The tour poster for An Evening With The Fast Show, booked into the Grand Opera House, York, this spring
THE Fast Show stars are reunitingfor a 30th anniversary tour. The Grand Opera House, York, awaits Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Mark Williams on March 19 at 7.30pm.
Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow atatgtickets.com/york for An Evening With The Fast Show, whose 15-date itinerary takes in a second Yorkshire gig at Sheffield City Hall on March 25 (tickets: sheffieldcityhall.co.uk) .
The quickfire sketch show first aired on BBC Two on September 27 1994 and ran for three series until 1997 with the late Caroline Aherne as part of the cast. Special editions ensued, such as the three-part The Last Fast Show Ever in 2000, and tours were staged in 1998 and 2002.
An Evening With The Fast Show will provide a behind-the-scenes insight into the award-winning comedy’s favourite characters and catchphrases as they come alive anew on stage.
The cast will discuss how it all began, how they made the TV show and created the characters, and the fun they had doing it. This will be interspersed with performances of some of their best-loved sketches, monologues and songs, with on-screen inserts and a moment to remember former collaborator Aherne, who died in 2016.
Fans can expect the return of such favourites as Ted & Ralph, Jesse, Swiss Toni, Does My Bum Look Big In This?, Dave Angel, Jazz Club, The Suit You Tailors, Ron Manager, The Mad Painter, Rowley Birkin, Bob Fleming, Competitive Dad, Professor Denzil Dexter and The Girl Who Boys Can’t Hear.
Looking forward to reassembling on stage for the first time in 20 years, Higson says: “Taking The Fast Show out on tour is very much like making love to a beautiful woman.”
Something wicked this way comes: Rob Wolfe’s Macbeth and Oriana Charles’s Lady Macbeth in Dickens Theatre Company’s Macbeth, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
FROM textbook theatre for GCSE studies to an original pantomime, a finally finished symphony to orchestral ABC, a silent cinema season to a night of Nashville honky-tonk country, Charles Hutchinson has all manner of recommendations.
York debut of the week: Dickens Theatre Company: Revision On Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Macbeth, Monday, 7.30pm, and Tuesday, 1pm, 7.30pm; Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Wednesday, 1pm, 7.30pm; Romeo & Juliet, Thursday, 1pm, 7.30pm
DICKENS Theatre Company, purveyors of exciting, educational and entertaining stage adaptations of literary classics and GCSE texts since 2015, make their York debut with three productions scripted and directed by Ryan Philpott.
A cast of seven presents Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, Macbeth, narrated by the Porter, as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make their perilous descent towards Hell; Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic horror story Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, set in the foggy, dimly lit streets of Victorian London, where an evil predator lurks, and Romeo & Juliet, breathing new life and wit into Shakespeare’s tragic tale of star-crossed lovers. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Rob Wolfe, as Dr Jekyll, and Felix Grainger, as Inspector Newcomen, in Dickens Theatre Company’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Grand Opera House, York
Pantomime of the week: Blue Light Theatre Company in Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, today, 1pm; Wednesday to Friday, 7.30pm
FORMED by York Ambulance Service staff, Blue Light Theatre Company’s family-friendly tenth anniversary production features an original pantomime script by Perri Ann Barley, with additional material by the dame, Steven Clark, directed by Craig Barley and choreographed by Devon Wells.
They are joined in the cast by Glen Gears, Brenda Riley, Simon Moore, Kevin Bowes, Kristian Barley and new members Aileen Stables and Audra Bryan, among others. Proceeds go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (York) and York Against Cancer. Box office: 07933 329654 or bluelight-theatre.co.uk.
The (Riding) Hoods in Blue Light Theatre Company’s Nithered!: Kathryn Donley, left, Chelsea Hutchinson and Kalayna Barley
Classical concert of the week: Academy of St Olave’s, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, tonight, 8pm
THE “main event” of the Academy of St Olave’s second concert of their 2023-24 season will be Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor, but in a finished version! Schubert famously completed only the first two movements, before setting the symphony aside (six years before his death in 1828).
The York chamber orchestra will be adding third and fourth movements compiled and composed by Schubert scholar Professor Brian Newbould, based on material left behind by the Austrian composer. Further works in a programme of late-Classical and early Romantic music will be Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Luigi Cherubini’s operatic overture Anacréon. Box office: academyofstolaves.org.uk or on the door.
Miles Kane: One Man Band at Leeds O2 Academy
Miles down the road: Miles Kane, Leeds O2 Academy, Thursday, 7pm
BIRKENHEAD guitarist and singer Miles Kane, former frontman of The Rascals and Alex Turner’s cohort in The Last Shadow Puppets, opens his January and February 2024 solo tour in Leeds. Expect the focus to fall on last August’s album, One Man Band, released on Modern Sky Records.
A deeply personal record, it found Kane reflecting on his journey as he returned to Liverpool, hooking up with Blossoms’ Tom Ogden, Circa Waves’ Keiran Shudall, Andy Burrow and regular writing partner Jamie Biles to record songs with longtime collaborator James Skelly, of The Coral, on production duties. Box office: mileskane.com.
Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr: Showing in the ReDiscover programme at City Screen Picturehouse
Time to rediscover: Buster Keaton season, City Screen Picturehouse, York, until February 9
CITY Screen Picturehouse is celebrating the silent cinema of Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton, the American actor, comedian and director whose graceful physical feats of stoical comedy were marked by a deadpan expression that brought him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”.
Friday’s screening of Steamboat Bill, Jr (U), wherein the effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain joins his father’s crew, will be followed on February 2 by Sherlock, Jr (U), in which Keaton’s hapless film projectionist longs to be a detective. The season concludes on February 9 with The General (U), with its peerless chase scenes as Keaton’s plucky railway engineer pursues Union spies doggedly across enemy lines when they steal his locomotive. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Dominic Halpin And The Hurricanes: Revelling in A Country Night In Nashville
Country shindig of the week: A Country Night In Nashville, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
DOMINIC Halpin And The Hurricanes take a journey down country roads, visiting the songs of American stars both past and present as they recreate the atmosphere of a buzzing honky-tonk in downtown Nashville. The music of Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, The Chicks, Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves, among others, will be showcased. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Martin Fry: Fronting the ABC Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour show at York Barbican
Gig of the week: ABC, Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour, York Barbican, January 27, doors, 7pm
MARTIN Fry leads ABC in an orchestral performance of their June 1982 chart-topping debut album The Lexicon Of Love, here coupled with further hits and favourites.
Fusing Motown soul with a steely Sheffield post-punk attitude, the album spawned the hits Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All of My Heart,
now performed with the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by longtime collaborator Anne Dudley, who orchestrated the original album sessions. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk.
Miles And The Chain Gang: New single and first gig of 2024
Miles on the doorstep: Miles And The Chain Gang, The Terrace, New Street, York, February 10, 8pm onwards, free entry
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang precede their first gig of 2014 with the January 26 release of new single Raining Cats And Dogs, an Americana-tinged track that dates back 30 years.
“Everything takes time,” says songwriter and frontman Miles Salter. “The song started out at a jam session with my friends Dom Jukes and Syd Egan in the summer of 1994. It just came to me, as song ideas do.” Hearing the subsequent recording for the first time in years, Salter has decided to revisit the “very playful and tongue-in-cheek” country number with Egan on harmonica.
The poster artwork for The Basement Sessions 3, Navigators Art & Performance’s next event at City Screen Picturehouse, York, now taking place on February 23
YORK creative collective Navigators Art & Performance is moving Saturday’s Basement Sessions 3 at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, to next month.
“Unfortunately, the Basement is ankle deep in flood water and we’re going to have to postpone the gig this Saturday,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “We’re making plans for the show to go ahead on Friday, February 23.”
Billed as “Live, Local and Loud!”, the adventurous 7.30pm to 10.30pm bill combines new music, comedy, spoken word and poetry, with a few surprises up its sleeve.
Taking part will be the returning Danae, a spellbinding poet and actor from Mexico via York; Neo Borgia Trio, a ”punk/jazz riot” from the University of York Big Band, who wowed everyone in their Navigators debut; JT Welsch, writer, poet, performer and multi-instrumentalist, and Will Glitch, a young comedian from Norwich via Hull.
Left-field indie favourites Percy will be delivering dark and spiky post-punk. “Think Stranglers, Magazine, Gang Of Four, Idles and Fontaines DC,” says Richard.
On the bill too are The Jammingtons Experience with their tales and trials of two lives, sung to acoustic guitar and bass accompaniment, and Fat Spatula, whose transatlantic guitar racket comes with fat beats and greasy riffs.
“All performers are from York and the surrounding area and are chosen for a spirit of experimentality and community – and of course for being excellent!” says Richard. “It’s our last Basement Session for a while, featuring exciting local bands, new discoveries as well as familiar favourites, a fascinating emerging poet and some lively comedy. The Basement is small and our shows sell out, so book soon. Please note, some material may be unsuitable for young children.”
Call-out: Navigators Art seeks artists for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women
The February 23 event follows Navigators Art’s sold-out show at the Black Swan Inn on January 6 to “mark the ancient roots of Old Christmas and Twelfth Night”.
Looking ahead, “we’ll be doing an art exhibition and live performance for International Women’s Week in York during March and a Micklegate Art Trail for the University of York’s Festival of Ideas, as well as a sculpture and music/poetry night in honour of York-born poet WH Auden for York Civic Trust’s Trailblazers project in May/June,” says Richard.
Navigators Art & Performance, a fluid collective of York artists, writers, musicians and performers, have booked The Basement for March 23 for GUNA: Views and Voices Of Women, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm. “We’re seeking artists for this show and would be grateful for any recommendations,” says Richard, who can be contacted at richkitch99@hotmail.com.
This evening of music, spoken word and comedy exploring, celebrating and promoting the creativity of women will tie in with Navigators Art’s exhibition for York International Women’s Week in the City Screen café and upstairs gallery from March 10 to April 6.
Entry to the exhibition is free and an official opening event will be held upstairs on March 11 from 6pm.
Tickets for The Basement Sessions 3 and GUNA: Views and Voices of Women can be booked through TicketSource via https://bit.ly/nav-events-all
Making Mischief: Peter Pan Goes Wrong at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Pamela Raith
FROM Peter Pan mishaps to pantomime, rabbit obituaries to classic rock, prawn cocktail comedy to Eighties’ pop star nostalgia, Charles Hutchinson delights in all manner of arts events.
Theatrical calamity of the week…but in a good way: Mischief Theatre’s Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 16 to 20, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
FROM the mayhem-makers of The Play That Goes Wrong and the BBC television series The Goes Wrong Show comes Mischief Theatre’s riotous spin on a timeless classic in the West End hit Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
As the hapless members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society return to the stage, once more they must battle technical hitches, flying mishaps and cast disputes as they strive to present J M Barrie’s awfully big adventure, but will they ever make it to Neverland? Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
RIP Lee Scratch Perry from Bertt deBaldock’s book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three
Book signing launch of the week: Bertt deBaldock’s Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, January 16, 4.30pm to 7pm
PYRAMID Gallery owner, curator and artist Terry Brett launches his latest collection of cartoon rabbit portrait tributes to celebrities and remarkable individuals who have passed away in the 108-page book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three.
The cartoons are drawn by Bertt deBaldock (Terry’s alias) at the time of the individual’s death and assembled with Terry’s tributes or memories of the person in a volume covering September 2021 to December 2022. The book is free but donations are invited in aid of Refugee Action York.
All in for Aladdin: The cast for Pickering Musical Society’s 2024 pantomime
Pantomime extra time: Pickering Musical Society in Aladdin, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, January 18 to 28, 7.15pm, except January 22; 2.15pm, January 20, 21, 27 and 28
PICKERING Musical Society has added two extra performances of Aladdin, now opening on January 18, rather than January 19, while a Sunday matinee on January 21 is a new addition too.
Director Luke Arnold’s cast includes Pickering panto favourites Marcus Burnside as Widow Twankey, Stephen Temple as simple son Wishee Washee, Danielle Long as principal boy Aladdin, Courtney Brown as principal girl Princess Lotus Blossom, Paula Paylor and Rachel Anderson as comedic double act Minnie Wong and Winnie Wong and John Brooks as the villainous Abanazar. Box office: 01751 474833 or thelittleboxoffice.com/kirktheatre.
The poster for One Night Of Classic Rock at the JoRo, York
New collaboration: The BJMC & Steve Coates Music Productions, One Night Of Classic Rock, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 20, 7.30pm
THE long-established BJMC (Bev Jones Music Company) is teaming up with new company Steve Coates Music Productions. Their first collaboration draws on Coates’s jukebox for a night of thunderous anthems from everyone’s favourite rock bands, such as AC/DC, Queen, Tina Turner, Status Quo, Eagles, Meat Loaf, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac.
Guitarist Mickey Moran combines leading a six-piece band with joining Annabel Van Griethuysen, Clare Meadley, Jack Storey-Hunter, Chris Hagyard and Ruth McNeill as the show’s lead singers. Box office for returns only: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail on the menu at Theatre@41, Monkgate
From Russia with love of comedy on Valentine’s Day: Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 14, 8pm
RUSSIAN-BORN Olga Koch turned 30, achieved a master’s degree, went on an adult gap year, suffered salmonella, lost herself, found herself and washed it all down with a delicious prawn cocktail. “Think less Eat Pray Love and more Shake Scream Cry,” she says, ahead of her return to Theatre@41 after previous visits with Homecoming in October 2021 and Just Friends in October 2022. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
B C Camplight: Playing The Crescent after releasing his break-up album The Last Rotation Of Earth
Gig announcement of the week: BC Camplight, presented by Please Please You & Brudenell Presents, The Crescent, York, March 15, 7.30pm
DOES a curse dictate that Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio cannot move forward without being knocked back? Or that the greatest material is born out of emotional trauma? While making his 2023 album, The Last Rotation Of Earth, Christinzio’s relationship with his fiancé crumbled after nine inseparable years.
This break-up amid long-term struggles with addiction and mental health led to an extraordinary album of heartbreak, “more cinematic, sophisticated and nuanced than anything” that New Jersey-born BC has done before. Hear the results in York. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Martin Kemp: Trading in his bass guitar for taking to the decks for a night of Eighties’ pop hits and dancing
Nostalgia on the horizon: Martin Kemp, The Ultimate Back To The 80’s DJ Set, York Barbican, March 29, doors, 7.30pm
SPANDAU Ballet bassist and EastEnders star Martin Kemp takes to the decks to spin “all the best of the hits” from the Eighties in an unstoppable singalong. Dig out your best Eighties’ attire, grab your dancing shoes and prepare to enjoy a night of pure Gold! Yes, fancy dress is encouraged, he advises.
“It’s amazing! People absolutely lose themselves, singing to every word,” Kemp told ITV’s Good Morning show. “It’s the most euphoric atmosphere I have ever been in, in my life!” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: York singer-songwriter, now based in London, returns to Yorkshire to play Leeds. Picture: Harry Pearson
New year, new album, new tour: Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, April 4, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich follows up Dirty Hit Records’ February 9 release of his fifth album, Some Things Break, with a nine-date spring tour that opens in Leeds.
First up is Ben’s new single, New York, a song that came from a writing session with labelmate Matty Healy, from The 1975. Healy asked his permission to perform it at a one-off show, opening for Phoebe Bridgers in 2021, and now comes Ben’s version. Box office: brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.
In Focus: Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime, Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Acomb, January 18 to 26
The Three Pigs in Blue Light Theatre Company’s Nithered!: Simon Moore, left, Kevin Bowes and Kristian Barley
BLUE Light Theatre Company’s tenth anniversary pantomime, Nithered!, is a frosty fairytale adventure by regular writer Perri Ann Barley to match the wintry weather in York.
Formed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff, they performed their debut pantomime in 2013. “It was supposed to be a ‘one-off’ production to raise funds for a colleague who had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease but was so successful that it’s still going to this day, and we’ve even branched out into performing plays too,” says Nithered! director Craig Barley.
“Since that first panto, more than £22,000 has been raised for our chosen charities: the Motor Neurone Disease Association (York) and York Against Cancer. Extra performances have been added over the years to accommodate more people, due to our shows’ ever-growing popularity, and there’s also a waiting list for people wanting to join the cast.
Acomb Working Men’s Club has housed the show since 2013. “It’s been our home for so long as they gave us the space for free for so many years, so we could maximise our charitable donations,” says Craig.
“We can seat 200 and offer use of the bar, meaning a relaxed performance which has received so much good feedback. New audience members are pleasantly surprised when they arrive and see the size, layout and the room all dressed up accordingly – putting them immediately at ease and into the panto spirit.”
All ten pantomimes have utilised the same production team: co-producers Perri and Craig, alongside choreographer Devon Wells and stage manager Dave Holiday. “Between us, so much has been achieved on the tiny stage at Acomb Working Men’s Club, from magic carpets to levitating witches!” says Craig.
The (Riding) Hoods in Nithered!: Kathryn Donley, left, Chelsea Hutchinson and Kalayna Barley
The cast still consists of Yorkshire Ambulance staff along with other talented performers from in and around York.
“We like to do things a little differently, creating a brand-new storyline every year, among other things,” says Craig. “But at the same time adding some traditional elements, such as the Dame, played by Steven Clark, who writes additional script material too, and the villain, Glen Gears, who has been with the company since the very beginning. Both of them are very much audience favourites.”
Introducing the storyline in Nithered!, Craig says: “The usually bright and happy village has been shrouded in a permanent frost by the evil Snow Queen (played by Perri Ann Barley), who has enlisted the Big Bad Wolf’ (Glen Gears) to govern the land on her behalf and to keep the population down.
“Mother Goose (Brenda Riley) and the villagers are struggling to cope with the never-ending winter and, with the Wolf around, they are living in constant fear for their safety. Things take a dramatic turn when one of the Three Pigs (Simon Moore, Kevin Bowes, Kristian Barley) is kidnapped by the Wolf.”
Whereupon the villagers decide to take matters into their own hands and head out on a very risky rescue mission. They enlist the help of the Fairy Godmother (Steven Clark), who finds herself in a face-off with the Snow Queen herself, but who will prove to be the most powerful?
“Will the villagers overcome the Big Bad Wolf? Will the everlasting winter come to an end? To find out, come join us and step right into the weird but wonderful world of Nithered!,” says Craig.
The Three Bears in Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime: Linden Horwood, left, Harry Martin and Richard Rogers
The cast also features Richard Rogers, Linden Horwood, Julie Shrimpton, Nicky Moore, Pat Mortimer, Zoe Paylor, Chelsea Hutchinson, Kalayna Barley, Kathryn Donley and Harry Martin, plus new members Aileen Stables and Audra Bryan.
“With this being our tenth anniversary, the team have really gone all out to give the audience an amazing experience and cannot wait for everyone to see it.”
Looking ahead, this summer Blue Light will present Murder At Reptilian Park, a new comedy murder mystery by Perri Ann Barley, to be staged in conjunction with the Galtres Centre in Easingwold. “It will run there from June 20 to 22, including a Saturday matinee, bringing us a whole new audience and new challenges,” says Craig. Tickets will be on sale soon on 01347 822472 or at galtrescentre.org.uk.
“Perri masterfully crafts our unique pantos, giving audiences new and interesting storylines featuring some familiar characters, which take them away from some of the other tired classic panto stories to give our audiences an experience like no other, ” says Craig. “That’s why so many return year after year.
“Perri is now working with London Playwrights [a resource for emerging playwrights] as she branches out to try and make her passion for writing a career. Not only this, but she’s also in talks with another professional theatre in Yorkshire, but more about that later.”
Blue Light Theatre Company in Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Front Street, Acomb, York, January 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26, 7.30pm; January 20, 1pm matinee. Tickets: £12 adults, £10 concessions, £8 children. Box office: 07933 329654 or bluelight-theatre.co.uk. All proceeds go to Motor Neurone Disease Association York and York Against Cancer.
The poster artwork for Blue Light Theatre Company’s 2024 pantomime, Nithered!
Black’n’White the Zebra and Hiran Abeysekera (Pi) in Life Of Pi, bound for Leeds Grand Theatre from Wednesday. Picture: Johan Persson
DRAMAS, circus, musical theatre, rock’n’roll, sorrowful folk, one more pantomime and the return of forest concerts attract Charles Hutchinson’s attention.
Theatre event of the week: Life Of Pi, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 10 to 13; 2pm and 7pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; 7.30pm, Friday
WINNER of five Olivier Awards, not least Best Play, the West End spectacle Life Of Pi is heading north on its debut British tour with its combination of jaw-dropping visuals, magic and puppetry.
Adapted from Yann Martel’s 15 million-selling, 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning fantasy novel, Life Of Pi finds Pi stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive on this epic journey of endurance and hope. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for Meat Loaf By Candlelight at Grand Opera House, York
Tribute show of the week: Meat Loaf By Candlelight, Grand Opera House, York, January 12, 7.30pm
STARS of the original West End and international productions of Bat Out Of Hell will be accompanied by a rock band in a tribute to Texan rock-operatic singer and actor Meat Loaf “as you have never heard before”.
On the Meat Loaf menu will be I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Bat Out Of Hell, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, Dead Ringer For Love, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Cirque: Combining musical theatre bangers and circus skills at York Barbican
Move over PT Barnum and Hugh Jackman: Cirque: The Greatest Show, York Barbican, January 13, 2pm and 6pm
CIRQUE: The Greatest Show combines West End and Broadway musical theatre showstoppers with spectacular circus skills, ranging from aerialists and contortionists to thrilling feats of agility and flair.
West End performers join with mesmerising circus acts in the all-star cast for an enchanting variety show that vows to “charm and astonish in equal measure”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Peter Panto: The PQA York pantomime at the JoRo Theatre
Still time to squeeze in another pantomime: PQA York in Peter Panto, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 14, 7.30pm
PETER Panto, the high-flying PQA Pantomime, features the talented young performers of the Pauline Quirke Academy York’s Friday Academy.
Join Peter Pan as he flies off on a new adventure for one night only in a show featuring “stunning visuals, gorgeous music and barrel-loads of laughter on a swashbuckling journey to Neverland unlike any before”. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Showaddywaddy’s 50th anniversary tour, taking in Grand Opera House, York
Hey, rock and roll nostalgia: Showaddywaddy 50th Anniversary Tour, Grand Opera House, York, January 19, 7.30pm
FORMED in Leicester in 1973, Showaddywaddy like to call themselves “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”. Their 50th anniversary travels rock’n’roll on into 2024 with a line-up featuring only one original member, drummer Romeo Challenger, aged 73.
Dave Bartram, the singer on such hits as Hey Rock And Roll, Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon and Pretty Little Angel Eyes, now manages the band, having performed his last gig in Ilkley in 2011. Andy Pelos takes lead vocals. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Angeline Morrison: Performing songs of sorrow at the NCEM, York
Leaping ahead: Angeline Morrison, National Centre for Early Music, York, February 29, 7.30pm
SEEKING to make the most of the extra day in this Leap Year? Why not discover why the Guardian picked Angeline Morrison’s The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs Of Black British Experience (Topic Records) as the number one folk album of 2022.
Birmingham-born, Cornwall-based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Morrison explores traditional song with reverence, love and curiosity, a handmade sonic aesthetic and a feeling for the stories of ordinary human lives. York singer-songwriter Holly Taymar supports. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Paul French: Soon to play Major role in Separate Tables at York Theatre Royal Studio
Classic play of the season: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 8 to 17, 7.45pm except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees
AFTER directing four Russian plays by Chekhov, Helen Wilson turns her attention to Separate Tables, two very English Terence Rattigan tales of love and loss, set in a shabby Bournemouth hotel in the 1950s.
Guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables, a formality that underlines the loneliness of these characters in a play about class, secrets and repressed emotions. Chris Meadley, Paul French, Marie-Louise Feeley, Caroline Greenwood and Linda Fletcher lead the Settlement cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Bryan Adams: Canadian rocker will play Dalby Forest on June 21
Going down to the woods again at last: Forest Live concerts, Dalby Forest, near Pickering, June 21 and 22; gates open at 4pm
FOREST Live concerts are to return to Dalby Forest for the first time since Paul Weller and Jess Glynne’s shows in June 2019. Covid put paid to 2020, since when three more silent summers have passed in the woods, but the hiatus will come to an end after Forestry England’s announcement of two outdoor gigs for 2024.
Bryan Adams, forever associated with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You’s 16-week chart-topping run from the 1991 film soundtrack to the forest tale of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, will play on June 21. Nile Rodgers & CHIC will be supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Deco on June 22. Ellis-Bextor previously guested at Erasure’s Dalby date in 2011. Box office: forestlive.com.
Nile Rodgers: Good times ahead at Dalby Forest on June 22 in the company of CHIC
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
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.”
Me babbies, me bairns, me Berwick: Berwick Kaler’s dame, Dotty Dullaly, in Robinson Crusoe & The Pirates Of The River Ouse, his third Grand Opera House pantomime. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
‘TIS the season for pantomime as three start at the same time amid a glut of Christmas shows, from kitchen disco to classic rock, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
York pantomimes at the treble: Rowntree Players in Cinderella, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today until next Saturday, except Monday; Jack And The Beanstalk, York Theatre Royal, until January 7 2024; Robinson Crusoe & The Pirates Of The River Ouse, Grand Opera House, tonight until January 6
ROWNTREE Players “rollicking pantomime” director Howard Ella is joined in the writing team for the first time by comic Gemma McDonald, who will be playing Buttons alongside Sara Howlett’s Cinderella, Laura Castle’s Fairy Flo and the baddie trio of Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Wicked Queen, York ghost walk host Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra and Michael Cornell’s Miranda.
James Mackenzie’s Luke Backinanger and Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal
York Theatre Royal’s fourth collaboration with Evolution Productions goes green with Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap and CBeebies’ James Mackenzie’s villainous Luke Backinanger joining 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.
Dowager dame Berwick Kaler tackles Robinson Crusoe for the first time in his 43rd York panto and third at the GOH. Jake Lindsay takes the title role alongside the Ouse crew’s regulars, Martin Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or 01904 501935 (last few tickets); yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or 01904 623568; atgtickets.com/york.
Matheea Ellerby: Shining as Sparkle in Pocklington Arts Centre’s The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas
Debut of the week: The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas, Pocklington Arts Centre, until December 16
WRITER Elizabeth Godber and director Jane Thornton are at the helm of Pocklington Arts Centre’s inaugural in-house production: the children’s story of Jingle, Sparkle and Daredevil Dave, who have gingerbread to cook, peas to find and shoes to make. But who gives the Elves their Christmas? Surely they too deserve a break? Dylan Allcock, Jade Farnill and professional debut-making Matheea Ellerby star. Show times and tickets: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Cooking up her hits with Christmas trimmings in her Kitchen Disco at York Barbican
Yuletide on the dancefloor: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Christmas Kitchen Disco, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
WHAT began as a lockdown online sensation from Sophie Ellis Bextor’s kitchen turned into her 2022 Kitchen Disco tour. Now she follows up Cooking Vinyl’s June release of her seventh studio album, Hana, with her Christmas Kitchen Disco tour for 2023. Hits from throughout her career will be combined with festive classics, served in her seasonal disco style. Tickets update: Sold out. Could be murder on the dancefloor to acquire one now. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mostly Autumn: Christmas classic rock at The Crescent
Homecoming for Christmas: Mostly Autumn Christmas Show!, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 8pm
BEFORE heading off to Belgium and the Netherlands next week, York classic rock band Mostly Autumn play a home-city Christmas show heavily influenced by 1970s’ progressive rock, trad folk and, increasingly, contemporary influences after 28 years together led by guitarist Bryan Josh.
Meanwhile, York folk-covers, busker rock’n’roll troupe Hyde Family Jam have sold out both Thursday and Friday’s Christmas Party gigs, but tickets are available for Tuesday’s 7.30pm double bill of folk trio The Magpies and York singer-songwriter Dan Webster. Box office: thecrescentyork.
Bootleg Beatles: Get back to York Barbican on Wednesday
Tribute show of the week: Bootleg Beatles, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.30pm
PERFECT timing for the Bootleg Beatles to return to York this Christmas with their nostalgic whirlwind trip through the Fab Four Sixties, after the reissue of the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ compilations and especially the chart-topping renaissance of Now And Then.
And yes, that reactivated ghost of a John Lennon song will feature in a set combining the then and the now as Steve White’s Paul, Tyson Kelly’s John, Steve Hill’s George and Gordon Elsmore’s Ringo re-create the sound and look of each Beatles’ phase in fastidious detail, accompanied by a brass and string orchestra. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
A mouse on skis in A Townmouse Christmas at Fairfax House, York
Mouse in the house: A Townmouse Christmas, Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, until January 7, 10.30am to 4.30pm, last entry 4pm
FAIRFAX House’s 2022 festive exhibition, A Townmouse Christmas, returns this winter with double the magic and double the mice, causing even more mayhem and mischief amid the Georgian Christmas festivities.
Hundreds of merry mouse guests can be spotted swinging from the ceiling and bursting out of drawers as they play among the 18th century décor, festive foliage and displays of Georgian Christmas traditions. Tickets: fairfaxhouse.co.uk.
Hands up who’s coming to town: Santa Claus looks forward to York Stage’s Santa’s Sing-a-Long
Busiest company of the week: York Stage presents Santa’s Sing-a-Long, Wednesday to December 23; Festive Feast, December 15, 16, 19 to 22, 8pm, both at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
JOIN Mr and Mrs Claus in their busy home as they prepare for the big day, entertaining children with 45 minutes of sing-a-longs, Christmas stories, interactive wonderment and Christmas songs aplenty. Santa has a Christmas book for every child to take away to read on Christmas Eve. Show times and tickets: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
At night, York Stage vocal talent, accompanied by Adam Tomlinson and his band, dishes up a Festive Feast of Christmas songs, ranging from the traditional to modern pop, plus lashings of musical theatre favourites.
On song will be Katie Melia, Jess Main, Tracey Rea, Matthew Clarke, Cyanne Unamba-Oparah, Carly Morton, Finn East, Jack Hooper, Hannah Shaw, Stuart Hutchinson and York Stage debutant Jess Parnell. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mike Paul-Smith: Musical director of Down For The Count at the Royal Hall, Harrogate
Christmas in full swing: Down For The Count, Swing Into Christmas, Royal Hall, Harrogate, December 16, 7.30pm
MIKE Paul-Smith trained as a doctor but is now principal conductor of London vintage orchestra Down For The Count, specialists in bringing jazz’s Swing Era back to life, in this case with a festive focus.
Paul-Smith and arranger Simon Joyner re-create the music of Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and many more in a luscious 30-piece orchestral setting, evoking Capitol Studios recordings. Cue original arrangements of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) and It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, alongside Let’s Face The Music And Dance and S’Wonderful. Box office:01423 50211 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Reopening of the week: Victorian Christmas at York Castle Museum, Eye of York, until January 72024
Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance and Jane Bruce with their Museum Mice at York Castle Museum
YORK Castle Museum’s Victorian Kirkgate street has reopened for a magical Yuletide experience full of activities and performances for all ages.
Highlights include Chris Cade’s Scrooge shows; a Victorian green-clad Father Christmas; carol singing on Sundays, and Janet Bruce and Cassie Vallance’s Story Craft Theatre bringing cute Museum Mice to life with puppets, games and family fun, followed by a craft activity on several weekdays. To book tickets: https://beta.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/york-castle-museum/admission-tickets
Wanderful: Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap with her arty joke of an artichoke wand in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk
NINA Wadia was confused. Growing up in India and Hong Kong, pantomime was a foreign country to her.
“When I came to the UK from Honk Kong to study classical theatre at the London Theatre School in Wandsworth, I was new to this country,” recalls the EastEnders and Good Gracious Me star.
“I went for an audition for my first ever professional job in Robin Hood at Theatre Royal Stratford East, but I thought pantomime was some form of mime! I auditioned like all the other actors, and when they said, ‘have you got a song?’, I blagged it and said ‘of course’. ‘Do you dance?’. ‘Yes, I tap,’ I said, but I was thinking, ‘why do I need to do this when it’s a mime show?’, as I just didn’t know the pantomime tradition.”
Song and dance? “What kind of mime is that,” she asked. Explanation forthcoming, she was cast as Friar Tuck, and now, more than 30 years later, she will be making her York Theatre Royal tonight (8/12/2023) as the poster face of Jack And The Beanstalk, playing Fairy Sugarsnap.
In the box seating: Nina Wadia at York Theatre Royal
She is forever grateful to Theatre Royal Stratford East, in particular Philip Hedley, artistic director from 1979 to 2004, and his associate director, Jeff Teare. “It’s the most incredible theatre that opens the door for ethnic actors,” says Nina, who will turn 55 during the panto run on December 18.
“It was very hard being an ethnic actor, and if you think of pantomime, I don’t think you’d go to a brown actor in those days. I loved that it was such an open theatre to look at actors regardless of their colour and think if you have potential, they will help develop that.
“Jeff saw something in me, the kind of thing that has made my career: the kind of energy I have, but also the willingness to learn, which I still have, whereas a lot of young actors seem overly confident now.
“I really want to express that to young people coming into the business, where they can stand out at drama school and think they know it all, by I always find that by the end of playing a role I know more than when I started.”
Nina Wadia: Mother, actress, comedian, producer, presenter and charity campaigner
Nina points to her role as Zainab Masood in the BBC’s London soap opera EastEnders from 2007 to February 2013. “I never watched EastEnders before being in it,” she admits. “I signed up for six months but ended up staying on and on, and I got to knowZainab over those six and a half years – and I really liked her.
“They hired me to bring some comedy to EastEnders, and I was the first actor to win an award for best comedy performance in EastEnders. What was really interesting was I was told they wanted me to create a character like Wendy Richards’ Pauline Fowler but funny, so I watched her, and she was so grumpy that I found her funny! Anyway, I found the way to make Zainab funny was to make her very blunt.”
Nina’s gift for her comedy had marked her out from her pantomime bow as Friar Tuck, the beginning of a seven-year involvement with Theatre Royal Stratford East. “The show was brilliant and the writer Patrick Prior was the real thing. Playing Friar Tuck, I was one of the four ‘merry men’, with a pillow at the front, a pillow at the back and a skull cap put on top of my very long hair. Very glamorous!” she says.
“I had the best actresses to work with straightaway, sharing the dressing room with all the ‘merry men’, all played by women.”
Fairy versus villain: Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap with pantomime baddie James Mackenzie’s Luke Backinanger in Jack And The Beanstalk
She loved the pantomime humour. “I laughed so much, having grown up with British humour in Hong Kong: Blackadder, Morecambe & Wise and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em. On. On the American side, there was the stand-up of Joan Rivers, Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy, so I was drawn to the combination of crazy antics and really raw, rude comedy that I wasn’t supposed to watch but I loved, especially Eddie Murphy.”
Nina’s subsequent career has embraced everything, from radio drama company regular to soap opera , BBC Asian sketch comedy in Goodness Gracious Me to 2021 Strictly Come Dancing contestant, TV roles as Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan and Mrs Hussein in Still Open All Hours to video game voiceover artist and narrator for the animated series Tweedy And Fluff on Channel 5’s Milkshake. Charity campaigner too, honoured with an OBE.
Profiling herself on social media as Mother, Actress, Producer and Presenter, Nina loves to embrace every medium, her latest addition being her online satirical political character, the Conservative councillor and constituency candidate Annie Stone. “She’s a mixture of Suella Braverman and Priti Patel: vile but believable. She’s on TikTok, Instagram and X and she now has proper followers at #VoteAnnieStone!”
From tonight, Nina will be delivering rhymes, mirth and magic as Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack And The Beanstalk. “I was expecting a silly costume. I described it to my husband [Raimond Mirza] and said they’ve dressed me as an aubergine pretending to be an artichoke,” she says. “I’ve made her more kooky than usual, given her more depth, as much as you can give her depth!”
Nina Wadia waves a wand over Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal from today (8/12/2023) until January 7 2024. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
