Category: Breaking News

Posted on

REVIEW: Esk Valley Theatre in Deals And Deceptions, Robinson Institute, Glaisdale; the plot thickens until August 26 ****

Clara Darcy’s Jen takes on a new life in the North York Moors in Mark Stratton’s thriller drama Deals And Deceptions. Picture:Tony Bartholomew

YORKSHIRE countryside shapes lives, from Wuthering Heights to All Creatures Great And Small, Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country to…Mark Stratton’s debut thriller drama for Esk Valley Theatre, his moorland home for nigh on 20 years.

“The presence of the North York Moors looms large in the play,” said EVT’s director in his CharlesHutchPress interview.

Londoners Danny and Jen Stevens (Dominic Rye, Clara Darcy) have had to hurry north to an isolated cottage, finding little more than an echo, a bare light bulb, one picture at a tilt on the wall…and a loose floorboard that opens a cupboard when walked on. That quirk will go on to play a significant role…

Leaving behind a flash lifestyle, they set up home with the impermanence of camping equipment: fold-out beds, a small table and misbehaving fold-up chairs. Needs must, but what was the reason for the midnight flit? Only Danny knows why.

In the presence of Darcy’s Jen, Rye’s Danny is reassuring, jack the lad, everything will be OK. Alone, he is as twitchy as a malfunctioning kettle (or that cupboard door), on the lookout, because everything could be KO, not OK.

The clue is in the title: deals and deceptions are afoot, dark deeds at work, dark forces at play. Not wishing to give everything away, let’s just say Danny’s deals may not be as clean as the Yorkshire air, and off back to London he heads to sort things out. Only a few days, he says, in his latest act of deception to Jen. Before leaving, he will buy her a little runaround car, but tell her to keep her encounters with the locals brief and to the minimum.

Yorkshire, however, has a way of introducing itself to these incomers as Stratton relishes the chance to play to a home crowd with sounds and happenings familiar to us. The alarming screams of screech owls; peacocks from the neighbouring country house tapping at the door; the snuffling and shuffling of a farmyard pig. Not so much ‘introducing’ as intruding, you might say, but each one loosens the  release valve for humour, after the initial shot of fear, as the truth is revealed.

Stratton’s cameo role, rooted in two decades of encounters with the Esk Valley farming community, is the very personification of Yorkshire introducing/intruding. Without invitation, his frank-speaking farmer, Wink – short for Winston – Towson, arrives at the door. His accent and phraseology are a mystery to Jen, but this gentle giant is a helpful sort.

In dodgy Danny’s absence, Jen makes a deal with God’s own country and begins a deception of her own by necessity, creating the new persona of a Yorkshire lass from Barnsley, as she Teaches Thissen T’Talk Tyke in a delightfully humorous transition to begin a journey of shell-shedding self-discovery.

This North-South divide is superbly delineated by the impressive Darcy throughout the resulting scenes. Jen grows to love the new life, bonding with gardener Jed Winter (part two for Rye), her blossoming summer of content as she takes up gardening. Rye is so convincing in this second role that at the end, as the cast took its bows, a whisper could be heard enquiring ‘where’s Jed?’!

Stratton combines licorice-dark humour with Yorkshire wit as dry as a moorland stone wall, and even knowing nods to Four Yorkshiremen stereotypes, while revealing a storytelling sleight of hand and a feel for suspense, twists and timing of arrivals to recall the manipulative noose-tightening of Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslighting and the intrigue of Peter James’s psycho-dramas.

The last “arrival” is The Woman, a suitably evasive name for Elizabeth Boag’s climactic cameo in Milk Tray advert black and an accent not from around here. A hit performance, in every way, just like Stratton’s debut play. Replete with deceptions, new beginnings, intrigue, murky mystery, the joy of gardening, farming folk and a love of Yorkshire, it is the real deal.

Esk Valley Theatre in Deals And Deceptions, Robinson Institute, Glaisdale, near Whitby, until August 26; Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm matinees on August 22 and 24. Box office: 01947 897587 or eskvalleytheatre.co.uk, 10.30am to 1pm; 3.30pm to 7.15pm.

Posted on

Berwick and panto crew will be all at sea in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse at Grand Opera House

Five mates on the River Ouse: Grand Opera House pantomime stars David Leonard, left, Martin Barrass, Suzy Cooper, dame Berwick Kaler and AJ Powell. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick

EVEN after five decades of pantomayhem, York dowager dame Berwick Kaler is still setting himself new challenges at 76.

“I’ve never done a Robinson Crusoe pantomime, and now I’m discovering why!” jokes the writer and director of…Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse, his third pantomime for the Grand Opera House following his crosstown transfer after 41 years at York Theatre Royal.

Dame Berwick and his regular crew launched this winter’s sea-faring adventure at the Cumberland Street theatre at Wednesday’s press day, where perennial sidekick Martin Barrass, villainous David Leonard, golden principal gal Suzy Cooper and luvverly Brummie AJ Powell completed York pantoland’s infamous five once more.

Why tackle Robinson Crusoe now, Berwick? “I’m blaming Martin Dodd,” he says, attributing his 2023 choice of pantomime to the managing director of UK Productions, producers of the Grand Opera pantomime for a second year.

“Sometimes, when you think, ‘why’s he doing that?’, it turns out to be a brilliant show,” says Berwick Kaler as he prepares to turn Robinson Crusoe into a pantomime for the first time

“He caught me off-guard, which made me say ‘I’d like to do something a bit different this year’, and somehow that became Robinson Crusoe! But I’ve no regrets about taking it on. It’s a challenge, and fortunately I’m still up for it.”

Dig deeper and another reason emerges for Berwick’s panto pick. As with Dick Turpin, whose life ended in a flash white suit and a noose around his neck on the Tyburn gallows on April 7 1739, Robinson Crusoe has his York connections. Turpin and his horse Black Bess have twice stood and delivered in a Kaler pantomime, most recently in his Grand Opera House debut, Dick Turpin Rides Again, in 2021.

As for Robinson Crusoe, the lead character in Daniel Defoe’s 1719 tale of adventure and survival was born in York in 1632 to a middle-class upbringing. The son of a German immigrant, his surname Crusoe is an anglicised version of Kreutznaer, an amalgam of his parents’ surnames.

That much we know, but as for the rest of Crusoe’s York story, the cupboard is bare, says Berwick. “We only know that Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked, not how his story began [in York] or how he got to the island,” he notes.

Who will panto villain David Leonard be playing in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse? How the devil should he know!

Cue Kaler coming up with his nod to Johnny Depp’s swashbuckling Caribbean capers in his title, Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse, for the story of “the sailor from York who finds himself marooned on a desert island…but he’s not alone”.

Who will be these “Pirates of the River Ouse”? Wait and see, but just as Berwick’s 2011 Theatre Royal pantomime, The York Family Robinson, bore little relation to its 19th century source material, Swiss army chaplain Johann David Wyss’s The Swiss Family Robinson, so Berwick will find a framework for his partners in panto in a nautical setting.

For research, “I’ve re-read the story, and when I was going through some old VHS tapes I was throwing out, I found the old Peter O’Toole film, which I’ve now watched,” he says.

Have crew members David, Suzy, Martin and AJ ever read Defoe’s story? “No, but I remember the TV series,” says David. “No, but I remember the TV series,” says Martin, breaking into the theme tune. “And I know Crusoe set off from Hull [Martin’s home city].”

“We have an identity as ‘the crazy gang’,” says Suzy Cooper

“I’m the only one with a character name so far,” says AJ. “I’ll be playing Luvverly Jubberly, which I only found out from Berwick just before the press launch.” And no, he has never had Robinson Crusoe on his bookshelf.

You can imagine David Leonard’s villain in swaggering piratical garb in the Adam Ant meets Captain Hook style, but who might that character be? “I haven’t the faintest idea who the baddie is,” he admits, still in the dark about his latest venture to the dark side.

“I don’t yet know who I’ll be playing, but I don’t think I’m playing the fairy,” says Suzy, another member of the non-Robinson Crusoe reading club.

“What’s important, even more so now, is that we are family – performers and audience – and people want to celebrate that. We make those connections each year; they make them with us and with each other and that’s why Berwick’s pantomime works.”

“People will say to us, ‘we’ve booked for such and such a night’, and then they’ll say, ‘by the way, what’s the title?’,” says Martin Barrass

Berwick and co are enjoying the partnership with UK Productions. “They let us get on with it,” says Suzy. “They found that it worked last year [The Adventures Of Old Granny Goose) and they’re happy to let us do that again, saying that they’d never seen a pantomime like ours!

“They know that we have an identity as ‘the crazy gang’. What they get when they get us is they’re buying into the history of who we are and what kind of pantomime we do.”

Berwick chips in: “They’re not used to someone ad-libbing, even at rehearsals, but what I’m doing is always trying to find a better line.”

Suzy rejoins: “It must be a very tough job for whoever is on the book each performance, because the cue will come, but they really have to listen because the dialogue will change every day!”

AJ Powell: Definitely playing Luvverly Jubberly in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse

The same applies for the signer doing the sign language, prompting Martin to recall: “When I was dressed as a seal one year, standing next to the signer, I remember saying, ‘oh, signed and sealed’!”

Also confirmed for the cast is the returning Jake Lindsay, along with Henry Rhodes, who once appeared as a bairn in a Kaler panto at the Theatre Royal and has been starring in the musical Newsies this year.

AJ Powell, by the way, has been filming for the latest series of Father Brown, “doing a bit of ballroom dancing,” as he puts it.

Come rehearsal time in November, Robinson Crusoe and those pirates will be heading for ship shape and York fashion. “Berwick hates the constraints of traditional pantomime and he’s in his element when he’s creating,” says Suzy.

Shipwrecked! Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse pantomime stars David Leonard, left, AJ Powell, Martin Barrass, Suzy Cooper and dame Berwick Kaler land on the Grand Opera House stage at Wednesday afternoon’s launch in York

“He does like to use these random titles,” says AJ, recalling 2016’s Dick Whittington And His Meerkat, for example.

“Sometimes, when you think, ‘why’s he doing that?’, it turns out to be a brilliant show,” says Berwick, as he adds Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse to that list. 

“We often find people don’t care what the show title is; they just want to come and see us as they always have,” says Martin.

“People will say to us, ‘we’ve booked for such and such a night’, and then they’ll say, ‘by the way, what’s the title?’.”

Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse will run at Grand Opera House, York, from December 9 to January 6 2023; tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/York.

Launch date: Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse panto stars Martin Barrass, left, Berwick Kaler, Suzy Cooper, David Leonard and AJ Powell announce their return by the Grand Opera House stage door

Posted on

Dame Joan Collins goes Behind The Shoulder Pads in new book and autumn tour, heading to Grand Opera House, York

“Some stories, though, I have only ever shared with my friends…until now!” says Dame Joan Collins

TO coincide with the release of her memoir Behind The Shoulder Pads, Hollywood legend, author, producer, humanitarian and entrepreneur Dame Joan Collins will embark on a 12-date autumn tour with husband Percy Gibson by her side.

Returning to the Grand Opera House, York, where they presented Unscripted in February 2019, they will field audience questions and tell seldom-told tales and enchanting anecdotes on October 2, accompanied by rare footage from Dame Joan’s seven decades in showbusiness. 

“I’ve had many amazing adventures in my life. Some stories, though, I have only ever shared with my friends…until now!” says Dame Joan, introducing her 19th book, Behind The Shoulder Pads: Tales I Tell My Friends, published in hardback, e-book and audio by Seven Dials/Orion Publishing Co on September 28.

Dame Joan, who turned 90 on May 23, has “always believed one should retain some mystery in life and hide a knowing smile behind one’s shoulder pads”. In the book and on the tour, she will share her most memorable moments in and out of the limelight.

The book charts her journey from her early years as a young star in the golden era of Hollywood to stamping her stilettos in Dynasty; from the glittering heights of Saint Tropez to the busy Oscars season in Los Angeles over the years.

Joan writes movingly of her grief and adventures with her sister, the late author and actress Jackie, delving deeper into the ups and downs of love and relationships and her happiness with husband Percy.

Filled with a cast of household names, such as the late Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine and Warren Beatty, Behind The Shoulder Pads promises to “delight and shock in equal measures”.

When a sore throat put paid to Dame Joan’s interview by voicemail with Charles Hutchinson, she very kindly answered questions by email instead.

When did you first wear shoulder pads, Dame Joan?

When Nolan Miller and I were collaborating in the early days of Dynasty we were looking at the couture shows from Paris because I said to him, ‘Alexis is a sophisticated global society lady, and she would be at the forefront of fashion’.

“In the Fifties we all wore shoulder pads. They made our hips look slimmer; our waists look trimmer; they were more flattering than an Italian waiter.”

When did you last wear shoulder pads?

“I still wear them. The structured look will never go out of fashion.”

Has York ever featured in your career or indeed in your life beyond the stage and screen?

“York is the seat of England, and I am a patriotic Englishwoman!”

What’s right with the British film industry?

“A lot. The talent is world class. You can see it in the number of awards we get every year.”

What’s wrong with the British film industry?

“What is wrong with the movie industry as a whole, whether in Britain or America. There is so much product that a lot of it is self-indulgent.”

The cover for Dame Joan Collins’s new memoir, published on September 28

What was the last film you saw and what was your verdict?

“Plane, starring Gerard Butler. Completely unbelievable and thoroughly enjoyable as a result.”

What did you learn about yourself in writing the memoir Behind The Shoulder Pads?

“Which opinions have changed over time, and which haven’t.”

Is glamour still what it used to be or has this age of social media gossip stripped away the air of mystery that once prevailed?

“I don’t know that glamour and social media gossip are necessarily interlaced. I think glamour still exists and social media doesn’t necessarily affect it, but if you’re talking about copycats on social media, there have always been ‘wannabees’ and pale imitations.”

What advice were you given that has stuck with you for life?

“Do it yourself because you’re the only one who will care about you.”

In turn, what advice would you give to a fledgling talent looking to fly high on stage and screen?

“Don’t bother unless you have the hide of a rhinoceros and willing to take rejection at every turn. And if you make it: live simply and stay humble.”

What would you still like to do that you have not done yet as an actress, author, producer, humanitarian and entrepreneur?

“When you put it that way, I guess not much! I like working, so I’ll continue!”

 Where are you most at home: on stage, in front of a camera or at home?

“I’m always at home in every place because I enjoy what I do.”

Please sum up yourself in six words…

“As I wrote in the prologue of my last book, My Unapologetic Diaries: ‘I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a sister, an aunt and a loyal friend.”

What did you not talk about on your last York visit that you particularly want to discuss this time?

“What did you not ask me the last time in York that you particularly wanted to know about?”

Now that question and answer must wait until the next time, Dame Joan.

Dame Joan Collins, Behind The Shoulder Pads, Grand Opera House, York, October 2, 7.30pm, in the only Yorkshire show of the tour. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

REVIEW: York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets At The Bar, Bar Convent garden, Blossom Street, York, until Saturday ***

Helen Wilson’s Sister Augusta looks to the heavens…but the weather forecast is encouraging for the rest of the garden run at the Bar Convent. Picture: John Saunders

FIRST came the Sonnet Walks around York from 2014 to 2019; next, the alliterative Sit-down Sonnets at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, and now Sonnets At The Bar, in its third year in Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre’s “secret” garden.

Or not-so-secret, judging by the word-of-mouth popularity of York Shakespeare Project’s “entertaining and accessible” summer season of sonnets in the open air, delivered to the accompaniment of a complimentary drink in the admission price.

Each year’s splay of sonnets is supported by an overarching theme, devised this summer by Helen Wilson, who has been prompted by the Bar Convent’s convivial hospitality to conjure the merry-go-round whirl of a York hotel’s comings and goings, eccentric staff and guests on a mission in the rush of the summer wedding and tour traffic.

Judith Ireland’s receptionist Bronwyn and Harold Mozley’s Mr S, the hotel manager on a short fuse, in York Shakespeare Project’s Sonnets At The Bar. Picture: John Saunders

Judging by the character she plays – the hen-tending, egg-collecting Sister Augusta – she has been inspired too by the presence of the resident community of sisters at England’s oldest surviving Catholic convent.

The convent garden serves as the hotel garden, where York Shakespeare Project’s nine sonneteers make their entrances and exits and re-entries and re-exits too on the breakfast-is-served morning after the wedding the night before. The setting is modern-day, the language likewise until each sonneteer’s conversational thoughts elide into a Shakespearean sonnet and then back out again as each character reveals a secret.

First up is YSP veteran Frank Brogan’s deluded, ageing romantic rock god – long white hair, long dark coat, head band and gold chain – from the wedding party band, who is wondering what happened to the young sprat he failed to hook last night. His Flash Hunter struts and frets his five minutes upon the stage, gone in a flash, the failed hunter, returning later, still forlorn.

Nigel Evans’s Colin, the DJ with the platter patter, in Sonnets At The Bar. Picture: John Saunders

Your reviewer has been asked not to give too much away, as to what happens. Let’s focus on the coterie of characters instead. Judith Ireland takes willingly to a more comedic role than usual, Ireland turning Welsh to play the hotel’s psychic receptionist, Bronwyn Jones, with her vibes and talk of auras and energies.

Harold Mozley’s enervated hotel manager Mr S (for Scruton) is a no-nonsense sort, a stickler for timekeeping. We are told he “barks a lot”, but in this case his bite is even worse than his bite, especially if you happen to be tour guide Stevie Sykes from Betterway Travel, a dodgy East End firm run by Reggie and Ronnie. “Cut the bunny and hop it,” Mr S advises.

Director and YSP chair Tony Froud makes much of this slippery, often apologetic character, who turns the audience into his tour party.

Sarah Dixon’s wedding guest Susie (seated) in discussion with Diana Wyatt’s mother-of-the-bride Moira. Picture: John Saunders

We meet the agitated mother of the bride, Diana Wyatt’s mortified Moira; debutant sonneteer Sarah Dixon’s wedding guest Susie, as she encounters a former crush with hopes of re-kindling that flame, and the morning DJ with a cheesy lyric in every thought, Nigel Evans’s chirpy Colin.

Enter YSP producer Maurice Crichton’s “derelict” Scottish-born lobsterman Hector, in his eye patch and rather fetching fisherman’s gansey jumper, talking of coastal erosion at his adopted home of Skipsea. Aha, climate change comes to Sonnets At The Bar.

Hector has a lunch date, one to whom he will pick up a guitar to sing one of Crichton’s own compositions, a maritime ballad with a kiss at its heart and the chance for an audience singalong.

Not a patch on his subsequent performances: Maurice Crichton’s lobsterman Hector at the dress rehearsal. The eyewear would be added on the first night. Picture: John Saunders

Northern humour, pathos, morsels of gossip, a missing guest, assorted love stories and spilled beans are stirred into the hotel melting pot by Wilson and Froud as each vignette adds more spice. As for which sonnets feature, you will have to attend to find out.

Next up from York Shakespeare Project will be Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, to be staged at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from October 17 to 21, as YSP spreads its wings beyond the Bard.

York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets At The Bar in the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre garden until August 19, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus a 4.30pm Saturday performance. Box office: yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/sonnets-at-the-bar-2023/ or 01904 623568.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond from festive folk to hot Chilean rhythms. Hutch’s List No. 33 for 2023, from The Press

The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival at Sutton Park today

ART and cinema outdoors, folk and classical festivals, nostalgic gigs and ant adventures on a theatre terrace prompt Charles Hutchinson into arts action.

Heading to the park: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, today. Gates open at 10am; live music from 12 noon

TRANSATLANTIC folk trio The Magpies head into the final day of their open-air festival of music, activities, stalls and food and drink. They will be among today’s main stage acts (at 8pm), along with Liz Stringer, Honey & The Bear, Blair Dunlop, Rachel Sermanni and Edward II.

The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Jack Harris, Megan Henwood, Tom Moore & Archie Moss, Gilmore & Roberts and Bonfire Radicals, concluding with a Ceilidh with Archie Moss. Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk.

York River Art Market: Up to 30 artists and makers per day down by the riverside

Art in the open air: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk by Lendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, then August 19 and 20, 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market returns for its eighth summer as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris. Organised by founder, director and artist Charlotte Dawson, the weekend event showcases a different variety of more than 30 independent artists and makers from all over Yorkshire and beyond each day.

Boom, by Evie Measor, from New Visuality’s exhibition project, Colour, at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre

Easels at the ready: Sketching in the Garden, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until September 23, 10am to 5pm daily

THE Bar Convent invites artists and those who would like to give it a go to use its easels free of charge in the garden, where art and heritage combine to create an outdoor sketch space.

This opportunity coincides with the Bar Convent’s exhibition run of Colour, featuring works by young York artists, who have used photography skills and innovative AI technology to reinterpret York’s heritage buildings and landmarks. Why not draw inspiration from the exhibition to create your own artistic interpretations?

The Greatest Showman Sing-A-Long: Part of the Outdoor Cinema season at Castle Howard

Screen on the green: Outdoor Cinema at Castle Howard, near York today and tomorrow

THIS outdoor cinema experience in the grounds of Castle Howard presents Matilda The Musical (PG) today at 2pm, Grease (PG) tonight at 8pm, The Greatest Showman (PG) Sing-A-Long tomorrow at 2pm and Top Gun: Maverick tomorrow at 7pm.

Gates open at 12 noon for the afternoon screenings; 6pm for The Greatest Showman; 5pm for Top Gun: Maverick. Picnics and drinks are welcome at all screenings but no glassware. Blankets and camping chairs are allowed. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

Pianist Katya Apekisheva: One of 30 international musicians playing at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival

Classical festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Welburn Manor marquee, near Kirkbymoorside, and assorted churches, Sunday to August 26

THE 15th North York Moors Chamber Music Festival ventures Into The Looking Glass for a fantastical fortnight with 30 international musicians, including pianist Katya Apekisheva, French horn virtuoso Ben Goldscheider and violinists Charlotte Scott and Benjamin Baker.

Directed by cellist Jamie Walton, the festival takes inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s 1872 novel to “explore the psychology of the mind through the prism of music, conveying its various chapters with carefully curated music that takes the audience on an adventurous journey through many twists and turns”. For the programme and tickets, head to: northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990.

The Searchers & Hollies Experience: Sixties’ nostalgia at the double at the JoRo

Tribute show of the week: The Searchers And Hollies Experience, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

IN The Searchers & Hollies Experience: The Best Of Both Worlds, The FOD Band celebrate the magical, haunting hits of these legendary Sixties’ harmony bands from Liverpool and Manchester respectively. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Newen Afrobeat: Chile meets Fela Kuti at The Crescent

Chilean gig of the week…in York: Newen Afrobeat, The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

NEWEN Afrobeat, a 13-piece Chilean orchestra, make music inspired by the legacy of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. Applying a Latin stamp, they unify the African rhythms with a colourful and energetic staging, embedded in a deep social message that talks about their roots and cultural awareness.

In a ten-year career of four albums and eight international tours, Newen Afrobeat have performed at Montreal International Jazz Festival, WOMEX, Africa Oyé and Felabration Lagos. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Janet Bruce, left, and Cassie Vallance: Hosting Story Craft Theatre’s The Secret Life Of The Garden

Children’s event of the week: Story Craft Theatre in The Secret Life Of The Garden, Friday, 11am and 1pm

HAVE you ever imagined shrinking down to the size of an ant to go on an awesome adventure through a garden? York company Story Craft Theatre’s Janet Bruce and Cassie Vallance provide that opportunity in their magical new show, packed full of fun and wonder on the Theatre Royal patio.

This interactive production for two to eight-year-old children combines visual storytelling tools, such as puppets and Makaton signs and symbols, with games and dancing, plus crafting and colouring sheets beforehand. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Herman’s Hermits: Hits, hits, hits at Pocklington Arts Centre

Retro gig of the week: Herman’s Hermits, Pocklington Arts Centre, August 19, 8pm

FORMED in 1964, Manchester band Herman’s Hermits chalked up 23 hits, hitting the peak straightaway with the chart-topping I’m Into Something Good.

Producer Mickie Most oversaw their glory days with such smashes as No Milk Today, There’s A Kind Of Hush, Silhouettes, Mrs Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter, Wonderful World, I’m Henry VIII, I Am, Just A Little Bit Better, A Must To Avoid, Sleepy Joe, Sunshine Girl, Something’s Happening, My Sentimental Friend and Years May Come, Years May Go. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Posted on

Joshua Burnell ponders human fragility on Glass Knight folk album as he turns 30

Joshua Burnell, York folk-prog singer-songwriter. Picture: Elly Lucas

YORK folk-prog singer-songwriter Joshua Burnell releases his fifth album, Glass Knight, today.

He is marking the launch date with a performance at Fairport Convention’s Cropredy Festival, near Banbury, before a series of Yorkshire shows in the months ahead.

In the diary are Driffield Moonbeams Festival on August 16; The Greystones, Sheffield, November 3; The Live Room, at Caroline Social Club, Saltaire, November 12, and St Nicholas’s Church, Beverley, November 18, but not York. Not yet anyway. “There will be one,” Joshua promises. “Watch this space.”

Newly turned 30, Joshua combines his magical music-making with a part-time teaching post of Year Five and Six pupils at Fishergate Primary School and weekend shifts on the piano at Bettys Café Tea Rooms in St Helen’s Square.

“It’s such a contrast: all that noise in the school room, as opposed to being brought a glass of spring water on a silver salver in the quiet hum at Bettys,” says Joshua. “It’s like chalk and cheese!”

Does he play any of his own material at Bettys? “Oh yeah, definitely. At the end,” he reveals. “Now I’m doing more piano-based music, it’s easier to fit them in.”

Glass Knight, available from Bandcamp and Spotify, is his first album since September 2020’s Flowers Where The Horses Sleep, the one described by the Guardian as “theatrical with lashings of Peter Gabriel stylings”.

It is his first since the Covid pandemic too. “This album was kind of a lockdown project. I’ve wanted to do this project for a long time, but I’d been frustrated while it just remained in my head. So I finally recorded the demos in lockdown, with a few relics of those sessions still there on the record, including vocals for the closing track, Moonlighter’s Child,” says Joshua.

Joshua Knight with the Glass Knight. Picture: Elly Lucas

He also has been re-recording his 2013 debut EP Lend An Ear – that project is on-going – but the focus turned to completing Glass Knight, with Joshua taking on the producer’s role for the first time.

“This spring, I spent every day of the school holiday – except for my 30th birthday – working on it, even putting in all-nighters,” he says.

“I’d already recorded with the string section at Young Thugs Studio in York and some of the guitar parts, played by Nathan Greaves at Fishergate School. Hats off to head teacher Tina Clarke for letting us use the space.

“At the exact moment Nathan was recording the electric guitar solo for Lucy [Burnell’s ‘biography of a rock star’], the sun shone through the window, giving off this amazing light. It was like a scene in a movie. You couldn’t make it up. It was incredible.”

Reflecting on Nathan’s guitar parts, Joshua says: “Something wasn’t working in the guitar recordings in my own studio – and it was the feedback that was missing. You need that for the rock songs, and we realised we needed to find somewhere where we could achieve more volume and more acoustics, and the school hall was perfect for feedback.

“Nathan recorded his guitar part for Moonlighter’s Child while walking around the hall, where the reverb was incredible, and you will hear some of that on the track Glass Knight too. It’s the same technique that David Bowie used on Heroes, with Robert Fripp’s feedback on guitar.”

The string section plays a significant role too. “I need to give a name check to my patrons on Patreon, whose support meant there were funds in my account to be able to use string players, rather than programmed strings,” says Joshua.

“I knew Kathleen [violinist Kathleen Ord] from her having played on my last album, and she arranged to bring six string players to Young Thugs Studio. Six! I was like a kid in a candy shop, and they were really good at interpreting my ‘mistakes’ as I’d last used sheet music when studying my Music A-level. They were so good, they finished two hours early – and I’ll definitely be working with string sections again.”

Guitarist Nathan Greaves recording at the sun-lit Fishergate Primary School

For now, strings are confined to Joshua’s studio recordings, but “down the line, I’d love to have them play live with me.” he says. “Now I’m more piano-based in my writing, it lends itself to having string players.

“My ultimate goal would be to play the Royal Albert Hall, so maybe they could play with me there!”

From a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a love of fantasy, science-fiction, folklore and fairy tales, heroes and villains, sorcery and the supernatural, Glass Knight has been three years in the making. 

Moonlighter’s Child was the first song to emerge, its theme having first arisen in a novel-writing project in 2014 that was later abandoned. “The character from that story inspired the idea of an album about a character seeking redemption, after falling into an in-between world in the opening song, Where Planets Collide,” says Joshua.

A god-like figure emerges in the second track, Out Of These Worlds, who says “I can’t provide you with the answers”, encouraging the listener to take a solo journey through the album instead.

“I like the idea that you can read into that it’s a concept album, without a concept, like Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, but equally the ten tracks can have individual meanings, and those interpretations are just as valid as my own interpretation,” says Joshua.

The metaphor of glass, representing human fragility, is key to Glass Knight too. “We build people up only to knock them back down,” says Joshua. “People just love to be in a mob, with the mob mentality where they like to see someone fall in a horrible way, which we’ve always loved in Western culture, where social media operates as an extension of the guillotine.”

The song Glass Knight was a late addition to Joshua’s song cycle but ended up defining the album and providing its title. “It’s a story from Saffron Walden, in Essex, where a basilisk – [a mythical creature, reputed to be a serpent king, that brings death to those who look into its eyes] – is terrorising the community and they need a solution,” says Joshua.

Joshua Burnell and Kathleen Ord’s string players recording at Young Thugs Studio

“I decided to use the Glass Knight as the perfect metaphor for how we treat people. In this story, the [glass] armour can reflect back both the basilisk and the people – which is something we see when we find ways of trashing someone – as I hold up the mirror to reflect on modern society.

“If those judgemental people found themselves in the spotlight, I’m sure they wouldn’t like not being seen as squeaky clean as they end up being trashed too.”

Social media is a double-edged sword for Joshua. “As a musician, I have to be on there. Without it, it would be game over, but you do get judged,” he says.

Joshua’s song writing combines past, present and future. “I write about whatever interests me,” he says. “People interest me, and what they do, what they did, and what they might do next interests me, ” he says.

“There is this desperate desire to connect with people from times past, and it’s the same with the future, wanting those people to be nearer than they are.”

Living, working and writing in an historical city influences Joshua too. “It’s very stimulating being in York. It’s comforting that there are stories everywhere, including more recent social history, such as the Rocking Horse Project at Fishergate Primary School, where funds were raised to repair the antique rocking horses found in the cellar,” he says.

“But the interesting thing is not the rocking horses themselves, but the stories surrounding them and the people in those stories.”

Come the autumn, Joshua will be touring with Nathan Greaves, Ed Simpson, Kat Hurdley, Oliver Whitehouse and Frances Sladen, who is carving out her own niche as So Fe with an album in the works, by the way.

Joshua Burnell: Throwing up a mirror to the modern world on the reflective Glass Knight. Picture: Elly Lucas

“The new music definitely lends itself much better to the band set-up, rather than me just trying to fit in with what I though the folk scene wanted. Now it’s me being me, and we just do it! It sounds the best it’s ever sounded on stage.”

It will be his first tour since turning 30. “I’m looking forward to my 30s a lot,” says Joshua. “Your twenties are about figuring things out. Your thirties are doing what you want to do, and that’s why this is the perfect album to be released now.

“All that baggage, that process, is there on the album and it’s a relief it’s out! It’s the first album I’ve produced myself: I’ve learnt so much from those I’ve worked with before, but this is the one where it sounds like I think it should.

“Ed Simpson, who worked on the last album, has mentored me on how to use the equipment, and this is the first album where I’ve really been able to work on the vocals to be exactly as I want them to be.”

Looking to the future, will writing a musical be on the agenda, as suggested to him by others? “I’ve written a musical before and there’s definitely another musical in me because I’ve done one already,” Joshua ventures.

“I wrote one for my brother Tim when he was in a musical theatre club, and he wanted it to be like The Decemberists crossed with Rick Wakeman! He was 13 at the time. Now he’s doing an acting course in France and he’ll be releasing some music of his own soon.

“He’s written this amazing song, Lazy Susan Lives In Fontainebleu, which is where he’s doing his course.”

Meanwhile, Joshua’s Glass Knight rides this way today. Let’s avoid saying it will be a smash hit, but it is his best work yet.

Posted on

REVIEW: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Falsettos, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ***

Hospital drama: Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s bed-ridden Whizzer with Helen Spencer’s Dr Charlotte, left, Rachel Higgs’s Cordelia, Chris Mooney’s Marvin, James Robert Ball’s Mendel, Nicoloa Holliday’s Trina and Matthew Warry’s Jason (seated)

FALSETTOS, William Finn and James Lapine’s “very Jewish, very gay” 1992 Tony Award winner, had been made unavailable for the British stage after a London production met with opposition over a lack of authenticity and accuracy.

However, negotiations spanning two years have paid off for “art with a point” York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions, whose director, Matthew Clare, has acquired exclusive UK rights to present the off-Broadway hit.

It would be good to see such persistence rewarded at the box office, but York theatregoers’ resistance to try out unfamiliar works is long established. Nevertheless, the support from Wednesday’s audience was admirably vocal from start to finish.

Matthew Warry’s Jason makes a move on the chess set. Is he a pawn in a game between his father, Chris Mooney’s Marvin, and his mother, Nicola Holliday’s Trina?

Falsettos pairs 1981’s March Of The Falsettos, a humorous study of men’s immaturity, with 1990’s Falsettoland, a graver piece penned in reaction to the devastating impact of the Aids epidemic on New York’s gay community.

In 1979, New Yorker Marvin (Chris Mooney) leaves his wife Trina (Nicola Holliday) and son Jason (Matthew Warry, aged 13) to live with Whizzer (Dan Crawfurd-Porter), his younger lover. They have known each other for nine months, says Whizzer; ten, insists the older, more hooked Marvin. They are arguing already.

Naively, Marvin expects to retain a tight-knit family. A subject he has discussed with his psychiatrist, the neurotic, insomniac Mendel (James Robert Ball), who in turn becomes a listening ear for latest client Trina. So much so, they marry, setting up the family unit Marvin had envisaged.

Nicola Holliday’s Trina with James Robert Ball’s Mendel mid-exercise

All this is expressed in song in a sung-through musical full of Sondheim emotional truths and vexatious Woody Allen humour (especially in Ball’s Mendel). All have their say, not only Marvin and the fast-exiting, exasperated Whizzer, but Trina and Jason too. Mendel listens and listens, cross-legged and looking as awkward as the conversations.

On opening night, sound balance favoured band over voice in this first act, meaning not everything was clear to the ear, for all the heart-felt, often beautiful singing. Such a hindrance to comprehending fully what was going on was detrimental to the show’s impact at this juncture, and the standalone March Of The Falsettos number in luminous white only added to that sense of bafflement.

Ollie Kingston’s choreography was fun here, but that scene came and went like a ghost. Such are the limitations of a sung-through structure, where more narrative would be helpful.

Fresh impetus in Falsettoland: Rachel Higgs’s Cordelia. left, and Helen Spencer’s Dr Charlotte

Post-interval, frustration vanishes. The voices can be heard far better; the singing is more dramatic; the songs are superior, as two storylines play out two years later in 1981: Jason’s preparation for his bar mitzvah and Whizzer’s reunion with Marvin under the spreading cloud of Aids.

Into the story, and very welcome too, come Marvin and Whizzer’s lesbian neighbours, Dr Charlotte (Helen Spencer), struggling with the rising tide of Aids patients, and girlfriend Cordelia (Rachel Higgs), forever cooking up another nibble.

Just as Marvin and his family learn to grow up, so Falsettoland is a far more mature piece than March Of The Falsettos. It is better balanced too with the presence of Charlotte and Cordelia being all important. Spencer brings gravitas; Higgs, puppyish devotion, amid the “hospital bed humour”.

Performances all round settle down as the night progresses to match the high quality of the singing. Ball’s Mendel is the comic driving force; Jarry delights as Jason, being pulled hither and thither but remaining single-minded too; Holliday’s resolute Trina handles the big ballads with aplomb.

Black Sheep Theatre’s poster for Falsettos

In a heightened drama without conventional heroes and villains, the gay characters of Marvin and Whizzer are depicted with three-dimensional complexity, devoid of any stereotyping. They play chess, they play squash, they bicker, they learn, their love blossoms, and in turn the stage chemistry of Mooney and Crawfurd-Porter grows too.

Staging Falsettos has been a passion project for Matthew Clare, who leads his four-piece band with suitable conviction from the keyboards, while Kingston’s choreography is alive to both humour and dramatic effect and the building-block set design is practical and amusingly adaptable.

Art with a point? Yes, indeed. Black Sheep Theatre Productions and the JoRo are to be commended for bringing Falsettos to York’s attention. The more variety there is to the city’s theatre portfolio, the better, when playing safe would be the easier path.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions perform Falsettos at 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow;  2.30pm and 7.30pm, tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Posted on

York Printmakers to mount sixth autumn print fair at York Cemetery on Sept 23 & 24

Rowntree Park, lino print, by Jo Rodwell

YORK Printmakers will hold their sixth Autumn Print Fair at York Cemetery Chapel and Harriet Room on September 23 and 24 from 10am to 5pm.

Set up in 2015 by a dozen printmakers from the York area, this thriving, diverse group now numbers around 40 enthusiastic artists, drawn from a wide range of printmaking backgrounds, from art students to professional artists.

Working independently, they come together to support and challenge each other by sharing opportunities, ideas and processes. 

“Our annual print fair is a well-established event in the city’s creative calendar, attracting people from across the country,” says printmaker, illustrator and graphic designer Jo Ruth.

Kilburn White Horse, lino print, by Michelle Hughes

“It’s our opportunity to exhibit current work and to share our ideas and processes with an interested audience.”

Artists often take inspiration from their surroundings, in this case York and beyond. “Some evoke memories through their prints, others celebrate historic views,” says Jo. “There will be plenty to explore as you see how some of our members have interpreted familiar views through their own eyes.  

“Our printmakers are no strangers to finding wonderful opportunities for creative ideas in and around York, both in the city and in the surrounding dramatic countryside. Some take inspiration from well-known landmarks; others look for beauty in less obvious places.”

For next month’s fair, Russell Hughes has produced a series of collagraph prints and collages inspired by walks around Richmond, North Yorkshire. “I interpret the variations encountered in our daily lives, recording experience in data, observing patterns in nature and in the built environment,” says this explorer of colour and pattern in handmade printmaking.

Trespassing, lino print, by Rachel Holborrow

Rachel Holborow’s lino print Trespassing explores the way the natural world rubs up against a more urban environment in its depiction of often-overlooked wild plants and flowers, such as poppies and chamomile, that populate the field margins along the A64.

Michelle Hughes creates linocut prints of iconic views of the Yorkshire countryside. “Walking and cycling in the area helps me to capture a sense of place,” she says. “I see so many different views of the Kilburn White Horse, even from Holgate Windmill in the street next to my studio.”

Other York Printmakers aim to evoke memories of a place or celebrate a well-known vista. Harriette Rymer, for example, produces delicate lino prints of flowers and has been inspired by the daffodils’ herald of springtime around the city walls.

Lino printer Jo Rodwell grew up in York. “There are so many sites and places that are familiar to me,” she says. “I try to capture the essence of a place and incorporate relatable local scenes that can trigger memories and make people talk about what it means to them. People can have their own relationship with my work and can place themselves in it, whatever their age.”

Minster In Bloom,  lino print, by Harriette Rymer

Etching, linocut, collagraph, monotype, screen print, solar plate, Japanese woodblock, lithography, stencilling and gel plate printing all will feature in the print fair.

“Our members have a wide range of printmaking backgrounds and experience, but we all share a passion for print,” says Jo Ruth. “We’re happy to chat about our ideas, processes and techniques.

“Some members also run printmaking courses, so this is also a great opportunity to find out more and chat to the artists behind the prints.”

Hundreds of original prints will be on show and for sale. Entry is free.

York Printmakers’ Autumn Print Fair, York Cemetery, Cemetery Road, York, September 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm. Fair visitors can walk around the tranquil cemetery grounds, rich with wildlife. For more details, go to: yorkprintmakers.org.uk

York Printmakers’ Autumn Print Fair 2023 poster, showing a detail of Russell Hughes’s collagraph print Variations VII (Forms)
Posted on

What will Mark Stratton uncover in Esk Valley Theatre premiere of debut moorland ‘thriller drama’ Deals And Deceptions?

Clara Darcy’s Jen Stevens in Esk Valley Theatre’s premiere of Mark Stratton’s Deals And Deceptions. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

IN artistic director Mark Stratton’s first play for Esk Valley Theatre, Danny and Jen leave London and head to an isolated cottage in the North York Moors. City clashes with country, dark forces are at work and humorous situations arise.

“We may think we know the person we are married to, but do we?” asks Stratton, who is joined in the cast by Clara Darcy, Dominic Rye and late addition Elizabeth Boag at the Robinson Institute, Glaisdale, near Whitby. “What someone chooses to show the world is not always who they are. If they trade in deals and deceptions, then a day of reckoning will surely come.”

Here Mark discusses triple threats, London versus Yorkshire, debut plays and the impact of making a house move with CharlesHutchPress.

What prompted you to write a play for Esk Valley Theatre and why now, Mark?

“Ever since Esk Valley Theatre was formed, we’ve looked for a contemporary play that reflected something of life in the North York Moors and haven’t discovered anything suitable in nearly 20 years! So, I thought it was time for me to have a go at writing one and Deals And Deceptions is the result.”

Does your experience as a director and actor help you to write a play?

“Certainly. Actors and directors probably absorb more knowledge of play writing than they realise. I think it was Stephen Joseph who thought that all actors should have a go at writing. It definitely makes you appreciate the craft and gives a greater understanding of what makes a play work.”

A Rye look: Dominic Rye as investment company boss Danny Stevens in Deals And Deceptions. Picture: Tony Bartholomew


What inspired you to write Deals And Deceptions?

“Over the years I’ve had a growing fascination with the way people manipulate their personality to suit a particular situation.  Deals And Deceptions looks at some of the ways people shift personality and that is the driving force behind the play.”

What is the style of the piece?

“Good question. I personally find it difficult to put a label on it, but some people have described it as a thriller drama. Having said that, it generates good amounts of laughter and if you have any knowledge of farming and life in the Moors then I think it reflects something of the dry Yorkshire humour that exists in our communities.”

What is the tone? Gravely serious or darkly humorous or both?

“A bit of both, although the tone is lighter to begin with and gradually shifts to a darker place as the narrative unfolds.”

Leaving London for the North York Moors…dare CharlesHutchPress mention American Werewolf In London?!

“I guess leaving London for the North York Moors is where the similarities end and there are no attacking wolves!”

Mark Stratton as North York Moors farmer Wink Towson in Deals And Deceptions. “He’s an amalgamation of a number of farmers that I’ve met over the years,” says Mark. “He’s got a twinkle in his eye and a wry sense of humour”. Picture: Tony Bartholomew


Why do people learn more about themselves when they change their living environment?

“I’m pleased you’ve asked that, because one of the central themes is about the journey of self-discovery that Jen goes on. She’s forced to adapt to a new way of life and finds joy and enlightenment through leaving her past behind.”

How much does the isolated North York Moors setting add an extra character to the play?

“The North York Moors is definitely an additional character and the presence of the Moors looms large throughout the play.”

What attracts people to move from London to Yorkshire?

“The dream of a better way of life with cleaner air to breathe? A romantic vision of country life? I guess there are many reasons, but in Deals And Deceptions Danny and Jen leave because they have to. They are on the run, but only Danny knows why.”

Elizabeth Boag: Answering the late call to return to Esk Valley Theatre for summer 2023


Describe the characters of Danny and Jen Stevens…

“When we first meet them, they appear as a thirty-something city couple who’ve done well for themselves, and it seems that Danny runs some kind of investment company. But is Danny speaking the truth? They have to leave London in a hurry… and I can’t give away any more than that!”

Why pick Dominic Rye and Clara Darcy for these roles?

“We held our usual round of auditions and Dominic had all the attributes we were looking for. They are tremendous.

“We also had a late addition to the cast with Elizabeth Boag stepping in at the last minute to play ‘The Woman’. Liz is a phenomenal actor who was in our production of Same Time Next Year and luckily for us, she was able to join the company at a moment’s notice.”

How much does the isolated North York Moors setting add a fifth character to the piece?

“The North York Moors is definitely an additional character and the presence of the Moors looms large throughout the play.”

Esk Valley Theatre’s poster for the premiere of Mark Stratton’s debut play Deals And Deceptions

Writing, directing and performing the role of farmer Wink Towson: the triple threat, Mark Stratton style! Discuss…

“It’s something I always said I would never do! I guess I always thought it would signify an out-of-control ego. However, I wrote the play initially with two actors in mind to play five characters and we’ve now ended up with four actors. Because Wink is older than the others it made sense for me to take it on. It’s very much a cameo and I hope the ego remains firmly in control.”

Have you sought any advice on writing a play from esteemed Esk Valley Theatre supporter Sir Alan Ayckbourn?

“Not directly, but I have had the great pleasure of working with Alan as an actor and also working with him as an assistant director last year. I’ve seen a huge number of his plays over the years and he remains the foremost influence on everything I do in the theatre. He is a giant in the industry and a master of his craft. It would be a fool who couldn’t learn something from him.”

Esk Valley Theatre in Deals And Deceptions, Robinson Institute, Glaisdale, Whitby, until August 26; Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm matinees on August 10, 12, 15, 17, 22 and 24. Box office: 01947 897587, 10.30am to 1pm; 3.30pm to 7.15pm, or eskvalleytheatre.co.uk.

Cast: Clara Darcy asJen Stevens; Dominic Rye as Danny Stevens and gardener Jed Winter; Elizabeth Boag, The Woman; Mark Stratton, Wink Towson. Writer and director: Mark Stratton.

Proudly powered by WordPress