Harriet Waters and Maxwell Tyler in illustrator Axel Scheffler’s “favourite moment” from Tall Stories’ stage adaptation of The Gruffalo’s Child. Picture: Charlie Flint
THE Gruffalo’s Child will be on an adventurous mission at York Theatre Royal from February 1 to 3 in in Tall Stories’ enchanting adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s picture book.
One wild and windy night, the Gruffalo’s Child ignores her father’s warnings about the Big Bad Mouse and tiptoes out into the deep dark wood, where she will follow snowy tracks and encounter mysterious creatures.
But the Big Bad Mouse doesn’t really exist…or does he? “Let your imagination run wild with songs, laughs and scary fun for everyone aged 3 to 103,” reads the invitation from director Olivia Jacobs, co-founder of Islington company Tall Stories, whose cast comprises Harriet Waters, Maxwell Tyler, Samuel Tracy and understudy Pip Simpson.
Harriet Waters and Samuel Tracy in a scene from Tall Stories’ The Gruffalo’s Child. Picture: Charlie Flint
After seeing her book brought to life on stage, writer Julia Donaldson said: “Tall Stories bring their own special magic to their stage productions based on my books. Children will love entering the atmosphere of the deep dark wood and enjoy the catchy songs. The Big Bad Mouse is worth waiting for.” Ah, too late for a spoiler alert!
Illustrator Axel Scheffler enjoyed the show, saying afterwards: “The snowy deep dark wood based on my illustrations is brought to life by Tall Stories and it almost becomes a character in its own right in their production. A favourite moment for me is when the Gruffalo’s Child sits on the Gruffalo’s lap and the book cover image is created on the stage. I think the young audience will enjoy it very much.”
Tall Stories in The Gruffalo’s Child, York Theatre Royal, February 1, 1.30pm and 4.30pm; February 2, 1pm (relaxed performance) and 4.30pm; February 3, 10.30am and 1.30pm. Running time: 60 minutes. Age guidance: 3+. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Lil McGibbon, left, and Daz Scott in The Paper Birds’ Feel Me, on tour at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Will Green
WHAT makes us feel for another person? After extensive research and development, The Paper Birds answer this question in the verbatim theatre piece Feel Me, whose world premiere tour visits Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre on February 27 and 28.
Billed as “an interrogation of empathy that actively measures each audience’s engagement with the theme during the show”, Feel Me uses a mixture of live performance, film, projection, dance and interactive elements to explore the different lenses through which we are told, and connect to, stories.
Worlds unfold from backpacks and tents are constructed and dismantled again, each scene and location being temporary, like a transient teenager in search of safety, acceptance and a new place to call home.
Company co-founder and co-director Jemma McDonnell says: “The idea for Feel Me started in 2015 when I saw a picture of a three-year-old boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach.
Daz Scott, Kiren Virdee and Lil McGibbon in a scene from Feel Me. Picture: Will Green
“It was a picture I couldn’t get out of my mind; there was something in that horrifying viral image that kept making me return to the concept of empathy and what it means to feel for another. Jump forward five years, and sat in lockdown with my own small children to take care of, I decided to revisit this idea.”
Feel Me “seeks real world impact and action”, achieving it with help from modern technology. As active participants within the show, audience members are gently and anonymously asked to share how they feel about the story they are witnessing at different moments using their phones, and to consider who they connect with, who they feel empathy for, and why.
The data gathered will be measured using innovative software accessed by the audience in a series of collaborative “check-in” moments, with results creatively shared live as part of the performance.
Working with academics from Essex University, the Malden company – the Paper Birds migrated south from Leeds in 2022 – uses mobile phones to measure the impact Feel Me has had on audiences and their immediate empathy levels as well as post-show.
Lil McGibbon, Kiren Virdee and Daz Scott: Conducting an “interrogation of empathy” in Feel Me. Picture: Will Green
Jemma says: “In 2021, we devised a multi-artform digital project for 14 to 25-year-olds, The School Of Hope, during which we worked with nine partner organisations in five countries over three continents to really begin to interrogate who we care for and who we don’t, and why that might be.
“Working with numerous cohorts of young artists and creatives on this subject matter in digital and hybrid formats over the lengthy research and development period that followed, our initial findings made us feel compelled and excited to explore within the show not only the stories we hear, but the way we often receive these stories via tech, most commonly our phones.”
The Paper Birds saw an opportunity to create an interactive element that allowed audiences to share how they felt about the story that was unfolding in front of them. “This interactive element has proved to be a massive challenge, but one, as a new NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) and company wholly committed to giving,” says Jemma.
“I am really proud of what we have made, as empathy is about connection and Feel Me allows hundreds of audience members to have a voice, to see and hear how their community around them is also feeling, and most importantly to connect.”
The Paper Birds cast embraces technology in Feel Me. Picture: Will Green
Known for their devised work with and for young people, The Paper Birds put together a creative team of emerging artists aged under 30 to work on Feel Me, including assistant director Shanice Sewell, designer Imogen Melhuish, sound and music designer Fraser Owen and cast members Lil McGibbon, Daz Scott and Kiren Virdee.
The company has worked with five youth creative councils: steering groups made up of young people aged 13 to 25 years, some with a lived experience of forced displacement. They have been invited to share their thoughts and opinions on the show as it went through the devising process and rehearsals.
Feel Me was made in partnership with Theatre Centre and is a co-production with the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, supported by Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja, Indonesia, and The Point, Eastleigh, Hampshire.
The Paper Birds in Feel Me, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, February 27, 7.30pm, and February 28, 1.30pm. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Paper Birds: the back story
The Paper Birds’ co-directors Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Perry
ESSEX theatre company with a social and political agenda, specialising in devised verbatim theatre pieces. Relocated company home from Leeds to Malden in 2022.
“We’re artists, investigators, entrepreneurs, educators. We pride ourselves on taking complex, multi-faceted subjects and making them accessible. We have an artistic programme and a creative learning programme and nurture both equally,” say co-directors Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Perry.
The best things in life are free…or on offer: York Residents’ Festival 2024
TWO days of York celebrating all things York lead off Charles Hutchinson’s tips for cultural fulfilment, from Eighties’ nostalgia to a monster musical, a ghost story’s return to a singing French iconoclast.
York Residents’ Festival 2024, today and tomorrow
YORK Residents’ Festival returns this weekend with free entry or offers on more than 50 York attractions, restaurants, bars and retailers.
For the weekend organised by Make It York, historical attractions such as York Minster, Jorvik Viking Centre, Clifford’s Tower, Fairfax House, Barley Hall, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and Treasurer’s House will be opening their doors for free to residents across the weekend.
Residents can also take advantage of a free river cruise with City Cruises, free wizard golf at The Hole In Wand, in Coppergate Walk, and the first 100 visitors can visit for free at York’s Chocolate Story, King’s Square.
Offers at York eateries and restaurants include The Grand, Rio Brazilian Steakhouse York, Ambiente Tapas and Pearly Cow. Retail offers exclusive to residents are available at Avorium, York Gin, Love Cheese, Potions Cauldron and more besides.
For those preferring to explore by foot, offers and discounts apply to walking tours and outdoor activities. Mountain Goat will be taking residents off the beaten path to explore the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, while the family-friendly Wizard Walk of York promises to be spellbinding. Or why not learn to abseil and climb Brimham Rocks, at Brimham Moor Road, Summerbridge, Harrogate?
Step this way for The Wizard Walk of York
To take advantage of York Residents’ Festival offers, you must present a valid York Card, student card or identity card (e.g. driving licence or bus pass) that proves York residency by clearly stating ‘York’.
Make It York managing director Sarah Loftus says: ‘We’re delighted that we have so many York businesses providing fantastic offers for Residents’ Festival weekend. This is a great opportunity for residents to rediscover some of the brilliant attractions, retail and food offers on their doorstop.
“A huge thank-you to our Visit York members for coming together to provide so many brilliant offers; there’s something for everyone during this fun-packed weekend.”
Meanwhile, Ann Petherick is reopening Kentmere House Gallery, in Scarcroft Hill, York, for a new year of exhibitions in time to coincide with the second day of York Residents’ Festival: tomorrow, from 11am to 5pm.
On show are original works of York and Yorkshire by more than 50 professional artists, plus prints, books and cards exclusive to the gallery. The first full weekend opening in 2024 will be on February 3 and 4, 11am to 5pm. Admission is free.
For the full list of offers, and for booking information for York Residents’ Festival, visit visityork.org. Please note, some venues and activities require pre-booking.
Celia Crwys Finnigan and Laura Sillett: On song for The 80’s Movie Mixtape at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Nostalgic gig of the week: The 80’s Movie Mixtape, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
THE 80’s Movie Mixtape is a truly independent theatre show showcasing West End singers and musicians from around London and Surrey in a new tribute to Eighties’ blockbuster movies and their electrifying soundtracks.
A band of six actor-musicians – Jamie Ross, lead vocals, keyboard; Celia Crwys Finnigan, lead vocals, keyboard, alto saxophone; Laura Sillett, lead vocals, keyboard, baritone saxophone; Dom Gee-Burch, lead guitar; Ed Hole, bass, and Luke Thornton, drums – combine songs from Footloose, Top Gun, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Dirty Dancing, Back To The Future, American Gigolo, Ghostbusters, Flashdance, Against All Odds and Electric Dreams with Eighties’ party anthems. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Percy: Performing at Navigators Art & Performance’s Basement Sessions 3 night of music, comedy, spoken word and poetry
On the move: Navigators Art & Performance, The Basement Sessions 3, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, February 23, 7.30pm
YORK creative collective Navigators Art & Performance is moving this weekend’s Basement Sessions 3 bill to next month. “Unfortunately, the Basement is ankle deep in flood water and we’re going to have to postpone the gig this Saturday,” says co-founder Richard Kitchen.
Taking part will be poet and actor Danae, from Mexico via York; “punk/jazz riot” Neo Borgia Trio, from the University of York Big Band; writer, poet, performer and multi-instrumentalist JT Welsch; comedian Will Glitch, from Norwich via Hull; left-field post-punk favourites Percy; acoustic duo The Jammingtons Experience and transatlantic guitar band Fat Spatula. Box office: https://bit.ly/nav-events-all.
English Teacher: Leeds band heading for York tomorrow
Independent Venue Week gig of the week: English Teacher, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
“LEEDS’ music scene is the best in the world,” proclaims Lily Fontaine, English Teacher’s vocalist, guitarist and synthesiser player, without a blink of hesitation. This weekend she heads to near-neighbour York with bassist Nicholas Eden, drummer Doug Frost and lead guitarist Lewis Whitling, who she first met at house parties while they all studied at Leeds College of Music (now Leeds Conservatoire).
After tinkering with projects of their own, they settled on playing together, developing their fusion of dream pop and post-punk noise. Coming next? Writing new songs “somewhere between Adele, Jockstrap and Fontaines D.C.”. Box office: for returns only, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com.
Mark Hawkins as The Actor, left, and Malcolm James as Arthur Kipps in The Woman In Black, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet
Haunting return of the week: The Woman In Black, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
STEPHEN Mallatratt’s stage adaptation of Scarborough author Susan Hill’s spine-chiller returns to York for the umpteenth time, directed as ever by Robin Herford. As he did at York Theatre Royal in November 2014, Malcolm James plays lawyer Arthur Kipps, who engages a sceptical young actor (Mark Hawkins) to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Following the science: James Willstrop’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Young Frankenstein. Picture: Jennifer Jones
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Young Frankenstein The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
WHEN the infamous Victor Frankenstein’s grandson, Dr Frederick Frankenstein (James Willstrop), inherits the family castle in Transylvania, will he be doomed to repeat the same mistakes in Mel Brooks’s musical adaptation of his 1974 monster horror-movie spoof?
Andrew Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre as Frankenstein’s experiment yields both madcap success and monstrous consequences with the help and hindrance of hunchback henchman Igor (Jack Hooper), Scandinavian assistant Inga (Sanna Jeppsson), mysterious housekeeper Frau Blucher (Helen Spencer) and needy fiancee Elizabeth (Jennie Wogan-Wells). Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Guz Khan: York and Leeds gigs this winter
Comedy gig of the week: Guz Khan Live!, York Theatre Royal, Wednesday, 7.30pm
COVENTRY comedian, impressionist and actor Guz Khan is on his way to selling out York Theatre Royal after his February 25 gig at Leeds City Varieties already did so. Raised on a housing estate in Hillfields, he graduated from Coventry University and taught Humanities at Grace Academy in his home city before focusing on stand-up.
Khan, 38, is best known as the creator and star of the BBC Three comedy drama Man Like Mobeen, wherein he played a former Small Heath drug dealer now trying to live a good life as a Muslim. Box office: “Last tickets” on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Cantona Sings Eric: Maverick footballer-turned-musician returns to Leeds for April concert. Poster picture: supplied by Academy Music Group
Most unexpected Yorkshire gig announcement of the week: Eric Cantona, Cantona Sings Eric, Leeds O2 Academy, April 16, doors, 7pm
ERIC Cantona once told Leeds United fans from the balcony of Leeds Town Hall, “why I love you, I don’t know why, but I love you” as the 1992 league champions paraded the Division One trophy. Only 207 days later, he was gone…to bitterest rivals Manchester United. Never to be forgiven.
Now 57, the avant-garde French footballer, sardine philosopher, actor, English advert regular and painter “to the rhythm of jazz” is to return to the city. Not in one of those “An Evening With” shows full of nostalgic football chat but as Eric Cantona, singer and musician, performing solo, with piano and cello for company. Box office: academymusicgroup.com/o2academyleeds/events or ticketmaster.co.uk/eric-cantona-tickets.
David Hammond: Performing works by work by Erik Satie, Brian Eno, Federico Mompou, Howard Skempton, David Power and Derek O’Connell
Piano recital of the week: Late Music presents David Hammond, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York, Friday, 1pm
DAVID Hammond performs a crossover of ambient and classical solo piano music centred on work by Erik Satie, Brian Eno, Federico Mompou and Howard Skempton, with new works by David Power and Derek O’Connell in the first Late Music recital of 2024.
The full programme will be: Erik Satie, Gnossiennes 1-3; Harold Budd/Brian Eno, The Plateaux Of Mirror; Derek O’Connell, Je mesure le son (first performance); John White, Sonata 95; David Power, Seven Paces Of Stillness (first performance); Erik Satie, Pièces Froides: No.2 Danses de travers; Federico Mompou, Cants Mágics; Howard Skempton, Well, Well Cornelius; Howard Skempton, Rumba; Howard Skempton, Quavers; Budd/Eno/Power mash-up, Remembered, and Erik Satie, Gnossiennes 4-5. Tickets: £5, latemusic.org/david-hammond-piano-2/ or on the door.
In focus: Exhibition launch of the week: Pyramid Gallery, York, from 11am today
One of Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards, painted in 2023
FOUR exhibitions are opening simultaneously today at Pyramid Gallery: Gomery & Braganza, ceramics and painting; Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards; glassmaker Jo Kenny’s What Lies Beneath and Ringleaders’ contemporary handmade rings.
Di Gomery, Loretta Braganza, Linda Combi and Jo Kenny all will be attending the 11am to 2.30pm launch. “Come along to the opening and enjoy a glass of wine or soft drink with the artists,” says gallery owner and curator Terry Brett.
Di’s studio is at South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, in Bishopthorpe Road, York. Her paintings are lyrical responses to landscape, still life and the human form, painted primarily in oil on canvas or board, often large in scale. Her approach is one of playful energy with an underlying structure and solidity.
Di, who worked in the design industry for Courtaulds (England) and Jakob Schlaepfer couture fabric design (Switzerland), has exhibited previously at Pyramid Gallery, Partisan café, in Micklegate, York, HartLaw Solicitors, in Wetherby, Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax, and the Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield.
Paintings created specifically for this Pyramid exhibition explore edges and volume, make reference to other artists, and generally play with surface and colour combinations. Her artistic influences include the work of British and American women abstract expressionists.
Loretta was born in Mumbai, India, came to Great Britain in 1965 and lives and works in York. She began her practice as a ceramicist in 1990 via a career in dance, graphic arts, textile design and sculpture, as well as teaching drawing and painting at York College.
Loretta Braganza and Di Gomery
Her distinctive style comprising taut edges, clean lines and complex mark making swiftly earned her exhibitions and commissions, as well as awards from the Crafts Council and the Arts Council.
Artist and illustrator Linda Combi, raised in a California desert, now settled in York, returns to Pyramid Gallery, this time with 52 Postcards, a series of original collage paintings, print cards and booklets that reflect on migration.
“I was inspired to create 52 postcards around the theme of displacement,” she says. “I decided to create postcards as you’d typically send them when you’re on holiday to family and friends back home, but for refugees, they can have very different connotations. It’s grounded in the concept of refugees being in another place, writing a letter to home or to their former self.
“In many of my postcards I use birds as a symbol for people forced to flee. They’re innocent, and they’re on the move.”
Linda’s postcards are mixed media, primarily hand painted and printed papers, but also incorporating coloured pencil, pen, stickers and crayon.
“Refugees and other displaced people have to endure so much,” she says. “Everyone should support refugees – not only do they enrich society, but more than anything, it’s just basic kindness and human empathy to understand how frightening it must be to be to have to flee.”
Glassmaker Jo Kenny at work in her studio
Fifty per cent of Linda’s sale proceeds will go to UNHRC, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, and the Lemon Tree Trust, an organisation that works alongside displaced people to transform refugee camps through gardening.
Glassmaker Jo Kenny creates pieces at the furnace inspired by exploring the beaches at Whitby, where she now lives. Such a simple childhood pleasure revisited, she finds a contemplative quality in the act of poking around in rock pools. “I feel the joy and excitement of discovery under each pebble,” she says.
Her What Lies Beneath series encourages the viewer to “look a little deeper and maybe feel a little of that childlike excitement making their own discoveries”.
Awarded an Arts Council England grant, Jo was able to develop the series further in collaboration with Scottish master craftsman Gordon Taylor, who completed pieces with his cutting and polishing skills.
Jo splits her time between making and teaching. Her key themes are the effect of the passage of time, erosion, entropy, persistence of image and all things pertaining to the ocean.
Di Gomery and Loretta Braganza’s exhibition runs until March 11; Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards until March 9; Jo Kenny’s glass until March 7, at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York. Gallery opening hours are:Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 5.30pm. The project can be viewed at Linda’s website, lindacombi.biz, from where purchases can be made too.
Following the science? James Willstrop as Dr Frederick Frankenstein, creator of the Creature in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Young Frankenstein. Picture: Jennifer Jones
YORK company Pick Me Up Theatre’s delayed northern premiere of Mel Brooks’s comedy horror musical Young Frankenstein opens at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre next Wednesday.
Unforeseen circumstances had forced the late postponement of last autumn’s run at the Grand Opera House, but rehearsals re-started in York in early December under the direction of Andrew Isherwood.
All the original principal cast chosen by Pick Me Up artistic director and designer Robert Readman was still available, not least former squash world number one James Willstrop in the lead role of mad scientist Dr Frederick Frankenstein, first played by Gene Wilder in Brooks’s 1974 horror-movie spoof of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein.
“You hear of other shows where it’s happened, but it was a really sad feeling when we couldn’t do it as were just about to start our run,” recalls James.
“I was feeling pretty depressed afterwards, thinking ‘this show isn’t going to happen’ – and when people ask, ‘how are you feeling?’, it’s unusual to have to explain to anyone as it’s not ‘real life’, but you do feel really deflated.
Pick Me Up Theatre principals in Young Frankenstein: back row, from left, James Willstrop’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein, Helen Spencer’s Frau Blucher and Jennie Wogan-Wells’s Elizabeth Benning; front row, Jack Hooper’s Igor and Sanna Jeppsson’s Inga. Picture: Jennifer Jones
“But then we got this text from Bells [production management assistant and actress Helen Spencer] asking, ‘Can you do these dates?’, as Robert said we could go ahead with a new run.”
Out went Pick Me Up’s planned production of Chicago at the JoRo, replaced by Young Frankenstein. Rehearsals have been a matter of “going again”. “We had the best part of a month off when the last thing I was thinking of doing was listening to the soundtrack!” says James.
“It’s been a case of getting into the scenes again, with the choreography kept largely the same. Andrew has been really great on the detail, which actors love, and that’s been good. He’s trusted our instincts and he’s been very alive to the comedy.”
James, who made his Pick Me Up debut as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music in December 2022, has enjoyed becoming acquainted with Brooks’s parody songs.
“Going into the audition, I didn’t know a lot about the show, but I love Pick Me Up and working with Robert, and I loved the opening number, The Brain, which I decided to learn for the audition.
James Willstrop: Men’s doubles squash gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, his fifth Games
“A week out from the audition, I hadn’t been sure about the show, but by the time I did the audition, I was thinking, ‘this part is great, I’ve got to do it’!
“The first few times, listening to the soundtrack, it took me a while to get a feel for the songs, but then you realise they’re just great, simple songs. I love the tunes, they have a vaudeville quality, and the humour is always there.”
James, now 40, had first performed in “serious dramas” before branching out into musicals, and last year found him heading to the Cornish coast to play deluded mystery novel writer Charles Considine in Ilkley Playhouse’s production of Noel Coward’s supernatural comedy Blithe Spirit at the Minack Theatre.
“Doing that humorous role, and being tall [James is 6ft 4ins], with all the physicality that goes with that, just seemed to link perfectly to then playing Frederick Frankenstein,” he says.
. “It’s not subtle but it’s a great comedy genre,” says James Willstrop of Mel Brooks’s humour. Picture: Jennifer Jones
In Brooks’s spoof, the grandson of infamous scientist Victor Frankenstein, Dr Frederick Frankenstein, has inherited his family’s castle estate in Transylvania. Aided and hindered by hunchbacked sidekick Igor, Scandinavian lab assistant Inga, stern German Frau Blucher and needy fiancée Elizabeth, he strives to fulfil his grandfather’s legacy by bringing a corpse back to life.
Cue comedy in the bold Brooks style. “It’s lovely to be doing something silly, full of innuendos and jokes that some people might hate but are just daft,” says James. “It’s not subtle but it’s a great comedy genre,”
James, whose father grew up in York, lives in Harrogate and now divides his time between coaching squash – and “still playing a bit” – at the Pontefract Squash and Leisure Club and performing on stage.
Coming next will be his role as recovering alcoholic Harry in Bingley Little Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company at Bingley Arts Centre, West Yorkshire, from July 1 to 6.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Young Frankenstein, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 31 to February 32024, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk
HOW does Wikipedia describe ABC’s iconic, chart-topping 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love?
New pop. Pop. Sophisti-pop. New Wave. Disco. Dance-pop. Blue-eyed soul. Synth pop.
On Saturday at York Barbican, one word will suffice: orchestral. That night, as part of the Sheffield band’s now extended tour, Martin Fry and co will be joined by the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by longtime collaborator Anne Dudley, who played such a key role along with producer Trevor Horn on the original recording sessions.
They will perform the million-selling album in its entirely, complemented by further ABC hits such as the two-hour set-opening When Smokey Sings, Be Near Me and The Night You Murdered Love.
Fry, now 65, first dusted off his trademark lamé suit for a one-off orchestral performance of The Lexicon Of Love at the Royal Albert Hall, but such was the reaction that a 2009 tour ensued, and 15 years later, the Fry-Dudley partnership is off on the road again.
“When we first did it in 2009, it was a novel idea, and we spent a lot of time getting the arrangements right, not a band with an orchestra in the background but a full show,” he recalls.
Anne beavered away on the orchestral charts, filling two suitcases for the 36 members of the Southbank Sinfonia. “It’s cast of thousands on stage, more than 40 people, for these shows,” says Fry.
What a contrast with the peace and quiet of his location for this Zoom interview (on January 11). “I’m in Barbados. It’s 8.30 in the morning over here,” he says. “In the Tropics, I get up every day at about five or six. It’s really nice! Running on the beach each day.”
The cover artwork for ABC’s 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love
Soon he would be heading to London for the tour rehearsals with Dudley and the orchestra, but Fry spends “quite a lot of time” in Barbados, as well as going to Miami and “being in Yorkshire quite often”.
Yorkshire was where it all started for Stockport-born Martin Fry and ABC, the band that grew out of his original group, Vice Versa, in Sheffield in 1980. “I think a lot of it came from the double dejection of knowing there were no outlets unless you were a footballer or a hairdresser. It was a very depressed area,” he says.
The result was a debut that was both velvet and steel, fuelled by the romantic longing of Motown soul and a post-punk attitude that chimed with the South Yorkshire industrial decline and strife of the time.
“We were from an experimental background, rehearsing in an old steelworks building, where I cleaned out the building for [Sheffield band] Clock DVA, but we wanted to make a record where we’d compete on an international level.”
Fry and ABC were driven by a “combination of ambition and experimentation”. The look, the suits, came from “jumble sales where widows took their husbands’ clothes”, evoking B-movie films stars, while the sound was driven by the dancefloor and the possibilities brought on by technology changing all the time.
“I loved Pere Ubu and Joy Division, but we wanted to make music that was more polished, like Gamble & Huff and Motown, mirroring what was happening in the car plants, producing something every day.”
Living in Sheffield’s Hyde Park flats [later demolished in 1992-93], Fry did not want to patronise anyone by writing “Coronation Street dramas” in song, but instead he would showcase the counterpoint: the nightlife.
“Going to Pennys; the people that would go into Sheffield city centre in zoot suits. Very aspirational. Looking incredible,” he says. “It was that romance we were capturing – and the idea that we might one day play Las Vegas.” A dream that would indeed come true.
Martin Fry with Anne Dudley and the Southbank Sinfonia
Released on June 2 1982 and topping the charts a week later, The Lexicon Of Love and its quartet of single, Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All Of My Heart, felt like pop perfection from the city of Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and The Human League.
How could ABC and the king of the clever couplet follow it up? “We didn’t want to Xerox it but go off in a different direction with Beauty Stab and How To Be A Zillionaire,” says Fry. “But The Lexicon Of Love has never felt like a burden…no, it’s a blessing.”
He continues to write songs. “It was great to do The Lexicon Of Love II; all new songs. That came out of playing on the road with the orchestra,” he says. “It’s just therapeutic when you stumble across something good in a song.”
The thrill of “creating a new moment” still delights him as Younger Now, Older Then joins the list. “I’m too stubborn for writing songs to become a grind,” he says.
On Saturday, York can enjoy The Lexicon Of Love once more, not only the sharp suits and sharper words of Fry, but also the orchestral arrangements of Anne Dudley.
That skill was first exhibited when producer Trevor Horn wanted to do more than merely replicate strings on synthesisers on the recording sessions. Dudley was ostensibly there to embellish the keyboards, but such was her precocious talent, she said, ‘let me come up with some string arrangements’.”
“I think they were the first ever ones she did,” says an admiring Fry. Strings reattached, those songs bloom anew this weekend.
ABC: The Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour, York Barbican, Saturday, doors, 7pm. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
A Way With Media’s promotional picture for the launch of Martin Fry’s memoir A Lexicon Of Life
MARTIN Fry will perform ABC hits and share personal stories from more than four decades in the music industry in his ABC – An Intimate Evening With Martin FryTour.
Yorkshire dates will be at King’s Hall, Ilkley, on November 21 2024 (box office: bradford-theatres.co.uk); Dewsbury Town Hall, May 8 2025 (creativekirklees.com); Scarborough Spa on Saturday, May 10 2025 (scarboroughspa.co.uk); Northallerton Forum, May 11 2025 (forumnorthallerton.org.uk); Harrogate Theatre, May 21 2025 (harrogatetheatre.co.uk) and Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 23 2025 (leedsheritagetheatres.com).
“I have been very lucky in my career to have played venues around the world from massive arenas in the States to Sheffield Town Hall in my hometown, where we marked 40 years of The Lexicon of Love,” says Fry. “However, this tour really is something a bit different; an opportunity for stripped-back music and conversation with my fans. It will be really special, I can’t wait.”
Fry will be promoting his upcoming autobiography, A Lexicon Of Life, now available for pre-order in two formats ahead of its summer publication. The first is a signed, numbered edition of 2,500 with an exclusive CD featuring newly recorded acoustic versions of ABC hits and two new tracks .
The second, a deluxe edition, is limited to 350 signed and numbered copies, including the autobiography, hand-bound in the gold Savile Row fabric used for Fry’s iconic jackets, an exclusive gold vinyl record featuring Fry’s new acoustic versions and a rare bonus CD of ABC’s Traffic album.
The featured songs will be Tears Are Not Enough; Ten Below Zero; Poison Arrow; The Look Of Love; When Smokey Sings; How To Be A Millionaire; Never Get To Be The King; All Of My Heart; Be Near Me and The Luckiest Man Alive.
The tour poster for An Evening With The Fast Show, booked into the Grand Opera House, York, this spring
THE Fast Show stars are reunitingfor a 30th anniversary tour. The Grand Opera House, York, awaits Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Mark Williams on March 19 at 7.30pm.
Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow atatgtickets.com/york for An Evening With The Fast Show, whose 15-date itinerary takes in a second Yorkshire gig at Sheffield City Hall on March 25 (tickets: sheffieldcityhall.co.uk) .
The quickfire sketch show first aired on BBC Two on September 27 1994 and ran for three series until 1997 with the late Caroline Aherne as part of the cast. Special editions ensued, such as the three-part The Last Fast Show Ever in 2000, and tours were staged in 1998 and 2002.
An Evening With The Fast Show will provide a behind-the-scenes insight into the award-winning comedy’s favourite characters and catchphrases as they come alive anew on stage.
The cast will discuss how it all began, how they made the TV show and created the characters, and the fun they had doing it. This will be interspersed with performances of some of their best-loved sketches, monologues and songs, with on-screen inserts and a moment to remember former collaborator Aherne, who died in 2016.
Fans can expect the return of such favourites as Ted & Ralph, Jesse, Swiss Toni, Does My Bum Look Big In This?, Dave Angel, Jazz Club, The Suit You Tailors, Ron Manager, The Mad Painter, Rowley Birkin, Bob Fleming, Competitive Dad, Professor Denzil Dexter and The Girl Who Boys Can’t Hear.
Looking forward to reassembling on stage for the first time in 20 years, Higson says: “Taking The Fast Show out on tour is very much like making love to a beautiful woman.”
James: Playing Leeds First Direct Arena in June. Picture: Paul Dixon
JAMES will release their 18th studio album, Yummy, on April 12 on Virgin Music ahead of playing Leeds First Direct Arena on June 8.
Produced by Leo Abrahams, the album will be available in CD, 2CD deluxe, vinyl, colour vinyl (marbled red) retail exclusive, colour vinyl (marbled orange) and D2C Exclusive formats.
Yummy’s track list will be: Is This Love; Life Is A F***ing Miracle; Better With You; Stay; Shadow Of A Giant; Way Over Your Head; Mobile God; Our World; Rogue; Hey; Butterfly and Folks.
The 2CD deluxe edition of Yummmy adds Pudding, a second disc of demos produced by the Manchester band’s four songwriters: Anyone But You; Close Enough; Mine To Lose; Activist Song; Won’t Be The Same; Tell Me Something; Poolewe Day 1 Jam 4; Arpen Charp; Deliver The Dawn; Something Of A Pleasure; Walk Tall and 50s Out Takes.
Boston Spa-born frontman Tim Booth says of Pudding’s 12 tracks: “Most of them contain the original music and vocals created in the initial jams – which is why many of them don’t have lyrics.
Studio Fury’s cover design for James’s album Yummy
“These are the tracks that didn’t make it to the next stage, where we would take them to all the band members to contribute and I would work on the lyrics before recording the final versions with a producer.
“We always make more demos than we use before recording an album, and we usually jam over 100 songs before choosing which to develop. It’s our way of keeping our quality high. These may be sketches of songs, but we could hear their potential, how they would develop with further work. James have always loved making B-sides as a way to hone creativity. Maybe view these as the B-sides for the album Yummy.”
Lead single Is This Love is out now. Featuring artwork by Studio Fury, who art-directed the campaign for the latest Rolling Stones album, Hackney Diamonds, the song is described as a “complex dissection of love in all its forms” as singer Booth pores over the pain, heat, battle, distance, fear, release and endurance of this emotion, in pursuit of its point and purpose.
Or as he puts it: “Love as a bomb, a Tsunami that rolls over our life as we cling to the wreckage of our peace of mind”.
James will be joined by special guests Razorlight on a tour that will climax with their debut show at the 20,000-capacity London O2 Arena on June 15. Tour tickets are available at tix.to/James24, gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Studio Fury’s artwork for James’s new single Is This Love
Booth, Jim Glennie and Saul Davies, from James, will perform with Joe Duddell and an orchestra at Music Feeds Live: A Concert To Fight Food Poverty in aid of the Trussell Trust at Manchester O2 Apollo on February 27. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
In celebration of their 40th anniversary, James were honoured at the 2023 Ivor Novello Awards, receiving the PRS Music Icon Award in a year when they were joined by an orchestra and gospel choir on the James Lasted tour that visited York Barbican on April 28.
Last June’s orchestral double album Be Opened By The Wonderful reached number three in the UK official chart. Throughout the summer, James headlined multiple UK and European festivals, culminating in two shows backed by full orchestra and choir at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece, and a special guest headline slot at Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk.
After 2016’s Girl At The End Of The World, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Timesand 2021’s All The Colours Of You, Yummy continues a run of albums addressing American politics, AI technology and conspiracy theorists, all the while facing down mortality with an unbeaten smile and striving for love in a world spinning catastrophically out of control.
In the band’s 2024 line-up are: Tim Booth, Jim Glennie, Saul Davies, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Chloe Alper and Deborah Knox-Hewson.
Folk musician Sam Lee at Stonehenge. Picture: Andre Pattenden
FOLK renovator Sam Lee will showcase his fourth studio album, songdreaming, on a 17-date tour with Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on March 17, Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, on March 20 and Old Woollen, Farsley, on March 24.
Released on March 15 on Cooking Vinyl, songdreaming represents the latest stage in the development of Londoner Lee’s music, from its roots in curating ancient song to a new way of imagining and performing reworked old songs, making them relevant for a modern audience.
The follow-up to 2020’s Old Wow was recorded throughout 2023, when Lee continued his work with producer Bernard Butler and long-term collaborator, arranger, and composer James Keay in creating an album rich in musicality and invention.
songdreaming may be built on the backbone of double bass, percussion, and violin but is infused with pan-global instrumentation, taking in the Arabic Qanun, Swedish Nyckelharpa, small pipes and more.
Across the ten tracks, Lee delivers an album that ranges from more immediately identifiable acoustic songs to drone soundscapes through to the electric guitar and gospel choir-propelled lead single Meeting Is A Pleasant Place, featuring the recording debut of transgender London choir Trans Voices.
The cover artwork for Sam Lee’s new album, songdreaming
songdreaming incorporates the balladry of Sweet Girl McRee alongside the gospel tinges of Leaves Of Life, while also housing the whiteout noise of Bushes And Briars, a song that details Lee’s rage at the treatment and condition of the natural world.
In taking songs directly related to the nature of the British Isles, he continues to reinvent and contemporise a tradition of communion with the land through song. He duly characterises songdreaming as: “A mosaic of the emotions felt in my time outdoors, that artistically emerge in reflective moments when I’m permitted to recount and articulate the complexity of all I witness and thus feel responsible for”.
Taking an “evocative journey through the complex emotions created for Sam by his engagement with nature and his deep-felt affinity for it”, the album draws on sources as diverse as the sacred music of European and global mystic traditions, the work of neo-classical contemporary composers and the simple effectiveness of a well-delivered vocal melody.
Summing up his connection with nature in song, Lee says: “Those people who are and were singing the old songs here at home were also looking after the land. When we stop singing to the land, the land stops singing back.”
Tour tickets are on sale samleesong.co.uk. songdreaming will be released on Cooking Vinyl on March 15 on vinyl, CD and digital download. Pre-order link: https://SLee.lnk.to/songdreamingPR
To A Place Of Greater Safety, one of Linda Combi’s cards from her 52 Postcards exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York
YORK artist and illustrator Linda Combi opens her new show, 52 Postcards, at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, on Saturday at 11am.
On show will be original framed collage paintings, print cards and booklets of all 52 paintings created by Californian-born Linda during 2023 around the theme of displacement.
Fifty per cent of sale proceeds in this charity project will be donated to UNHRC ([the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agency mandated to aid and protect refugees) and the Lemon Tree Trust, an organisation that works alongside displaced people to transform refugee camps through gardening.
“Everyone who supports refugees has that one moment that they can remember vividly – the moment when they realise that they can do something to improve the life of someone they have never met,” says Linda.
Her moment? “In 2016, I saw a news story on Channel 4 which was so emotionally charged that it changed my artwork,” says Linda. The subject of The Last Gardener Of Aleppo was Abu Waad, a Syrian gardener who ran a nursery in the heart of the besieged city of Aleppo, amid the daily bombs and missiles.
“He managed to grow and cultivate vibrant flowers, vegetables and other plants to sell to the locals, who badly needed growth and beauty in their lives, and was helped in the nursery by his then 13-year-old son Ibrahim,” says Linda.
“They had an incredible relationship, and he spoke so beautifully about plants: their beauty and resilience and the importance of them in our lives – stating that ‘the essence of the world is the flower’.”
Many of Linda Combi’s postcards depict birds as a symbol for people forced to flee
The story ended tragically: Abu Waad – whose name means ‘Father of the Flowers’ – was killed when a barrel bomb landed next to his plant nursery, the last frame depicting a desolate Ibrahim at his father’s grave.
“Abu Waad’s story touched me deeply – as it did for so many others,” says Linda, who responded to his words in her artwork, exhibiting original paintings, prints and greetings cards to aid the two charities in her The Last Gardener Of Aleppo exhibitions at Angel on The Green, in Bishopthorpe Road, in 2020 and Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, in 2021.
“This was my starting point, but ever since 2016, I’ve continued to do work on the subjects of gardens and the natural world, aligning the images with the experiences of migrants and refugees’ lives, exploring beauty, safety, security, peace and – above all – hope.”
Now comes her latest project, 52 Postcards, inspired by her reflections on displacement. “It’s a project related to the ‘Gardener’ work,” says Linda. “I’ve chosen the postcard format because they symbolise travellers on holiday touching base with family and friends back home.
“But for refugees, they can have very different connotations. It’s grounded in the concept of refugees being in another place, writing a letter to home or to their former self. My postcards are poignant ‘messages’ about displacement, longing, fear and finding home.”
She chose the theme of “oasis” to capture the desire for security, growth, and beauty. “This theme embodied Abu Waad’s story,” says Linda. “Despite the great danger and destruction all around, just like Abu Waad, refugees too can have their own oasis or sanctuary.
“The other aspect is that my happiest childhood memories are from my time in a date palm oasis in the desert of California, so there is a direct connection to my once home too.”
The poster artwork for Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards exhibition at Pyramid Gallery
Originally, Linda planned to make 50 postcards, but she then realised that most of the designs depicted plants and seasons, and 52 cards could reflect the calendar year.
Many of her postcards depict birds as a symbol for people forced to flee. “They’re innocent, and they’re on the move, both fragile and, in the case of migratory birds, very resilient,” says Linda. “I’ve often used postage stamps for making birds, butterflies, moths and flowers in order to express the transitory nature of their lives.
“My favourite postcards feature the birds, including A Place Of Greater Safety, which features a magic carpet and is grounded in the idea of a dream where you can escape danger and uncertainty, with the magic carpet taking you away to a new peaceful security.”
Linda’s images are inspired by news stories, films, music and books, as well as her own significant experiences. “My grandparents left Sicily for a ‘better’ life in America; a courageous journey into uncertainty,” she says. “I’ve seen ‘The Fence’, which divides Mexico and California, and spoken with border guards there. I also spent time in Israel, where I experienced a divided society at close range.
“As climate change is integral to the migration story, I’ve touched upon weather and changing environments. And, of course, war is at the heart of too many of the images.”
Linda’s postcards are mixed media, primarily hand-painted collage papers but also incorporating coloured pencil, pen, stickers, crayon and printed ephemera. The printed cards measure 5” X 7” including a white border; the original images are also 5” X 7” and are consequently larger, and each will be framed using colours appropriate to each design.
“Refugees and other displaced people have to endure so much,” says Linda. “Everyone should support refugees – not only do they enrich society, but more than anything, it’s just basic kindness and human empathy to understand how frightening it must be to be to have to flee.”
Linda Combi: the back story
Linda Combi at work in her York studio
BORN in San Francisco, California, Linda was drawn to Europe in a quest for art and romance. Lives in York.
Has worked as an illustrator for many years, being asked to produce work on many subjects, including her adopted county of Yorkshire.
Her humorous illustrations have appeared in the Observer Magazine, The Times, Independent On Sunday, Tatler and Sainsbury’s Magazine, as well as in illustration exhibitions.
Continues to exhibit work in a range of media, from graphic collages to 3D assemblages.
Regards laughter as an essential ingredient for survival in today’s world, believing that humour can burst pomposity and undermine prejudice. This has led gentle mockery and angry satire appearing in her work, such as The Brits series, exploring traditions and eccentricities she has observed, from the love of gardening, cricket and pantomime to pub crawls and dog walking.
Since returned to more personal projects, taking time to experiment with materials and imagery.
Participated in four York Open Studios events; exhibited at Pyramid Gallery, Angel on the Green and Blossom Street Gallery in York, Zillah Bell Gallery in Thirsk and Pocklington Arts Centre.
One of Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards at Pyramid Gallery
Took part in Fetes du Graphisme in Paris and York Design Festival in 2020.
New works are being added yearly to ongoing charity project The Last Gardener of Aleppo, inspired by Channel 4 news story from 2016. Proceeds of sales have been donated to the Lemon Tree Trust and UNHCR.
Worked with York’s Good Organisation, designing T-shirts on the theme of homelessness and with Refugee Action York for teaching materials. Helping charities through her work has become increasingly important to Linda.
Art inspiration comes from people-watching, ethnic art, music, travels, news stories, children’s art and literature.
When not making artwork, Linda enjoys cinema, reading, watching cricket and tennis, swimming, travelling and playing the ukulele “quite badly”.
Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards exhibition runs at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, January 27 to March 9; opening hours, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 5.30pm. The project can be viewed at Linda’s website, lindacombi.biz, from where purchases can be made too.
Dr Hannah Thomas, the Bar Convent’s special collections manager, with a portrait of Mary Ward and her 17th century paternoster bead. Picture: Charlotte Graham
THE online campaign to support the cause to have 17th century York-born nun and educational pioneer Mary Ward declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church will be launched today.
This petition launch heralds the beginning of the global annual celebration of Mary Ward Week 2024, marking her birth on January 23 1585 and death on January 30 1645.
In a nutshell, at a time when Roman Catholicism was illegal in England, Mary Ward strived for the equality and dignity of women in religion and education and paved the way for the first schools for girls to offer an education equal to boys, the second being established at the Bar Convent, Blossom Street, York, in 1686.
Today her vision is thriving in 42 countries at around 200 schools worldwide, and yet she was declared a heretic by the Catholic Church and was subjected to a 1631 Bull of Suppression that destroyed her first institution.
The subject of Ciaran O’Connor’s documentary, Mary Ward: Dangerous Visionary, voiced by Dane Judi Dench, Mary was the foundress of the Congregation of Jesus who reside at the Bar Convent, the oldest surviving Catholic convent in Great Britain.
On show there in the permanent display about Mary and her legacy is the 17th century crucifix that she carried on her multiple walks across the Alps to speak to the Pope, along with a pair of shoes from those walks and much else besides.
Prominent in the step-by-step progression to Mary’s “long overdue” beatification and canonisation by the Church is Sister Elizabeth Cotter, Canon Lawyer and Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Mary Ward, who will be promoting the campaign in York this week, with its centrepiece of an online petition to “take the cause to the next level”.
Sister Ann Stafford with Mary Ward’s 17th century crucifix at the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, York. Picture: Charlotte Graham
“As part of our case, we need to provide evidence that Mary Ward remains relevant today,” she says. “Key to this was her passionate belief that ‘women in time to come will do much’, which has always been the driving force of followers who brought her vision to 42 countries from her time and up to the present day.
“This recognition by the Church would provide the women of our time with a fine example of the Church’s willingness to promote the dignity of women in a world which badly needs such witness.”
Sister Elizabeth continues: “For the hundreds of thousands of Mary Ward followers worldwide, recognition by the Church would validate the belief that Mary Ward is a saint for the modern world; she is needed as much by our 21st century world as she was in those dark days of opposition to women in the 17th century.
“Support for and belief in Mary Ward has never waned in more than 400 years and her beatification and canonisation by the Church is long overdue.”
Sister Ann Stafford, sister in charge at the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, says: “We have been contributing to the ongoing global campaign to have Mary Ward officially recognised by the Church as a saint. As someone who campaigned for the dignity of women all of her life, we truly believe that Mary Ward is a vital role model for our time.
“Please help our cause in any way you can. You can sign the petition; join the conversation across the social media platforms using #MaryWardForSaint; visit us at the Bar Convent to discover more about Mary Ward; help us to raise awareness about this local woman who made international history, or let the Cause Office know if you can help us in other ways by emailing causemaryward@gmail.com.”
Canon Lawyer Sister Elizabeth Cotter, Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Mary Ward, with the Sisters in Asansol, India
Explaining the present state of play, involving theological and historical commissions, Sister Elizabeth says: “The process is in the phase where the Church has to be sure that a person never worked or wrote against the Church or did anything contrary to the faith.
“But why has it taken so long? Mary was interred in a monastery in Anger, Munich, in 1631 when she was declared a heretic. When she was let out, she went to the Pope in Rome to seek her exoneration, but it has taken four centuries to do undo the damage done in what was written about her.
“The year of Veneration came in 2009 under Pope Benedict XVI, who had attended a Mary Ward kindergarten school in Germany as a five-year old.”
Now comes the Beatification stage. “We have to find proof of a miracle,” says Sister Elizabeth. “I was appointed to my role in 2015, and I spent 2015 to 2019 asking if anyone had come across a miracle resulting from a prayer to Mary Ward. We came across plenty.”
One such miracle has been selected, whereupon a tribunal/board enquiry has been set up in the Catholic diocese where it occurred, requiring proof of the person’s medical cure.
“Only when they have brought the enquiry to a conclusion will the authorities in Rome decide if Mary is to be beatified or not.”
Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, in Blossom Street, York: the oldest surviving Catholic convent in Great Britain, opened in secrecy in 1686
The case for Mary Ward was submitted in December 2019, but a combination of the Covid 19 pandemic and the workload of the tribunal priest has kept Sister Elizabeth and Mary’s followers waiting and waiting.
“But what keeps me going is remembering how long it took for Mary to be venerated. I just handle the process on Mary’s behalf and make sure it’s all in order, and we pray for this priest all the time, hoping he will be able to conclude the tribunal because he has so much on his plate.”
In the meantime, special events will be running throughout Mary Ward Week and until February 17 at Bar Convent to highlight the cause. These will be led off by today’s 12.30pm to 1pm talk by special collections manager Dr Hannah Thomas on Mary Ward’s history-making, ground-breaking vision for religious and educational change, against all the odds, and why she should be declared a saint.
At Sunday’s annual ecumenical service at 4pm at St Thomas’s, Osbaldwick, the Anglican church where Mary Ward is buried, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell will give the homily.
“When Mary Ward died, Catholics were not allowed to be buried in York, but Mary’s followers were so honest in their ‘bribing’ of the Anglican priest at this tiny church in Osbaldwick that he agreed for her to be buried there,” says Sister Elizabeth.
Mary’s tombstone is now placed inside the church, bearing an epitaph with a coded reference to her determination that women might take inspiration from St Ignatius: “To love the poore, persever in the same, live, dy and rise with them was all the ayme of Mary Ward”.
Now the aim is to make Mary Ward a saint.
For more details and the link to the online petition, head to: www.barconvent.co.uk. Bar Convent opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm.
Mary Ward: Painted Life Congregatio Jesu Augsburg (Germany); Foto Studio Tanner, Nesselway
Mary Ward: the back story
MARY Ward was born into a devout Catholic family after the English Reformation had taken place.
She had a tumultuous childhood; her family was forced to relocate several times to avoid detection and was linked with the Gunpowder Plot.
She witnessed the brutal persecution of her fellow Catholics, including the imprisonment of members of her own family, such as her grandmother, Ursula Wright and the martyrdom of her cousin, Fr. Francis Ingleby, on Knavesmire, York.
Mary felt called to the Catholic religious life that had been banned in England for 70 years and travelled to the continent where many other Catholics had fled.
She and her companions founded the first religious congregation for women modelled directly on the newly founded Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who take a fourth vow of universal mission to go wherever the Pope might send them.
Mary Ward believed that women were spiritually and intellectually equal to men and deserved an education that reflected that equality. Providing a proper education for girls was central to her work, and she travelled widely across Europe, founding schools in ten European cities by 1628.
These views and methods were far ahead of her time and the Catholic Church opposed her at every step and even had her imprisoned.
In 1617 she famously said: “There is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great things – and I hope in God it will be seen that women in time to come will do much.”
To put this into context, this was at a time when philosophers were debating if women even had souls; and her own religious adviser questioned whether women had as much religious fervour as their male counterparts due to the weakness of their sex.
It was a firmly held belief that too much education would be too taxing for the female brain. Even centuries later, in 1895, a manual on child development argued that if a girl overused her brain, it would damage her ability to bear children, noting that ‘this New Woman is only possible in a novel and not in nature’.
Mary Ward died on January 30 1645 during the English Civil War, having never seen her vision fully realised. She is buried in the churchyard at St Thomas’s, Osbaldwick, York, where her tombstone can be seen inside the church.
Across the global network of her religious congregation, the Bar Convent is the focal point and home of the historic legacy of her work.
After her death in 1645, her followers continued her work and opened a secret convent in York. They were the first to open schools for girls in this country that offered the same education as boys.
There is now a global following of thousands of religious sisters, along with around 200 schools worldwide in Mary Ward’s name, lay collaborators and Friends of Mary Ward.
Pope John Paul II singled out Mary Ward as an “extraordinary Yorkshire woman and a pioneer” in 1982 when he celebrated a Mass in York attended by 210,000 people.
In 2009, she was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI, in the first step on the road to canonisation and sainthood. The next step is to have Mary Ward beatified, an ongoing task.
Mary Ward, by Ellie Lewis, an illustration from the In The Footsteps Of Mary Ward guide book at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre
Why does Mary Ward deserve to be a saint? The Bar Convent charts the reasons
1. Mary Ward pioneered a new way to live the consecrated life at a time when the monastic life was the only way acceptable to the Catholic Church. Believing that God’s will was driving her towards this new way, she persevered despite imprisonment and condemnation by the Church she sought to serve.
Exonerated eventually, Mary Ward’s holiness of life was recognised by the Church in 2009 when Pope Benedict declared her “Venerable.” At a time when the worldwide Synod called by Pope Francis is urging stronger roles for women within the Church, Mary Ward is a prime role model for future generations and especially for girls.
2. Mary Ward’s passionate belief that “women in time to come will do much” has been the driving force of those who brought her vision and values to 42 countries in every continent from her time and up to the present day.
She continues to provide inspiration to the women of our time. Recognition by the Church would provide a much-needed example of the Church’s willingness to promote the dignity of women in a world which badly needs such witness.
3. Her key values of freedom, justice, sincerity and joy, vital in her 17th context, retain their significance and importance in a world so devoid of these virtues today.
4. Despite the way she was treated by the Church of her time, Mary Ward retained her love for it, urging her followers to “love the Church”. She is a model of critical fidelity at a time when many struggle within the Church.
5.Mary Ward lived and worked for the greater glory of God despite the obstacles in her way. Her life challenges us to do the same.
6. Mary Ward was an Englishwoman who held fast to the Catholic faith in an era of persecution and hostility to the Church. What a role model she is to English Catholics today. By making her a saint, the Church would give recognition to the many faithful women and men who hold fast to the faith despite difficulties.
7. For the hundreds of thousands of Mary Ward followers worldwide, recognition by the Catholic Church would validate the widely held belief that Mary Ward is needed as much by our 21st century world as she was in the dark days of opposition to women in the 17th century.
“There is no such difference between men and women that women may not do great matters,”wrote Mary Ward in 1617
