Loudhailer! Alan Carr announces a brace of York Barbican gigs for December
HOW does
joker Alan Carr feel news of his first tour in four years will be received?
By
calling it Not Again, Alan!, the son of former York City footballer Graham Carr
supplies his own answer as he announces York Barbican gigs on December 18 and
19.
Since his last comedy travels, chat-show host Carr has “managed to find himself in all sorts of dramas”, apparently. Such as? “Between his star-studded wedding day and becoming an accidental anarchist, from fearing for his life at border control to becoming a reluctant farmer, three words spring to mind…Not again, Alan!” says his tour publicity. “Join Alan on tour as he muses upon the things that make his life weird and wonderful.”
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday at 10am on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.
Not Again, Alan! will be Carr’s fourth UK solo show in four-year
cycles in the wake of Yap, Yap, Yap’s 200 dates in 2015 and 2016, Spexy Beast
in 2011 and Tooth Fairy in 2007. He last brought his chat, chat, chat to York
on the Yap, Yap, Yap! itinerary on July 11 2015 at the Barbican.
Later
this year Carr will host Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow on ITV, wherein five all-time favourite game shows will be supersized and reinvigorated for a
new audience: Play Your Cards Right, Take Your Pick, Strike It Lucky, Bullseye and The
Price Is Right. In 2020 too, Carr will return to the judges’
panel on the second BBC series of RuPaul’s DragRace UK.
Martin Witts in happier times at the Great Yorkshire Fringe. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
THE comedy is over for the Great Yorkshire Fringe
after five summers in York, blaming “city-centre management” for the decision
to exit stage left.
In a formal statement, founder and director
Martin Witts said: “Our experience of sponsoring, curating and managing
an event in this small city of ours has led to the conclusion that until a
well-managed and efficient is implemented, a festival of our size cannot thrive
and does not have a place in York.”
Here Martin, who also runs the Leicester Square
Theatre and Museum of Comedy in London, answers Charles Hutchinson’s questions.
1.What made you take this decision, Martin?
“My patience with all the red tape ran out of time.
It was the same things every year, no matter what you try to do to address the
most critical things on the Parliament Street village green site. Access.
Drainage. The licence. Security. What we were required to do changed
every year.
“Right from the start, there were frustrations. We
wanted to start the festival in 2014, but it took a year to get the licence from
the city council for Parliament Street.”
2.What would constitute a “well-managed and
efficient city-centre management”?
“The City
of York Council, Make It York and York BID are all involved in how the city centre
is run. Everyone has great intentions, but there are too many chiefs, not
enough Indians, and it’s got too complicated. That’s the frustration.”
3.Sean Bullick, managing director of Make It York,
says he would “welcome the opportunity to discuss options with you to
bring the event back”. Will you have that discussion?
“I had a meeting with Sean and
Charlie Croft [assistant director of communities and culture at City of YorkCouncil] last year to say this needs to
be resolved, but we still had problems at last summer’s festival with the drainage
provision for the toilets.”
4. Last summer, some people said the ticket prices were high; some
reckoned the quality of the newer acts had lowered; others felt the same names
kept returning. Your thoughts?
“We had no complaints about the festival content or
the programming or the pricing. There were no negative comments from patrons on
our social media and in the box-office day book. Indeed, only positives. The
average ticket price remained the same.
“But there was a drop in audience numbers certainly,
when the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, running at the same time at the Castle car
park, had an impact.”
5. Do festivals have a natural cycle, especially
when the fickle world of comedy is prone to “the new rock’n’roll” going in and
out of fashion?
“No, I disagree with that. Comedy always has a new
audience and new acts. You only have to see the popularity of the New Comedian of
the Year award we ran each year.
“Comedy is always changing, but people like to keep
seeing their favourite comedian too.”
6.Emotionally, how do you feel about calling a halt
to the Great Yorkshire Fringe after five years?
“I’m incredibly disappointed to be having to do this. You should see the messages I’ve had from the volunteers who worked for the Fringe saying it was the highlight of their career. It was the highlight of my career too.
“In an ideal world, if it had been easier, if there
wasn’t the problem of the structure of the city-centre management, we would
like to have continued the festival, but your patience runs out in the end when
you want things to run smoothly.”
7. What did you achieve?
”We were committed to running the festival for five years and you hope
that after those five years, you’ve covered your costs, broken even, and
established yourself, which we had – and we proved Parliament Street could be a
village green with shows and all the food and drink stalls.”
8. Would you consider taking the Great Yorkshire
Fringe to another great Yorkshire city?
“No, absolutely not. I’m not planning to move it to
Leeds. This festival was always designed for the city of York, the city where
my family is from. York is the capital city of Yorkshire; the second city of
the world.”
9. You say you will “continue to invest in the
cultural scene of York”. In what ways will you do this?
“We’ll continue to do events in York, but not hold
the festival, but do them in the spirit of the Great Yorkshire Fringe. We’ll
probably have a year off but we’ll support The Arts Barge by doing a couple of
things with them in York this summer.”
10. What else is happening in the world of Witts right now?
“We’re opening a scenery workshop in Pocklington, and I’ve bought the contents of the Goole Waterways Museum after it went into liquidation. We might look at doing something with antiquities and artefacts there.”
Satire this way: mischief-maker Mark Thomas has 50 Things About Us he wants to get off his chest. Pictures: Steve Ullathorne
MISCHIEF-MAKING activist comedian, satirical writer, political agent provocateur, TV and radio presenter, journalist and podcaster Mark Thomas sets out on his 50 Things About Us: Work In Progress tour on January 23.
Among the 54 dates are The Crescent, York, on March
4 and Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on April 9 as the South Londoner combines
his trademark mix of “storytelling, stand-up, mischief and really,
really well researched material to examine how we have come to inhabit this
divided wasteland that some of us call the United Kingdom”.
Thomas, 56, will be picking through the myths, facts and figures of our national identities to ask how we have so much feeling for such a hollow land. “Who do we think we are?” he ponders.
Mark Thomas: keeping an eye on the state of the nation
50 Things About Us is billed as “a show about
money, history, songs, gongs, wigs, unicorns, guns, bungs, sods of soil and
rich people, in the vein of The Manifesto-meets-sweary history channel”.
Thomas
has made his mark down the years by stopping arms deals; creating a
manifesto and bringing the winning policy to parliament; walking the entire
length of the Israeli wall in the West Bank and setting up a comedy club in the
Palestinian city of Jenin.
He has hosted six series on Channel 4, alongside
several television documentaries and radio series; written books; grabbed a
Guinness World Record; sold out numerous tours; won awards aplenty; nabbed
himself a Medal of Honour and succeeded in changing some laws along the
way.
His Work In Progress tour also takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, February 16; Sheffield Memorial Hall, March 1, and Wakefield Theatre Royal, March 5. Box office: York, 01904 622510 or at thecrescent.com; Leeds, 0845 644 1881 or cityvarieties.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, 01422 845265 or thetradesclub.com; Sheffield, 0114 278 9789 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Wakefield, 01924 211311.
Be prepared for Lucy Porter: she is playing Selby Town Hall on June 6
SELBY Town Hall’s spring season will be its biggest ever with 27 live
shows between February and the start of June, plus a trio of Edinburgh Fringe previews
in July.
“There’s the usual mix of folk, Americana, stand-up, pop, rock, theatre
and more with chart-toppers, cult indie royalty, a Grammy winner, the radio
voice who guided my teenage pop dreams, a primetime impersonator tinkling the
ivories and even a 13-piece orchestra,” says Selby Town Council arts officer
Chris Jones.
“We had a good end to 2019 with a surprise listing in the Guardian as
one of the UK’s best tiny venues and that seems to have spilled over into 2020
with strong early sales. It’s full steam ahead.”
The programme’s headline stars include punk princess, actor, television
presenter and Top Ten hit maker Toyah with her stripped-back Acoustic, Up Close
& Personal show on February 21; Mark Radcliffe: Loser?, a solo show of
words and songs from the BBC6 Music and Radio 2 presenter, on April 2, and impersonator
Alistair McGowan, in his new-found guise as a classical pianist, in The Piano
Show on May 22.
Guitarist Gordon Giltrap’s re-scheduled date is confirmed for February 29; cult Eighties’ indie icon, John Peel favourite, Scouse maverick and The Mighty Wah! frontman Pete Wylie presents a duo show of hits and stories on March 14, and Dire Straits founding member David Knopfler, now plying his trade as a singer-songwriter, performs with Harry Bogdanovs on May 27.
Me and my mum: Arabella Weir in her debut stand-up show
On the comedy front, The Fast Show star turned bestselling
author Arabella Weir plays the smallest date on her first ever stand-up tour, the
confessional Does My Mum Loom Big In This?, on February 28; Paul Sinha,
one-time Grand Opera House, York, pantomime villain, comic and quiz sensation from
The Chase, performs Hazy Little Thing Called Love on March 21; and Jo Caulfield discusses unreasonable
neighbours, call centres, snobby ghosts, prosecco drinkers, being married
forever and rude children in Voodoo Doll on May 1.
BBC New Comedy Award winner, To Hull And Back sitcom writer and Hull
native Lucy Beaumont spins surreal anecdotes about bubble wrap, boxing, boobs
and believing in UFOs or not in Space Mam, her return to live stand-up after a
four-year hiatus, on April 17.
Always space for Hull humorist Lucy Beaumont
“The season also includes one of the biggest successes from last year’s
Edinburgh Fringe, comedy duo Max & Ivan, on February 7,” says Chris. “Their
show Commitment was named the fourth best comedy performance of 2019 by the
Guardian and has just been listed as one of the comedy highlights of 2020 by
The Times.
“There’ll be more laughs from BBC Radio 4 favourite Lucy Porter in Be
Prepared, her show on how ‘life turned out to be slightly more
complicated than Brown Owl let on’, on June 6; classically moulded British eccentric
Tim FitzHIgham in Pittancer Of Selby on April 8, and Nineties’ comedy pin-up
turned philosophical raconteur Rob Newman in Rob Newman’s Philosophy Show: Work
In Progress on May 16.
Rob Newman: philosophical work in progress
“Rob will be trying out material for the next series of his award-winning
BBC Radio 4 stand-up philosophy programme Total Eclipse Of Descartes.”
Jones always has a strong hand of American folk and roots music acts
each season. “This spring is no different with performances from Grammy-winning
Californian bluegrass icon Laurie Lewis and her band The Right Hands on May 21;
singer-songwriters Bronwynne Brent and Rachel Baiman on March 6 and May 28 respectively
and the sunshine melodies and harmonies of Illinois indie-Americana quintet The
Way Down Wanderers on April 10,” he says.
Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins in their Flanders & Swann show
Selby Town Council commemorates the 75th anniversary of
VE Day with a concert in Selby Abbey by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band on May 9,
preceded by Tim FitzHigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins’s Flanders & Swann show, At The
Drop Of A Hippopotamus, on May 8 at Selby Town Hall.
The venue plays host to its first ever orchestral performance when a
13-piece ensemble from the Northern Chamber Orchestra plays on April 7, with cellist, baritone and
actor Matthew Sharp as the host.
Yorkston Thorne Khan, pictured right to left, playing Selby Town Hall in March
“As well as being our biggest ever programme of events, this spring season is also one of our most eclectic,” says Chris. “I’m particularly excited to welcome one of the most inventive and cool acts on the folk scene right now, Yorkston Thorne Khan, on March 20, when they promote their new album Navarasa: Nine Emotions.
“They mix an incredible array of sounds, from Scottish traditional to
Indian classical, and are signed to the same label as Arctic Monkeys and Franz
Ferdinand!
“We’re also delighted to open up the season on February 1 with a rare
show for a great folk-rock supergroup, The Sandy Denny Project, brought
together by Fotheringay MkII’s PJ Wright and The Poozies’ Sally Barker to
celebrate one of Britain’s greatest ever singers.”
Nashville singer-songwriter Rachel Baiman
Further dates for the diary are Celtic band The Tannahill Weavers, with
their ballads and lullabies on St Valentine’s Day, February 14, guitar duo Ezio
on March 5; and Martin Turner: Ex Wishbone Ash, performing his former band’s
1971 album Pilgrimage in its entirety on March 28.
Reform Theatre present Midsommer, playwright David Greig and
singer-songwriter Gordon McIntyre’s collaborative piece about two mid-30s,
messed-up strangers – failing car salesman/poet Bob and divorce lawyer Helena –
embarking on a lost weekend of debauchery, bridge-burning, car chases, wedding
bust-ups, midnight trysts and hungover self-loathing, on April 25.
Key signing for Selby Town Hall: impressionist turned piano man Alistair McGowan
Edinburgh Fringe comedy previews with two comics each night will be held
on July 11, 18 and 25, with tickets going on sale in the spring.
This season’s National Theatre Live screenings will be Cyrano de
Bergerac, starring James McAvoy, on February 20, and Lucy Kirkwood’s bold new
thriller The Welkin, starring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz, on June 4.
Pete Wylie: singing Story Of The Blues and telling stories at Selby Town Hall on March 14
“From comedy to rock, bluegrass to theatre, orchestral to music hall and
much, much more, there’s a huge array to choose from at Selby Town Hall this
spring season,” concludes Chris.
Tickets are on sale on 01757 708449, at selbytownhall.co.uk or in person from the town hall.
EVERY gag has a punchline, but sometimes, as Morrissey once sang, that joke isn’t funny anymore, and so the Great Yorkshire Fringe has had its last laugh in York after five years.
Founder and director Martin Witts, a hugely experienced impresario who runs the Leicester Square Theatre and Museum of Comedy in London, but whose home and heart are in York, cuts a frustrated figure in his reasoning.
“Our experience of sponsoring, curating and managing an event in this small city of ours has led us to the conclusion that until a well-managed and efficient city-centre management is implemented, a festival of our size cannot thrive and does not have a place in York,” he said in his formal statement.
Loosely translated, that means red tape, whether applied by the City of York Council or its cultural ambassador, Make It York.
Were his grievances insurmountable? Did they leave him at his Witts’ end? Or is there more to it than that?
Last summer, there was no longer enough room at the St Sampson’s Square end of Parliament Street to accommodate The Turn Pot tent to complement the White Rose Rotunda spiegeltent and The Teapot tent on the festival village green, and so the festival spread out to more locations than ever before across the city. On the one hand, that increased the festival profile; on the other, crucially it dissipated its central meeting ground.
Some people said the ticket prices were high, some reckoned the quality of the acts had lowered, especially among the newer, burgeoning acts making their way to the Edinburgh Fringe; others felt the same names kept returning.
In other words, festivals have a natural cycle, and the fickle world of comedy is particularly prone to “the new rock’n’roll” going in and out of fashion.
Could Martin Witts take the Great Yorkshire Fringe to another Yorkshire city? Possibly, but more likely he will deliver on his promise to continue to invest in the cultural scene of York with high-quality individual events, although a spiegeltent festival would be most welcome too.
In happier days: Great Yorkshire Fringe founder and director Martin Witts. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
THE comedy is over for the Great Yorkshire Fringe after five years in York, blaming the “city-centre management” for the decision to exit stage left.
In a formal statement this morning, founder and director Martin
Witts said: “Our experience of sponsoring, curating and managing an event in this
small city of ours has led us to the conclusion that until a well-managed and
efficient city-centre management is implemented, a festival of our size cannot
thrive and does not have a place in York.”
Henning Wehn: regular performer at the Great Yorkshire Fringe in York
This is the second summer festival to fold in York city
centre in quick succession in the wake of the loss of the ten-week Shakespeare’s
Rose Theatre, run by North Yorkshire entertainment impresario James Cundall, whose
Lunchbox Theatrical Productions company went into liquidation in October after
two summers of Shakespeare plays at a pop-up Elizabethan theatre on the Castle
car park.
Mr Witts, who lives in York, also runs the Leicester Square Theatre and the Museum of Comedy, in Holborn, London. In his full statement, he said: “The Great Yorkshire Fringe has had five fabulous years in York, 1,200 shows, 9,000 performers and 110,000 show patrons, plus a fantastic array of volunteers, festival crew and local venue staff.
Podcaster and comedian Richard Herring: interviewed a former Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Dave Taylor, at the Great Yorkshire Fringe
“We have sadly come to the decision that we will not be
continuing into 2020. We would like to thank all of the acts who have performed,
our food and beverage providers, the staff, both from York and London, and our
loyal team of volunteer staff.
“The biggest thank-you of all to our wonderful patrons, York
residents and visitors alike who have visited us and the city of York for the
last five years. We hope that we have given you some amazing memories.”
The Great Yorkshire Fringe logo from the front cover of each year’s brochure
Mr Witts added: “Thank you to all that have been involved in
the Fringe over the past five years; it has been a privilege to work with you.
We will continue to invest in the local cultural scene of York.
“Our experience of sponsoring, curating and managing an event in this small city of ours has led us to the conclusion that until a well-managed and efficient city-centre management is implemented, a festival of our size cannot thrive and does not have a place in York.”
Sean Bullick: Make It York
Responding to Mr Witts’s statement, Sean Bullick, managing director of Make it York, the organisation in charge of the city centre, said he was sorry the Great Yorkshire Fringe would not be returning this year, but did not rule out a resurrection.
“The Great Yorkshire Fringe was a valued addition to the city’s diverse events calendar and we are sorry to hear it will not be returning next year,” he said.
American singer Curtis Stigers: smooth performance at York Barbican at the 2017 Great Yorkshire Fringe
“It is disappointing that the organisers feel this way as over the last five years Make it York have offered significant marketing and operational support for this festival.
“However, we understand there have been some infrastructure challenges connected to putting on an event of this scale in a city-centre space.
“We would welcome the opportunity to discuss options to bring the event back to the city in future years as part of the ambitious programme of events we are developing.”
Al Murray;The Pub Landlord raises a glass to the inaugural Great Yorkshire Fringe on the first day at the White Rose Rotunda in July 2015.
Mr Witts, who took his first steps in the entertainment business
working alongside York actor Mark Addy in the York Theatre Royal carpentry
team, set up the Great Yorkshire Fringe on a village green laid down in
Parliament Street with street food and coffee, gin and craft beer stalls either
side of the pathway, and the ever-present
double-decker bus, Bob The Box Office.
At one end was the White Rose Rotunda spiegeltent, at the
other The Turn Pot tent, and in the middle, the star-lit Teapot, where the festival
presented comedy, music, variety acts, magic, theatre and children’s entertainment
each July.
Jerry Sadowitz: magic and menace at the Great Yorkshire Fringe
For last summer’s festival run from July 18 to 28, Mr Witts spread out into more locations than ever: the Grand Opera House, York Barbican, The Arts Barge on the River Ouse, 41 Monkgate and The Basement at City Screen, all complementing the spiegeltent and tent.
Among the acts over the five years were German ambassador of
comedy Henning Wehn; Pocklington-born podcaster Richard Herring; Reginald D
Hunter; Michael Palin; Tony Slattery; Omid
Djalili; Jerry Sadowitz; Al Murray: The
Pub Landlord; Austentatious; S!it-Faced Shakespeare; American singer Curtis Stigers; jazz singer Clare
Teal; Ronnie Scott’s All Stars and Shed Seven drummer Alan Leach in a fusion of
stand-up and quiz show.
Silky: headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at York Barbican
SILKY, Nick Doody and Joey Page make up the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill, hosted by Damion Larkin, at York Barbican on January 31.
Liverpudlian-in-exile Silky made the
final of the 1995 BBC New Comedy Awards in only his fourth gig, when competing
against Lee Mack and The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt.
Silky, who lives in Leeds, has performed
internationally in China, the Philippines, the Gulf, Singapore, the United
States, Australia (Melbourne Comedy Festival) and all over Europe.
Nick Doody: ;political satirist
In Britain, he has played the Glastonbury Festival, headlined the world’s smallest comedy festival at Frampton Mansell, appeared on Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Brookside and Heartbeat and done warm-up spots for BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Nick Doody, who specialises in political comedy and satire, supported the influential Bill Hicks at Hicks’s invitation while still a student. He has performed in Ireland, Germany, Spain, France and Croatia, as well as Britain, and has written for The Secret Policeman’s Ball, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, The Now Show, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Friday Night Project. His BBC Radio 4 show Bigipaedia has had a second series confirmed.
If the crown fits: surrealist comic Joey Page
Indie comedian Joey Page’s brand of inventive, surrealist humour has found favour with Noel Fielding, who invited him to support him on tour.
Doors open at 7.30pm for the 8pm start in the Fishergate Bar. Tickets cost £17 at lolcomedyclubs.co.uk, on 0203 356 5441 or in person from the Barbican box office or £22.95 on the door.
Veteran Yorkshire arts journalist CHARLES HUTCHINSON doffs his cap to the makers and shakers who made and shook the arts world in York and beyond in 2019.
Alan Ayckbourn at 80 in Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
New play
of the year: Alan
Ayckbourn’s Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, at Stephen Joseph Theatre,
Scarborough, from September 4
Sir Alan
Ayckbourn penned one play to mark his 80th birthday, then decided it
wasn’t the right one. Instead, writing more quickly than he had in years, he
constructed a piece around…birthdays. Still the master of comedy of awkward
truths.
Honourable mention: Kay Mellor’s Band Of Gold, Leeds Grand Theatre, November 28 to December 14.
Lili Miller (Catherine) and Pedro Leandro (Rodolpho) in A View From The Bridge at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Ian Hodgson
You
Should Have Seen It production of the year: Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge, York
Theatre Royal, September 20 to October 12.
Once more, the
sage Arthur Miller bafflingly did not draw the crowds – a Bridge too far? – but
Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster found resonance anew for this
age of rising intolerance in Trumped-Up America and Brexit Britain.
Chris Knight as Donkey in York Stage Musicals’ Shrek The Musical
York’s
home-grown show of the year: York Stage Musicals in Shrek The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, September
12 to 21
Nik Briggs
swapped directing for his stage return after five years in the wind-assisted
title role and stunk the place out in Shrek tradition in a good way. Jacqueline
Bell‘s Princess Fiona and Chris Knight’s Donkey were terrific too.
Honourable mention: Pick Me Up Theatre in Monster Makers, 41 Monkgate, October 23 to 27
Rigmarole Theatre in When The Rain Stops Falling
Company
launch of the year: Rigmarole
Theatre in When The Rain Stops Falling, 41 Monkgate, York, November 14 to 16
MAGGIE
Smales, a previous Hutch Award winner for her all-female Henry V for York
Shakespeare Project, set up Rigmarole to mount Andrew Bovell’s apocalyptic
Anglo-Aussie family drama. More please.
Comic capers: Mischief Theatre in The Comedy About A Bank Robbery
Touring
play of the year: The
Comedy About A Bank Robbery, Grand Opera House, York, February 5 to 12
Crime pays
for Mischief Theatre with a riotous show, so diamond-cutter sharp, so rewarding,
in its comedy, that it is even better than the original botched masterplan, The
Play That Goes Wrong.
Honourable mention: Nigel Slater’s Toast, York Theatre Royal, November 19 to 23
Sarah Crowden and Susan Penhaligon in Handbagged at York Theatre Royal
Political
play of the year:
Handbagged, York Theatre Royal, April 24 to May 11
In a play of wit, brio and intelligence, Moira Buffini presents
a double double act of 20th century titans, Margaret Thatcher and
The Queen, one from when both ruled, the other looking back at those days, as
they talk but don’t actually engage in a conversation.
Emma Rice: director of the year
Director
of the year: Emma Rice
for Wise Children’s Wise Children, in March, and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, in
September, both at York Theatre Royal
Emma Rice,
once of Cornwall’s pioneering Kneehigh Theatre and somewhat briefly of
Shakespeare’s Globe, has found her mojo again with her new company Wise
Children, forming a fruitful relationship with York Theatre Royal to boot.
Watch out for Wuthering Heights in 2021.
Director John R Wilkinson in rehearsals for Hello And Goodbye at York Theatre Royal
York
director of the year:
John R Wilkinson, Hello And Goodbye, York Theatre Royal Studio, November
Theatre Royal associate artist John R Wilkinson had long called for the return of in-house productions in the Studio and what he called “the blue magic of that space”. He duly delivered a superb reading of Athol Fugard’s apartheid-era South African work starring Jo Mousley and Emilio Iannucci.
Oh what a knight: Sir Ian McKellen
Comedy show of the year: Sir Ian McKellen in Ian McKellen On Stage With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others…And You, Grand Opera House, York, June 17
A delightful variation on the An Evening With…format, wherein Sir Ian McKellen celebrated his 80th birthday with a tour through his past. His guide to Shakespeare’s 37 plays was a particular joy.
Honourable mention: John Osborne in John Peel’s Shed/Circled In The Radio Times, Pocklington Arts Centre bar, March 27
Bonnie Milnes of Bonneville And The Bailers
Event launch
of the year: Live
In Libraries York, York Explore, autumn
In the
wood-panelled Marriott Room, veteran busker David Ward Maclean and Explore York
mounted a series of four intimate, low-key concerts, the pick of them being Bonnieville
And The Bailers’ magical set on October 25. Along with The Howl & The Hum’s
Sam Griffiths, Bonnie Milnes is the blossoming York songwriter to watch in
2020.
Meet The Caravan Guys:Theo Mason Wood, left, and Albert Haddenham discuss masculinity in How To Beat Up Your Dad at The Arts Barge’s Riverside Festival
Festival
of the Year: The
Arts Barge’s Riverside Festival, by the Ouse, July and August
Under the
umbrella of Martin Witts’s Great Yorkshire Fringe, but celebrating its own identity
too, The Arts Barge found firm footing with two locations, an ever-busy tent
and, hurrah, the newly docked, freshly painted barge, the Selby Tony. The Young
Thugs showcase, Henry Raby, Rory Motion, Katie Greenbrown, jazz gigs, a naked Theo
Mason Wood; so many highs.
Honourable mentions: York Festival of Ideas, June; Aesthetica Short Film Festival, November.
Terry Hall: leading The Specials at York Barbican. Picture: Simon Bartle
York Barbican gig of the year: The Specials, May 9
Still The Specials, still special, on their 40th anniversary world tour, as the Coventry ska veterans promoted their first studio album in 39 years, Encore, still hitting the political nail on the head as assuredly as ever.
Honourable mentions: David Gray, March 30; Art Garfunkel, April 18; Kelly Jones, September 14.
Mocking Malvolio: Cassie Vallance’s Fabian, back left, Andrew Phelps’s Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Fine Time Fontayne’s Sir Toby Belch wind up Claire Storey’s Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Picture: Charlotte Graham
Happiest nights of the year: Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in Twelfth Night, Castle car park, York, July 4 and September 1
JOYCE Branagh, Kenneth’s sister, set Shakespeare’s comedy in the Jazz Age, serving up “Comedy Glamour” with a Charleston dash and double acts at the double. “Why, this is very midsummer madness,” the play exhorts, and it was, gloriously so, especially on the last night, when no-one knew what lay just around the corner for the doomed Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre.
Samuel Edward Cook in Glory Dazed
Most moving night of the year: Glory
Dazed, East Riding Theatre, Beverley, January 26
Cat Jones’s play, starring York actor Samuel Edward Cook, brings
to light issues surrounding the mental health of ex-servicemen as they seek to
re-integrate into civilian society while struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. The post-show discussion with ex-soldiers from Hull spoke even
louder.
Serena Manteghi in Build A Rockdet. Picture: Sam Taylor
Solo show of the year: Serena
Manteghi in Build A Rocket, autumn tour
NO sooner had she finished playing Ophelia in Shakespeare’s
Rose Theatre’s Hamlet than Serena Manteghi revived her remarkable role as a seaside
resort teenage single mum in Christopher York’s award-winning coruscating play.
Honourable mention: James Swanton in Irving Undead, York Medical Society, October 10 to 12.
A Blessed encounter: interviewing Yorkshireman Brian
Favourite interview of the year: Brian Blessed, giving oxygen to his An Evening With Brian Blessed show at Grand Opera House, York, in August
The exuberance for life in Brian – Yorkshire man mountain, actor, mountaineer and space travel enthusiast – at the age of 83 would inspire anyone to climb Everest or reach for the stars.
Old soul in a Newman: John Newman’s hot, hot gig at The Crescent
Gig of
the year: John
Newman, The Out Of The Blue Tour, The Crescent, York, June 30
THE unsettled
Settle sound of soul, John Newman, and his soul mates parked their old camper van
outside the almost unbearably hot Crescent, threw caution to the wind and burnt
the house down on a night that must
have been like watching Joe Cocker or Otis Redding on the rise in the Sixties.
Honourable mentions: Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock’n’Roll Revue, Pocklington Arts Centre, June 25; The Howl & The Hum, The Crescent, York, December 14
Van Gogh: ‘ere, there and everywhere at York St Mary’s
Exhibition
of the year: Van
Gogh: The Immersive Experience, York St Mary’s, York, now extended to April 2020
This 360-degree digital art installation uses technology to create
a constantly moving projected gallery of 200 of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous
19th century works in the former church. Breathtaking, innovative, and,
yes, worth the admission charge.
Honourable mention: Ruskin, Turner and The Storm Cloud, Watercolours and Drawings, York Art Gallery, from March 28
Agatha Meehan, centre, as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz at Leeds Playhouse
Christmas
production of the year: The Wizard Of Oz, Leeds Playhouse, until January 25
AFTER its
£15.8 million transformation from the West Yorkshire Playhouse to Leeds
Playhouse, artistic director James Brining gave West Yorkshire’s premier
theatre the grandest, dandiest of re-opening hits. Still time to travel down
the Yellow Brick Road with Agatha Meehan, 12, from York, as Dorothy.
Dame Berwick Kaler’s fina;l wave at the end of his 40 years of pantomimes at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Anthony Robling
Exit
stage left: Berwick
Kaler, retiring on February 2 after 40 years as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime
dame; Tim Hornsby, bowing out from booking acts for Fibbers on June 29, after 27
years and 7,500 shows in York; Damian Cruden, leaving the Theatre Royal on July
26 after 22 years as artistic director; James Cundall’s Shakespeare’s Rose
Theatre, in September, after hitting the financial icebergs .
Richard Bainbridge R.I.P.
Gone but
not forgotten: York Musical Theatre Company leading man,
director, teacher, chairman, bon viveur and pub guvnor Richard Bainbridge, who
died on July 6.
Charles Hutchinson reflects on the YORKshire year in the arts in 2019
NOTHING special happened in the arts scene in 2019…or did it? Find out tomorrow when the Hutch Award winners are announced for what made the art beat race faster across YORKshire at charleshutchpress.co.uk.
“The show is saying it’s OK to be exactly who you are,” says Shappi Khorsandi
SHAPPI Khorsandi is extending her 2019
tour into 2020, bringing her self-reflective show Skittish Warrior…Confessions
Of A Club Comic to Pocklington Arts Centre on February 16.
Comedian, author and “idiot who agreed
to be tortured” on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2017, Khorsandi takes
a warts-and-all journey back to the 1990s’ comedy scene, her breakthrough on TV
and then letting it all slip away in her 20 years as a stand-up.
“The show is a good opportunity to look
back on how it all began,” she says. “It talks about the bits that stand-ups
don’t usually talk about, those behind-the-scenes moments where doors get
slammed in your face. It’s about rediscovering that early passion. It’s a
celebration of the comedy circuit.”
Building the show around cultural
observations and confessional gags, Khorsandi says: “I hope people will take
away a great sense of warmth and a lot of heart. The show is saying it’s OK to
be exactly who you are. The only person you should ever compete with is
yourself.”
Skittish Warrior looks at the “funny
side of failure”. “It’s an ode to being an underdog. We celebrate the underdog.
I have to do that. I don’t have a choice,” says Khorsandi.
“But it’s not doom and gloom. I’m
perfectly happy. I’m not cut out for a tabloid level of fame. After 20 years, I
feel completely comfortable with the fact that I’m vulnerable. It’s OK to say,
‘I’ve messed up so many things’.
“It’s about realising that if you
didn’t get something, it wasn’t what you wanted anyway. If it was very important
for me to do well on panel shows, I wouldn’t have been daydreaming on panel
shows!”
Born in Tehran, Iran, Shappi is the daughter of the Iranian
political satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi and moved to Britain as a child after
the Islamic Revolution. In her twenties, she began performing in comedy clubs, going
on to appear on a multitude of TV shows, be a panellist on ITV1’s Loose Women
and BBC One’s Question Time and write two books, A Beginner’s Guide To Acting
English in 2009 and her debut novel, Nina Is Not OK, in 2016.
A play based on the novel is on its way,
and already she has a musical comedy to her name, Women In Power, inspired by Aristophanes’s
ancient Greek comic play The Assembly Women, co-written with fellow comedians
Jenny Éclair and Natalie Haynes for a run at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton,
in September 2018.
On the radio, Khorsandi has hosted the BBC
Radio 4 series Shappi Talk, Homework and Shappi Khorsandi Gets Organised, as
well as appearing on Loose Ends, Front Row, Midweek and Today.
Recalling how it all began, 46-year-old Khorsandi
says: “I feel very thankful that when I started out in comedy, it was punk. The
ultimate aim was to play the clubs, not telly. That’s why my new show is a love
letter to the comedy clubs.
“I was a nervous wreck at the start. It
was terrifying. I would phone the Comedy Store for an open spot, and if they
picked up, I would put the phone down. I was treading water for the first ten
years. It’s a sort of madness to carry on doing something that is so
precarious. But I always knew that there was nothing else along my Yellow Brick
Road.”
Celebrity has its pitfalls, she
acknowledges. “It’s about really understanding what a full-time job it is to be
famous and to stay there. It has to be at the cost of everything else.
Instagram posts don’t post themselves!”
In 2017, that celebrity status led to Khorsandi
taking part in ITV’s reality TV show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!. “It
changed my life. Because you’re hungry and have nothing to do in the jungle, it
forces you to look at your life,” she says. “While I was in there, my life was
going on without me. I realised there was no other life I wanted, and I
desperately wanted to be back in it.
“Some people may see I’m A Celebrity as
crass, but it bought me time to re-evaluate my life. I realised what I didn’t
want: to be on the front page of The Sun. That’s not worth anything. Doing
stand-up, writing plays and books; those things have value and they were the
things I wanted to come back to.”
Hence her tour of Skittish Warrior…Confessions
Of A Club Comic, now bolstered with more shows in 2020. “I get an absolute
adrenaline rush on stage. For me, it’s always been about the live stuff,” she
says.
Time for reflection at the year’s end. “I
look back on my career and see all the times I’ve sabotaged it. But if I had
really wanted it, I would have got it,” says Khorsandi.” I’ve got two kids, and
I really wanted them. It may sound cheesy, but they’re my greatest successes.”
Shappi Khorsandi: Skittish Warrior…Confessions Of A Club Comic, Pocklington Arts Centre, Sunday, February 16 2020, 7.30pm. Tickets: £15 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
