Customer experience manager Lauren Atkins, left, deputy customer experience manager Laura Castle, ticketing and sales manager Beth Scott and York Teaching Hospital Charity community fundraiser Joe Fenton with the Grand Opera House bucket collection cheque in the York theatre’s auditorium. Picture: David Harrison
THE Grand Opera House, York, is to donate £8,765 to the York Teaching Hospital Charity from bucket collections held at performances in 2019.
The donation will go towards “helping to fund the extras to improve
healthcare facilities above and beyond the NHS making patients feel better”.
Joe Fenton, the hospital charity’s community fundraiser, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank-you to the Grand Opera House and to everyone who generously donated at the bucket collections held across 2019.
“The incredible amount that has been raised is truly inspiring and will
go a long way in improving the staff and patient experience across our
hospitals.
“The money will be used benefit a number of wards, including the Children’s
Ward, Dementia, the Renal Unit and our Maternity Bereavement Suite, so thank
you for your fantastic support.”
Clare O’Connor, theatre manager at the Cumberland Street theatre, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have contributed nearly £9,000 (£8765.17) to numerous departments – Renal Unit, Children’s Ward, Dementia Appeal and Butterfly Appeal – in the hospital over the past 12 months, in conjunction with the wonderful York Teaching Hospital Charity.
“Without the very generous donations of our audience members, and the time kindly given by volunteers for collections, we wouldn’t have achieved so great a figure, which means so much to all the staff at the Grand Opera House.”
Clare continued: “The patients and relatives who use these departments
at York Hospital will benefit greatly from these funds, which will improve
their experience during a difficult time, and we look forward to more
successful fundraising over the next 12 months. Thank you.”
York contemporary classical composer Joe Alexander Shepherd
YORK pianist Joe Alexander Shepherd will play in aid of the Charlie Gard
Foundation at the National Centre for Early Music, York, on March 7.
Joe studied at Bootham School, where he learnt to play the piano from a young age, before
moving on to Paul McCartney’s Academy of Music in Liverpool as a teenager.
He composes and performs intricate,
minimalist contemporary classical music with subtle touches of atmospheric
melancholy, in the vein of Ludovico Einaudi, Michael Nyman, Dustin O’Halloron
and beyond.
The poster for Joe Alexander Shepherd’s March 7 concert
Writing since the age
of 15, piano has always been in the heart of Joe’s songs, adding his own twist
with textural synths to bring the simplistic melodies to life.
After signing a worldwide
record deal with the Vancouver label Nettwerk, he launched his five-track debut
EP, Time, in an intimate concert at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York,
in September 2018.
Recorded at his York
home over a two-year period, it compromised the title track, One Day, Opus 266,
Amore and Love Me Like You Did Before. “I’m now working towards my second EP and there’ll be an
album to follow in the near future, released through Nettwerk, whose roster
includes the likes of Passenger, Fun, Stereophonics, to name a few,” he
said at the time.
The artwork for Joe Alexander Shepherd’s debut EP, Time, in 2018
Joe will showcase new material alongside
special guest cellist Isaac Collier at his March 7 concert. Maybe an indication
that recordings could be on their way?
Reflecting on his career so far as a
performer and in-demand composer, he says: “I was lucky to compose the
soundtrack for UEFA’s World War One Truce video, starring footballers Wayne
Rooney, Gareth Bale and Sir Bobby Charlton, and I’ve also written pieces for
the Rugby Football Union, BBC One, BBC Two and Land Rover. My dream is to
perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London, playing my own original material to
fans across the globe.”
Support act Rachel Croft. Picture: Jono
Joe’s support act at his 7.30pm charity concert
will be York singer-songwriter Rachel Croft. Tickets cost £15 on 07853 070201
or by email to stephanie@thecharliegardfoundation.org.
The Charlie Gard Foundation charity supports children, adults and their families affected by mitochondrial disease.
York Settlement Community Players director Helen Wilson bonding with Cliff, the seagull from Dotty’s Vintage Tearoom in Staithes, ahead of her production pf The Seagull
CHEKHOV devotee Helen Wilson set herself the challenge of directing the 19th century Russian’s four greatest plays for York Settlement Community Players in ten years.
Next month, the project will be completed with his 1895 tragicomedy The Seagull, his most famous work, as Settlement celebrate their centenary by returning to the York Theatre Royal Studio.
First, however, Helen will give a library talk tomorrow (January 29) from 6pm to 8pm at York Explore to mark Anton Chekhov’s 160th birthday, under the title of Adventures In The Cherry Orchard: Chekhov And Me.
“Why is Anton Chekhov so beloved and called ‘the father of the modern theatre’,” Helen will ask herself. “I’ll seek to explain why through anecdotes and a little biography; casting a light on why he called his plays ‘comedies’.
“So, come and toast Chekhov’s 160th birthday with a glass of vodka or wine and be entertained by extracts of his work from The Seagull cast. As I direct the fourth of his major plays, I’ll share my enthusiasm for a great Russian dramatist.”
Chekhov And Me: Helen Wilson’s talk at York Explore
This will be York tutor, theatre director and actor Helen’s final Chekhov production as Settlement tackle the late 19th century work that heralded the birth of modern theatre with its story of unrequited love, the generation gap and how life can turn on a kopek: a raw tragicomedy of poignancy yet sometimes absurd playfulness.
She had not envisaged doing all the Chekhov quartet when she set out in March 2010. “I did Three Sisters in the Theatre Royal Studio, and I thought that would be that, as it was my ambition to do that play,” recalls Helen.
“But then I did The Cherry Orchard at Riding Lights’ Friargate Theatre in September 2015, and I was on a roll, so we did Uncle Vanya in the Theatre Royal Studio in March 2018 and now The Seagull in the Studio again. Two actors have been in all of them: Maurice Crichton and Ben Sawyer. They just keep auditioning!”
Helen can see patterns in Chekhov’s work when putting the four side by side. “Chekhov has both ensemble text and ‘duo-logue’, where there’s so much going on and so much subtext too,” she says.
“So for The Seagull, I’m having to hold both ensemble rehearsals and separate rehearsals for the main characters.
Helen Wilson and seagull Cliff in Staithes
“And having done the three other plays, I can point to the pattern where Act One is always a souffle, with plenty of laughing at these slightly inept characters thinking they are something they’re not, and the audience having that delicious moment of thinking, ‘well, actually that’s not going to happen’. Then Chekhov likes to lob a bomb into the room in Act Three.”
Helen has “always felt that The Seagull has never fully made sense on stage” when she has seen past productions. “Like Irina Arkadina has always been seen as a monster, when she’s not,” she says.
“It’s important to show what’s beneath that, and Chekhov always gives you the opportunity to see the other side of the character. That’s what I want to explore and exploit.
“They’re all vulnerable, every one of them…but when I went to see Vanessa Redgrave in the play when I was nine, I wasn’t very impressed! Her speech at the end wasn’t very good!
“In this production, I want there to be vulnerability, but also warmth, in every character, for the audience to be able to laugh and cry with them.”
Settlement regular Maurice Crichton (Vanya) and Amanda Dales (Yelena) in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ Uncle Vanya in 2018
Helen sees a difference between The Seagull and the other three plays. “It isn’t like the others in that the ending is very abrupt,” she says. “Chekhov was very influenced by Ibsen, and this is more of an Ibsen ending than elegiac, but the play is also a great deal funnier than people realise, especially in Act One.
“As with Ibsen and Shakespeare, you can be too reverent in how you present it, but I want people to find the characters recognisable types that they know.
“All life is there; you don’t have to hit people over the head with it. All the resonance is there. It’s all going at someone’s home and that’s how it should feel.”
What has Helen learned from her earlier productions? “Not to have so much on stage, like having a chaise longue previously! The costumes will be period, there’ll be a soundscape and lighting, but what matters is to make it absorbing to watch, so it’s going to be very intimate.”
Settlement’s production, by the way, will be carrying the best wishes of writer/translator Michael Frayn, who has sent the York company a message of gratitude. “It’s a wonderful achievement for YSCP to have performed all of Chekhov’s four last great plays – and I can’t help being pleased, of course, that they have chosen to use my translations,” he wrote.
Helen Wilson standing by cherry blossom when directing The Cherry Orchard in 2015
“Most productions of the plays these days seem to be ‘versions,’ with
the period, location, genders, and politics changed to make them more relevant
to audiences who might otherwise not be up to understanding them.
“People in York, though, are evidently made of tougher stuff, because the simple intention of my translations is to get as close to the original Russian as I can. Just occasionally, perhaps, it’s worth trying to catch the sense and feel of what Chekhov actually intended. So, thank you, YSCP!”
Helen has stated this will be her last Chekhov, but out of the blue she
says: “Having done the other three, in some ways I’d like to do Three Sisters again.
Having learned things since I did it, I’d do it differently but more or less
with the same cast.
“You get into a rhythm of what these plays are like, and they still move
me every time. It’s like a labour of love doing them.
“But when I finish this one, I’d love to do an Arthur Miller one next.
The thing about Chekhov and Miller is that they’re universal. You don’t have to
modernise them for resonance. They will always resonate in their own period.”
A word in your shell like by the sea at Staithes: Cliff and The Seagull director Helen Wilson
York Settlement Community Players in Chekhov’s The Seagull, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 26 to March 7, 7.45pm plus 2pm matinee on February 29; no Sunday or Monday performances. Box office: 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Tickets for Helen Wilson’s Chekhov talk at 6pm tomorrow (January 29) at York Explore, Library Square, Museum Street, York, cost £5 at yorkexplore.org.
Quick question:
What’s the story behind seagull Cliff, Helen?
“He’s called Cliff and he lives in the window of the much frequented Dotty’s Vintage Tearoom in Staithes, collecting coins for the RNLI. He was allowed to commune with me for an hour or two and seemed to enjoy it!”
Rory Mulvihill, donning beard, wig and iconic green coat, to play Fagin for a second time. Pictures: Anthony Robling
YORK Light Opera Company mark
60 consecutive years of performing at York Theatre Royal by presenting Lionel
Bart’s Oliver!, 60 years after the musical’s West End debut.
Running from February 12 to 22 in a revival directed by Martyn Knight, with musical direction by John Atkin, the show is based on Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist and revels in such songs as Food, Glorious Food, Oom-Pah-Pah, Consider Yourself and You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two.
Leading the cast of 40 will be Rory
Mulvihill, a veteran of the York theatre scene, who will be playing Fagin after
a career with York Light that does not quite stretch back 60 years but does run
to 35. “I started in 1985 with the summer show Songs From The Shows, which was
a cabaret-style show, where I remember I was part of Three Wheels On My Wagon
as a cowboy,” he says.
Reflecting on his subsequent myriad York Light roles, he says: “I’ve enjoyed all of them, but the one I’m most proud of is Barnum. It was a tremendous show. Every member of the cast had to learn a circus skill and perform it to full houses. I spent four months going to a circus school three days a week learning how to tight rope walk.”
Rory Mulvihill in the rehearsal room for York Light Opera Company’s production of Oliver!
Rory is playing Fagin for the
second time, so he is well qualified to analyse the musical’s portrait of the
trickster who runs a den of nimble young thieves in Victorian London’s murky
underworld.
“The character is written very
differently in the musical from the novel, in a way that makes you feel for
him. You know fundamentally he’s a bad person but there’s always something that
redeems him,” he says.
“If I had to describe him in
three words, I remember there was an advert for creme cakes about 40 years ago
and the slogan was ‘naughty but nice’, so I’m going to go with that one.
“I don’t do anything specific to get into character. Someone once
said their character builds as they dress up as them and that certainly applies
to Fagin as I’ll be having a beard, wig and the iconic long green coat. It
certainly helps wearing the costumes to get into character.”
Rory Mulvihille’s Fagin with his two Artful Dodgers, Jack Hambleton and Sam Piercy
Picking out the differences between the first and second times he has portrayed Fagin, Rory says: “The children involved give Oliver! its dynamic. It’s a different set of kids and crew of course.
“We only have one set of kids this time instead of two. Having done it once, I’m not starting again, I’m building on what I’ve done before. Hopefully I’ll not stumble over the lines and give a better performance.”
A key part of his role is leading the young cast around him. “Whenever you work with kids, it’s difficult to begin with because they’re scoping you out to see what they can/can’t get away with, but once you get over that, it’s a joy.
Jonny Holbek as Bill Sikes with Roy as Bullseye in York Light Opera Company’s Oliver!
“They’re now quite relaxed in the company of the adult cast and I’m getting to know them – maybe a bit too cheeky at times. Theatre is the best gift you can give a kid to carry through their life.”
That sentiment takes him back to
Leeds-born Rory’s first steps in theatre. “Funnily enough Oliver! was the very
first show I was ever in. I played the Artful Dodger in a school production at
St Michael’s in Leeds in 1968. It was just by accident really. I was just asked
to do the part by the director. That was my introduction to theatre and I’ve
been doing it ever since. Now I’ve come full circle with Oliver!”
Rory, who has lived in York since
the mid-1980s, worked as a lawyer for more than 30 years, at Spencer Ewin
Mulvihill and latterly Richardson Mulvihill in Harrogate, before retraining as
a teacher of English as a Foreign Language, but he has always found time for a
parallel stage career.
In doing so, he has been not only a leading man in multiple musicals but also has played both Jesus and Satan in the York Mystery Plays; York lawyer and railway protagonist George Leeman in In Fog And Falling Snow at the National Railway Museum, and lately Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army and the outrageous Captain Terri Dennis in Peter Nichols’s Privates On Parade for Pick Me Up Theatre.
Rory Mulvihill, centre, as the flamboyant Captain Terri Dennis in Privates On Parade
Last summer, he set up a new York
company, Stephenson & Leema Productions, with fellow actor and tutor Ian
Giles, making their June debut with Harold Pinter’s ticklishly difficult 1975 play
No Man’s Land.
Now his focus is on Oliver!, performing alongside Alex Edmondson and Matthew Warry as Oliver; Jack Hambleton and Sam Piercy as the Artful Dodger; Emma-Louise Dickinson as Nancy and Jonny Holbeck as the villainous Bill Sikes.
Rory looks forward particularly to singing the climactic Reviewing The Situation. “It’s a tour de force,” he reasons. “You can’t really go wrong with it. It’s a fantastically written song with a beautiful tune, comedy and pathos.
“Please sir, I want some more…and more”: Matthew Warry and Alex Edmondson, sharing the role of Oliver in York Light Opera Company’s Oliver!
“Lionel Bart clearly thought ‘I’m
just going to take the audience’s emotions and put them through the ringer’.
So, at the end, they don’t know whether to laugh or cry. A wonderful piece of
work.”
As the first night looms on the horizon, will Rory experience first-night nerves, even after all these years? “For me, rehearsals can be more worrisome than being on stage,” he says.
“Performing in front of your peers, certainly for the first time, can be very nerve racking, and it’s getting over that that prepares you for being on stage. By the time you get on stage, you have butterflies of course, but you know you can do it.”
York Light Opera Company present Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, York Theatre Royal, February 12 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinee on both Saturdays. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
DEER Shed Festival’s second wave of acts for July 24 to 26 at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk, is confirmed today.
Ghostpoet, Cate Le Bon, Tim Burgess and Warmduscher are among more
than 30 new additions, complementing a bill that already features Stereolab and
Baxter Dury among its headliners.
Two-time Mercury nominee Ghostpoet will join headliners Stereolab
on the Friday Main Stage line-up, while Welsh avant-pop singer-songwriter Cate
Le Bon will play before Deer Shed’s yet-to-be-revealed Saturday night Main
Stage headliner.
Tim Burgess,
frontman of Madchester icons The Charlatans, will headline In The Dock, Deer
Shed’s second of four live music stages, on the Friday, followed by The
Twilight Sad and Kate Tempest on the Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Boy Azooga, Dream Wife and Jesca Hoop are all artists familiar with performing at Baldersby Park, 100 acres of North Yorkshire parkland, woodland, lakes and rivers that Deer Shed calls home. Boy Azooga will be on the Main Stage on the Sunday, Dream Wife have been elevated to In The Dock headliners on the Friday and Jesca Hoop will join Roddy Woomble as a Lodge stage headliner on the Saturday.
Warmduscher will
play at Deer Shed on the Saturday, bringing their industrial post-punk sounds
to the Main Stage after Tainted Lunch
was named among BBC 6 Music’s 2019 Albums of the Year.
As is Deer Shed tradition, Yorkshire and North East acts will be well represented: step forward Hull punks LIFE; Leeds indie bands Marsicans and Ruthie; Sheffield nerd disco trio International Teachers Of Pop; North York Moors alt rock band Avalanche Party; Leeds folk singers Serious Sam Barrett and Gary Stewart and north easterners Mt. Misery, Tom Joshua and Beccy Owen.
A wealth of folk-influenced artists have been added too, among them Erland Cooper, Admiral Fallow; I See Rivers; Kitt Philipa; Rachael Dadd; Eve Owen; Irish Mythen; Conchúr White and The Magpies.
The
alternative rock contingent is bolstered by the additions of hotly tipped bands
W.H. Lung, Do Nothing, Egyptian Blue, Kate Davis and Friedberg.
Irish folk
duo Morrissey & Marshall will present their Dublin Calling radio show live
from Balderbsy Park, featuring live performances by Steo Wall, Brigid Mae Power
and Padraig Jack.
Harrogate
Big Beat producer Rory Hoy and Newcastle producer Meg Ward will be Deer Shed’s
first DJs, spinning tunes back to back at the Friday late-night silent disco,
while Happy Mondays’ Bez will take to the decks and dancefloor for Sunday’s
closing party.
The festival
team still has a handful of high-profile names left to reveal, but cards will
be kept close to the chest for the time being.
Festival
director Oliver Jones says: “There has yet to be a year at Deer Shed where we
haven’t significantly expanded the music offering. The day may eventually come
where we decide we have enough amazing bands, but that year certainly isn’t
2020.
“Ghostpoet, Cate Le Bon, Tim Burgess and Warmduscher, joining headliners Stereolab and Baxter Dury, plus a mass of artists ready to break the big time in 2020, are all ensuring the music line-up is once again brimming with world-class talent, and we still have an ace up our sleeve for the Saturday headline slot.”
The second tier of tickets for Deer Shed’s 11th summer festival are expected to sell out at midnight on Friday, January 31. Tier 3 tickets will be available from Saturday at an increase of £10 per adult ticket. For tickets and more information, go to deershedfestival.com.
Full list of artists confirmed for Deer Shed Festival 11(additions
in bold):
Stereolab (headline); Baxter Dury (headline); Ghostpoet,
Cate Le Bon; Kate Tempest (Telling Poems); Tim Burgess; The Twilight Sad; Sinkane; Warmduscher; Boy
Azooga; Dream Wife; Roddy Woomble; Jesca
Hoop; Snapped Ankles; Melt
Yourself Down; Liz Lawrence; LIFE; Marsicans; Erland
Cooper; Dry Cleaning.
Admiral Fallow; W.H. Lung;
Ren Harvieu; International
Teachers of Pop; Avalanche Party; I See Rivers; Kitt
Philippa; Rachael Dadd; Native Harrow; Kate
Davis; Big Joanie; Do Nothing; Egyptian Blue; Rina
Mushonga; Friedberg;
Heidi Talbot & Boo Hewerdine; Ruthie; Serious
Sam Barrett; Eve Owen.
Irish Mythen; Tom Joshua; Brigid Mae Power; Conchúr
White; Gary Stewart; Beccy Owen; Mt.
Misery; Morrissey & Marshall present Dublin Calling; Steo
Wall; The Magpies; Padraig Jack; Bez
(DJ); Rory Hoy (DJ); Meg Ward (DJ).
Viking reproduction gold rings at the Jorvik Viking Festival
HORDES of Norse academics will descend on York during the 36th Jorvik Viking Festival, armed with fresh news of the Viking world.
During the
February 15 to 23 festival run, lectures and talks will explore the concept of
a single common European-wide market enjoyed by the Vikings, the remarkable
voyage of replica ship The Viking and the latest discoveries at Trondheim.
The programme
of talks has been compiled by Dr Chris Tuckley, head of interpretation for York
Archaeological Trust. “Jorvik Viking Festival is attended by Norse
enthusiasts from around the world, from children getting their first taste of
Viking culture, to academics who have devoted their lives to learning more
about our Scandinavian ancestors,” he says.
“So, alongside
the colourful hands-on events and presentations, we always host a series of
talks and lectures that are accessible to a wide range of people, from
enthusiastic amateur historians to leading names in the worlds of archaeology
and research.”
Talks for 2020
include:
Home & Away: Fashion and identity in the Viking Age, presented by Dr
Gareth Williams, of the British Museum, on February 18 at 7pm at the Jorvik
Viking Centre.
This talk will
explore how fashion varied across the Viking world, including how it fused with
other styles as the Vikings explored the globe. Tickets cost £25.
Here come the Vikings
The Helen Thirza Addyman Lecture by Chris McLees, archaeologist and researcher at Trondheim, a 10th century Viking trading settlement, on February 19 at 7pm at Fountains Lecture Theatre, York St John University.
This lecture will present the archaeology of
this important place on the northern periphery of the Viking and medieval
worlds, including the results of excavations at sites associated with the
renowned late-Viking kings Olav Haraldsson (St Olav) and Harald Hardrada. Tickets
are £10 for adults, £8 for concessions.
Looking for Jet in A Dark Place, by Sarah Steele,
consultant geologist for Whitby Museum, who explores the trade in black jet
around the Viking world at the Jorvik Viking Centre on February 20 at 7pm.
The mineral of
jet, which requires extreme global warming to form, was traded as far afield as
Greenland, yet remains notoriously difficult to identify in the archaeological
record. Attendees will learn how modern technology may soon appreciate fully
the scope of Whitby Jet’s trade during
the medieval period. Tickets cost £25.
All of these events
build up to the Richard Hall Symposium, closing the festival on February 23 in
the De Grey Lecture Theatre at York St John University.
The theme of that
day’s talks will be A Single Market for Goods and Services? , Travel and
Trade in the Viking World, with experts including Professor Lesley Abrams, of
Oxford University, Dr Gareth Williams, from the British Museum, Dr Jane Kershaw,
of the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, and Maria Nørgaard, project leader at Vikinger på Rejse, Denmark.
For more details on all the talks and presentations at the 2020 Jorvik Viking Festival, visit jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk.
THE Stranglers, still going strong
after 46 years, have decided their 21 October and November dates will be their final
“extensive full production UK tour”.
“This is the last time we intend to
play together in this way,” they say, after announcing Yorkshire gigs at Sheffield City Hall on October 30 and Leeds O2 Academy on November 12. “While
we may not be checking out completely just yet, this will be the last
opportunity to see us playing together in a comprehensive touring format.”
No more heroes on the road on full UK
tours post 2020, autumn’s shows are a chance to enjoy peaches from a back
catalogue of 24 Top 40 singles and 18 Top 40 albums before they walk on by to
other ways of still gigging.
Responding to “overwhelming demand”
from Stranglers fans, the invitation went out to Ruts DC to be this autumn’s special
guests, so, yes, they will be Staring At The Rude Boys.
Meanwhile, The Stranglers – The Movie,
a crowd-funded documentary that “attempts to cram the band’s complex story, full of wild anecdotes, into one
film”, will be released imminently.
Tour tickets go on sale on Friday at gigsandtour.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Councillor Robert Webb, Kayleigh Oliver (playing Barbara Castle), Rachael Maskell MP, Martyn Hunter (playing Harold Wilson) and Councillor Anna Perrett at Sunday’s rehearsal run of Made In Dagenham
YORK Central MP
Rachael Maskell and West End musical theatre star Scott Garnham, from Malton,
popped along to Sunday’s rehearsal run of Made In Dagenham.
The session was
open to York Residents Festival visitors as the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company
prepared for their fundraising musical production in aid of the Joseph Rowntree
Theatre.
Presented by the
JoRo’s in-house company, Made In Dagenham tells the true story of the beginning
of the equal pay for women movement, focusing on the Ford strike at Dagenham in
the 1960s.
The choice of show
could not be more relevant because the York performances coincide with the 50th
anniversary of the passing of Barbara Castle’s Equal Pay Act of 1970.
The Cortina girls and Buddy Cortina, from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company show, with Malton actor Scott Garnham, from the original West End production. of Made In Dagenham. Left to right: Lucy Plimmer, Jenny Jones, Ben Huntley, Scott Garnham, Karen Brunyee and Ashley Ginter.
The subject of equal pay and discrimination is close to Rachael Maskell’s heart, as the Labour MP spent many years as a union rep campaigning for equal rights. Re-elected at the December 12 General Election, she has been appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights.
Addressing the
company on the Rowntree Theatre stage, Ms Maskell said: “This is an
inspirational story you are telling, and it remains a story of women at work
today. If we don’t speak out, how do we expect things to change?”
She described the women of Dagenham as “sparky women who would not take no for an answer”, and urged the JoRo company to “go out there and keep fighting”.
Scott Garnham, who
has performed many times on the Rowntree Theatre stage, appeared in the original London production of Made in
Dagenham in the role of Buddy Cortina.
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s fabulous machinists of Dagenham meet York Central MP Rachael Maskell and York councillors Robert Webb and Anna Perrett
In York last week for Friday’s tribute show The Best Of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons at the Grand Opera House, on Sunday Scott said: “To come and support this local community theatre is really important to me. I learned a lot of my stagecraft here in this building.
“The venue is a real hub for performers of all ages and backgrounds, and theatre is a very unifying experience. I’m so pleased that the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company have chosen to do this show as their annual fundraiser. It’s the story of a truly inspirational group of women, many of whom I had the great pleasure to meet.”
Despite its gritty
subject matter, Made In Dagenham is described as a heart-warming story, full of
humour, coupled with wonderful music. Although the show is not suitable for
young children, on account of “some very strong language”, the company hopes to
introduce a wide new audience to the sparky women of Dagenham.
Next week’s production runs from February 5 to 8 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are available on 01904 501935, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or in person from the Haxby Road theatre’s box office.
The album artwork for Morrissey’s March 20 album, I Am Not A Dog On A Chain
MORRISSEY will preview his new album, I Am Not A Dog On A
Chain, at Leeds First Direct Arena on March 6.
This will be the northern marrow to his one southern gig,
The SSE Arena, Wembley, London on March 14.
Released on March 20 on BMG, the album will be preceded by
the single Bobby, Don’t You Think They Know?, featuring guest vocals by Seventies’
Motown legend Thelma Houston.
“One of the biggest joys for me
in this business is getting the opportunity to collaborate with other top
artists,” says Thelma, now 73. “I love the challenge to see if what I
do can work with what they’re doing.
“Sometimes it works, and sometimes
it doesn’t. I think the blend of what Morrissey is singing
and what I’m singing really works on ‘Bobby’. And it was a lot of fun
working with Morrissey in the studio too!”
Produced by Joe Chicarelli, whose credits
include Beck, The Strokes and The Killers, I Am Not A Dog On A Chain was
recorded at Studio La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, and
Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California.
“I’ve now produced four studio albums
for Morrissey,” says Chicarelli. “This is his boldest and most adventurous
album yet. He has pushed the boundaries yet again, both musically and
lyrically. And once again proving that as a songwriter and singer, he is in his
own category. In truth, no one can
be Morrissey but… Morrissey.”
IAm Not A Dog On A Chainfollows last May’s California Son, a covers album that featured Ed Droste, of Grizzly Bear, Billie Joe Armstrong, of Green Day, LP (aka Laura Pergolizzi), Broken Social Scene’s Ariel Engle, Petra Haden and Young The Giant’s Sameer Gadhia.
Morrissey’s last album of original
compositions was Low In High School in 2017. The new one has a track listing of
Jim Jim Falls; Love Is On Its Way Out; Bobby, Don’t You Think They Know?; I Am
Not A Dog On A Chain; What Kind Of People Live In These Houses?; Knockabout
World; Darling, I Hug A Pillow; Once I Saw The River Clean; The Truth About
Ruth; The Secret Of Music and My Hurling Days Are Done.
I Am Not A Dog On A Chain arrives
against the backdrop of The Smiths’ former frontman, 60, sparking controversy
with his latter-day political views.
Tickets for his Morrissey Live In Concert 2020 gig in Leeds are on sale at gigsandtours.com, ticketmaster.co.uk and axscom/uk.
Kacy & Clayton: cosmic alt-country on the North York Moors at The Band Room on Friday
KACY
& Clayton are the first act to be confirmed for The Band Room’s 2020
concert programme at Low Mill, Farndale, near Kirkbymoorside, on the North York
Moors.
Promoter Nigel Burnham has announced a 7.30pm shows for Friday,
when the Canadian duo will be supported by Arborist. Given the capacity of only
100, he recommends booking at thebandroom.co.uk/gigs or on 01751 432900.
“I think our gig on January 31 – Brexit night!
– could be the alternative double bill of the year,” says Nigel. “Kacy &
Clayton brought the house down when they played here last March and we’ll be
rolling out the red carpet for their return, this time with a full band line-up.
“Support act Arborist, from Belfast, are
getting fantastic reviews for their debut album, Home Burial, too.”
Kacy & Clayton, from Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, are returning to Low Mill after releasing
their fifth album, Carrying On, last October. “In the band are Kacy Anderson –
alias the missing link between Sandy Denny and Emmylou Harris – and her second
cousin Clayton Linthicum, a multi-talented guitarist who could have played on
The Byrds’ Sweethearts Of The Rodeo album if he’d been around at the time,”
says Nigel.
“Some call them ‘folk
roots’, others ‘psychedelic folk’ or ‘cosmic alt-country’. Honestly! They’re
destined for great things. Their fourth album, 2017’s The Siren’s Song, was
produced by Americana icon Jeff Tweedy; they’ve toured with Wilco and The
Decemberists and been mentioned in the same hallowed breath as Grievous
Angel-era Gram Parsons and country rock pioneers Buffalo Springfield.”
Singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich,outside York MInster. Picture: Esme Mai
The next date in the Band Room diary is York troubadour Benjamin Francis Leftwich on March 6: his first North Yorkshire gig since the very contrasting York Minster nave on March 29 last year.
“We’re delighted that Ben, such a peerless super-cool singer-songwriter, will be making his long-awaited debut here,” says Nigel, who will welcome Wounded Bear as the support act.
Leftwich, who lives in North London these days, released his third album, Gratitude, on March 15 last year with a launch gig that night at an even more intimate solo show, playing to 50 at FortyFive Vinyl Café, in Micklegate, York.
The Band Room will kick
off a new year buoyed by the Lonely Planet travel guide placing the moorland hall
at number seven in its survey of Britain’s Quirkiest Music Venues. To discover
where else made the list, go to lonelyplanet.com/articles/quirkiest-music-venues-uk.
“People travel from
across the world to see gigs in this picture-perfect Yorkshire hut,” writes Lonely
Planet’s Lucy Lovell. “The wood-panelled Band Room was originally built as a
brass band practice room in the 1920s, and aside from new management and a well-curated
line-up of bands, little has changed since then.
“There’s still no bar,
so don’t forget to bring your own drinks, and enjoy chatting with others who
made the journey across the North York Moors.” All very true, except that the pedant
police would point out the Band Room used to house silver band practice sessions,
not brass band ones.
