Olisa Odele: cast as McKay in Pilot Theatre’s Crongton Knights
YORK company Pilot Theatre have assembled
the cast for next year’s world premiere of Crongton Knights.
Adapted for the stage by Emteaz
Hussain from Alex Wheatle’s award-winning novel, Corey Campbell and Esther Richardson’s
co-production will be launched at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from February
8 to 22 before playing York Theatre Royal from February 25 to 29.
In Crongton Knights, life isn’t easy on
the Crongton Estate. McKay and his mates favour keeping their heads down, but
when a friend finds herself in trouble, they set out on a mission that goes
further than any of them imagined.
Katie Donnachie: playing Bushkid in Crongton Knights
Pilot Theatre’s show will take you on a
night of madcap adventure as McKay and his friends, The Magnificent Six, encounter
the dangers and triumphs of a quest gone awry.
The pulse of the city will be alive on
stage, propelled by a soundscape of beatboxing and vocals laid down by the cast
and created by musician Conrad Murray.
Rehearsals will begin in Coventry on January 6 2020. Leading the cast will be Olisa Odele as McKay, having played Ola in Chewing Gum on E4 and PC Merrick in BBC1’s Scarborough, while Kate Donnachie will take the role of Bushkid; Simi Egbejumi-David, Festus; Aimee Powell, Venetia; Khai Shaw, Jonah; Marcel White, Nesta, and Nigar Yeva, Saira.
Khai Shaw: taking the role of Jonah in Crongton Knights
The production team is led by Corey
Campbell, artistic director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company and co-artistic
director of the Belgrade Theatre for 2021, and Esther Richardson, Pilot’s
artistic director. The designer is Simon Kenny; lighting is by Richard G Jones,
who lit The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum, York.
Crongton Knights will be the
second of four co-productions between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre,
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and York Theatre Royal, who last year formed a partnership
to develop theatre for younger audiences in tandem with the Mercury Theatre,
Colchester.
Heather Agyepong as Sephy in Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crosses at York Theatre Royal in April 2019. Picture: Robert Day
From 2019 to 2022, the
consortium will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale touring production
each year. Each show will play in all the consortium venues, as well as touring
nationally.
The consortium’s first
production, Noughts & Crosses, was seen by more than 30,000
people on tour this year, with 40 per cent of the audience being aged under 20.
After the Coventry and York runs, Crongton Knights will be on tour until May 9, with further Yorkshire performances at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, from March 31 to April 4. York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Bah Humbug! Mark Hird as Scrooge in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical. Picture: David Harrison
WHO is your favourite Scrooge? Albert Finney? Tim Curry?
Patrick Stewart? George C Scott? Lionel Barrymore on the radio?
Maybe Michael Caine in The Muppets’ Christmas Carol? Jim Carrey?
Or how about Jim Backus as the voice of Mister Magoo in Mister Magoo’s Christmas
Carol, or even Bill Murray’s Frank Cross in Scrooged?
Mark Hird, who plays Scrooge from tomorrow (November 26) in Pick
Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York, has no
hesitation in picking Alastair Sim from Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 film,
Scrooge.
“I loved his performance! He was unashamedly nasty, but
there was something in his eyes, that glint, that made you think there’s
something going on there,” says Mark, who is leading Robert Readman’s cast,
fresh from directing this autumn’s Pick Me Up musical, Monster Makers,
at 41 Monkgate.
He now adds Charles Dickens’s
Ebenezer Scrooge to a diverse Pick Me Up CV that includes Captain Mainwaring inDad’s Army, Colonel Pickering inMy Fair Lady and Uncle Fester in
The Addams Family, and he is particularly enjoying performing the songs in Leslie
Bricusse’s musical.
“Maybe we need another Dickens for this age,,” says Mark Hird, who sees the abiding resonance in A Christmas Carol
“The songs really help
in bringing out Scrooge’s thoughts, whether in the 1970 film musical with
Albert Finney or the stage version with six extra songs. You discover new
things every time you do it.” says Mark.
“I’ve had the chance
to play some really cold, nasty characters: there’s nothing redeemable about Inspector
Wormold in Betty Blue Eyes or The Beadle in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of
Fleet Street, but, on the other side, I also get to play all the ridiculously
loveable characters, like Captain Mainwaring, Uncle Fester and Colonel
Pickering.
“So, in many ways,
Scrooge is more interesting because he goes on a journey from one to the other,
and it’s really fun as an actor to make that transition, but also not to make
him black and white. There are reasons in his past for some of the things he’s
doing.”
Time for a quick
refresher course: based on Dickens’s Victorian cautionary tale A Christmas
Carol, Scrooge tells the tale of old miser Ebenezer Scrooge on the night he is
visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come. Here that tale
is told in an “all-singing, all-dancing, all-flying” show.
“I haven’t flown on stage before, but I’m not scared of heights,” says Mark Hird
All-flying, Mark? “Yes, we have some flying in this show.
Scrooge has to fly with Rory Mulvihill’s Ghost of Christmas Present, and Tony
Froud’s Jacob Marley will float above the stage to sing his big number,” says
the Scotsman.
“I haven’t flown on
stage before, but I’m not scared of heights. I love walking the hills in Scotland.”
Joining Mark in the
company will be Alan Park’s Bob Cratchit. “The advantage we have doing the show
at the Grand Opera House, rather than our other home at 41 Micklegate, is that you
can put on a big spectacle, but you can also have intimate scenes too, such as Cratchit
and Tiny Tim’s scenes,” says Alan.
“But the experience
of performing at 41 Micklegate develops that intimate form of acting, which you
can then take into the bigger theatre,” says Mark.
He and Park see the contemporary resonance in Dickens’s story. “It’s amazing to look back at the impact Dickens’s book had on politicians, as well as general readers, concerning the inequality of working conditions for the working classes, and the cruelty Cratchit faces. That strikes a chord today,” says Mark.
” it’s really fun as an actor to make Scrooge’s transition, but also not to make him black and white,” says Mark Hird
“Cratchit thinks ‘this
is my lot; I will make the most of what I have’, and he sees Scrooge as alien
to his world, because that’s how society is,” says Alan.
“No politician will
change Scrooge, but the three Ghosts do have an impact, which makes him change
himself.
“But what’s more
depressing is that if A Christmas Carol were to be played out in modern times,
I’m not sure there would be sympathy for the Bob Cratchits of this world.”
“Maybe we need
another Dickens for this age,” says Mark. “If the Ghost of Christmas Yet To
Come brought Dickens to 2019, I think he would be horrified.”
“You could argue that
we need the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come to visit some of our politicians
right now,” says Alan, as the winter-of-discontent General Election fast approaches.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical runs from Tuesday, November 26 to Sunday, December 1 at Grand Opera House, York. Performances: 7.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday; 2.30pm, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Milton on a mission elsewhere: Jones adds loads more gigs for next autumn, but not here in Yorkshire. Picture: Aemen Sukkar
MILTON Jones is adding a heap of extra dates next autumn for
his 2020 tour show, Milton: Impossible, but not one of the 34 additions is in
Yorkshire.
Panic not, the shock-haired matador of the piercing one-liner
is booked in already for York Barbican on February 22, Victoria Theatre,
Halifax, February 23, Hull City Hall, March 18 and Leeds Town Hall, March 19,
on his initial January to April travels.
One man. One Mission. Is it possible? “No, not really,” says the Kew comedian, who will be performing 100 shows in total as he reveals the truth behind having once been an international spy, but then being given a somewhat disappointing new identity that forced him to appear on Mock The Week, Live At The Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy and Dave’s One Night Stand.
“This is a love
story with a twist, or at least a really bad sprain,” says Jones. “Is it all
just gloriously daft nonsense, or is there a deeper meaning? Every man has his
price. Sainsbury’s, where good food costs less.”
This adds to an earlier statement by the devotee of particularly bold
Hawaiian shirt designs when he first announced his 2020 mission. “My latest show is called Milton: Impossible and is loosely based on a
Tom Cruise film I saw once called something like Undo-able Task,” he said.
” This is a love story with a twist, or at least a really bad sprain,,” says comedian Milton Jones of his 2020 show, Milton: Impossible
“In it, I
play a Milton who appears to just have a job in Asda, but at night he’s also an
international spy involved in secret things and quite bad situations. But if
daft jokes give you an allergic reaction and send you into a coma, then don’t
come running to me.
“Also, at a
difficult time for our country, I believe there’s a chance this show could
unite the nation. Admittedly quite a small chance.”
Tickets for
York Barbican are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and on 0203 356 5441; Halifax,
victoriatheatre.co.uk; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, leedstownhall.co.uk.
Those wishing
to travel farther afield on their Milton mission next autumn can find out more
at miltonjones.com, with tickets going on sale from Thursday, November 28.
Jones, 55, has played York many times, both at the Grand Opera House and latterly at the Barbican, where he presented his Milton Jones Is Out There show on September 30 2017.
Snow Patrol: sunshine awaits in Scarborough next summer
SNOW Patrol and Little Mix are the new additions to Scarborough Open Air
Theatre’s ever-expanding summer season for 2020.
Gary Lightbody’s Northern Irish indie rock band will play on July 4;
“the world’s biggest girl band” are booked in for July 21, boosting a line-up
already featuring Mixtape (Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and Living In A Box) on July
10 and McFly on August 14.
Tickets will go on sale for Snow Patrol on Friday (November 29) at 9am,
preceded by Little Mix on Thursday at 9am, at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
This month, Snow Patrol have marked their 25th anniversary by
releasing Reworked, 13 reimagined versions of their back-catalogue peaks,
complemented by three new recordings, Time Won’t Go Slowly, Think Of Home and Made Of Something Different Now.
Next summer’s show is sure to feature the likes
of Run, You’re All I Have, Signal Fire, Called Out In The
Dark and Take Back the City and Chasing Cars, officially British
radio’s most played song of the 21st century. Expect to hear songs too from
2018’s Wildness, their first studio album after a seven-year hiatus.
Peter Taylor, director of Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert promoters
Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Snow Patrol are not only one of the biggest-selling UK
bands of the last 20 years, but they are also one of the most critically
acclaimed live acts. We are delighted to be bringing them to Scarborough for
summer 2020.
“They are behind some of the best-loved indie rock anthems and these
special songs are going to sound amazing at this unique venue. I have
absolutely no doubts this is going to be an incredible night.”
In the Mix: Little Mix confirmed for Scarborough Open Air Theatre return
Little Mix will head to Scarborough on July 21 as part of a 21-date Summer
2020 tour that will take in Hull College Craven Park Stadium, Hull, on July 12.
They played
Scarborough OAT previously in July 2017 and this time will perform such hits as
Woman Like
Me, Touch, Shout Out To My Ex, Black Magic and Wings.
“Performing live is our favourite thing
to do as a band, we love it,” say The X Factor alumni Jade Thirlwall, Perrie
Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson. “Our last summer tour was one of
our favourites ever, so we can’t wait for some more brilliant outdoor shows
next year. We want everyone to come party with us in the sunshine.”
Record sales of 50
million have seen Little Mix notch up four number one singles, four
platinum-selling albums and nine platinum-selling singles in Britain,
surpassing a record previously held by the Spice Girls.
Their 2016 album Glory
Days was the biggest seller by a female group this century in the UK,
alongside being named the longest-reigning Top 40 album for a girl group
ever.
This year, Little Mix have toured
Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States and taken their LM5 Arena Tour
to Britain, Ireland and Europe.
Tickets for both Snow Patrol and Little Mix also will be on sale in person from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre, in Burniston Road, and the Discover Yorkshire Coast Tourism Bureau, Scarborough Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, and on 01723 818111 and 01723 383636. For Little Mix at Scarborough and Hull, visit livenation.co.uk.
Dame Judi Dench in Branagh Theatre’s A Winter’s Tale: part of the Christmas season at City Screen, York, showing on December 4 at 7.30pm
CHRISTMAS comes early to City Screen, York, with The CBeebies ChristmasShow on November 30 and December 1, straight from the theatre stage for a family-friendly feast of fun.
This year’s pantomime is the CBeebies adaptation of the Hansel And Gretel fairytale, screened at 11am on both days.
Dave Taylor, City Screen’s marketing manager, says: “We’re starting in November, I can sense you thinking, but there are so many Christmas shows to fit in. Something for everyone: the traditional films like Miracle On 34th Street, It’s A Wonderful Life and the German classic The Singing Ringing Tree.
“We even have a sing-along Dementia-Friendly Screening of the musical White Christmas on December 16.
“There are the modern favourites like Die Hard, Elf and a Home Alone double bill and, finally, there are Screen Arts recordings of Branagh Theatre: A Winter’s Tale, starring Dame Judi Dench, and Royal Opera House ballets Coppélia and The Nutcracker.”
City Screen’s chef will enter into the Christmas spirit with festive food from the end of November, offering a dozen dishes, some traditional, some vegetarian, one vegan, and one meal for which City Screen will donate £1 from every sale to Picturehouse Cinemas’ chosen charity, Refuge.
“This charity supports women and children against domestic violence, which sadly peaks with the stresses at this time of year,” says Taylor.
Tickets are available for all the Christmas shows at the City Screen box office in Coney Street, on 0871 902 5747 or at picturehouses.com/york.Full details of screening dates and times can be found at picturehouses.com/york.
Dave Parkinson’s Sir Lucius O’Trigger gives Paul Toy’s Bob Acres a duelling lesson for Baron Productions’ The Rivals
YORK
company Baron Productions are to stage Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s Georgian
comedy of manners, The Rivals, next month.
Premiered
at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in January 1775, its latest York production
is being directed by Paul Toy, who also will play bombastic
rival suitor Bob Acres in 7.30pm performances at the Quaker Meeting
House, Pickering, on December 7 and St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York,
from December 12 to 14.
Company
founder Daniel Wilmot says: “The story of Captain Jack Absolute’s clandestine
courtship of the cynical, yet romantic, Lydia Languish, under the noses of
their respective guardians, blustering Sir Anthony Absolute and hilarious Mrs
Malaprop, is one that has made me smile from the first time I read it.
Baron Productions’ poster for next month’s production of The Rivals
“Given that
it’s in keeping with our company’s tradition of theatre with a ‘thoroughly
dashing edge’ – period settings, witty dialogue, lush costumes, occasional duelling,
sometimes even in character – it seemed the perfect choice to bring a laugh or
two to the winter months after our darker production of Hamlet this summer.”
Wilmot formed
Baron Productions in 2015 to produce and direct the swashbuckling pirate romp Crossed
Swords, since when they have performed Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray
in 2016, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in 2017 and a Yorkshire tour of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet this year.
“The choice
of The Rivals is a poignant one for me as well,” says Wilmot. “I did the show
back in 2012 as a rehearsed reading at the York Theatre Royal Studio, under the
direction of Edward Pearce, and lovely Ruth Ford was in the cast as well, playing
Mrs Malaprop of course.
Touching moment: Meg Davies as Julia and Daniel Wilmot as Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals
“Neither of them is still with us. I have a lot of happy memories of working with them, so aside from liking the show, I wanted to do a fully-fledged version dedicated to them and their memories.”
Toy’s cast features Steve Mawson as the domineering Sir Anthony Absolute; Margaret Davey as Mrs Malaprop; Daniel Wilmot as Captain Jack Absolute; Raffy Parker as Lydia Languish and Dave Parkinson as the argumentative Irish baronet Sir Lucius O’Trigger.
Fired up: Molly Ridley’s David panics as Paul Toy’s Bob Acres prepares his pistols in The Rivals
Tyler Cooke will play the hapless lovelorn Faulkland; Meg Davies,
his long-suffering partner Julia; Zoe Glossop, pompous butler Fag; Molly Ridley,
Acres’ terrified servant David, and Amy Fincham, conniving housemaid
Lucy.
Toy has
set the piece at the turn of the 19th century. “This allows for lots
of dashing Poldark-esque costumes, the occasional
wig, and a healthy dose of swaggering and swashbuckling,” says Wilmot. “He’s
also promised a little singing as well.”
Tickets cost £10, concessions £8, under 18s £5, at ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions or on the door from 7pm each night.
Hello…is that York Festival calling? Lionel Richie says yes to playing at York Sports Club
AMERICAN soul icon Lionel Richie, British ska legends Madness and Irish pop stars Westlife will headline the first ever York Festival next year.
Mounted by Cuffe and Taylor, the three-day music festival will be held at York Sports Club, Clifton Park, Shipton Road, from June 19 to 21 2020.
Three-day passes, giving access to every night, are available at £129 from
today at york-festival.com. Tickets for each night go on sale at £39.50 at 9am on
Thursday.
Opening-night headliners Madness, the Camden Town Nutty Boys with a music-hall
wit and ska roots, will be joined by Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds; BBC radio presenter
Craig Charles, for a funk and soul DJ set; Leeds indie rockers Apollo Junction
and rising York act Violet Contours.
Westlife will play York Festival on the Saturday as part of their Stadiums
In The Summer Tour. Billed as “Britain’s top-selling album group of the 21st century”,
they will combine such hits as Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings and You
Raise Me Up with songs from their November 15 album, Spectrum.
Joining Westlife in the June 20 line-up will be All Saints, Sophie Ellis-Bextor,
indie rock band Scouting For Girls and Take That’s Howard Donald for a DJ set.
On the closing night, Lionel Richie, 70, will be the star attraction as the four-time Grammy Award winner performs both solo and Commodores material.
Good sports: Madness sign up to bring the nuttiest sound around to York Festival at York Sports Club
Promoters Cuffe and
Taylor present the Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert programme each summer,
bringing Lionel Richie, Madness and Westlife to the East Coast in past years,
as well as the likes of Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Sir Elton John and Dame Kiri
Te Kanawa.
They also staged Rod
Stewart’s York Racecourse concert on June 1 this summer, drawing 35,000 to a
specially erected amphitheatre in the centre of the Knavesmire course.
Director Peter Taylor
says: “This is the very first York Festival, so we wanted to make this a very
special debut year.
“To have Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness as headliners – alongside many
other brilliant chart-topping artists – is a real coup. We feel this is the
perfect line-up for the first year of what we hope will become a major annual
event in this wonderful and historic city.
“We cannot wait for Friday, June 19 and opening night. This really is
going to be a weekend to remember.”
York Festival will be staged at York Sports Club, the home of York RUFC, York Cricket Club, York Tennis Club and York Squash Club, where The Best Of York Music Festival was held on May 26, The Big Nineties Festival on October 25 and Oktoberfest on October 26.
Nigel Durham, Trustee of York Sports Club and Chairman of York Cricket
Club, said:“We are delighted to be hosting the first York Festival,
a major new event for the city of York.
Full Spectrum: Westlife will perform songs old and new at York Festival next June
“An historic city the size and stature of ours truly deserves a
high-profile music festival like this. And to be attracting such massive stars
as Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness is just brilliant.
“And with the festival being staged in the heart of the city, right here
at York Sports Club, this really will capture the imagination and be a great
thing for the city, residents, local businesses and visitors.”
Cuffe and Taylor are working closely with City of York Council and Make It
York, whose role is to showcase and promote the city around the world.
Championing the inaugural York Festival, Sean Bullick, managing director
of Make It York, says: “York Festival will be a brilliant addition to the
city’s already busy calendar of summer events for both residents and visitors
to enjoy.
“Welcoming such music legends and chart-topping artists, as well as
showcasing local talent, is another step forward for York’s cultural offer and
we are delighted to help spread the word to audiences.”
In addition to three-day passes and day tickets, a range of VIP offers are available. For more information, go to york-festival.com.
Son of Town Hall’s Ben Parker and David Berkeley at The Cockpit, Pickering
Son Of Town Hall, The Cockpit, Pickering, November 20 2019
WE ARE told organic is best, and here is a case in point. Son Of Town Hall are an itinerant duo, with one stock rooted in Simon & Garfunkel and the other in the Peaky Blinders era.
Ben Parker and David Berkeley’s voices meet somewhere in the mid-Atlantic and it’s a thrilling combination, floating on an intimate, warm bed of acoustic guitars.
The pair sail to Yorkshire most years, and it’s always a welcome return (the recent floods hastened their arrival). The tiny club was full, 30 souls sitting in airline seats to hear water-borne songs of love and loss up close. It’s the perfect den to hear live music.
Destined for bigger halls: Son Of Town Hall at The Cockpit
Son Of Town Hall were touring to promote their first album, Adventures Of Son Of Town Hall. It has been a very long time in gestation by modern standards, supposedly recorded live on the raft they travel on.
Miraculously they chose perfectly still days to record and avoided any gimmicky shellac scratches. It ranks with the best of acoustic music released in 2019 – and by virtue of the genre, therefore any year – perhaps an unnecessary drum roll or two away from perfection. While it is music made for the tavern, the song craft worn on Cobbler’s Hill is breath-taking.
Their playful set covered pretty much their entire recorded output, interwoven with amusing interludes about their friendship. Named after a raft made of junk, it is fitting that their music in turn recycles, but, like a weathered pair of frigatebirds, they have picked the ageless bits that shimmer brightest. Some of the old jokes have gone overboard.
“Simon & Garfunkel meets Peaky Blinders”: Son Of Town Hall’s playful set in Pickering
Highlights included Poseidon, which rang and soared, and the quietly devastating Louise. A couple of older songs were revived, with Snow In Mexico particularly welcome. Winds was the pick of the new material, while St Jerome was less fulfilling, missing a measure of grit.
The concept is wildly original, tunes built to last, and their pleasure in performing them so clear. You just hope they don’t tire of the act just as they reach a deservedly wider audience (with gigs this size, in about ten years…).
SARAH Garforth’s exhibition of Upper Nidderdale and coastal scenes will
open at Village Gallery, Colliergate, York, on December 3.
Wanderings is a new body of work focusing on the North Yorkshire reservoirs
around Sarah’s home and favourite locations on the East Coast.
Sarah, a keen walker,
works in a traditional way, collecting sketches out in the field and developing
her ideas once back in the studio.
Last Light, Gouthwaite Reservoir, by Sarah Garforth
“Her aim with this new work is to try to bridge the gap between spontaneity and over-thought contrived work,” says Village Gallery owner Simon Main.
“By continuing to play with
ideas, pieces can evolve, rather than have pre-determined elements.”
Sarah has introduced
mixed media into the oils, using cold wax, marble dust, pigment sticks and
gambasol, applied with spatulas, scrapers and knives, but no brush at all.
Huts At Boulmer, by Sarah Garforth
“By working in layers,
it has allowed her to scrape and draw back into the paint, reconnecting
to the original image,” says Simon.
A preview evening
will be held on Monday, December 2, when Sarah will be on hand to discuss her work.
Tickets are available from Simon at the gallery.
“Aside from our regularly
changing art exhibitions, we are York’s official stockist of Lalique glass and
crystal,” says Simon.
“We also sell a selection
of art, craft, ceramics, glass, sculpture and jewellery, much of it being the work
of local artists – and with Christmas around the corner, there’s lots to
choose from.”
Sarah Garforth’s Wanderings will be on show until January 11 2020. Village Gallery’s opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
Alison Britton: giving the Annual CoCA Lecture this evening
THE Centre of Ceramic Art’s annual Day of Clay is expanding into two
Days of Clay this weekend at York Art Gallery.
The event involves hands-on activities, talks and workshops by experts
and the launch of Gillian Lowndes’ exhibition, At The Edge.
CoCA’s Days of Clay offers the chance to watch, make and hear about the
art of clay from leading figures from the world of ceramics, including working
with animal sculptor Susan Hall and participating in performances from Milena
Dragic and Mila Romans, while David Horbury will discuss Emmanuel Cooper’s
memoirs.
This evening’s CoCA lecture will be given by potter Alison Britton OBE
on the subject of being part of the emergence of a radical abstract
expressionist style of ceramic work.
The Days of Clay coincide with the opening of a display of works by
Gillian Lowndes, the most radical ceramicist of the 20thcentury.
Fiona Green, assistant curator at York Art Gallery, says: “This year we
have extended our popular day event to a whole weekend, with fantastic
opportunities to celebrate, discuss and work with clay.
“We have some incredible experts involved, who are looking forward to
discussing their work and sharing experiences and techniques with visitors, and
there are plenty of opportunities to get hands-on and have a go yourself.
“Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to join other experts,
enthusiasts and novices who all share an appreciation of clay.”
All activities are included in admission to York Art Gallery with the
exception of the CoCA Lecture. Visit yorkartgallery.org.uk for more
details and tickets.
Days of Clay is being held in conjunction with York Ceramics Fair 2019,
running concurrently at the Hospitium, York Museum Gardens, with support from
the Craft Potters Association.
Tickets to York Ceramics Fair are on sale at yorkceramicsfair.com; tickets
to York Art Gallery can be bought at a reduced rate if you hold a York Ceramics
Fair ticket.
Days of Clay full programme
Saturday, November 23
10.30am to 4.30pm: Artist Susan Halls in the Studio.
Come and help fill part of the gallery with a crowd of watchful clay
rabbits. Animal sculptor Susan Halls will be running a hands-on workshop
showing you a quick and effective way to make a hollow rabbit that will form
part of her Meadow installation.
Annual CoCA Lecture 2019: Alison Britton OBE,
lecture at 6pm; Q&A, 6.45pm; drinks in Gillian Lowndes exhibition, 7pm;
close, 8pm.
Alison Britton was part of a group of radical women artists graduating
from the Royal College of Art’s ceramics course in the early 1970s.
In 1993, Britton co-curated The Raw And The Cooked with Martina Margetts,
at the Barbican and Modern Art Oxford, which then toured in East Asia and
Europe.
In her lecture, Britton will reflect on this exhibition and on being
part of an emergence of a radical abstract expressionist style of ceramic work.
Sunday, November 24
In the CoCA 1 gallery:
1pm to 3pm, Clay Participatory Performance.
Joinperformers Milena Dragic and Mila Romans as “artist” and “clay”
as they sculpt out clay movements and then invite you to participate in making,
looking and moving clay to become part of the performance.
3.30pm to 4.30pm, Talk: Making Emmanuel Cooper.
David Horbury discusses how editing Emmanuel Cooper’s memoirs has provided
fresh insights into his pots and practice. David’s book on Emmanuel will be on
sale in the shop and he will be available to sign them.
In the Studio:
11.30am to 12.30pm, The Life Of A Slipware Potter.
Join potter Doug Fitch and his wife Hannah for a talk about their lives
as slipware potters, followed by a hands-on session where you can try out slip
trailing yourself.
2pm to 3.30pm,Texture and carving workshop.
Learn about hand building with artist Wendy Lawrence. Take the
opportunity to get hands on yourself and create a piece of carved, textured
clay to take home with you.
In the CoCA 2 gallery:
11.30am to 12.30pm, Children Curate in conversation
with Anthony Shaw and artist Susan Halls.
Meet the collector and the artist who helped inspire the children who
curated the current Anthony Shaw Collection display.
2.30pm to 3.30pm,Alison Britton in conversation with
Anthony Shaw.
Alison Britton will be talking with Anthony Shaw about the practice and
work of Gillian Lowndes in CoCA’s new exhibition, Gillian Lowndes: At the Edge.
Burton Gallery:
2pm to 3pm, Book Reading: The Ups And Downs In The Life Of The Fabulous
Bernard Palissy.
Join Jane Hamlyn for a reading of a quaint little book
about the 16th century French Huguenot potter Bernard Palissy and his
desperate struggles to discover the lost secrets of Italian tin-glazed
earthenware.
3pm to 4pm, Film Showing.
Watch a screening of Potshots, starring Johnny Vegas as Bernard Palissy.
Produced by Roger Law and Anya Course. Running time: 25minutes. Jane will be
available to answer any questions.
Both Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24
Installation: Recycling the Tower of Pots.
The tower of pots was created by artist Lou Gilbert Scott and visitors
during the 2018 Day of Clay event. Now you are invited to watch as it slowly
dissolves, returning to soft malleable clay ready for re-use.
Hands on Here.
Get hands on with York Art Gallery’s historic and contemporary ceramic
collection; sessions usually run between 11am and 1pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm.
Children’s ceramic trail available at front desk all day.
Gillian Lowndes: At the Edge
November 23 to May 2020
See the ground-breaking works of Gillian Lowndes (1936-2010), the most
radical ceramicist of the 20th century, in this major new exhibition.
From the 1970s onwards, artist Gillian Lowndes was at the forefront of a
new style of contemporary ceramics which explored the materiality of clay.
Her abstract expressionist way of working brought together a range of
materials and found objects that she recycled to create new sculptural work she
called collages. This exhibition showcases more than 40 artworks drawn from
CoCA’s collection, alongside loans from Anthony Shaw’s collection, many on
public display for the first time.
Accompanying the exhibition will be further displays featuring new
acquisitions by artists including Kate Malone, Emmanuel Cooper and David
Seeger.
