heather Lowe, the tousle-haired Cherubino, is a trained dancer. She is exceptionally nimble as well as vocally adept, not least as girl-plays-boy-playing girl.
Jonathan Best makes a diffident old fogey of Bartolo, well partnered by Gaynor Keeble’s earthy Marcellina. Joseph Shovelton is back with his oily Basilio, as is Jeremy Peaker’s rubicund Antonio. Alexandra Oomens is the peppy Barbarina. Even Warren Gillespie’s Curzio makes a mark, here as a censer-swinging priest. Real incense too.
Quirijn de Lang as Count Almaviva and Máire Flavin as Countess Almaviva
Antony Hermus makes his first appearance in the pit since being appointed Principal Guest Conductor. He is a mixed blessing. His rigid, hyperactive baton ensures taut ensemble, but allows his woodwinds little flexibility; the strength of his accents regularly swamps the singers’ words in ensemble. On the other hand, conducting from the harpsichord, his recitatives flow idiomatically.
Leslie Travers’s mobile set shows both the downstairs and the upstairs of this society, the former doubling as the outside of the house for the garden scene. Peeling wallpaper and rickety staircases speak of genteel poverty. Gabrielle Dalton’s socially-layered costumes could be from almost any era.
In the wake of Me Too, we should expect certain aspects of the comedy to be soft-pedalled. But there is plenty of amusement at the expense of the men. And that is as it should be.
“Strong women”: Joanne Theaker, front left, Louise Henry, back left, Sandy Nicholson, Julie-Anne Smith and Kathryn Addison starring in Nik Briggs’s production of Steel Magnolias for York Stage
YORK Stage kick off their 2020 season with Robert Harling’s
comedy-drama Steel Magnolias at Theatre @41 Monkgate, York.
Running in the John Cooper Studio from February 19 to 22, this 1987 American play focuses on the camaraderie of six Southern women who talk, gossip, jest and harangue each other through the best of times and comfort and repair one another through the worst.
“Steel Magnolias is alternately hilarious and touching with
six female characters that are all as delicate as magnolias yet as strong as
steel,” says director Nik Briggs.
Joanne Theaker, Louise Henry, Sandy Nicholson and Julie-Anne Smith in York Stage’s Steel Magnolias
His cast comprises Joanne Theaker as M’Lynn; Louise Henry as
Shelby; Julie-Anne Smith as Ousier; Sandy Nicholson as Clairee; Kathryn Addision
as Truvy and Carly Morton as Annelle.
Yorkshire actress Joanne Theaker returns to the York Stage
company, having led the cast as Maria in The Sound Of Music at the Grand Opera
House last April.
Previously, Joanne has played Sister Mary Roberts in Sister
Act; Diva in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – The Musical; Judy in Dolly
Parton’s 9 To 5 The Musical and Paulette in Legally Blonde. Elsewhere, she has
performed at Hull Truck Theatre in the original casts of John Godber’s Thick As
a Brick and Big Trouble In The Little Bedroom and at the Stephen Joseph
Theatre, Scarborough, in Neil Simon’s They’re Playing Our Song.
Julie-Anne Smith and Sandy Nicholson have a laugh in the photo-shoot for Steel Magnolias
Louise Henry joins rehearsals after making her professional debut
as Snow White in this winter’s Grand Opera House pantomime, Snow White And The
Seven Dwarfs. Previously, for York Stage Musicals, she had performed in The Sound
Of Music as Liesl last April and Twilight Robbery as Jayne in May. West End
actress Julie-Anne Smith last appeared for York Stage Musicals as Violet in 9 To
5 in 2017.
Briggs says: “Bringing Steel Magnolias to the stage, and
working with these six women especially, has been a joy. It’s no secret that I
love working with strong women, especially in the rehearsal room and you don’t
get much stronger than these six.
”Having previously directed many female-led shows – Sister Act,
Legally Blonde, 9 To 5, The Sound Of Music, Be My Baby and Little Voice – Steel
Magnolias has been on my ‘To Do’ list for a long time.”
Hair-larious: Louise Henry and Joanne Theaker
The women’s closeness drew Briggs to Harling’s piece. “It’s
relatable, the salon is a world in itself and the six characters are an adopted
family,” he says. “They laugh, cry, argue, support and challenge each other
within this world and it really allows for the drama and comedy to flourish and
soar.
“We’ve had tears of laughter and tears of sadness over the rehearsal period. This really is a show to see with your closest girl friends and family. Come, laugh and cry together, and if you want to wear pyjamas and bring a large carton of ice cream with you for the ultimate girly ‘night in-out’, we won’t judge!”
Harling was inspired to write Steel Magnolias, his first
play, after his sister Susan died of complications from diabetes. Premiered off-Broadway
at the WPA Theater in 1987, it quickly transferred to Broadway, where it became
an instant sensation, running for three years and spawning the hit movie
starring Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Daryl Hannah, Olympia
Dukakis and Shirley MacLaine.
Hair piece: York Stage’s poster image for Steel Magnolias
York Stage in Steel Magnolias, John Cooper Studio,
Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, February 19 to 22, 7:30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday
matinee. Tickets: £15, concessions £13, at yorkstagemusicals.com, on 01904 623568
or in person from the York Theatre Royal box office. “We shall be supporting
York and District Diabetes UK Group throughout the run,” says director Nik
Briggs.
Look at the pub name! Where else could The Last Quiz Night On Earth be held? Well, Pocklington Arts Centre, actually
QUICK question. Did you see Chip Shop
Chips, Box Of Tricks Theatre Company’s show at Pocklington Arts Centre last
year?
Yes? So, presumably you will want know
when they will be returning to Pock and what in?
The answers are Friday, March 20 in The Last Quiz Night On Earth, an immersive, innovative new play by Alison Carr for theatre devotees and pub quiz enthusiasts alike, who are promised “a very different experience of live performance”.
PAC director Janet Farmer says: “The last time Box Of Tricks visited here, they wowed and wholly entertained us with Chip Shop Chips, an immersive theatre experience that our audiences still talk about.
“So, we can’t wait to welcome them back to the venue with their brand new show. It looks set to be an absolute blast!”
In the Box Of Tricks locker already are the award-winning Manchester company’s shows SparkPlug, Narvik and Under Three Moons. Now they follow two sold-out tours of Chip Shop Chips with Carr’s pre-apocalyptic comedy, The Last Quiz Night On Earth.
Next
question. What happens? “It’s the
final countdown. Landlady Kathy invites audiences to the last quiz night on
earth with Quizmaster Rav. He is the host with the most,” say Box Of Tricks.
“But with time ticking, some unexpected guests turn up out of the blue. Bobby wants to settle old scores and Fran wants one last shot at love. Expect the unexpected to the bitter end and plenty of drama as the show gets quizzical.”
Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the play, with design by Katie Scott. Pub landlady Kathy will be played by Meriel Scholfield, who has appeared in Coronation Street, Last Tango In Halifax, Holby City and Doctors, while Shaban Dar will take the role of pre-apocalyptic Quizmaster Rav.
Playwright Alison Carr’s past works
include Caterpillar and Iris; her latest play, Tuesday, has been commissioned
for the National Theatre’s 2020 Connections programme.
Next question.
Why did she write The Last
Quiz Night On Earth? “I wanted to combine the known and the unknown, the safe
and the downright terrifying,” she answers.
“My vision was to create something that
audiences don’t just sit and watch but are part of – but not in a scary
way.
“Personally, the thought of audience
participation makes me feel sick, but a quiz is something we can all do, whether
we’re a general knowledge expert or the neatest so we can do the writing.”
The play
was “so much
fun to research and write,” she says. “I have to admit, I know a lot about
asteroids now, and the answers to a fair amount of quiz questions. I’m so
excited to have Box Of Tricks bring it to life and to share it with audiences.”
Director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder adds:
“I’m really excited to be working with Alison Carr on her first play for Box Of
Tricks.
“Alison is a writer of real talent,
crafting plays of depth, wit and real emotional warmth. The Last Quiz Night On
Earth is a unique piece: a pre-apocalyptic comedy bringing people together
through the power of trivia for a great night out.
“Following our success touring Chip
Shop Chips to the heart of communities, I’m really looking forward to
revisiting some wonderful places and spaces as well as discovering new
locations with this play.”
Last questions. Pocklington show time? 7.30pm. Ticket price? £12.50, under 21s, £10, and Friends Rates. Box office number? 01759 301547. Online? pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
THE Guardian’s fourth best comedy show of 2019, Max & Ivan’s
Commitment, will play Selby Town Hall on February 7.
“I’m delighted that Selby is the only Yorkshire date on their UK tour
and am genuinely very excited to see the show in our little venue,” says Chris
Jones, Selby Town Council’s arts officer.
“It’s one of the most talked-about comedy shows of last year, receiving a
slew of four and five-star reviews for its Edinburgh Fringe debut, and an agent
for an entirely different comedian told me last week that it was one of the
best things she’d seen…and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Performed by comedy duo Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez, Commitment is the
true story of how Max, as Ivan’s Best Man, attempted to reunite Ivan’s teenage
band – Voodoo 7:2, the premier “art rock post-punk funk” group in mid-Noughties
Liverpool – for one final gig.
“It’s a show about dreaming big, growing up, and trying – but ultimately
very much failing – to make it in the band,” says Chris.
“Directed by multiple Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Kieran Hodgson, it melds
fast-paced visuals – including a wealth of embarrassing adolescent photos – with
razor-sharp gag writing, classic double-act dynamics and a smattering of
virtuoso multi-character performances.
“At its heart, the show is a storytelling hour about Max & Ivan’s
real-life friendship and the lengths Max will go to in order to pull off the
best night of Ivan’s life.”
Olesker and Gonzalez have performed at the Melbourne International
Comedy Festival; the SXSW (South By Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas; UCB
Sunset in Los Angeles and Brooklyn’s Union Hall in New York, as well as touring
throughout Britain.
Among their past work is the super-show The Wrestling, where the world’s
best comedians step into the ring and wrestle alongside enormous professional
wrestlers in Edinburgh and Melbourne.
At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, they debuted Max & Ivan’s Prom
Night, an anarchic, interactive, 1950s’ high-school prom show-cum-party, to a
sell-out, thousand-strong crowd in Assembly High, a purpose-designed location.
Max & Ivan created, wrote and starred in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom The
Casebook Of Max & Ivan, attracting such guest stars as Matt Lucas, June
Whitfield, Reece Shearsmith and Jessica Hynes, as well as appearing in BBC Two comedy
W1A as Ben and Jerry.
“Max & Ivan’s Commitment tour is one of The Times’s picks of 2020,”
says Chris. “I’m aware that Max & Ivan are not yet household names, but I would
love as many people as possible to catch this 8pm show.”
Tickets cost £14 on 01757 708449 or at selbytownhall.co.uk or £16 on the door from 7.30pm.
