Shed Seven band members Paul Banks, left, Tim Wills, Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield, Rick Witter and Tom Gladwin at today’s meet & greet and signing session upstairs at HMV York
LET’S go. Shed Seven launched their 30th anniversary celebrations today with the release of sixth studio album A Matter Of Time, an accompanying video for opening track Let’s Go and an hour-long late-afternoon meet & greet, photo opportunity and signing session at HMV York.
Earlier in the day, the York band played in stripped-back mode at The Vinyl Whistle, in Headingley, Leeds, signing copies there too.
Released on their new home of Cooking Vinyl, A Matter Of Time has achieved a “phenomenal” amount of pre-orders, resulting in all copies of the live edition, Blood Records vinyl and all test pressings selling out months in advance.
The Sheds are marking the album’s release with a ten-date record store tour as A Matter Of Time looks set to become their highest-charting album ever: a record held by their 1999 compilation, Going For Gold: Greatest Hits, which peaked at number seven.
The campaign to take the Sheds to a maximum chart high has been bolstered by today’s announcement of a new Digital Deluxe edition of the new album that adds a re-recorded version of their September 1994 debut album, Change Giver, now retitled Changed Giver, available at store.shedseven.com.
“Let’s Go is the Sheds’ inner rock animal rearing its head and showing its teeth,” says Rick Witter
“2024 marks the 30th anniversary of our debut album,” says the Sheds’ website. “’To mark the occasion, we’ve taken a trip down memory lane and revisited the entire album in recording sessions at Reel Studios in Elvington, giving it a stripped-back, unplugged vibe that we think sounds amazing.
“We’ve poured our hearts into re-recording these songs, rediscovering the magic of the songs that started it all. It’s been a fantastic journey, and we’ve fallen in love with them all over again.”
Physical formatsof A Matter Of Time can bought at shedsevenn.lnk.to/AMOTPR, available as signed copies, vinyl and cassette editions in various colours, a regular CD and a deluxe edition with three extra tracks, Watch Out World, Feels Like Heaven and Starlings (demo).
The video for the raucous, punk-tinged rock’n’roller Let’s Go captures incendiary footage from July 15’s sold-out 6000-capacity headline show at Leeds Millennium Square last summer.
Hot news: The cover artwork for Shed Seven’s new album, A Matter Of Time, out today
Frontman Rick Witter, 51, says: “Let’s Go was always intended to be the grand opener to the album. It shows a statement of intent. It’s the Sheds’ inner rock animal rearing its head and showing its teeth. It’s an invite for us all to hold hands and travel the globe. It’s tight, frenetic and a potential punch in the gut. Let’s go!”
A Matter Of Time features Sheds stalwarts Witter on vocals, Paul Banks on guitar and Tom Gladwin on bass, joined by 2022 recruits Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield, from Audioweb, on drums and Tim Wills, from Ian Brown’s band, on keys.
The recording sessions in Spain reunited the Sheds with Youth, the Grammy Award-winning producer of their 2017 comeback album Instant Pleasures, and mixing was by Cenzo Townshend, whose credits include Florence + The Machine and Inhaler.
The singles In Ecstasy (featuring Happy Mondays’ Rowetta), Starlings, F:K:H and Talk Of The Town were introduced to a rapturous reception on last autumn’s headline tour. Further tracks include the sky-scraping melancholia of Let’s Go Dancing, the dreamy folk-rock of Tripping On You, complete with backing vocals from Reverend & The Makers’ Laura McClure and the buoyant, vintage Britpop vibes of Ring The Changes.
The curtain comes down with a special collaboration with long-term Shed Seven fan Peter Doherty, who contributes vocal harmonies to Throwaways.
The artwork for Changed Giver, Shed Seven’s re-recording of 1994 debut album Change Giver, available to download with the digital edition of A Matter Of Time
This month’s Stripped Back, Signing and Meet & Greet record store tour will take the Sheds to London, Southampton, Brighton, Bristol, Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and back to London.
They will end the month with a series of sold-out album release shows at Pryzm, Kingston upon Thames, on January 25; HMV Empire, Coventry, on January 26 and Project House, Armley Road, Leeds, on January 27 at 7pm, promoted by Leeds record store Crash Records. Each night, the Sheds will play A Matter Of Time in its entirety – for the only time, exclusive to these gigs – plus a greatest hits set.
This summer’s special 30th anniversary concerts at York Museum Gardens on July 19 and 20 have sold out too. Peter Doherty will be the guest act on both nights. “We discussed adding a third night but thought selling out two so quickly was a good look – and we’re going to announce a big Shedcember tour sometime soon,” says Rick. “We’re conscious of overkill, even though I’m sure a third night would have gone pretty quick.”
Look out too for Shed Seven’s appearance at Blossoms’ Big Bank Holiday Weekend at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, on August 25. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk/blossoms-tickets.
Expect further 30th anniversary plans to be announced in the near future. Watch this space.
“We’re going to announce a big Shedcember tour sometime soon,” says Shed Seven’s Rick Witter. Picture: Barnaby Fairley
Sleuth and sidekick: Fergus Rattigan’s Matthew Shardlake, left, with Sam Thorpe-Spinks’s Jack Barak in Sovereign at King’s Manor. Picture: Charlotte Graham
Community show of the year: Sovereign, King’s Manor, York, July
YORK Theatre Royal’s best show of the year was not at the Theatre Royal, but across Exhibition Square in the courtard of King’s Manor, the setting for C J Sansom’s Tudor sleuth yarn, adapted typically adroitly by the golden pen of York playwright Mike Kenny.
Henry VIII was given the Yorkshire cold shoulder by a cast of 100 led by Fergus Rattigan and Sam Thorpe-Spinks, complemented by Madeleine Hudson’s choir.
Livy Potter in Iphigenia In Splott at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Solo performance of the year: Livy Potter in Black Treacle Theatre’s Iphigenia In Splott, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March
GREEK myth is smacked in the chops by modern reality in Gary Owen’s scabrous, “horribly relevant” one-woman drama Iphigenia In Splott, a stark, dark 75-minute play, played out on a single blue chair, with no props, under Jim Paterson’s direction.
Livy Potter kept meeting you in the eye, telling you the bruised, devastating tale of Cardiff wastrel Effie, and her downward spiral through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night, with shards of jagged humour and shattering blows to the heart.
Crowded in: Comedian Rob Auton’s artwork for The Crowd Show
Comedy show of the year: Rob Auton in The Crowd Show, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24
COMEDIANS tend to play to a room full of strangers, hence the subject matter of Rob Auton’s The Crowd Show, with its discussions of crowds, people and connection.
Except that the crowd for this (London-based) York comedian, born in Barmby Moor and educated in Pocklington, was made up of friends, family, extended family, and loyal local enthusiasts. The home crowd, rather than the in-crowd, as it were. Auton revelled in a unique performing experience, even more surreal than usual.
Honourable mention: Stewart Lee, Basic Lee, York Theatre Royal, March 20. Serious yet seriously amusing dissection of the rotten state of the nation and comedy itself.
Christmas In Neverland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
Exhibition of the year: Christmas In Neverland, Castle Howard, near York, running until January 7
IS it a Christmas event, an installation or an exhibition? All three, in that Charlotte Lloyd Webber Event Design makes an exhibit of the 300-year-old stately home at Castle Howard each winter.
This time, the theme is a Peter Pan-inspired festive experience, transforming rooms and corridors alike with floristry, installations, props, soundscapes, and projections, conjuring a Mermaid’s Lagoon, Captain Hook’s Cabin and the Jolly Roger with new innovations from Leeds company imitating the dog.
Honourable mention: Austrian artist Erwin Wurm’s absurdist sculptures in Trap Of The Truth, his first UK museum show, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, bringing a whimsical smile until April 28 2024.
Kevin Rowland leading Dexys through The Feminine Divine and old hits sublime at York Barbican
Favourite gigs of the year?
SPOILT for choice. At York Barbican: Suzanne Vega, vowing I Never Wear White in droll delight on February 22; James, bolstered by orchestra and gospel choir, hitting heavenly heights, April 28; Dexys’ two sets, one new and theatrical, the other laden with soul-powered hits, September 5; Lloyd Cole’s two sets, one ostensibly acoustic, the other electric, both eclectic, on October 22.
At The Crescent: The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster, performing with his son; March 14; Lawrence, once of Felt and Denim, now channelling Mark E Smith and the Velvet Underground in Mozart Estate, October 7; The Howl And The Hum’s extraordinary, deeply emotional three-night farewell to the York band’s original line-up in December.
The long-dormant Pulp’s poster for their This Is What We Do For An Encore return to performing live
Outdoor experience of the year: Pulp, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 9
THE rain swept in on the Eighties’ electronic nostalgia of Being Boiled at the Human League’s Music Showcase Weekend at York Racecourse on July 28 too, but that was a mere watering can by comparison with the deluge that befell the Open Air Theatre half an hour before fellow Sheffield legends Pulp took to the Scarborough stage. “Has it been raining?”, teased Jarvis Cocker, but huddled beneath hastily purchased sheeting, the night was still plastic fantastic.
Cherie Federico: At the helm of all things Aesthetica in York
Driving force of the year in York: Cherie Federico, Aesthetica
2023 marked the 20th anniversary of Aesthetica, the international art magazine set up in York by New Yorker and York St John University alumna Cherie Federico. The Aesthetica Art Prize was as innovative and stimulating as ever at York Art Gallery; the 13th Aesthetica Short Film Festival, spanning five days in November, was the biggest yet. On top of that came the Future Now Symposium in March and the launch of Reignite to bolster York’s focus on being a fulcrum for the arts, media arts and gaming industry innovations of the future.
A star performance: Andy Cryer in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less) at Stephen Jospeh Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Patch Dolan
Best Shakespeare of the year: The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, April
THE SJT teamed up with Shakespeare North Playhouse, Nick Lane paired up with co-writer Elizabeth Godber, and Eighties’ pop guilty pleasures rubbed shoulders with Shakespeare’s rebooted comedy as Yorkshire clashed with Lancashire and everyone won. This Comedy Of Errors got everything right. Not more or less. Just right. Full stop.
Nuno Queimado and Rumi Sutton in Gus Gowland’s Mayflies at York Theatre Royal
New musical of the year in York: Mayflies, York Theatre Royal, May
YORK Theatre Royal resident artist Gus Gowland deserved far bigger audiences for the premiere of the intriguing Mayflies, as confirmed by no fewer than nine nominations in the BroadwayWorldUK Awards.
O, the app-hazard nature of modern love under Covid’s black cloud, as two people meet up after two years of tentative communication online. In Tania Azevedo’s flexible casting, you could pick any configuration of Rumi Sutton, Nuno Queimado or Emma Thornett for the couple of your choice. Better still, you should have seen all three; the songs, the nuances, the humour, grew with familiarity.
Leigh Symonds’ engineer Winston and Naomi Petersen’s automaton house maid ED in Alan Ayckbourn’s Constant Companions. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Still delivering the goods in Yorkshire
ALAN Ayckbourn’s visions of AI in Constant Companions, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough; John Godber’s Northern Soul-powered Do I Love You?, on tour into 2024; Barnsley bard Ian McMillan’s Yorkshire take on The Barber Of Seville, St George’s Hall, Bradford; Robin Simpson’s dame in Jack And The Beanstalk, York Theatre Royal.
Shed Seven: Launching new album with meet & greet at HMV, York, on Friday
WHAT lies ahead in the New Year? Charles Hutchinson picks his path through highlights across the city’s venues.
It’s only A Matter Of Time before: Shed Seven release their new album
YORK band Shed Seven will mark the January 5 release of their sixth studio album, A Matter Of Time, on new home Cooking Vinyl with a meet & greet/signing session that day at HMV, in Coney Street, York, at 4.30pm (tickets: shedsevenn.lnk.to/instores). Their midday appearance and stripped-back performance on the same day at Vinyl Whistle, in Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, has sold out.
In the summertime, when the weather is hopefully fine, The Sheds will celebrate their 30th anniversary with a brace of outdoor concerts in York Museum Gardens on July 19 and 20, supported by Peter Doherty, no less. Both have sold out already. Box office: seetickets.com.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company cast members peer out through and beneath the JoRo curtain in Curtains
It’s Curtains for…Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 7 to 10, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
WHEN the leading lady of a new musical mysteriously dies on stage, a plucky local detective must solve this 1959 case at Boston’s Colonial Theatre, where the entire cast and crew are suspects in Kander & Ebb’s musical with a book by Rupert Holmes. Cue delightful characters, a witty and charming script and glorious tunes in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s staging of Curtains. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Steve Mason: Independent Venue Week gig at The Crescent. Picture: Gavin Watson
Beta times ahead: Brudenell Presents Steve Mason, The Crescent, York, January 30, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH indie songwriter Steve Mason, founder of The Beta Band, returns to The Crescent as part of Independent Venue Week. Combining a rare melodic gift with an itch to experiment, as heard on his 2023 album Brothers & Sisters, he investigates where the boundaries lie between the craft of songwriting, technology and free expression.
Taking part in Independent Venue Week too will be Leeds band English Teacher, whose January 28 night of dreamy pop and post-punk noise has sold out already. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Monster show: The Apatosaurus in Jurassic Live, bound for York Barbican
Dinosaurs take over York: Jurassic Live 2024 World Tour, York Barbican, February 16, 5pm; February 17, 11am and 3pm; February 18, 1pm
LIFE-SIZED monstrous beasts roar into York in an interactive all-star theatrical spectacular featuring the world’s only Tylosaurus in a giant tank (new for 2024), the last flying Pterodactyl, a Tyrannosaurus Rex called Suzie and more dinosaur species than any other show on Earth.
Join little Amber, Ranger Joe, Ranger Nora and the rest of the Jurassic Live rangers on a musical journey to help save the day from an evil man who is trying to shut down the Jurassic facility. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Amber Davies’s Hollywood prostitute Vivian Ward and Oliver Savile’s wealthy businessman Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman: The Musical at Grand Opera House, York
Most anticipated touring musical: Pretty Woman: The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 20 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday
BILLED as “Hollywood’s ultimate rom-com, live on stage”, Pretty Woman: The Musical is set once upon a time in the late 1980s, when Vivian (Amber Davies) meets Edward (Oliver Savile) and her life is changed forever.
Strictly champ Ore Oduba’s Happy Man/Mr Thompson and Natalie Paris’s Kit De Luca will be in the cast too for a musical featuring original music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance and a book by Garry Marshall and the film’s screenwriter, J.F. Lawton. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The tour poster for Wise Children’s Blue Beard, opening the bl**dy door at York Theatre Royal from February 27
World premiere of the season: Emma Rice’s Wise Children in Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9, 7.30pm and 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
BLUE Beard will be Wise Children’s fourth visit to York after Wise Children, Malory Towers and Wuthering Heights, this time in a co-production between Emma Rice’s Bristol company, York Theatre Royal, Birmingham Rep, HOME Manchester and the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh.
Rice brings her brand of theatrical wonder to the beguiling and disturbing folk tale of Bluebeard meeting his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret. Summoning all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters, she vows to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rob Auton: At his most Rob Auton in The Rob Auton Show at The Crescent, York
Welcome home: Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm
AFTER nine Edinburgh Fringe shows on themes as diverse as the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, York writer, comedian, artist and actor Rob Auton delivers his most autobiographical work, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Rhod Gilbert’s poster for his tour show with a Giant Grapefruit at York Barbican
Comedy comeback : Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit, York Barbican, June 20, 8pm
IN his last show, The Book Of John, firebrand Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert dealt with “some pretty pungent life citrus” and an idiot called John. Little did he know that things were about to turn even more sour.
Gilbert, 55, required surgery for metastatic cancer of the head and neck as well as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, receiving his first clear cancer scan in October after undergoing treatment.
“Not bitter, he’s bouncing back and feeling remarkably zesty”, returning with a dark, passionate and way-too-personal tour show that squeezes every last drop out of life’s latest curveballs…with a little help from an old adversary. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Jason Donovan: Doin’ fine at York Barbican in…wait for it…2025
Even further ahead:Jason Donovan, Doin’ Fine 25 Tour, York Barbican, March 8 2025, 8pm
IF 2023 was the year of Kylie, all that attention on Tension, Padam Padam and ITV’s An Audience With, then 2025, yes 2025, promises a York date with her Neighbours beau, Jason Donovan, in celebration of his “incredible ride” through 35 years in music, theatre, film and television.
His long-awaited sequel to Doin’ Fine 90 will feature Jason’s most beloved songs from his stage shows, nods to his TV times in Neighbours and Strictly Come Dancing and his biggest pop hits. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
In Focus: York Actors Collective in Beyond Caring, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, cleaning up from February 6 to 10
Neil Vincent, left, Clare Halliday, Chris Pomfrett, Victoria Delaney and Mick Liversidge in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s February production of Beyond Caring
YORK Actors Collective follows March 2023’s debut production of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloanewith Beyond Caring, a play that highlights the social damage inflicted by zero hours contracts.
Devised by Alexander Zeldin and the original Yard Theatre cast in East London in 2014, later transferring to the National Theatre, the story of agency cleaners at a meat factory will be directed in York by Angie Millard, working with a cast of Victoria Delaney, Clare Halliday, Mick Liversidge, Chris Pomfrett and Neil Vincent.
Over 90 unbroken minutes, Beyond Caring follows two women, Becky and Grace, and one man, Sam (replacing Sarah from past productions in a directorial decision), as they confront the reality of low wage, zero-hour contract employment, never sure of how many hours they have to work, when they will be paid and whether their ‘job’ will continue.
Director Angie Millard says: “This play is remarkable in its structure and power. It totally represents 2024 where many workers are on the breadline, trapped in employment with no guarantee of further work and no way to improve their position.
“What drew me to the play, however, is the message it conveys about people surviving and keeping a sense of humour. I loved the intensity of the piece with its silences, its disappointments and its determination to get pleasure out of the smallest things. It gave me hope.”
Stage managed by Em Peattie, Millard’s production will play nightly at 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday, followed by Saturday shows at 2.30 and 5.30pm. “Ticket sales for our first production indicated that a Saturday matinee was very popular,” says Angie.
“We thought that having two early Saturday performances would give the audience an opportunity to see the show and still have time to go for a drink or meal afterwards, making a night of it.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Chris Pomfrett and Victoria Delaney in rehearsal for Beyond Caring
GO, go, go, Joseph! Audition registration time is here for York Stage’s “dazzling” spring production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
“Alongside our main adult casting, we’re also looking for children aged seven to 12, at the time of the audition, to join our cast,” says producer Nik Briggs.
Auditions will be held this month, beginning with initial adult auditions on January 9 from 7pm, followed by children’s ensemble auditions on January 11 from 7pm and recall auditions on January 14 from 1pm, all at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Nik will aim to release the cast list within 48 hours.
Joseph was first written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice at the request of a friend of Andrew’s father, Colet Court School choirmaster Alan Doggett, for the school’s 1968 end-of-term concert.
The full-scale musical will be presented by York Stage at the Grand Opera House, York, from April 12 to 20, at 7.30pm, except Fridays and Sunday; Fridays, 5pm and 8pm, and Sunday matinee, 4pm.
Set in ancient Egypt, this vibrant musical tells the biblical story of Joseph, his coat of many colours, and his prophetic journey as he learns that dreams really can come true. Among the songs are Any Dream Will Do, Go, Go, Go, Joseph, Close Every Door and the Elvis pastiche Song Of The King.
Robin Simpson: The dame with the golden pun, confirmed for fifth successive York Theatre Royal pantomime
ACTOR and storyteller Robin Simpson’s diary for 2024 is filling up already.
Now playing Dame Trott in castellated Clifford’s Tower and afternoon tea dresses in Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal until January 7, he will return for dame duty for a fifth York winter in succession in Aladdin from December 3 to January 5 2025, once more co-produced with Evolution Productions, written by Paul Hendy and directed by Juliet Forster.
“It’s always lovely to be the first to be announced for the cast, and to be coming back again,” he says. “It’s nice to be wanted!”
On top of that, via social media ahead of official confirmation from Scotland, the Yorkshireman has revealed his audition success to be part of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s company for the 2024 Summer Season from May 31 to September 26.
In the meantime, Robin, who lives near Huddersfield, is revelling in his latest turn at the Theatre Royal. “I’ve been performing here for nearly 20 years now in all sorts of shows,” he says. “My first-ever show in 2005 was Mike Kenny’s The Little Mermaid, which we performed in the Studio.”
After his flexible Dame at the double in a choice of shows on The Travelling Pantomime tour of community venues under Covid restrictions in 2020, followed by his Ugly Sister Manky opposite Paul Hawkyard’s Mardy in Cinderella in 2021 and Mrs Smee in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan last winter, his Dame Trott is the classic dame per se.
Robin Simpson’s Dame Trott in York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime under Covid reglations in 2020
“Jack And The Beanstalk is one of the more traditional stories that a pantomime can be based on, being an old English folktale. This is the first year at York Theatre Royal – apart from the Travelling Pantomime in 2020 – that I’m playing a traditional dame character,” says Robin.
“She’s my first ‘proper’ dame here: working class, with a couple of kids. The Sisters in Cinderella are a different concept and Mrs Smee was a henchman for Captain Hook, as Peter Pan doesn’t have a traditional dame, and instead I shared the comic role with Jonny Weldon’s Starkey! Dame Trott is the mother to the title character and that’s a very traditional role for the dame to play.”
Reflecting on the gradual progression of the Theatre Royal partnership with Evolution, Robin says: “You never want to get stale with what you do, and it’s lovely to have new people in the cast. Apart from the one-off Travelling Panto, we’re only in our third year, so it’s still quite a new partnership, and though there’s a house style developing, it will be a while before we fully find our own style.
“The pantomimes have been great, the scripts are excellent and I never worry about the changes in the cast because they’re always cast really well. It’s a joy to work with them.”
This season is not the first time that Robin has Trotted out his Dame Trott in York. How does she differ in 2023-2024 from the simpler version in the 70-minute Travelling Pantomime? “She has a different costume on. Otherwise, she’s very similar as I’m a one-trick pony. She’s slightly older,” he says.
Robin Simpson in storytelling mode
How did Robin spend his 2023? “I did a season of plays in Eastbourne over the summer and I filmed a couple of episodes of Coronation Street,” he says. “I play the vet and I put Maureen Lipman’s dog, Cerberus, to sleep [Note of clarification: Lipman plays Evelyn Plummer]. A few years ago, I put Ken Barlow’s dog, Eccles, to sleep as well. Every few years they ring me up to put a dog out of its misery and make the nation cry.
“I’ve also had my busiest year with regard to my storytelling. I performed at Blenheim Palace and Sledmere House [near Driffield], and over the summer I had a busy time with the Summer Reading Challenge in libraries all over England. I also performed Magic, Monsters & Mayhem at Rise@Bluebird Bakery in Acomb in September, with magical stories of monsters, lots of comedy and audience interaction. The storytelling side of things is getting bigger all the time, which is nice.”
Robin has been cruising too. Work or pleasure? “Oh, work, but only just,” he says. “Classic is a show I did at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 and I thought that that was that, but it was booked by Cunard Cruises for their Mediterranean trip, leaving from Naples, visiting places like Barcelona. Written by Peter Kerry and Lyndsay Williams, it’s very funny and fast paced, racing through the 42 greatest works of literature in one hour. It’s a crazy show but a lot of fun.”
Crazy show? Fun? That would sum up Jack And The Beanstalk too, a show marked by Robin’s skills of comedic interaction and improvisation. “You need to leave your ego at the door, be willing to play and not take yourself too seriously,” he says of the art of playing pantomime.
“It’s a balance between childishness and professionalism. Improvising is a really tricky thing but if you listen to your fellow actor, accept their suggestions and be willing to go with the flow, you shouldn’t go wrong. It keeps things fresh.”
Jack And The Beanstalk runs wild at York Theatre Royal until January 7; Aladdin, December 3 to January 5 2025. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Aladdin tickets are available from £15; family tickets for the best seats are £81 for a family of three and £108 for a family of four.
Robin Simpson’s Ugly Sister Manky, in the sidecar, and Paul Hawkyard’s Ugly Sister Mardy, at the wheel, in York Theatre Royal’s Cinderella in 2021
One final question for Robin
Are you hot to Trott?
“You’d have to ask my wife.”
Did you know?
ROBIN Simpson has played three roles in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
1. Chartered surveyor Graeme Lewis, June 2004.
2. The Surgeon, operating on pregnant Kylie Platt’s ruptured spleen, February 2013.
3. The Vet, putting Ken Barlow’s dog, Eccles, to sleep in April 2020, followed by Evelyn Plummer’s canine, Cerberus, in March 2023.
Did you know too?
PAUL Hawkyard, Robin Simpson’s fellow Ugly Sister in Cinderella and Captain Hook to his Mrs Smee in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan last winter, has painted a picture for an 80th birthday present for Robin’s mother, featuring a portrait of her dogs.
In Focus: Matthew Curnier on playing Billy Trott and his past careers as a marine biologist and science teacher
Matthew Curnier’s Billy Trott, front, left, with Robin Simpson’s Dame Trott and Mia Overfield’s Jack Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
How did you land the role of dim-witted Billy Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk?
“I’d actually met Juliet [director Juliet Forster] already for an audition for the UK tour of Around The World In 80 Days that she was directing. It may have been in January, and what I then didn’t realise was that Juliet worked at York Theatre Royal.
“It was only later that I learnt that Juliet had asked for my self-tape for the pantomime audition, and not the co-producers, Evolution Productions. I feel very honoured to have been chosen.”
What other roles have you played in pantomime?
“I’ve been doing panto comic for ten years now and love it every time. I’ve always played the panto comic, because I just love being able to play the fool, especially around Christmas when you get to just be a Silly Billy!
“When I’m a little older and a little wiser, I hope that I’ll be able to move onto playing Dame. In the meantime, I’m watching and learning, and only time will tell.”
What are the characteristics of your panto role?
“Hopefully I’m able to bring a lot of silliness and dimwittedness, and there’s the lovely relationship between the comic and the dame too. There’s something wonderful about being the comic, where you can work with the dame, and each time the dynamic is different, depending on who you play opposite. With every dame, there’s not been a single year gone by where I’ve not learned something from them.
“What I tend to do in my performance is a lot of physical comedy, falling over, slapstick, being stupid! That really plays to the kids, and with all that energy, you can bring a lot of competitiveness to the song-sheet too.
“The ‘cleverer’ stuff can grow out of the partnership with the dame. That’s the two-tiered levels of comedy in panto: the children’s stuff and then all those double-entendres that go over the kids’ heads, and the one-liners, but I always lean to the over-exuberant, hapless dimwit.”
Where and when did you see your first pantomime and what was your reaction?
“I remember going to the theatre from time to time as a child. I think we went to see Gilbert & Sullivan shows (because I had an aunt who loved them and often performed in them) and the local village panto. It just always looked like the actors were having a lot of fun. And so I knew pretty early on that I wanted in.”
You were born in Paris, moved to this country at a young age and grew up bilingually. Do you do much work in France/French?
“I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to work in both countries. While most of my work is here in the UK, the last project I did in France was the recording of a beautiful audiobook; an epic novel written in Alexandrine verse – a little bit like Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter but instead of ten beats in a phrase, there are 12, which suits Latin-rooted languages a little better. It was so wonderful.
“It’s helpful being able to speak French and sound French. It also seems to get me seen for some nice projects here in the UK. For example, I often do voice work in French and play French characters. This year I had a role as a French sommelier in Industry series three for the BBC. Mais oui, mais oui!”
Before becoming an actor, you studied marine zoology and marine mammalogy. which took you all over the world. Why make the switch to acting?
“It’s true, my very first career was in marine zoology and mammology. I became a marine biologist and was able to conduct research, primarily in whales and dolphins in fabulous places like Canada, Scotland, Kenya. The results of the research were often for conservation purposes. I absolutely loved doing this work and saw some breathtaking nature.
“After a few years, my other burning passion – which was theatre and acting – started calling very strongly. From the age of 12, I knew that I wanted to be an actor but it never seemed ‘possible’ or ‘realistic’.
“I think I found out a little later than other people that it is, actually, a job and so once I found out that I could go to drama school and get an agent, I thought I would chance my luck, going to drama school at the age of 30.
“I trained at the London Centre, and post-drama school, I did quite a lot at the Actors Class with the wonderful Mary Doherty, who I would consider as my acting mentor, teaching young actors the professional side of being an actor: how to market yourself, how to do auditions, etc. She’s been a real guide to me.”
What prompted you to become a qualified secondary science teacher?
“Well, a very wise person (hiya Mum!) once told me that I could do whatever job I pleased in life, but it did have to permit me to stand on my own two feet financially speaking. I was living in Kenya at the time, working on a marine biology conservation project, when I had an epiphany: I just knew that I had to come home and try to be an actor.
“But as everyone knows, there are no guarantees in finding work as an actor. So, repeating my mum’s words in my mind, I decided to become a secondary science specialist teacher (and use my marine biology background) so that in between acting work, I could earn enough money with supply teaching and/or private tuition.
“I planned to do two years as a teacher; the first would be my teacher-training year, the second would be my probationary year before I became fully qualified. Teaching in secondary schools was utterly fantastic; every day was a rollercoaster and I eventually ended up leaving the classroom after five years.”
Do you have any unusual interests or activities, apart from marine zoology and teaching, away from acting?
“Yes, I love doing algebra. (This is obviously untrue: I’m actually rubbish at maths). This is a great question to ask…and I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time and haven’t yet found the time or courage to do this…and so stating it here will commit me…it will force me to do it…one day I’m going to get my paraglider’s licence. Because why not?.There, I’ve said it out loud now!”
Do you have any York or Yorkshire connections?
“Well, not really. Although, having said that, my English grandparents were Yorkshire folk. My Grandad grew up in Huddersfield and my Gran was a Sheffield lass, so maybe there are a few drops of Yorkshire blood in me after all. It’s a pleasure to become acquainted with it this year.
“The panto press launch in September was my first time in York. I walked from York station to the theatre and though I was told it would take 11 minutes, looking at all the sights on the way, it took me half an hour, on such a beautiful day too.”
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. All pictures: Jennifer Jones
YORK company Pick Me Up Theatre will stage the northern premiere of Mel Brooks’s musical Young Frankenstein in the New Year after the late postponement of last autumn’s run at the Grand Opera House.
Andrew Isherwood has picked up the directorial reins for this stage conversion of Brooks’s comedy horror movie, produced in York by artistic director and designer Robert Readman.
Rehearsals re-started in early December for the January 31 to February 3 run at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, with the original principal cast still in place and Helen Spencer assisting with production management.
“This show is by the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation The Producers,” says Robert. “The comedy genius Mel Brooks has adapted his legendary comedy film from 1974 into a brilliant stage show of Young Frankenstein. I saw the West End production and loved it.
Following the science: James Willstrop’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein
“Every bit as relevant to audience members who will remember the original as it will be to newcomers, the musical has all the of panache of the screen sensation with a little extra theatrical flair added. Young Frankenstein is scientifically proven, monstrously good entertainment.”
In Brooks’s spoof, the grandson of infamous scientist Victor Frankenstein, Dr Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”, he insists), has inherited his family’s castle estate in Transylvania.
Aided and hindered by hunchbacked sidekick Igor (pronounced “Eye-gore”), leggy lab assistant Inga (pronounced normally), devilishly sexy Frau Blucher (“Neigh”!) and needy fiancée Elizabeth (“Surprise”!), Frederick finds himself filling the mad scientist shoes of his ancestor.
After initial reluctance, his mission will be to strive to fulfil his grandfather’s legacy by bringing a corpse back to life. “It’s alive!”, he exclaims as his experiment yields a creature to rival his grandfather’s monster. Eventually, and inevitably, this new monster escapes.
Working in tandem with Thomas Meehan, Brooks gleefully reanimates his horror-movie send-up of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, with even more jokes, set-pieces and barnstorming parody songs that stick a pitchfork into good taste. Among those songs will be Puttin’ On The Ritz, Please Don’t Touch Me, He Vas My Boyfriend, The Transylvania Mania and There Is Nothing Like A Brain!, among many more Transylvanian smash hits.
Helen Spencer’s Frau Blucher and Jack Hooper’s Igor
Leading Pick Me Up’s cast will be former world squash champion James Willstrop, continuing his transfer from court to stage player as Dr Frankenstein after his Captain Von Trapp in Pick Me Up’s The Sound Of Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, last Christmas.
Starring opposite him again will be Swedish-born Sanna Jeppsson (Maria in The Sound Of Music), here cast as Inga, while Jack Hooper, Mr Poppy in York Stage’s Nativity! The Musical in November 2022, will be Dr Frankenstein’s puppy dog of an assistant, Igor, “the classic Hammer Horror sidekick with a hump that keeps moving around”.
Helen Spencer (Mother Abbess in The Sound Of Music and Dolly Levi in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Hello, Dolly!) will play Frau Blucher, “the very stern housekeeper with surprising hidden depths”; Jennie Wogan-Wells, the Narrator in York Musical Theatre Company’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last May, will be ingenue Elizabeth Benning, Frankenstein’s fiancée from America. “Think Legally Blonde,” says Helen. “Very conscious of her image; very high maintenance, throwing a spanner in the works when she turns up.”
Craig Kirby (Tom Oakley in Pick Me Up’s Goodnight Mr Tom) will be in Monster mode and further roles will go to Tom Riddolls as Sgt Kemp, Sam Steel as Bertram Bartam and Andrew Isherwood, fresh from directing Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None for Pick Me Up last September, can be spotted as The Hermit as well as directing.
Rivals for Dr Frankenstein’s affections: Jennie Wogan-Wells’s Elizabeth Benning, left, and Sanna Jeppsson’s Inga
A supporting ensemble will play Transylvanians, students and more besides. Choreography is by Ilana Weets and the orchestra will be led by musical maestro Sam Johnson.
Readman had to call off Pick Me Up’s Halloween double bill of Emma Reeves and Lucy Potter’s The Worst Witch and Young Frankenstein at the Grand Opera House due to unforeseen circumstances. It has not been possible to re-mount Rosy Rowley’s production of The Worst Witch, featuring a young cast, but Young Frankenstein will take over the JoRo slot allocated originally to Pick Me Up’s now jettisoned production of Chicago, whose principal casting was in place, but whose rehearsals were yet to start.
Helen Spencer is relishing the resumption of rehearsals for Young Frankenstein. “Ilana had already put us through a huge amount of tap-dancing work: a very delayed return to tap in my case, having not done it since school, and she’s been very patient,” she says. “We’re having such fun again.
“Young Frankenstein is very silly with some brilliant numbers and really vibrant comedy, and we’re very lucky to have such amazing actors. Robert says it’s the best principal cast he could have wished for, such a safe pair of hands and so skilled that it would have been such a shame not to have done it. Thankfully we’re going ahead in January.”
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
NEWSFLASHES…Curtains…The Hollywood Sisters…Joseph Rowntree Theatre Musical Theatre Awards…Musicals In The Multiverse…
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company cast members for Curtains poke their heads out from beneath the JoRo curtain, which will fom part of the musical mystery whodunit’s set in February, along with the auditorium at large
JOSEPH Rowntree Theatre Company’s next show will be Curtains, the 2007 Broadway musical mystery comedy with a book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander and additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes.
What’s the plot? Boston’s Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of a new musical in 1959. When the leading lady – a fading Hollywood star and diva, who has no right to be one – dies mysteriously on stage, the entire cast and crew are suspects.
Enter a local detective – and musical theatre fan to boot – who tries to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, all without being killed.
Delightful characters, a witty and charming script and glorious tunes await you from February 7 to 10 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee. In the cast will be Steven Jobson, Jennifer Jones, Jennie Wogan-Wells, Rosy Rowley, Jonathan Wells, Paul Blenkiron, Ben Huntley, Jennifer Payne, Anthony Gardner, Chris Gibson and Jamie Benson, among others.
Proceeds from ticket sales on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk will go to the JoRo.
The Hollywood Sisters: from left, Helen Spencer, Henrietta Linnemann, Rachel Higgs and Cat Foster
AFTER raising £1,000 for York Mind at their sold-out December 1 concert at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York close-harmony quartet The Hollywood Sisters – Helen Spencer, Cat Foster, Rachel Higgs and Henrietta Linnemann – willreturn there for another charity Christmas show with special guests next December. Watch this space for further details.
THE inaugural Joseph Rowntree Theatre Musical Theatre Awards will be launched formally in January. Watch this space.
Set up by the JoRo, the awards will run annually. “We’ve put out requests to all the companies that do full-book musicals in York, not specifically at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre,” says York actress, singer and director Helen Spencer, who is helping to run the awards with co-founder Nick Sephton. “At least seven companies have said they want to be involved.
“The way it works, each company nominates a judge; the judges will get together at the end of the year to decide who the winners are, with such categories as Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Choreographer, and then the awards ceremony will be held at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Oscars style, in January.”
Explaining the concept behind the awards, Helen says: “The idea is to celebrate the amazing musical theatre scene we have in York and the amazing community we have that puts on these shows. This is a chance to celebrate all that creativity in our city.”
Scarlett Rowley in the first edition of Musicals In The Multverse at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in June 2023
TO quote CharlesHutchPress, from the June 30 review, “Musicals In The Multiverse turns out to be out of this world. A sequel will surely follow.”
Happy to report that this Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company revue will return to the JoRo in June 2024, dates yet to be confirmed.
Directed by Helen Spencer, the show’s modus operandi is “playful, radical too, and has the potential to be rolled out again,” as CharlesHutchPress wrote of June’s inaugural two-night run.
“Imagine alternative worlds – a multiverse – where musical favourites take on a new life with a change of gender, era, key or musical style, arranged with glee, joy and flourish after flourish by musical director Matthew Peter Clare for his smart band”. More details of the sequel will follow.
Mooving and grooving: Anna Soden’s Dave the Talking Cow in Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal. Picture: SR Taylor Photography
YORK actress, musician, comedian and writer Anna Soden is playing not only Dave the Talking Cow but Dave the Trumpet-Playing Cow too in the Walking On Sunshine finale to Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal.
“Acting comes first; I trained in straight acting at Mountview [in Peckham, London], but I’ve explored writing and music and comedy too,” says Anna, on her return to her home-city pantomime after starring as a rapping, funky, blue and pink-haired, multi-tasking Fairy, more likely to hit the bass line than wave a wand, in The Travelling Pantomime, toured by York Theatre Royal to community venues in the Covid winter of 2020.
“I play bass guitar and trumpet mostly and love it when I can incorporate singing or playing instruments into a job, and it’s ace to put on my own work, but I’m an actor first and foremost.”
In a first for the Theatre Royal pantomime, Patricia the cow, with its front and rear-end actors, fluttering eyes and nodding head, has made way for Anna’s Dave, the female Friesian with the male name and plenty to say, delivered not so much on the hoof as upright on two hooves in a pantomime variation on the “Four legs, two legs better”mantra in Orwell’s Animal Farm.
“I’m playing the front and back because of the cost-of living crisis” says Anna. “There were whispering throughout the year that they needed someone who would dress up as a cow. I think Hayley [choreographer Hayley Del Harrison] was thinking, ‘wouldn’t it be fun if Anna played it’, and hopefully it’s exactly that – fun – and not, ‘oh, that woman’s having a mental breakdown!”
Before attending the pantomime launch in September, she had been expecting to play Caroline the Cow. “To be honest, I had no idea [about the role]; I hadn’t read the script. I just heard ‘cow’, and that I’d be working again with Juliet [director Juliet Forster], Hayley and Robin [dame Robin Simpson], and my new pal James Mackenzie [after doing CBeebies’ Shakespeare together], and I thought, that sounds fun and said ‘yes’,” recalls Anna.
Anna Soden’s Dave the Talking Cow with James Mackenzie’s villain, Luke Backinanger, left, Giant Blunderbore, right, and surly teenage son Darren in Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
“But big news, I’m going to be Dave the Talking Cow,” she announced that day. How did she react to writer Paul Hendy’s change of plan? “In terms of my panto career, Dave the Talking Cow is a big step forward! I feel like going from a Genie to a talking cow is a progression: it’s a great career moove!
“My first pantomime was the rock’n’roll panto at Liverpool Everyman, where everyone played instruments, It was Sleeping Beauty and I was the fairy and got to fly – and sing Golden Slumbers, a Beatles song, in Liverpool!
“Then I did Chipping Norton; they have a brilliant traditional show there, with original songs. I played a Boy Scout and a Weasel in Rapunzel – you know, the famous weasel in Rapunzel! – and that was gloriously silly. Last year I was at Derby Arena, which was a totally different vibe again, as it was massive! I played the Genie and a lot of other roles in Aladdin; it was a spectacle, I had a ball! Every city and town does panto so differently, so it’s really interesting experiencing them all.”
None was more “interesting” than the one-off Travelling Pantomime tour under Covid rules in York. “It was a really special thing. It kind of felt like a fever dream; it was a little explosion of glitter in an apocalypse,” says Anna. “Working in that cast of five with a skeleton creative team was a unique bonding experience. I really made such dear friends on that show, and I’m so happy to be reunited with lovely Robin [Simpson] this year.
“Performing on that little pop-up stage, our dressing rooms being disabled toilets or storage cupboards, touring to hotels, schools, churches, village halls… it felt like a really gorgeous way to do panto. It was bursting with a sense of community and local identity. I’d love to see more theatre being made like that, not just when there’s a deadly pandemic (although I’ll take a dressing room over a disabled toilet this year).”
Raised in York, Anna cut her stage teeth over a decade of York Youth Theatre shows. “I was in the young people’s ensemble for loads of York Theatre Royal shows growing up, including The Railway Children twice, The Wind In The Willows, Peter Pan and King Arthur, and the Cinderella pantomime in 2006,” she says.
Anna Soden’s bass guitar-playing funky Fairy in York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime in 2020. Picture: Anthony Robling
“I moved away at 18, so it’s lovely to sporadically come home to York Theatre Royal. In the pandemic, the theatre partnered with me, with the support of Arts Council England, to make my one-person family adaptation of Five Children And It, set on Scarborough beach.”
Presented in association with Scarborough community producing company Arcade, this collaboration marked the formation of Anna’s theatre-making company, Strawberry Lion, whose online premiere of her storytelling, puppetry and musical account of E Nesbit’s 1902 children’s novel was streamed on Explore York libraries’ You Tube channel in April 2021.
As well as playing Feste in CBeebies’ Twelfth Night at Shakespeare’s Globe, with Theatre Royal panto villain James Mackenzie as Duke Orsino and choreography by Hayley Del Harrison, Anna has taken to making “stupid videos”.
“I love to make online sketches,” she says. “Digital comedy is at a really exciting place where it’s so easily accessed, so I make a lot of silly stuff for TikTok and Instagram. It’s also easier than persuading the BBC to give me my own sketch show/sitcom.
“I’ve started doing stand-up comedy, mostly gigging in Brighton and London, which I’m loving, but making video sketches is my favourite format. They are very stupid but I did win the British Comedy Guide sketch competition last year, and Harry Hill said they were ‘very funny’, so there’s definitely merit in stupid!
“My comedy is pretty absurd, more alternative, but not particularly child-friendly! All my digital comedy is not necessarily rude but quite scary. I’ll be interested to see if the kids like a talking panto cow!”
Anna Soden in rehearsal for her adaptation of E Nesbit’s Five Children And It
Since graduating from Mountview in 2017, Anna has spent only the Covid Christmas of 2020 at home in York. “That was lovely but keeping sopcially distanced of course, but it’s part of an actor’s job that you work at Christmas and won’t be at home, so it’s great that this Christmas I get to see my family” says Anna.
“It’s also super exciting to be performing at York Theatre Royal because I used to chaperone here while I was at training at drama school, when I was doing my serious roles and played Juliet twice.
“When I graduated, I thought, ‘that’s enough for me, I’m going to be silly now’, but if you’d said back then I’d be playing a talking pantomime cow…”
Jack And The Beanstalk, co-produced by Evolution Productions, runs at York Theatre Royal until January 7 2024. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
One final question for Anna
Do you have any unusual interests or hobbies away from the stage?
“Lying on the floor when it’s about to rain, producing dairy products, eating grass…” she says, slipping into Dave the Talking Cow mode. “…and tarot reading.”
Copyright of The Press, York
“I’m playing the front and back of the cow because of the cost-of living crisis,” jokes Anna
Jake Lindsay’s Robinson Crusoe and Berwick Kaler’s dame, Dotty Dullaly, in Robinson Crusoe & The Pirates Of The River Ouse at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
HEADING out of 2023 into 2024, Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations are not out with the old just yet, but definitely in with the new too.
Still time for pantomime: Robinson Crusoe & The Pirates Of The River Ouse, Grand Opera House, York, until January 6; Jack And The Beanstalk, York Theatre Royal, until January 7
DOWAGER dame Berwick Kaler goes nautical in Robinson Crusoe for the first time in his 43rd York panto and third at the Grand Opera House. Jake Lindsay takes the title role alongside the Ouse crew’s regulars, Martin Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Robin Simpson’s Dame Trott, in Clifford’s Tower attire, takes centre stage in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap waves a magical artichoke wand over York Theatre Royal’s fourth collaboration with Evolution Productions, wherein CBeebies’ James Mackenzie’s villainous Luke Backinanger takes on returnee Robin Simpson’s Dame Trott, Anna Soden’s Dave the Cow, Mia Overfield’s Jack and Matthew Curnier’s very silly Billy in Jack And The Beanstalk. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
James Lewis-Knight and Emily Chapple, a teddy bear and a Dickensian ghost in Badapple Theatre Company’s tour of Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol. Picture: Karl Andre
Last chance to see: Badapple Theatre Company in Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol, Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe Village Hall, near Sutton Bank, Hambleton, December 27, 4.30pm; East Cottingwith Village Hall, near York, December 29, 4pm
A GRUMPY farmer? From Yorkshire? Surely not! Welcome to Kate Bramley’s rural revision of Dickens’s festive favourite, A Christmas Carol, now set on Farmer Scrooge’s farm and in his bed in 1959 as Green Hammerton company Badapple Theatre put the culture into agriculture.
York actors James Lewis-Knight and Emily Chattle play multiple roles in a tale replete with local stories and carols, puppets and mayhem, original songs by Jez Lowe and a whacking great dose of seasonal bonhomie. Tickets: Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, 01423 331304; East Cottingwith, 07866 024009 or 07973 699145.
Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for A Feast Of Fools at the Black Swan Inn
Twelfth Night celebrations: Navigators Art & Performance, A Feast Of Fools, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, January 6, 7.30pm
DEVISED by York arts collective Navigators Art & Performance with White Sail, A Feast Of Fools: Folk Music and Words to Celebrate Old Christmas & Twelfth Night is billed as “the final festivity, when lords become servants, beggars rule and convention goes to the dogs. Summon the Green Man! Hail the Lord of Misrule!”
Taking part in this “seriously different and seriously good” gathering will be: Wiccan singer-songwriter Cai Moriarty; experimental neo-folk band Wire Worms; leftfield story and song dispensers Adderstone; poet, architect and musician Thomas Pearson and multi-instrumental alt-folk legends White Sail. Box office: TicketSource at bit.ly/nav-feast or on the door if available.
Roxanna Klimaszewska: Creative director of Be Amazing Arts
Audition time: Be Amazing Arts, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, for staging at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 11 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
MALTON company Be Amazing Arts will hold open auditions for the spring production of Disney’s Beauty And The Beast at Huntington School, Huntington Road, York, on Thursday, January 11 from 5.30pm to 9.15pm, when performers aged seven to 18 are invited to attend.
For more information or to book your child’s place, visit beamazingarts.co.uk. “We can’t wait to bring this tale as old as time to life with some of the best young talent in York and beyond,” says creative director Roxanna Klimaszewska. Box office for April tickets: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Album showcase: One Iota, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 13, 7pm
YORK indie band One Iota return to the JoRo to showcase new album Shadows In The Shade. Expect strong melodies, rich harmonies, soaring guitars and epic soundscapes from a full band line-up, including a string section, topped off with a light show. James Merlin supports. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
John Otway, right, and Wild Willy Barrett: Reuniting at The Crescent
50th anniversary cartwheels: Mr H Presents John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett, The Crescent, York, January 13, 7.30pm
TWO “unlikely lads” from Aylesbury reunite for John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett’s Half A Sentry Tour, sure to feature Cor Baby That’s Really Free and Beware Of The Flowers (Cause I’m Sure They’re Gonna Get You Yeh), number seven in a poll of the best lyrics ever, one place behind Paul McCartney’s Yesterday.
Barrett, 73, will be equipped with acoustic and electric guitars, fiddle, balalaika and brown wheelie bin; singer and somersault enthusiast Otway, 71, will still be scampering around like an untrained puppy. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Robert Gammon: Playing at three Dementia Friendly Tea Concerts in 2024
New season: Dementia Friendly Tea Concerts, St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, January to December 2024
AFTER raising £2,159 for the Alzheimer’s Society in 2023, the dates for next year’s 45-minute Dementia Friendly Tea Concerts are in place, beginning with organist Chantal Berry on January 18 at 2.30pm.
Further dates are: February 15, Isobel Thompson, trumpet, and Grace Harman, piano; March 21, James Sanderson, piano, and Friends; April 18, Alison Gammon, clarinet, Maria Marshall, cello, and Robert Gammon, piano; May 23, Flaute Felice, flute ensemble; June 20, David Hammond, piano.
Then come: July 18, Hannah Feehan, guitar; August 15, Robert Gammon, piano; September 19, Lucinda Taylor, harp; October 17, Billy Marshall, French horn, and Robert Gammon, piano; November 21, Giocoso Wind Ensemble, and December 12, Ripon Resound Choir. No charge but donations are welcome. Organiser Alison Gammon will be trying out new cake recipes alongside old favourites.
Ben Elton: Warning of the dangers of Authentic Stupidity at York Barbican
Looking ahead: Ben Elton, Authentic Stupidity, York Barbican, September 1, 7.30pm
BEN Elton returned to the live comedy circuit in 2019 after a 15-year hiatus, playing York Barbican that October. Next year, the godfather of modern stand-up will return with his new show, Authentic Stupidity.
“Since my last live tour, a whole new existential threat has emerged to threaten humanity! Apparently Artificial Intelligence is going to destroy us all!” he says. “Well, I reckon our real problem isn’t Artificial Intelligence, it’s good old-fashioned Authentic Stupidity! Forget AI! It’s AS we need to be worrying about.” Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
In Focus: Kestrel Investigates, Christmas Eve episode of online paranormal comedy with York connection
O Holy Fright: The Christmas Eve episode of Kestrel Investigates
YORK filmmaker Miles Watts, of Zomlogalypse zombie movie fame, is producing the Christmas Eve episode of paranormal comedy Kestrel Investigates.
Entitled O Holy Fright, this festive special edition of the cult web series will feature a guest appearance by Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, himself a cult icon from Channel 4’s 1990s’ show Fortean TV.
“The web series began screening online in 2018 and is now between its second and third season,” says Watts. “It follows inept paranormal investigator Agravain Kestrel (Stephen Mosley) and his reluctant documentarian, Mike, played by writer-director Oliver Semple.”
The pair worked previously on the fantasy comedy film Kenneth, directed and co-written by Peter Anthony Farren, now streaming on Amazon.
Reverend Fanthorpe, now aged 88 and retired, became involved after the idea of A Christmas Carol-style story was pitched to him by the creators. “Filming with the Kestrel team brought me as much fun and excitement as working on Fortean TV – and it made me feel 20 years younger!” says Fanthorpe, who hosted Fortean TV from January 29 1997 to March 6 1998 on Channel 4.
Filmmaker Semple and producer Watts – whose own web series Zomblogalypse has just been given the film treatment – will release online teasers ahead of the Christmas Eve episode that follows Kestrel and cameraman Mike as they are dragged unwillingly through a series of Scrooge-like visions.
Kestrel Investigates on Shambles in York
Semple says: “Kestrel is thinking about quitting his paranormal investigations until he is visited by three ghosts, kicked off by a zoom call from Lionel Fanthorpe in place of Marley’s ghost, with each ghost trying to convince Kestrel that for the good of mankind, he must not give up.
“Kestrel Investigates is very British in that it follows in the footsteps of classic sitcoms like Steptoe & Son or Only Fools And Horses: humour mixed with working-class misery and pathos. I’m also a huge fan of Christmas, so this is our take on the classic Dickens tale.
“Working with the Rev Lionel Fanthorpe has been a dream come true for us, as we were all huge fans of Fortean TV back in the day – and he was an absolute gentleman to work with.”
Both filmmakers have written a slate of feature film scripts and created a new film company, Outward Films, joining forces with producers to pitch a number of film projects for production from 2024 onwards. These include an action-horror, a creature feature and eventually a Kestrel movie.
Reverend Fanthorpe lauds the show’s blend of humour and the paranormal. “It has the same consequences as putting a drop of rum in a mince pie: it produces pleasure and excitement,” he says. “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Kestrel – and the very talented team who created him!”
Watts concludes with a piece of advice: “You can subscribe to watch the episode on the Kestrel Investigates YouTube channel, and by searching for Kestrel Investigates on all social media outlets.”
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: New album, richer sound, candid lyrics. Picture: Harry Pearson
YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich will embark on an eight-date headline tour next spring, opening at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on April 4, in support of his new album.
Set for release on February 9 on his regular label since becoming Dirty Hit Records’ first signing, Some Things Break follows 2021’s To Carry A Whale, 2019’s Gratitude, 2016’s After The Rain and 2011’s Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm.
All written and performed by London-based Benjamin, the track listing will be: I’m Always Saying Sorry; Moon Landing Hoax; Break In The Weather; New York; Some Things Break; Spokane, Washington; God’s Best; A Love Like That; Only You and Don’t Give Up On The Light.
The cover artwork for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s fifth album, Some Things Break, out on February 9 2024
Composed over the past two years at locations across the globe, from London to Nashville, Washington to Stockholm, Some Things Break was produced by Grammy Award-winning Jimmy Hogarth, who can name Amy Winehouse, Sia and Antony And The Johnsons among his production clients.
Some Things Break also features collaborations with fellow songwriters Mikky Ekko, The 1975’s Jamie Squire and Jon Green and reveals a broader range in Benjamin’s voice, while calling on richer instrumentation by comparison with the more stripped-back sound of his earlier work.
His acoustic guitar remains present throughout, but at times is backed with piano, choirs, drumbeats and effects that create a dense and layered soundscape for his vocal candour and vulnerability.
“It’s a record about a kind of slow acceptance that some things break and, for me, sometimes that’s necessary for healing,” says Benjamin. Picture: Harry Pearson
Reflecting on this new direction, with its subtle reinvention in his sound and honesty laid bare in his lyrics, 34-year-old Benjamin says: “It feels like a new voice, in a way. I guess a more human and perhaps a more surrendered voice.
“Learning to hold onto certain things and let go of others, with as much grace as possible, I feel like I’m hiding less on this record. Ultimately, I think it’s a record about a kind of slow acceptance that some things break and, for me, sometimes that’s necessary for healing.”
Some Things Break is preceded by the single Moon Landing Hoax, out now with a live video Landing directed by Harvey Pearson and starring Jamie Squire performing alongside Benjamin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCG83YjC15U).
“It feels like a new voice, in a way. I guess a more human and perhaps a more surrendered voice,” says Benjamin. Picture: Harry Pearson
“To me this song is about healing, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, and about all the mad sh*t one can get up to or into on that winding road,” says Benjamin. “I’m so excited to be back on the road next year and to play many new and old songs live again.”
His fellow York musician, The Howl & The Hum bassist and keyboards player Bradley Blackwell, was overheard at the close of the third and final night of the original line-up’s farewell Crescent shows this week that he would be working with Benjamin on the tour. Watch this space.
As ever, Benjamin will be giving his material a fresh perspective when adapting both seasoned fan favourites and songs from Some Things Break in an intimate setting in his shows at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on April 4; Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, April 5; Summerhall, Edinburgh, April 6; Band On The Wall, Manchester, April 8; Lantern, Bristol, April 9; Earth Theatre, London; Acapela Studio, Cardiff, April 11, and Workman’s Club, Dublin, April 13. Tour tickets are on sale from www.benjaminfrancisleftwich.com
The poster for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s April 2024 tour
Did you know?
BENJAMIN Francis Leftwich’s songwriting, co-writing and collaborations with other artists have grown over the past few years, writing with The 1975, Nick Mulvey, CMAT (Irish singer-songwriter Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson), Holly Humberstone and Rachel Chinouriri.
Did you know too?
BENJAMIN was the first act to be signed by Dirty Hit Records, to be followed by The 1975, Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, Pale Waves and Bleachers. Debut album Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm reached number 35 in the UK charts in July 2011.
Made for Chering: Cher’s Christmas selection box of disco bangers, festive standards and big ballads
Cher, Christmas (Warner Records) ***
Wrapping: As expected, Cher’s first ever Christmas album at 77 is beautifully packaged with a choice of sleeve, either Rock Chick Cher, dressed in faded denim, or glamourous metallic haute couture. Choose from CD, red vinyl, or a fabulous 20-page magazine version packed full of the icon that is Cher.
Gifts inside: Lead single DJ Play A Christmas Song is yet another sub-remake of Believe, but with a memorably hypnotic hook. The remaining dozen tracks are workmanlike covers of Christmas rock standards, originals Angels In The Snow, I Like Christmas and Tyga duet Drop Top Sleigh Ride, and a few too many seasonal ballads. Stevie Wonder (What Christmas Means To Me), Darlene Love (Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) , Cyndi Lauper, Michael Bublé and a host of others join in the colour-by-numbers set.
Style: Cher’s career across seven decades has relied in three hues: old-fashioned rock’n’roll, disco and big ballads. The former two have served her well for more than half a century. However, to my ears, Cher’s voice is too big, and even clumsy, for sensitive ballads, of which there are many.
‘Tis the reason to be jolly: The artwork is gorgeous. No-one knew they needed a Christmas Cher album (as her 27th studio set) until one came along. However, under the tantalising wrapping is a Christmas album to be played once, then kept on display with the other Christmas baubles.
Scrooge moan: The thought of Canadian crooner Michael Bublé and Cher sharing a song is compelling. However, the resulting cover of Home is a Yuletide disaster. The two voices simply don’t blend. Fortunately, Cyndi Lauper’s chipper and upbeat contribution to Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart more than makes up for this faux pas.
White Christmas? Not a sign of Bing Crosby’s hit. However, we are treated to pub-rock versions of Run Rudolph Run, Please Come Home For Christmas and a rather inappropriate rendition of Santa Baby!
Blue Christmas? Well, the artwork is beautiful and the lead single is a grower. However, many would have much preferred that promised Volume II of Cher’s Dancing Queen set of ABBA covers, five years on from the first.
Stocking or shocking? Despite the negatives, this is still a Cher album. Everyone knows someone who needs a little Cher in their lives.
Ian Sime
Kate Rusby: Christmas songs merry, melancholic and dippy
Kate Rusby, Light Years (Pure Records) ****
Wrapping: Barnsley nightingale Kate in dark angel wings, feet planted in her beloved snowy South Yorkshire landscape. A pictorial theme she extends through the inner sleeve and sleeve notes, culminating in the exiting Kate walking towards winter woodland.
Gifts inside: South Yorkshire pub carols (Spean; Nowell, Nowell); winter songs (A Spaceman Came Travelling; The Moon Shines Bright, with Kate’s “early 50th birthday present ” of Union Station’s Alison Krauss and Ron Block guesting on vocals and banjo); Christmas chestnuts “you hear in shops” (It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year; Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree/Sleigh Ride; three Rusby compositions, and a brace of novelty numbers (Sid Kipper’s parody Arrest These Merry Gentlemen and Sid Tepper & Roiy C Bennett’s Nothin’ For Christmas).
Style: Kate and her regular folk and Moog synth players, augmented as ever by the “Brass Boys”, on songs merry, melancholic and dippy.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Kate’s own compositions, led by Glorious, a song of renewal, healing, love and light, composed one February day as she stood in her snow-coated garden, longing for spring, and thought of a broken angel seated in a tree. Her seventh take on While Shepherds Watched still leaves 24 pub carol versions to go because this one has a new Rusby tune and gorgeous chorus, as does the closing Joseph, complete with Damien O’Keefe’s glockenspiel.
Scrooge moan: It took Johnny Mathis from 1958 to 2023 to chalk up seven Christmas albums, by comparison with only 15 years for Kate’s holiday season septet (including the live Happy Holly Days). What took you so long, Johnny?!
White Christmas? Only on the sleeve.
Blue Christmas? Nowell, Nowell evokes the blue-fingered bleak midwinter of coats, scarves, holly berries and distant carol singers but the bright glory of the Nativity too. Kate’s cover ofChris de Burgh’s A Spaceman Came Travelling (whose lyrics lends Light Years its title) is bluer than the original too.
Stocking or shocking? Bought nothin’ for Christmas yet?Hollylujah, here comes the perfect gift for Yorkshire folk.
Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden, Glad Christmas Comes (Hudson Records) ****
Wrapping: Folk luminaries and fellow fiddle players Jon Boden (Bellowhead/Spiers & Boden) and Robin Hood’s Bay’s Eliza Carthy MBE (Waterson:Carthy/Wayward Band/The Imagined Village/Blue Murder/The Rails) in tree and candle-lit party mood with folk friends and a nodding mechanical reindeer. Later joined by a goose.
Gifts inside: Christmas in the Carthy & Boden households is a “serious business”, say E&J’s sleeve notes, and so is their debut Christmas collaboration. As heard at their December 10 Wassail (it means “be well”) at Whitby Pavilion, E&J combine evergreen carols with Norma Waterson recommendations (Stanley Brothers’ Beautiful Star and Jean Ritchie’s Winter Grace); a 2012 Boden composition, The Good Doctor; a 2021 Carthy & Boden original (Glad Christmas Comes, words by John Clare); the obligatory variation on While Shepherds (White Zion, from Boden’s local pub in Dungworth, along with The Holly & The Ivy) and a brace of 20th century interlopers, John Rox’s I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas and Shane MacGowan RIP and Jem Finer’s Fairytale Of New York. Make sure to read the sleeve notes too, painting the fullest picture behind the 16 tracks.
Style: Recorded at Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield, the folk firmament is in full glory, from everything but the kitchen sink a la Bellowhead to haunting a cappella (Glad Christmas Comes, Remember Oh Thou Man). E&J’s fiery or mournful fiddles, E’s melodeons and percussion and J’s concertina, guitar and percussion are complemented by Backstage Brass, as warming as whisky yet as melancholic as toast gone cold, and the entwining voices of Waterson;Carthy cohorts Emily Portman and Tim van Eyken.
‘Tis The Reason To Be Jolly: Making merry with I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In; cavorting through Jingle Bells with fiddle, concertina and, yes, bells. Then, held back to the finale, having the baubles to smelt Fairytale Of New York in the Sheffield folk furnace, E & J jousting like Kirsty and Shane, changing “that line” (the one that rhymes with “you maggot”) to “You’re wasted, you’re plastered, You cheap lying bastard”, by the way. Who can resist bursting into dancing, like those mourners at Shane’s County Tipperary funeral? Certainly not the Morris-dancing Ewan Wardrop.
Scrooge moan: Such a shame to have missed that night of Whitby wassailing with E&J…but the official carol singing season chez Carthy and chez Boden stretches from September 1 to February 1, outlasting even the winter season’s South Yorkshire pub weekend “sings”, so Glad Christmas Comes can keep a’coming.
White Christmas? No, but ‘Christmas’ bedecks two titles, Glad Christmas Comes (and its album-closing brass reprise) and J’s jocular concertina cabaret of I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, boozy brass coda et al.
Blue Christmas? None bluer than Rossetti/Holst’s In The Bleak Midwinter, frosty winds made moan by E’s singing, snow on snow on snow in the brass playing, stamped Could Only Be Made In Yorkshire.
Stocking or shocking? For shepherds and wise men, carol singers and folk club devotees alike.
When A Child Is Re-born: Johnny Mathis records new version of his 1976 Christmas chart-topper
Johnny Mathis, Christmas Time Is Here (Sony Legacy) ****
Wrapping: The Grandfather of the Christmas melody, Johnny Matthis is still looking good at 88. The Seventies-style sleeve holds a choice of a marbled red or ivy green vinyl LP or a modest standard CD version. Opt for the red version if you can find it.
Gifts inside: You will know all ten classic songs, such as Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, O Little Town Of Bethlehem and a remake of Johnny’s 1976 number one single When A Child Is Born.
Style: Like a good vintage wine, Johnny Mathis improves with time. This was the very last album to be recorded at the iconic Capital Tower Recording Studio in Hollywood before major restorations. Production helmed by Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and indeed Johnny’s long-term collaborators Jay Landers and Fred Mollin, this is a festive slice of old-school easy listening.
‘Tis the reason to be jolly: This is Mr Mathis’s seventh Yuletide album (1958, 1963, 1969, 1986, 2002, 2013 and now 2023). Although visiting Christmas Past, this is a lovely selection of classics adored by many generations. Wicked/Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth also guests on Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
Scrooge moan: You may have to search a few websites to find the lovely red vinyl version.
White Christmas? Of course, White Christmas is present and correct. As are Merry Christmas, Baby and the album-closing Auld Lang Syne.
Blue Christmas? Yes, that song is here too, typical of a tasteful album, classic in style and tone, befitting a merry gentleman of senior vintage.
Stocking or shocking? Johnny Mathis is an essential festive favourite and every home should have at least one Christmas album by this Texan old-timer.
Ian Sime
Gregory Porter: Comfort and joy personified on Christmas Wish
Wrapping: Classic Christmas at home portraits of Porter, in his familiar hat rather than Santa’s, by the fireside on the cover, joined inside by his family and a photograph of his mother, and giving a child a present on the back. “I’m thankful for the healing that Christmas can bring,” he writes in his festive message. No lyrics, but credits for each song. CD colour? Christmas red, of course.
Gifts inside: Raised in Bakersfield, California, where his mother Ruth was a minister, Porter was encouraged to sing in church from an early age. That can be heard in his gospel voice (and the organ on the title track about his wish to kiss his dear mother mother’s Christmas Day). Christmas Wish is one of three Porter originals, joined by Everything’s Not Lost and the closing Heart For Christmas (with its refrain of “If children is for Christmas”) to accompany the likes of Little Drummer Boy and Cradle In Bethlehem.
Style: Trademark Blue Note/Verve Fifties’ holiday album elegance and sleek sophistication, as smooth as Nat King Cole, as warm as Louis Armstrong, recorded at Sear Sound, New York City over a week in late March/early April, gold-dusted with producer Troy Miller’s velvety string arrangements for the Kingdom Orchestra at London’s Abbey Road Studios. You want soul, jazz, gospel, vintage yet resonant today, Porter delivers, from the heavenly peace of a magical, piano and strings-decorated Silent Night to a gorgeous Do You Hear What I Hear?
‘Tis the reason to be jolly: Frank Loesser’s What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?, swept off its feet with romantic yearning in a duet with the aptly named Samara Joy.
Scrooge moan: Just a little too polished, too cosy, where you might wish for Otis Redding or James Brown to burst the Bublé of immaculate perfection.
White Christmas? No, but Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne’s ChristmasWaltz, SomedayAt Christmas, Christmas Wish, Christmas Time Is Here and Heart For Christmas tick the Christmas box.
Blue Christmas? No, but Purple Snowflakes (whatever purple snowflakes are?!). Clarence Paul/David Hamilton song, sung previously by Marvin Gaye on his 1965 album Pretty Little Baby, should you be wondering.
Stocking or shocking? No shocks here. Gregory Porter will be the go-to Christmas chestnut for 2023 stockings, parties and late-night liaisons alike, in the manner of Michael Bublé before him. Comfort and joy, Porter style.
